Here are the players who have confirmed their availability so far, either at 7-a-side on Monday night or on Teamer:
Garry Cover (GK)
Alan Barnard
Terry Moore
Lexton Harrison
George Stahlmann
Danny Hagan
Ben Keating
Krishan Singh
Jack Bangs
George, Ben & Krishan all said they would let Trevor know if the new players they intend bringing along are definitely available (and what their names and positions are), but I don't know whether they have done so yet.

I will text all current players who never bother with Teamer (and prospective new players that I have details for) later today and give them until Friday morning to reply. If they don't, then they should be left out of the squad (in my opinion).

Daniel Daley and Martin Cruickshank have confirmed their availability, but John Scouller can't play because he has just had a wisdom tooth out. He will be there to watch though and will bring Lewis along to play in goal if he is available. (I have heard nothing from the goalkeeping school yet). I have not asked Adam Griffin if he is available (yet) because we need to see what other prospective new goalkeepers are like.

I texted several other players yesterday, but none of them have replied yet. These are: Daniel Cascoe, Leon McKenzie-McKay, Rafiel Johnson, Lee King, Adam Krstic, Ali 'TJ' Sowe & Ivan Bass.
I am not going to phone these players (despite what was said at the A.G.M.). That's because we probably have enough players already if George, Ben, Krishan & Daley are definitely bringing new players along.
It is up to the players I texted to get in touch of their own accord, and if they do not do so before 10.00.p.m. tonight, then I think they should be left out of the squad.

So, at the moment, I make it that the possible squad (of 17) for Sunday could be as follows:
Lewis (GK)
Garry Cover (As an outfield player)
Alan Barnard
Terry Moore
Lexton Harrison
George Stahlmann
Danny Hagan
Ben Keating
Krishan Singh
Jack Bangs
Martin Cruickshank
Daniel Daley
Mate of Daley
Mate of Ben
Mate of Krishan/Younes
Mate of George
Another Mate of George

Because of work & family commitments (stepson & his family over from Australia for a month), I have not heard from Trev since I spoke to him on Monday night...and yes he is my brother ! , so I still have no idea whether he has spoken to any other players rather than the 16 I have listed below who as far as I am concerned are playing tomorrow:
Garry Cover (GK)
Alan Barnard
Terry Moore
Lexton Harrison
George Stahlmann
Danny Hagan
Ben Keating
Krishan Singh
Jack Bangs
Martin Cruickshank
Daniel Daley
Lee King
'Joe' (Mate of Ben's...central midfielder)
'Brandon' (Mate of Younes & Krishan's...Left-Back)
Jack Tompkins (Mate of George's...forward/attacking midfielder)
Ollie Blake (Another mate of George's...forward).

I have told Lee he is playing because Terry can pick him up when he gives Martin a lift.

Adam Krstic is on holiday and TJ and John are not playing because of health & fitness issues but are both coming along to watch.
I still have no idea if John is bringing Lewis along to play in goal, I have no idea whether Daley is bringing any mates (and whether he has told Trev that he is), and I have no idea whether Cascoe, Leon, Raf or Ivan have spoken to Trev and told him they are playing. They certainly haven't told me or put anything on Teamer.

If Trev doesn't turn up tomorrow because of his family commitments (which is possible), then Terry will have to be Manager as I am definitely filming the match (for the commentary experiment).
If more than 16-18 players turn up wanting to play (which is too many), then whoever is Manager is going to have to tell certain players they are not playing. I am not doing it.

Also, we are somehow going to have to find £95 between us for half the pitch & Ref's fee if Trev is not there with the subs tin. I haven't got that sort of money myself !

I have now phoned Laurence and confirmed that I have picked a team with 5 subs from the 16 man squad above. As usual in pre season games, I will bring all 5 subs on at half time with the 5 who come off able to come back on if necessary.

If the players who haven't got in touch or other trialists whose names I have not been given turn up they will only get a game if others drop out. Otherwise, they will get a name next week if available.

Martin has dropped out, so we are now down to 15.
Garry is definitely in goal as Lewis is not playing and we have nobody else as far as I know.

I also haven't heard from Lexton. I am only guessing he knows we have a game.

Lexton is playing, but Krishan has dropped out because he has tickets for Arsenal. We don't yet know if his mate Brandon will turn up of his own accord by getting a tube to Cockfosters instead.

So...we could only have 13 players this morning.
If anybody else wants to play, please phone Trevor (not me !) on 07894 961484.
We could do with a goalkeeper so that Garry can have a game as an outfield player, at least for one half.

Looks like we are down to just a bare eleven now. Total bollocks. 😡

Right...'rant' time, although not as bad as it might have been because we managed to escape with a 1-1 draw instead of the 10-0 defeat that we probably deserved on the balance of play !

What the hell was going on here ?!!!...
- Players who have been moaning that they are 'always a sub' dropping out at short notice to do something else when for Pre-Season Friendlies they are given at least 70 minutes game time to show what they can do.
- Players turning up and THEN telling us that somebody they are supposed to be bringing along is not coming...as if they think nobody else is going to do that so it 'won't matter' that they don't phone or text us an hour before the kick-off so that we know ?!
- Players having their phones cut off because they have 'run out of credit'...therefore not turning up because they can't phone/text us to find out where we are playing/what time's kick-off/can they get a lift.

Because of the above, we had five players missing from the squad of 16 and we were really lucky that John Scouller turned up with his boots and Ivan Bass was able to come along at the last minute so that we had two subs for the Second Half.

Also, how can players turn up so late ?!!! (i.e. Three of them pretty much right on the scheduled 11.30.a.m. Kick-Off with no explanation as to why). Presumably if it had been a 10.30.a.m. Kick-Off, those three wouldn't have been there at all ?
Fair enough for a 7-a-side League match where players come already changed and just put on a shirt, but we can't have that for a proper 11-a-side match. Trevor has to go through the tactics and formation for a start, especially when there are new players there.

In my opinion, for our first League match on the 1st September, anybody who has messed us about in Pre-Season by dropping out at the last minute or turning up late should be left out of the starting line-up, even if they have paid their Annual Subs. That will teach them a lesson, especially if we win the match with the eleven that start the game all playing well enough to keep their place.