Vickers Chatham Dartford FC

A new beginning next season at TOSC. Our new manager, Theo, sorry, Paul Foley, has arrived, along with what now looks like the entire VCD squad who finished 8th last season in the Ryman North. Turns out that's where we'll be playing next year, So, perhaps not a bad thing.

We were poor last year. This, despite my mocking title for this article, is, in my opinion, all good.

Foley is clearly a talented manager. His tenure at VCD was one of success, ultimately, it would appear, let down by the club not being run as a semi-pro club should be. Let’s hope our board don’t let him down. I’m sure they won’t. We’ve got ambition off the pitch for once as well, the plans well afoot for the redevelopment and improvement of the ground.

Looks like Foley is going to be bringing some financial investment to the club too – he’s promised the commercial nous he brought to VCD.

Disappointingly, the chance to sign Brendon Cass was again on our doorstep, and we’ve missed it. This is my only criticism of the new age – the desire to sweep clean has perhaps been more OCD than VCD in this case, and Cassie has dropped down to the Kent League to play for Hythe. Now, don’t get me wrong, money does talk in this league. But surely, the combination of Ryman League football and playing for the local club could have swung it? I’m also concerned about the future of certain players who bleed the red and black. I’m talking about not only the nine who’ve been invited back for next season (Solly, Probets, Denness, Rowe, Scott, Restell, Payne, Potter and Avery), but those who haven’t been – what about Justin Ascheri for example? Dean Ruddy? Sure, there’s limited space now, but how do we know if the quality we’re getting in is better than what we had? Suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

With reference to plying our trade in the R1N next season, I am looking forward to it. As much as the club will miss the local derbies, particularly the joy of getting beaten by Sittingbourne every_single_time, I am excited about not only two trips to the Cricklewood International Athletics Arena, Ilford (for both Ilford and Waltham Forest), but two “four go mad” style trips to Suffolk, to picaresque Sudbury, and less picaresque, more Steve Wright’s Night Terrors, Needham Market. Also, we get a trip to Ware – perhaps the nicest town I’ve ever seen a football match in, a place where even the chavs seem posher than most of Medway’s finest.

Obivously, its close season, and I’m going on holiday for a few weeks. I’ll start doing some updating around the start of the pre-season friendlies, but to be honest won’t go to many of them. The most interesting is the visit of Ebbsfleet United, a team who I suspect are very close to going bust unless they sort out the ridiculous MyFC situation. They’ve got just two registered players and only two friendlies arranged. I hope it sorts itself out for them, and they can go back to being called Gravesend and Northfleet.

TTFN. Jeff from ELO.

Oh, hang on, its grim up north.

http://www.yourmedway.co.uk/kent-news/Chats-unhappy-with-Ryman-North-switch-newsinkent36307.aspx?news=sport

This is frankly very worriyng. Very worrying indeed.

I'd strongly recommend reading this link. To summarise it for you though, the leagues need further reshuffling, and it looks like we've drawn the short straw again.

I'll keep you posted, but it now looks like there's plenty of uncertainty about anything next season. It all started so well this morning, new manager, loads of Kent derbies to look forward to. At least we might get another trip to sunny Ware and a derby against Thamesmead if this goes ahead. It also must significantly undermine our new sponsorship deal - crowds in the 1North are pathetic...

We have to appeal this if its true.

New management team.

It was briefly announced on the official site, before being removed at the time of this post, that we've appointed Paul Foley as our new manager.

Now, if its true, and it goes ahead, initial thoughts are that this is an excellent, if unexpected appointment. Foley, the son of former Millwall and Arsenal Assistant Manger Theo ( a man who could say "Ricky Otto" with more finesse than any other co-commentator on ITV's local First Division coverage in the early days of the premier league) has a great track record at near neighbours Vickers Cray Dartford (VCD), guiding them in his first three season's to second and first in the Kent League, and then an impressive seventh in the R1N last season, before the club's enforced relegation.

I said before that we should appoint from within the club's family - this is of course not the case if this is true, but given his pedigree, and the fact that he is young, ambitious and proven to succeed at this level, he could be a fantastic acquisition for this club. What we have to look out for now is the calibre of player he can attract to the club on our budget. He's a history of attracting good names to VCD (he took Simon Austin to them in the kent league from Ryman Premier Horsham, and recruited Ashley Probets from the wilderness), so lets hope he can bring some star quality to add to the decent backbone that we've already got on board at TOSC.

Of course, if its all conjecture, or fallen through, this is a massive OG for the club... but let's not jump the gun. Maybe they're just updating the site or summink.

The late, late show.

Its been a while since I posted. It took some time to reflect on what was, honestly, a season marked by its inconsistency.

Chatham started the season with so much promise, ending it with four months of relegation form, seeing the Chats plummet from the edge of the play offs, to 17th in Ryman 1 South.

Alex O'Brien and Lew Watts are no more. They're not dead, if that's what you were thinking, but they've thrown in the towel. Not a surprise really.

The hunt is on for a new management team. Many many possibilities. Last time around, OB's shock appointment was one met with some trepidation by supporters, but overwhelmingly popular. His twelve game tenure as coach at the end of the 2008-2009 season saw us go on an unbeaten run. Soon announced was the signing of Brendon Cass, Steve Hafner and the arrival of two decent goalkeepers - Stroud and Ruddy. Things looked up. And then it all went wrong. OB never seemed to be able to settle the side. Frankly, there was too much change too swiftly.

The challenge now is to appoint a manager who bleeds the red and black. Both Lloyd Hume (with Alan Walker - the two were formidable at Maidstone) and Jason Lillis spring to mind, but may not, according to the esteemed John Crow be welcomed back to the club. The two are former Chats, but are not loved apparently. So, if we want to keep it in the family, who are our options - its hard to say.

Steve Binks is Mr Chatham. Not in the pageant sense, but in the Loyal and True sense. But maybe that would be a backward step. Binks could never put the side together to push for promotion , to take us to that next level.

Alternatively, we could look to another former manager, and good friend of the club, Clive Walker. He's involved at Faversham as far as I know, but perhaps the lure of the management role at TOSC may be a big draw. I'd put money on him. Or Steve Best. He was a leader for us on the pitch before his retirement, and knows the non league scene in Kent inside out. He was also tactically astute, and passion was a middle name for him.

Whoever we appoint, it needs to be swift. This is the time of year where players are out of contract. The likes of Solly and Probets will be attracting attention elsewhere. We need to keep them at the club, along with the backbone of the side, Richard Avery. Also, we need to bring back some of the players who've left. They were liked - really liked, by both fans and the wider "club" - to be explicit, I mean Lee Barnett, Brendon Cass, Byron Walker, Steve Hafner (playing Sunday league division 3 last i heard), and the dream star, local hero and Chatham's most successful product of recent years (excluding Danny Kedwell now a full timer at Wimbledon) Frannie Collin.

Its all dreams this time of year. But that's what post season is about. The power of dreams. Fire up the Honda - we're off to the Ryman Prem.

Chatham 3-0 Walton and Hersham

High flying Chatham secured their play off spot with this consumate victory over rivals Walton and Hersham at the Sports Ground Maidstone Road on Saturday, with a brace from Ray Powell and a Rob Denness stunner.

That's of course only partly true. We had of course hoped for success this year - AOB is right in that you've got to have ambiton - but with this game being the end of the home season, we're left looking to the hope of next year. Was it really twelve months ago that we all got so excited when we went 12 unbeaten and Lee Barnett was the Ziggy Stardust of Chatham Town?

Oh well... always next year... and time to look ahead (the away game at Ashford on Saturday now frankly means nowt to either side).

We need to look at who we're going to keep from the playing squad... First to spring on to my keep list is Matt Solly , player of the season. One of those players the opposition don't notice, and keeps things going.

Also to keep... both Ruddy and Stroud. Good keepers keep each other on their toes. Whether we can keep them both remains to be seen. Ashley Probets -The best full back in the league if he wants to be. Richard Avery -Let him concentrate on the job - just leave him to it. Robbie Denness - keep him and play him. And try and keep Jack Pallen. So much potential. And I'm really quite keen on Bobby Dixie. That's not to say don't keep the rest - I'm still undecided.

The performance on Saturday was so full of positives, its easy to see where it went wrong this year - to be frank too many players not turning up. That's why I'm undecided on a few of the squad. It difficult from the terrace to work out where the negativity comes from - the manager needs to identify it and remove it. Everyone had a good game on Saturday - Ruddy was superb. Wilfort was the sensible head we needed at the back, and Brad Potter complemented Solly well in the middle of the park. Jordan Kiffin looked sharper than I've seen him so far since he came in on loan, and I was very impressed with Bobby Dixie for his brief spell off the bench. Perhaps the lack of pressure told on the players. If O'Brien can keep that level of motivation going, then he should stay and show us what he can do next year. But if I'm honest, he's got ten games to prove it next season. We never got going this term - there's always next year.

So sad, so sad...

its a sad, sad sit-yoo-ayshun, warbled Elton Welsby John a few years ago, most notably for the younger patrons of this site with the boy band Blue. It sums up my feelings about Chatham Town FC at the moment.

I took advantage of an offer to visit a friend in the East Sussex region on Saturday just gone. Normally, such an offer would have been rejected with a dismissive pffffttt and wave of the hand - the Chats were at home. But with the season having already descended, in my opinion, into farce, why not take in the delights of Hove?

And I was proved correct as Chatham were beaten for the 10th time in 13 games, throwing away a one goal lead against a team who a few months ago we were able to call promotion rivals. Croydon Moneybags Athletic were the visitors to TOSC and came away 2-1 winners, Chatham's goal being scored by the spritely Jack Pallen.

Pallen's loan got me thinking about who we need to keep for next season. To be frank, there really aren't that many who seem to want it. And I can only assume that there is something amiss with the management of the club.

Brendon Cass, Byron Walker, Lee Barnett, Steve Hafner. One thing in common. Well, two. Very talented players. All left Chatham Town this season. And to be frank, they're the tip of the iceberg. It was implied in Alex O Brien's programme notes that Barnett went to Thamesmead for the money. Given that he is, to my knowledge, playing Kent League football now (last week he turned out for Erith and Belvedere), he's either had a massive turn of heart, E&B (who don't pay players) have had a change in fortune, or none of it was ever true. You decide.

And the rumours of indiscipline (some first teamers refusing to train) go unaddressed. Ascheri on a 35 day ban for a sending off playing with his mates in the sunday league. Possibly the most stupid thing to have happened since John Wilfort was affectionately termed "Mad John Wilf" by AOB. I'm not sure whether the problem here is the players or the gaffer. We've had too many players ghost in and out of the club - they must be smelling that something isn't right. And to be frank, as talented a coach as OB clearly is, tactically it's all looking a bit iffy. We never have a plan B.

If this season had another month to run, I'd be in Billy Hill's putting a ton on us going down, just to get something good out of the season. There have been so few positives this year - it started so well, and for once we looked like we might be competing rather than making up the numbers. But its fallen apart at the seams and no-one appears to care. That's why it rankles so much.

Should I stay or should I go? That's the song the artist formerly known as Don Logan is singing in the shower every morning... Whether the club will ever make the call remains to be seen. We've become an embarrassing shambles of poor tactics, thuggery, and lack of any credible talent. We have many talented individuals (Probets, Ruddy, Solly, Avery, Denness, Payne, Laker) but we are not a team. Next season must be an improvement.

Maidstone are apparently moving in. The money would be handy. And the men who took them from the Kent League to the Ryman Premier, Walker and Hume, are out of a job. Could be another "vancany" sign going up at TOSC over the summer...

Lidl's Vodka 1 - 3 Chuck Martini

This report is well, late, (four days so in fact), but the joys of parenting and a busy career in Social Housing have truly taken their toll this week.

Tuesday night saw Chatham, on the back of their first successive victories since October 2009, entertain play off hunting Godalming Town at TOSC. Godalming, a much much improved side and one of the suprise packages in the Ryman 1 South this term, came to Maidstone Road confident of a repeat of their opening day mauling of the Chats, an encounter which Chuck Martini's men (yes, that his real name) won 3-0.

Chatham started the game nervously, and were a deserved goal down on 27 mins when the impressively strong and fleet of foot number 11 Phil Williams held off challenges from an aggressive Ray Powell to fire a pin point accuract shot past Richard Stroud from an improbable angle. In a game that had offered little in the way of clear chances until that point, it was only ever going to be from such a piece of class that the scoreline altered, and the half petered out tersely, the only items of note being the substitution by Godalming of their keeper Gary Aulsberry for Rodney Chiweshe, who himself was carring an injury, and the almost immediate save by the replacement of a fierce and well struck Jack Pallen shot.

Into the second half, and Chatham came out of the blocks the stronger side. With no more than five second half minutes on the clock, the impressive Rob Denness held the ball up well in the box, and laid it off for Pallen, who's crisp drive was tipped wide by Chiweshe. On 55 minutes, Chatham were level thanks to a superlative strike from Denness with the left foot, the lanky frontman running onto a clever through ball, taking one touch and burying past the outstretched keeper into the far corner.

The momentum of the game was truly turning at this point, Chatham seemingly the better side, and a winner looking likely for the Medway side. Jack Pallen twice went close in the next ten minutes, before a Barnett-esque strike from distance by Denness was tipped over by the outstanding Chiweshe.

Then came the twist in this tale that wouldn't suprise any Chats fan this season. A hopeful punt by the Chiweshe (who had not kicked the ball with any comfort due to the knock he was carrying all game) eluded everyone in the Chatham rearguard, and was flicked through the defence to find Graeme Purdy, who buried it past the stranded Stroud.

Stroud, who'd not had much to do in the half could justifiably feel aggrieved by the yet again calamitous defending on show, but could not find fault with anyone but himself for the killer third which followed some ten minutes later. A cross into the box was caught by Stroud above a Godalming head, and immediately dropped. Stroud chased behind the big man, hoping to achieve who knows what other than a youth theatre pantomime re-enactment of a chase scene from a silent comedy (all that was missing was a clenched fist and a rolling pin),before the ball was pulled back across goal for Williams to bury it past the distraught defence. Chatham's confidence finally undone, the final ten minutes played out in a painfully lacklustre spirit, even Justin Ascheri's appearance from the bench doing nothing to dispell the painful truth that we are tactically incompetent and adrift of the depth of intelligence and tactical nous that makes winning teams.

We entertain high flying Fleet Town this afternoon. I might go.