300 The Dentists Diary

Well that wasn’t too bad was it? No... It was bloody awful!!!! Pathetic in fact!

I, and many others reading this, love Hull FC passionately, we have made sacrifices for them and been, over the years, pilloried and mocked in the name of supporting them. However I have to say that at times over the last few years I have questioned as to whether some of the players have those same feeling for us lot. I do know one thing and that is that the passion that I’ve bought into with my ‘hard earned’ over 55 years, allows me to be critical and outspoken at times when things move beyond the pale and quite frankly they did just that yesterday.

Having written 300 dollops of this stuff over the last 7 years, I have to say straight away, that performance ranks for me in the top 5 of bad ones. It was sloppy, unfocussed, slap dash, littered with mistakes and most of all a total insult to the thousands of FC fans who made the journey over to Wakey. However, having said all that, it was nothing if not totally predictable. I met my pal Steve, another veteran of supporting the Club for decades, at half time and we both agreed that we’d seen this in the past so often before and we both knew what would happen in the end.

So despite 300 Editions of this stuff spanning almost 7 years nothing much changes does it, we have once again flattered to deceive and are now back where we started, throwing games

away and not appearing to understand the importance of the poor fans on the terraces. For us it was heartbreaking, the players who read this will say of course they do care about us, and I honestly believe that Yeamo, Whiting, Moa, Houghton, Lynchy and a few others genuinely do. As for the rest, well to me they just play lip service to the fact that they value us but fail to show it in their actions. For me there is a bit too much chasing big contracts for next season going on off the pitch at present, whilst the focus should be on concentrating on getting a bit of accountability on it. Anyone can talk about being accountable, but on the field of play actions speak louder than words for this fan and yesterday as against Rovers two weeks ago, a few of our lot got found out!!

In this week’s 30th edition of the Diary, we look at a shocking display at Wakey and our lack of mental strength, there’s a bumper edition of Wilfs Whiffs, with almost a dozen rumours to chew over and there’s a bit about Ticks call up to the England squad, Sharpy’s injury, the Allam’s gradually squeezing our profile out of the KC, Yeamo’s Testimonial and Chico Jackson. Plus there’s a look back at some extracts from past editions, a ringer in the guise of Airlie Bird, a lude T shirt and in Codgers Corner a look at a time when we needed a great little half back and went out and pinched one!

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This week you won’t be hearing anything from me about individual errors, tactics, the way that we played, the game etc. because that shambles was down to just one thing in my book and it’s something that us old hands have seen for years at our

great Club. For me, it was all about the poor mental strength of too many players, weakness of resolve and a lack of team ethic when the chips were down.

We saw the same sort of stuff way back in 2005, when we were humiliated at Bradford in the play-offs and on several occasions over the years since, usually against Rovers and Leeds when the pressure was on. It reared its head in the rain in that play-off game at Headingley last year and again at Manchester two weeks ago. So, like it or not, it a malaise and culture that’s been around for years. The thing is that over those years when faced with teams who really want it, we have proved not to have the mental toughness it takes to compete at that same level of wanting and desire, for the full 80 minutes.

Wakey were poor at times and desperate at others, we outplayed them tactically at times, but for me that performance has to be the tipping point of the season. I don’t think that we will be winning anything this year, because what is wrong can’t be sorted on the training field with tackle bags and drills; what is happening is in some of our players heads (or at least it isn’t) and will only be fixed when they have departed and a new culture and mentality is instilled in the staff and the Club!

I have said in here on several occasions in the past, (and been pilloried and shot down for it) but when we play the Dobbins, they always want it more than us and that really hurts me because when compared with all opposition fans no one wants it more than we do on the terraces. We are the most partisan and passionate supporters there are in the game and all we

want is to see a bit of that coming the other way. Yesterday we came up against a Wakey team that wanted it more than us and who had been primed all week for what was Agars ‘Wembley’. They played as if their life and that of their fans depended on it. However again, like at Manchester, when the passion and the tide of the game turned against us, we simply couldn’t hack it!

There is an opinion about that we have too many players on inflated wages, that Gentle is trying to sort it for the future and that one or two don’t like it, whether that’s true or not I don’t know. But what I do know is that Rugby League is a team game, not just when you are buddies off the field or in the press, but out there on the pitch. How many times did you see players ‘crabbing’ across the line with ball in hand, as no-one offering them a runner? How often was Yeamo or someone else desperately hanging onto a player’s ankle when no one came to tie up the tackle? That sticking together for the sake of the group particularly when the chips are down is the thing our proud Club was noted for back in the 70’s 80’s and 90’s, but its absence now was epitomised for me in the last minute. Then Joe Westerman produced what is fast becoming his ‘Party Piece’ where he thinks he is ‘Superman’ and takes them all on. He had two men outside him unmarked 5 yards from the line. Whatever had gone before, that would have won us the game, but he was greedy forgot about the main prize, the supporters and the team, as he craved the glory for himself, and blew it! That’s unforgiveable on so many levels!

There is nothing wrong with our defence, just look at the heroics we showed at Saints, or against Rovers at Easter, but

when we are under pressure and I mean really under pressure as we have been in the last three weeks, then we fold and play dumb.

Each year we start OK at the beginning of the season but later on when physical fatigue kicks in and injuries are being carried, we seem to lose our focus and are unable to concentrate for any length of time. That for me shows that we can’t hack it mentally and the sooner Gentle sorts that out the better, although as I said earlier, it won’t be happening this year because some of ‘em are past redemption, it’s just not part of their culture and some don’t do concentration. People talk about good teams peaking later in the season, I wonder if that scenario is not so much about ability and skill but rather the ability to cope with all the pressure mentally and the ‘wanting’ to succeed.

As you can tell I’m upset, in fact had I not had to go into Leeds after the game to bring Rosenberg Junior’s stuff home from her University digs, and therefore had time to cool down, then the censors would have had a field day on this week’s Diary. It was just not fair on all those loyal fans that trekked to Wakefield.

I don’t want to go on about it anymore, but when the team has been obviously well prepared with a game plan and extensive work on the training pitch and it only comes through in patches, it points for me to a lack of concentration and some minds on other things and for any fan that really loves his Club that’s simply not acceptable. By enlarge team selections and substitutions are working well, so it has to be down to the lads

out there and the way they go about their work. I still think we will scrape into the top eight, but don’t be surprised if we finish below Rovers because my pal Steve and I won’t! Again, you see, I’m convinced that beating them and finishing above them means more to the fans than it does to some of our staff. Our fiends from across the river and it seems Wakey, thrive on being the underdog and use adversity, poverty and ridicule as motivational factors. It gives them an edge and a wanting. Perhaps our lot are too comfortable, because when you only actually work for 80 minutes a week, surely total focus throughout that period to please the paying customers, isn’t too much to ask?

As we led 30-10 and some Dicks started chanting “We got rid of Agar” the writing was on the wall. At times we dominated the game and if proof is needed that we are good enough skill wise to be a top team, then look at the fact that having stretched the margin in the first half we came back at the start of the second and stretched it again to 4 scores. Good teams don’t throw leads like that away and certainly not twice, particularly when they are playing what is no more than a passionate, desperate team. Attack is about flair, defence about tenacity and winning about mentality. We lacked the last two in spades yesterday.

As for performances well what can you say, Whiting tried to hold it together down the middle, Lynchy worked tirelessly as did Moa, Danny Houghton tried like hell but looked jaded, passed poorly at times and got a injury to his leg, Yeamo looked rusty but showed passion and had a real go and that’s about it really. Ellis and Seymour were OK once the forwards got their fingers out, but that didn’t happen enough and young

Crooks looked out of his depth on the wing. However I can’t be arsed with the rest because as you can see I’m bloody upset and pretty disillusioned....again.

So to the week gone by and first a bumper edition of the old rumour mill that is ‘Wilfs Whiffs’.....

So it seems that Brett Finch is now going home Down Under and we can forget about him, but I was hearing on Wednesday from contacts in Dewsbury and Pudsey, that Brett Kearney of Bradford has been telling one or two close friends that he will be joining us next season. Whether that is right I don’t know, but I do expect his team mate and winger Jason Crookes to be announced as our next signing for 2013 and I am also told a deal for Daniel Holdsworth at Salford is progressing well (when he was at the Willows Bomber described the Aussie play maker as the City Reds best overseas signing!) I was also told by a player that we have spoken to Rangi Chase, but I won’t mention that because it will send all sorts of hares running. Will Sharp is now apparently telling folks that this season might be his last at the Club and Olivia Elima coming to us from Bradford is another strong rumour doing the rounds at present! Then there is Liam Watts who has asked to be released from Rovers and was seen at the KC on a couple of occasions recently, I was told that deal was done months ago, and so it all just goes on and on!

At least I can categorically scotch one bit of nonsense that is circulating concerning the fact that Bomber and Gentle have fallen out. That one is complete rubbish believe me, I have made enquiries of the two of them and they both think it’s

hilarious! In addition Saints are preparing to announce the signing of Jordan Turner this week too. Finally over in Cheshire it is ‘common knowledge’, I am told, that Danny Tickle has been offered a massive contract to join Widnes in 2014, which it is said we can’t match within the framework we have set up at our Club. He hasn’t signed it yet, but in the words of one Widnes official, “He would be a fool not to” It’s that time of the year though and I’m including the above whiffs because of who I have heard the news from, which I believe gives them some credibility at least, however who knows? There are dozens of names floating about being linked with us and everyone else in Super League but Crookes, Watts, Elima, Holdsworth and Kearney are all looking at perhaps possible at least at the moment...... I think.

Well, the general consensus was one of “About time too”, but I was pleased for Danny Tickle, on his call up to the England 21 man squad for the Exiles games. He has without doubt been one of the competitions most consistent performers this year; he is top points scorer in the British game and has also scored a total of 9 tries for us already. Danny’s last appearance for his country was when he played against Wales at Brewery Field, Bridgend in 2009, and he will no doubt be looking to have a tilt against Willie Manu, who has been named in the Exiles squad. Of course well done as always to Tom Briscoe, who we sort of expect to be in there, although a quieter start to his season was I think posing a question mark over his inclusion. I think that Tom has improved since that shaky start and now looks to be coming into some form. Of course Yeamo misses out because of that troublesome foot injury and subsequent outbreaks of infection in it. He told me this week that he was so frustrated by the constant set-backs and seems to have a bit of an ongoing problem getting surgery to heal properly. I’m confident Kirk will

be back on the International scene once he is playing regularly again.

In industry they often say that, to improve the service and skills you provide, there is nothing like seeing how others do things and the same I guess is also true in the constant quest to improve those little things in training that mean so much when giving your team that ‘edge’ in sport. It was therefore good to see that Andy Hay, the man who is reported to be behind our amazing improvement in defence earlier in the season, has flown out to team up with NSW and ex-Australia coach Ricky Stuart on a ‘fact finding’ visit to the NRL. As part of that and through the contacts of Peter Gentle, he has been handed the chance of a lifetime to help prepare New South Wales for this Wednesday’s State of Origin game with Queensland. It is reported that Andy will work on the defensive patterns and plays and will also visit West Tigers and meet up with his former boss at Castleford Terry Matterson. Many Castleford fans point to Hays departure to join Hull as instrumental in their somewhat disastrous season so far in Super League. There is little doubt he has been missed of late and was a shrewd addition to Peter Gentles staff when he joined our Club after the end of last season. There is little doubt that this development is a positive one and it will be interesting to see what new ideas Andy brings back.

I told you weeks ago about Chico Jacksons efforts to get himself fit for a massive Charity effort he was planning this summer. He lives just down the road from us in Walkington and I have seen him pounding the pavements and running across the Westwood in an effort to fine tune his body for the challenge. His training has gone so well that he has shed 3 stone and will be setting off on Thursday, June 21, raising money for the Steve Prescott Foundation, Dove House Hospice's Love You 2 appeal and the Smile Train charity. The

plan is to complete a 184-mile bike ride from Bridlington to St Bees in Cumbria in two days, before running the 193 miles back from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire over eight days. He admitted that, “On 1st January this year I got on the scales and I weighed 20st 1lb – the heaviest I have ever been”.

Chico, who is now Chairman of Hull FC's Ex-Players Association, will at least be joined by various supporters along the way, but he will be the on his own in that he will be the only participant to complete the full distance. I’ll be keeping you posted in future Diary’s on his progress and how you can donate and sponsor him, I know Chico sees the Diary from time to time, so good luck to him.

So Yeamo’s long awaited Testimonial is at last underway and there are still a few tickets left for the Launch Lunch which takes place next Sunday at the KC with an ‘Exiles’ theme. Tickets can be obtained by ringing Eddy Northcott on 01482 242322 and are priced at £25 for adults and a very reasonable £8 for kids. There is also good news for some of our (lady) readers in that from tomorrow the much vaunted and anticipated ‘Nudie’ players Calendar is on sale at both Hull FC shops priced £10. With events like the Xmas factor, Master Mind and Strictly Come FC Dancing already planned, there is some good stuff coming up in Yeamo’s year and I’ll keep you posted as things are announced.

There was some good news coming out of the Leeds Sevens last week, despite the fact we only won one of our three games because in the Mascots Race, according to James Smailes, Airlie Bird won by a mile, a victory that was appreciated by

everyone in the Stands, including our own Birds ‘inner workings’! I have to say I smell a ringer, but well done Airlie!

You know I rarely ‘really go’ for folks even those who don’t wish the team I love well, but I have to say I really don’t think those awfully nice Allam ‘chappies’ like us much at all. Cast your mind back to the heady days when City were marching towards Championship mediocrity and that shocking ‘Tiger Eyes’ mural appeared around the front doors of the KC. After a lot of us complained about what we saw as unnecessary bias towards our co-tenants in a ground that was built as a community facility for two of the Cities Clubs, we were given an explanation by the Chief Executive of the SMC. We were told that all the City stuff would come down once their season was over and be replaced by the Hull FC imagery while the ‘eyes’ would be covered on match days by a giant roller blind. As I went to a meeting on Saturday morning and entered the KC through the main doors little had changed it was all City imagery and as for a roller blind........ well what do you think?

This followed a friend of mine who is a reporter for a Yorkshire regional newspaper going to the Press Conference for the Football Clubs new Manager and commenting to me afterwards that there was not a single image of Hull FC amongst the permanent wall pictures in the Press Room. If they are as petty as that, then one has to wonder how they are treating Adam Pearson these days after his purchase of the Hull FC and acrimonious departure from his job at Hull City. I believe by their actions that they don’t like Hull FC and we’ll have to be weary of them!!! As I have often said, the day may come when we have to unite against our ‘Sports for everyone in the City’ Buddies and they’ll have to be watched because for me personally they are trying to marginalise us in a Stadium we have equal rights to use.

The injury announced this week to Will Sharp is a sad state of affairs indeed. Will had struggled at the Club last season under Agar and was ‘Scape Goat in Chief’ for all the woes of one side of our defence, but this year after some personal coaching by Peter Gentle, he has blossomed into an illusive winger. He is known to be under pressure with regard to a new contract, although I think he really does want to stay. Personally I salute his endeavour and his injury has really come at exactly the wrong time for his career at Hull FC.

Word is as I said earlier that he has been told he can look for another Club which I think is a bit harsh but if I were to proffer a reason for that action it would have to be that his problem is that he doesn’t score enough tries. He’s illusive, hard working, hard running and now much better under the high ball but for a winger he doesn’t cross the whitewash enough and perhaps Gentle feels that soemone like say young Crookes from Bradford will do. I feel a bit sorry for Will really, if the rumours are true, as he is a guy who has overcome a deal of adversity in his personal life and is really liked by every one of the players at Hull FC. Still as I have said before about these moves by our new administration, we have as fans to hold the line, try to understand and wait and watch for the eventual outcome.

Well 300 editions eh? When I started attempting to put down the weekly thoughts of an average supporter almost 7 years ago, I thought that my 600 word rambling would last a couple of weeks and yet here I am, 300 editions and two books (almost) later, still spending around 20 hours a week trying to chronicle the frustrations of being an ordinary FC fanatic. I’m still obsessed with my team after 55 years, although at times, like yesterday, it’s also still fair to say I wish I wasn’t. A lot of fans can take it or leave it they come when the going is good and stay away when it isn’t. However if like me you can’t do that,

then you’ll be thankful that we have occasions like Elland Road in 1982, Old Trafford in 1991 and Cardiff in 2005 as moments by which our commitment is rewarded, in oh so spectacular and memorable fashion. They’re the moments during which you come within touching distance of the impossible dream and when you know paradoxically that it’s all the depression, futility, frustration, ‘heartbreaking reversals at Wakey’ and anger that has gone before, that actually make those times so significant and all that hardship so gloriously worthwhile.

As you know I’ve used the experience of writing this drivel on a weekly basis, to spur me onto writing two books on the subject of 55 years following the club I love and several folks have ask me why I’ve done that after spending so much time writing the Diary every week. The answer is simple really; I’ve done it because I want to ensure that someone records for future generations just what these last 60 years in the history of Hull FC were like. I wanted to do it before the era is no more and the extraordinary happenings and the heroes and villains they have produced become nothing more than myth and legend.

I guess at this point it’s worth saying that 7 years is a long time in some respects, but in others it fly’s by as little seems to change at all in the daily challenge of continuing to be a ‘Loyal Supporter’. Look at these two extracts taken at random from just two previous ‘milestone’ editions.

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Edition 100 (2nd April 2008)

“…..we are down more than up, sad more than happy and

frustrated more than elated! We win well, and then lose woefully, we always start behind everyone else, are under cooked and over done, and all it seems, just a bit more frequently than all the other clubs in Super League!

We are good starters, but poor finishers, and although Saints, Wakey, Bradford and a few others try to wrestle the title from us, we are still the perennial “Injury kings” of the game.

We get constant earache from the dimwits over in Banjo picking land across the River; get more injuries in training than in games and have a Mascot that is supposed to be a Bird but which looks a lot like a Duck!!!! We sign big names that are injury prone, even though we already have plenty that seem to fit into that category at the club already! We are bitterly disappointed when we lose, get injuries or miss out on a signing, but perk up again when Auntie Kath and Uncle James give us a flag and a scarf! …..”

Edition 200 (17th May 2010)

“The announcement that Willie Manu has signed on for another two years was the week’s best news and it was certainly welcome in our house. I was, as you know, getting worried, but who can blame Willie, considering probably his last but one contract before retiring, with two Super League teams and a big French RU club making offers too. I don’t know if ours was the best he got, but he is settled here, his family love it and he is spending time with the rest of the ‘Mafia’. All of which, I think, swung the deal.

Again, as we normally see when players sign, there was lots of talk about how good the lads are, how good the coach is, and the fact that he feels we can win something. Almost scripted some would say? However, whatever the backdrop to the news, it’s great to have our best player so far this season,

signed up again. That for me says it all really: top bloke, great signing….”.

So what does the past 7 years of writing this Diary prove? Well, if you really do love Hull FC it’s a bit of a bummer really because in reality, like some love sick member in a failing marriage, there is no escape. You can’t live with them you can’t live without them! You know like yesterday they are going to disappoint you, you just hope it ain’t the same next week! I still get that churning feeling on match days as kick off approaches, which lingers until there is some resolution of the outcome. Sometimes at big games, communication in the two hours before the match is futile, because I am just too wound up in it all to make ‘idle chit chat‘. That’s how it gets me, sometimes I wish it didn’t, but as I approach 62, as a part of my life, it ain’t going away, so I have to live with it!

On a lighter note when I called in the Hull FC Shop on Saturday Morning I spotted this, it’s honestly just as I found it, which must be as near as the Club will ever get to producing an obscene T shirt.

This week in Codgers Corner, I thought that I would go back to an old format and look for once at a player rather than a game. At these times when everyone is baying for the Club to sign a front line half back in the mould of Rangi Chase or Brett Finch, I thought this week it would be worth a look back with some affection, at a time when we had the same problem and, as is the situation now a largely untried Coach, who was trying to solve it. The player in question certainly did the business although he only scored 18 tries in 3 seasons at our club and yet he was still one of our most influential signings we have made in the 50 plus years that I have been watching Hull FC. Have you got it yet? Well add to that him being the only player from the club to have won the Harry Sunderland Trophy as Man of the Match in the end of season Premiership final, and you will know that this week I am featuring Greg Mackey.

When Brian Smith arrived at the club, he, like I guess Peter Gentle, was largely untried but came across as a real inspirational character that just oozed passion and resolve. He knew however, before he came, that there was little money available for team building. He scoured the NRL for up and coming players but got his most influential Aussie signing from a lot nearer to home, in fact from just across the Pennines in Warrington. ‘Bluey’ Mackey joined the club in October 1989, in a move that was shrouded in controversy. Greg was an ‘average’ player over in Australia (playing for Canterbury Bankstown and Illawarra), who decided to try his luck in this country and took up a short-term contract with ‘The Wire’. They saw him as a temporary fix for their half back problems, but he soon took control of things over at Wildespool and as a natural leader on the field, he took the club to the Lancashire Cup final in 1989. The Warrington fans loved him, and he had just

agreed to sign a 2-year contract extension with them, when his old mate Brian Smith, contacted him.

Smithy stepped in and snatched him from under the noses of the Lancashire Club, in a move that created a storm in the game. Warrington accused Smith and our Club of an illegal approach, and it all got very messy. However Smithy, who was always a man who knew what he wanted, stuck to his guns, and eventually Warrington accepted Mackey’s departure and a small compensation payment that made up for the last few weeks of his short term contract. That was, for me, one of the best deals Hull FC had done for years, because as we all know too well at present, great half backs who lead the team around the field, have always been hard to find! The deal however did have its drawbacks because we had to release David Liddiard (who was another good player), to make way for Mackey, because we had exceeded our overseas quota.

With the great Brian Smith mapping out the game plans for every match in meticulous detail, and Mackey dictating matters on the field, Hull FC began a great revival that was to culminate in us winning the Premiership two years later. Mackey had another great strength too, because although he missed his second game for the club because of a thigh injury, he then went on to play in every other game in his three years stay. That was a run of 94 consecutive matches. In fact when he returned to Warrington after playing for us, he went on to play another 98 successive games for them too. He was in fact just what you needed in an injury crisis!!!!!

Mackey was made Captain of the team shortly after he arrived, and was ‘vocal’ from day one, he was also strong willed when leading the players, both on and off the field and commanded tremendous respect from his fellow clubmen and soon the team were on the up. Greg made his debut on 29th October1989, and by the end of that season we had been on a 9 game undefeated run and got through to the Premiership play-offs, were we were beaten in the first round, 18-8 away at Widnes. The following season though was one that all FC supporters will never forget, as the club went on another great run and got to the Premiership final for the second time in three years. Sadly by the time of those end of the season heroics, Smithy had left and Noel Cleal was our coach. However so respected was Brian by the players and staff that the season was obviously still his, and we all felt on the terraces that the players were still playing for him.

If ever there was one single play, involving Greg Mackey, that the fans who frequented the Boulevard back then will remember, it was one particular kick in that season. It was deep into the final minutes of the Premiership semi final, and we were losing to Leeds 7-4. The Boulevard was a cauldron that night, but try as we may we could not get close to the Leeds line to put pressure on for the winning score. All of a sudden Mackey took a snapped pass from Patrick Entat at acting half back and hoisted a massive up and under from just over the 40-metre line. The ball hung in the air for literally ages, swirling in the wind over the try line as it fell towards the waiting arms of former New Zealand Rugby Union full back John Gallagher. Under pressure from a couple of FC forwards, he fumbled the ball and Gary Nolan, recently introduced from the bench, snapped the ball out of the air and touched down, to an ecstatic

response from the ‘Faithful’ all around the ground. We went ballistic, and the chant of “Spent a fortune won F*ck All, Leeds, Leeds” echoed round the ground.

In the final at Old Trafford it was again Mackey that was the star, as we overturned all the odds to snatch a great victory over Widnes. Bluey was everywhere that day, he had a hand in two of our tries and his exceptional tactical kicking pinned the much fancied ‘Chemics’ back in their own half for long periods of the game. It was a fine performance and he really did deserve the Harry Sunderland Trophy. The following season however, after the Board were forced to sell a couple of our top players to keep the Club afloat, the FC team started to fall apart. Greg returned to Warrington, leaving that record of having played 95 games, scoring 18 tries. But what a difference he made to the team.

The picture that says it all as Greg Mackey holds aloft the Premiership Trophy at Old Trafford in 1991.

So, in these times when as seems usual at our Club, we are searching for that last play making piece of the jigsaw, there you have it really. All you need is a Coach, who creates a game plan that is not over ambitious and that plays to your strengths, and to the weaknesses of the opposition. Then you need a leader on the field who all the players respect and finally he has to be a half back that leads the team around the field and who has an excellent understanding of that plan and a good kicking game. Simple really, in fact with Gentle we seem to be half way there already! Greg Mackey and Brian Smith were the perfect partnership back in the early 90’s both on and off the field, and when you look back you realise just how important the leader on the field is and after yesterday just how far off finding one we still are at present! Great Memories I wonder were Bluey is now?

So that’s it, a bitterly disappointing afternoon at Wakey made all the worse by Ganson, Cockaigne and Agar! I don’t really have any problems with Ganson yesterday but that’s the 6th time we have had him this year, whilst most other Clubs have only had him twice! Still yesterday is gone now and it’s onwards with this drivel after 300 editions, so here’s to the next 300!!!! The support of you the readers has been the only thing that has kept me going over the years and I really do appreciate it and thank-you all most sincerely for all the loyalty, comment and support you have given me. We have at least got a week off and although I never thought I would say it, at present I’m blooming pleased we have.

Try to keep believing

Faithfully Yours

Wilf