We made hard work of that

Leamington are through to the third qualifying round of the FA Cup after beating Stone Old Alleynians 3-1, but we made harder work of it than we should have done.

Perhaps our first minute goal made us complacent, but we were casual.  We couldn't keep possession, were second to the ball and lacked movement off the ball.   The visitors were playing football and it was no surprise when a Tomlinson header from a corner made the score 1-1.

They could have made it 2-1 but for an excellent double save from Weaver on 30 minutes.  It was difficult to tell which was the Midland League side.

Whatever Paul Holleran said at half time, we started to look a bit more threatening and eventually went ahead.   A penalty scored by Dan Turner made it 3-1.

Credit to Dan Meredith who made some good moves on the right.

'Second best all over the pitch'

I wasn't able to go to the Spennymoor Town game as I had Covid, but the video highlights looked promising.  Playing Brackley away after 48 hours was a tough test.

Yesterday therefore came as a shock.   As Paul Holleran said, we were second best all over the pitch.  Right from the off, apart from an early flurry, we had difficulty in stringing passes together and keeping the ball on the ground.  We were often second to the ball.

We did look better at the start of the second half and their goalkeeper did have to make some good saves.  But we never looked like getting back in the game.  We are now fourth from bottom, albeit with games in hand.

Transfer fees boost revenue

The annual report of the club has been released ahead of the annual general meeting on June 27th,

The loss for the year was £22,284 compared to £52,282 in 2019. The accumulated loss now stands at £64,148 up from £43,814.

Transfer fees were up from £20,000 to £62,500 without which the loss would have been much worse.

The report notes, ‘It continued to be a challenge for the club to retain our National League status whilst operating on a playing and management budget that remains substantially below the average of our competitors. It is a credit to the structure and operational stability of the club and the manager that it continues to attract players when the financial rewards for them are greater elsewhere.’

The total revenue of the club increased from £331,000 to £359,800.   The playing budget is £205,000.

The club was able to offset this loss in revenue from the suspension of the league with increased revenue from the transfer fees for Colby Bishop (to Accrington Stanley) and Josh March (to Forest Green Rovers) during the season and increased prize money due to a good FA Trophy run.

The club concluded a five year stadium naming deal with Midcounties Cooperative at £20k in the first year.

Step 2 clubs treated as second class citizens

Leamington chairman Jim Scott has backed Hemel Hempstead chairman David Boggins who has argued that Step 2 clubs are out on a limb.

A majority of Step Two clubs voted in favour of a no confidence resolution in National League chairman Brian Barwick at an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday, but they didn't carry enough weight to be successful.

Scott told The Non-League Paper: 'A lot of the clubs voted as a protest vote.  They were voting for different reasons, but they knew it was almost certain all the National League clubs wouldn't do the same - turkeys don't vote for Christmas, and the National League clubs want control.'

'At the moment we are effectively second-class citizens - we have no voting power, our votes are worthless.' He hopes that new National League general manager Mike Ives can be a catalyst for change.

'Mark is on top of that, he understands that.  He recognises there needs to be a more equitable distribution of voting power.'

'It isn't good for the National League to have the whole second tier unhappy with their input to the running of the organisation.  It's very important to see if we can do a reset and get a more equitable governance of the league.'

'My view is that Mark Ives will form some sort of working group that looks to address some of the concerns of Step 2 clubs.'

Holleran interview

Paul Holleran is now one of the longest serving managers in English football.  He has had a couple of interesting offers, but everything fits at Leamington.   The most difficult period was when we were relegated from the National League North and then lost in the play offs at Hungerford: https://francismorrisbcu.wordpress.com/2021/04/18/twelve-years-and-counting-for-paul-holleran/

Mournful mayor condemns drunkenness

This article was íntended for the Chester programme or any subsequent home match:

Drunkenness in Leamington was a big issue in February 1921, the Mayor claiming that the good reputation of the town was in danger.   Prosecutions had increased from 16 to 37, eight against women while eight persons were prosecuted for Sunday drunkenness.   In a table of twelve similar towns, Leamington was second in the table for drunkenness.   The town was in third place for licenses per head of population.   Not only were most of those prosecuted local people but ‘In most of the cases we have had of disturbances, quarrels and obscene language the excuse has been given in almost every instance that the person charged had had drink’.

The Chief Constable provided some factual background.   There were 76 licensed houses in the borough, 15 beerhouses [under legislation in the reign of King William IVth] and 22 off licenses.   Given a population of 26,713 in 1911 this was one licensed house for every 236 inhabitants.   In addition there were 12 clubs at which intoxicating liquors were sold.   Licensed premises were visited at irregular periods by the police and were found to be well conducted.   Two premises had been closed for being structurally unsound.

Giving a robust reply to the Mayor, Mr Coleman of the Licensed Victuallers Association complained about the mayor’s ‘mournful demeanour’ while congratulating the chief constable for being ‘cheerful’.  The publicans of Leamington stood today with a perfectly clean sheet.  The population was now 31,000 and there a number of pubs were about to be closed meaning that there was just one for every 350 people.   

The increase in drunkenness was not confined to Leamington, ‘being common throughout the country.  It was to be attributed to the fact that people now had more time on their hands, and a natural sequel to the relaxations following the war.’  Mr Coleman complained that one application to turn one pub into an early version of what would now be called a gastro pub had been turned down.   It was evident that the bench did not want full meals being served in licensed premises.  The clerk intervened to say ‘By eatables the justices think that bread and cheese, pork pie or something of that sort should be available for customers to eat with their beer.   It is the continual drinking and no eating which does the mischief.’

On the football pitch, the long awaited game between Foleshill Albion and Leamington Town in the third round of the Midland Daily Telegraph cup took place.    There was a record crowd at the Albion ground.  The visitors had the advantage of the wind behind them and took the lead after ten minutes with a superbly placed corner followed by a clever header from Okey.   Some good open play followed, but the Leamington defenders put in some hard tackles.   Foleshill equalised and the play became fast with excitement high.  Hartlett and Jonas battled it out on the right and the Spa man was twice penalised for holding.   Eventually an unmarked Okey was able to put Leamington 2-1 ahead.   

After the break Checkley stopped an attack on the Spa goal but as a result had to go off injured.   However, Walker scored for Town with a brilliant shot over the keeper.   Town sat back a little and Albion penned Town back.  Albion made it 3-2 with a tap in and then won a penalty through which they equalised.   With the strong wind behind them Albion made it 4-3 five minutes from time.

Vote is virtually 50-50 says Scott

Leamington chairman Jim Scott is not surprised that voting on the fate of the season has drifted into a third week.  He told The Non-League Paper 'My understanding is that the combined vote is virtually 50-50. It's Brexit revisited.'

'None of us know what the financial situations are within various clubs. The reality is that if some people are being disingenuous and using it as an opportunity to cut their losses, none of us will know who they are.  I don't think there is any doubt there will be some of that.  Some will think "We're not in a very good place financially, what is the value of seeing this out?"'

'In an ideal world, everyone would want to continue, though there may be one or two clubs with the Covid issue that are so significantly against playing that it would still be an issue.  You have to respect that too.'

The NLP thinks that are a narrow majority of Tier 2 clubs are in favour of declaring the season null and void.  The chairman of Hemel Hempstead thinks this would widen the gap between the first and second tiers.