Category: Personal

‘Crisis’ at Colwyn Bay Football Club

In the last few years, I’ve taken a more “official” capacity at my local football club (Colwyn Bay FC) becoming an operative on one of the official channels (@ColwynBayFC). What I’m about to say is my own opinion, rather than anything associated with the club.

In case you’ve missed the mental breakdown of fans on the Colwyn Bay forum, let me summerise exactly where we stand. After two back-to-back promotions that took us from the Evostik Division 1 North to the Blue Square North, Colwyn Bay survived on the last day of the season to confirm their place in the Blue Square North for a second season. The manager at the time – Jon Newby (who is held in high regard by many of the Colwyn Bay faithful due to scoring the winner against FC United to put us into the Blue Square North) – was agreed to be kept on for the 2012-13 season. After a tough start, results began to go against us, and after a 4-2 loss at home to Vauxhall Motors on January 1st, Jon Newby was sacked, in what many believe to be less than auspicious circumstances – it was widely reported he was sacked at half time.

His replacement was brought in immediately – Lee Williams who managed Bangor a fair few years ago. After a few friendly wins against League of Wales opposition, defeats against Solihull and Workington has caused the club to be third from bottom in the Blue Square North, in the relegation zone (though, if you look at past form with the AGM Cup, and the fact we’re entering the end of the financial year, I wouldn’t be surprised if – providing we’ve balanced the books – we get reprieved even if we finish 20th).

If you read the Colwyn Bay forum, the place seems to be in complete and utter meltdown. People are demanding things of the club, a lot of this is funded by myths and fallacy. These main demands are listed below, as well as what I would do and where the blame for me lies.

Three Counter-Productive Demands

1. Drop Ticket Prices & Get More People In

I can’t see this happening, nor do I want to.

It’s usually the same people that bring this up time and again, and those who bring this up are often the ones who do little or nothing for the club on a personal capacity. Nobody becomes a football team’s fan because the team is cheap, the same way nobody becomes a smoker due to a pack of cheap fags from the airport, the only people this serves okay is existing fans.

I’m lucky, I must admit – a good job and few commitments means it’s quite easy for me to get to games financially.

2. Appoint A New Manager

According to two very helpful “through the grapevine” comments, the club has sacked their manager and are looking for a new manager. Lee Williams has only been in the job for a month and from the one game I saw them play under him (a friendly via Rhyl) we played some nice football. Nevertheless, fans aren’t happy and two names that have cropped up whenever this is mentioned is ex manager Jon Newby and defender Frank Sinclair.

Jon Newby I don’t believe is a right fit. Yes he is a nice guy, and a credit to the club, and a club legend, and missed by the club, and if he was sacked the way it was reported it wasn’t the right way to do it. However I don’t believe it is the step forward we are chasing if we hire him back. It frustrates me as people who are clamouring for Newby to return are largely the same that a month ago were calling for his head.

Frank Sinclair would be interesting but I don’t think he would take it. He plays for us inbetween broadcasting stints for Chelsea TV. Do I think his media commitments would allow him to be an effective manager? Probably not.

One thing that is said time and again is that Lee Williams isn’t up for the job due to his lack of experience at Blue Square North level. He has the same amount of Blue Square North experience as both of the above should they take the role.

I’m not saying he’s the right man for the job, just feel that these comments are counter productive.

3. The Club is Dropping Through The Leagues Deliberately To Join The League of Wales

Please? Really?

We have no affiliation with the League of Wales. Those of us over a certain age would remember the battle we took to keep out of the League of Wales. Many of those people are still shareholders.

If we were doing this: why the heck did we work so hard to raise £70,000 to build a stand last season? Surely it’d be easier to resign from the league then?

Three Areas Where The Blame Lies

1. Promote The Club

Linked to the previous number one, those who are clamouring for the football club to drop their prices are often the same ones who barely lift a finger. Clubs our size can be successful (I’m friendly with loads of the Gloucester City bunch, and they seem to have a great setup with everybody pulling in the right direction), but it requires everybody to be on the same page.

At the moment those who are actually getting off their arses and doing something are getting hounded for being lazy and thoughtless by those who don’t. This isn’t on, and I see the same names refusing to lift a finger for the club they claim to love, yet are happy to want to cut off a vital revenue stream.

If the club had a larger fan base, then they could get a larger revenue stream, sign better players, and maybe even drop prices. That requires promotion.

One issue that has been done to death and never gets done is putting up posters in the town. This should be one of the first and easiest ways to promote the club in town. I think I’ve seen one poster up around town (in a launderette in Old Colwyn). If those who truly loved the club would help promote it, then maybe their ideas will be better received.

I’ve found the board to be rather approachable and open to ideas, but it needs people to drive them. If you suggest ideas yet aren’t willing to implement them, then that’s like complaining about the government when you don’t vote.

Those who know me, know that I’m quite an emotional fella. I take every little pop at the club personally. I shouldn’t, but I do. I’ve got a couple of updates to the Facebook and Twitter stream that I’ve not done due to the backlash I know will happen. Too many pops and snide remarks at those who actually get off their arses and do stuff and they’d walk away from the club. What happens when everybody walks away? Who runs the club then?

2. Players Need To Take Responsibility

I believe a lot of players who play for the club have gotten off lightly recently.

The team from a few years ago are held in higher regards than a lot of other players who come in, and it frustrates me whenever players turn up and don’t play to the level that I know they are capable of. They have gotten off lightly in my opinion, seemingly turning up, collecting a paycheck, and then disappearing.

This does begin at management level and I think that needs to be addressed. One rumour that is going around is that the team haven’t trained in a month. If that is the case, then that is inexcusable from the club’s management level. But that I’ve heard is a rumour.

Update: It is reported that the lack of training is true, but more than this than meets the eye. The current training facilities in Chester are out of action, and it’s been nigh on impossible finding new facilities due to the snow.

3. We’re Punching Above Our Weight

When I told a non-league fan of the issues at the club, he turned to me and told me that I should just enjoy the ride. Look at Nuneaton Town fans: they are likely to be relegated at the end of the season from the Conference. Do they care? Not really. They’re enjoying their time in the highest level of non league football. We are punching above our weight, and as I said last season to a friend of mine we’re probably somewhere between tenth in the Blue Square North and tenth in the Evostik League Premier on average. We were a sleeping giant for years, now we’re where we should be. Lets just enjoy the ride. I almost had a nervous breakdown when we nearly got relegated last year, it’s not healthy this negativity.

Even if we do go down, so what? As things stand I think we’re in a stronger position than where we were five years ago, and I’m confident we’re not going to the wall.

I have rambled on too long. It’s a beer job this post, and I apologise. I just think that the club is going back from where it came from, and the fans need to take some responsibility. Dissension in the ranks has led to a lot of clubs going bump (ask any Hucknall or Eastwood Town fan this), and I don’t want it done to my beloved club.

COME ON THE BAY!

January Challenge Update and My Goal for February

If you have followed my January 2013 challenge intently, you will have spotted that the spreadsheet used to track my goal came to an abrupt halt on the 10th January. You probably can guess why.

January Challenge: Dry-ish-athlon – Failed

Yes, I failed. I can’t remember exactly what happened on the 10th, but I buckled. The final nail in the coffin was ironically on a date to the cinema, to see The Hobbit. So I’m not one to hold a grudge and point fingers, but I’m blaming Martin Freeman. The mop headed demon to sobriety that he is.

As promised, I’d have a forfeit if I failed, and that is quite simply that I’m doubling the donation to John Boy to a tenner, as he has succeeded (well as of two days ago). You can donate to him here.

February Challenge: Declutter

Behold my life. It’s a mess. The image at the top are my shelves of everything I’ve obtained in the two and a bit years living in Manchester. My desk is much worse, as you can see here:-

clutter2

So yeah, my desk is as cluttered as my mind, and like my mind, the desk is full of half finished ideas. Take for example the Pringles Tube. My plan is to put dried spaghetti into it (I love jars for sundries, I hate plastic bags), I’ve still not done so. It’s a Christmas Pringle Tube, for fuck’s sake.

So anyway, by March the 1st my desk and my shelves will be a bit more decluttered. To measure it, I’ll sell at least the following:-

  • 5 Books or Video Games
  • 1 Websites or Web Domains

Also have a less cluttered desk and wardrobe (yeah, that’s a mess too).

The forfeit is simple. If I don’t sell them, I’ll just give some stuff away. This will be probably either through this blog or in a charity bag.

I’m not sure of a reward, but it will probably be I’ll do something nice with the money raised.

TNA Maximum Impact V – Manchester TV Tapings

Please Note: The Below does contain a number of spoilers from as yet aired TV Shows

The past weekend me, Si & Shane attended the TNA Maximum Impact V tour, held in the MCR Arena in Manchester. This was me and Si’s time attending TNA, and Shane’s third (though admittedly, this was the second year we have made a proper day of it.

This event had a number of firsts. Firstly it featured the first time ever in the UK a cage match (a first for me, as I’ve never seen a cage match before), but probably more importantly, it would be the first time the Manchester shows would be taped for TV. I’ve attended TV Tapings before with WWE, and they are…interesting to say the least. Sure you get all the big starts, but TV tapings generally mean that things are filmed a number of times, leaving the crowd getting restless. Also, as the UK is such a small part of the WWE “Universe”, rarely any advancement is made on storylines. Thankfully TNA realise how big it is over here, and we were treated to a number of large storyline developments.

As well as the big stars like Sting, Bully Ray, RVD, James Storm, Bobby Roode and Hulk Fricking Hogan being on tour, Manchester also got two of the three stars of TNA’s British Boot Camp. You had the winner – Rockstar Spud – who as somebody who has had a keen interest in the British scene I’ve never seen wrestle live. We also got an appearance from The Blossom Twins, who I’ve seen a few times for Futureshock Wrestling in Stockport, the last of which they wrestled one of my Facebook Friends.

So we’re like besties. Honest.

So, despite nearly getting thrown out of Nando’s in the Printworks for having the audacity to believe that CM Punk will beat The Rock at the Royal Rumble to some “It’s still real to me, dammit!” nobodies, it was a heck of a show. It is always a highlight of my year, as it feels that we’re actually leaving winter when it happens. Photos follow below, but be aware, there are spoilers from the TV Show!

State Of Search: Recommended WordPress Backup Plugins For 2013

Not sure if I’ll do this which much regularity, but I keep forgetting when and where I’m featured on other websites. I’m looking to compile a list, but at the moment it’s quite barren, so before I build up said list, I’m going to start linking to posts featuring me as a talking head, or commenting on something.

Meh, it’s content!

I’m not featured in many places, so I think this’ll be fairly easy to keep updated.

Anyway, the first one is being featured on State of Search (a blog I regularly read, and one of a small handful of SEO blogs I actually bother with) talking about my recommendations for the 6 Top WordPress Backup Plugins of 2013.

I was featured along with Michael Wester, Bastian Grimm, Dan McGuire, Carla Marshall and Dean Cruddace, and for the record, I recommended WP-DB Backup for a Free Plugin (which I must admit is more out of habit, I really should check out BackWPup recommended by a couple of people), and Vaultpress if you can afford it.

Thanks to Jackie Hole for featuring me!

Goal for January: Dry-ish-athlon

It seems that along with my blog, a good friend of mine John Wilson has also started a blog. I’d like to take credit as the inspirational thought leader muthaluvva that I am, but I can’t. In John’s first blog post, he talks briefly about 2012 and what he achieved, and he achieved a fair bit!

However interestingly he is also setting goals for the year, resolutions that are likely to be forgotten, oh no, he’s setting goals for the month. The first one, detailed in his post, is to complete the Dryathlon, which is giving up the sauce for 30 days for cancer research.

Brilliant! I thought.

As such, I’m also jumping on the monthly challenge bandwagon. My Goals for 2013 are still valid, but each month I will set myself a challenge, at the end of the month I’ll review to see if the challenge is a failure or a success.

Hell, it’s content for this site, and it’ll make my life more interesting. Even Matt Cutts recommends it.

It also marks the first time I’ve listened to what Matt Cutts has said and implemented it since June 2007.

As such, my goal for January is to drink less.

No, I’m not doing the Dryathlon. I’ve failed already: TNA are in Manchester at the end of January and have kind of promised a couple of my mates that we’ll have a few beers before the show, so that’s a no-goer, but hopefully before that Friday, I’ll have drank very little.

Incidentally, rather than just “drink less”, I’m instead going to set a target. I did a bit of research on the NHS website on the amount of alcohol each drink contained, as well as the recommended alcohol intake for a man in a week, and then decided to scrap the figures, and instead go for this goal:-

I will drink a maximum of 10 pints (or the alcoholic equivalent – 20 units) in January

I’m tracking my drinks using a Google Doc I’ve put together for the month, you can see it here. Providing I don’t drink 10 pints in one session, I should be able to remember what I’ve drunk where and update accordingly. I’ve also identified two things to target.

  • Go See More Movies – The pub is pretty much the de-facto thing to do when bored, but here’s the thing – I’ve started recently going to movies instead when I’m bored. Largely due to the fact most people who know me know that I’ve got glaring gaps in my movie knowledge, I’ve decided to put it right. Hell, January I was planning only going to see The Hobbit, but can do more films.
  • Not take the TNA in Manchester Day Off – In truth, the only two stumbling blocks I can forsee are at the end of the month, which is the aforementioned TNA UK Tour and Colwyn Bay are playing Brackley Town the day after. Both of those will be relatively boozy. As such, I’m going to avoid taking the whole day off for TNA in Manchester, but instead opting for half a day off. This reduces the drinking time, plus also creates a journey from town to my house and back again. The hope is then to meet my compatriots a little bit later on in the day, probably not even in the pub, so we can enjoy the show relatively clear headed (I’m not used to drinking at wrestling, largely being a performer, so it’s no big deal).

Providing I can do those two things, I should be fine.

I’m also imposing a forfeit (if I fail) as well as a reward (if I succeed). They will be announced on the challenge completion. Wish me luck!

Also, you can follow John Boy’s descent into soberity madness on Twitter, and you can donate to Cancer Research to support him on Justgiving.