Wilf and Gareth

Gareth Southgate is someone who can  talk the hind legs off a donkey and made England manager on the back of that talent, being seen by the FA as a safe pair of hands his eloquence off speech and undoubted intelligence getting him the job. The idea these days of an England manager needing the sort of CV that maybe dictate an ability to win an international tournament is just accepted as an irrelevance. The fact he couldn’t even get a job in the Championship speaks volumes.

But the FA  must be slightly annoyed this week. For the smooth, straight talking safe pair of hands, appears to be going off message and flunking his lines.

Southgate has decreed Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha did not have the passion to want to play for England. Zaha has been making headlines for outstanding performances playing for the Ivory Coast, seemingly having the temerity to play for the nation of his birth is frowned upon. Now I support Palace and Zaha has been criminally overlooked for England for years. I must add here his decision to play for the Ivory Coast was made before Southgate had any involvement with the job so quite why he had to boost his ego with such a trite statement is baffling.

It is just ignorant and arrogant to assume a player with two options has chosen the wrong one because he wasn’t that bothered. Every Palace fan knows Zaha dreamt of playing for England but had too many set back’s in his quest and became disillusioned. He has warranted a squad place for three years and let us not kid ourselves if he played for a big club he would be in the squad on a regular basis.  Zaha, a much loved player at the Palace, has shown the passion and loyalty to stay at the Palace, despite it possibly stunting his international intentions….that is passion the England set up failed to tap into. Southgate should be bemoaning the guilty party England not Wilf.

Zaha had an unhappy time at Manchester United, world class manager Sir Alex rated him, loser Moyes didn’t. As a young man in his twenties being dicked around by such a big club it is obvious he felt the same was happening with the England set up with his lack of opportunities. So along come the Ivory Coast, make him feel like a King and he opts for the simple choice of the simplicity of playing for his homeland. His performances certainly would suggest no lack of passion

Let us not forget the success of Jack Charlton loving up players to play for Ireland over England

So maybe Southgate should be warning the FA not to let  talent like Zaha slip through the net and to love up some of our bright unrecognised stars and perceived talents rather than slate a young man tired of being dicked around by a low grade under achieving England international set up.

Wilf being allowed to slip through the net is, contrary to the ideas of the low grade Southgate, not down to a lack of passion, but to gross mismanagement by the FA and the England international set.

People like myself couldn’t believe Southgate was appointed manager and this is a classic example of a lack of etiquette and understanding of the simplicities of top football that Southgate has shown through talking such twaddle he is ill equipped for.

Community not commercialism

Chris and I are friendly non-confrontational people. People like us we are friendly and fun. But I dig in when necessary which is now. Ask the local accountants who recently sued me and ended up losing; suitably hacked off with their arrogance I ripped them to pieces in court and saw them humiliated. They assumed I was a Lewes hick. People who know me know it is not my style. I like beers, a laugh and am one of the remaining singers at the back of the Philcox. But when push comes to shove I can be a tenacious Rottweiler. So gloves will be off for issue 17 at Christmas.

Nobody likes upsetting people especially when they do an honest hard job and that is what we do… upsetting that is. I have it on good authority we hit the wrong notes with some people but we are a fanzine and it is what fanzines do. I am often uncomfortable with it. But it is tough love, we love our club and when we think things are wrong, we have a right to say so. The club has a great, if in our opinion misdirected board; it now needs a new great volunteer structure directed by the board.

The fanzine is a labour of love and fun to do. We have as the years drag by, become more and more disillusioned with how the club is run. But maybe because the main jobs are mainly carried out by people on pay roll and not volunteers (who would be more willing to provide gossip and tittle tattle) it has not been clear how things work at the club. The furore over budget parity clarified so many things for us. In writing and in person, the formerly quiet hierarchy have broken rank and come forth. We have learnt a lot recently and it is not good.

Like when the smoke clears after an explosion we have had time to survey the post-parity landscape. It has come at a time when Lewes puts on the equivalent of a cup final at Wembley with the vast, world renowned bonfire celebrations, big articles in the Washington Post and all. The preparation, volunteers and amazing planning highlights for us the crass nature of the ‘business model’ we are following at Lewes FC and the financial resources squandered keeping us unsustainable. We have six paid staff involved with the day to day running of a club just on a level above county football to help put on games for 400 people at the Pan.

We must become a volunteering self-sustained club. Lewes has the most amazing will and generosity of spirit within its DNA. Why does Lewes FC fail to tap into it? Bonfire shows where there is a will there is a way. Either there is no will at board level to have our club run by volunteers or no trust were it run by volunteers for it to be done properly and a reluctance to do things as they should be done.
But sorry that is for the board to implement and tap into, to oversee and make sure it is done properly. That is what boards are for, to oversee the day to day running and finances… ’Oh well you don’t understand’… hey, well, yes I do because every other bloody club at our level is run by volunteers and our bank of operatives on pay roll is a joke.

Moving on.

The budget parity shows how out of touch some of the board is and if they force it through how undemocratic the club is. What pisses me off to blowing up point is Darren Freeman has done the most amazing job and the focus must be to get 100% behind him not budget parity etc. The idea of parity was almost presented as a fait accompli by the dominant forces on the board. It was ill judged and ill timed. The plan must have been hatched as we were going through a dire patch at the start of the season. It beggars belief. FOCUS chaps.

Lewes FC needs to break away from this almost corporate vision of running the club. It is not working, unviable, unloved and divisive. Yes I get the thinking behind it and how it would work in business, but it is not fit for purpose in an environment where we are annually competing with the unseen methods and resources of other clubs and we have the advantage of the untapped natural resource of proven volunteering talent in Lewes.
The board must take heed that views on the fans forum are from a hardcore couple of dozen fans, many disenchanted, but I can promise the silent majority are deeply concerned how things are going and change is needed before the project blows up in their faces.

This would be written if we were top or bottom, it reflects our beliefs and in that the team are doing brilliantly under our great manager shows it is not a whinge because of bad results, this is a deep seated belief that the very foundations of our club are rotten

#communitynotcommercialism

Whatever Happened To Those Heroes ? Squeeze Rise To The Challenge

Whatever Happened To The Protest Band

Now I am nearly 50 and in my important years of growing up I took to Punk Rock. Great protest bands, the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Dead Kennedys, post punk, Rock Against Racism and indie as young people such as myself related to the musical movement that poked fun at the system. I remember a Save the GLC gig at County Hall being halted as the National Front invaded the stage as a clearly shocked singer of the Smiths watches also somewhat bemused. Then you sort of grow up and your principles are destroyed by the promises of Blair as your spirit is tamed and mediocrity and quasi- Toryism becomes acceptable.

I can’t pretend to be au fait with the bands of today although I am kept abreast by my co conspirator on the fanzine, Chris, half my age.

So what am I alluding to. Well the protest band is apparently still alive as Squeeze hijacked the smug Marr show and humiliated Cameron, too dim-witted of course to realise.

So a band from my era are still left to carry the flag of the protest song.

I am utterly proud as Squeeze are the shirt sponsors of my football club Lewes FC, where I help write fanzine. They recently did a fund raiser in Lewes Town Hall before their last tour and we have a very uncorporate tie up with them. Not sure we make much money or what is in it for them but hey ho.

Lewes is funny. It is often mooted in the press as the typical middle class town. In the 13^th Century though the Battle of Lewes was influential in the creation of British democracy and Thomas Paine resided here. Middle Class it is but a stroll down Grange Road, house values £500-850 k at the last election saw the election poster count Green 7 Labour 7 Lib Dem and Tory fat zero.

A very middle class protest it was and let’s face it the concern of Lewesians is not council estates but the invasion of DFL’s….down from Londeners forcing locals out of the town as house prices rocket. But it was heartfelt by Tilbrook and has highlighted an issue of concern and must of pissed off the Tory High Command and that’s what protest bands should do 10/10

Apologies for crap grammar

#squeeze

 

The Great Escape ?

The Great Escape

So is Darren Freeman, a bloke who you just feel despite the results from the off is a great fit, about to jump on a Harley Davidson and fly over the barbed wire into the safety of current status retention? A well trodden path drenched in the past failings of Keehan and Brown, the helmsters (a word I have just invented !) overseeing our previous failings in this department. Equally adorned with the mightiest fight when Ibbo battled with his fiery troops and retained our Conference South status, despite the kitchen sink the least of his worries, being thrown at him.

At the moment I would say and am glad to say, our imminent relegation is not a foregone conclusion. You’d never have thought that a month ago. Yes maybe it looks unlikely, but importantly results show we are finally firing….spluttering is maybe a more succinct definition, that’s what you do when you are dead and buried and signs of life spring forth !?

That is all it is, a fresh sign of life. Let’s not carried away results are beginning to go our way and it maybe just the ‘death throes’ but I don’t think so. I admit I had given up. I argued with other Chris we would stay up when DF appeared but admit to agreeing with my fellow comrades before the Merstham cancellation it looked like we were finished.

I think despite some crap results there is no doubt DF has dramatically improved the team into one that could hold its own but spell bound by the awful run of dreadful results we all gave up. Indeed that run has seen us spiral into a desperate position. I don’t do facts and stats. We are now getting points and I just get the feeling watching DF in interviews he is a tenacious young manager turning around an astonishing mess he inherited through the failings of Brown. Spirit has returned, tentative I know, the dropped shoulders are still for all to see but so, also noticeable, is a new spirit. His methods have been questioned and the number players used, but I am Chris and my passion is football I am not a football manager and whatever method he uses if he gets results is fine with me.

Relegation or not, if DF can provide a finish where we are fighting with a chance of staying up with a few game to go then if we stay up he is a hero and if we get relegated he must be given the close season to get a team for the gloom of Rymans South. If we sink without a trace he has to go, but I am glad to say this does not seem currently to be an issue

‘Relentlessly Mediocre’; ‘Conspicuously Awful’;

‘Spur’ on an excellent brief write up of proceedings at the AGM based on words from Eddie Ramsden wrote the following

• He was forthright about failures on the pitch over the past few seasons (‘relentlessly mediocre’; ‘conspicuously awful’; ‘an anti-Midas touch’} and said his theory was that there had been insufficient liaison over the years between the various management teams (seven in six seasons) and directors who, not wishing to interfere, had been too hands-off. This was changing, and Stuart and Barry would now be regularly in touch with Darren and Ross. Stuart explained how this was working.

So the worst kept secret at the club is out. It has now been suggested by someone highly respected on the Board, that the pitiful five years of trite football we have had to endure has been to what many of us have known but few suggested, mismanagement of the manager at Board level. It explains why some very good appointments have failed to deliver. I would suggest not a theory but a fact. Of course for a such a long time the question, with the obvious answer, has been a taboo subject with certain members of the Board and their ilk taking great umbrage at such criticism. So when somebody with a very healthy open view on the matter suggests it is the case, we haven’t got to the root of the problem we’ve hopefully smashed it. It has sadly taken the threat of a further relegation for an acceptance at the top of the club that actually the performance of the manager or lack of is entirely their responsibility. To say ‘not wishing to interfere’ in real terms from the start by the current set up is a woefully inept and disastrous attitude.

Reading the earlier write up on Freeman was heartening as he at last seems to be someone who now the Board have woken up to the responsibility of managing the manager probably does not need it so much as you can see the fire in him, he seems very impressive and his approach spot on. Nevertheless, he must be keenly monitored by the Board. It would seem this responsibility will fall to Stuart Fuller and Barry Collins but if current trends continue the whole Board must begin to act decisively. As we blogged before, the appointment of John and Roger the new Board members, has suggested a mark in shift of Board focus to the first team and maybe in the nick of time. However with the acknowledgment of previous mistakes we may just save the community project from the ignominy of failure

.

It must be a lesson on getting the balance right that must never be forgotten. There have been great strides off the pitch to build the community model at the expense of a team and a crowd to enjoy the fruits of all the work. Let us hope, as it would seem, high horses have been dismounted and lessons have finally been learnt and sleeves will be rolled up accordingly

CLASSIC KTE: Spot the ham at The Pan

Great food, poor service

There have been some interesting comments regarding The Chuck Wagon and catering facilities at The Dripping Pan yesterday evening. While I was suitably frustrated that I couldn’t get a bowl of chips in less than half an hour, it appears many others are having similar experiences.

“I know plenty of people have food at the game, therefore I cannot really comment but surely there is a faster way of making the burgers even if they are supposedly really nice. There is quality over quantity but when you are at a game you need speed over most things.” Garethlewes, Fan’s Forum

Garethlewes hits upon a salient point; Brighton and Lewes are awash with nice places to eat, fancy restaurants and gastro-pubs. As nice as the burgers may be, there is a very good chance you would get served quicker if you walked out the ground to The King’s Head up the road and ate in there than from a caravan at the game! Most football fans (including the Hillians last night who seemed a bit hacked off at spending a third of the game away from the action) want convenience over quality.

“PLEASE can someone on the BOD sort out the catering. It may be great food but service is so slow, 30 minute wait for a burger is just not good enough.” heathfieldrook, Fan’s Forum

Despite the long queues last night, there was no mention of the extended waiting times from the staff. It was quite poor customer service in my opinion. Making patrons aware that they will need to wait for their food may have solved the issue by creating less of a backlog and being honest with the punters always helps.

“I whole heartedly agree with this article. Similar thing happened to me on my last visit to Lewes a few months ago. I saw the slow moving queue at half time this evening, so didn’t bother!!!” clive greatwich, KTE blog

One problem is that we have a fixed fee income from the catering, which means that Circa have very little reason to go above and beyond expectations. If they’ve already paid for their pitch and sold the requisite number of burgers to make a tidy profit, why try harder or make things better?

“Agreed, I used to get my dinner from the Chuck Wagon at evening games but I’ve given up now unless I’m there at 19:15, which is unusual. Shame as the food is really good!” stevet, Fan’s Forum

How much money are we losing out on? My £2 may be a drop in the ocean but what about all the others put off by the queues? The system needs looking at next season to maximise income, customer satisfaction and the number of Rooks fans leaving with emptier wallets and fuller stomachs.

Chris Mason

Catering at The Chuck Wagon

As we stumbled to another defeat, yes, a little more fight in us than we have seen sometimes, but a defeat nonetheless, I decided to get some chips. Some saturated fat after a particularly hard PiYo (pilates and yoga, darling) session was in order to soak up the Magner’s pear cider.

I took my ticket from The Chuck Wagon in good faith and awaited my deep-fat-fried fate at 19:55. The bacon had already run out. Somehow. Number 48 I was.

Fifteen minutes later, at 20:10 if you are looking for military timings, with the Rooks 1-0 down, they had only reached number 42. I grew impatient. Spending a sixth of the game waiting for a single portion of chips, and still ten minutes or so away is simply unacceptable. This is fast food.

People say that we moan about the little things. Yes, we do. We moan about the little and big. The little things can symbolise the malaise in the wider picture. So I asked for a refund – which was graciously given.

Charlie Dobres, one of the top bods at the club, was a few rows in front and was doubtless still half an hour away from whatever he ordered. This is no way to run a catering establishment at a bloody football ground. I want to spend the time on the terraces, singing, and with mates.

£2 to stand at the corner of the ground is indeed, Mr Noel Edmonds, NO DEAL!

Chris Mason

The Sun It Shineth

The other Chris and I disagree on the much-discussed final placing this season. I empathise wholly with his views but disagree.

The rot was stopped early this season and there is plenty of time for Freeman to sort this mess out. I believe we have a decent enough squad of players and once augmented with a back bone that is surely (well hopefully) to follow, we will be fine.

Years of supporting Palace as a season ticket holder has seen me, when I cared, follow the lower ends of various divisions and at this point in the season nobody can be written off, unless Kevin Keehan is at the helm of course.

I remember Millwall being top of a division at Christmas one season before melting down and getting relegated. If Freeman is what he is cracked up to be and his knowledge of players as good as we have been told, I believe we will be mid-table.

As me old mucker Cliff has alluded to on the forum before… and he knows his stuff, there are a lot of teams worse than us and the last time Chris and I bet on a football league position, Palace ended up in the top 10 and I was correct.

Chris Harris

CLASSIC KTE: Elvis Presley’s Greatest Hits

OK, these may not have been his globe-smashing mega-hits but they certainly sound like things we have heard many times before!