Prudent and hard working board underpins pitch success

Just 18 fans turned up to the club's annual general meeting yesterday.   Perhaps that reflects broad satisfaction with the way things are going and there is plenty to be pleased about.  We are punching above our weight in a league where most clubs are now full time or 'hybrid'.   (It was also a hot day with lots of other attractions).   In any event I thought that it was a constructive and informative meeting.

We owe a lot to Hollers.   The meeting was told that he had brought in £250k to the club in transfer fees during his tenure by identifying and developing promising players.

The board have worked hard, have been strengthened and are to be strengthened further.   They put in average of £5k a year each apart from their hard work which helps to reduce the deficit (how large that is depends on how you calculate it and the figures in any one year are distorted by transfer payments including appearance fees and a share of sell ons).  The gross loss in 2024 was £102k.  However, commercial income is on the way up, almost compensating for the £38k we lost in National League funds when we were in Step 3.   This season it will be around £45k.

The club shop is to be put on a new basis to maximise revenue and provide a much better online offer (much needed after the experience a family member had last Christmas).

The whole new stadium saga is complex and uncertain.  There is a regular dialogue with the CEO of the District Council.  The original plan was there to be by 2022, but Covid and a war intervened.   What is clear is that we need the stadium to be a sustainable club in Step 2.  There is a Plan B but it would involve accepting a likely Step 3 status,

Apparently just the planning and procurement work for the new stadium will take one year.   There would be a Coop store and a nursery there and quite probably housing development nearby which would help to defray the cost.  The Council has no real alternative to Harbury Lane for a site for the 'travelling community'.

I asked about what would be the implications of the replacement of the present local government structure by a unitary authority, however constructed, but the honest answer is that no one knows.

A comment from the floor pointed out that comms could have been better on the car parking fees and that January was not a great month to introduce it.   This point was more or less accepted, it being fairly pointed out that sometimes the board got overwhelmed by the number of issues it had to deal with (hence why it is a good idea to increase its size and double up in some roles).

We have made some good signings and I am looking forward to what will be a challenging season.

I suggested to a board member after the meeting that we need some survey data on where supporters actually live.

Farewell Callum Hawkins

I have always been interested in keepers and Callum Hawkins has been outstanding for us.   He deserves to play at a much higher level, hopefully eventually in the EFL.   Good keepers are not easy to find at any level and our survival last season owed a lot to him.

Some other quality departures have rocked us, but I put a lot of faith in Paul Holleran and his contacts book.  We have just made one signing and I am sure that others with potential are on their way.

Fuming Kmox shreds squad

In June 1975 manager Jimmy Kmox announced a shake up of the AP Leamington team that missed promotion by one point.

Leading scorer Adrian Stewart was placed on the transfer list.    Fellow striker Ivor Talbot is also available for offer and Ernie Wilkinson, Dave Scriggins and Jacob Horne have all been released.    Knoc said: 'I have not made these decisions without considerable thought.  Only next season will prove whether I am right or wrong.'

Stewart scored 26 goals in the season to easily head the club's scoring charts.  He was also the leading scorer in the preceding season.

But Knox said: 'Adrian managed only 14 goals n the league - this was not a good enough return.  We missed promotion by one point and that failure to go up simply boils down to lack of goals.'

'I will listen to offers for Adrian bu if none come along the boy must buckle down and prove he can justify a place in our attack.   He has not made the progress I hoped for and the same goes for Ivor.'

The decision to free Wilkinson and Armstrong is no surprise for both players have strugglef to make any impact after being out through injury for lengthy spells.

But Horne and Scriggins have made over 80 appearances between them this term, reports Roger Draper, with Scriggins scoring 14 goals in AP's late challenge for honours.

Knox is left with 10 professionals - and a lot of hard work to do during the summer to rebuild his attack.  He knows who he wants, it remains for him to get them.

'We just missed out this season, I can't see us failing next term,' he said.

Retained: Dave Jones, Dave Garratt, Dennis Taylor, John Brady, Doug Griffiths, Roger Brown, Toby Bowden, Mickey Boot, Steve Lee, Mick Keeley.   

Play off triumph consolidated!

I meant to put up these reports from the Non-League Paper on last year's play off final before now, but getting married on Friday was a distraction!   Congratulations to the manager and his team, the playesr, the board and not least the fans for everything we have achieved this season.

What is Shakespeare doing at Stratford Town?

I was baffled by the following headline in today's Financial Times: 'Shakespeare makes debut for Stratford FC'.  Did it mean that the Royal Shakespeare Company had signed a sponsorship deal with Stratford Town and that their stadium was to be renamed the Anne Hathaway (following today's simultaneous revelation that she spent time living with the Bard in London)?

I can only think of one Shakespeare actor's son who played for the Bards, and as for the Bardsmen, their language on the pitch is generally industrial rather than 'forsooth' or 'verily'.

One of my favourite chants was when Leamington were leading the Bards 2-0 at their old ground and Brakes fans broke into a chant of 'Two nil, or not two nil'?

It turns out the latest version of As You Like It has a football setting at Messina FC.  Leonato is the club owner, Don Pedro the team manager, Claudio is the man of the match and Beatrice is a football commentator, appropriately wearing Brakes old gold.

The story of Mickey Boot

When I was writing up the 1974/5 season for the programme one name that kept coming up was that of the aptly named ex-Arsenal player Mickey Boot.  He stayed with us for the following promotion season.  Here is a bit more about him at Arsenal: https://arsenalarsenal.net/2010/10/23/i-wonder-what-happened-to-mickey-boot/

Boot later moved to Australia where he played and then took up coaching.

Brakes heartbreak at end of season

AP Leamington finished third in the Southern League Division One North in the 1974/76 season, seven points behind champions Bedford Town and just one point behind runners up Dunstable.  Jimmy Knox blamed the failure to go up by such a narrow margin to lack of goals and subsequently placed leading goal scorer Adrian Stewart (26 goals, but only 14 in the league) on the transfer list, along with fellow striker Ivor Talbot    They also lost the Birmingham Senior Cup at Highfield Road 1-0, Atherstone Town scoring from a penalty.

At the end of the season, manager Jimmy Knox was asked to assess his players.  Tactfully, the Scottish supremo replied:  ‘”If I could, I would have chosen the whole squad as the players that impressed me most.’ 

Getting Jimmy Knox to pick out any of his AP Leamington players for special mention is difficult not to say impossible – he worships the lot of ‘em.  But twist his arm and Knox will almost shed tears talking about his twin centre backs Roger Brown and Doug Griffiths.  Chips off the old block, Roger and Doug have the qualities that made their manager one of the outstanding non-League defenders. 

Skill, bravery, professionalism, love of the game … Brown and Griffiths have total involvement grafted into their muscle-bound frames.  Knox will talk for hours about football – he’ll spend years converting the Leamington public to Windmill Ground watchers.   Players as committed as Brown and Griffiths could make his job easier …. Of Brown, Knox is adamant.  “This boy is still looking for his right level … he is a great performer.  I signed Roger straight from amateur football.   He’s not only made his mark in the pro game – he’s made it in a big way.”

Big is the right description.  At 6ft 2in. [1.88 metres] Roger towers above most of his rivals.  He has the ability to match his physique.  “Roger’s attitude is first class,” says Knox.  “I have bawled him out and talked to him quietly.   He has the ability to match his physique.  Whatever you say or however you say it he is prepared to listen and learn.   I can’t speak highly enough of this boy – he is a perfect professional.”’

In February 1978 Brown was signed by Bournemouth on the recommendation of Harry Redknapp who had played alongside him at Leamington.     He played 63 times for the Cherries and was then transferred to Norwich City.   He was then sold to Fulham for £100,000 where he made 141 appearances before returning to Bournemouth under manager Harry Redknapp and was captain when they defeated FA Cup holders Manchester United 2-0.   After playing in the non-league system at Poole and Weymouth, he was manager at Colchester United from 1987-88.   Sadly he passed away in August 2011 aged 58 after a long battle with cancer.   Rest in Peace.

Doug Griffiths was a former captain of England Schoolboys and had been a full time professional with Wolves and Stockport County.   ‘At 24 he has never played better.  Dougie, the darling of the Windmill’s younger set, started the season out of the side.  He fought his way back and in the second half of the season he has been tremendous.   Knox said: “Doug is a hard man who never shirks a thing.  He would go through a brick wall for his team and has a fantastic attitude.”’