We all thought that we'd be nearer an idea of exactly who we're playing and when next season by now, but the latest news has thrown everything back up in the air. To keep it brief, the meeting between the FA, the Ryman league and Grays Athletic resulted in Grays being placed in the Ryman 1 North, not the Ryman Premier as was expected. This means that the second tier of the Ryman now consists of 45 clubs, meaning at least one division will run with 23. If sense prevails, and often at this level it doesn't, we should be put back into a 23 club Ryman 1 South. We're due to find out over the weekend so that the fixtures can be arranged in the early part of next week.
The knock of of this is horrendous. We're four weeks from season start. Other leagues depend on these fixtures being out before they can arrange theirs. For example, Kent League Fisher groundshare with Dulwich. Dulwich's fixtures take priority, so Fisher can't have their games arranged until the Ryman mess is sorted.
Elsewhere, its been announced on the official site (after it was on McCartney) that Ben Payne is the latest to go to Erith Town, and that Ashley Probets is on trial at Dartford. Probets was player of the year (joint with Matt Solly) last term, but the step up to Connie South may be too much for him. Yes, he was two years a proffessional at Arsenal, and had a spell with Rochdale (he's the only Chat with football league pitch time), and he is easily capable of playing in the Conference again, but needs to make sure he learns not to switch off, which he can do sometimes - perhaps he'll be less prone to it in the atmosphere of the Princes Park Arena. And apparently Denness has gone to Sittingbourne - he should do well there and would do well to make that move.
Fixtures when I have them.
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