ROYAL BLUE & WHITEvWEALDSTONE

Jonathan NorthJake Sheppard

Ryan SellersEddie Oshodi Glenn Wilson

Jerome Okimo ©Ricky Wellard

Sam CoxDave Pratt

Daniel GreenBradley Bubb

Matthew Whichelow Dan Fitchett

Jeffrey MonakanaIan Gayle

Taofiq Olomowewe Marcus Johnson-Schuster

Ravan Constable

Jared ThompsonJohn BeedenCurtis McDonaldGreg TindleWill RichardsAlex FergusonAndy SandellRobbie PattenDave MullingsDean EvansNick McCootieMichael JonesMatt SmithJake JacksonJames GuthrieKaid Mohamed

A DIP IN THE POOLE Stones take the lead at Poole

Town in last Saturday’s desperately disappointing

defeat - Ryan Sellers’ cross deceiving Dave Pratt, Matt Whichelow and the home

keeper PICTURE: STEVE FOSTER aqueoussun photography

REFEREE Ben Cooke ASSISTANTS Joshua Crofts and Brian O’Sullivan

MATCH SPONSOR Torben Prestwich, for every WFC volunteer BALL DONOR Ron Moore, in memory of all his WFC friends who have passed away

League sponsors

Wealdstone v Chippenham Town Saturday April 21 2018, KO 3pm Vanarama National League South

www.wealdstone-fc.com 2017-18

Your award-winning match programme, sponsored by the Ruislip Social Club

Main club sponsor:

INSIDE: JEFFREY

MONAKANAINTERVIEW‘As soon as

I came to the club I knew we

were going places’

NEXT HOME GAMES v East Thurrock Utd, Vanarama National League South, Monday April 23, kick-off 7.45pmv Oxford City, Vanarama National League South, Thursday April 26, kick-off 7.45pm

CHIPPENHAM T

£3

ALL GREEN

Good afternoon and welcome on this final home Saturday of the season to the officials, players and supporters

of Chippenham Town. Welcome also to you our supporters. We hope you enjoy your day and have a safe journey home.

Whilst we have re scheduled home games next Monday and Thursday, from a programme point of view we have come to the end of another season. There will of course be full programmes available for the East Thurrock and Oxford games, as these were produced for the original or in the case of Oxford, second attempt to play the game. Over the six seasons of my editorship, it has become a tradition to thank everyone involved in the production of this esteemed organ in the last programme. It is equally a tradition for me to forget at least one person. If it’s you I forget today, I am truly sorry but please take it as a compliment – you are in good company. My first thanks must go to Tim Parks and Martin Read who’s tireless production work (mostly without complaint) and to Martin Lacey our printer, who’s physical work you hold at this very moment. We are nothing without content and luckily blessed with frequent and infrequent contributions from Sudhir Rawal, Roger

Slater, the Supporters Club Committee, Nick Dugard, Steve Ducker, Jamie Leacock on behalf of the first team management, Peter Worby, Club President Paul Rumens and our Chairman Peter Marsden . Thanks also to Paul ‘Fingers’ Fruin who seamlessly ensures the supply of data from our opposition, provides match data within minutes of the final whistle and deals with the physical logistics involved with distribution.It sounds like a cliché but it simply would not be possible to produce a programme of the quality our great club deserves without any of the above. My final thanks are to you, your continued patronage ensures the continuation of the traditional physical programme and thanks for all the kind words the programme team receive from you over the course of the season.

Don’t forget to make use of the clubs early bird offer on season tickets See you all next week Mark

WRITTEN IN STONEMark Hyde

SCHOOLS OUT.....ALMOST

BALL DONORS

MATCH SPONSORFOR ALL THE VOLUNTEERS AT WFC

TONY, PETER & STEVE DREW, DAVE EDWARDS & RON MOOREIn continuing memory of the following –

Ron Davies, Gordon Howland, John Burrows, Jack Wilkinson, John Willard, Jim Minehane, Dan Helen, Val Shearer, Eric Fletcher, Charlie Walker, Derek Balderstone &

Roy Couch.It barely seems credible that over 20 years have passed since Ron Davies died suddenly in the summer of 1994. Since then, those other named friends and supporters of Wealdstone

FC have subsequently passed away.We grieved their passing but they are not forgotten.

For many seasons now the match ball sponsorship has given us the unique opportunity to keep alive the memory of those no longer with us.

They are especially remembered today.

TORBEN PRESTWICH

FROM THE DUGOUT

A warm welcome to Mark Collier his management team, players and

officials of Chippenham Football Club.

As we enter the last week of the season we must take the opportunity to thank the fans for the wonderful support you have given to this team throughout the season. Our attendances home and away are up there with the best in the league and we appreciate you all getting behind us. Today is all about you and we aim to give you a performance that you can be proud of. We went into last week with optimism, belief and an expectation to mount a late charge up the league. That

wasn’t meant to be and we can’t dwell on it, instead we aim to finish the season as strongly as we can as we look forward to next year.

As we reflect on the year we can draw on a memorable FA trophy run to the semi-finals which saw us lose to a fantastic Brackley side. We have seen some good performances but our inconsistency has in the end cost us on imposing ourselves on the top 7. As a management team our mentality is to constantly improve, learn from our experiences and push on. We are working hard behind the scenes to ensure we are setup for success next year. It won’t be holidays as we plan and prepare for a big year and

we are determined to bring the glory that this club craves. A big part of that is the make-up of the squad which we will ensure has personnel capable of handling the expectations here at Wealdstone, has the winning mentality required and has the quality to win the games we need to achieve our goals. We are aware you want better and we can assure you, you will get a better team

Enjoy these last few games, stay behind the boys and lastly enjoy the summer break.

Bobby and the management team

ENJOY THESE LAST FEW GAMESSTAY BEHIND THE BOYS AND ENJOY

THE SUMMER BREAK

Firstly I would like to say a very big ‘thank you’ to all the countless

volunteers who do so much behind the scenes at Wealdstone 365 days a year.

It has been rather a topsy turvy season and while the season has ended in a bit of a damp squib with us failing to make the play offs there have when the final reckoning is done been a number of positives.

The new lease is sorted meaning we have a guaranteed future at Grosvenor Vale for an absolute minimum of 5 years and because of the follow-on provisions in the lease (coupled with our regular amicable discussions with the freeholders) means that there is an extremely high chance that we will be at the Vale for the next 10 years.

We have of course enjoyed a great FA Trophy campaign and the Cup wins against Billericay, Hereford and that very cold night at Chelmsford plus those first 85 minutes in the snow away at Brackley will live in the memory forever.

Also the home game against Brackley shows just what great gates this club is capable of getting if a sustained period of success comes our way.

Ironically however I think our running for a large chunk of the season ‘2 teams’ - a League team and a Trophy team - brought about by players being Cup-tied has come back to bite us in the last third of the League campaign as it has made it difficult to keep to a settled team and formation and we have also had this log jam of having to play an awful lot of games in the last 3 weeks.

Given the budget our eventual midtable League position is of course disappointing especially when there have been times this season when it looked like we

were about to embark on a sustained winning run.

Next season we will I suspect be playing in a far more high profile and competitive National League South with at the time of writing it looking like Torquay, Hereford and big-spending Billericay being certs to being in our League (and depending on the vagaries of the play-offs we could also be locking horns with the likes of Dulwich, Kettering, Weymouth and Slough). This I think can only be a good thing but it will be a very difficult league to get promoted from especially as our playing budget will have to be trimmed a little given that this season we ‘went for it’ (but it did not come off) and financially-speaking I am personally not able to contribute anything like the amounts I have put in to the club during the last 2 seasons because off the democratic decision taken at the AGM to limit any one individual’s shareholding to 33%. I do believe that this 33% ceiling will come back to bite us as it will lessen the likelihood of some ‘very big fish’ one day wanting to get involved at Wealdstone and in the process help propel up us up the leagues. While I know this will be no bad thing to some of the Wealdstone diehards who recall all too vividly the angst of the 1990’s I think there is still a slight whiff of negativity / distrust around the club concerning new investors getting involved.

Our board at Wealdstone is now much smaller and I would like to personally convey my gratitude and immense respect to outgoing directors Paul Rumens, Pete Worby, Fingers, Andrew Lane, Quentin Fox and Mike Williamson - all of whom are Wealdstone pantheons and I know that our club president Paul plus Pete and Fingers will all be driving forces in our new Operations Committee which plays a hugely important role

in the day to day functioning of the club.

After many years of being sponsor via his company G P F Lewis, Rory Fitzgerald has joined the board and I am sure he prove to be a very valuable member of the Board but as I said when the new Board was publicly announced we do need fresh investment and I feel we are crying out for more new directors with ‘financial clout’. One or two people have already been identified and as far as I am concerned ‘the door is always open’.

We will of course be seeking to grow revenue streams in others areas particularly from enhanced commercial activities and the plethora of new advertising boards around the ground is testament to this now paying dividends and I suspect we will with Rory’s help be improving the club house to help drive up revenue from bar sales and general use of the facilities.

Returning now to the playing side I know that Bobby Wilkinson is relishing the chance of having a whole pre-season to work with the players. The brief (which Bobby fully endorses) is to have a slightly smaller squad next season and with getting in more of the type of a player who will give you a 7 or 8 out of 10 every week rather than oscillating between a 5 and a 9 out of 10. I suspect that this could mean us having slightly less ‘flair’ players and more ‘workers’ but I think most of our fans win / lose or draw like to see hardworking roll-up-your-sleeve performances especially as this is what we are as a club ‘all about’ both on and off the pitch.

I wish all our fans a very happy close season and as my wife keeps telling me “there’s more to life than football”.

Peter

PETER MARSDENChairman’s Notes

I had my opening paragraph all mapped out. Having written off our season in

our last programme against Bath City, I was ready to eat some humble pie as two very different wins against the Romans and Hungerford saw us claw our way back into the frame. Both wins were rather different. A gritty, less than pretty coming from behind victory against Bath was followed by an excellent performance against Hungerford on a mud heap that was credit to both teams and the referee for allowing the game to be played. With a home game to Oxford called off after another deluge, we travelled to relegation haunted Poole Town on a beautiful sunny day on the south coast. Poole had won only two home games all season and whilst we have struggled away from the Vale, surely the trip was a certain three points to take us even closer to a play off spot. As we now know, the wheels well and truly came off the play off bus as we fell to defeat against the Dolphins in the sunshine. Admittedly it was an awful pitch that didn’t really allow too much football to be played, but I need to remember that this is an official publication of the club rather than a fanzine, so it is best that I leave it there, no doubt to a huge sigh of relief

from the programme editor. (True! Ed.) We love a good moan here at the Vale. We are champions at it. GB used to bemoan that when we won the forum barely reached a second page, but heaven forbid that we lost, then there would be page after page dissecting the game and what went wrong to the nth degree. It is the ying to the yang of the great support we also have and receive especially on our travels but also at home where so many clubs talk about the hostile atmosphere. The club and support is pretty unique in the non-league game. Understand it first; embrace it; mobilise it; and together we can truly be a remarkable force together. The end of season is usually a time to reflect on how the season has gone. Whilst this isn’t the last home game of the season, it is the last programme that will be produced, as the others are re-organised games from late postponements, so will see the original programme re-produced. I am taking my cue from my first paragraph; I am going to accentuate what we, as a club, have done well this season. There’s plenty, I can assure you. We cannot initially look further than the F A Trophy run, where for the second time in six years we reached the semi-final and unlike last time, had a real

chance of progressing to the final. Six years ago it was a fairly tale journey as Wealdstone beat a number of teams from one and two divisions above to reach the last four. The Trophy is in our DNA as former winners. Unlike other clubs, we respect the competition and its traditions. We expect and desire to do well. I hope that, however high we travel in the non-league world, we continue to do so. This time around the cynics will point to the fact that we didn’t play a single side ranked from a higher division but the run did have some real highs. Winning at Chelmsford that Wednesday evening was a decent win in the early round replay, followed by beating Hereford at the Vale, a game which had a big match atmosphere with a very sizeable away following for a change in HA4. What wasn’t there to like about our last minute jammy winner against Warrington just as we were all working out how to get up to Cheshire for the replay? The win at money-bags (ok, we aren’t poor now, but we are still Lidl in comparison to their Harrods) Billericay will live long in the memory. Five-one had over 500 travelling Wealdstone fans in dreamland and I suspect it will feature in many people’s top ten games of all time. Even the semi-final was an occasion off the pitch, if on it we were out-classed by a significantly better side. Over

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HUNTER DAVIES, EE WILL TEACH YOU THE TRUE OPPOSITE OF LOVE.....

ELMSLIE ENDER

BY SUDHIR RAWAL

five hundred Stones at Brackley was a joy to behold in the snow and over 2,500 for the home leg showed the real potential of the local population to support a non-league side. If you ever feel glum about this season at any time, just watch that first goal at Billericay and, as they say, it was limbs! Limbs that have not been seen since Newport away in the semi-final six years ago.

This time last season, the board decided to take a radical step in reducing season ticket prices to £99. It was a risk as there was no idea what the uptake would be like. I think season ticket sales were usually around 150 ish; yet, today, we stand at 518 sold season tickets. As a consequence our home gates, despite a very mediocre season, have shown an increase of over 20% for most of the season, though this will fall back a little as we have a number of effectively meaningless end of season matches. We will end up with an average in the high 800s, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the mid seventies. Bold decisions made by the board that have been totally justified by the outcome on the terraces.

This takes me nicely onto the huge increase in youngsters that have started coming through the turnstiles, attracted by the competitive pricing but also the fact that it has become trendy to come and watch Wealdstone matches in the local schools stretching from as far north as Rickmansworth, through Ruislip and back to the old homeland of Harrow. Certainly some schools are spearheading this influx and we should do even more to attract as many as we can of this new generation. Of course, some of the antics on show

need to be nipped in the bud before they become a problem, but channelled in the right way, they are the future of the football club. I know Hughie loves them!

Our away support remains the envy of every club in the division. It is streaks ahead in size and volume of every club in the Conference South. You only had to look at clips of Dartford and St Albans midweek away games last week, one challenging for the title and another going for a play-off spot, and compared them to the numbers that we had at Hungerford in the very same week. To be frank the numbers of Dartford and St Albans fans was pitiful in comparison. We do this every week is our usual refrain and more truer words you cannot hear.

I’m only a contributor, but folks, you are in envious position to have the best programme not only in the three Conference divisions but pretty close to the top of tree in the non-league world. The work that Mark Hyde, Martin Read and Tim Parks put in, together with the assistance that the printer extraordinaire Martin Lacey provides, we are very fortunate to be able to read this magazine every other week. I show it to those that follow the professional game and they are astounded at the quality. I see the Chelsea programme for every game and can assure you that Wealdstone’s a better product. I flick through the Chelsea one, I actually read the Stones one.

The last thing I am going to talk about is the match day organisation. We have had some big games at the Vale this season and they have been planned and organised to a tee. We moan sometimes where

away supporters are housed but apart from that and also the fact that the Megastore side seems to be accepted now as where they should be, those big games have gone off without a hic-up, so a huge well done to Hughie Marshall and his team; not forgetting the slickness of how the bar runs on match days. Away fans across the league constantly praise our club for the match day experience at the Vale in that in feels like a proper game, a proper footballing experience and not some noddy non-league match!

So, whilst we can forget in the angst of an underachieving season, there’s still much to be proud of at this fantastic club.

Enjoy the summer; hopefully Middlesex will remember how to bat in the Championship and also note that the white ball isn’t something to be allergic to. I will fail the Tebbit test during the series with India. There’s still next week and the humdinger of an end of season game at Whitehawk. There still might be something to celebrate next Saturday after all.

I will leave you with a quote from a book by Hunter Davies called “Glory and the Dream”; it’s rather appropriate about supporting a club like Wealdstone. “True supporters care. They care enough to argue vehemently but often perceptively about the team, the players, the issues; they care enough to commit themselves to the cause of the club; they care enough to turn up week after week and support the team; they care enough to criticise among themselves their own players. The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference. “

SUD

ELMSLIE ENDERGLORY & THE DREAM

JONATHAN NORTH:THE KEEPER’S BLOG

In a 42-league-game season, with four cups

plus replays and postponements, every campaign is going to feel like a long one. However, it has to be said, this one seems to be even longer than usual! It doesn’t need me to say that this has been a year like no other, and it’s certainly had plenty of lows to go with the undoubted highs. Now I’ve got the hospital pass of trying to sum it all up in a few hundred words! Here goes…

The beginning of the campaign began with the play-offs set as the minimum objective, and an opening day win against Concord suggested we were heading in the right direction. However, as is so often the case, things didn’t quite materialise the way we would have liked. Without going into too much detail, it would be amiss not to mention Gordon after so many years of fantastic service and his departure hit us all hard. A great manager who loved this club, but most of all, a great man.

Change is sometimes what’s needed though, and the arrival of Bobby and his management team undoubtedly breathed fresh air into the club. Wins against the likes of Poole, Truro and Welling showed we were heading in the right direction and we were, as a team, adapting to the new demands put upon us.

The unique thing about this club, and a subject that after eight years of service,

I feel I’m fairly well versed to comment on, is the fans. There are not many other clubs in the non-league game who follow their club like Wealdstone fans do, and on the whole, it’s one of the key reasons why I’ve always been so keen to stay and one of the reasons I’m convinced this club has a future far higher up the

size and fan base and a squad of our quality we know this isn’t good enough. I’m not going to pull any punches and suggest other-wise and I completely understand the fans’ frustrations at how our season’s petered out.

Amongst all of this of course came our FA Trophy adventure. It’s still pretty hard to

talk about this because the pain’s still there. As the only existing member of that team that fell at the semi-final stage previously, I was even more determined to make it one step further. I knew exactly how much it meant to every single one of you and to the club as a whole. We needed to write a new chapter in our history book and I’m truly gutted we didn’t achieve that. To their credit, Brackley are a very strong side and in my opinion will go on and with the competition. However, it probably was still a bit of a reality check and showed us the levels we need to hit.

As is the case with the end of any season, players will undoubt-edly be coming and going. Maybe unfortunately for some of you (!) I’ll be staying on for my ninth season. If you had told me when I signed as fresh-faced, long-haired, big-ambitioned 18-year-old that I’d still be here nine years later I would have called you crazy.

But as it is, I couldn’t be hap-pier to be signed on for another campaign. I truly believe we can achieve things next year and have

the nucleus of a very good side.The business to be done

over the close season is hugely important, but I’m

confident we can get the right people in to achieve our target. I truly hope everybody

enjoys their summer and comes back refreshed and

revitalised to support us come early August. We’re going to need you. Northy

football pyramid. The flip side of this fan base is that results and performances are understand-ably demanded and a failure to provide either/both can result in scenes such as those at Bur-gess Hill. In my eyes, it probably went a step too far as despite the poor result, it 100% wasn’t down to a lack of effort. But it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good and it certainly opened the eyes of the new players to the expectations demanded at this club.

Post-Christmas saw league results continue to be consis-tently inconsistent and this has probably been our biggest prob-lem throughout the campaign. We’ve managed to get ourselves into promising positions and in sight of the play-offs, but failed to capitalise and really put together a run of five, six and seven wins.

Fast forward a wee bit and that’s been absolutely epitomised over the past

two weeks. Hard-fought wins over Bath and Hungerford had given us a sniff of the play-offs - certainly the chance to keep our season alive until the final few games. But inexcusable perfor-mances and results against Poole and Chelmsford means we approach the final five games with purely pride to play for. With a club of our

‘Inexcusable performancesagainst first Poole and then Chelmsford means we now have just pride to play for’

Northy’s barely changed since he signed in 2010

PIC. STEVE FOSTER

JONATHAN NORTH

SUPPORTERS CLUB MARK RANDALL

Good Afternoon and welcome to today’s game versus Chippenham Town. I hope that everyone enjoys the

game and may the best team win!

Today’s game also sees the last set of notes from myself and I think that now is the perfect time to assess the season just gone at the Supporters Club.

This year we have put on two successful dinners with Kerry Dixon and latterly with Stuart Pearce. Both evenings easily broke our fundraising expectations but only down to some serious hard work on the committee and of course the fantastic support of our fan base. I written about this before but ultimately the Supporters Club can only commit to tasks when we have enough volunteers. If you want to give something back either as a one off or a regular contribution the please come and find me in the Megastore. A starter for 10 would be if you are free on 22nd April as we want to put a BBQ on for Southampton fans that are coming for their FA Cup Final.

In terms of fundraising for the club we have so far this season donated £5000 to the main club, replaced the wooden roof on the filming gantry with a metal one. We have paid for the new pitch side fencing and new metal access gate at the top end of the ground. And most recently paid for emergency lighting to be installed at in the same area to meet our stadium safety requirements. We also plan to more so watch this space!

We have run multiple coach trips over the season and I believe all bar one with a toilet. My thanks to Victor who has taken this mantle on as this is a great service that we are proud to offer. The Megastore has gone from strength to strength, we had many new lines added including cushion covers, fridge magnets and wall clocks to name just a few. Don’t forget we have new scarves and bobble hats at £10 each and launching very soon…..club ties so please watch this space.

Mim has been selling golden goal tickets all season and raising valuable funds so please don’t forget to see her today for your chance to

win £50 for the time of the first goal or £10 for the last.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ian Stapleton to the committee who has stepped up and taken on the mantle of club secretary and already doing a great job. My fellow committee members deserve a great deal of praise and I would like to publicly thank them for all their efforts. Without Nick, Barry, Adam, Mim, Mark Barton, Victor, Terry and Ian none of the fundraising events we have put on would have been possible.

Don’t forget we have our AGM at the social club on 24th April starting at 8pm so please make sure you put this date in your diary.

To describe this season as challenging would be the world’s biggest understatement. Replacing the longest serving manager in the top 8 or so leagues was always going to be a hard act to follow. We made the semi-final of the FA Trophy when we could not pick our 1st choice 11 due to players being cup tied. Our playoff chances have taken a massive blow and if we are honest we are not getting value for money. What I want to leave you with though is this; I can see that there is a divide in the club. This divide has been here all season but it’s definitely become more pronounced since our Trophy exit. When it comes down to it we will only move forward if everyone is pulling in the same direction. It’s not about keeping the faith but effort minus distractions equal the result you end up with. The more distractions you have the less you achieve and that is a fact. We all want Wealdstone FC to go places; we just need to make sure that they are the right places. UP THE STONES Mark

TRAVELSubject to a minimum of 30 bookings the Supporters Club plan to run a coach to Whitehawk for our last game of the season The coach will leave the club at 10am stopping for lunch in Brighton before going to the ground,it will leave immediately after the game Flat fare of £20 with a £2 surcharge for non members Bookings are now being taken by text to 07881624890 or via email to victor.klarfeld@btinternet.com

WEALDSTONE v CHIPPENHAM JEFFREY MONAKANA

INTERVIEW

and I was just hoping that the club would release me.

“I’d played well against Weald-stone earlier in the season, even though Welling had lost, and that probably swayed them to sign me. I’m here for next season too and think it could be a good move for everyone”.

Do you think our style is to play with wingers, though, I asked him. Bobby Wilkinson has used wing backs on a few occasions?

“I think the manager bringing me in has answered that!” he laughed.

Jeffrey (left) takes on the Bath City defence in our 2-1 win here at the Vale

last time out

haven’t helped”.Jeffrey was part of Well-

ing’s 12-match unbeaten run around the turn of the year, which moved the club up to third in the table. “The club was in 18th place when I joined, and everyone seemed surprised when we moved up and up. But we had a good core of players and a system that worked. Then I picked up a hamstring injury which coincided with a three-match run of defeats... I felt I was rushed back into playing which did nobody any favours. Our results were up and down

‘There’s a real desirehere to go places... and I can help make ithappen for the club’TIM PARKS meets our flying winger

JEFFREY MONAKANA had a big decision to make.

Hemel Hempstead, Ha-vant and the Stones were all keen to sign the Welling winger before deadline day but it took all of two minutes for him to choose “the club with the most ambition - it was always going to be Wealdstone”.

“All the clubs I’ve been at, Arsenal, Preston and my loans at Aberdeen and Bristol Rovers, they’ve all been teams with some-thing about them - a real desire to go places, and that’s what inspires me” said the 24-year-old wide man when I caught up with him for a chat after the postponed Oxford game last week.

“I know that Wealdstone have a big fan base and real desire to win games. That sounds like a basic thing but at Welling there was no real pressure; if we won we won, if we lost we lost. As soon as I signed for Wealdstone I thought: ‘This club will do well’. It’s all about the atmosphere around the place.

“The manager is very demand-ing, in games and in training, to be better and improve all the time. The facilities are good, as good as League clubs and I feel I can really contribute. I’m raring to go but what I really need is match fit-ness. The recent postponements CONTINUED OVERPAGE

WEALDSTONE v CHIPPENHAM JEFFREY MONAKANA INTERVIEW

game 3-0. You naturally think you can repeat that result but we had a dreadful start, conceding really early on. My corner helped bring us level but then I lost the ball and they ended up making it 2-1. ‘Oh my days’ I thought... I just have to get us back in the game. Luckily my cross set up Matty Whichelow for a great finish in the second half, but we caught caught out again near the end and East-bourne got a winner.

“I was low but we know it’s not over yet. We still have an outside chance of making it to the play offs” (perhaps not by the team you read this, though! -Ed).

“Whatever happens I’m sure we’ll have the players and formation to make a real go of it next season. The fans can be really important too... they’re really vocal here and that’s something I love. They can get on your backs when you lose, but can make you feel good too. They’re never indifferent!”

Above: Jeffrey signs for

Aberdeen and (right) playing for Arsenal’s

under-18s. Left: He celebratyes a goal for Preston against Carlisle,

and hurdles a tackle against Yeovil Town

ton United for their first season in the Conference National, 2016-17.

“I was hit by injury that season which prevented me playing much part in our FA Cup run, which was ended by Arsenal. In fact that run was a distrac-tion that nearly saw the club relegated. I think you saw this season with Wealdstone that the Trophy run, though it was excit-ing, meant the team changed week in, week out and also meant we fell behind with the league games.”

So talk us through your first game against Eastbourne, Jeff. We lost, but two assists on your debut can’t be bad?

“Thank you - but I also gave the ball away for one of their goals... I was so desperate to make up for that. I went into the game remembering when I played against them for Welling not long ago, and we won that

“He wants to play with wing-ers, he’s very attack-minded, getting the ball forward and putting the opposition on the back foot. That’s my strength, driving at people and setting up chances”.

Jeffrey was born in Edmonton, just up the road from the new Spurs ground and still lives there. He is related on his late father’s side to the famous Lua Lua broth-ers, Lomana Tresor (ex Newcas-tle and Portsmouth) and Kazenga (currently at Sunderland) which also makes him a relative of Everton’s Yannick Bolasie - which is an impressive pedigree. I look forward to the back-flips when he scores his first Stones goal!

He spent ten years at Arsenal, from the age of eight to 18, in the same

academy side at Benick Afobe (of Bournemouth, currently on loan at Wolves) and Swindon keeper Reice Charles-Cook, but his career blossomed when he joined Preston North End. The flying winger played 40 games in League One and scored four times. Then it was off to Brighton & Hove Albion for two years and a carousel of loan deals (including one at Aberdeen that gave him Europa League experience) that ended with being signed by Sut-

WEALDSTONEFOOTBALL CLUB SEASON 2017/2018GROSVENOR VALE, RUISLIP, MIDDLESEX HA4 6JQ • 01895 637487 • OFFICE@WEALDSTONEFC.CO.UK • WWW.WEALDSTONE-FC.COM • COMPANY NO. 3953962

MAJOR HONOURS SINCE 1950LEAGUE TITLES1951 / 1952 Athenian League1973 / 1974 Southern League Division One South1981 / 1982 Southern League Southern Division1981 / 1982 Southern League Championship1984 / 1985 National League Premier (Gola League)1996 / 1997 Isthmian League Division Three2013 / 2014 Isthmian League Premier Division

NATIONAL CUPS1965 / 1966 FA Amateur Cup1984 / 1985 FA Trophy

LEAGUE CUPS1981 / 1982 Southern League Cup

MIDDLESEX COUNTY CUPS1958 / 1959 Senior Cup1962 / 1963 Senior Cup1964 / 1965 Senior Cup1967 / 1968 Senior Cup1984 / 1985 Senior Cup2003 / 2004 Charity Cup2010 / 2011 Charity Cup

NON TITLE-WINNING PROMOTIONS1997 / 1998 Isthmian League Division 2 (3rd)1998 / 1999 Isthmian League Division 1 (3rd, annulled)2003 / 2004 Isthmian League Premier Division (Play-Off)

PERSONNELBOARD OF DIRECTORSChairman Peter MarsdenVice Chairman Nick ArcherDirectors Paul Fruin,Mike Williamson, Pete Worby, Dominic Whyley, Nick SymmonsPresident Paul Rumens

SECRETARIESClub Secretary Paul Fruin(07790 038095)Company Secretary Andrew Lane

CLUB PERSONNELLife Vice-President Alan CouchTreasurer Barry BenvenisteGeneral Manager Nick DuGardPress Officer Nick DuGard(nick.d1@outlook.com)PA Announcer Ashley HoldingKit Manager Tony Waugh Boardroom Hospitality Alison Moran, Jacky ShoreClub Photographer Web Site Manager Alan & Matt Hill

MATCHDAY PROGRAMMEProgramme Editor Mark Hyde Production Martin Read, Tim ParksPrinting People for Print Ltd. www.peopleforprint.co.ukwfcprogramme@gmail.com

MATCH DAY OPERATIONSManager Steve MarshallSafety Officer Victor KlarfeldMatch Day Staff Paul Bowley, Tony Waller, Richard Hayward, Russell Greenberg, Adam Clancey, Matthew Impey, John Cahillane

COMMERCIAL & MARKETINGCommercial Manager Carol Griffiths (carolgriffiths@wealdstonefc.com)Graphic Design Steve FosterIT Consultant Neil RandsReporting & Social Media Chris Woods

LIAISON OFFICERSWFCSC / Social Club Markie BartonWFC / Social Club James Klarfeld

FOOTBALL MANAGEMENTManager Bobby WilkinsonAssistant Manager Jamie LeacockCoach Mike Percival Physio Stacey WoodGoalkeeping Coach Ian Hobbs

The legal name of Wealdstone Football Club is Wealdstone Football Club(2000) Ltd (Registered Number 03953962). Shares in excess of 10% areheld by Peter Marsden Property Finance Ltd

GROUND REGULATIONSPeople are only allowed entry to The Vale on match days subject to the following rules and regulations: 1) The club reserves the right to eject from the ground any person who is considered to have committed any of the following acts: • Entering the ground through any means other than through the turnstiles or entrances• Entering the field of play before, during or after a game without prior authorisation• Being drunk, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs • Using violence of any nature• Carrying items which may be considered a danger to others, including cans, bottles, or glasses containing alcoholic beverages• Throwing any article onto the field of play • Climbing floodlight pylons, fences, stands or any structure or building• Using obscene or bad language likely to cause offence to others • Hitting the side or back panels of the Bulla stand2) No spectator ball games.3) The consumption of alcoholic drinks is permitted INSIDE the social club bar and boardroom areas.4) Vehicles parked on the Grosvenor Vale site are at the owners’ risk.5) Wealdstone Football Club supports the FA’s campaign on pyrotechnics (e.g. flares and smoke bombs). Any misuse of such items in and around the Ground will result in those responsible being asked to leave the Ground and, in line with football authority guidance, may result in a report to the Police, potential prosecution and a ban from the Club of up to three years. — Wealdstone FC Board of Directors