A crowd of over 900 on a August home game has not been seen for many a year and for us to have over 650 for a midweek game in the league is fabulous. As I walked around there were a huge number of unfamiliar faces and a lot of familiar ones not in attendance but on their holidays as we see them in Chesham shirts in other very lovely and hot places around the world on Facebook and other social media outlets. If you compare our first two home games to their equivalent last season it shows a near 100% jump in in attendances, I am sure you will all agree that our performances have just lacked a final touch in front of goals but I’m sure that will come and as the managers have said in their interviews it is good to see that we are creating so many chances and we will soon be converting them.
On Tuesday night I know all of you in attendance saw a competitive match with the result going against the run of play, with two penalties that felt overwhelming harsh on the evening – two handball decisions where the defender was at such close range you wonder how they could possibly get out the way. However, it was positive again that we dominated the majority of the game, reduced Weston to two shots on target (both from the spot), only for lady luck to desert us yet again this season. The hard work and effort put in by our squad so far is not getting the results the performance merits – perhaps a harsh early lesson about the National League South for us. But the season is long and hard, and I’m sure that if we keep our standards high and working hard as the squad have done over the years, we will get the rewards and maybe even our own slice of lady luck. And it goes without saying that your great support as our 12th man can help us over the line as we look to get three points on the board tomorrow.
I look forward to seeing you all at Clarence Park on Saturday for our local match with St Albans with a 3pm KO. Do I need to remind you of our behaviour code? No is the answer as you are all aware of how we represent out club and support our team. Cheer long and hard all of you including the special Hank!! A fervent supporter generally only to be seen at home games!
Then on Monday we have a visit from Torquay United which is being streamed on the National League TV website, so if you cannot join us at the Meadow due to holiday or work then you will be able to watch by purchasing a match pass from nationalleaguetv.com. Torquay are expected to bring a large number of supporter with them, are one of the bookies favourites for promotion and of course I wish on behalf of the whole club a warm welcome back to Roddy Collins who was a big part of our title winning side last season, but moved down to Devon in the summer to take up a full time contract, which is what every footballer dreams of and we wouldn’t want to stand in the way of any player looking to advance in the game. I hope you all give him a warm reception when announced in their team.
The bad news on Monday is that there is no radio commentary for our overseas and UK listeners for the Torquay game and this will be the same for any others chosen later in the season for NLTV, but the good news is that the League provide a lot of support through the platform so I am sure it will be a slick & smooth operation where you can get the best of both worlds – live pictures and Motty’s commentary – it will almost be like sitting next to him in the stand.
Big thanks to our Match sponsors for this game, Clarks of Amersham and a very warm welcome to them and our Match Ball sponsor Bill’s Diner. Your support is very much appreciated. In other news around the club this week, our doughnut brigade have worked extremely hard around the stadium with more signage for your safety, completing two more of the tasks outstanding for finalising full approval of our ground grading mainly leaving us to purchase new electronic turnstiles for you to gain entry into the ground which we will be able to transfer to our proposed new ground and the expansion of the press seating area which I have now received approval of another area for these to be situated.
A plea once again for supporters to please purchase match tickets in advance if you can, prior to all home games – this really does speed up the process at the turnstiles for both us and you as supporters – digital/online ticketing is an almost universal option now in the National League South so will also get you as supporters used to the process if you are joining us on our away days. Don’t forget to buy your match day programmes for 48 pages of great news and views.
And of course, we encourage you to arrive early for a beverage and food from the Chess Suite, to the burger bars of Bills Diner, to our Mavericks Bar in the corner by the far exit gates at the Cricket Club end and our own wonderful Tea Bar in the Popular Stand side of the ground. Please note for the moment, we will be serving cans of beers from Mavericks as we are having difficulties getting the beer barrels barrels cold enough in that bar to serve you all quickly.
Finally, please also visit our own club shop and this will help you have a much more enjoyable event all while supporting Buckinghamshire’s top non-league side. The turnstiles will be open early from 13.00 as well on Bank Holiday Monday due to the large crowd we are expecting.
Thank you all for your fabulous support.
Peter
