Well the season has started in cracking style. On paper the opening four games were difficult ones, but we came through them with ten points on the board, the only points dropped coming from an injury-time equaliser at AFC Totton...and even then we still had time to be denied a stonewall penalty by one of the most scandalous refereeing decisions you are ever likely to see. Yep, footy is back.
I won't use this blog to go into details of matches, you can search the internet and read all about it for yourself, but let's just say it has certainly been adventurous thus far. Both home games have seen opponents have a player sent off early in the first-half, we have given away three penalties, conceded injury-time goals twice and had one player sent off ourselves; that's without mentioning the fact that the trip to Barwell saw kick-off delayed 45 minutes because of horrendous hold-ups on the M1.
Next up is a stupidly long trip to Bideford on Saturday for a league game. From my house it is something like 226 miles, even further than going to Torquay for the League AGM! Still, it gives us an early season excuse for a night away. The players are travelling down on Friday night to make sure they arrive on time, I'm going the opposite and heading down to Devon Saturday morning, then staying over on Saturday night. Arrive, dump car, find a pub for pre-match pint...and then play it by ear.
As it happens I was down in Bideford at Easter as the Calder family spent a week just outside Ilfracombe on an excellent farm holiday. One day after feeding the pigs, sheep, chickens and Alpacas we did venture off towards Bideford and spend a couple of hours there...Well, I think we basically had fish & chips by the water before heading back to the farm. However, we were there long enough for me to identify the fact that the ground is walkable from the town and therefore once the car is parked it should not, and shall not, be needed until the morning. Looking forward to that one.
We had a Board meeting this week, not the most exciting of meetings as once the season gets into full flow most of the actions happen away from the table and the meetings are just about acknowledging actions and making minutes...Which is just as well as - without naming names - one key member fell asleep and was late, whilst another just did not show up at all. It was a good meeting though, quite therapeutic, even if I did have to apologise afterwards for one of my shouty, sweary, outbursts...
To me, it is still all about money, money, money...sad as that sounds, it is the reality. Money makes us a better club. We have gone into a new season as one of the favourites for promotion - that is all about credit to Andy Leese, Jon Meakes and Adam Parker, the consistency that we have has made us a very strong club, and a real threat to promotion hopefuls. We certainly do not have one of the lowest budgets in the league, but I can guarantee you that we are a long way off the being one of the highest as well. Take with a pinch of salt everything you hear what people says, everyone tells porkies about their budgets, or never clarifies if they are talking nett or gross...I just know what some players in our league were asking for to come to Chesham, or what was being offered elsewhere, it is quite staggering.
Having Roger Payne at the club has transformed our position in the sense that we have a safety net and somebody to back everything that we do, but it is not about having someone pumping money into the club endlessly. Having spent 12 months living and breathing excel spreadsheets that told me everything about what the clubs finances were doing, I find it a little bit disconcerting that there is no longer the same level of interest in where our money is going, where it can be saved and where more can be generated from. I still track out figures very closely, and I still thrust before the Board our forecasts and targets for the season - whether I get listened to or not I no longer really care, however, what it does do is put up an immediate wall to anyone that might suggest "Oh, I wasn't expecting that".
We also now know that we will be playing Northwood in the FA Cup, a week on Saturday. The potential prize money from the cup competitions is astonishing nowadays, I think there is something like £9.5k available to us from the FA Cup and FA Trophy in September if we can pull off the right results. That defeat at Dunstable last season was one of the lowest of low points in my time at Chesham. It is not that we had prize money in the budget, but the prize money from that and the potentially winnable subsequent game, would have made such a huge difference to the day to day running of the club. If we had won that game, and then perhaps beaten Redbridge in the next match, I think the chances are I might still be Chairman today...
...And that would probably not have been a good thing. It would have papered over the cracks for a few months, maybe another season even, but we needed change. I needed change. Mrs Calder needed change.
As I said before I am really looking forward to going to Bideford, and I am really enjoying the football now without the extra burden. I will stay on the Board as long as I think I have a place and I can make a difference, but I really do not miss having the weight of the whole club on my shoulders. I still chat with Andy Leese regularly and we chat like it was in the "old days". I may have mentioned before that when I saw him talking with Brian and Roger at Berko after the game, something inside me triggered a feeling of jealousy. It was weird, because I have never really been one that likes to be close to the players or management, and try to feel special because I know them, and they know me, that doesn't mean much to me...but I missed it for a moment then.
I don't now. I still enjoy talking with Andy and offering all the support I can, in fact I enjoy it even more because I know that the ultimate responsibility of the support given to him will not fall on my shoulders! However, I must say, I have been delighted by the support given to Andy since the end of my era...There was uncertainty as we went through the transition, but I think that has passed and we are once again seeing on the pitch what Andy can deliver. On the terraces I still hear endless moaning, even when beating St Albans. You know what, I don't care if they had ten men for most the game, they are investing a lot of money in trying to get promotion, and if we win that match I am going to be bloody happy because come April, nobody will remember the details, just the result.
Bring on Bideford, Bring on the FA Cup. Enjoy.
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