Sun 1st Jul, 2007 - Day of Reckoning

Today's the day when we all got the chop. I guess it wasn't a surprise as there had been no movement for a while about bargaining a deal. Nick's off to Ireland to see out the last of his carrer at Loughgall, but he's the only one with a bid on the table. Kinda feels like an end of an era for us old farts.

There's been no real new signings for the start of the year, so it might be a pretty solid start with the existing first team from last year. It's still looking good though and there's hushed whispers going around the grounds that this might be the year to go up.

Sat 28th Apr, 2007 - Seventh

After the Worksop debacle, we knew we'd need to be lucky to get into the playoffs. Hinckley went on to win both their remaining games to make it a non-event. We thumped Hyde 3-0 at their place and drew with frontrunners Stalybridge to finish up the season.

Well, all in all it turned out to be a decent season for us, but a pretty dismal year for me. The team is infused with some quality youth players now and is looking strong. There seems to be no real doubt about going up next year if we keep playing like we did through the closing games. Bonesy seems to have cemented his position as manager and I'm guessing they'll give him a bit more lattitude next year.

There's still a handful of us not on contracts yet for next year, and with the new recruits filling out the first team I'm guessing they won't be coming either. I'm still on the fence about next year. Airbus are still sniffing, but I'm guessing they'll wait until I'm off contract before letting me know exactly what they have in mind. The Welsh league isn't exactly glory central, but it might be worth a shot if the deal is right. Some of my mates from Aston Villa are coming down for the friendly arranged in a couple of week's time. I think that'll settle what the next step will be.

Here's the final league positions for season 06/07:

Sun 15th Apr, 2007 - Bad decisions

Big decision yesterday saw the end of our unlikely charge to the playoffs. We're 0-0 with Worksop with 30 minutes to go and we're peppering their goal (nothing's going near the net tho :/ ). They a break down the right side and cross into an open Owens on a charge into the box. Hennesey comes out off the line and goes down low for the ball. The ball bounces off Hennessey, but Owens clatters over him and lands hard. The ref points to the spot and then sends Hennessey off! Professional foul my arse. The hill erupts and gives the ref what for, but to no avail, the damage is done. They slot it past Coates to make the farce complete. Someone from our side got a yellow for dissent too.

Bloody Refs.

The first team has been going good in the last couple of months. They have managed a record of 10-2-2 since the new year and have pushed up into the top half of the table. The guv's been pushing hard to get us into a playoff spot and no-one would have thought it possible until this last run of wins. Although it's still possible to get there, with only 2 games to go we need Hinckley and Nuneaton to lose at least one. Even though we got one back to make a draw out of the Worksop game, we're screwed now. Did I mention how bad that decision was? Bonesy got stuck into Cooper after the game too, but only managed to get a warning from the FA.

Been a pretty ordinary couple of months for me. The lads on trial are stealing the limelight in our reserves games, and even though we're winning most of the friendlies organised, we're a topsy turvy lot. Airbus UK have indicated that they might be interested in my signature, but a year or two in the stands is sounding pretty good about now. There's no deal forthcoming from the management yet, but I'm not looking for anything less than a manager spot anyway.