Moving Forward

In my last piece regarding results and fixtures I stated if we could draw against Boston, then beat Barrow, Stalybridge and Hyde we would be looking at having got ten points from twelve and would be in a great position.

Well?..we drew against Boston, the Barrow game was called off, we then beat Stalybridge in a 4-3 goal fest and had a Valentine `s Day massacre against Hyde coming out 2-0 winners.

I didn`t go to the away game against Boston so I can`t really talk about it too much, I know we went 1-0 up as my phone beeped when I was in B&Q but when it beeped again (we were driving back) I had a feeling it would be a case of it being them scoring rather than us.

Fast forward a few days to the following Tuesday and I was looking forward to playing Barrow hoping the wheels would fall off (see what I did there???? wheel???? barrow???? Oh forget it).

Anyway just before I left I got word that it was postponed due to a frozen pitch, so that was rescheduled to a later date meaning we had a little rest before the “SK derby`s” against Stalybridge & Hyde on the following Saturdays.

I took two mates to the games against Stalybridge and Hyde who both have only ever made a handful of journeys to EP due to them supporting Man U.

Ian has openly admitted in the past that it`s a better atmosphere than at Old Trafford and the food’s a lot nicer.

Carl does part time work for St Johns ambulance meaning he gets to go to different games for free when he`s on duty, sometimes he`ll go to the bigger clubs like City or United, he sometimes covers the lower league teams like Bury or Oldham but this season – I have seen him take a liking to non league matches rather than the greedy league.

He has been covering local teams like Ashton, Droylsden and FC Utd so to be fair to him he gets around and see`s more football grounds than the average fan.

After first asking if he was allowed to stand up (this isn`t Old Trafford mate do whatever you want) he said at the end of the Stalybridge game that we don`t deserve to be in this league, and at worst a club our size should be in League 2.

It`s a long way off and will be a long time before that happens, but I`m still convinced that one day we will.

I just hope it`s not going to be one of those situations where it goes on for decades rather than years, but I`m going to speak more about this at the end of this article.

On to bottom place Hyde Utd or Hyde FC as they are now known, I remember the last time we played them at home and lost 2-0 in the season when we got relegated from the conference.

While we have just about steadied ourselves and are eyeing up getting back to the league above – Hyde saw Manchester City`s involvement end and have entered a dangerous freefall situation.

Last season saw them win just one game in forty-six (a new record I believe) and come crashing back down to the conference north.

This season has not been much better, they have won merely two games in the thirty games played and look set to fall even further to the league below (if they manage to stay afloat as a club).

Now if what you hear on the grapevine is true then the club are looking for buyers around the £400,000.00 margin and are currently loosing around £1000 per week.

There are other things within the club I could mention that I`ve heard but this isn`t the time or the place for rumours, nor shall I kick a club while they`re down.

Once things for sure though, when we feel depressed at being a Stockport County fan – we can at least thank the footballing gods we do not support Hyde.

On the pitch it was a relatively slow start but once we opened the scoring with a goal gifted from a poor Hyde chested back pass I didn`t think we would loose.

It was good to see our Lethal Weapon Danny Glover score again after missing an easy header to make us go 2-0 up and it could have easily been more.

Also it was good to see Danny Hurst keep a clean sheet, he`s a player we need to keep long term.

The Cheshire Cup has somewhat gone unnoticed for most of this season, perhaps due to the fact that we have either been concentrating on the league or that we have had two other cup competitions with reasonably entertaining ties.

We had the FA Cup game at home against Chester that we almost drew and then the FA Trophy game against Wrexham that we blew in the home match then got took to footballing school by our Welsh friends in the replay.

While these are now distant memories in our footballing minds we are still in the prestigious Cheshire Senior Cup.

This is a cup made up of teams / towns (that I have mainly never heard of) in Cheshire, although it also includes Crewe Alexandra and Tranmere Rovers for some reason?

I can`t remember last season`s results in this completion but this season we have played and beat Warrington (preliminary round) and Alsager (first round) both away from home.

So I made the short journey on the Monday after the Hyde game for the 2nd round AKA quarter final tie (again away from home) via the finger flyer to Runcorn, this was a valentines present from my lovely wife to be that included the coach / ticket / program, pie and a pint.

I`m easily pleased?

I finished work early and wrapped myself up before catching the coach for the short journey down the M56, the last time I was going in this direction at night (football related) was to Ellesmere Port when we played the late Vauxhall Motors before they ceased, if memory serves correctly we lost 2-1 to a injury time goal with Phil Jevons scoring for us.

With it being a cold evening I also took the opportunity to use my SCFS Logo engraved hip flask (a wonderful Christmas present) for the first time with a pinch of Brandy, obviously not inside the ground as that would be against regulations (cough).

We got to the ground at about 7.15ish and I was surprised to see a strong attacking side named, Runcorn started like they meant business and hit the crossbar with a cheeky lob about 15 minutes in.

After that we were in control most of the game leading 1-0 at half time then going 4-0 up before they scored a (late) consolation. So it`s on to the semi final and may our cup run carry on.

I spent the 2nd half stood behind Alan Lord and I was impressed with his tactics and motivation, especially towards the younger lads.

After we scored our forth I shouted at him to give us a smile to which he replied with a glint in his eye “I never smile?or so they say”.

A little bit of stats for you, in the last 3 games we have scored 10 goals. Brilliant. Although by the time you read this we will have played Bradford away so anything might have happened.
Bummer.

——————

Back onto the co-op and after my last article I received feedback via email that said the points I raised were to be sent on to the relevant people so they can have a look at the message (or lack of) that they are giving out.

I noticed a comment at the bottom of my last article with a link to the co-op website, now this is the website I was talking about when I said I read it numerous times but I still couldn`t understand the benefits of joining.

It just referred to itself as some type of car sat in a garage waiting?

Not the best marketing plug but hey. Maybe it`s me not seeing the wood for the trees but I still can`t see why I should join it?

Anyway for the reasons I have already stated regarding shares and the players fund I have now joined.

It cost me £12 for twelve months and was very easy to set up, I received an email straight away saying thanks and I now have access to the website that has very good information on it so I have to give them credit for the set up.

Plus it currently has a shirt auction and I love my County shirts as you may know?Then I got another email asking if I wanted to subscribe to the newsletter – again I clicked on the link as I want to find out everything that will be going on.

Watch this space.

Another reason I joined the co op is that I don`t know who knows what regarding the club or where people choose to get information from if or when they want it.

I check a few websites for county news and always find County Heaven brilliant for updates, I also check the Manchester Evening News website where they have a county section and obviously check the official website.

Now I have seen different information scattered about here and there from fans forums and / or meetings but I am yet to see an official ‘mission statement` with regards to the club and its future ambitions / targets.

What I would like to see – and something I singlehandedly am now going to push for – is some type of business plan outlining the club for the next 5 or so years (like a 5 year plan).

I know that at this point (i.e. late on in the season) it`s a waste of time so I am only at this point asking for confirmation that once this season has finished and we know where we stand – that one will be released.

Questions need answering – If we managed to win promotion to the conference then what will happen with regards to us going full time?

Would we stay part time to settle ourselves for a season? How would we manage with full time and part time players?

How many seasons should we give ourselves before we try and push up back into the football league?

What`s the situation between the shareholders who we owe debt to?

What`s our player`s budget in the league now and how do we feel it compares to the other teams?

If we don`t manage to win promotion this season then again we still have questions that need addressing, we cant stay in this league for any longer than we have to and every season it sees us loosing more and more fans.

Every season we are also seeing a drop in attendances home and away. We need to get out of this league ASAP and not a moment longer.

Now I`m only 32 years old but I have worked in business for long enough to know that to have business goals are a positive thing.

Also you have to at least have a target in sight to be able to meet it.

I also believe that the fans feel that when they are “in the know” look more positive rather than being kept in the dark, while still being asked to hand over money year after year but more so week after week.

That`s why today I am asking the club to acknowledge that we need some solid targets / business plans and sit down and draft something out, so at the end of the season (once the dust has settled) this can be released and we can kick start season 2015/16 on a positive*.

Speaking about positives – lets end on one!

I want to say massive congratulations to our latest scout Mike Flynn, yes – the legendary skipper from the ’90`s and probably your favourite players favourite player.

This is brilliant news for us, he bleeds blue. If we ever make it into the greedy leagues I demand we erect a statue of him outside our ground swinging around the romanian shirt.


Steve Davies

*I have sent a copy of this article to the secretary Mark Lockyear and am waiting for a response.