Chatham won the opening game of the season yesterday, one nil at fancied Maldon and Tiptree. Miles away, didn't go. Home to Harlow on Tuesday night - can't wait.
In the meantime, I've been seeking inspiration for the coming season. I've turned to our old mate Billy Childish and his fantastic poem, Chatham Town Welcomes Desperate Men.
You can see him perform it here.
http://youtu.be/Aztulcg9ipM
I've posted this before, but it requires re-posting.
Welcome Dead Novelists...
Bank managers who can no longer manage...
Its what makes me absurdly proud to come from Medway. Its the same pride I have in our football club. Its not perfect but its ours. And we can't help but love it.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Monday, 8 August 2011
Bargain Chats
Perhaps the biggest bargain outside of London at the moment is the Chatham Town membership scheme. Announced today on the official site, you can buy membership at the Chats for £20. This will get you in to all league games for the bargain price of £5 - a saving of £3 a game. Over a 21 game season this is a saving of £63, which will leave you £43 quid better off. If you're an OAP, you get in for £2. You can't fault it, and I for one will be doing it!
"A new decade...
The radio plays the sounds we made, and everything seems to feel just right"… warbled Wigan Warbler supreme Richard Ashcroft on the Verve’s opening track of their second long player, A Northern Soul.
It may sound like hyperbole but there’s such a genuine optimism at the TOSC at the moment, its hard not to be swept away on its waves. The foundations are in for the clubhouse extension, and there’s a genuinely good fundraising initiative to help build it. More of that later.
But what’s been happening a TOSC this summer?
Well firstly, the pitch. It looks fantastic. It is fantastic, and it’s the hard work of vice chair Barry Adams and a volunteer who apparently used to do the ground in the 70s. He supports Chelsea and hates Gillingham, and doesn’t really like Chatham. I don’t know his name, which I should do. But I don’t. Whether the pitch holds up to the possibility of three games a week is another thing; Gills Ladies are ground sharing with us, and of course there are the reserves too.
And we’ve got a pretty much new look squad again, but this time it’s a hybrid of the “old” old (pre-Foley), and the “new” old (Foley). Gladly, some of the side that finished the campaign after Paul Foley’s unceremonious departure last year are still with us, Joe Fuller, the Hogg brothers (Jon has a Mad Men haircut by the way) Jason Barton and Adam Molloy have hung around. Then there’s Brad Potter and Matt Solly, who predate that awful era from last year. And there’s the enigmatic return of Gary Tilly, who last played for us, and at this level, some six years ago before his third broken leg. There are plenty of new faces too. I’ll name them and cast opinions as their identities become more apparent, but included are Jon Pilbeam formerly of Sevenoaks Town, and non-league stalwart keeper Tony Kessell, whose experience will do Adam Molloy no end of good.
And we’ve been featured on the very widely read www.theballisround.co.uk, a great piece of publicity for the club. Take a look. Its possibly, at a push, better than my own blog. Honestly…
Pre-season has thus far been mixed – four games gone, one win, one draw, two defeats. But pre-season’s not about winning games. I’ve always thought teams who do well in pre-season tend to do badly in the league. “You can prove anything with facts” says Stewart Lee to a homophobic taxi driver. I can’t prove this as it’s a feeling. Live with it.
The season starts in two weeks away to Maldon & Tiptree. Its in Essex, and apparently is quite nice. I won’t go. I’ll start my season with the home game on the 23rd, and will do a report. I might even do a report out of context and off subject on the Kent vs India One Dayer at Canterbury on the 26th August. That could be funny, as I understand very little about Cricket.
LYL
It may sound like hyperbole but there’s such a genuine optimism at the TOSC at the moment, its hard not to be swept away on its waves. The foundations are in for the clubhouse extension, and there’s a genuinely good fundraising initiative to help build it. More of that later.
But what’s been happening a TOSC this summer?
Well firstly, the pitch. It looks fantastic. It is fantastic, and it’s the hard work of vice chair Barry Adams and a volunteer who apparently used to do the ground in the 70s. He supports Chelsea and hates Gillingham, and doesn’t really like Chatham. I don’t know his name, which I should do. But I don’t. Whether the pitch holds up to the possibility of three games a week is another thing; Gills Ladies are ground sharing with us, and of course there are the reserves too.
And we’ve got a pretty much new look squad again, but this time it’s a hybrid of the “old” old (pre-Foley), and the “new” old (Foley). Gladly, some of the side that finished the campaign after Paul Foley’s unceremonious departure last year are still with us, Joe Fuller, the Hogg brothers (Jon has a Mad Men haircut by the way) Jason Barton and Adam Molloy have hung around. Then there’s Brad Potter and Matt Solly, who predate that awful era from last year. And there’s the enigmatic return of Gary Tilly, who last played for us, and at this level, some six years ago before his third broken leg. There are plenty of new faces too. I’ll name them and cast opinions as their identities become more apparent, but included are Jon Pilbeam formerly of Sevenoaks Town, and non-league stalwart keeper Tony Kessell, whose experience will do Adam Molloy no end of good.
And we’ve been featured on the very widely read www.theballisround.co.uk, a great piece of publicity for the club. Take a look. Its possibly, at a push, better than my own blog. Honestly…
Pre-season has thus far been mixed – four games gone, one win, one draw, two defeats. But pre-season’s not about winning games. I’ve always thought teams who do well in pre-season tend to do badly in the league. “You can prove anything with facts” says Stewart Lee to a homophobic taxi driver. I can’t prove this as it’s a feeling. Live with it.
The season starts in two weeks away to Maldon & Tiptree. Its in Essex, and apparently is quite nice. I won’t go. I’ll start my season with the home game on the 23rd, and will do a report. I might even do a report out of context and off subject on the Kent vs India One Dayer at Canterbury on the 26th August. That could be funny, as I understand very little about Cricket.
LYL
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