The Electric Chair

Firstly, phew!  We are safe for another year. Never doubted it for a minute!

Secondly I thought I might mention two comments from two Gordons yesterday.  Mr McKay said to me before the game that if you had offered him 51 points before the season started he would have been very happy with that.  Mr Bartlett pointed out that, playing Hendon next week, we are only 14 points off the play-off positions.

That got me looking back at the struggles of recent seasons, last year we got 48 points and were 21 points off the play-offs, the year before 44 points and a massive 31 off the play-offs and the year before that we stayed up on goals scored with a total of 47 points, 24 away from the play-offs.

What this bit of nurdyness shows is we have acheived more points this season than in the previous four and we have considerably narrowed the gap between us and the play-off places as well.

One further nurdy point is that 51 points would have us currently 14th in the Southern Premier 9 points from relegation, 9th in the Northern Premier 8 points from relegation and 14th in the Conference South 15 points from the drop zone.

Actually there will be many Ryman Premier clubs who will look at this season and say what might have been.  I’ve no doubt that with the squad we put together we might have done much better.  Whatever people think, and however they tire of hearing it, money is all important and I think we’ve done pretty well with the resources available.  This has been a good season, the cup runs particularly stand out and plenty of good performances especially before Christmas.

As much as we would like to kick on in terms of budget and our on field expectations we can only do this if the money is available.  With the money we need to spend at Ruislip off the field it is unlikely there will be any difference to the budget next year - assuming we can maintain the current levels - that is something we are all working towards but noone should be any illusions that there is lots more money available.

Of course we all want to see a winning team playing attractive football.  But then so does Roman Abramovich and even with his billions he can’t seem to deliver that to his satisfaction.

I am excited about the potential of our club, so many things happening which will move the Club in the way we need it to be.  Ruislip, our youth development, more people taking on roles and getting involved, a good group of players, and plenty of other things as well.  I hope you can all join me in sharing this excitement and helping deliver what we all want to achieve.

I was speaking to Paul Gregory earlier in the week.

As is often the case at Edgware they seem to have it tough and despite many challenges they have done really well on the field this season, bolstered no doubt by Fergus Moore going there to play for his great mate Steve Newing.

Many will know the terribly sad news about Edgware’s co-manager Del Deanus (if not read it here).  There is a big fund raising match being planned for Saturday 10 May, which includes Paul Merson amongst many other stars as well as our own Ryan Ashe, Peter Dean and Dean Papali.  I certainly intend to be there and I hope many other Stones will be too.

Paul was telling me that Edgware’s playing squad have donated all the money they had saved this season for their end of season tour to Del’s fund - a great gesture.

Edgware are to lose the funding of Galliard Homes at the end of this season so once again face an uncertain future.  They are being featured on BBC TV next Friday (details here) and I know they are hoping this leads to some offers of help.  We all have our problems but we do wish Edgware all the best.

3 years ago we put all the troubles we were having at Edgware behind us and moved in at Chestnut Avenue Northwood.  Tomorrow we play the final match of our three year stay.

I should say Northwood have been excellent hosts.  We thank them for all their help and wish them all the best for the future.  In common with almost every other club locally they have it tough at present but under Ian Barry’s guidance they have stabilised and hopefully will start moving forward.

Our stay at Northwood hasn’t always been easy coinciding as it has with three years of struggle on the field.  Tomorrow’s game is one which means we might remember the time at Northwood well, or very darkly!

When we moved to Northwood we didn’t expect to play there for the full three years.  Not surprisingly perhaps PEPF still hasn’t happened and obviously we have made other plans for next year.

It brings to an end 17 years groundsharing at 4 different local grounds, Watford, Yeading, Edgware and Northwood.  That we remain alive and still attempting to progress is a miracle.

I hope we don’t require a miracle after tomorrows game.

It wouldn’t be Wealdstone if it wasn’t tense at this time of season.  As I write Carshalton are losing 3-0 at Ashford (which will be a massive result for us) but ultimately as we all know if we don’t win on Saturday the likelihood is we will still go down.

Regardless we need to plan ahead.  Next week for the Hendon game we have the sponsored walk - I wonder how many will be there.  Then on bank holiday weekend we have the Supporters Club 50th Anniversary Dinner at the Watford Hilton.  Over 200 people are expected and we hope that not only will it be another great evening but we will raise substantial funds.

On Monday 5 May we have the Field of Dreams event that Roger has been organising and this will be a great chance to see and chat to plenty of former heroes, some playing, some watching.

With all this going on (and Mark Lloyd’s youth tournament) it has been difficult to fit in our end of season presentation night.  This will take place either Sunday 11 or Sunday 18 May - more likely the latter date - at Ruislip and if the weather is kind we will have a barbeque and hopefully a relaxing and enjoyable evening so stick it in your diary.

Speaking to Don Cross yesterday it is clear that there is still much to do at Ruislip.

What we are talking about looking forward are all the jobs that need to be done to make the stadium one we are proud to call ours.  It might take some time - in other words we won’t get everything done for next season but there is a long term plan beginning to take shape.

We have signed up for work on the pitch which will start immediately the season is over in the first week in May.  This is five figure expenditure and there is more to come.

But it is not just big work that needs doing. During the summer there will be so much to do such as painting, tidying and general maintenance and we hope as we move into the warmer weather people will again make themselves available in bigger and bigger numbers.

More immediately this Thursday there is a need for bodies to help with some important jobs.  If you can make it and want to know what is needed please contact Don.

I wrote my article for next Saturday’s programme at the weekend despite feeling pretty despondent after the Hornchurch game.

Fro the last home programme it is pretty traditional for the Chairman to thank people who have helped out in some capacity during the season. While I wrote the article I was amazed there were so many, it just shows how we need everyone to play a hand.

As a thank you we are hoping to organise a drink and a little food after next Saturday’s game to all those who have contributed, be it through the work at Ruislip, matchday jobs at Northwood, work done behind the scenes on behalf of the football club or maybe through some financial generosity.

You know if you’ve contributed - I hope you can make it.

H

1.55am Just back from the Northampton dinner.

A really good night, fantastically well supported (350/360 there) and Stuart Pearce the star turn.  If you missed him you can see him in just a couple of weeks time at the Supporters Club’s 50th Anniversary dinner - he was on good form and it will be well worth seeing him.

We raised plenty of money, I look forward to seeing the final total.  It will be a total boosted by an auction bid of £5,000 for a special Vinnie Jones package including being his guests at Windsor races in July.  I have been in touch with Vinnie all week sorting this - he has been a star.

So a great night, and a big well done to Paul and Lori who have worked tirelessly on this for the past few months.  The Northampton Autism Society will benefit and so will the Club.

Roll on Hornchurch!

Best not to say too much about yesterday.  It was a shocker.

More ‘good’ news, Chris O’Leary has a slight ligament tear and is likely to be out for the season.  Three games to go and with the season far from over it is certainly going to be a test of character.

Adam Gloor emailed earlier to request programme articles for the Leyton game.  Adam and his wife Minnie have done a fantastic job developing the matchday programme and I hope they will continue for a few seasons to come.

It is funny, getting that email made me think about how many people we have involved in working to take this club forward.  There is so much going on.  We have a board meeting on Tuesday and having put the agenda together I know we could meet for three successive nights and not get through everything.  i will bring some news from that in due course.

Ultimately though we all want to be successful.  This season certainly hasn’t gone quite as planned on the field (apart from in the cups) but at the same time the club has taken some big strides forward.

Keep the faith, we’ve been here before and let’s hope for a jammy 1-0 win at Hornchurch.

Good news Carl should be back and we continue to have Rob Paris available at the back

Bad news Dean Cracknell is unavailable.  He is dual signed with Cambridge City and will be playing for them in the Conference South tomorrow.

But then as some know my team news is not always the most reliable so if it changes between now and the game don’t blame me.

See you tomorrow

I thought I’d update on the situation with moving to Ruislip, ground grading and the Ryman League.

Over the past few months we have been keeping the Ryman League informed of the situation at Ruislip and our likely intentions for next season. In the coming days we will be sitting down with Ryman League board members to explain in full what has happened at Ruislip and what we plan for the immediate future and in the medium term.

After that meeting we expect a ground grading will follow to confirm that Grosvenor Vale is suitable for the Ryman Premier standard (assuming we don’t slip up now on the field).

Most of the work to achieve the correct grading has now been completed. Don Cross informs me we have about about a day’s work remaining mainly for concreting the touch line terrace near the telephone masts, and also at the far end where the stand has been increased to level the steps.  This will take place shortly when we know the weather is guaranteed.  In addition we are planning for what is required for the changes to the dugouts and this will take place in the close season.

The other main thing we have to do is to improve the pitch and we are getting quotes from three contractors this week with a view to the work starting in early May. It is unlikely that we will obtain any funding for this work at present - there is funding available for pitch work but we intend to plan for potentially major pitch works to take place in the next close season. Our aim will be to deliver some an intermediate solution this summer that will give us a good surface for next season.

As always my thanks to everyone involved in all the hard work going on down at the ground.  Let’s hope that James Smith’s treatments match the quality of his decorating.