We have had to concede tonight's 7-a-side League match to our opponents (International) as we only have four players available (Terry, Alan Barnard, Juneka Junior and Junior's Spanish mate) !

Kris has dropped out as he doesn't finish college until after 7.00.p.m., Foysol is also now working this evening and Nugget's mate Sam hasn't replied to my requests for him to play, probably because Nugget isn't playing himself (away on holiday in Ibiza).

I have e-mailed Simon and had no reply, so we haven't got a goalkeeper, and we have numerous other players who can't make a 7.00.p.m. kick-off or are just not bothering to get in touch.
The main problem is of course Del's Stag Do in Lithuania which has ruled out five players.

Next Thursday (25th May) is a 9.00.p.m. kick-off, so we should be able to field a side for that, and at the moment the squad will be Stuart, Conor, Del, Alan Barnard, Terry, Juneka Junior, Foysol & Kris, plus a goalkeeper (from somewhere !), plus one other outfield player, which will either be Wooly (if he is fit) or one of about five possible new players/trialists....all of whom are good players and we do not want to bring them along when we have a crap side out (for obvious reasons) !

Wel I would of been able to play tonight but i never get picked although i really want to play in the 7-a-side league, and i was just wondering why not?

Because you owe £28.00 subs from training at the Southbury Leisure Centre during the past two seasons.
All other club members are more or less up to date with their subs and we can't afford to let players play or train for nothing.
Pay the £28.00 and you can play on Mondays...when needed.
If you get a game and play well (and pay £5.00 on the night) then you will get another game the following week.

The Thursday Night squad is for our better and more experienced players as it is a stronger League than Monday nights.

Have just found out that Juneka Junior's Spanish mate wouldn't have played tonight anyway because he was working.

Dan texted me wanting to play, so we would still only have had five. (Terry, Juneka Junior, Alan Barnard, Dan & Tom).

when needed...that means never then. so ill be paying you 28 squid for nothing really just giving you money out of my wallet to waste

laurence can u just explain why i havent been picked at all not given a chance, i think i have improved alot from when ive joined and i thought that my player profile was harsh u called me unfit etc last season now im fitter this season and i dnt even get a mention, and now i get whacked with a £28 that i supposedly owe and i just think dats a tiny bit unfair

Right...Enough's enough !
It's time for me to clear the air and have another one of my rants...and as always I don't care who I upset !!!

I am really pissed off that we had to call off tonight's game. The woman who runs the 7-a-side League was not at all pleased when I phoned her this morning to tell her that we couldn't field a side and it is an absolute embarrassment for the club. As always, it's me who has to do the dirty work.

The main reason the game was called off is because we have two different sets of players in the club at the moment....and it is clearly not working !
We have the older experienced players who think the youngsters (i.e. Oz, Colin, Tem, Kris, Dan and especially you Tom), are all 'shit' and are 'never going to learn', then we have the youngsters refusing to listen to what the older players are telling them and just running around the pitch as if they are having a kickabout over the park...or in Dan's case trying to deliberately injure someone.

We could have scraped up seven players tonight, albeit without a goalkeeper, but it would have included three 'proven quality' prospective new players who would quite possibly have walked away in disgust and refused to sign up for us had they turned up and played in a side including Dan and Tom and with an outfield player in goal. We were due to be playing International (the best team inthe League) and there is no doubt whatsoever that we would have got 'mullahed' !
The rest of the Management Committee are insisting that we only get quality prospective new signings (e.g. Alan Barnard) to play when we are fielding a good side, and I have to agree with them...at the moment. We can only get away with playing ONE of the five youngsters (as an outfield player) at a time if we want to win a match, as they are just not good enough when they all play at the same time...as has been proved. And Tom...I'm sorry but you have turned up to training enough times for us to make a clear judgement that Colin, Tem, Kris and Dan are all better players than you are, and we are not going to drop one of them to give you a game, especially when you refuse to pay for attending training whereas they are all completely up to date with their subs. Maybe you HAVE improved, but the last training session I attended, you stood there looking skywards and just gave up whenever you made a mistake (which was quite frequent), and even your mates (Colin, etc.) were bollocking you for it. I'm sorry, but that is just not good enough.

Essentially, both sets of players are at fault with what's going on at the moment. Some of the older players are being far too impatient, and one of them even appears to have now left the club because of that, while the younger players have got to treat the older players with a bit more respect and join in a bit more. We should be one team, but we are NOT at the moment.

Last Thursday night, Kris, Foysol and Junior all sat down with us all in the bar afterwards and joined in the conversations and it was good for team spirit, even though we lost.
I have to say, these three players are a credit to the club as they never moan and slag people off and always let me know if they are available to play or not.

On Monday night, Oz and Colin turned up and both appeared to be totally out of their box from the way they were shouting at the lady hockey players...both before AND DURING our match !!!
I know Colin scored (not with a hockey player though), but I have never seen him and Oz play so badly. They then just buggered off straight after the game and the team spirit was terrible. Only Speller, Ritchie, myself and Trev stayed for a drink afterwards.
Yes, our older players used to turn up to matches in a state like that in the early-mid-90's, but they are all 'sensible' family men now...and that's the problem. They just can't identify with the youngsters' current attitude.

I am also really annoyed at a number of older players who seemingly don't have the bottle to tell me they don't want to play for the club any more (because they are pissed off with the youngsters, poor turnouts at training and losing virtually every match we play). They don't reply to Forum messages, e-mails or phone calls or just say 'Sorry. Not available' with a text message. I won't name them at this stage, but I will do if they don't get in touch within the next week or so !

I also have a feeling that some other (older) players are missing matches not because they HAVE to work overtime or baby-sit, but because they PREFER to work overtime or baby-sit.
If it was just one player guilty of that, it wouldn't be a problem, but they are all following each other like sheep.

Conor (your Players' Rep) said at the last Management Committee Meeting that if we were in contention to win a Cup or a League Title, 'everybody' would change their work shifts, arrange baby-sitters and only go away for weekends when we didn't have a game arranged, and consequently 'everybody' would turn up to training and we would then field a settled side every week.
So...are you all going to get your arses in gear or would you all rather see the club slowly bleed to death ?

It would be good to hear our Manager and/or our Captain backing me up, although I think they might be too busy.

yea i no i understand that sumtimes i give up easily and get pissed off wid myself wen i dnt play well, but b honest trainin is sumtimes a total waste of time,so you have got 5 youngsters right so wot u guna do when all the players you got now get too old and cant play anymore, who would want to sign for a team that dont get a good turnout for training. well all i can say is that your judgement is slightly harsh considering you and trevor dont even watch your players when they train AND how can anyone improve if they dont play?

Tom, I agree that training IS a total waste of time because the older players won't/'cant' go any more and Trev can't be arsed to turn up when there are only 5 or 6 players there.
By the way, Trev is our Manager/Coach. I am NOT a Manager/Coach and I never will be, but I have to pick the squads for 7-a-side because Trev is too busy to phone, e-mail & text people himself. My complaint about the way things are going at the moment is from a Club Secretary/Chairman's viewpoint.
You are dead right with your comment 'what are we going to do when all our current experienced players get too old and can't play any more ?'
This is exactly what concerns me and it is why our older players MUST encourage the youngsters more and the youngsters MUST listen to them.

Where you say 'how can anyone improve when they don't play ?', you are forgetting that on Sundays we play in Division One and not in the bottom Division...which is where you and the other youngsters SHOULD be playing in order to learn the game. Let's say we get rid of all our older players now and our regular team in Division One next season consists of Oz, Colin, Tem, Dan, Kris, You, that 'Ed' bloke and a load more of your mates from Youth 5-a-side Leagues and kickabouts over the park. We would lose at least 10-0 every week and the whole lot of you would leave within a couple of months and the club would then fold.

We are giving the youngsters a chance to improve by playing them in the 7-a-side League, but as I have already said, the main reason I am not picking you, Tom, is because it was a Management Committee decision that you must pay all of that money owed first. You seem to be saying we should forget about that £28.00 because you never get a game !
Well., I'm sorry, but we have never done that with anybody. If we did, the club would get heavily into debt and we would then fold for financial reasons.
If people turn up to training and we actually use the facilities, then those players are charged for it and it's in the Club Rules on the website that you should be paying us on the night.
You haven't done so, and that's where you have built up this backlog.

ok alrite, ill bring along sum money with me when i next come long or when im put in one of the squads. anyway thers another thing i dont agree with is that us YOUNGSTERS do listen to people when we come along so i dont konw where you got that from.

Excellent rant from Laurence.
I am far too busy to write such comments and Stuart is in Lithuania getting p****d.
We need to sort out our team spirit now or the club is doomed !!

Blimey!
A couple of days in foriegn climes (albeit the same latitude as Newcastle according to the Rovers equivalent of Michael Fish)and all hell breaks lose.
I only got on here to check out the squad and find that a club crisis is upon us.
Not trying to make excuses Lol, but it is not everyday half the club bog off to sunny Vilnius. I am sure everything will be fine once the new season proper gets underway.

Just in case anyone gets confused, tonight's game is ON, not off !!

As nobody has replied to the 'squad for tonight thread', I am taking it that all nine players are turning up and nobody is pissed off with my rant and are determined to prove me wrong !?

Well done Lol,

Your rant was so long that I forgot what the title of the thread was in the first place, apologies for any confusion caused.