64 Ramsbottom United v Buxton

18.08.15

Buxton Main Programme_Standard Programme 16/08/2015 21:52 Page 1

First of all I’d like to extend awarm welcome to tonight’s matchofficials as well as the manage-ment, players and supporters ofBuxton. I hope you enjoy yourvisit to the Harry Williams River-side Stadium and that yourjourney home is a pleasant one.Our battles against Buxton lastseason were very memorable,with them dumping us out of theFA Cup quite early on in the sea-son, and us winning 2-0 at home(fantastic Wiz goal in the secondhalf!) before bagging a desper-ately needed draw over there inMarch. This evening is likely to be a

tough test for our new-look squad,particularly given how well TheBucks did against Darlington atthe weekend (running out 2-0 win-ners), and it’ll require us to find alittle of the form that eluded us onSaturday at Rushall.Of course it is still very early

days for these players - all barthree pulled on their shirts for theirfirst competitive Rammy gamedown at Rushall on Saturday, andat times it was far too evident.The work-rate was there but thedisplay was a little too disjointed.There felt to be a lack of assur-ance, confidence and drive,

particularly making sure we keeppossession in key areas, allowingthe team to get forward and makesome in-roads on Rushall. Attimes things started to click, butthen at other times it seemed dif-ficult for us to get into the kind offootball we’ve been working onpre-season. We didn’t foldthough, we kept plugging away,and kept trying to do the rightthings. It will come good if everyone is

patient. This is a fantastic squadof young players that has a hugeamount of potential for the future,and everyone has to rememberthat it took five years to get theRammy squad of old into the kindof shape where it could win allthose promotions.I have to mention some great

individual performances from Sat-urday. Shents in goal was asoutstanding as I’ve ever seenhim, and Prince Haywood andAlex Meaney in the middle werefirst-rate. These lads really did usproud, but it’s the team perform-ance that matters at the end ofthe day, and the results. The per-formances will improve as playersbegin to click, and those pointswill come soon enough.Enjoy the match.

jon

robi

nson



Welcome to the Harry Williams River-side Stadium this evening, and aspecial welcome to our match offi-cials, and our good friends from thePeak District, everyone involved withBuxton FC.

OFF AND RUNNINGTonight we start our home games

in what will be our second season atthis level of football. To us, last yearwas a learning curve and, consideringeverything that went on, I think we didpretty well.

Our two games at Silverlandswere rather strange affairs. In the FACup we were, quite literally, awful forthe first 45 minutes, then completelytook over the game for the secondhalf. In the end we just missed out ongetting a result, but it was definitelyone of those “games of two halves”.That, of course, was with the “old”team. When we returned for leagueaction late in the season, it was our“new” team that turned up, and whilstwe took quite a battering, somehowour defence managed to hold out(Buxton’s woeful misses did helpmind!) and then we conceded. Atwhich pointit looked likewe wouldcave in, butLee Gaskellscored asuperbequaliserjust minuteslater, and inthe end wecould havenicked a winthat wouldhave been atravesty. A

point was more than welcome!In between those games, we wel-

comed the Bucks to Rammy and sentthem home on the back of a 2-0defeat, so all-in-all, last season hadboth our teams just about equal.The bookies may well not be fancy-

ing our chances this time round, butthat’s OK. No pressure on the lads,so I’m sure they’ll all go out to enjoyevery game we play, and come nextApril, we’ll see where that takes us.

LOOKING AHEADIt’s always a fascinating time of

year as the new campaign com-mences.Each league will have a new con-

stitution, with clubs leaving by variousmeans, and new ones joining. Therewill be much forecasting done aroundthe country, and I’ll bet that no sup-porter anywhere will predict thedreaded drop for their side.

It looks as though we may haveeven more travelling to do this sea-son than last – that will probably seeme missing even more away games -damn! – but I do look forward to see-ing the likes of Hyde United, who are

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The Mighty Robbo scoring against Salford back when they playedin Tangerine and the band-wagon engine was still in the garage.


our next visitors to the Harry WilliamsRiverside Stadium. They haveenjoyed just three victories in the lasttwo years, so surely they will expecta marked improvement at this level.Darlington will revive many memo-

ries. Who will ever forget that terrificnight at Bishop Auckland when weabsolutely battered them. One of thegreatest nights in The Rams history.Oh yes, then there’s the little matter

of Salford City. For years they weremerely our local friendly rivals fromdown the road. How their profile hasaltered! It’s a game that virtually all atRammy will look forward to with rel-ish. Mind you, the Salford team haveto perform well on the pitch betweennow and then, otherwise...There is no doubt this level of foot-

ball is testing for a small club likeourselves, but we must set our stallout to become established at thislevel. Buxton, however, are synony-mous with playing in the NPL.During my time with Mossley back

in the 1980s, we met The Bucks on

many occasions, and I suppose mostfans would regard this as Buxton’snatural level.

For us I suppose the Evo-StikNorth would probably be seen as ourplace in The Pyramid, so you couldsay we are plying our trade a littleabove expectations. That, however,should not blunt ambition. CurzonAshton were playing in NorthernCounties East not too many yearsago, and look where they are now.Other smaller clubs like Guiseley andNorth Ferriby United are fine exam-ples of how achievements can betterexpectations.

How far can Ramsbottom Unitedgo?I have no idea, but we’ll never stop

striving to improve.Roll on the coming campaign...it

should be fun!

Enjoy tonight’s match.- Tony

Giving Darlingtona tonking in theplay-offs, goalscorer JordanHulme and all-round ‘NaughtyBoy’ OwenRoberts


After a magnificent and meteoricrise to the dizzying heights of theEvostik Premier, Rammy’s fortunestook a sudden and crushing downturnwith the departure of both managers,coaches and eight of the fourth-placed squad to pastures new(Salford) back in February. Drawn bythe ‘ambition’ of our neighbours, andwith perhaps more than one eye onthe cheque books of United’s ‘class of92’ and of billionaire businessmanPeter Lim, the overnight departure ofso many long-serving players left theclub in dire straits. That awful day when Anthony John-

son and Bernard Morley announcedtheir plans to leave will live long in thememories of everyone who wasthere, but many will also recall thesense of relief and of hope whenRammy legend Jon Robinsonstepped forward to announce hisintention to take the reins. Robbo didn’t have much of an idea

where he was going to start, but reas-sured by the former managers thatthey weren’t going to pillage the

squad, he had a little bit of breathingspace to get his plans in order... untilhe learnt over the next couple of daysthat no fewer than eight of Rammy’sbest players were packing their bagsand heading off up the road. A coupleof others also announced their depar-ture as they felt unable to continue ata club after all their friends had left. And that’s where the story of Jon

Robinson’s exploits in football man-agement begins. Up until that pointRobbo had been the non-leagueequivalent of Alan Shearer - a com-mitted, goal-poaching striker and thescourge of many an oppositiondefence. A Rammy player throughand through, with over 200 appear-ances and 107 goals for the club,Robbo had become known for givingit everything he had, for every singleminute he was on the pitch - and whatmore could you want from a newmanager. Most importantly, he under-stood The Rammy Thing, and the(often inexplicable) foibles of the cluband its, at times, eccentric chairman.

Long-time fans of the club had

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Taking One for the Team - how many topscorers would pull on the goalkeeper’s shirt?


already seen Robbo give so much forthe team. How many top-scoringstrikers would tuck away the ball inthe opposition net, and then ten min-utes later pull on the goalkeeper’sshirt after a nasty injury that sidelinedhim? That same top-scoring strikerhas appeared a good number oftimes as a centre-half, not bad forsomeone whose less than statuesqueheight is disguised by a strong physi-cal presence and an ability to leapand hang in the air like no otherplayer at this level!The dust settled on his appoint-

ment, and very quickly reality, and thepoisoned chalice he’d been handed,wreaked their havoc. The note thatfate very quickly scribbled to Robboread, “You’ve got a bit of a pointshead-start on the job, but you’re waybehind on games because of thebad weather, have a prettymeagre budget, and just afew weeks before thetransfer deadline toassemble a team tocompete in theEvostik Premier!”contd...

Could anyone nottrust this manalongside you ina battle - JonRobinson in fullbattle dress!


Master Stroke Number One camebefore he’d even left the club houseafter that initial press conference. Aphone call to ex-Rammy midfielderand erstwhile defender Phil Edghillbrought the inspirational and knowl-edgeable player back to the club asAssistant Manager. Being unassum-ing, Edghill’s former presence at theclub had been undoubtedly influentialbut also calm and understated. He’san all round ‘nice bloke’ with his headscrewed on and a decent reputationaround the game locally. His calm-ness and level-headedness looked tobe the perfect balance for Robbo’spassion, no-nonsense approach andimpetuosity.

Master Stroke Number Two - bringback Gassy! Jon Robinson withoutLee Gaskell is like Morecambe with-out Wise or Keith Harris withoutOrville (I’ll let you try and work outwho is Orville!). The partnership upfront of the scrapping ‘all elbows andknees’ opportunist Robbo, and theprancing show pony (as Johnno oncecoined him) Lee Gaskell had longbeen the scourge of non-league foot-ball, indeed football in general, withthe pair being the highest scoringstrike force in English football just theseason before.

The season had started unde-servedly harshly for Gaskell, whoseinjury had kept him out of the team

Lee Gaskell playing on the telly up at Gateshead in the FA Cup Second Round2015

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early-doors, onlyfor the newlyrejuvenated Jor-dan Hulme(returning from afull-time trainingand playing spellin the USA) toforce a change offormation on theteam. After thatfull-time trainingregime Hulmereturned with thestrength and fit-ness to play as a lone striker, allowingthe Rams to pack the midfield anddeny space and time to opposition

teams. The suc-cess of thatapproach deniedthe Robbo-Gassypartnership achance to get fir-ing again, andwhen Gaskell didstart to return frominjury, the harsh-ness of hisside-liningbecame all tooobvious. Theshort, 10-15minute spells atthe end ofmatches sawGassy playingsome of his bestfootball, but withHulme on topform, Gassy’smatch-time waslimited.

Many willremember thatGaskell departedRammy to sign for

Warrington Town, in the divisionbelow, but few really understand thereasons for this move.Gaskell had been approached by

Warrington as they were enjoying anextended FA Cup run and desper-ately needed their squad bolsteringahead of a crucial, televised match.Gaskell, having been injured, wasone of few quality strikers who hadn’tbeen cup-tied, and Shaun Reid madean approach to loan him for the FACup game (ultimately to becomegames). Gaskell approached the thenmanagers Anthony Johnson andBernard Morley requesting to go, inorder to get back to full fitness byplaying more match-time, but also asa great chance to play on the telly infront of an audience of millions. “No,” was the categorical answer

from the managers. They felt, andmany would agree, that Warringtonhave no right to just come and helpthemselves to Rammy play-ers. If they wanted Gaskellthen they would have tosign him... which theydid.

contd...

Phil Edghill asSkem’s lastminute goal putsRammy out of theplay-offs two yearsago.


The deal went through astonishinglyquickly, and Gaskell was away play-ing for Warrington in time for theirmemorable win against Exeter, andsojourn into the Second RoundProper with a tie at Gateshead.Much to the (understandable) dis-

may and disgust of the WarringtonTown officials, Lee Gaskell’s phonenumber was the second on Robbo’slist, and the departure of the formermanagers saw the return of fans’favourite Lee Gaskell.That was the easy bit!Assembling a team in just a couple

of weeks from other clubs’ fringe play-ers, with no chance to study or followform meant that relegation was,although far from likely, a darkshadow lingering in the background.In a depressing period in Rammy’s

history, the cobbled-together teammanaged to scrape together just fourwins from a 24-match run-in, througha combination of passion and sheerhard-work. It was a long, tiring andmiserable three months, with a fixturebacklog that is still disturbing tobehold, and even caused one player(defender Mark Ayres) to have a cou-ple of suspected strokes. Many of theplayers involved weren’t quite up tothe job, and had no affinity to allthings Ramsbottom, but any real fanof the club will agree that Rammy arevery much in their debt.

As results went Rammy’s waybefore the final week of the season,the pressure eased and eventuallythe curtains closed on a tempestuousseason, allowing the harrassed-look-ing Phil Edghill a chance to have AGood Sit Down, and Jon Robinson totake a breather to look around beforestarting to build a real team of his ownwith which to take on the Evostik Pre-mier.

Master Stroke Number Three camepretty quickly - retain captain and topquality goal-keeper Grant Shenton,one of the best in football. Master Stroke Number Four - bring

in the vastly experienced coachWayne Goodison to help make surethat training is right, set-pieces areproperly worked on, and that there isan experienced football managementhead in the dug-out.

And so we now find ourselvesembarking on a new season down atthe Harry Williams Riverside with asquad of players and back-room staffthat are more experienced at thislevel than any we have had before.Players such as Prince Haywood and20

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Melford Knight have a fantastic pedi-gree in the middle; the return of LeePugh, The Mercurial Andy Dawson atcentre-half after an extended periodof injury, with the equally mercurialGrant Spencer playing Ariel in themiddle; the signing of such highly-esteemed and proven players asShelton Payne from FC United, andAlex Meaney from Curzon Ashton - allof these players compliment the KyleHarrops and Jamie Rothers weretained from last season, and awhole raft of incredible youngsterswho will be the main-stay of theRammy to come.There are still a lot of unknowns

about this season, and how Rammy

will fare - as chairman Harry Williamssaid in an interview midweek, “If I hada crystal ball, cocker, I’d be a lotricher than I am today!”What is for sure is that we have a

really decent looking squad of properfootballers, who like to play the gameas it should be played, and behindthe scenes we have a coaching andmanagement staff that any club atthis level could be justifiablyproud of. At the end of theday we may struggle tomake in-roads in thisleague, but withthese lads it willnever be for thelack of trying.

ManagementTeam WayneGoodison, JonRobinson and PhilEdghill - ready totake on theEvostik Premier


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1877Buxton FCwere formedas part of anoffshoot ofthe town’sCricket Club.

Buxton started their 2014/15 Evo-StikNorthern Premier Division season withhigh hopes of finishing higher than theirprevious campaign where they ended upthirteenth in the table.Nantwich Town were the visitors to Sil-

verlands on the opening day of the seasonand the fans went home happy as Buxtonwon 2-1. Three score draws followed,which included an impressive one all drawaway at FC United of Manchester, a teamwho many felt would be one of the titlefavourites. A run of eight consecutive winsthrough September saw The Bucks top thetable as the early pace setters. October saw a change in fortunes as

they suffered their first defeat of the sea-son away at Skelmersdale United. Otheraway losses were to follow, as Buxtonwere defeated at both Rammy andGrantham. The month also saw their FACup campaign ended in a Third QualifyingRound loss away to AFC Fylde. Inconsis-tent form for the rest of 2014 saw Buxton

relinquish top spot in the Premier Divisionas they picked up only a further three winsagainst Stourbridge, Barwell and MatlockTown before the turn of the New Year.It was early March before they were to

bag another win on their own turf, whenthey defeated relegation-threatened Traf-ford 3-2. By this time The Bucks form hadseverely dipped, with only three leaguewins in their last eleven games, althoughthey were still hopeful that they could holdonto a Play-Off place. The run in till the end of the season saw

Buxton only record a further two wins, bothcoming away from Silverlands at Working-ton and Stourbridge. Unfortunately it wasBuxton’s home form that eventually letthem down. Although a tenth place finishwas higher than their previous campaign,it seemed for long periods of the seasonthat a Play-Off place was well within Bux-ton’s reach, but ultimately they ended theseason ten points adrift of Ilkeston, whooccupied the final spot in fifth place.

1884Moved toSilverlands.The firstgame stagedat the newground wasa DerbyshireCup tie,which ‘TheBucks’ won2-0 againstBakewell.

1926Buxtongained theirfirst piece ofsilverwarewinning theManchesterLeague Cup.

1952Reached theThird RoundProper of theFA Cup,where theywereknocked outbyDoncasterRovers.

1972Won theCheshireleague forthe first andonly time.

1973Promoted tothe NorthernPremierleague(NPL).


1993After being amembers’run clubsince its for-mation,Buxtonbecame aLimitedCompany.

1998Brought onby financialproblems‘The Bucks’suffered suc-cessiverelegationswhich tookthem to theNCEL.

2005Won theNCEL President’sCup.

2006Retained theNCEL Presi-dent’s Cupand won theNCEL Pre-mier Leaguetitle gainingpromotion tothe NPL Uni-bond FirstDivision.

2007Won theUnibondPresident’sCup and theUnibondFirst Divisiontitle gainingpromotionback to theNorthernPremier Divi-sion.

2012Won theDerbyshireCup for thetenth timebeatingDerbyCounty 1-0.

2012CurrentmanagerMartin McIn-tosh wasappointed inFebruary.

Buxton’s home ground Silverlands•was originally a field that was owned byFrank Drewry, their first club captain.

Buxton has the highest elevation of•any market town in England and isknown as ‘the gateway to the Peak Dis-trict National Park’.

It is home to ‘St Ann’s Well’ - the geo-•thermal spring water is bottled and soldinternationally by the Buxton MineralWater Company.

Silverlands is situated 1000 feet•above sea level and is the highestground in the football pyramid, beatingThe Hawthorns, which is the highestFootball League ground.

The Romans developed a settlement•known as Aquae Arnemetiae, or the spaof the goddess of the grove. Coins dis-covered indicates that the Romans werein Buxton throughout their occupation.

The town’s name may be derived•from the old English word for BuckStone or for Rocking Stone.

The Natural Baths which were re-•developed as an arcade in 1987 featurethe largest stained glass window inBritain.

Famous Buxtonians include comedy•actor Tim Brooke-Taylor, musician andsongwriter Lloyd Cole and PDC dartsplayer Dean Winstanley. di

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etLike the Napoleonic armies prior to

reaching the gates of Moscow, Bux-ton had been unbeaten on theirtravels so far this season but foundthemselves similarly repelled at theRiverside Ground returning homedishevelled, disheartened and thor-oughly defeated. The score line didnot reflect the Rams’ superiority overthe full ninety minutes or a perform-ance that was almost complete andperfect in its execution.

For a few weeks there had beensigns of the brewing storm whichswept Buxton away: the odd thunder-ous attack and lightning strike in thearea. On Saturday all the elementscame together as The Rams gave asustained display of solid defence,control in midfield and accurate pass-ing at pace in attack. The win wasbased on three partnerships: SteveHowson, firm and resolute, andCedric Krou, all languid elegance in

interception and distribution, denyingBuxton sight of, never mind an efforton goal; Scott Burton and Gary Stop-forth, whose return to full matchfitness is no coincidence with theteam’s uplift in form, providing a firmbase to allow Grant Spencer to roamand torment at will, and not least JoelPilkington and Phil Dean down theleft .For 45 minutes there was an intrigu-

ing tussle between Dean and Steve

Istead, Buxton's right full back. It wasmatador against bull, Dean attackingat pace with feint and dummy Isteadlunging in, turned in and out, stickingto his task bravely but with buildingdesperation, and by half time havingbeen booked, only one mistimedtackle away from a red card.Sensing that dilemma, Buxton sub-

stituted him at half time - but whatfalse economy. The first touch of hisreplacement, Stuart Ludlum, was a

RAMSBOTTOM UNITEDAbadaki pen (49), Dean (69) 2RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 0

18.10.14Att: 470

Buxton’s Suarez Looky-Likey SteveIstead - harrassed, wound up, bookedand ultimately subbed.


push into Phil Dean's back, clear inthe area just two minutes into thesecond half. Red card not havingtouched the ball! Osebi Abadakiripped the penalty high into the roofof the net. Jordan Hulme had a chance to

double the lead moments later onlyto skew wide, but it was just a mat-ter of time before The Rams scoredagain with a goal of beauty in itsconstruction and finish. On 69 min-utes a double exchange at paceand with precision between Hulmeand Spencer carved out yards ofspace for Dean on the corner of the

box. Dean,with the coldeyed calm-ness of thematador deliv-ering the finalthrust, stead-ied himself,touched theball forwardand sent ashot scream-ing past abewildered

goalkeeper into the far corner. Quitesuperb.A flurry of substitutions took some

heat out of The Rams’ attack butthere was still time for Tom Williamsto show the virtue of the early well-delivered ball from wide into the boxand Nelson Mota contriving to walkaround the keeper twice in thesame movement, but not find thenet from inside the six yard box.There are tough matches ahead butmomentum and belief is growingthat this just might be anotherextraordinary season.

RAMSBOTTOM

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Subs: Pugh,Williams+, Mota#,Robinson*, Slaven

ShentonSmalleyPilkingtonStopforthKrouHowsonAbadaki 1+BurtonHulmeSpencer*Dean#

BUXTON

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Subs: Ludlam +,Reed, Davies,Broadhead, Taylor

JamesonIstead +GreenStevensPalmerYoungWilliamsNivenTutonHardyKing

Istead’s unfortunate replacement StuartLudlum, sent off without kicking a ball!

Phil Dean - hero, villain, matador?You choose!


six to

wat

chGregg Young (Defender) Age: 30Previous Clubs: Sheffield Wednes-day, Grimsby Town, NorthwichVictoria, Halifax Town, Altrincham,York City, Alfreton Town & Gainsbor-ough Trinity.

Young started his career atSheffield Wednesday before making24 league appearances for GrimsbyTown. After loan spells at Northwichhe spent three seasons at HalifaxTown, before signing for Altrincham,where he played over 100 games. Hereturned to full-time football with YorkCity and then moved on to Alfretonand Gainsborough Trinity. This no-nonsense central defender signed forThe Bucks in the summer of 2014,making 46 appearances last seasonscoring 6 goals along the way.

Liam Hardy (Forward) Age: 27Previous Clubs: Armthorpe Welfare,Harrogate Town & Harrogate Railway.Hardy put himself in the shop win-

dow when he netted 46 goals in oneseason for Armthorpe, earning amove to Harrogate Town. Unfortu-nately, a serious leg injury put hiscareer on hold. Subsequent loanspells at Harrogate Railway were fol-lowed by a temporary switch toBuxton, where he scored an impres-sive 7 goals in 9 games. After hisrelease by Harrogate Town in thesummer of 2014, he signed on full-time with Buxton. He enjoyed anexcellent campaign last season,where he netted 26 times in 49matches, earning a nomination for theLeague Team of the Year. With inter-est from other clubs, Buxton aremightily relieved that he has signed anew contract to stay at Silverlands.

Ricky Ravenhill (Midfield) Age: 34Previous Clubs: Barnsley, DoncasterRovers, Grimsby Town, Darlington,Notts County, Bradford City,Northampton Town & MansfieldTown.

Another midfielder with bags ofFootball League experience, whostarted his professional career atBarnsley. After being released hedropped down into non-league withDoncaster Rovers, where he was partof the team that enjoyed back-to-backpromotions, rising from the Confer-ence to Division Two in a couple ofseasons. He played with NottsCounty as they won the League Twotitle in May 2010 and won anothermedal at Bradford City as they fin-ished runners-up in the League Cupin 2013. Ravenhill finished last sea-son with Mansfield Town and, aftersigning for Buxton over the summer,his talents can only add to an alreadyexperienced midfield.

Phil Barnes (Goalkeeper) Age: 36Previous Clubs: Rotherham United,Blackpool, Sheffield United, TorquayUnited, QPR, Grimsby Town, Gains-borough Trinity, Alfreton Town &Harrogate Town.This vastly experienced goalkeeper

signed for Buxton during the summerfrom Harrogate Town. Barnes startedhis professional career at RotherhamUnited, but really made a name forhimself during a seven year spell asBlackpool’s first choice keeper. Con-sistent form earned him a move toSheffield United, where he was partof the squad that achieved promotionto the Premier League in 2006. Hemoved on to Grimsby Town, where he


was voted Supporters’Player of the Year in2008, but after twoyears he moved intonon-league football.Barnes’ Football leagueexperience is sure tobring stability to theBuxton back line.

Derek Niven(Midfielder) Age: 31Previous Clubs: Sten-housemuir, RaithRovers, Bolton Wander-ers, Chesterfield &Grimsby Town.This experienced mid-

fielder started his careerin Scotland with Sten-housemuir and thenRaith Rovers. He wassnapped up by SamAllardyce in 2001, butnever made a first teamappearance in twoyears at Bolton. Nivenreally made a name forhimself during 9 seasons at Cheste-field, making nearly 300 leagueappearances. He made Chesterfieldhistory when he scored the last goalat their old ground Saltergate in a winover AFC Bournemouth in May 2010.After his release he spent a season atGrimsby Town, before signing forBuxton in the summer of 2013. Dur-ing the past two seasons he has beenan almost ever-present, scoring threegoals in in nearly 90 appearances.

Martin McIntosh (Manager)Managerial Career; Worksop Town &Rotherham United (Coach). Martin became manager of Buxton

in February 2012, successfully avoid-ing relegation. He played as adefender, making over 500 profes-sional appearances in both theScottish and English FootballLeagues. Clubs that he played forinclude Tottenham, St Mirren, Hamil-ton, Hibernian, Stockport County,Rotherham, HuddersfieldTown and Grimsby Townand he finished his playingcareer at non-league Alfre-ton Town. Martin holds boththe UEFA ‘B’ and ‘A’ badgesand since his appointmenthe is one of the most prom-ising managers around.

DefenderGreggYoung, awealth ofexperienceat manylevels.


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secondary school teacher and BuxtonTV cameraman Alex McKenna. Afterthe game you can watch the high-lights at the excellent BFCTV.netwebsite. We asked Alex to tell us a lit-tle bit about his beloved club, and fora few tips for our tripover t’hills later in theseason.“I first started follow-ing Buxton in 2005when I was still inschool. My first mem-ory is the day we wonpromotion from theNCEL. It was the92nd minute andgoalless until MarkReed nodded in atthe near post to sealthe League title. Great scenes!“AFC Telford away in the FA Cup in

2010 is probably my best memory. Itwas a Tuesday night replay at theirplace. At full time, it was 1-1 but wehad nine men after Gregg Andersonand Tommy Agus both received redcards. Telford scored early in extratime to put themselves 2-1 up andthen missed a penalty. Buxton startedto come in to it a lot more in the last15 minutes but I never in a millionyears expected us to score in the121st minute to take it to penalties.Unbridled joy amongst the few thattravelled to the game that night. It'll bedifficult to top that night. “If you asked which players really

stand out for me, the first has to beMark Reed. To score over 260 goalsin over 400 appearances at one clubis an incredible achievement at anylevel, let alone in non-league whereplayers tend to move on after a fewyears. He was instrumental in getting

us back to the NPL Premier League!The other one would probably be NeilStevens. He never stops running forwhatever cause and isn't afraid of achallenge. He also loves to get yellowcards for no apparent reason. Doesn'tdeserve to be in Division One where

he currently is!“Our first four

games last sea-son resulted inthree draws and aloss but then wewent on a ridicu-lous run where wescored for fun,and at Christmaswe were in the topfive I think. LiamHardy, ShaunTuton and Mark

Reed linked together brilliantly attimes and with Greg Young and Ash-ley Palmer at the back, we werepretty solid and difficult to beat. How-ever, we dropped off quite a bit afterChristmas and fell away. There wasno one thing that could be to blame,just the natural changes to the teamthat occur over a long season.“We've made some very good sign-

ings that have replaced the playerswho left over the summer, likeBradley Barraclough and AshleyWorsfold, and we have some strengthin depth on the bench. However, wedon't yet have a settled team andmore signings in defence are needed.Losing Ashley Palmer was a hugeblow. We do have continuity with themanagement team though which isalways a good thing at this level.“I think the aim for Buxton - most

clubs in fact - is always a top fiveposition. I think we'll be ever-presentin the top ten and, with a few more


signings, we could have the person-nel to at least make a challenge forthe top five. Whether we will or notwill depend on how we invest in theteam after Christmas and what loansignings we bring in as last seasonthese were a little hit and miss.“Regarding our fans, some aren't

afraid to "voice their opinion" to themanager and players, rightly orwrongly. We do have a core bunchwho will support Buxton come rain orshine though. The usual number webring for midweek away is around the50-70 mark. “I've only been to Ramsbottom once

before with Buxton and you easilybeat us. We were poor that day. Theone thing that struck me about yourground is how tightly packed in you

are. Not much room down the ter-races but your fans behind the goalknow how to make a din! It's a nice lit-tle ground.“The parking at Buxton’s ground ispretty much ‘park where you can andhope your registration plate isn't readout over the tannoy system during thematch’. We just avoid parking in thePolice Station over the road - it wasallowed until last season. As for adrink, we do have a clubhousethat is pretty nice and big,but if you fancy a wander,the best place would be theMarket Place, a five minutewalk up the road. There areabout ten pubs in that areaso take your pick.”

A great day out forthe bumper crowd,but Phil Dean didn’tforget Ash Palmerin a hurry


As we enter the fiftieth season ofRamsbottom United’s existence wecaught up with club co-founder andcurrent chairman Harry Williams andtook the opportunity to ask him somequestions about the current situationat the club and how he sees thingsmoving in the future.Over its fifty years the club has pro-

gressed from a park team playing onChatterton Recreation Ground, man-aged by Harry himself, through theManchester League and NorthwestCounties to the heady heights of theNorthern Premier League where itcompetes today. It’s a club that’snever been relegated, and has gentlyand sensibly built for the future, a tes-timony to Harry’s unwillingness tosaddle his club with ridiculous debtsor take on any agreements that he’snot willing and able to honour.First of all we asked what his aims

are for the coming season.“This is an incredible level of foot-

ball,” replied Harry. “I never thoughtthat we’d ever find ourselves playing- and beating - the likes of Marine,Ilkeston and so on. I rememberspeaking to Alan Allcock (LeagueOperations Manager) just after we’dgot promoted to the Premier, andtelling him that I didn’t think we couldcompete at this level as we’re such asmall club in a small town, but Iremember him telling me not to worry,we’d do alright. That was really reas-suring, and I remember those first fewmatches where we looked like wewere in for a hiding. But we did it! Wemanaged to hold our own at this levelin a really difficult season - they don’tcome much harder than that. “So this season I want to see the

club start to properly grow at thislevel. Don’t forget, we’re just two pro-

motions off the league, and so if weare able to get things right on and offthe pitch... maybe get ourselves adecent run in one of the cups as wellas putting in a good shift in theleague... then that’ll do me. I like towin - I’m naturally someone whodoesn’t want to lose, and I don’t wantthis club to just be there to make upthe numbers, but we do have a lot todo in order to make this club a properEvostik Premier club.”Harry sees a big role for the sup-

porters in his plans for the club, as it’soutgrown his ability to run things him-self and improve things by his oldapproach of calling in favours.“It’s been amazing over the last few

months that supporters have beenturning up at the ground and volun-teering to help out with things. I don’twant to name names because I’d bebound to forget someone, but I reallyappreciate the help I’m getting. In thepast it was always just a few of usthat turned up day-in day-out, andpeople who were only interested indoing a particular job, but these peo-ple are coming along and saying,‘what do you want me to do, Harry?’They’re making this club what it is,and really helping to keep thingsmoving. I definitely need help, but Ialso need people with ideas. Some-times I feel that we’re not handlingourselves as professionally as otherclubs, and that’s a situation I don’tlike, but we’re working to remedy that,and with everyone’s help we’ll defi-nitely get there.“It will be difficult though. You’ve got

your Darlingtons and your Salfordswho’ve got big bank accounts and alot of backing, and I know that if we’reto progress then that’s the kind ofarea we need to look at. Football is allha

rry

will

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about what’s happening on the pitch,but having some financial clout isalways going to help that. It’s not thebe all and end all - look at clubs likeLeeds, Newcastle and so on... bigclubs that found themselves rele-gated. You do need decent playersand managers, that’s for sure, and Ireckon we’ve got that with these lads. “Robbo’s doing a really good job,

surprisingly well, but I know he’s adecent, loyal lad who’s got Rammy inhis heart. Those he’s brought in knowtheir stuff too, so I make sure I leavethem to it. I have managed thisteam in the past, but I’m not thekind of chairman who does that.They’ve got the reins and Itrust them to know whatthey’re doing. I’m also notthe kind of chairman whocuts the budget if resultsdon’t come. They know whatthey’ve got to spend and Iwill stick by that all season.”The next couple of pro-

motions are amongst thebiggest steps in world football -turning from a semi-professionalclub with crowds of 300 into a full-time league club with crowds in thethousands - and Harry is in no doubtabout the difficulties that come withthat.“There’s a bit of a glass ceiling in

football now. We need to get theground footprint capable of holding6000+ fans to qualify for the Confer-ence. Where do you start with that,when you’re working with the cricketclub and have such a small area todevelop? There’s the day-to-day stufflike repairing the floodlights andkeeping things looking good, andthen this thought in the back of yourmind about taking such a small

ground higher. It’s a huge job, and,with each promotion, that job has gotbigger and bigger. “With everyone properly on-board

we can get there, but for now, for me,it’s about settling ourselves properlyat this level. Afterthat... whoknows?”


I know that Saturday’s result andperformance were very disappointingfor a lot of people in and around theclub, but I always like to be positiveabout things. If we are being realisticand honest then what we had atRushall was no real surprise, and wesaid that to the players before thegame and again afterwards: It’s thefirst game of the season, away fromhome, with one or two marginal deci-sions from the officials. The first 20minutes or so were pretty lively, and itwas quite difficult to get settled intoplaying the way we want to play, butdon’t forget that we have pretty mucha whole new team, playing togetherfor the very first time in a proper, com-petitive setting. Only three of theplayers in Rammy shirts at Rushallfinished the season with the club lasttime, and irrespective of playinggames pre-season, the fact is thatyou’ve got a whole new squadtogether. They have a lot of potentialand a lot of ability, but it’s not all goingto come together overnight - anyonewho thinks that’ll be the case is prob-ably just deluding themselves.

We did give away goals at badtimes, and I have to admit that, at 2-0, I started to wonder if it was going tobe a four or five goal defeat, but thebig plus for us is that nobody gave up,nobody stopped running, nobodystopped trying to do what we wereasking of them, and if you look at thegame now, there were little spells inthere where, for short periods of time,we started to get a bit more in control- you could tell that they were a bitworried about that on their bench.What we didn’t do, and this is what

disappointed me, is what we did inpre-season, where we’ve kept peopleunder pressure for a bit longer and

passed the ball better in good areasand threatened a bit more. So, we know we can improve on

that, but we also know that we’vemaybe got one or two gaps in theteam at the moment through suspen-sions and injuries, squad availabilityor whatever you want to call it, andfilling those will make us stronger intwo or three weeks time, and you’vejust got to go with that.

The players were very disap-pointed. They don’t just turn up, getbeat and then start wondering what’sfor tea. They turned up at Rushallfully expecting to perform, as we alldid, and they’d be the first to admitthat, on the whole, they didn’t. At half-time we were still in the game - it wasstill only one-nil. Admittedly, it couldhave been more, but with a bit of luckgoing our way we could have got onthe end of a couple of crosses andwho knows, but at the end of the dayit was only one-nil and we were still inthe game. We told them to try andrelax a little bit and do what we’veasked of them, and what they’vemanaged to do in pre-season. Theydid in the second half, but at the endof the day it wasn’t quite right, we justweren’t quite good enough to put intoaction what we’d worked on through-out pre-season. We’ve got a clearidea of what we want to do, and ulti-mately we just didn’t do it for longenough, but we will. We just needeveryone to remain patient and calm,and we need the fans 100 percentbehind us.

We expect supporters, just likeplayers, to get passionate aboutRammy and passionate about ourperformances, but in managementwe have to sit down and look atwhat’s going wrong, or what needs tow

ayne

goo

diso

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be looked at and improved on. I’mgoing to sit and watch the game backand see what I can pick up that per-haps I didn’t at the time. You will seeunderneath that there is a plan ofwhat we want to do and how we wantto play, even if it didn’t quite come offon Saturday. In reality though, thesethings will only come the more weplay games and the players get toknow one another. Pre-season is ok,but it’s when it really matters inleague football that you really learnthe lessons. And don’t forget, you’vegot two eighteen-year-olds playing inthe back-four. You’ve got a nineteen-year-old in midfield and a lot ofyoungsters in and around thebench. It’s a young team, and that’sdone on purpose. We’re in theprocess of rebuilding Rammy’steam, and to an extent the club. It’seasy for fans to forget how long ittook the previous regime to build thequality team that they did. For the stage that we’re currently at

with the rebuilding we’re quitepleased with how things have gone,and we have one eye very much fixedon the future for the club and for thisyoung squad.

This week sees us playing tworeally big games, against teams thatI’ve been involved with in the past,and we’re ready to pick ourselves upand go again. Yes Saturday was dis-appointing, but nobody died, we lost2-0 away from home! We’reall now very muchlooking forward toplaying at home infront ofour ownfans.


MOLLY 0pts GUESTS 0pts

vs

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vs

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Molly: 2-1Guest: 3-1You:












Pit your witsagainst The MightyMolly by trying tocorrectly guess theresults from today’sEvostik Premiergames. Each cor-rect score earns3pts, with correctresults earning 1pt.

today’s guest t

“I'm ababyamongstthe fanshere, bothin terms oftime in thestandsand yearson thisearth, butI've settledin quicklythanks tothe warmatmosphere. You can always catch mechanting and screaming to keep warm inmy woolly hat. “When I'm not at a Rammy match, I tend

to be found working at Citizens Advice inBolton, trying to maintain my sanity, and try-ing to convince my clients that my replicaRammy top is that of a real football team.Some day they'll see. “Buy me a pint and we'll be friends for

life.”


RAMSBOTTOM UNITED v FRICKLEYSATURDAY 29th AUGUST 3pm

Frickley Retro Insert_Standard Programme 27/08/2015 14:29 Page 1

PHIL EDGHILLWelcome to every-one for tonight'sgame against Bux-ton.After six weeks ofpre season we wentinto Saturday's gameat Rushall confidentwe could get some-thing from the game,knowing it would bea difficult first gameaway at a well organ-ised team.Conceding after 2 minutes with a bit of a freak goal setus back and gave them a lift, but we settled down andplayed some decent football without really creatingclear chances. They were a threat going forward and westruggled at times with their direct play, having to relyon shents to make good saves to stop them increasingtheir lead. Conceding a second goal right after half time was ablow and we never looked like getting back into thegame after that. We lacked 'cutting edge' to our play andas the game became stretched Rushall looked dangerouson the counter-attack. In the end we can have no complaints about the result,we played some decent football in patches but struggledwith the physical aspect of the game and never reallytested their keeper.If we are to get results especially away from home wehave to compete and do the 'ugly stuff', be harder to beatand carry more of a threat to the opposition goal.We had only four or five players in the squad that fin-ished last season with us so it's quite a new team and itwill take time for things to click, and there are still areasof the team we are looking to improve. The next twohome games are massive for us now and we need to getpoints on the board to gain some confidence, and thelads will be doing their best to make this happen.Tonight's opponents had a great opening day winagainst a strong Darlington side so will come here full ofconfidence. Hopefully we can have a positive start athome and get 3 points. Enjoy the game!

PROGRAMME TEAMProgramme Editor: Rob MossLeague News: Gareth BirdDarkside Column: Darren ComerExile Column: Richard IsaacsTony’s Teasers: Tony CunninghamEditorial Page: Tony CunninghamSupporters Club Column: Rob MossPhotographs: Rob Moss, Ste Heard,Darren Comer, Angie HeardOther Contributors: Phil Edghill, Jon Robinson, Grant Shenton, Newsthump.com, the Evostik League,Mark Molyneaux. Special thanks tomatch officials and opposition officials, supporters and photographers too numerous tomention. We’d also like to thankHilary Massey for going above andbeyond the call of duty in proof-read-ing the programme for us.Printed by: 4 colour digital, Newportunder license from Terry Brumptonand JJ Sports Promotions; fairprintEdinburgh and Alston Press Bury.The views expressed in thisprogramme are purely those of theindividual contributors and are notrepresentative of the views of Ramsbottom United Football Club.To get in touch with us, please email:[email protected]

Buxton Retro Insert_Standard Programme 16/08/2015 12:37 Page 2

NEW LOOK PROGRAMMENo doubt regular readers of ‘RammyNews’ will notice that we’ve pulled out all of thestops this season to try and make our pro-gramme one of the best around. We did win acouple of awards over the close season, includ-ing coming eighth in the National ProgrammeAwards competition, which encompasses the

whole non-league pyramid, and we won ‘Pro-gramme of the Year’ from the Non LeagueMagazine. The whole team is very proud of theseachievements, and we’ll continue working ashard as possible to ensure that the programmeimproves season upon season. If you are interested in getting involvedthem please give us a shout.PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY PRICINGAT RADCLIFFE BOROUGHAfter the supporters club wrote a letter toRadcliffe Borough expressing our disappoint-ment at their decision to charge full matchdayprices for our recent friendly, and the turnstileoperator’s apparently whimsical variation ofadmission prices as the mood took him, wereceived the below response from Radcliffe’sMatch Secretary Ric Fielding.“I am very sorry that ill feeling aboutadmission prices tarnished what proved to be aninteresting workout for players and supporterslast Tuesday. Can I first of all clarify our normaladmission policy, which isAdults £8 (increased this season from £7 -the first increase in ten years)Concessions £5Children 16-18 £2Children under 16 free if accompanied byan adult, £1 if notIf our turnstile operator did use discretionto vary from this, I am sure his motives wereright and I applaud him for maintaining calm inwhat proved to be a difficult situation. He hadbeen confronted from the outset by a group ofyoung men claiming to be related to one of yourplayers and determined to get in free. Othersthen saw this as "fun" and joined in.To get back to the main point of your letter.When planning for our pre-season fixtures wefound we had two visiting teams of Youth play-ers, from Huddersfield Town and StockportCounty, and decided that for these games theentry for all adults should be reduced to £5. For

the other matches against clubs of higher status- your own club, Bury FC and FC United - wechose to adopt our normal charges, as in thepast. We may have failed to communicate ade-quately with your club, but our admissioncharges were stated on our website, and I alsonoticed that Bury FC's website had the chargesdetailed in advance of Saturday's match, with noprompting from us. In the event Bury turned outa predominantly youth team, with a few of thefirst team squad, but we had no complaints fromBury supporters.While you have every right to express yourviews about our pricing policy, I hope you willaccept that it would have been impossible tochange it in the middle of the proceedings. Wehave set our policy for this year, but will give thematter serious thought for the future. You mention other events which have hada bearing on relationships between our clubsand, yes, we do find it hard to forget the brawlwhen a group including management, playersand supporters of your team arrived here afterbeing rained off. It was nothing to do with us, butwe took the flak and accepted that sadly thesethings happen occasionally. We too are keen toput all such events behind us and move forwardin the interests of football. You will still find oursupporters frequently attending your homematches.Your team were worthy winners, althoughour first half squad did well and how you gotaway with that "free kick" I will never know!! Ihope you are able to consign last season to his-tory and continue to progress up the pyramid.”


STOURBRIDGEStourbridge could be in the hunt for a newstriker, with new signing Jamie Insall set tosecure a move to Scottish Championship sideHibernian.The former Kidderminster youngsterearned a deal after scoring 30 goals for Brom-yard Town in the West Midlands League DivisionOne last season. This did not go unnoticed Northof the Border, with Hib’s manager Alan Stubbsinviting the striker for a trial match againstBrentford. Reports are now suggesting that adeal is very close to take Insall to the Edinburghclub.MATLOCK TOWNWith the departure of experienced goal-keeper Jon Kennedy to Worksop, Matlock havemanaged to fill the void with another formerSunderland keeper in the form of Lewis King.The 21 year old started his career at DerbyCounty, after a spell in the North east he droppedinto the Non-League pyramid and finished lastseason at Stalybridge Celtic. Manager MarkHume said: “Lewis has good presence and hekicks well, although he had offers from clubs inhigher leagues, he felt this was an opportunity toplay regular football”. FRICKLEY ATHLETICFrickley manager Karl Rose has said thathe would be more than happy to have a season ofmid-table obscurity, especially after losing topscorer Reece Thompson, who has signed for YorkCity. A last game of the season draw against Cur-zon Ashton, meant Rose’s men avoidedrelegation, but Thompson’s departure, whoscored 16 goals last season, is sure to have animpact on this season’s campaign. Frickley havealso been rocked by a number of players drop-ping down a division. Striker Gavin Allott, whoscored 88 goals in three seasons has moved to

Shaw Lane Aquaforce, with goalkeeper BenSimpson and skipper Matty Bloor opting forScarborough Athletic.Striker Reece Thompson has completed adream move from EVO-STIK Northern PremierLeague Frickley Athletic to League Two York City.Thompson left Westfield Lane after theBlues announced they'd agreed a deal for anundisclosed fee which also includes a substantialsell-on clause.The 21-year-old joined Frickley in mid-October last year from Retford United,impressing with 16 goals in 32 appearances,including two in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Sen-ior Cup Final in May.Thompson has attracted interest from sev-eral clubs since the start of pre-season with Yorkand another Football League club both biddingfor his services. Both had offers accepted overthe weekend with the striker opting for a switchto Bootham Crescent.Frickley Athletic chairman Gareth Dandosaid: “We’ve had a lot of interest in Reece and anumber of offers for the player over the past fewweeks."We got to a situation last week where wereceived offers from two clubs which matchedour valuation of the player and the decision wasthen up to Reece. We wish him well at York andare sure he’ll be a success there.”He added: "All the management and offi-cials of Frickley Athletic thank Reece for hisefforts while at Frickley and wish him all the bestin his professional career."NEW MILLSNon-League fans are set to see a familiarface on the touchline this season at New Mills, asex Manchester City striker Shaun Goater has justbecome their new Assistant Manager. Goater scored over 100 goals in a five yearspell at City and was also awarded an MBE in2003, for his services to sport and young people


in his native Bermuda. He holds a UEFA B licenceand will assist manager Andy Fearn against Scar-borough Athletic in their first game, before beingunavailable until September, due to existingwork commitments.BLYTH SPARTANSAfter leaving for National League FC Hali-fax Town over the summer, Dan Maguire hasmade a shock return to Evo-Stik Northern Pre-mier side Blyth Spartans.The striker was a key man last season forBlyth, scoring 31 goals in a campaign that alsosaw them reach the Third Round of the FA Cup.Maguire originally signed a 2 year deal with FCHalifax, but after not making a single appearanceduring pre-season, he was allowed to leave, withthe club citing that he was struggling to balancework and personal commitments.ILKESTONBurton Albion winger Marcus harness hassigned an initial one-month loan deal with Ilke-ston FC. The move was sanctioned by managerJimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink after a formalapproach was made by Ilkeston manager GavinStrachan.Harness first appeared at the age of 15 ina pre-season friendly against Derby County andtwo years later made his competitive debutagainst Notts County in the Football League Tro-phy. The winger featured eighteen times lastseason for Burton’s promotion winning squadand was voted man of the match in their LeagueCup win over Premier League QPR.COLWYN BAYColwyn Bay have been given a huge boostafter skipper Wes Baynes rejected a move toNational League North side Brackley Town. Baynes has told the clubs fans that he ishappy to extend his stay at Llanelian Road for a

further year, even though the move would havemeant more money. As an added incentive man-ager Ash Hoskin has handed him the captainsarmband for the new Northern Premier Leaguecampaign.Meanwhile, Colwyn Bay have also beatenoff strong competition from FC United andSouthport to sign 19 year old winger CoryWilliams, who appeared for Chester last season.TRANSFERSBilly Priestley from Bradford Park Avenueto Ashton United (loan)Christopher Sutherland from BirminghamCity to Ashton UnitedJordan Wakeling from Grantham Town toBarwellDaniel Maguire FC from Halifax Town toBlyth SpartansDillon Morse from Gateshead to BlythSpartans EVOSTIK PODCASTThe award-winning NPL Show is back forits third seasonLaunched in 2013 with the backing of theleague by the team behind FCUM Radio to tapinto the passion at the EVO-STIK NPL's 68 clubs,the first hour long monthly podcast of the 2015-16 campaign will be available for download onFriday 14 August.As in the past, the show will be hosted byFCUM's Ben Hughes and recorded at The MagnetInn in Stockport where a wide variety of guestsfrom fans, players and managers to members ofthe media and club and league officials, willdebate the the latest news and action.Downloaded by thousands of listenersevery month, last season the podcast evenspawned a spin-off, The EVO-STIK NPL ShowExtra, an hour long podcast every Friday to pre-view the weekend and upcoming midweekaction.


The EVO-STIK Northern Premier League's topflight got underway for the 2015-16 season on Sat-urday with Nantwich Town take top billing bybeating Stamford AFC 6-3 at the Weaver Stadium.

It was a strange game that saw the visitors` raceinto a 2-0 lead with goals from Daniel Clementsafter 17 minutes and an Andy Hall penalty threeminutes later.

Josh Hancock reduced the deficit a minute beforehalf-time and then Paul Hudson equalised eightminutes into the second period. But Gregg Smithrestored the Daniels` lead in the 67th minute, onlyfor Elliot Osborne to pull the Dabbers back onterms with another spot-kick four minutes later.

Sub Steve Jones gave Nantwich the lead for thefirst time nine minutes from time and then LiamShotton made it a nap hand in the last minute ofnormal time. The drama wasn`t over yet as thehome side were awarded the third penalty of theafternoon in injury-time and Osborne duly con-verted the spot-kick to make it 6-3.

Whitby Town made it a miserable long journeyback to Worcestershire for new-look Stourbridgeafter condemning them to a 4-0 defeat at the Turn-bull Ground.

Matty Waters gave the Seasiders` a great startwith a sixth minute opener. Eight minutes after thebreak and Ross Gardner doubled Whitby`s lead and11 minutes after that it was game over withMichael Roberts making it 3-0. A last-gasp JamesBrown effort put the icing on the cake for the hosts.

Two games, 13 goals, but there were none atHurst Cross where Ashton United hosted Mick-leover Sports, or at Moor Lane where fancied

Salford City were held by Marine AFC in front of agood crowd of 518.

It was a bad start for new Ilkeston FC boss GavinStrachan as his side lost 3-1 at the New ManorGround to wily Tommy Lawson`s SkelmersdaleUnited.

One of the Reds` many summer signings, loaneeMarcus Harness, gave Strachan`s side an early sixthminute lead. And they held that lead until 11 min-utes into the second period when Alan Burtonequalised.

Two minutes later Danny Mitchley put Skem infront and the majority in the 505 crowd were thenstunned when Burton grabbed his second sevenminutes from time to put the game beyond Ilke-ston`s reach.

Promoted Darlington 1883 were beaten 2-0 at Sil-verlands by Buxton in front of the day`s biggestcrowd of 708.

Ashley Burbeary put the Bucks in front after 18minutes and the Quakers were killed off by LiamHardy two minutes into the second half.

Relegated Colwyn Bay and Hyde United could onlymanage one point between them on the openingday.

Bay were beaten 1-0 at The Grove by HalesowenTown – a Jordan Fagbola own goal in the 16thminute handing their hosts victory.

The Tigers led twice at Ewen Fields againstGrantham Town in front of 509 before beingpegged back to 2-2.

Ayrton Bevins put Hyde in front on the half-hourmark, only for Lindokuhle Ndlovu to pull the Gin-gerbreads level six minutes after half-time. Bevins

WEEKENDROUNDUP


restored the home side`s advantage just five min-utes later but 10 minutes from time Ellis Humbleearned Grantham a share of the spoils.

Blyth Spartans are another side fancied to do wellthis season and they started well, winning 1-0 atKirkby Road against Barwell, courtesy of a goalfrom Stephen Turnbull with less than four minutesremaining.

There was even less time to go when MatlockTown recorded victory at Westfield Lane againstFrickley Athletic.

Jameel Ible had broken the deadlock to give Frick-ley a 77th minute lead. Michael Harcourt levelled

with four minutes of normal time remaining forwhat looked like a point-saver – until Joel Purkisspopped up with the Gladiators` injury-time winner.

Rushall Olympic were the day`s other winners,beating Ramsbottom United 2-0 at Dales Lane.

Kris Taylor scored the fastest goal of the day togive the Pics a third minute advantage. And twominutes after half-time, Alex Reid scored the sec-ond to win it for Richard Sneekes' side.

A crowd of 488 saw Workington AFC and pro-moted Sutton Coldfield Town share a 1-1 draw atBorough Park, Justin Richards giving the Royals a34th minute lead that Scott Allison cancelled out10 minutes into the second half.

On the opening day of the new EVO-STIK North-ern Premier League's First Division North season,Scarborough Athletic showed why they are amongthe bookmakers` favourites to go up, writesPitchero's Steve Whitney.

Boro won 3-0 at New Mills with goals from AlexPeterson and Joe Fox in the first 26 minutes andthen a Tom Corner penalty four minutes after half-time.

Northwich Victoria went one better on their trav-els at Ossett Town, adding three more second halfgoals to Aboubacar Sanogo`s 27th minute openerwith Richard Bennett, Iain Howard and Josh Amissall on the mark.

Mossley AFC secured a 2-0 win at Stainton Parkagainst neighbours Radcliffe Borough with goalsfrom Tom Pratt after 19 minutes and Luke Hancocksix minutes into the second half.

Kendal Town and Lancaster City were the day`sother two away winners.

The Mintcakes enjoyed a good 3-0 win at ThrostleNest against Farsley Celtic, courtesy of a brace fromthe recently returned Tom Kilifin and Sam Bailey.

The Dolly Blues saw off Burscough 2-1 at VictoriaPark with goals from Joe Whittington and RyanWinder – Nick Ryan sandwiching a reply for the Lin-nets.

Strangely there were only two home winners onthe opening day!

Relegated Witton Albion beat Ossett Albion 1-0at Wincham Park with a 71st minute goal from AlexTitchiner, while Clitheroe beat Prescot Cables 3-1,goals from Louis Mayers and a Scott Harries braceafter Rob Doran had given Cables an 11th minutelead.

There were several drawn matches, including rel-egated Trafford`s 2-2 encounter at home againstBrighouse Town, who were 2-0 down to a first halfChris McDonagh penalty and a Jack Dorney effort.James Pollard and then Ernest Boafo two minutesfrom time rescued a point.

Vince Dhesi gave Harrogate Railway an earlyfouth minute lead at Station View against Droyls-den, whose Ben Hampson earned a point in the63rd minute.

Astley Mulholland put newly-promoted GlossopNorth End ahead after 14 minutes at home toSpennymoor Town, for whom Glen Taylor levelledfrom the spot on the hour-mark.

And Warrington Town found themselves twoBrett Ormerod goals behind at Irongate againstBamber Bridge with only 10 minutes to go – onlyfor Scott Metcalfe and then Ciaran Kilheeney toearn the Wire a dramatic point.


RAMSBOTTOM UN

BUXTON FShirts: White. Shorts: Blac

Shirts: Blue. Shorts: Blue. 1(Goal)

Grant SHENTO

2(Right Back)Kyle HARROP

5(Centre Back)Keiran NOLAN

7(Right Wing)Ben McHALE

4(Midfield)Alex MEANEY

9(Forward)Lee GASKELL

10(Forward)Liam HARDY

11(Left Wing)Warren BURRELL

8(Midfield)Ricky RAVENHILL

3(Left Back)Jamie GREEN

6(Centre Back)Gregg YOUNG

1(Goal)Phil BARN

Referee: Mr Craig Hainsworth


M UNITED

TON FC ts: Black. Stockings: Black.

: Blue. Stockings: Blue.1(Goal)

HENTON capt

6(CentreBack)Andy DAWSON

3(Left Back)Luke HERON

8(Midfield)Prince HAYWOOD

11(Left Wing)Shelton PAYNE

10(Forward)David KUBA-KUBA

9(Forward)Bradley BARRACLOUGH

4(Midfield)Derek NIVEN

7(Right Wing)Alastair TAYLOR

5(CentreBack)Tim RYAN

2(Right Back)Shomari DOYLE

1(Goal) BARNES

Linesmen: Mr Daniel Bennett, Mr Akeel Ahmed

Substitutes: 12 Phil EDGHILL14 Clevon BEADLE15 Jake CLIFFE16 Grant SPENCER17 Tom HARTLEY

Substitutes: 12 Aaron JAMESON14 Ash WORSFOLD15 Alex STACEY16 Ash BURBEARY17 Reece LUCAS


SATURDAY 15th AUGUST 2015EVOSTIK PREMIER DIVISION

Att. 126 Ashton United 0 - 0 Mickleover Sports

Att. 227 Barwell 0 - 1 Blyth SpartansStephen Turnbull 86'

Att. 708 Buxton 2 - 0 Darlington 1883Ashley Burbeary 18'Liam Hardy 47'

Att. 236 Frickley Athletic 1 - 2 Matlock TownJameel Ible 77' Michael Harcourt 86'

Joel Purkiss 90'

Att. 471 Halesowen Town 1 - 0 Colwyn BayJordan Fagbola 16' (OG)

Att. 509 Hyde United 2 - 2 Grantham TownAyrton Bevins 30' Lindokuhle Ndlovu 51'Ayrton Bevins 56' Ellis Humble 80'

Att. 505 Ilkeston FC 1 - 3 Skelmersdale UnitedMarcus Harness 6' Alan Burton 54'

Daniel Mitchley 56'Alan Burton 83'

Att. 302 Nantwich Town 6 - 3 StamfordJoshua Hancock 44' Daniel Clements 17'Paul Hudson 53' Andrew Hall 20' (Pen)Elliot Osborne 71' (Pen) Gregory Smith 67Stephen Jones 81'Liam Shotton 90'Elliot Osborne 91' (Pen)

RESULTS SERVICE


Att. 237 Rushall Olympic 2 - 0 Ramsbottom UnitedKris Taylor 3'Alex Reid 47'

Att. 518 Salford City 0 - 0 Marine

Att. 241 Whitby Town 4 - 0 StourbridgeMatthew Waters 6'Ross Gardner 53'Michael Roberts 64'James Brown 90'

Att. 488 Workington 1 - 1 Sutton Coldfield TownScott Allison 55' Justin Richards 34'

EVOSTIK FIRST DIVISION NORTHBamber Bridge 2-2 Warrington TownBurscough 1-2 Lancaster CityClitheroe 3-1 Prescot CablesFarsley 0-3 Kendal TownGlossop North End 1-1 Spennymoor TownHarrogate Railway Athletic 1-1 DroylsdenNew Mills 0-3 Scarborough AthleticOssett Town 0-4 Northwich VictoriaRadcliffe Borough 0-2 MossleyTrafford 2-2 Brighouse TownWitton Albion 1-0 Ossett Albion

EVOSTIK FIRST DIVISION SOUTHBelper Town 3-3 Newcastle TownDaventry Town 1-2 Stafford RangersGresley 0-1 Basford UnitedKidsgrove Athletic 1-2 Goole AFCLeek Town 0-1 ChasetownLincoln United 0-1 Coalville TownLoughborough Dynamo 6-1 Rugby TownRomulus 1-1 Spalding UnitedSheffield 1-2 Carlton TownStocksbridge Park Steels 3-2 Market Drayton TownTividale 1-2 Shaw Lane Aquaforce


RESULTS


SULTS 2014-15


ATTENDANCES 2014-15 EVOSTIK PREMIER DIVISION 2014-15

TEAM P W D L F A GD Pts1 FCUM (P) 46 26 14 6 78 37 41 922 Workington 46 27 9 10 63 39 24 903 Ashton United 46 24 12 10 75 54 21 844 Curzon Ashton (P) 46 23 14 9 79 46 33 835 Ilkeston 46 22 15 9 79 56 23 816 Blyth Spartans 46 21 16 9 84 54 30 797 Skelmersdale United 46 21 10 15 58 48 10 738 Barwell 46 21 10 15 69 63 6 739 Rushall Olympic 46 21 9 16 76 64 12 7210 Buxton 46 18 17 11 70 57 13 7111 Halesowen Town 46 13 20 13 56 48 8 5912 Grantham Town 46 15 14 17 64 72 -8 5913 Whitby Town 46 14 16 16 56 63 -7 5814 Matlock Town 46 15 11 20 57 60 -3 5615 Nantwich Town 46 16 7 23 61 76 -15 5516 Stourbridge 46 14 11 21 59 72 -13 5317 Ramsbottom United 46 15 8 23 66 80 -14 5318 King's Lynn Town 46 14 10 22 60 81 -21 5219 Frickley Athletic 46 12 14 20 60 73 -13 5020 Stamford 46 13 11 22 56 75 -19 5021 Marine 46 11 16 19 58 69 -11 4922 Witton Albion (R) 46 14 7 25 58 86 -28 4923 Trafford (R) 46 6 15 25 58 93 -35 3324 Belper Town (R) 46 6 14 26 62 96 -34 32

TEAM AVG1 FCUM 21552 Workington 5483 Halesowen Town 5294 Kings Lynn Town 5185 Ilkeston 4666 Blyth Spartans 4647 Stourbridge 4628 Stamford 4069 Witton Albion 37610 Marine 36911 Ramsbottom United 35412 Buxton 31413 Matlock Town 30214 Belper Town 29515 Whitby Town 28916 Skelmersdale United 28117 Curzon Ashton 27618 Nantwich Town 26819 Grantham Town 25120 Frickley Athletic 25021 Rushall Olympic 24622 Trafford 22823 Ashton United 20724 Barwell 193

OTHER FIXTURES

A - BLYTH v WHITBY

B - COLWYN BAY v HYDE

C - DARLINGTON v FRICKLEY

D - GRANTHAM v ILKESTON

E - MARINE v ASHTON

F - MATLOCK v SALFORD

G - MICKLEOVER v HALESOWEN

H - RAMSBOTTOM v BUXTON

I - SKELMERSDALE v WORKINGTON

J - STAMFORD v RUSHALL

K - SUTTON v BARWELL

WE NEEDYOUR HELP!Can you spare aslittle as half an hourto help get the cluband pitch ready forthe next match?Volunteers are des-perately neededevery day of theweek between 11and 2pm, so if youare available thenplease come downand help Harry keepthings in tip-topcondition.


‘WIN OUR REMAINING GAMES ANDTHE TITLE IS OURS’ INSISTS BREN-DAN RODGERSWith just 38 games to go until the end of thePremier League season, the maths is simple: Liver-pool are in control of their Premier League destiny.All they need to do is win their remaininggames and the 19th league title that the club hascraved for a quarter of a century will be theirs.Unlike previous near misses, such as 2009’slate rally when the reds were banking on Manches-ter United slipping up during the title run-in, or2014’s goal difference-fuelled three-way battle withManchester City and Chelsea, Liverpool are nowfirmly in the driving seat.Not since 1990 has top flight league silver-ware graced the Anfield trophy room, but now, withthe title in their grasp as they enter what Sir AlexFerguson famously called “squeaky-bum time”, thatcould all change in just nine months.But being in touching distance of the PremierLeague trophy just over a year ago, the pressure willsurely mount ever more between now and the endof the season on the champions elect.Rodgers summed up the mood at pre-seasontraining at Melwood yesterday: “It’s nice to be incontrol of our own destiny and not have anyonehave games in hand over us”.Captain Jordan Henderson added, “Whowould have thought that at this stage of the seasonwe’d be masters of our own fate? To be this close:we can finally dare to dream.”“We go again. Just 38 more times.”ENGLAND CRICKETERS TOLD TOPLAY NICE WITH AUSTRALIA ORNOT PLAY AT ALL!The England team has been told to stop beingso mean to Australia, and to let them have a propergo when they play cricket together.The team’s mums were forced to step in afterEngland comprehensively humiliated the Aus-tralian side in the first day of the fourth Ashes testin Nottingham.

As one mum explained to the players, “Look,we just want you to play nice and have some fun,but doing that to Australia just because you’re muchbigger and better than them isn’t very nice, is it?”“I don’t care if it’s ‘the Ashes mum’ – no childof mine will behave like that.”“How would you like it if someone did that toyou? You wouldn’t, would you?”At which point a number of England playerstried to make the point that they had in fact had thatdone to them pretty recently, but it fell on deaf ears.“Stop, this is NOT a discussion, we’re tellingyou to be nicer to the Australian players, or we’llhave their mums on the phone again accusing youof bullying.”“Then we’ll have to get your Dad out of workand we’ll have to go up to the ICC for a meeting.”“Do you want that? No, I didn’t think so.”“So play nicely.”The average premier league footballer can affordtwice as much gaudy tat as their Spanish equivalent,according to a new wages survey.Researchers at VoucherBin.co.uk pulled outsome interesting facts about what players in theEnglish Premier League earn.Football analyst Simon Williams told us,“Players in the English Premier League are the bestpaid in the world, and if we know anything aboutfootballers it’s that great wealth doesn’t, in any way,buy great taste.”“From chrome plated sports cars to diamondencrusted watches, the average premier leaguefootballer looks like a cross between a colour blindpimp and the star of a modern-day remake ofBrewster’s Millions.”“Players in Spain and Italy have nice cars andhouses, but research shows they’re earning lessthan half what their English-based compatriots canearn.” “This means they’re not literally sitting onmountains of money, so throwing cash at gaudytrinkets that are both cringingly hideous and ridicu-lously expensive is far less prevalent on thecontinent.”


Frickley Retro Insert_Standard Programme 27/08/2015 14:29 Page 12

match officials

29 year old Daniel isengaged with an eight monthold boy. He works in themotor parts trade and beganrefereeing at the age of 14after a serious injury put himout of playing for a year.Daniel’s dad is also a ref-eree.

37 year old Craig is marriedwith a daughter aged seven.He works in the motor partstrade and took up refereeingaged 26 while suffering froman injury that kept him out ofhis Sunday League team fora while. He now referees inthe Evostik North andassists in Conference Northmatches.

1 - WHICH CLUB plays at the Deeside Stadium?2 - WHO IS THE MANAGER of Mossley?3 - WHICH COLOURS do Bala Town play in?4 - IN WHAT YEAR did Accrington Stanley win the NPL?5 - IN WHICH LEAGUE do Tow Law Town play?6 - WHAT IS THE NICKNAME of Burscough?7 - WHERE DOES former Bury player Ashley Grimes now play?8 - WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN Stocksbridge Park Steels and Glossop NE?9 - RAMMY LINK: Who has Lee Neville signed for?10 - MISC: Skem player Ben Tollitt has signed for which League Two side?

tony’s teasersANSWERS: 1-GAP Connahs Quay 2-Peter Band 3-Black and White 4-2002-3 5-Northern League

6-e Linnets 7-Barrow 8-Manager Chris Willcock 9-Hyde United 10-Portsmouth

HOW DID YOU DO?10-Non-League guru! 8-9 Non-league enthusiast 6-7 Pretty good, but much to learn4-5 Average, so time to read up on the non-league game 2-3 You must be missing out on the delights of non-league 0-1 Obviously an armchair Premier League viewer!

answers at bottom of page

CRAIG HAINSWORTH

DANIEL BENNETT AKEEL AHMED


RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 0RUSHALL OLYMPICTaylor (3), Reid (47) 2


RAMSBOTTOM

1234567891011

Subs: Edghill, Harrop+, Kuba-Kuba*, Cliffe,McHale#

ShentonFitzgerald#Woods+HaywoodNolanDawsonPayneMeaneyGaskellSpencer*Heron

RUSHALL

1234567891011

Subs: Sinton, Yafai,Farquharson, Martin, Palmer

ColemanChristophorouSmithTaylor 1DugganCainesDelaneyMcGrathBenbowFitzpatrickReid 1


The awful traffic on the way down toRushall set the tone for what was tobecome quite a disappointing day allround for the fans and players who’dso much looked forward to the start ofa new season - though Rammy fansshould know by now that the club isnot really known for starting off like agreyhound from a trap. A number ofthe supporters, whether due to aburst water main near Tatton, or theusual stop-start of M6 roadworks,missed the opening goal for Rushall,which came within the first three min-utes and left The Rams lookingshell-shocked.It was quite a bizarre goal, which

came from more or less nothing, but

showed the vision for which mid-fielder Kris Taylor made his markthroughout the game. Picking up theball on the halfway line, Taylor spot-ted Grant Shenton a little way off hisline, and decided to try his luck -audacious to say the least. As the ballleft his toe, time stood still for theRamsbottom keeper, who back-ped-dled almost enough to get a finger-tipto the looping ball that dipped belowthe bar and into the back of the net. The effect on a Ramsbottom team

just trying to find its feet after a full-scale rebuilding exercise in thesummer was crushing, and it wasfully fifteen minutes before they man-aged to pull together a little

mat

ch re

view

14.08.15Att:

RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 0RUSHALL OLYMPICTaylor (3), Reid (47) 2

Alex Meaney, our choiceof Man of the Match


confidence, and a half-chance of theirown. Before that came, however, itwas a case of weathering the stormfrom a strong and organised Rushallteam which will do better than theninth position they achieved last sea-son. Just two minutes after the opening

goal, left-back Ben Woods wascaught being a little over-elaboratewith the ball, allowing Luke Benbowwhat seemed a free run on Shenton’sgoal. Andy Dawson showed that,despite a long break through injury,he’s still very much the classy playerhe’s always been, and raced frombehind to dispossess the striker whenhe looked odds-on to increaseRushall’s lead.12 minutes saw Kieran Nolan and

Andy Fitzgerald caught out when an

excellent rundown the left byJordan Fitz-patrick wasspotted by KrisTaylor, whoseperfect chippedball fell into hispath. Fitzpatrickcrossed low tothe near postfor theunmarked Ben-bow only to bedenied at closerange by thefirst in a seriesof fantasticsaves by GrantShenton ingoal.

Rammy of old was built over 5/6 sea-sons. Robbo has had what, just overhalf a season? Just look at Man Utd'sdisplays last season trying to gel newplayers and staff. I'm no utd fan butnobody can say their manager andplayers aint up to the job.

- Trigger

Look at the results since Robbo tookover and that tells a story. I just thinkwhy wait to give the young lads achance? I agree that Kuba has lookedsharp in pre-season so why not starttoday?

- Thornton

Its one game and pre-season the ladshave looked sharp. They have theability no doubt but have we toomany flair players who dont do the'dirty work'.

- hinchghave

you

r say

Prince Haywoodclears the danger,but only to Taylor onthe edge of the box


Rammy’s first meaningful poses-sion came just short of thequarter-hour mark as an impeccablelong ball out to the right by AlexMeaney found new signing SheltonPayne, who raced beyond his mark-ers only for them to recover well andrace back and disrupt his shot. Thishalf-chance seemed to be exactlywhat The Rams needed, and theirgame instantly improved, showingsome of the passing ability that theydelivered in pre-season.An excellent probing run through

the middle by young winger LukeHeron saw him brought down aboutten yards outside the box. GrantSpencer’s free-kick cannoned off thewall for a corner which was takenshort to Shelton Payne who playedthe ball deep to Alex Meaney. Hisshot flew well over. Shenton was called upon to make

three fantastic saves as the half draw

near to a close, the first as Rushall’sKris Taylor pumped long, the ballflicked on to Fitzgerald whose lowshot to the left was palmed wide. Theresultant corner was headed clear byDawson, but only as far as Rushall’sGavin Caines who wrong-footedFitzgerald and crossed to anunmarked Colin Smith. His shot wasparried to the feet of Benbow whocollided with Shenton, causing a shortdelay to the game as Shents sufferedmild concussion. Just before the half-time whistle

Haywood cleared yet another Rushallcorner to the edge of the box whereTaylor lingered to fire a viciously dip-ping shot just under the bar - Shentonagain denying an increase in theRushall lead.The second half began with more

Rushall pressure which saw themextend their lead. Nolan challengedRushall’s Reid for a loose ball, Reidm

atch

revi

ew14.08.15

Att: RAMSBOTTOM UNITED 0RUSHALL OLYMPICTaylor (3), Reid (47) 2

Grant Shenton about to collide withBenbow, resulting in mild concussion


getting the better of the bouncebefore slipping through a great ball toBenbow, advancing on goal. AlthoughDawson came out to intervene, Ben-bow managed to cut inside and thenpull the ball back to Reid, who’dsomehow lost Nolan, and had thesimple task of side-footing into the leftcorner of the Rammy goal. 2-0.The Rams made a trio of substitu-

tions twenty minutes into the half, andthe extra fight of McHale, Harrop andKuba-Kuba did much to even out thematch. Heron dropped to left-back,Payne out to left-wing, with Harropand McHale combining well down theright. Kuba-Kuba gave some muchneeded fight in the middle alongsidethe tireless and hard-working AlexMeaney and Prince Haywood.Rammy came closest to scoring just

a couple of minutes later, Kuba-Kubadispossessing Benbow in the mid-field, buying himself acres of room,with Gaskell advancing to his rightand Payne to his left. He chosePayne with a weak pass which wascontrolled well and then fired in by thenew signing. The excellent shotcalled for a similarly excellent savefrom the otherwise untroubled ex-Bury goalkeeper. The game graduallyfizzled out with Rushall running downthe clock.Ultimately this was a disappointing

performance, but it’s easy to forgetthat this is a team of players who’venever taken the field together in acompetitive game before. There weresigns of quality, however, and as theplayers grow together, this might justbecome a first-rate Rammy team.

Kieran Nolan andthe influential KrisTaylor, scourge ofRammy all afternoon


Wow, that summer break passedvery quickly and here we are again,back for more. For the first time in agood number of years, this seasonmarks the start of a completely cleanslate for the club. For the last fiveyears of so, we have been used tothe same faces producing the sameoutstanding football, but this cam-paign kicks off like no-other in recentmemory, with new names to cheeron, some familiar, some returning butmany wholly fresh and that in itselfcauses some excitement - and a littletrepidation.

Of course that is what we loveabout football at this level - its com-plete unpredictability. No-one at ourclub nor at any other club knows whatthe next nine months has in store forit. I am sure that Darlington expectedto rock up at Buxton on Saturday andwin ... they didn't. I am sure our oldfriends at Salford City expected todefeat 'just survived' Marine ... theydidn't. And we hiked down to Walsallto play Rushall Olympic and cameaway 0-2 defeated. This stage of theseason is all about making a goodstart and hoping your expectationsare realised. Let's hope that we canstart our wagon rolling tonight.As for me, well it has been a very

busy summer of cricket on Sky Sportsand there is a little bit of me that ishoping to be here tonight - but that isdependent on (a) what time the gamebetween Yorkshire and Northants atHeadingley finishes today and (b)what the M62 traffic will be like. It hasbeen a very hectic season for me butnonetheless very enjoyable. I had thehonour of working on the England vNew Zealand Test and ODI series,which were the precursor to the bril-liance of the 2015 Ashes series,

which I have been intently watching,as most of the country has. Anyoneexpect the Ashes result? Well, havingseen England play against the BlackCaps in May, there was definitely ashift in the sands from the dire WorldCup campaign (which anyone whoread my column at the time will knowhow dismal it was) maybe it shouldn'tcome quite as the surprise that it was.I do love it when my two world col-

lide and it was fascinating to chat toAshes winner Steve Harmison duringour coverage of the first Royal Lon-don One-Day Cup game atNorthampton. As many of you mayhave seen in the media, Steve is nowmanaging Ashington FC, who play inthe Ebac Northern League DivisionOne (currently played 2, lost 2 in the

league) and it was my knowledge ofnon-league football (Steve knowsabout Ramsbottom United - he hasheard much from many Darlingtonsupporters!) and my statistical effortsthat you may see a feature on theirFA Cup match against Bradford-based Albion Sports sometime onSky in the near future.ra

mm

y in

exi

le


For it was exactly 10 years to theday on 15 August that Steve and his2005 Ashes hero were trying to knockover that last Australian wicket at OldTrafford, in front of a packed housethat saw over 10,000 spectatorsturned away at the gate, and hebowled the last over to Brett Lee andGlenn McGrath. 10 years later, hewas trying to knock over a team fromthe Northern Counties East League... as it turned out, they drew 2-2 andwill be playing their replay tonight.Finally from me, a little update as to

my efforts in the weight loss. Many ofyou who have followed The Ramsover the last few years will know thatI have been making a very big effortto shed rather a lot of weight. Well, Iam very proud to tell you all in mytrusty column that I have now shedover 10 stone! And 8 and a half hasthat has been achieved doing Slim-ming World. To say I am a differentperson would be an understatement.You will have seen me at my verylargest - and probably been as

appalled as I was. Now, I am rocking(as Harry would say) to just over 20stone so still about two and a halfstone to go to target and then seehow I go.But you will also be rather stunned

to know (and I will be asking for yourhelp in the near future) that I amgoing to be running the Great SouthRun in Portsmouth on Sunday 25October. Yes, me, Richard Isaacs,running the Great South Run, a 10-mile jaunt. So if anyone would liketo support me, please keep an eyeon my column and I will givethe details. Those ofyou who know meknow that is completely not me - but I am going to give it a go!

That will do for me Ithink - hopefully see youlater on. COME ONYOU RAMS!- Richard

Forget the certifi-cates, losing eightand a half stonelets you stand infront of ThoseCurtains!


...and I’ll tell you another thing...Here we go again, yet another numb-nuts of a Premiership manager having agood old primadonna whinge about something other than their team’s garbageperformance! This time it’s not everyone’s favourite Poor Loser Arsene Wenger, butold Mr Suave from down the posh end of town, Jose Mourinho.In case you’ve had your head down a hole all week, his little dummy-spittingepisode is over club doctor Eva Carneiro, who’s been at the club and doing apretty good job since about 2009. Pretty seems to be the operative word asnormally she’s the brunt of those meat-head “get yer xxxs out for the lads”chants from Arsenal fans, and assorted Mancs, but this time she’s being slaggedoff by the slick Portuguese poser for nothing more than doing her job!Anyone with an ounce of integrity about them would hold up their hands andsay, “Yeah, we got our keeper sent off and we’re too crap to manage more thana draw against Swansea, but not Jose. Did he decide to point the finger athimself, or at the team display? Nope. He pointed it at... the team doctor -God Help Us.As the match headed into injury time, Eden Hazard had decided he was abit knackered and had a sit-down breather after a tasty challenge. As he lay onthe deck, the referee trotted over and asked

if he’d like treatment. “Yes,” was the reply, or “Alstublieft”, or whatever it isBelgians say in that bizarre assorment of languages they use, and so the refwaved on the head physio and club doctor. It’s injury time and Chelski are chasingthe game, so both wait for the ref to signal a second time before grabbing thebucket, bag and magic sponge and racing out to tend to the Belgian Girl’s Blousewho’s just had his designer hairstyle mussed.Well, next thing you know, Mourinho’s bouncing up and down like a Wengerwith an innocuous offside decision, screaming bloody murder at the medical staffmr cantankerous


for following the ref’sinstructions and doingtheir job! Off trots theun-hurt Hazardawaiting the ref’ssignal to re-join play,and Doctor Carneiroheads back to thedug-out for anabsolute roasting from‘The Chosen One’who was still goingballistic in his post-match interview,and has since hadher removed fromall match-day andtraining groundduties. Allegedly he’dhave sacked her butwas worried aboutbeing called sexist!I thought I’d justabout seen it allwhen it comes tothe whinging

cockneys, but this really tickled mychuckle bones! There’s only one thing they likedown there more than winning matches, andthat’s the feeling that they’ve been robbed ofsomething they deserved, and ducking the blame for anythingthat’s patently their fault. I’m not feeling much sympathy for Eva Carneiro, who’s gettingmore than enough of that in the media and on Twitface, but I amreally enjoying the way that Mourinho is making such a fool of himselfwhinging about the most nothing of nothingnesses, and the resultant aggrothat’s flying his way.God help us is Robbo ever starts behaving like one of those over-paidPremier nancies who can’t accept defeat with a little bit of grace anddecorum! ...and I’ll tell you another thing...


Well, that was a long summer wasn’t it ? From having those threehome games in the last week of April,we Rammy junkies then had to waituntil the third week of July to see thelads in action again. It was also oneof those summers when we didn’teven have a World Cup or EuropeanChampionship to take our minds offthings, although I do find it difficult towork up any kind of enthusiasm forthat kind of nonsense these days.Thank heavens then for the Women’sWorld Cup (or the Treacle’s WorldCup according to that walking, talkingCockney cliche, Danny Dyer) forhelping to fill the footie-free gap. Iknow quite a few other Rammy sup-porters got into watching it, obviouslyhelped by the England team’s amaz-ing progress, and many of us

agreed thatthe Women’s game was much closer,in spirit, to the non-league game thanto the Premier League. With that inmy mind, I’d like to open my first col-umn of the season by congratulatingthe England Women’s team for notonly a wonderful, third place finish,but for also allowing me to get pas-sionate about the national team in away I haven’t done with the men’steam since Euro 96.

CLITHEROESo on to the serious stuff and our

first pre-season friendly against nearneighbours and old foes, Clitheroe.The word “friendly”, when applied to agame between Clitheroe and Rams-bottom United, could possibly get

both clubs fined under the TradeDescription Act, so much of the talkon the short journey to Clitheroe wasabout the recent, bruising encountersbetween the sides. With the Carls-berg Clan sunning themselves inPortugal, I was joined on the trip byMrs Darkside and young Jack the Lad(or ‘I’m Awesome’ to those of you whoread the forum). We arrived inClitheroe for 2.15 and parked in oneof the many terraced side streetsaround the ground. Mrs Darksidechose to visit the catalogue

shop that is located next to theground, whilst Jack the Lad and I paidour fiver each and entered.We went in the bar and had a quickchat with Roger, who was onGrandad duties with Jake, and thento see if we could get any juicy gossipabout new signings from a tight lippedAndy Edmunson (we couldn’t !).Also present, after a three hour bus

trip from Bury, was Killie Craig whohad attended a few of our gamestowards the end of last season. Forthose of you who haven’t met Craigyet, he is a Kilmarnock supporterfr

om th

eda

rksid

e


from over the border, but now workingand living in Bury. I first met him atour Lancashire Cup game at Athertonlast season where he told me he trav-els around the Manchester areataking in as many non-league gamesas his budget will allow. So if you seea wee fellow in a Kilmarnock shirt,with a Scottish accent down at TheHWRS this season go and say helloto him as he’s one of those charac-ters who make watching the non-league game an experience you just

wouldn’t get in the Premiership.Meanwhile, out on the pitch, Robbiewas carrying out his match day dutiesby photographing our new signings,including the first of the prodigal sonsto return from their exile at SalfordCity, Grant Spencer (Mystic Darksidepredicts that we will see othersreturning at some point).The game itself wasn’t as bruising

as previous seasons, which wasprobably due to the large turnover ofplayers at Rammy over these pasttwelve months, many of who don’thave the links to Clitheroe that theprevious team had.

The pitch hadn’t changed since ourlast visit and is still more suitable forcheese rolling than football, but wedid get a decent game in the Lan-cashire sunshine. A 2-1 victory for theRams was certainly a nice way tostart the pre-season,especially

when you considerour opponents already hada couple of games under their beltsand were out to beat their lofty neigh-bours. The goals came from that long-standing Riverside legend and TomJones wannabe, Lee Gaskell and thenew darling of The Riverside, Tom‘Baby Boris’ Hartley. A late substitu-tion saw Grant Shenton replaced byhis brother, Ashley, who then went onto tip over a late Clitheroe effort thatmany of us compared to MartinFearon’s wonder save in the Play-OffFinal at Bamber Bridge.


RADCLIFFE BOROUGHThe following Tuesday evening saw

us make an even shorter journey toour even closer neighbours and goodfriends, Radcliffe Borough. For thisjourney I had the same line up of fel-low travellers with the added additionof our chairman, Mr Harry Williams (Ireally can’t imagine RomanAbramovich travelling through WestLondon with the supporters in an oldToyota Yaris, another wonderfulaspect of being a non-league footballsupporter).We pulled into the car park at 7.15

and were pleased to see theMasseys, Andy and Hilary, who hadjust returned from Barcelona that dayand, despite a long day travelling,nothing was going to stop them get-ting back to following the lads. Wewere then joined by the Gaskells,Paul and Rita, and looking around atthe familiar cars we decided that alarge contingent had already madethe journey over from RamsbottomEntering the turnstile we got quite

a shock when we were informed itwas going to cost us £8 each, thesame as a league game at Radcliffe,for what was basically a glorified kick-about on a summer’s evening. We didbegin to complain, but it seemed futileas the poor turnstile operator hadn’tset the price and seemed to havebeen given some earache about thematter already. As the subject wasbeing discussed over the next fewdays it transpired that Radcliffe arestruggling financially, hence the priceincrease (£5 v Huddersfield Youth afew days earlier). I think that mostRamsbottom supporters would behappy to help a fellow club in financialdifficulties by adding an extra fewquid to their coffers, but this did have

a feeling of being “ripped off” (ofcourse we weren’t really “ripped off”as that is the sole preserve of that“cash cow”, FCUM). Despite this, Ireally hope that Radcliffe Boroughcan overcome their money problemsand we can continue to have ourfriendly little derby days with them formany years to come.

One thing that Radciffe can bepraised on is the catering. I got a verypleasant surprise walking round theground before the kick off to find thatmy old friend from The Samosa Stopin Rochdale was now doing the cater-ing at Stainton Park and I ordered a,rather large portion of chicken tikkaand rice to take home for my supper.The food also seemed to go downwell with the travelling supporters andfor the first time that evening we gotsome value for our money. I’m notholding my breath, but I took thenumber for The Samosa Stall, with apromise I would have words withfr

om th

e da

rksid

e


Harry about using them for future biggames at The Riverside. Nowt wrongwith pie ‘n’ peas in my book, but thisstuff will really warm the cockles on acold January night down at TheRiverside. Yum Yum, indeedA large contingent of Rammy Ultras

was in evidence and I had a goodchat with my old friends, and parents

of the returning Lee Pugh, Tony andDenise. They have quite a seasonahead of them with Lee’s brother,Marc, now playing in the top flight ofEnglish football after winning promo-tion as an integral part of theBournemouth team who thrilled us alllast season with their achievements.Congratulations go out to Marc forthat amazing feat... but you’re not apatch on your Bro’A special mention also to UkePunk,

although I wasn’t too pleased that hehad outdone me as Rammy’s “Num-ber One Punk Rocker” by wearing arather fetching Crass t-shirt. Don’t

rest on your laurels yet though, Paul,as I shall be scouring the internet foran Angelic Upstarts t-shirt once thiscolumn is written and sent off to Rob-bie. You have been warned!

As for the game itself, it was arather one-sided affair with Rammydominating throughout against adecent, and much improved from acouple of seasons ago, Radcliffeteam. We took an early lead whenGrant Spencer reminded us what wehad missed during his time at SalfordCity by taking a quick free kick andfloating it past the despairing Boroughkeeper. From here on in we neverlooked like losing the game, control-ling the midfield and defending solidlyon yet another sloping pitch, runningout easy 3-0 winners after ninety min-utes. With so many new faces in thesquad it had been an impressive startfrom a group of players who were stillgetting used to playing togetherWe had to wait a short while after

the game as Harry was holding courtin the clubhouse with Andy Edmun-son and signing player forms withRobbo, which gave Jack the Lad andme plenty of time to load the dirty kitsinto the old Toyota, so we could dropthem off at the ground on our return.After a quick chat with Shents, wewere back on the road as we headeddown to the Cricket Club for a long -awaited pint of Moorehouses WhiteWitch, served by Super Sophie,before I made my merry, car-less,way back to the Kay Brow residence.The long wait was finally

over, and football wasback in the DarksideDomain.

Best Before 1984 - Ukepunk, Rammy’svery own Penny Rimbauld


Tired of missing out on getting hold of a programme?

Get your copy reserved for the season by contacting Rob on 07944 038512, or by email:[email protected]

Watch the match instyle with our CorporateHospitality Packagesstarting at just £25 per person. For furtherinformation call

07576 390762, or [email protected]


fixtures & results 2015-16

This season we want to hearfirst-hand what our supportersthink about everything, fromteam and player performancesright through to what everyonethought of the pies and the park-ing!

To that end, we’ve had printed aload of ‘Have Your Say’ cards,which you can pick up near thetea-bar. Onto these you canwrite your thoughts and thenpost them into the boxes nearthe exits as you leave. Thesewill be available at every gamefrom now on.

Alternatively, you can use yourphone to text TV444 followed byyour comment to 82055. Thesecost the same as any other textyou would send.

The comments will be given toRobbo/Harry etc, and will beposted to @RammyReaction onTwitter. A selection will be published in the programme.

Ramsbottom United Football ClubChairman: H WilliamsVice Chairman: C WoolfallSecretary: A Cunningham Matchday Secretary: A Edmunson Treasurers: H Williams, C WoolfallCommittee: H Williams, C Woolfall, A Edmundson, K Hitchen, A CunninghamCatering Manager: S Fletcher

Recent Senior Honours: Bolton Comination Div 1 Champions: 1972/73Bolton Comb. Premier Champions 1976/77: Bolton Comb. Div2 cup ru nners up:1979/80,1982/83Bolton Comb. Div2 runners up: 1982/83Bolton Comb. Cup winners: 1976/77, 1979/80,1983/84Bolton Comb. Div1 runners up: 1984/85Bolton Comb. Cup runners up: 1985/86, 1987/88Manchester League Cup Winners: 1990/91Manchester League Champions: 1990/91Yorkshire Cup runners up: 1993/94Northwest Counties Div2 Champions: 1996/97Northwest Counties Div2 Trophy: 1995/96Bolton Hospital Cup winners: 1974/75, 05/06.06/07, 07/08Northwest Counties Premier runners Up 2010/11Northwest Counties Premier Champions: 2011/12Northern Premier League Div1 playoff winners:2013/14

The Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Acre Bottom, Ramsbottom, LancashireTel: 01706 822799


BUXTON

NUMBER OFWINS

GOALSSCORED

GOALS SCORED PER GAME

CLEAN SHEETS

GOALSCONCEDED

GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME

RAMMY

ATTENDANCES

BIGGEST WIN

RAMMY 4WHITBY 0

WORST DEFEAT

RAMMY 0BLYTH 4

FORM

POSITION 17th

3 - 4

0 - 0

1 - 2

0 - 1

TOP SCORERSJon RobinsonJordan HulmePhil DeanGrant SpencerOsebi Abadaki

141311106

ATTENDANCES

BIGGEST WIN

UNKNOWN

WORST DEFEAT

UNKNOWN

FORM

POSITION 10th

0 - 3

0 - 3

0 - 0

1 - 1

SEASON 2014-15 SEASON 2014-15

TOP SCORERSMark ReedLiam HardySteve IsteadNeil StevensDerek Niven

97651


ATTENDANCES EVOSTIK PREMIER DIVISION

SEASON 2015-16 / CAREER STATISTICS

TEAM Avg1 Ashton United 1262 Barwell 2273 Blyth Spartans 04 Buxton 7085 Colwyn Bay 06 Darlington 07 Frickley Athletic 2368 Grantham Town 09 Halesowen Town 47110 Hyde United 50911 Ilkeston 50512 Marine 013 Matlock Town 014 Mickleover Sports 015 Nantwich Town 30216 Ramsbottom United 017 Rushall Olympic 23718 Salford City 51819 Skelmersdale United 020 Stamford 021 Stourbridge 022 Sutton Coldfield Town 023 Whitby Town 24124 Workington 0

P W D L F A GD Pts1 Whitby Town 1 1 0 0 4 0 4 32 Nantwich Town 1 1 0 0 6 3 3 33 Skelmersdale United 1 1 0 0 3 1 2 34 Buxton 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 35 Rushall Olympic 1 1 0 0 2 0 2 36 Matlock Town 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 37 Blyth Spartans 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 38 Halesowen Town 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 39 Grantham Town 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 110 Hyde United 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 111 Sutton Coldfield Town 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 112 Workington 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 113 Ashton United 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 114 Marine 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 115 Mickleover Sports 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 116 Salford City 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 117 Frickley Athletic 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 018 Barwell 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 019 Colwyn Bay 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 020 Ilkeston 1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 021 Darlington 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 022 Ramsbottom United 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 023 Stamford 1 0 0 1 3 6 -3 024 Stourbridge 1 0 0 1 0 4 -4 0

SEASON CAREERSIGNED APPS SUB GOALS APPS SUB GOALS YELS REDS

Jake Cliffe Jan-15 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0Andy Dawson Aug-08 1 0 0 173 5 23 25 4Phil Edghill Jan-15 0 0 0 44 14 1 6 2

Andy Fitzgerald July-15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Lee Gaskell Aug-10 1 0 0 175 37 110 10 0Kyle Harrop Jan-15 1 1 0 21 2 0 0 1Tom Hartley Aug-12 0 0 0 0 9 1 0 0

Prince Haywood July-15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Luke Heron Jan-15 1 0 0 9 6 2 1 0Melford Knight July-15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

David Kuba-Kuba Nov-14 1 1 0 12 7 1 1 0Dominic McHale July-15 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0Alex Meaney July-15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Kieran Nolan July-15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Shelton Payne Aug-15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Lee Pugh July-15 0 0 0 36 7 2 9 2

Grant Shenton Aug-10 1 0 0 228 1 0 12 1Grant Spencer July-15 1 0 0 143 20 43 19 0Ben Woods July-15 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0


Date of birth: 22/05/92Place of birth: ChaddertonPosition: DefenderHeight: 6ftPrevious clubs: Curzon,Bacup, Trafford, AshtonUnited, NantwichFull back with a greatability to read the game.

Kyle Harrop

Date of birth: 26/05/92Place of birth: RossendalePosition: DefenderHeight: 6ftPrevious clubs: Bury, Hyde,Bacup, Clitheroe, ChesterNo-nonsense hard manwith a huge long throw andmean free kick.

Lee Pugh

Date of birth: 1/07/97Place of birth: ManchesterPosition: Wing-backHeight: 5ft 10insPrevious clubs: Hough EndGriffinsExtremely talented youngfull back with bags of pace,which allows him to wreakhavoc coming forward.

Ben Woods

Date of birth: 28/12/81Place of birth: SalfordPosition: Manager / StrikerHeight: 5ft 9insPrevious clubs: Salford,Flixton, New Mills, BacupA passionate and never-say-die striker who willscore goals by sheerenthusiasm alone. Tookover the managerial reinsin January 2015.

Jon Robinson

Date of birth: 13/09/79Place of birth: OldhamPosition: Manager /MidfieldHeight: 6ftPrevious clubs: Rochdale,Curzon, Hyde, SalfordVersatile midfielder who’shappy anywhere on thepitch. Intelligent, matureand articulate addition toRammy’s management.

Phil Edghill

Date of birth: 28/01/91Place of birth: NewtonHeathPosition: GoalkeeperHeight: 6ft 2insPrevious clubs: MaineRoad, FCUMCharismatic and influentialgoalkeeper whose visionhelps score as many goalsas his athleticism denies.

Grant Shenton

who’s who?meet the rammy squad for 2015/16


Date of birth: 2/04/92Place of birth: Modena,ItalyPosition: MidfieldHeight: 6ft 1inPrevious clubs: Modenese,Stalybridge, Colwyn BayNo-nonsense hard workingmidfielder with bags ofexperience despite his age.

Prince Haywood

Position: MidfieldPrevious clubs: New Mills,Glossop, Runcorn Linnets,Mossley, TraffordStrong and experiencedmidfielder who likes to getstuck in. The Enforcer inthe middle!

Melford Knight

Position: MidfieldPrevious clubs: Stockport,Lancaster, Nantwich,Chorley, Skelmersdale,Curzon AshtonA left-footed attackingmidfielder who workstirelessly and has a greateye for reading play.

Alex Meaney

Date of birth: 22/12/93Place of birth: StockportPosition: DefenderHeight: 6ft 1inPrevious clubs:Manchester United,Blackburn, Stockport,Curzon, HydeHard working full back witha great pedigree.

Andy Fitzgerald

Date of birth: 19/09/85Place of birth: RochdalePosition: Centre-HalfHeight: 6ft 3insPrevious clubs: BlackburnA Rammy favourite andone of the club’s longestserving players.Struggledwith injury for the pastthree seasons, but after aseries of knee operations isback in the squad.

Andy Dawson

Date of birth: 12/01/91Place of birth: SalfordPosition: Centre-HalfHeight: 6ft 1inPrevious clubs:Manchester City, BoltonSkillful young centre backwho’s come through theBolton academy setup.Very brave, creative andhas huge potential.

Kieran Nolan

6


Date of birth: 18/10/98Place of birth: BuryPosition: MidfieldHeight: 5ft 11insPrevious clubs: Bury,BurnleyYoung and nippy midfielderwith great skill, fitness andmasses of potential.

Zac Hargreaves

Date of birth: 14/09/95Place of birth: BuryPosition: MidfieldHeight: 5ft 11insPrevious clubs: Preston,BuryYoung and very promisingmidfielder whoseperformances becomemore outstanding everytime he takes the field.

Jake Cliffe

Date of birth: 28/01/91Place of birth: MiddletonPosition: MidfieldHeight: 5ft 8insPrevious clubs: Oldham,Salford, Bacup, New MillsA very hard-workingmidfielder whose never-say-die attitude makes hima real inspiration in theRammy team.

Jamie Rother

Date of birth: 1/03/95Place of birth: LondonPosition: Midfield/WingHeight: 5ft 8insPrevious clubs: Preston,FCUMA very hard-workingmidfielder who’s skilled,strong and confident on theball. Extremely influentialplayer on the field forRammy.

David Kuba-Kuba

Date of birth: 4/10/91Place of birth: ManchesterPosition: MidfieldHeight: 5ft 7insPrevious clubs: Bolton,Salford, Curzon,Rossendale, HydeA creative midfielder whohas the ability to take onanyone and deliver a greatball. He has an eye for thesensational and is worthalmost a goal a game.

Grant Spencer

Date of birth: 11/11/96Place of birth: RawtenstallPosition: Midfield/StrikerHeight: 5ft 7insPrevious clubs: Blackburn,MostonTough and skillful youngstriker / attacking midfielderwho is a very excitingprospect for the future.

Tom Hartley


Date of birth: 15/09/92Place of birth: BoltonPosition: Midfield/StrikerHeight: 5ft 8insPrevious clubs: Burnley,Bolton, Lancaster, MossleyA creative midfielder andplaymaker with an eye forgoal.

Marley Gough

Date of birth: 24/03/96Place of birth: BuryPosition: WingerHeight: 6ftPrevious clubs: Oldham,TraffordYoung and creative wideplayer whoseperformances are goingfrom strength to strength.

Luke Heron

Date of birth: 07/02/85Place of birth: BuryPosition: StrikerHeight: 6ft Previous clubs: Bury,Morecambe, Trafford,WarringtonTall and classy striker whohas an eye for thespectacular but isn’t afraidto work hard for the cause.

Lee Gaskell

Date of birth: 19/12/95Place of birth: ManchesterPosition: WingerHeight: 5ft 11insPrevious clubs: Trafford,RadcliffeLeggy young andpassionate winger withbags of pace who likes torun at defenders and candeliver a mean cross.

Clevon Beadle

Date of birth: 27/02/91Place of birth: Mayotte,AfricaPosition: StrikerHeight: 5ft 11insPrevious clubs: ChateauxGombert, En AvantGuingamp, Endoume,Luynes Sport, Consolat,CA Plan de CuquesTall and fast striker withgreat technique and whosepotential is frightening.

Saindou Djanfar

Position: CoachPrevious clubs: Barnsley,Crewe, Rochdale, Hyde,Accrington, BuxtonVastly experienced coachwith some great ideas forgetting the best out of hisplayers. Played over 200matches in professionalfootball as a right-back.

Wayne Goodison


A couple of weeks ago, a great stirrippled around Ramsbottom as welearned that crowd favourite BillyPriesley, who last season joined Con-ference side Bradford PA for anastronomical pay rise, had got intouch with Robbo about coming backto his spiritual home of RammyUnited. Although on contract at Brad-ford, he’d been told that he is unlikelyto figure in their team this season,and so they were happy to send himout on loan to any team that’d stumpup a decent proportion of his salary. There was a quick and frantic ring-

ing around of people, and between uswe managed to muster up the moneyto match what Ashton United wereoffering, enough money to ensurethat the loveable Moors Monkeywould be pulling on the blue ofRammy this season.

Next thing we know, Billy hassigned for Ashton United! Wtf! So Iphoned Robbo to ask why we’d allrun around like idiots trying to BringBilly Back, and he said that Billy hadapparently decided on Ashton basedon them being ‘better for my career’.He’d cited Rammy’s lack of ambitionas the main reason for heading else-where, the exact same reason givento the fans by Johnno and Bernard onthat fateful day when they announcedtheir departure to pastures new. You’llprobably remember Johnno saying,“This club has gone as far as it can,and it’s nothing to do with it being Sal-ford City. We’ve decided to leaveRammy due to the club’s lack ofambition, and would happily havetaken the job at Daisy Hill rather thanstay here.”Now I don’t know about you, but

when I look at Rammy I don’t see thislack of ambition that these people aretalking about. We have a wonderful

little town with its own unique identity,and a great pride amongst the peoplewho have shown they’re capable ofturning up in numbers if they’re suffi-ciently engaged by the club.We have a lovely ground which can

comfortably admit and accommodate2,100 supporters without incident. It’sin immaculate condition with a pitchthat’s tight, but in pretty decent nick.We have one of the most palatial

club-houses at this level of football,which can probably accommodate acouple of hundred in comfort, andnext door the cricket club facilities areimmaculate and sizeable with somereally decent beer. The fans are brimming over with

ambition and enthusiasm, and themanagement and players are accom-plished, decent fellas who are likely tosurprise a lot of people this season. The club has no debts, and a great

catchment area for decent and size-able local businesses who, ifapproached properly, are likely toproudly support the club and getbehind its ambition.Rammy United is perfectly capableof stepping up to Conference footballwith just a couple of small improve-ments to the ground - perhaps a newtea bar and a bit of work on thechanging rooms. So where is this lackof ambition that people are talkingabout? ...and then you speak to the com-

mittee. Each, to a man, has said tome over the summer, “This club isreally an Evostik North club. We’repunching above our weight in thisdivision.”

Why!? Why do you think this?There’s nothing about this club that isin any way inferior to any other at ourlevel. In fact, we’re in a better positionfinancially than virtually any othersu

ppor

ters

clu

b


club in any of football! We have ourown ground and a great arrangementwith the cricket club. Why are wepunching above our weight? Every-thing is in place for this club to takeanother step up, and with a bit ofwork we could step up again! Theonly thing lacking is that ambition,and ambition is purely a state of mindand a plan!Come on fellas, stop thinking that

we’ve overstepped our capabilitiesand start planning to take Rammyonwards and upwards. None of thefans feel this same lack of enthusi-asm, and God help us if you saythese things to the great players thatwe’re bringing in. We can appreciatethat you’re all extremely hard working(I know for a fact that Harry and Tonywork beyond what should be humanlypossible), but if that’s the issue thenplease get some help. There is nothing holding Rammy

back but that lack of forward thinkingand ambition, and there are manypeople out there capable and willingto get stuck in. Maybe it’s time toaccept that help and keep this greatclub moving onwards and upwards.

On another note we’re back collectingSupporters Club membership fees forthe coming season. This season wehave a number of irons in the fire:you’ve probably noticed that 10,000fixtures flyers have gone out andabout around Rammy - the mostwe’ve ever produced - and we’d liketo say a huge thankyou to everyonewho’s stepped up to help.This season we’re again sponsoring

Grant Shenton the cost of his four-teen pairs (!) of goalkeeping gloves.Hopefully he won’t wear them out soquickly this season with less to do innets.We’ll be presenting a Man of the

Match award for both home and awayteams this season, and we’re gettingout and about around schools to tryand engage new, young supporters.A big banner is on its way

very shortly, and we’re look-ing at putting on somesocial events very soon.I’ll tell you some more

about what we’re up toin Saturday’s pro-gramme as I’ve runout of...

‘Palatial’ doesn’teven come closeto doing justice tothe corporatefacilities atRammy


Phil BARNESShomari DOYLEJamie GREENDerek NIVENTim RYANGregg YOUNGAlastair TAYLORRicky RAVENHILLBradley BARRACLOUGHLiam HARDYWarren BURRELLAaron JAMESONAsh WORSFOLDAlex STACEYAsh BURBEARYJordan COOKEReece LUCAS

Manager: Jon ROBINSON Manager: Martin McINTOSH

Referee: Craig HainsworthReferee’s Assistants: Daniel Bennett, Akeel Ahmed

Next home game: Saturday 22nd August 3pm, Rammy v Hyde United

Grant SHENTONAndy FITZGERALD

Ben WOODSPrince HAYWOOD

Kieran NOLANAndy DAWSONShelton PAYNEAlex MEANEYLee GASKELL

Grant SPENCERLuke HERONPhil EDGHILL

Lee PUGHSaindou DJANFARMelford KNIGHTClevon BEADLEMarley GOUGHJamie ROTHERJake CLIFFE

Tom HARTLEY


Documents

64 Ramsbottom United v Buxton