This coming Sunday (25th April) sees us play our last game of the season at Home to Enfield Royals.
It is a normal 90-minute match, but as the goalposts are now being taken down at Hazelwood for the cricket season, we have to play this game on Enfield Royals' Home pitch (Pitch 8) at Enfield Playing Fields instead.
We will be changing at the Donkey Lane end (off Carterhatch Lane), although if our players do not want to queue up for an hour afterwards trying to get out of the car park, it is best to park in the Ladysmith road car park and walk to the changing rooms from there.

I will need Loveday to get there early (at 9.15.a.m.'ish) and help me to put the nets up (without stepladders). I will be parking in the Donkey Lane car park in front of the changing rooms.

The squad for this match is as follows:
Darryl Johnson (GK)
Simon Jackson (GK)
Alan Barnard
Martin Loveday
Jim Arrowsmith
Tony King
Danny Hagan
Rob Brown
Terry Brown
Steve Cokell
Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo
Daniel Daley
Yes, that is just 12 players, including two keepers !
Please confirm your availability on here before 10.00.p.m. on Thursday evening.

We have left Danny Smith out for the time being until he tells us he is fit to play after injury, while Kris Spyrou (for persistently turning up after the kick-off for reasons best known to himself) and Jamile Little (for not turning up at all !) have also been ommitted.
If Kris and Jamile want to come along for this match, that's fine, but they will both be substitutes...assuming nobody drops out of the 12 and we do not find any other players willing to come along and boost the squad/go sub.

Conor McGovern (Injured), Stuart Dorward (In Manchester after entertaining clients at Old Trafford the day before), Terry Moore (Away for the weekend & Paul Woolston (Babysitting) are all unavailable.

Available.

Loveday has texted to say that at the moment, he is working again this Sunday and to leave him out of the squad.

I have a nasty feeling that by Friday we are going to have to make a decision as to whether to play with only 8 men (including me) or 'non-fulfil' the fixture and get fined £50...which we really cannot afford.

But we have saved money by getting those balls back! Available.

Available

Go on then....

Jim Arrowsmith can't play this Sunday, presumably due to family commitments.

Down to 10 now...including two keepers.

Available

I'm afraid to have to let you down this Sunday I can't make it because of other commitments, Good Luck.

At the moment, we have just 8 players for this match, namely Darryl, Barney, Tony King, Rob Brown, Danny Hagan, Kizza, Daley & Steve Cokell.
Danny Smith has told Trev that he will not know until the day of the match if he will be fit to play or not, so we cannot rely on him, while Jacko is still stranded in Cyprus.

I spoke to Trev last night and we agreed that we have no option but to text/phone as many registered players as possible and guarantee them a game if they are available. (They won't turn up if we don't). That means if we get more than 14, some of the 8 regulars that have already confirmed their availability will have to be left out. It's the only way we can avoid a non-fulfilment and a £50 fine.

This morning, I have texted the following players asking them to play:
Clark Williams
Tem Adil
Robert Jackson (via Tem)
Danny Green
Scott Jenkins
Peter Murphy
Foysol Ahmed
Andrew Warmerdam
Gavin Mardell
Jim Arrowsmith (who is not playing) says he will ask Aaron Illsley, while I assume Rob Brown will ask Joe Ansell, Jamie Martin & Paul Duffy

So far, I have had replies from Danny Green, who says he is working, and Clark, who says he can't play as his hip is playing up again.

Murf and Scott have both texted back to say they are 'not available'.

Tem is injured, so he can't play...and that rules out Rob Jackson as well.

Gavin Mardell says he will let us know by tomorrow (Thursday) evening if he can play or not.

I am still waiting for a reply from Foysol & Warmers.

I'm not registered am I? I don't have a game and would help you out otherwise.

Definitely won't get Paul Duffy as he always works with the London Marathon which is this weekend.

I'll ask Jamie and Joe today.

Seeing as this game is so close to home i can probably sneek out. I will need Trevor to keep an eye on my phone though cos if work calls i will have to leave.

Danny Smith has texted to say that he definitely won't be fit for Sunday.
Also, Foysol has texted to say that he can't play either as he is going away to Turkey on Sunday.

Another problem is that I cannot see Daley playing if we have got less than eleven. He was well pissed off last Sunday and threatening to leave because of that...and I don't blame him.

Personally, I am prepared to play 90 minutes myself, even if we only have 8 players, rather than concede the match and get fined £50.
This is one game where as far as I am concerned, we might as well just have a laugh and lose 30-0...therefore beating our record defeat by one goal.
I know that Cheshunt Corinthians and East Herts won't be pleased, but that's tough.

I need Darryl, Barney, Tony King, Rob, Danny Hagan, Kizza & Steve Cokell to assure me that they are prepared to play however many players we have got.
We MUST NOT non-fulfil on the morning of the match, as we will have to pay the Referee as well.

There is still the possibility that we may find another four players before Sunday, although obviously that looks pretty remote at the moment.

I would like to play but to be honest is there any point with 8? If you all agree then i'll play no problem.

I want to play no matter what, would be a boring weekend otherwise.

I agree with Dan - I'd rather have a run out, even if we don't have 11. It should be decent weather, and it's local, so why not play whatever?

I won't not turn up because we are short but it's absolutely shocking that we can't get 11 players out of the 275 we have signed on.

I will not be happy to have a laugh and lose by a massive score even though the Enfield Royals lads are generally alright and I can't see them taking the piss unlike some other bunches of wankers...

Come on Lol, bend the rules. I must look like someone out of the 3 million players you have signed up!

Laurence ill try my best but i think i can only make the 2nd half to be honest

quote]Good practice for you, Deej ! [/quote]
I may not be playing next year as i'll have a cauliflower arse! It's gonna be hot and hard work. What if we get injuries? It seems to be a waste of a Sunday morning. And why should we be in this position of not getting anyone to play? We must have one of the biggest reigistration of players in the league! Is it really worth it???

Here are the other registered players out of our 39 who have not been contacted yet to play this Sunday (or have not confirmed their availability):
Andrew Warmerdam...Has not texted back yet.
Paul Amico...Can Loveday get him to play ?
Aron White...Can Loveday get him to play ?
Tim Beeden...Can he play as an outfield player ? (He will probably be able to run slightly further than me ! )
Gavin Mardell...Still waiting for him to confirm. Probably a 'no' I expect.
Aaron Illsley...Probably won't play if Jim and Gavin are not, as he won't know anybody. Very good player though.
Jamie Martin...Can Rob actually get him out of bed this Sunday !? Can't believe he actually paid £25 Annual Subs as well !
Ramel Palmer...Daley might be able to get him (if he is turning up himself !?)
Jamile Little...We still have no idea where he was last Sunday. Presumably couldn't get out of bed ?
Gavin Stacey...Norsemen goalkeeper, but what's he like as an outfield player ? (Over to you, Loveday).
Joe Ansell...If he is not on call-out (Fireman).
Gary Cokell...Again ?

Whether we can find four players (at least) from that lot is anyone's guess.
...and another thing is will any of them pay a fiver subs ? Probably not !

For every match this season, and even matches that were postponed, I have lists of all the excuses given by players for dropping out of the squads after they are named on a Monday.
In the next few weeks, I am going do do a spreadsheet of these and name and shame everybody on here. It will be in the form of a 'League Table' with points 'awarded' for the worst drop-outs, so for example if somebody failed to turn up on the day of the match without letting us know (e.g. Jamile last week), then that's 10 points.
If somebody dropped out on the day of the match because they had gone out the night before but let us know they would not be playing, then that's 9 points.
At the bottom of the scale would be somebody dropping out of the squad before the 10.00.p.m. Thursday deadline with a genuine unavoidable excuse, so therefore one point for that.
Somebody dropping out from getting injured in a work 5-a-side or from going out jogging is a 3 or a 4 in my book. It happens far too often for my liking.

When the spreadsheet has been done, I will then have a good mind to say 'good riddance' to those at the top, no matter who they are.
I will just sign up the 10-15 players for next season who have the lowest marks, and then bolster that with 10 new signings.
If we carry on as we are with well over half of our currently registered players only willing to play for us on a Sunday morning if they are not doing anything else, then we will fold up half-way through next season without a doubt.

Here's my view. If we do not have 11 definates by 9pm Friday then i'm out. How many points would that be?? lol

You will have to wait until you see the spreadszzzz.......

Well, I'm available irrespective of how many players we have, so I'll see you all there unless I get told otherwise.