NEWS

So, looks like RDS didn't drink his milk after all.

The will-he-won't-he saga is finally over, and he's swapping the cosmopolitan lights of downtown London town to go oop Norf t'whippet country. Aye, FC Stanley of t'Accrington no less. T'team that wouldn't die, our lad, and once had that David Bumble Lloyd from t'Sky cricket playing for them. Course, he were no bloody good....

OK, enough stereotyping, although I'd love to see Roscoe with a pint of Thwaites and a flat cap. I have to be honest and admit I was shocked at the news. While I wanted him to stay, and genuinely thought that going to Torquay would be a massive step, this is one leap further than any of us imagined.

Relatively speaking, this is the biggest transfer in the AFCW era. True, we've had player come on loan from Palace, Brentford etc, and a couple of our players have had trials elsewhere in the country, but a formal transfer to a professional outfit is something else.

Remember what I said a couple of days ago about how such transfers can boost a stature of a club? Again, there must be players now like Robin Shroot, or Fergie, or anyone else you care to mention who are capable of playing far higher than the Ryman. You want them to stay with us, but now they might think "Hang on, if I knuckle down, get AFCW motoring and look good in the process, I could get pro level football soon". Again, the door is not closed, and indeed pro clubs are looking at this level more and more for cheap players good bargains. News reaches SW19 Towers that Chelmsford's Fiston Manuela is on trial at Millwall. Let's hope he's found guilty...

OK, I shouldn't be almost encouraging our players to bolt towards bigger clubs as soon as the wallets open. But realistically, it's something we'll have to put up with for a while. It's a bit Catch-22 : if we have a good team, we get looked at by scouts. If we don't, we drift in Turdeyland. I suppose we must be doing something right though.

What I hope we do do is to ensure that we start getting fees for our players. If there's a way of ensuring we get fees for another RDS style transfer then we must do it. We did it with Shane Smeltz anyway. Unfortunately, DA's policy of only offering contracts to the youngsters has bitten us in the arse this time. Though whether that may have been down to financial constraints is anyone's guess (and TBH that was probably a club decision as much as his). Now, it's not so much can we afford to put our players on contracts, it's can we afford not to.

Speaking of money, we clearly have some now, and we have to move forward. I get the feeling TB would be happy to lose RDS if we get the elusive big target man in. Maybe a shit-or-bust bid for Hockton? Although allegedly Goldberg Bromley are offering £15k for him, and it's a lot of money for a 28 year old on his 9th club, apparently. Watch the Bromley fans claim he won't be moving for the money, unlike if he joined us.

As for RDS, it's the dream move he wanted. And only the most churlish would begrudge him that - christ, he's ex-Palace youth, he's had to drop down to the Conference. He then had to join us because his injury, and had to take employment from Croydon Council to boot. Can you imagine any pro footballer worth his salt wanting to do that? So I don't blame him one bit for getting back into full time football (even for just 12 months to start off with).

Besides, we want him to do well, don't we? We especially want him to have the games of his life on the 8th of December, 2007 and the 24th of March 2008.....

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17 June 2007

Another close season Sunday, another excuse for SW19 to get updated.

The big news right now is of course RDS's signing. Or rather, lack of it. About a week ago, everyone was hanging on the various wires awaiting the big news. Would he stay and make himself a hero next season? Will he go and make that one final chance to become a pro footballer? The wait was agonising.

And guess what? We're still waiting. It seems like the decision to stay with AFCW (decent offer, good crowds, guaranteed employment from Croydon Council) or try his luck in the Conference (fulfillment of a dream, decent crowds, probably more money) is a bit harder than first believed. Even more confusingly, RDS has himself stated he has no problem playing part time.

It seems we'll finally get an answer in the next couple of days. Unlike Wes Daly (who's hesistancy seemed a bit more disrespectful, on the basis that he wasn't as good as RDS or PL), RDS isn't getting the same "make your fucking mind up" treatment. That said, he's got to make a decision soon, I doubt if TB wants to spend more time searching around for a replacement than necessary. If RDS stays, then great. If not, we still have time to do something about it. One thing we cannot do is let this remain undecided until this time next week.

To be fair to RDS, it is a big decision. Especially as it's rumoured Torquay are after him (they're also after AL as well, apparently). Now, a League club the previous season, with presumably a fair wedge to spend has got to be tempting, although to move down to the West Country is a bit of an upheaval. What if his tendonitis gets the better of him? What if he's simply not good enough to play regularly? Remember Shane Smeltz at Halifax?

I've no idea whether Woking, Aldershot, Crawley or Gravesend and NorthEbbsfleet have also bid for him. If they have, that'll make his decision a lot easier I would imagine. But if the only serious money offer is from Torquay, then suddenly it does become harder. My own feeling is that he'll bite the bullet and take the professional plunge. And TBH nobody would begrudge him if he did.

While that will make our task just a little less easier next season (although Richard Jolly will probably step up to that plate), in a way it does suggest we've got something. Should RDS go, we'll have two players who are earning full time wages in the Conference. Perhaps for now we could be a stepping stone? Lower level, respected manager but still in front of crowds well into the top 7 or 8 in non-league. While it's best not to get too attached to those players, at least we'll get them for a while.

And if RDS stays, then that does pay massive tribute to our viability. Think about it - a player good enough for the Conference rejects a step up to remain with us. Maybe that means we can keep players after all, which again won't hurt our promotion pushes. Plus it also suggests that we wouldn't have such a problem with mercenaries (something I think big spending Chelmsford might have), which again promises better team spirit. After all, if they're there for the money, why should they bother when the going gets tough?

Speaking of players leaving, since I last updated both Jermaine Darlington and Chris Gell have left. If truth be told, after the initial disappointment of JD, I don't really think it'll have much affect beyond strength in depth. Despite our inability to fill in his forms correctly, I think we got the best out of JD. From what I can gather, he wanted to keep fit and still play football while he built up his business, and I presume he wanted to concentrate on that now. Granted, losing an experienced old hand is a bastard, but we do have Marcus Gayle...

As for Gell, I bet you've forgotten him already. OK, bit harsh, but if you go on holiday to Cancun without leaving any sort of contact number - especially when you've got a new boss - don't expect to stay for long. Especially when you have a reputation for that sort of thing. By the sounds of it, TB reckons Gell was expendable, because RDS is getting a lot more time to think about his future. Anyway, those who want to see what he's up to, he's now in the hands of the Met Police. And no, he didn't get into trouble when he was away...

You probably know about Tony Finn and Karl "Don't Call Me Darren" Beckford joining us. Both highly rated (aren't they all?), and it seems like Rob Quinn will be our first choice ballwinning midfielder. Oh, and Kevin Cooper is now player/assistant at Cove. Expect him to be manager of Fleet Town next week.

Anyway, the close season still crawls along too slowly for my liking. No doubt when RDS finally makes his mind up we'll know that pre-season has started. Perhaps by August we may even know what the fixtures are.....

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3 June 2007

Bloody hell, I've forgotten just how dull the close season can be. Sundays are always the worst for some reason - there's no footy on Sky (although the u21 tournaments take the edge off the boredom) and everyone else seems to be out and about enjoying themselves and having fun.

So, to stop this particular Sunday turning into a mutant mix of watching paint dry, the Test Card and a typical rugby union game, an update for you.

As you probably know, Paul Lorraine has gone on a full time deal to Woking. Sadly, we don't get any money for him but it does show people that they can come to AFCW and move on. Annoying for us, maybe, but at this level don't expect big money moves. Also itching to make a full-time living is RDS. Now, while losing him will be a blow and a half, we do still have RB, Richard Jolly, the recently resigned Fergie, Shroot and Goddard up front. Oh, and some bloke called Marcus Gayle, though I expect nobody knows much about him.

RDS will be a loss, although questions do remain whether he's fit enough to carry it out full time. What this does show is a new direction for AFCW. True, in the past we've lost players. But back in ye CCL days, and even up until last season, players moved on because they'd moved jobs, or started college courses, or occasionally even signed for another club. Now, we're losing players for what I'd describe as footballing reasons.

Until AFCW themselves become full time, we will have to accept that as soon as a player gets good enough he'll move on to full time. In the CCL/R1, nobody looked at our players because the level was too low. Now, we get scouts from Conference sides and the gap ain't so big that our players get ignored....

Is losing both PL and (probably) RDS critical? Maybe, but it's something we'll now have to adapt to. We'll certainly need to develop a way where we don't rely on players becoming available elsewhere. If we lose an RDS in future, we'll need to look at our reserves, pick out a Goddard and say to him, "here's your chance, now take it".

And if we do that, it's a small but highly significant step forward. If you read my last update, you'll see I make great play about our reserve and youth setups. It does seem that TB has a huge regard for the youth, and apparently Hayes under him had the best youth policy going.

When you think about it, it's absolutely crazy for anyone to ignore the AFCW youth setup. If you go on the OS and look at how many courses we do, the potential is staggering. I know that plenty of people send their kids onto the matchday academies, and let's face it - if your kid enjoys football and is good enough at it, there's the advanced course.

Put it this way - how kewl would it be to see the offspring of an SW19 reader start on a holiday course, become good enough to go on the advanced and work his way up to the bench of the first team - and beyond? I think we could be getting to that stage within the next five years. Hell, I might even sponsor their kit.

Granted, we didn't see too much of the reserves linking up with the first team under DA. Whether that was by design, whether the youth/reserve setup wasn't quite established enough, whether DA simply didn't have enough time to oversee it I don't know, but it did seem like an opportunity missed. Especially as we were bringing in Brentford triallists instead.

All this might explain why we have quite a small squad even now. While I expect one or two more comings/goings, I don't expect much more in the way of wholesale changes before the season starts. It does appear to me that TB wants a small tightly knit squad that knows what it's doing before adding more. If Richard Jolly gets injured, we put in Steve Goddard as a direct, painless replacement. That sort of thing.

And it will be something to get used to again, especially after the churning of the last couple of years. Have you looked at the squad recently and had a cold sweat at how small it is? If truth be told, there probably isn't much to worry about.

Incidentally, I'm sure I read that we'll be training three times a week instead of two. If true, that's another radical step forward. It was the case last season we trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If we had a midweek game, it appeared we only had one. Again, whether circumstance dictated that I don't know. Would training be on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays? Or Monday, Weds and Thursdays? What about midweek games? Whatever it is, our players will be pretty busy next season.

Which is what we want. After losing to Bromley a mere month ago now (and is that how short it was? Feels like a lifetime now) we knew change was imminent. Now it's here and it's a bit hard to take in. But hey, you prefer it, right?

Anyway, as it stands we've re-signed Steve Ferguson (which did surprise me, though he's obviously got over DA going). To me, he's the sort of player that would be on fire if coached properly. Paul Seuke will probably be keeping AL on his toes next season. Don't think I've mentioned Rob Quinn, Jason Goodliffe and Sam Hatton coming have I? Sure one of you will check. And let's not forget we've signed Kevin Warner as well. Yes, really. Ex-Staines, ex-Hayes under TB, he's the bloke who everyone leaves off when we talk about new signings. I fully expect he'll get left off teamsheets because we've forgotten he's one of our players. Don't expect anyone to remember his invite for the players Xmas party. Still, he'll probably be POTY next season.

Anything else? Not really. Summer sucks, and you know it. Roll on winter.