Be honest, how many collective Womble arses wobbled when they saw the headline to the Conference AGM on the OS?
We’ll find out the good stuff later this week, but first things first : it’s good to see JM and TB get the awards they deserved. Especially Manager of the Year – I know that sometimes you think the title winning manager doesn’t deserve it, especially when a smaller side beats the odds, so to speak.
In TB’s case last season (and doesn’t that sound good to write that? Not to mention a little bit weird too – the Beaverdome seems a lifetime away now….) I think he did deserve it though.
True, some of the football was swashbuckling, but his real skill was getting us over that finishing line with more or less the same squad that started the season so well. A lesser team with a lesser manager would have choked, but we held our nerve for a good four months after we hit the top spot under some pretty intense pressure.
As for JM, the best award was the Player of the Season one, which is this level’s equivalent of the PFA award. Mind you, as somebody elsewhere pointed out last night, it’s funny how JM wins those awards yet didn’t receive one from his own supporters…
Guess we must love our defenders down at AFCW.
Anyway, the nitty gritty of the AGM from what we know. We are now officially a BSP club, along with Luton, Chester, Gatesheed, Tamworth and Handy. So no panicking that we haven’t paid our subs and therefore will be cast back into Turdeyland.
Secondly, and I suspect more importantly for us all – we don’t seem to know what’s happening with Setanta. Reading around, it’s interesting to see club chairmen who are scrambling around, reassuring everyone in marked tones that they’ll be all right if Setanta go under and they positively, definiitely haven’t spent the £85k earmarked for them next season.
Leaving aside the money aspect for a minute, it’s rather disconcerting to hear that the Conf themselves aren’t clued up at what’s occuring. You would think somebody would have an inkling.
As for the poor Setanta presenters who not only have to film with a load of pissed up football club representatives, but constantly getting asked about their future. Wonder how many times one of their reps got given a £10 note “just to tide them over”?
IMO, we’ll be on Setanta much as planned next season, because it’s in many peoples’ short term interest to keep it going. Even if, according to Friday’s City AM newspaper, one analyist reckoning that Setanta have debts of £500m…
Other than that, we’ll just have to wait to see what else the club comes up with later this week. One thing for sure, next season we won’t be playing Woking….