Wednesday 19 January 2011

Leamington the Merciless

Weymouth 1 v 2 Leamington FC
Saturday 14 January 2011
Zamaretto Premier League
The Bob Lucas Stadium, Weymouth.
Attendance 508

Almost a year ago to the day I wrote my first computer internet blog, which detailed my pride in my club at a time when the owners were doing their utmost to shaft it by sacking the Terras legend Ian Hutchinson. One year ago and its deja vu all over again. Except the bit about the blog, I'm not starting it again.

In the interim 12 months we've been taken over by ex Cambridge United Chairman George Rolls. Most non league fans with access to ears and/or eyes will have heard about the time he summoned 3 (three) managers to the Abbey Stadium under the premise that they were all to be unveiled as the new manager and his ability to work an abacus at Cambridge is still the subject of many a discussion at the club.

We might be going down but by God we're going to try our best to win the award for 'Most condiments seen in a non league football ground 2011'.

Or;

I approached the game with relish. WITH RELISH!! Arff!

Back in March 2010 Rolls negotiated a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA), which meant that only around £80,000 of the clubs alleged debts of £900,000 had to repaid over a five-year period. So Rolls was then carried through the streets of the town shoulder high? Well, no.

The full list of creditors is shown here and it can be seen that there was a sudden mysterious out breaking of generosity in the Vilnius area that lead to 3 Lithuanians injecting over £290k to the club a. Ačiū, as they say in Vilnius. Many local businesses saw their ability to influence the CVA diminished as a result and support amongst the business community remains low and an air of suspicion surrounds the workings of the CVA.

Add in the fact that the CVA was agreed a day too late to have a points deduction applied to our 2009/10 relegation season, meaning that we started this season with a 10 point deduction and making relegation almost certain and it begins to come clear why Rolls isn't liked by a large number of the Weymouth FC supporter base.

Want more? Links to a betting scandal involving Rolls and the club.

More? A player who was released by Weymouth after slating Hutchinson in the local press then pitching up as a Director of one of Rolls' companies, Able Recruitment (UK) Ltd, a company that was also owed over £6,000 as part of our CVA.

More? Go on then, why not! Pimping out our managerial position for the local cup competition.

There's more, wait. Continual changing of budgets, contract "mishaps", most alarmingly allegations that he has transferred club shares held in trust to his own name giving him control of the ground and allegations he is in cahoots with the property developers, Morgan Sindall who, thanks one of previous distinguished Chairmen, own the land around the ground. Worrying times at the Bob Lucas Stadium indeed.

Quick, get the builders in while there's no one here. I reckon we can get a fair few houses on here as long as that pesky football team don't turn up and ruin my plans.

Ah...bollocks.

On the pitch we were struggling, we're going down, but the fans were behind manager Ian Hutchinson. Hutchinson is a hero for many Weymouth fans after signing for the club in 1995, making over 550 appearances and giving the club back some much needed hope by actually winning a few games after becoming manager for the second time in April after his replacement, Jerry Gill, lasted just 44 days with Rolls.

Despite a few spankings this season the majority of fans continued to back Hutch, he represented what was good about our club, represented the town and wore the shirt with pride and represented our last link to a time when we weren't just the object of a property developers lust. So it came as a kick in the ballbags when the local rag, revealed that Hutchinson was to be sacked again. Sadly though no one had the decency to tell him and the first he knew was via the newspaper.

Token match shot

The sacking, and the manner in which it was orchestrated, has rightly upset the remaining Weymouth fans and a fans forum arranged at 5 (five) hours notice this week was said to have ended in a bout of handbags as fans confronted Rolls. A youtube audio clip of the forum is available here.

The clubs internet forum talked of boycotts and of protests against Rolls at the match against Leamington and the thought of this lured me back for the game. Sadly though apathy reigns at the Bob Lucas Stadium and nothing happened, not one chant, no protest, no one balling Rolls out as stood outside the ground selling programmes like the type of Chairman who mucks in and non league clubs dream of.

The Leamington fans mock us "where's your protest gone", probably quite rightly. One look at the Weymouth fans forum would show you that the remaining few fans turn on each other at the slightest opportunity. Divide and rule seems to have been the only strategy that has been successfully implemented at the club in the last few years and there isn't yet a cohesive group or individual for the fans to unite behind to rid the clubs of Rolls.

On the pitch the first half begins as badly as it could. It takes Leamington only 3 minutes to score their first and gives rise to the fear of another spanking. One minute later and the notoriously grumpy home fans turn on caretaker manager Brendan King, “Sort it out Kinger!!” But the team show some fight, despite being clearly second best, and only another Leamington goal right before half time gives a fairer reflection of their dominance.

The Brakes celebrated their victory with an all night disco party.

The second half is much more positive, the team battle and although Leamington probably declared at 2-0 at half time the team show some spirit, get the home fans get behind the team, pull a goal back and restore some pride. Hopefully this situation can be replicated off the pitch. There are murmurings of things going on behind the scenes and key fans are busy on the terraces having discussions to influence others and form plans.

I'd travelled to the match in anticipation of seeing another dicking. I'd listened to Kid A on the way down and was firmly set for another dispiriting afternoon, but in reality I came away with a slightly renewed optimism and will not to see the club slowly ebb away. Sadly this got the better of me and I've made a donation to the Wessex Fantasy Football fund that means I will now have to sell my Mother. This fund, organised by Weymouth fan Ian White, sees the fans pay some of the players wages and shows there is a bit of fight left in the supporters and that there is hope we start to see some real progress in ridding the club of those who have put the club in the sorry position it finds itself now.

This excellent article on the twohundredpercent site gives some further explanation of the Weymouth FC story.

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Brilsington - Bittno

Brislington 0 - 3 Bitton
Monday 3 January 2011
Toolstation Western Premier League
Brislington Stadium, Brislington.
Attendance: 120

Last week this here blog was cruelly overlooked for inclusion in the Guardians 100 Football blogs to follow in 2011. Competition was fierce and I can only assume that Adventures In Tinpot rolled in fashionably late at 101st place. However, I have decided that I don't need to be on that list. I will not compromise the layout and structure of my blog in an attempt to suck up to the big hummus eating jessies and attempt to get onto next years list and any changes in this blog style and purely coincidental.

adventuresintinpot
£1.60 (FR 4.00)
Monday 3.1.11
Published
in London and
Manchester
adventuresintinpot.blogspot.com

sport
Football

Ruthless Bitton destroy hapless Brislington

Toolstation Western Premier League
Kenny Legg Brislington Stadium

Brislington 0 Bitton 3
Barnes 29, Burborough 64
Salter 72



Mark Salter (Bitton) Completed Passes v Brislington.


Token Match Shot

the guide

Soulmates
Non league Groundhopper wltm like minded soul to file programmes in plastic wallets and complete attendance at all Screwfix League grounds. Can make a cracking corned beef sandwich and packed lunch. Owns own thermos flask and woolly hat. Lives with Mother. Reply: PO Box 407.

Slightly balding man seeks woman of similar receding hairline for life of unfulfilled ambition. Required to assist in alphabetical and chronological filing of 4000 football programmes. Aversion to sunlight preferable. Reply: PO Box 871

Food and Drink

Restaurant: Charlie Garland Bar
Ironmould Lane, Brislington (0117 977 4030). Meal for two including drinks and service, £7.50.

Sometimes reader, the life of a restaurant critic can be a tough one, with some meals weighing heavily on the soul as well as the stomach. The range of cuisine on offer at the Charlie Garland Bar where my companion and I decided to eat was limited and the service and effect on the palette undistinguished. There was no hummus, no dolmades and in fact not a single item of tapas available at all.

Drinks were reasonably priced, a mere £2.70 a Guinness, and showed where the core strenghts of the establishment lie. After surveying the menu I opted for the much loved staple dish of the local populous, the pasty. I fear the vegetables trapped into the limp pastry were not free range and I suspect the minimal meat content came from a cow that wasn't allowed to graze while listening to the latest Arcade Fire record, as advocated by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I even noted that the pastry did not even appear to be hand crimped.

In fact I believe I saw the Head Chef remove the pasty from a multi-pack of Tesco value pasties and place the pasty in..and it hurts me to type this......a microwave. Oh, if only I'd agreed to travel to those remote northern restaurants with Steve Coogan when he asked me.

Also on offer were culinary delights as; chips, burger, burger and chips, cheeseburger, cheeseburger and chips, chicken burger, chicken burger and chips, sausage and chips and for the vegetarian Scampi Fries were available from the bar.

3/10

Events:
Monday 3rd January 2010
Brislington

Environmentalist George Monbiot will be organising a boycott of all grassy areas in the Brislington area to raise awareness of Amazonian deforestation. (Various locations)


TV Review
They were alright. Two identical vast grey TVs of some inferior Japanese make in the clubhouse. I say vast, but not in a 50" plasma HD 3D show off yet pointless kind of why but vast as in they exhibited such depth they took up half the room and probably had to be lowered into the clubhouse from a crane situated on Venus. Both sets were showing some budget wildlife documentary about a lion with foot rot.

travel
24 hours in Brislington.

The Bristol suburb of Brislington has a range of delightful offerings for a weekend break , making this hip westcountry destination the winter break of the 2011. Spend the morning looking and pointing at the poor people that live there every day and marvel at the architectural wonder that is the HTV Studios. In the afternoon enjoy an unrivaled shopping experience from designer boutique outlets such as Toys R Us and Matalan. A range of food options are available for your evening meal, with thoroughly recommended are China House Take Away and Joe's Kebab World. Conclude your day with a relaxing session at the Bath Road Massage Parlour.

As seen in the Lonely Planet 2011 List of Top Ten Corrugated Iron Football
Stands to See Before You Die.

review
Book Review

The Brislington Football Club programme, (Published by - a rickety old photocopier in urgent need of a new black cartridge, £1), provided a delightfully entertaining preview into this afternoons entertainment. One was able to learn such important information about the publications integral character, 24 year old Brislington defender, Jason Llama.

The publication charts the daily struggles of the Manchester United fan as faces his constant battles derided from his hurtful nickname of "stinky" and recovers from the hurt of his most embarrassing football moment "being dropped for Twents", an occasion ingrained on the national psyche that we can all instantly recall where we were when this happened. The insightful author conveys the unbridled delight of Jason as he reaches the heights of his occupation, as an "investment big wig", and the passion generated as we recall his best football moment of "scoring last minute equalizer in Bristol Varsity" just leaps off the page and the whole programme had this reader enthralled throughout.

An absolute tour de force. A must for your ethically sourced coffee table.

Corrections and clarifications.
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