Future prospects..........

Despite the national addiction to holidays, the timing of them is invariably inconvenient. So with the football season about to start, and with Aldershot Town back in the League, we find ourselves packing our bags and heading south to meet up with friends in Avignon.

And I reckon this week has been pretty much the same for me, as it has been for the many who ‘turn up the turbocharger’, in an attempt to ‘clear the desk’ before the last call for ‘BA flight 345’ to Minorca.

Yes, it was with some discomfort that I wrestled with the prospect of leaving home without getting my blog going for the new season. No doubt the same pain that David Miliband was suffering as he struggled to clear his desk of Iraq, Iran, Zimbabwe, Russia, Sudan and……but ‘I must get the new Labour vision to the Guardian before I go off on my hols….if only I had more time….oh our foreign policy can wait. I must write a few thousand supportive words before the last call for BA flight 345….’

Poor old Gordon. The Guardian piece, written by a ‘friend’ and designed to make his holiday in Southwold just a bit more enjoyable.


And I have such a strong image of his smiling face, the relaxed look, his soft and caring eyes scanning the daily papers.

Southwold is without doubt an inspirational place. And this, despite the ‘extension of London’s suburbs’ in the 1980s. The buying up of fishermen’s cottages with City bonuses resulted in the town losing its idyllic and secret retreat status. But the innate Suffolk charm prevails. The Adnams beer simply the finest and the Red Lion always a welcome retreat.


And as Gordon looks out from the Southwold Sailors’ Reading Room, out across the steel-grey North Sea. Can he see Siberia….no of course not. But if he opens the door he will feel it. And with that his thoughts will no doubt turn to……no not young Miliband, he is long gone. No perhaps with the impending change to his work-life balance….perhaps now is the time to buy a season ticket for Raith Rovers.

Aldershot Town are in the Football League. Many of us will say, ‘back in the Football League’, ameliorating the loss of our former Club in 1992. For the pedants and the youngsters who follow our club, it is quite right to record that Aldershot Town has climbed from nowhere to the League in 16 years. A remarkable achievement and one that may never be repeated.

I returned to the Recreation Ground a few weeks back to watch a pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace. I normally give such games a wide berth. My Aldershot carbon footprint is big enough without adding to it unnecessarily.

However I was in London and I wanted to check out the new seating arrangements, following the building works to make the Directors Box larger, a bit of pre-season training could be justified.


And when I got to the Recreation Ground it looked pretty good. Fresh paint everywhere. A splendid playing surface. Better access to the seats in the North Stand.

Yes, the hard work of the many volunteers was there for all to see….well done and thank you, from all of us who will simply turn up every week to follow the Shots.

But as the game unfolded my thoughts turned to the new turnstile arrangements, the ‘no standing at the High Street end’ rule, the 'no half-time migration' rule, no smoking anywhere, no tea hut behind the North Stand, the new stewards….and so many of them, the CCTV cameras, the Police Control Room………

……..Aldershot has had to catch up with 16 years of ‘progress’ in just three months.

Ah yes, I must mention the football prospects.

Plenty of pace and power…..see you all at Shrewsbury when I get back from my holidays.