I've started writing this so many times, then re-reading it again and again to see if it sounds right, imagining I am someone else reading it...blah de blah. Now, just having read the news about Darlington FC on the very brink of going to the wall, it's like a hit of realisation... there is more to football than caring about what other people think.
This is me, Alan Calder, the football fan. The Chesham United Football fan who happens to find himself as Chairman of his beloved club....And here's a brief rant that I can't hold in any longer.
There are many things going on at the club at the moment, many positive, but the financial worries will not go away and we really now have to start pulling out all the stoppers to make sure we are doing our very best to generate the income needed and do not put ourselves in line to become the next Darlington.
Money worries, all the day to day issues, and the FA Appeal about the Redditch game have left me feeling completely exhausted, battered and bruised of late; and then last week I got to see the back page of the Redditch Advertiser...
…Just as the much publicised appeal against the league's decision to make us replay the Redditch match, and the subsequent decision in our favour, seemed to have passed us by, I see an article in the Redditch Advertiser where the Chairman of Redditch United is planning to appeal against the Appeal and is quoted as saying that he "felt the referee received no protection from Chesham" and there was "not adequate stewarding to prevent fans from congregating outside and banging on his door".
Red mist? Fuming... Words could not explain.
After the event on that fateful day (the one when a Redditch player hit the ref) we received an email from the referee saying: "I would like to pass my personal thanks to the way your stewards dealt with the situation. They were extremely professional and were a credit to Chesham United and ensured me and my team were given time and space to deal with the events in the correct manner"
It’s important that you, the Chesham supporters, realise that and do not get sucked into believing any of the poppycock (yes, first last week's programme notes, now I have got the word into my blog!) that has been written about the way that we run our club, and how we look after our visitors. I refuse to have our name tarnished by such acts of desperation.
Blame the way the Southern League dealt with it initially if you like, blame the way the FA handled it if you really want, but do not, DO NOT, go to the press dragging our name through the mud with factual inaccuracies. Sorry, but this one annoyed me. I had to bite my tongue after the original decision from the League, because of the Appeal, but now I cannot just sit back and watch someone falsely, completely falsely, go about criticising the behavior of our club. Stones and glass houses spring to mind.
The report in the paper goes on to quote "“The FA have already said Redditch United’s actions were exemplary and that no blame can be attached to the club for what happened". Well, that's a contradiction to the official letter I received (and I need to re-look up the word 'exemplary' - my dictionary is clearly out of date). Are people forgetting the facts? A Redditch player hit the referee for heaven's sake!!
Now whereas I applaud the fact that the player was sacked immediately, that wasn't a tough decision was it? And certainly taking such swift action does not disguise the fact that the player that caused the game to be stopped arrived with Redditch, was named on the Redditch team sheet, wore a Redditch team shirt and played for Redditch. Sacking the player straight after cannot hide that fact. Actually, perhaps not sacking him straight off may have enabled them to charge the player for the damage he caused to the dressing room door when he was sent off and we would not still be out of pocket from that broken door whilst we try to establish the reasons why Redditch United no longer seem to want to take responsibility for it, despite having said on the day that they would pay…blimey, the Chairman even came into the clubhouse after the game and apologised to fans…what has changed?
I’m sorry to bang on, and I am sorry if I over-react, but this is tame compared to how I really feel. How dare...how dare someone from a fellow club go to a local newspaper and quote such absolute utter drivel; I am left absolutely astonished and totally bemused by what the thinking is behind all this and whereas my only issue previously revolved around the player who caused the incident, I'm afraid I am once again left flabbergasted by some of the people I come across in football and I am genuinely starting to believe that there is some sort of conspiracy against decent people being involved in football, because, one way or another, they are being driven away.
If this incident gets turned around in anyway to be deemed our fault then I think we may as well all give up now. The game will have finally gone completely bonkers, probably beyond repair, beyond what I want to be a part of. Sorry.
On to happier things, we have our Sportsmans Dinner with John Motson on the horizon – 23rd February. We still have a few tickets left, but it is looking like being a cracking night and will be an important fundraiser for the club. Tickets are £45, if interested please give me a shout..
On Saturday we have a huge game against Stourbridge in the league, it will be great if we can get a crowd of over 400 to get behind the lads and give them the support I believe they deserve for the way they have performed this season. December was a tough month for us, the last two games have seen us return to something like our best, and if we can keep that going for the remainder of the season, who knows?
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