This is on the Latest Club News page, but I have copied it here for players who only read the Forum !

We arranged a Pre-Season Training session at Enfield Playing Fields for 10.30.a.m. on Sunday morning (7th August). The pitches and the weather were absolutely perfect for Pre-Season Training. Myself, Trevor and Mark Howley all made an effort to attend and organise things, despite both myself and Mark being in a lot of pain from illnesses. However, only six players bothered to turn up ! These were Colin Bester, Ritchie Copues, Tem Adil, Tom Dell, Robin Pryke and Adam Speakman. (Adam came over just to test out an injured knee and not with any intention of signing up, so in effect we only had five turn up who were actually interested in playing for us). We waited until well after 11.00.a.m. for more to arrive, but in the end we gave up and went home without doing anything.
It was quite obvious that a number of players stayed at home to watch the cricket, as there were quite a few other teams training over there as well who had poor turn-outs (including Shadwell who only had eight), but nobody whatsoever phoned or texted us to say they were doing so, which was well out of order in my opinion ! Several players did have genuine excuses which were given in advance, but the ones who did not (to my knowledge...and therefore should have been there) were as follows (and yes, I think we should 'name and shame them'): Stuart Dorward !!!, Tony Speller, Eric Ibekwem, Gary Cokell, Daniel George, Scott Robertson, Paul Rebairo, Chris Morrish, Ant Roberts, Richard South & Lee Ashton. All these players were either verbally informed, e-mailed or texted that we had training and to let us know if they were not coming and none of them did so.
Regarding 'interested'/registered players for the coming season at the moment, the breakdown is as follows:
'Bona-Fide' First Team players who are registered and keen to play more or less every week: Darryl Johnson (GK), Stuart Dorward, Paul Woolston, Conor Mc,Govern, Terry Moore, Paul Ellerker, Steve Cokell, Eric Ibekwem & Robin Pryke. (A total of just nine).
'Bona-Fide' First Team players who want to play but are either not available every week or have not yet supplied a photo for their registration: Derek Dorward (Both), Chris Akinrele (Both), Nick Vertigans (Photo).
Fringe First Team/Reserve/Other players who are registered and keen to play more or less every week: Tony Speller, Colin Bester, Tem Adil, Daniel George, Ritchie Copues, Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo, Scott Robertson, Peter Murphy, Russell Beeden & Thomas Dell. (A total of just ten).
Fringe First Team/Reserve/Other players who are registered and keen to play more or less every week, but are currently suspended by the League until they provide a new passport-size photo: Foysol Ahmed & Gary Cokell.
Players who are genuinely unavailable 'long-term' or need to sort themselves out and show more commitment to the club for us to be able to run two teams: Andrew Warmerdam (Currently on holiday. Not registered yet, although may not do so because of family commitments), Peter White (Working in the U.S. until further notice), Chris Morrish (Seems to have too many other commitments), Myron Mc,Kay (Turned up to training in July but was complaining about our predicament. May well have had enough by now ?), Barry Matthews (Not registered for this season yet and has too many social commitments at the moment), Simon Jackson (Is he willing to risk injury for cricket by playing regularly in goal ?), Ozel Ozerman (Currently on holiday in Turkey until the season starts and has not provided a photo for his registration yet), Paul Rebairo (Keeps phoning up asking when the next training session is...and then doesn't turn up ! Is also still not registered for this season), Gary Adamson (Is registered, but is concentrating on studying as far as we know ?), Adam Barker (Is registered but has not been about because of social commitments & injuries), Oscar Aleman (Not registered yet), Gary Odell (Disappeared !), Ant Roberts, Richard South, Lee Ashton & Daniel 'Muzza' Muruako (Prospective new players who have not provided photos yet and may have lost interest anyway ?).
The scenario at the moment is therefore as follows:
a) If we just forget about all those who are 'mucking us about' and just run one team with a squad of around 20 regularly available players (as above), we would have to drop the Reserve Team out. We would not be allowed to drop the First Team out and use our nine First Team players in Division Five as we would only be able to keep two of those nine players (as designated by the League), while at least five players from the Reserves (e.g. Colin, Kizza, Speller, etc.) would also be classed as First Team players by the League (because of how many games they played for the First Team last season) and they would therefore become ineligible as well ! This would see us left with just a squad of about 8 regular players and the whole club would have to fold !
b) It is quite obvious that regardless of whether we field one team or two this season, the First Team are only going to be in a position to win something this season if we can find another four or five Premier Division-quality players from outside the club who can join us within the next four weeks. Last season's results proved that when we have to put in three or more Reserve Team players at any one time, we are just not good enough. Also, more First Team players will leave during this season if we continue to lose every week, and that will make the situation even worse.
c) If we scrap the Reserve Team this season it is fairly obvious that certain players are not going to get a game, even as a substitute. If that happens to younger players such as Tem and Dan, they will leave the club and we may have to fold up completely in two or three years time when our current First Team get too old. The only way that will not happen is if the First Team start winning matches again, which will hopefully attract good players from outside into joining us during the next two or three seasons. It will be very unfair on the likes of Tem, Dan and other Reserve Team players who are generally not good enough for the First Team at the moment to be left on the 'scrapheap' though !
d) If we pull the Reserve Team out now, we will be fined £50.00 by the League and we will have wasted at least £100.00 of the club's money in affiliation fees for them which we cannot get back. In addition to that, Mick at On Broadway has just paid for a new kit and we are also due to be paying a £600.00 bill shortly for the Reserves to use Pitch 2 at Hazelwood, and from what I am reading on the Terms & Conditions of Hire, we cannot go back on that agreement. This will mean Trevor having to pay a massive amount out of his own pocket if we fold the Reserve Team up...and that will be grossly unfair on him.
As far as I am concerned, as players from outside the club are clearly reluctant to join us because of our poor results, all players who are committed to playing for us this season have no choice but to IMMEDIATELY make every effort to attract new players to the club themselves, preferably of First Team standard, but anybody will do as long as they are willing to turn up every week. I have now re-designed the 'Players Wanted' poster, and I urge all players to download and print it off from the Latest Club News page if they do not already have a copy. Please pin the poster up anywhere there might be a possibility of prospective new players seeing it.
I am on holiday in the Isle Of Wight this coming week, but I can be contacted on my mobile. I will not have internet access though, so I will sort through any responses when I return.
We will be having a Management Committee Meeting on Monday 22nd September at which I would like a definite decision made. You therefore have until then to find some new players, otherwise it could be YOU who ends up leaving the club !

Text 07949 128505

As previously posted, I will not attend pre-season training as I play 5-a-side on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays already. This does not alter my commitment to play 11-a-side on a Sunday but, to that end, I will be away the following weekends:

Sunday 21/08 - Malta
Sunday 28/08 - IoW
Sunday 02/10 - Zurich
Sunday 23/10 - NYC

Broken toes and downgraded marks out of ten notwithstanding, I perceive being available on any other Sunday.

Cheers,

Murf

Still recovering from injury, do not know when I'll be fit to play again, didn't realise I had to keep repeating message for every fixture/training session. I'm as p1ssed off at not playing as you are at me not attending! (I gave up my season ticket at Spurs to play this season!) Possibly regretting that descision after reading this latest instalment from the Profit of Dome (deliberate spelling Stu!).
And thats not a dig at you Lol' you're probably right, 1 team only appears to be the way to go.

I have just got back off holiday and read through various Forum messages and e-mails.
Trevor also phoned me in the Isle Of Wight after 7-a-side matches last week to let me know what was said by various players regarding our current problems, while I have also spoken to other players myself over the past week or so.
I have therefore had a bit of time to 'relax' and think about things.

I am not going to name names, but out of the 25-30 players who still have an interest in playing for the club this season, we have definitely got a problem whereby roughly a third of them think we MUST scrap the Reserve Team AT ALL COSTS and use 'the more experienced' Reserve Team players as First Team regulars, we then have another third who think we MUST keep the Reserve Team running because we cannot afford to lose our younger players if they don't get a game for the First Team, and the other third (of which I include myself) think we MUST make more of an effort to find another 4 or 5 quality players from outside the club for the First Team first and foremost and then continue to run the Reserve Team if we have enough other players as a result.

I have now had it confirmed that the First Team definitely have a match on Sunday 4th September (the first day of the new League season), but the Reserve Team do not. However, Conor and Darryl are both on holiday and Steve Cokell is out injured. We also have numerous players who are not registered yet because they continually 'forget' to bring their photos, and at the moment we will be fielding a similar-strength line-up on the 4th September to that which lost 9-0 to Risden Wood recently and 10-1 to Enfield Rangers Old Boys last season. Dropping the Reserve Team out will not make any difference to that.

On Sunday 11th September, I have had it confirmed that BOTH teams are playing. However, instead of dropping the Reserve Team out now, I would rather wait until then and even 'non-fulfil' the match on the 11th if necessary and officially drop them out the day after (if it comes down to that). The reason for that is because we will be training at the Southbury Leisure Centre on Tuesday 6th September, at which new players can be signed up on the night in time to play on the 11th. I don't think there is any football on TV that night and there is no reason why we cannot get a good turnout of new players. We did last year.
One of our players aparently made a very good point to Trevor in that, although the 'New Players Wanted' poster I have created is very positive, when prospective new players click on the Latest Club News page all they see is doom and gloom and that will put them off joining us. I will try to sort that out, although I can't really hide tables and results !

Regarding photos, there is no two ways about it...we are going to HAVE to use Trevor's new 'megapixel' camera and bring it with us to all matches and training sessions from now on (together with a big white sheet to pin up somewhere as a background !), and then use glossy photo paper to print out the photos ourselves, although whether they will come out properly in my inkjet printer is another matter. Players just WILL NOT get them done in photo booths !

I have not heard anything from The Accies yet regarding playing them in a Friendly this Sunday (21st August). It looks as if their Secretary is on holiday. We definitely cannot get a pitch for a morning kick-off though. I think it might be better if we have a Pre-Season Training session at Enfield Playing Fields instead, but if we get new players contacting us during the week and we tell them to go over there, we MUST have the likes of Stuart, Conor, Wooly and a goalkeeper (or two) attending as well.

Please keep your opinions coming on all of this. It all helps.

Text 07949 128505

I agree with training on Sunday morning.
I suggest anyone who needs photos are kidnapped after training and taken to a photo booth. Is there one at Tesco's in Southbury Road ?

Lol,

All I would say is that I would appreciate a decision sooner rather than later so that I can find another side - believe it or not, others will consider someone of my advanced years!

I know it's a difficult situation but I don't think there's much to be gained from postponing a definitive decision.

Cheers,

Murf

Murf, from that comment you seem to be indicating that you are one of the third who 'think we MUST scrap the Reserve Team AT ALL COSTS' ?

If that's correct, then you are basically saying that you 'might as well leave the club' (unless you think you are going to get a regular game for the First Team ?)

I don't wish to have a go at you personally, but I think it's a defeatist attitude for a third of the club's players to say 'scrap the Reserve Team NOW at all costs'.
It is the same attitude as Junior, Osborn, Dedman, Myron, Nugget, Lexton, Leon and numerous other promising/quality/loyal players who have left the club in the past few months.
If they had all stayed, we wouldn't have had a problem, would we ?

Text 07949 128505

Lol,

That is not what I am saying - I have signed up, paid up and photo-ed up. As far as I am concerned, I am ready for another season of 6.5 of 10s in the famous jade but your post makes me, and therefore probably others like me, think there's a high likelihood of the Reserves folding.

If the overall numbers situation is not improved from last year, which seems to be the impression, then it would seem that this is what will occur. Everyone knows that we could not limp on through another season like that, relying on some of the less reliable who only turned up if phoned and ferried.

Cheers,

Murf

Murf, as far as I am concerned, the Reserves will HAVE to fold up if everybody just gives up NOW and doesn't make some sort of effort to either attend training this Sunday or bring new players with them on or before Tuesday 6th September.

If Trevor is happy to take a risk that Enfield Council will not enforce us to pay £600.00 for Pitch 2 at Hazelwood (in the knowledge that the club will not be able to pay him that money back if they do so) and Tem, Dan, Ritchie and Scott all come on here to say they will still stay with the club and just play the odd game as a substitute for the First Team now and again when we are short, then fine...I will drop the Reserve Team out NOW and players like yourself, Barry and Chris Morrish (& mates) will then be free to find another club or concentrate on jetting off to various locations around the world every other weekend (which they all seem to prefer).

The reason I would prefer us to make an effort and get new players in is because this is currently the side we will be fielding on Sunday 4th September for our First Team's first match of the season:
An outfield player in goal (a disaster !); Robin, Terry Moore, Wooly & Speller in defence (which isn't bad); Colin, Paul Ellerker, Stuart, Eric & Tem in a 5-man midfield; Kizza on his own up front. Subs: Dan, Ritchie & Scott.
I don't think we will lose 9-0 or 10-1 with that team because our opponents are not as good as Risden Wood or Enfield Rangers Old Boys, but it is highly unlikely that we will win. If we get off to a losing start, more players will leave...and if we have already decided to disband the Reserve Team, we could end up in a situation where the whole club has to fold !

One of the biggest problems we have at the moment is that our First Team players are getting pissed off at how 'crap' some of our Reserve Team players are when they have to step up four levels and play for the First Team (as they will be on the 4th September) and are therefore threatening to follow Junior, Dedman and others and leave because of it.
We therefore have no option but to get better players into the club who are good enough to play for the First Team.

Text 07949 128505

I should be available on the 4th. I will let you know well before if i can't make it, but a i say, i should be ok.

Going back to Trev's point, I have just been in Tesco's (at the Southbury Road/Willow Road junction), and there IS a passport photo booth in there (in the far right-hand corner behind the checkouts).
It costs £3.00 a time, so I suggest Trev brings a subs tin full of £1.00 coins on Sunday and we add money onto players subs if they turn up on Sunday without a photo or their own money.

Text 07949 128505

Lol, I think we agree...I like jetting around the world and playing football...I wouldn't give up one for the other, though...