Opportunity Keeps Knocking

The Farsley goalkeeper threw one into his own net and one of his outfield colleagues was red carded. Yet back in November Celtic still contrived to beat Telford. Could the opposition have been more accomodating? Well, yes actually. This result was wiped from the record books as Farsley Celtic folded and their results were expunged.

This episode encapsulates the current campaign. We’ve turned so many corners that I feel a little dizzy. I have lost count of the number of times that this season has been written off.

At the outset it seemed reasonable to expect a championship challenge. That idea is long forgotten. Fleetwood and Southport are respectively 19 and 16 points ahead. The title is theirs to fight over.

But the playoffs remain firmly in sight. Until this weekend they had been tantalisingly out of reach, but the demise of Farsley and Saturday’s scrappy draw at Hyde has propelled Telford into fifth place.

However disappointing this season has been there is still a great chance to gain promotion. The club must do everything within it’s power to grasp this opportunity. Who knows when it will knock again?

Old Bucks Head

Golden

Twenty years ago Stan Storton resigned as manager of Telford United. Stan reigned over a period of unrivalled success in the club’s history. Two FA Trophy victories and the FA Cup scalps of numerous league clubs were collected. The crowning glory was an FA Cup fifth round tie at the home of mighty Everton, then the best team in the land. A true golden era.

The fifteen years that followed were instantly forgettable. In 2004 the club that Storton led with distinction was wound-up.

The club that has replaced it is 100% owned by a supporters trust and enjoys good relations with the local council. Home is the expensively rebuilt “New” Bucks Head, which would not look out of place three rungs higher up the league ladder. Trust ownership means greater transparency and gives fans a say in the running of their club. Hopefully it too ensures that there will be not be another financial meltdown.

AFC Telford United was founded upon a wave of optimism and goodwill. Crowds have since held up well. Averaging above 1,500, with crucial matches and special ticketing arrangements via local schools producing some spectacular individual attendances.

The journey from Northern Premier League Division 1 to, thus far, Conference North has yielded two promotions. These are the first two promotions that any Wellington or Telford team have earned. Further promotion has been within touching distance on two occasions. In 2009 the Alliance Premier League Challenge Shield was won for the first (and possibly last!) time. The team has been winning matches more often than losing them.

The adventure has also taken us to places that we’d never before visited, with the number of travelling Telford fans often outnumbering the home fans. Who could have pointed to Ossett on a map six years ago? Many of us have now visited the homes of both Town and Albion!

How will we look back in future on the last few years? Are we in the midst of a new golden era?

Old Bucks Head

Green Shoots, or Weeds?

2009 has been a funny old year for Telford United. A run to the semi-final of the FA Trophy and the minor glory of a Setanta Shield triumph, allied to play-off final disappointment, distracted from indifferent league form.

Some who grumbled that cup runs came at the expense of promotion may now wish that they were there to offer some light relief. With knockout football at an end for the 2009-10 season, league performances have been brought into stark relief.

Optimism was abound in the summer of 09. The mood has since soured. Rob Smith has decided upon remedial action. He has sacrificed recently acquired flair for dour spoilers. Torpey out. Nurse in. The return of Torpey with new employers Fleetwood Town could be seen as vindication. The man looked afraid of his own shadow.

Farcical defeat at Farsley Celtic was followed by solid, if unspectacular, displays against Alfreton, Fleetwood and Corby. Seven points harvested from tough looking fixtures. Then came more rubbish at Redditch. A team of toilers may be good enough to stop the opposition, but will it be enough to force the issue?

Some will argue that the small squad size is a hinderance. Personally I feel that we’ve seen enough players at the Bucks Head this year, it’s just that many of them haven’t hung around for long. A bit of stability wouldn’t go amiss.

We’re now almost halfway through the campaign and less than a week from Christmas. Was the recent improvement in results a genuine recovery, or a false dawn? The season sits on a knife-edge.

We thought we’d seen the sprouting of green shoots. Let us hope that a hard frost does not kill them off.

Old Bucks Head

Youth team in action

The AFC Telford United academy team take on Nuneaton Town at Liberty Way tomorrow evening. Contact the club or visit the Nuneaton Town website for further information.

Reportage: Steelmen beaten at home

Northants Evening Telegraph

AS the mist and fog swirled around Rockingham Triangle, the long-term prospects for this Blue Square North game were looking only slightly better than the Labour party’s of staying in government beyond next summer.

The general consensus was that the game would start but would do well to finish…

http://www.northantset.co.uk/corby-town-fc/Steelmen-beaten-at-home.5899024.jp

Reportage: Point of honour for battling Town (Blackpool Gazette)

MOST of the plaudits went the way of defenders as Town stretched their unbeaten run in Blue Square North to four.

Both sides had inflicted defeat on Alfreton Town in their last outing – those two matches produced seven goals, though neither side could find the cutting edge to force a breakthrough on a cold and wet afternoon in Shropshire.

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sports-news/Point-of-honour-for-battling.5889361.jp

Better do better than that?

A week ago, most looked at the next two games and predicted a big fat “nil point”. Yet seven days later here we are having won one and drawn one and it’s still not enough for some. At this point you start to believe that some people really won’t be satisfied until we sack the manager.

Fleetwood's decidedly unimpressive away following. Photo: Steve Bowyer

Apparently we were poor on Tuesday night, yet still won two-nil against a side who are right up there where we need to be. Admittedly, Alfreton were struggling with injuries, but on the night we could have won more comprehensively and controlled the majority of the game. New signing Sean Evans won a penalty for the first goal on ten minutes which Brown tucked away, and a Phil Trainer special which looped into the top corner from 20 yards sealed the points prior to an admittedly unspectacular(dull) second half display.

On Saturday against Fleetwood we set out our stall to stifle a side who, it has to be said, have an awful lot more cash to spend on creative midfielders than we do yet found us very difficult to break down. It was a bit tight, but this is the point every team has to start from if they want to be successful; being hard to beat.

Net result – A team in poor form takes a point from the wide-boys of the league, job done in my book. We’re no-where near the finished article yet but I’m alot more optimistic than I was this time last week. Cheer up and enjoy the improvement.

Milky.

Youth team in action tonight

The AFC Telford United youth team are in league cup action this evening against Loughborough Dynamo. Contact the club for further details.

Red or Dead

I remember reading an article a while back that linked the colour red to success in sport. With three of England’s leading clubs – Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool – sporting red shirts it’s easy to give credence to the theory. England’s sole World Cup triumph came in a change strip of red.

The colour red also features prominently in many clubs’ financial accounts. With money pouring in via television and image rights football has never had it so good. From the crumbling, hooligan infested stadia of the 70s and 80s to the gleaming all-seater citadels of the naughties; English football has transformed itself from a pariah into a glossy global brand. The game is booming and so are the debts.

If the debt translates into on-field success we’re told that they have “speculated to accumulate”. If it ends in disaster the chief executive shrugs his shoulders and moves on to practice his financial alchemy elsewhere. Quite how these debts will be repaid is anyone’s guess. Presently there are enough willing buyers for the leading clubs. One day the music will stop and some unfortunates will be left holding toxic parcels.

Things are different at the Bucks Head. AFC Telford United recently returned a fifth straight year of profit. £8,455 may not sound like much. It might buy you a small car or a couple of Steve Torpeys. The key issue is that the number was painted in black ink, not red. The margin between success and failure is a narrow one and the guardians of our football club continue to do sterling work while walking a financial tightrope. AFC Telford United must continue to return profits, however small. FC United of Telford doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I’ll leave you with the words of Dickens’ Mr Micawber:

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

Old Bucks Head

Reportage: Farsley’s Grant bails out blunder keeper Skiba

Farsley 3 AFC Telford 1

Farsley keeper Piotr Skiba was at the forefront of the action in the first half as the Celts earned a superb victory at Throstle Nest over AFC Telford to move up to 13th in Blue Square North.

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