Holidays and a Draw at Tring

Tring Athletic 1-1 Chesham United

How times have changed from the old days of travels; I used to scribble notes and get my mum to type them up, today I am tapping this out on my Iphone whilst my eldest son is having a scuba diving class in front of me at Hemel leisure centre.



On Tuesday night pre- season continued with a 1-1 draw at Tring. Very pleasant hospitality and a reasonable game on a very bumpy pitch in very desperate need of some serious rainfall (by all accounts Tring are on a water meter and it would be crippling to get the hoses out). First half in particular the football was again pleasing on the eye and when Steve Wales coolly converted a lob over Michael Underwood in the Tring goal I thought we were in for a hat-ful. However it wasn't long before the home side equalised and then the referee politely asked Wales to be substituted after, shall we say, a slightly late challenge. The tackle was pretty bad, but on the whole, early days, I have been pleased with player discipline on the field. To me discipline is very important when wearing the Chesham shirt and this is something that has been stipulated to the management team when discussing contracts in the close season.

Another discussion in the summer involved seeking out the best of local talent and it was good to see some young local lads being given a chance during pre-season.

The second half again involved numerous substitutions and fizzled out to a draw, a good run out for both sides.

I miss the next three games for holidays, back down to Weymouth. It is an important time off the field as we look to tie up programme adverts and early season match sponsors. We also look to continue seeking ways to save costs; our banking costs are extortionate and being reduced whilst all bills and expenditure are being reviewed by the management structure we have in place. Hopefully as the season evolves it will become clerarer who is looking after which area and the communication all around the club will improve. Although I am proud to be Chairman, I have a team around me that I trust to make decisions and do what is right for our club; without these people I could not do it, there are just not enough hours in the day to stay in touch with everyone on my own. We will soon have full details and contact information for all those involved in the running of the club live on the website.

A huge thank you to everyone who has made the first couple of months enjoyable and relatively successful...the challenges are just beginning.