Hempnall FC

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Our last 2 games turned to be back to back fixtures with Sheringham, the home fixture turned out to be a typical end of season affair with both sides taking things easy & not too much excitement in the 1 – 1 draw. Ian Mills equalised late on after Sheringham had gone ahead.

But if the home fixture was typical of end of season, the away game turned out to be the complete opposite, being a 7 goal thriller & plenty of incidents.

The incident start before the game throughout Monday & continued into Tuesday with call offs a plenty. At 2 pm we only had 9 players & thoughts were of damage limitation. But with over 20 calls made, we travelled to the north Norfolk coast with a bare 11.

As so often has been the case in recent seasons at the club, when the backs are to the wall, the camaraderie comes through. The boys played some exquisite football & carved out several openings, 2 being converted superbly by Mark Moseley & then Stu Crystal.

The 2^nd half continued in much the same vain & 2 more goals were added through Flinto & a second for Stu.

So 4 goals up & apparently cruising the excitement began. Our legs started to tire & the home side introduced quality subs in Kristian Gleave & Sam Mallet.

Our defence was breached with strong claims for offside with Cudden being penalty spot side of the home striker, who only had JP goal side when he headed home.

This appeared to be a minor blip but when Sheringham added a 2^nd the game took on a different complexion.

Worse was to follow when Stu Crystal who had performed so well received his marching orders following a 2^nd yellow card on 70 minutes.

It was time to dig deep as our tiring legs & numerical disadvantage impacted. This we did but it didn’t stop Sheringham adding a 3^rd through Sam mallet with 10 minutes to go.

It was really backs to the wall now as we hung on trying to obtain the 3 points our efforts & good football in the first 70 minutes so richly deserved.

Sheringham continued to press but the lads through their bodies on the line so we did not concede again, making me a happy man to obtain 3 good points in my last game in charge.

My thanks go to the guys who made the trip, their efforts were superb not only on the pitch but also in getting there, as I know many had to make sacrifices to be there. Oh & in voting me Man of the match, probably my 1^st for 20 years. I expect Ray will know!?

So for the first time in 6 years I can look forward to a break as my old mate Vic picks up the managerial baton. I wish him all the best in his new venture & I hope that the club gets behind him immediately, as he will need much support as the efforts in running teams seem to grow year by year.

Some of you may think a manager has all summer to rest, Not so! For Vic, the next 2 months are the hardest & most critical in the manager’s role.

You have to start building your ‘match day’ managerial support, guys who you can trust to support you whatever the result on the day, because there will be times where your ‘back’ needs watching!! (thanks to Harvs, Ross, Vicky, Ships, Vic, Stu, Franks & co for your brilliant support this year)

You need to be talking to a coach or coaches, unless you are prepared to do the training yourself (my days are long gone on that front!). People who are prepared to commit to do a pre seasons training & be there every Tuesday through all weather, controlling, organising & communicating with your self. Again these need to be ‘football people’, guys who have ‘your back’ & in whom you have total trust. (Thanks Marty, BP, Dom & Hunts, top support & who without my position was untenable).

You have to start forming your squad for next year, identifying out of your own existing players who is still required, who is a threat in leaving & chasing them down, getting forms signed when they are available. Why can’t we change the rules so players remain signed & have to transfer out, to stop the annual ‘signing on rat race’.

Then there are the new players that you can identify, watching local end of season mid week games is a good way of spotting up & coming new lads. Getting their telephone numbers ‘some how ‘& contacting them to see if they fancy a ‘crack’ at Premier football. In this aspect it is a lot easier to get lads now, as many fancy the ‘Premier’ challenge.

In many cases they will prefer to stay loyal to their existing clubs & in some respects these are the guys you want. The seed is planted & you may need to do follow up work. Craig Hunting is a prime example, hundreds of games for Bungay & took nearly 2 seasons to get him, maybe longer!!

Having meeting’s with your management team to sort the way forward.

You need to sort a date for training to start, where it is to be & how many sessions.

You need to sort your pre-season friendly’s. If you do not contact the higher league clubs now you will miss out. The likes of Lowestoft, Dereham etc who it is a pleasure to visit both in terms of facilities & stretching your playing abilities, will already be fixing up their pre-season. A delay now & you will miss out.

There may be meetings to attend; identifying which rule changes may impact the playing side. There is a massive 1 in this years proposed changes.

The Anglian Combination League wish to change the rules so that a club may only have 1 team in senior football.

So what I hear you say, well this takes away the majority of the Reserve team managers (& squad) motivation, it would remove their opportunity to gain promotion. Only Acle and ourselves would see this as a threat at this point in time, as we are the only clubs who have reserves in Division 2. The rule change has the potential to sale through almost unnoticed by many, as there is no impact at present.

As a manager you have the opportunity to try to influence some of your fellow managers, highlighting the threat. Although I know Trevor has picked up the little ‘chestnut’.

These aspects I will not miss, I will undoubtedly miss the dressing room, the camaraderie & tactically pitting my wits against the likes of JK last night.

My plans well there are none. I fly off to Turkey tomorrow & I am looking forward to just being able to go away when ever I like. Not having to plan everything so I am here on a Saturday!!

Finally, my thanks to everyone in the club who works so hard to keep us in this standard of football. We are a ‘village’ side who do fantastically well to compete with in most cases ‘towns’.

To have our sides playing at the levels they are is a credit to all. As mentioned earlier only Acle & ourselves have achieved this in the Anglian Combination, it is something to be proud of, I am.