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Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

The squad (of 9) for our Cup League match against Middlesex University Old Boys (7.00.p.m. kick-off) is as follows (Subject to availability):
Tim Beeden (GK), Andrew Warmerdam, Alan Barnard, Martin Loveday, Danny Hagan, Rob Brown, Tony King, Foysol Ahmed & Kris Spyrou.
Aron White and Matt Wright will be the likely replacements if anybody drops out.

Simon Jackson (GK) (Hamstring Injury), Paul Woolston (Working Late) & Terry Moore (Family Commitments) are all unavailable again.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

I'm working 6-7pm, so I'm not going to be able to make this one. Sorry mate.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

FACK!!!!

Wish i had a job that was only an hour a day!!!!

TWAT

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

I am leaving this as a squad of 8 at the moment, as there are some players in it who want to have more of a game.
9 is 'too many'.
If people drop out between 6.00 & 7.00.p.m., I'll play.

After losing 9-0 last week, I really couldn't give a sh!t what the score is in this one.

If anybody drops out either today, tomorrow or before 6.00.p.m. on Thursday, then Tem will come into the squad first.

I will text Warmers, Rob, Kris & Foysol later to try and get a definite 'Yes or No'.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Tim, Warmers & Rob have all dropped out for various reasons and Kris, Danny Hagan & Loveday (who is presumably abroad somewhere ?) have not replied to a bulk text I sent early yesterday evening.

That means we only have two players at the moment...Tony King and Foysol (who texted me yesterday).

I will give Kris, Danny & Loveday until 5.00.p.m. today to get in touch to confirm their availability.
If they don't, then the squad (of 7) for tomorrow night will be:
Laurence Hughes (GK), Trevor Hughes (Wearing glasses), Ediz Mehmet, Tem Adil, Tony King, Foysol Ahmed and anybody else that Tem might be able to bring along.

Predicted score: 0-25 !?

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

im free if you need me just let me know.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

How about Loveday (GK), Spyrou, Hagan, King, Adil, Ahmed and Whittick.

Loveday has a blinder and Whittick gets a hat-trick.

Prediction 3-2 win. Positive thinking.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Well I still haven't heard from Kris, Danny Hagan or Loveday.
Two and a half hours to go.
The text to Kris's mobile is still 'undelivered'.

I am being serious here.
Because it is a 7.00.p.m. kick-off tomorrow, I can't have Kris, Danny and Loveday telling me during the day tomorrow that they cannot play.
That would not give us time to find replacements and we would have to concede the match and pay £32 in 'compensation'.
Steve Wildgoose told me that the SHC are now going to throw teams out of the League who do not turn up for a match.
Only one team has done that so far this Summer...and that was on Monday night just gone. (Wood Green Old Boys...who are probably not bothered because they already have two teams playing on Thursday nights ?).

If Kris, Danny & Loveday do not get in touch by 5.00.p.m., then we will play a 1-2-3 formation with me in goal, Trev as our lone defender, Ed and Tem in midfield (with Ed doing Tem's running for him in chasing players around all over the pitch for 50 minutes), and Tony King, Foysol & James up front.
On the 10 different occasions that James has to come off for a breather, we play with 6 men for 2 minutes at a time.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Right...Danny Hagan is playing, but Loveday has just got back from holiday and is now injured, while Kris has still not replied.

So...we have five 'proper' players (Danny Hagan, Tony King, Foysol, Tem & James) and no goalkeeper.

I suggest Tem and James try and get Adriano, Antonio & Eugene to play, which will make the squad up to 8...or if only two of those can play, we will play with 7 with me as a sub to come on if anybody gets particulary knackered or injured (or if we are playing really sh!t and I get annoyed...again).

Tem, James, Adriano & Tony King should all play 10-15 minutes each in goal as they all played on Monday night.

Of course, we have no defenders...so I'm afraid it is going to be a 0-3-3 formation whether Trev likes it or not !

If none of Adriano, Antonio or Eugene can play, then myself, Ed & Trev will have to play.
I only want Ed there if we have got 6 or less including me. I will be playing ahead of Ed.

Obviously if people like Stuart Dorward, Conor, Wooly & Darryl come on here saying THEY can play, then great...but I can't see that happening in a month of Sundays/Summer of Thursdays !

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Kris has now texted me to say that he can play, so we now only need two out of Adriano, Antonio or Eugene to play.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

lol im more than happy to command the line of defence

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

O.K.
1-2-3 it is then !

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Sorry, i can' make it as i'm playing 5 a side. Will be there Sunday though!

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Adriano, Antonio and Eugene cant make it to night they are going out.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

I'll wait until 5.00.p.m. to see if we get any volunteers before we use Ed or Trev.
I have just texted Clark. (It depends whether he is willing to put an injection into his foot !)

We have still got 7 including me.
...that's assuming Tem is playing. I haven't heard from him, but I told him on Monday to look at the Forum.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

So...what happened to this prediction from Trev then ?

'How about Loveday (GK), Spyrou, Hagan, King, Adil, Ahmed and Whittick.
Loveday has a blinder and Whittick gets a hat-trick.
Prediction 3-2 win. Positive thinking.'

As usual, my prediction of a 25-0 defeat was far more accurate.

Yes, I did have a rant on the final whistle last night.
Unlike Tony King though, I didn't blame any of the players who played for 'giving up'. How can we NOT give up when we have to play in a team like that against quality opposition with not one player playing who would be in our first-choice starting eleven on a Sunday if everybody was available ?

I have no reason to doubt that the excuses for missing last night's match were not genuine, but what really pisses me off is the lack of interest from certain long-serving players who you would expect to at least e-mail me, phone me, text me or leave a message on here now and again to find out what has been going on or to offer to play the odd game to help out when we are clearly struggling for players. In some cases, I take it that their work 5-a-side teams have better players and do not lose 9-0 and 12-0 ?

I think a few people need to have a long hard look at themselves as to whether they really want to play for us this season.

I hope to receive a few apologies if these people are at the A.G.M.

...and yes, I agree with Tem (and others) for what they were saying after last night's match.
If I was Manager, my starting line-up for the first League match (if they are all available) would be Jacko or Oz (GK), Terry, Barney, Loveday;
Speller, Tem, Danny Hagan, Scott Jenkins, Steve Cokell; James Whittick & Danny Green.

These people have all been making an effort to play 7-a-side regularly and they are all good enough to play on Sundays anyway (in my opinion).

Conor (living in Leigh-On-Sea) is probably the only one from the 7-a-side absentees who could have a justifiable complaint about being left out.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

I understand why you were pissed off but what I don't understand is why being pissed off obviously affects your hearing.

I was not blaming other players for our defeat, we knew we were going to get beaten badly when we turned up and found out that Trevor (the arthritic cat) Hughes was going between the sticks for us.

What i was pissed off about was some of our players actually complaining/moaning and blaming each other and being in a 'huff' BECAUSE we were getting beaten so comprehensively.

I can understand people getting cheesed off with it but the people who were complaining with hands on hips were the worst culprits for making mistakes and YES i will have a go at anyone who GIVES UP at any stage of any game, whether 11 or 7 a side.

Secondly, I see from the last bit of your post that you 1.) Don't feel I have made a big enough effort turning up to 7 a side, even though I have played more than anyone and am top scorer on Thursday and 2.) Am good enough to be the first 11 (taking in to account that most of our actual first 11 are not included in your team sheet.)

Many Thanks Lol.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Sorry Tony, I actually MEANT to put you in that starting eleven ! Genuine mistake as it was a rush job typing all that out before I went out this morning and I honestly didn't notice I had left you out.

Not sure who SHOULD be left out, but as far as I am concerned, you and Tem should be the first names on the team-sheet at the moment.
That's until such time as obvious better players are able to prove their commitment to the club (which probably won't be until well into the season in some cases).

Can't say I agree entirely with your first four sentences though, but at least you are concerned enough about our predicament to have a rant...which is what I like to see.
Shame that some of our other players don't seem bothered.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

"I have no reason to doubt that the excuses for missing last night's match were not genuine, but what really pisses me off is the lack of interest from certain long-serving players who you would expect to at least e-mail me, phone me, text me or leave a message on here now and again to find out what has been going on or to offer to play the odd game to help out when we are clearly struggling for players. In some cases, I take it that their work 5-a-side teams have better players and do not lose 9-0 and 12-0 ?

I think a few people need to have a long hard look at themselves as to whether they really want to play for us this season."

Don't really know whether to ignore these comments or reply.......

Laurence, when I was questioned in relation to availability for the summer 7 a sides I said I would TRY and play the odd game this year but would play (and pay up front whether I play or not) for my work side on a Thursday. I have hardly played any summer games since changing job 2 years ago as it is much more of a struggle to get back from work. Due to my on-going sciatica injury (not hamstring as I thought), work and family commitments I've actually only played around 3/4 times since the end of our own season.

I do not look at the forum every 5 minutes as am normally very busy at work so unless someone emailed me or phoned me I would not necessarily know that we were struggling for players. I tend to check the result of each match to see what is going on. How about a quick email/text to see whether I can play??

You are having a go at 'certain long-serving players'. With Wooly (a few games), Steve C, Speller and Terry Moore all playing regularly I assume that leaves myself, Conor and Del. (Sorry if I've left any other longstanding players out?!) We can obviously discount Conor because of where he lives and Del because of his ankle injury.

Which leaves me as I also do not know of any others that play for their work team?

I feel quite aggrieved that you queestion my commitment when I have played for the club for more than 14 years. When I do miss a game I have always phoned during the game to see how we're getting on and at the end of the game for a match report.

I have not really portrayed how angry I am with your post and ordinarily would have preferred to have discussed this rather than post it on here but unfortunately I feel I needed to defend myself somewhat.

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Stu, yes you make some fair points, but the reason I am so frustrated (rather than annoyed) by your absence in particular and also the likes of Conor, Wooly & Rob Brown hardly being able to play at all is that in the large majority of our 7-a-side matches we have no leadership on the pitch whatsoever, and as far as I am concerned, that is the main reason for the severe hammerings we have been having on both Mondays and Thursday Nights this Summer.

We now have a situation where the players are all sniping at each other and Trev is receiving some merciless stick for not shouting and coaching from the touchline.
You can't do shouting & coaching from the touchline at 7-a-side. The game moves too quickly for that. No other teams do that. They have leaders on the pitch. We don't.
Loveday and Oz have been bringing along some highly promising young players, but they are soon going to start getting pissed off and not wanting to join if this continues. When you are playing, you are excellent at encouraging new young players. Others in the club just slag them off and don't give them a chance. When Wooly is playing, he organises everybody on the pitch and calls the right things when players are in possession. On the rare occasions that Rob Brown has been able to get off work & family commitments to play, we have won (or at least had close games with good opposition).
If you had been in my position last night...a 49-year-old having to play in a 12-0 defeat with the opposition nutmegging you easily and taking the piss, I'm sure you would have been really cheesed off. Just think how I'm feeling at the moment. We were a laughing stock, and that hurts me badly.

I accept that you have family commitments and I must admit that I forgot about your injury, so apologies there, but I'm afraid I still disagree with you to some extent on a couple of things.

Firstly, yes you DO phone to find out how we got on for 11-a-side games that you have missed, but I am surprised you have not been in touch at all for the last six weeks or so to enquire as to what these new players are like or to find out what happened when we get thrashed like we did last night....unless you have been phoning Trev (in which case I apologise) ?
Just ONE phone call, text, e-mail or Forum message would do. You don't have to do it after every match. As you say, the details are on the website.
THAT is purely the reason why I was getting worried about your commitment, not the fact that you have not played yet.

The second thing is where you say 'How about a quick email/text to see whether I can play??'
Stu, what happens for virtually every match is that I get 2 or 3 players dropping out after 5.00.p.m. when they realise they have suddenly got to work overtime or have got to babysit.
I then HAVE to text FIRST any player who has told me they can play at short notice if somebody drops out. Tem, Tony King, Loveday & Terry are all regularly available to help me out in that respect. I know that if I e-mail or text you, Wooly, Rob, Conor, etc., then 9 times out of 10 I will have to wait several minutes for a reply because you are all working, on a Tube or playing Powerleague, the answer will be no, and I am then back to square one scraping around for players.
The only way we can do it is for you to let ME know if you can play on any particular date should somebody drop out. If you did that, I would put you in the squad straight away ahead of somebody who had already been named (if necesary), as half the time we have players having to double-up on both Mondays and Thursdays.
I regularly put that message on the Forum for the likes of you and others to get in touch, but nobody has ever replied to it !

Stu, I accept that it is more convenient for you to play Powerleague after work, as it is for several other Rovers players, but believe me, we are in a mess for 7-a-side at the moment and we need some help...especially with Trev going away to Cyprus soon and missing four matches.
If we could just get you playing one match, Darryl playing one match, Rob playing one match, Wooly playing one match and maybe Conor playing one more match at different times before the League finishes in early-September, that would help.

I think this needs a serious discussion at the A.G.M. over a few beers (or lager-shandies for me ! )...if anybody is still going ?

Re: Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

I have said before to you and to Trevor that i am not playing in goal on that pitch. I get no benefit from it what so ever. In fact i would say it i struggle moving from those smaller goals to "proper" goals when the season starts. I would play out on pitch but this, to me, is where you try out new players for the following season. I do hope i am considerd for the friendlies AND the start of the season in some capacity as with all the long term players who, for various reasons, have not played during the summer. My not playing for the rovers during the summer should have no bearing on the 11 a side season coming up.
I thank you

Re: Squad For Thursday 7th August (7-a-Side)

Deej, I accept that, but on Thursday night we had no other keepers available whatsoever and it was obvious early in the day that it would either be myself or Trevor in goal.
If you had offered to go in goal for us as a one-off to help out instead of playing Powerleague, I would have texted Loveday and told him to tell Aron White and Matt Wright to turn up (again)...which they probably would have done (even without him there), and we would have been fielding a reasonable side.
They are both very good players from Norsemen, but they played the week before when we fielded a crap side and lost 9-0, so if I'd have asked them to come along again when I KNEW we were going to get hammered again, they would have been put off joining us for good...in the same way that Greg Cummins, Josh Duberry and other quality players seem to have done.

This is what frustrates me about 7-a-side, and we now have a situation where these players are unlikely to play in the 11-a-side Pre-Season Friendlies because they think we are crap in that as well.

Deej, at least you have said to me that you would be prepared to come training this season as long as we have a full-size goal...even if we have to train on the concrete netball courts (as is likely...Barney please note !!!).
I take it Stuart will not be attending that if he has paid an Annual Sub for his work Powerleague team ?