I’m back

It’s been a while since I posted anything on here and you might be wondering why? Well university is finally finished and I graduate in October with 67% (2:1 aka merit). I’m over the moon that I managed to do so well considering the course was so horrendously run…thankfully they gave me £300 in compensation for that. So what’s been happening since I last posted well… Leighton Town were relegated into the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division and I managed to land nicely on my feet after a week away in Gran Canaria, when I was offered a position at New Bradwell St. Peter writing match reports, taking photos and producing videos.

From now on this blog will very much be based around the club I now work for, just so that I have somewhere to show case the work I am doing. I have been to three of their pre-season friendlies so far so photos and match reports will be posted shortly.

News Story: Town Relegated after Hard Fought Season

Leighton Town today met their fate as they found out they were to be relegated to a lower level.

The Leighton Buzzard side, which played in the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One Central, ended the season on 35 points leaving them second from bottom in the league.

The club was established 131 years ago and they were one of the original members of the South Midland’s League in 1922.

This season they struggled to maintain good form, losing against those at the bottom of the table where points could have easily been picked up.

Iain McGregor, interim Chairman of Leighton Town said, “We played reasonably well on occasions especially against sides that were at the top end of the table.”

A big problem for Leighton this season was their budget, McGregor said, “We chose not to increase the budget to try to ‘ save ‘ us. To be able to afford a higher budget we need to bring in more income, sadly people do not come to matches when we are not being successful.”

Supporters of the club are not surprised by the relegation after manager Mark Eaton was asked to leave after three months.

The club made the decision to appoint Stuart Murray as first team manager for the rest of the season.

Andy Griggs said, “He was out of his depth, he’s a bad communicator and his decisions baffled me. We need a new manager next season, but you need a budget for that and where do we find that?

Barry Gallant agreed saying, “Several of the players are not good enough at this level and Stuart lost key players at the wrong time. He is tactically clueless; there are so many areas that wouldn’t have taken much to correct to have gained a few more points.”

Looking forward to next season the supporters hope that their local side can work their way back up the non-league pyramid.

Keith Clarke said, “We need a more experienced manager next season and we need try and keep some of the squad to help us remain in the top half of the league to try and get promoted.”

The Football Association (FA) is yet to announce which league Leighton will play in next season or whether they will receive a reprieve.

Here is a podcast on the supporters feelings about Leighton’s relegation this season.

Feature: Should Grass Roots Football Receive more Money from the Football Association (FA)?

Money has always been a problem for non-league football clubs; they are always struggling to pay off debts, sometimes players do not receive any wages and facilities cannot be maintained or updated with the latest technology. However even clubs that are in the league struggle with debts but then what can they expect when they pay ridiculous amounts of money for one player.

Football dates back to 1863 where it was first developed and recognised in London. A few years later in 1871 the FA Cup was founded and then in 1888 the first ever football league was created[1]. Although football has been around for many years the National League System (NLS) was not introduced until the 1990s where it brought 80 divisions together over seven different levels[2]. Today there are now 58 leagues, 84 divisions and more than 1,600 clubs playing football[3].

In recent years non-league football has struggled financially, mainly because their main source of income is the takings on the gate and behind the bar. However with the UK still coming back from the recent recession people have cut down on their spending. In some ways this is good because people can no longer afford expensive season tickets for premier league clubs, but they do not realise that where they live there is probably a non-league club that is desperate for their support. With an entrance fee of merely £10 for an adult at most clubs it allows people to watch the sport they love for less money.

A survey was carried out last year asking people what they thought would make playing football better and nearly 30,000 people said they would like to see improvements to their pitches. The FA announced last month (March) that they will invest £8 million to improve football pitches across the UK over the next four years. They have called it the Pitch Improvement Programme (PIP) and are hoping to support the lower league clubs, volunteers and groundsmen. They are also going to spend £36 million on facility improvements and new developments; the money has come directly from the Premier League and FA Facilities Fund[4].

However campaigners from the Save Our Grassroots group believe it will take £5 billion to improve the pitches and clubs. In 1999 five percent of TV revenue made by the Premier League was to be spent on grassroots football, which would be over £400 million under the current deal[5]. If non-league clubs did not exist then people like Jamie Vardy would have never been discovered, therefore it is important that money reaches the lower leagues. It is not just the FA and Premier League causing problems for grassroots, but local councils and governments. Many of the football club facilities are council owned, the rent goes up every year and clubs are struggling to pay the rising cost.

It has been discussed that legislation should be brought in to ensure that the money made from the Premier League is spent on grassroots football. The Liberal Democrat MP for South Manchester, John Leech who has been a Manchester City season ticket holder for 31 years said, “Since the announcement on telly there has been a procession of politicians wanting to see more money for grassroots. I agree but promises when the Premier League was set up to give five percent to grassroots football have not been kept and unless parliament legislates, it is not going to happen.”[6]

Back in 2010 James Doe set up Non-League Day (NLD) during the international break in the football season. This day was created to encourage people to watch their local non-league football team, where they get in for a discounted prize, take part in raffles and spend money on food etc. all to help raise money for the club[7]. This is just one way in which grassroots clubs are trying to make more money for themselves. Although this is successful for some clubs for example, Dulwich Hamlet who last season averaged a crowd of 500 people saw it increase to 3,000 on NLD⁷ other clubs struggle to even advertise NLD because of the lack of money they have.

Even though the FA have committed to funding the pitch and facility improvements what happens after the four years is over, how do those clubs sustain themselves to keep their pitches and facilities up to date? Do they hope that the improvements will encourage more supporters and more sponsors so they will make money that way or will there be another scheme designed by the FA to provide continuous help to those clubs that need it?

The consensus is that even though the FA is providing funding for grassroots football for the next four years non-league football clubs will always struggle for money no matter what happens. They are stuck in a catch 22 situation; the clubs need to spend money in order to make money.

Here is a vlog on my opinion of money in non-league football.

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[1] FIFA. History of Football – The Origins. Available: http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/who-we-are/the-game/. Last accessed 7/4/16.

[2] Wikipedia. History of the English non-League football system. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_non-League_football_system. Last accessed 7/4/16.

[3] The FA. (2015). The National League System. Available: http://www.thefa.com/my-football/club-leagues/league-steps-1-7. Last accessed 7/4/16.

[4] FA Staff. (2016). FA to improve grass pitches with £8 million commitment. Available: http://www.thefa.com/news/my-football/2016/mar/fa-launches-drive-to-improve-grass-pitches-across-england#yFWB8uRrq7uTeWoy.99. Last accessed 11/4/16.

[5] Badshah, N. (2015). Campaigners call for more money in grassroots football. Available: http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10102359/campaigners-call-for-more-money-for-grassroots-football. Last accessed 11/4/16.

[6] Coates, P. (2015). TV football deal: Big clubs gorge themselves as grassroots football is tossed a few crumbs, says FC United boss. Available: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/tv-football-deal-big-clubs-8625157. Last accessed 13/4/16.

[7] Cook, S. (2013). Non-League Day explained with the help of Non-League Novice. Available: http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/interviews-features-archive/non-league-day-explained-with-the-help-on-non-league-novice.html. Last accessed 13/4/16.

The Season has come to an End

So tomorrow for me the season is over, however for Leighton Town it finishes on Saturday 23^rd April. I was going to be watching a different team tomorrow, however after Leighton’s fixture was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch last Saturday, the game got re-arranged for the same evening.

Looking ahead to tomorrow evening the two teams at the bottom of league face each other. North Greenford cannot do anything to avoid relegation, however last season they were granted a reprieve from relegation, after the league reshuffled the teams in each division.

The team sat in 20^th, Hanwell, if they lose tomorrow and Leighton win, Hanwell will drop below the relegation zone, but the deciding game for both teams is on Saturday when one of them will be relegated.

So it’s all still to play for, for Leighton with only two games left this season they might make it or they might not. If they drop down a league there will be a lot more travelling, but the team and management might find the level of football more appropriate. If they stay in the Evo-Stik Division One Central league they will continue to struggle without the correct management and funds.

If anyone is interested in attending tomorrow evening’s game, which kicks off at 7:45pm the address, is as follows:

Bell Close
Lake Street
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
LU7 1RX

 

 

Rain Stops Play

So unfortunatley due to the disastrous weather we had this morning the game I was going to attend was postponed after a pitch inspection was carried out at 11:45am. Luckily my break at work was at 12:30pm so I was able to find out what was going on before finishing work at 3pm and heading the ground.

The fixture has quickly been re-arranged and is now due to be played on Thursday 21st April, however I had already planned to go and watch a different team that day, but if this weather continues that game might also be postponed because they are in a lower league than Leighton.

I will just have to keep my eyes on Twitter for pitch inspection announcements and pray that the weather stays fine  for the next few days, then it will be the last game of the season for me and only a few more blog posts to go until my assignment due date.

Penultimate Game

Tomorrow will be my last but one game as the season finally draws to a close. I’ll be heading to watch the second half of Leighton Town vs North Greenford at Bell Close. Once again I can’t make the first half due to work commitments, hopefully one day I wont have to work weekends.

My Dad will be taking notes on the first half, last time he actually did pretty well. However understanding his spidery writing was difficult and it took me twice as long to actually write the match report.

If anyone is interested in attending the match it will be at the following address, kick off 3pm:

Bell Close
Lake Street
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
LU7 1RX

Last Night’s Game becomes Tomorrow Night’s Game

As you can probably tell from the title last night’s game didn’t go ahead and it has been re-arranged for tomorrow night (Thursday). However much to the annoyance of most people the game wasn’t called off until 7pm, when most supporters and players had already turned up.

So I will be heading once again to Aylesbury tomorrow night to hopefully watch this local derby take place.

Take Two

Once again, quite a regular thing now and I’m sure you’re fed up of hearing it but I wasn’t able to get to any of the weekend action due to my work commitments. Let’s say this though the weekend I had at work I’d have much rather sat in the wind, rain or any kind of weather for that matter watching the football.

But anyway tomorrow I will be heading to the Aylesbury FC vs Aylesbury United re-arranged fixture. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you will know that three weeks ago I went to this game with my boyfriend and we were left in the dark at half time when the floodlights went out.

Well they finally got round to re-arranging the fixture and because I’ve kept my ticket stubs it means we can watch the game without having to pay again. I only hope that the floodlights don’t fail again and that the first half is more exciting than it was three weeks ago.

Anyone interested in attending the game, kick off is at 7:45pm and the address is as follow:

Haywood Way
Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire
HP19 9WZ

 

 

Tuesday Night

With the Easter holidays over I’m back in Harlow to attend the last six weeks of term before a couple of exams and then I’ll be all alone in the big wide world trying to find my first steps either into a journalism career or an animal one.

It’s typical that over the Easter break there were no mid-week fixtures anywhere but as soon as uni starts again there is a fixture the very next day. So on Tuesday 5^th April, which is tomorrow, I’ll be driving the 42 miles home to watch Leighton Town vs Uxbridge.

This fixture was originally down to be played on Saturday 5^th March at Barton Rovers ground after the boiler broke and no hot water was available at Bell Close. However after a freak snowstorm the match referee called the game off 45 minutes before kick off meaning Uxbridge’s 110-mile journey was completely pointless.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game both teams lost their games on Saturday, Uxbridge losing away to Kings Langley 3-1 while Leighton only lost 1-0 to Diamonds in front of their biggest crowd of the season. If Leighton win tomorrow and the team just above them in the league, Aylesbury United lose, they’ll find themselves once again just above the relegation zone, which they’ve been battling with since the start of the season.

Earlier on in the season Leighton travelled to Uxbridge and lost 3-0, hopefully they’ll be able to get their own back and win tomorrow night. Anyone who is interested in attending the game kick off is at 7:45pm and the address is as follows:

Bell Close
Lake Street
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
LU7 1RX

Revamping Social Media

Not really a major change but this morning I decided to give the blogs’ Facebook and Twitter page a bit of a revamp by updating the profile picture and banners on both pages. The profile picture is of the most recent game I went to, Leighton Town vs AFC Rushden and Diamonds and the banner I kept it quite minimalist with a free, able to use football that I found on Google Images. Hope you all like the changes!!