It's a lovely sunny Friday afternoon in August. England are 320-odd for 2 in the fourth test against India, Surrey are in the semi-finals of the CB40 and another summer is drawing slowly to a close. One sure sign of the approach of autumn is the start of the football season. Chelsea have installed this year's manager, Wegner is promising that this will be Arsenal's year (again) and Man City have signed three thousand blokes I've never heard of.
Meanwhile, down at the War Memorial the soap opera that is Carshalton Athletic FC continues with ever-more outlandish plot lines.
The story so far...... (wavy lines, wavy lines, wavy lines) ......... owner Paul Dipre sacked manager Mark Butler in the spring, citing poor performance of the team. Having run through one manager per season since taking over the club in 2008 Paul appointed himself boss and then over the summer made some impressive signings including Dean McDonald, Craig Tanner, Scott Chalmers-Stevens, Billy Crook, Francis Quarm, Dean Lodge, Paul Vines and Laurent Hamici. A mixed bag of pre-season friendlies followed but the recent capture of Tom Davis from Sutton may be significant as a midfield enforcer was clearly lacking.
So far so good. However, in the background a row with supporters has resulted in 10 of them being banned and the start of a campaign which seems to be affecting attendances including sub-250 crowds for games against league one Charlton Athletic and local rivals Sutton.
The ten are accused of swearing and singing offensive songs in the games that followed Mark Butler's sacking and on one occasion bringing alcohol onto the terraces. However, not all those banned sang and swore and not all those that sang and swore have been banned.
Personally, I disagreed with the way they went about protesting Mark's sacking and some of those I have spoken to agree that their behaviour was wrong.
There are currently moves afoot to bring the sides together and I hope that common sense prevails and those that want to return to the terraces at Colston Avenue are allowed to do so.
I have relinquished my roles as programme editor and PR officer, largely because of the poor atmosphere at the club and I know I'm not the only volunteer to take such a view. Many of the regular supporters will not attend home games until the bans are lifted.
Paul Dipre has done amazing things at Carshalton Athletic. For example there are now 34 junior teams, a thriving academy and a growing women's section; the ground is looking its best for years and the business is being run as a business. The first team really needs to take the same leap. Hopefully I'll be at home games to watch it happen.
Friday, 19 August 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
Season's End
I’ve hardly caught my breath after the finest game of football I’ve seen this year and probably the best game in Surrey since Barrow Hedges Primary School demolished bitter local rivals Stanley Park
Saturday's game saw Leatherhead beat Dulwich Hamlet 4-3 in the Ryman One South play-off final after extra time. There was plenty of interest for Carshalton fans; ex-players on show included Lewis Gonsalves, Chippy Carpenter, Junior Kadi, Jack MacLeod and Gary Drewett (who scored twice); in the crowd were ex-managers Hayden Bird and Dave Garland as well as present dof/owner/manager Paul Dipre.
Dulwich will be gutted having been 3-1 up with minutes to play but once Drewett had been substituted Hamlet never looked like scoring and the Tanners rode the momentum into the Premier. Congratulations to both sides for putting on such a good show; the Zyklusgruppen are happy as the ride to Leatherhead is infinitely more pleasant compared to the slog through south London to "Champion" Hill.
Anyway, onto Robins business. This blog was originally conceived several months ago primarily as a vehicle for Peter Randall’s excellent match reports but I also wanted to be able to maintain the stats for the season that I know many Robins followers like to see.
49 players made an appearance for the first team in 2010-11 and special mention should be made to Craig Ross for his ever-present record this season.
Top of the goal scoring charts was Bryon Harrison with 14 in all competitions, remarkable since he left in January, but in second place was Joel Ledgister who also led the league goals table with 11 goals. No other Carshalton player got near double-figures. I've also included stats for assists (basically a subjective view but one based on a pass / cross / dribble / pointless hump forward that somehow ends with a goal), and it's no surprise to see Chris Henry and Joel Ledgister top of that category, followed by the Genius himself, Tommy Williams.
Finally, the Robins’ Repository player of the season award goes to Craig Ross for being the last player left in the bar after the last home game. Good effort fella!
Have a good summer and look back here for occasional close-season musings.
Have a good summer and look back here for occasional close-season musings.
Player | 10-11 League Appearances (playing sub) {non-playing} | 10-11 Cup Appearances (playing sub) {non-playing} | 10-11 Total Appearances (playing sub) {non-playing} | 10-11 League Goals | 10-11 Total Goals | 10-11 Total Assists | Career Appearances (includes playing sub) |
Craig Ross | 42 | 12 | 54 | 54 | |||
David Ray | 41 | 11 | 52 | 3 | 3 | 92 | |
Michael Boateng | 38(1) | 11 | 49(1) | 1 | 1 | 5 | 50 |
Justyn Roberts | 37{2} | 11 | 48{2} | 1 | 3 | 1 | 82 |
Joel Ledgister | 32(3){1} | 8{2} | 40(3){3} | 11 | 13 | 11 | 43 |
Luke Pigden | 28(5){3} | 8(2){1} | 35(7){5} | 3 | 5 | 6 | 43 |
Dan Young | 28(1){6} | 3(1) | 31(2){6} | 33 | |||
Tommy Williams | 22(4){11} | 4(1){1} | 26(5){12} | 7 | 64 | ||
Anthony Joseph | 18(11){2} | 6(5) | 24(16){2} | 2 | 5 | 39 | |
Ricardo Joseph | 15{6} | 3{1} | 18{7} | 1 | 1 | 2 | 27 |
Barry Stevens | 10(7){1} | 2 | 12(7){1} | 1 | 132 | ||
David Obaze | 3(4){8} | 6(1){1} | 9(5){9} | 1 | 1 | 14 | |
Dwayne Williams | 5(1){11} | (2) | 5(3){11} | 8 | |||
Tashan Francis-Adeyinka | 5(1) | 5(1) | 6 | ||||
4(3) | 4(3) | 89 | |||||
Rob Kember | 4(1){1} | 4(1){1} | 5 | ||||
Jake Hill | 3{1} | 1{1} | 4{2} | 4 | |||
Sonny Ayres | 1(3){2} | 2(1){1} | 3(4){3} | 3 | 3 | 7 | |
2(1){1} | 1(1) | 3(2){1} | 5 | ||||
Darren Bryan | 2(5){1} | (1) | 2(6){1} | 8 | |||
Matt Reece | 2(2) | 2(2) | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
Sean O’Toole | 2(1){1} | 2{1} | 1 | 3 | |||
Jimmy Hearne | (1) | 1{1} | 1(1){1} | 4 | |||
George Beaver | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Josh Graham-Turner | {3} | (1) | (1){3} | 1 | |||
Hakeem Adelakun | (1){1} | (1){1} | 1 | ||||
Nial Akata | {5} | {5} | 0 | ||||
Luke Badiali | {2} | {2} | {4} | 0 | |||
Jake Richards | {2} | {2} | 0 | ||||
Luke Foulsham | {1} | {1} | 0 | ||||
Ollie Hinckley | {1} | {1} | 0 | ||||
Jack Eden | {1} | {1} | 0 | ||||
Sam Sneed | {1} | {1} | 0 | ||||
George Landais | {1} | {1} | 0 | ||||
OG | 1 | 1 | |||||
Chris Henry | 29(1){2} | 10(1) | 39(2){2} | 3 | 5 | 13 | 41 |
Guy Hollis | 15(1){6} | 4(1) | 19(2){6} | 1 | 21 | ||
Carl Wilson-Dennis | 9(3){2} | 1 | 10(3){2} | 1 | 2 | 2 | 31 |
Paul Johnson | 23(3){4} | 8(1){2} | 31(4){6} | 6 | 6 | 6 | 35 |
Adam Mekki | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Gary Noel | 10(5) | 2(2) | 12(7) | 4 | 8 | 4 | 19 |
Byron Harrison | 18{1} | 7{1} | 25{2} | 7 | 14 | 5 | 36 |
Mbive Lokando | 4(3){2} | 4{3} | 8(3){5} | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
Karl Murray | 4(1) | (1) | 4(1) | 42 | |||
Rishi Nankani | 1(2){2} | {1} | 1(2){3} | 3 | |||
Gavin Smith | (1) | (1) | 1 | ||||
Liam Stone | {5} | {2} | {7} | 0 | |||
Brett Cooper | 1(1){7} | 1{6} | 2(1){13} | 3 | |||
Lloyd Blackman | 2(6){3} | 3(3){3} | 5(9){6} | 1 | 14 | ||
James Duncan | 2(1){2} | 2{5} | 4(1){6} | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
Totals | 42 | 12 | 54 | 49 | 72 |
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