Last Updated on: 28th January 2022, 05:27 pm
“I was asked to help out at the club at the beginning of last season after the club had a mass exodus of players leaving a very successful club in dire straits. The gentleman that has run the club Frank Swain is 87 years old and this will be his 50th season in charge. Although he now takes a lesser role in the football side, he still plays a huge part in keeping the club going. The club had been very successful in the past winning trebles and many trophies.
This last season, however, was not very successful, well I say this and although our league position tells a different story just being able to finish the season when many clubs around us were folding I managed to convince enough players that had either hung up there boots or had the dreaded “missus says I gotta pack up football I always injured”. Some games were really tough and although I hadn’t played local football for many years I was shocked at how little commitment and loyalty there was.
Our main focus was to get a team out each week so that the man who had put so much into local football had a game to watch on a Saturday after all he had given me my 1st taste of men’s football nearly 22 years ago and had still continued to put a side out to represent the village he was proud to live in.
The season was full of highs and lows of mostly lows. But each week with a mix and match side and in not 1 game did we have the same side as the week before(as I’d taken over after the season had started many players had already signed elsewhere and once we were struggling it became very hard to graft players in who would be regular). To Frank, the results mean nothing all he wants is to see a group of people who for a couple of hours on a Saturday can forget all their issues all their problems and play an enjoyable game of football with some good banter. I really didn’t think it would be asking that much!!
Before we knew it the final game of the season was upon us and we had kept the club alive we were still fighting and getting to the end of the season meant we could start again build something Frank will enjoy and we go into the new season like a Phoenix from the ashes. And after the horrible news that’s Franks wife had passed away makes all the more determined to build something successful and make our Saturday football great again.”
Ben Young – Manager
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