A Sparkling Return?? Developments on and off The Pitch

I haven’t posted in ages, but it's not as bleak as it seems. That reminds me of a song lyric, but I can’t think which one. If it comes to me, I’ll let you know. On with the show.

On the pitch, after the autumn slump things have stabilised somewhat with progress being made in the two county cups, and a place just outside the play-offs being maintained in the league. Frank Sinclair has departed the scene, joining Colwyn Bay in the Blue Square North, a club which is an awful lot closer to his Bolton home than Vale Farm. That he commuted so far shows the measure of the guy, and he leaves with my very best wishes. Replacing him is Lewis Hunt, who has more than 250 league appearances under his belt following his release from Bradford City. One suspects that Junior Lewis’ contact list on his cellphone had something to do with this addition and reports suggest that he looked the part on his debut at Met Police. The big loser in all of this seems to be Michael Peacock who in spite of a decent start to the season, has had to be content with grabbing the odd piece of action at Northwood and Chalfont St. Peter to maintain match fitness.

The injury situation is easing, both Elliott Charles and Greg Ngoyi have returned to the fray in fine form, the latter having taken his tally to 13 goals for the season in just 17 starts. It’s quite a few seasons since we have had a player showing that kind of an eye for goal. It was noticeable against Bury Town, when he went through on goal just before half time to equalise that I expected him to score. Not just hit the target, but to find the net. Although since the days of Whitmarsh and Lewis we have seen decent strikers in the shape of Eugene Ofori, Dominic Gentle, Brian Haule and Wayne O’Sullivan, I don’t think any of them match the clinical edge that Greg has shown this term when fit. Not only that, but his response to being left on the bench for tactical reasons at Imber Court recently was outstanding. Given a start in the London Senior Cup tie at Barking, he grabbed his chance by netting the winner in fine style. Further back, Jamie Busby is back in action, James Fisher is beginning to settle in quite well either in midfield or more recently at centre half, and Jerome Federico and Michael Lewis’ return to fitness has given us an extra dimension out wide with a bit more pace and trickery.

With 17 matches remaining, we sit 8^th in the table just 3 points behind Cray in 5^th place. As time has gone on it has become clear that there isn’t a side that is obviously a class above the rest of the division as Dover or Dartford and to some extent Sutton have shown in recent years. There is all to play for and if we can sort out our home form (1 win from our last 10 matches at Vale Farm) then everything is in place for a genuine tilt at the play-offs. If pushed to say now, I suspect we may finish just short of them, but if we are able to find the consistency that we had at the start of the season again, then there is no reason why our season couldn’t conceivably last for another week.

Claremont Road

Of as much interest to events on the pitch have been recent developments in the sale of the freehold of the site where the Claremont Road lies has been put on hold following an intervention from Liberal Democrat Councillor Jack Cohen who has called for alternative uses for the land. As I explained in the summer, Barnet Council approved plans to sell the freehold to Montclaire Developments Limited amidst much opposition from local residents, who have cited a historical covenant dating from the 1920s protecting the site from such a move in their objections. More information can be found in this Hendon Times article, and this piece here from BBC London News.

Setting aside my thoughts on Barnet Council in particular, and many Conservative led councils in London (they have no place here), I truly hope that the covenant is upheld and the land protected because the knock-on effect if the sale of the land to Montclaire could have a severe impact on similar open spaces throughout London. In a year when London is hosting the Olympics and the Government are falling over themselves to talk about the legacy of the games, cases such as this lead one to wonder whether or not these words are nothing but hot air.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have seen a familiar face in the photo on the Hendon Times article in the shape of current club chairman Simon Lawrence. Which perhaps begs the question, why weren’t the Supporters Trust, or fans, more vocal in their opposition to the ground situation. Afterall, we knew long before we were eventually kicked out that the end of our time at the famous old ground was nigh. The answer is simple.

A couple of years before the ownership of the club transferred into Trust hands, the previous owners  had made it abundantly clear that they would no longer fund the football club. That was entirely their prerogative and as such, the Trust agreed to finance the playing side of the operation to keep the club alive. The only alternative was extinction. In spite of this, the previous owners of the club held all the aces. They were sitting on the goldmine that the lease on the ground provided. Although presumably the lease was in the name of Hendon Football Club Limited, they were separate from the Trust. As such, the owners were happy not to call in the alleged £3million (ballpark figure) that the club owed knowing that the sale of the lease, as and when it went through, would more than cover what they were owed. Hence, the agreement was made with the Trust to hand the football club over debt free once the freehold on the ground was sold. At any point in that period, powers that be behind the scenes could have closed Hendon Football Club down. They had no interest in whether or not the club survived, their names were on the lease. Hendon Football Club was an irrelevance.

When the announcement of discussions being opened on the sale of the freehold of the land was made in the summer, Barnet Council was opening negotiations with Hendon Football Club Limited. Who then were Montclaire Developments and how did they arrive on the scene all of a sudden? Again, the answer is simple. A quick google search divulged that the registered director of Montclaire Developments is Andrew Landsberg and that Hendon Football Club Limited is listed as a subsidiary of Montclaire Developlments. They are one and the same. Quite what transpired to bring about the sudden eviction of the team from the ground in September 2008 is unknown and would be mere conjecture, but one does wonder.

I don’t think for one minute that any halt on the sale of the freehold suddenly means that there is light on the horizon for anyone harbouring hopes of a return to Claremont Road. One only has to see the state of the site in the BBC London report to understand the level of investment that would be required to return the ground to a level fit for senior football, never mind Ryman Premier Level. Even if the deal between the council and Montclaire fell through, any hopes the club had of returning to the ground would be based on us receiving planning permission, support and funding from the council, as well as various other foundations as well as what the club could raise itself. The club on its own cannot hope to fund a new ground. Whether in these austere times individuals can find significant amounts to donate to any fundraising effort for a new ground remains doubtful. That is before we even begin to think about garnering the necessary approvals and support from Barnet Council. It doesn’t take a genius to predict how difficult (or perhaps impossible) that will prove to be. Nonetheless, it will be very interesting to watch how things develop.

Oh, by the way. The lyric I was thinking of? It was from this.

Goodnight 

Back On Track: Hendon 1-0 Canvey Island

Hendon 1-0 Canvey Island

Ryman League Premier Division

Saturday 12^th November 2011

Vale Farm

It was late afternoon on Friday, I was just wasting a bit of time at work before 5pm when my phone vibrated on my desk. A text message had arrived, and it was from Twitter, more specifically, @mccann2507’s account. ‘We add two signings of intent in the form of experience….CB Frank Sinclair and Wide man Darren Currie! Both will add plenty to our squad’. Now, I am the wrong side of 30 and yet still, the signing of players who I used to sign on Championship Manager 10-15 years ago still brings me out in the most excited of sweats. I was fairly confident that Currie, whose father Paul played for the Greens in the 70s and 80s scoring 13 goals in 63 games and whose uncle Tony, the famous England international played a handful of games for in the 1985/6 season, still had the required quality. He had very briefly been player/assistant at Boreham Wood earlier in the season and as the reports from We Are The Wood show, he still had it, even if he did leave the club under something of a cloud.. As early as this summer, he had been on trial with Southend.

As for Sinclair, I have to admit I’d rather lost track of his career after his time at Leicester. It has since emerged that he was in the same youth team at Chelsea as Gary Mac and played in the same Leicester side as Junior Lewis. Indications are that he has signed to help us out for a couple of weeks whilst Michael Peacock and Elliott Brathwaite are out injured and with Bradley Fraser now on loan at Potters Bar Town. As a result I was worried that he had spent the last 5 years not having played and that he would be completely shown up as Leo Roget once was when I saw him playing for St. Albans City. The news that he was a couple of weeks shy of his 40^th birthday did nothing to help allay any fears I had. Thankfully, they were all for nothing.

Frank's Car in the car park

There were a number of changes from the XI that took the field the previous weekend against Leatherhead. Sinclair came in for Fraser at centre half, James Fisher made his first start in place of the suspended Kevin Maclaren, Elliott Godfrey returned to fitness and came in for the injured James Archer whilst Currie was named at number 10 in place of the benched Isaiah Rankin. His time though, would come.

Before the action started, I had a perusal of the programme and was interested by the manager’s notes. I always enjoy reading Gary Mac’s musings, I think he is as honest as they come when assessing our shortcomings and where we’ve done well. I always remember reading Neil Price’s words with a mixture of an amused smile and a bemused frown on my face as they rarely seemed to match what I’d seen with my eyes from behind the goal. I certainly wouldn’t disagree with the manager’s assertion that in spite of our bad run, that the effort has been there. From what I have seen, I cannot pick out or fault any of the players for their commitment or work rate (with one possible exception who has now left the squad). Against Met Police, Horsham and Leatherhead we had enough possession and enough openings or opportunities to have taken something from each game, but just lacked that little bit of ruthless quality at either end of the pitch to have taken anything. What interested me in particular were his comments about expectations and negative reactions to our recent run of results and I think, upon reflection, he made a number of valid points.

Perhaps our unexpectedly good start to the season has increased expectations on the terraces to such a point that picking up 2 points from 9 against the bottom three in the division is seen as underachieving. I’m probably as guilty, if not more so in this journal, as anyone of that, but then perhaps we need to temper that with the 16 points taken from matches against Bury Town, Wealdstone, Carshalton, Hastings, Harrow and Canvey Island as opposed to the single point we took from the same fixtures last term. Secondly, there is the large number of players signed on, it’s a long time since we’ve had such a plethora of options available when everyone’s been fit. And there is the caveat. ‘when everyone’s been fit’. That hasn’t been the case at all this season, and with no reserve team, Under 21 team or Under 18 team for Gary Mac to fall back on to make numbers up with when short, it has meant that the number of players has had to be topped up through players coming into the club when short. Signs are there that we are turning the corner injury wise, I only hope that this continues and we are soon able to field something close to the XI which I suspect the manager would like to be able to field week in week out. In the mean time gaffer, keep up the sterling work.

Basking in the glow of the lunchtime kick off, the Wembley Arch in the distance preparing to play host to some other teams, Sky Sports News camera and reporter were in attendance at the game as well. The media glare was on the two sides and I think it’s fair to say one side responded, and the one side didn’t. I’ll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions as to which team was which from the following few paragraphs.

Unbelievable Jeff! Team news from Vale Farm takes Jeff by surprise

From the moment the game started, there was a purpose about the green shirted Trojans that had been missing over the last few weeks. There was a crispness and conviction to the passing straight away, there was a solid look to the back four again. This observer soon began to relax and enjoy what was on show. Lest us not forget that Canvey had thrashed us 4-0 just 3 short weeks ago and arrived at Vale Farm on the back of further progression in the FA Trophy against Grays Athletic.

Sinclair was denied a free header from an early Scott Cousins corner as the ball was flicked away deftly by a Canvey head before Elliott Godfrey, who was excellent in the ‘number 10’ position just a couple of yards off the target man, forced a comfortable save from James Russell in the Canvey goal with a low shot from 25 yards or so. Frustratingly, Godfrey and Charles were effectively through 2 on 1 with a retreating Canvey centre half but with Charles unable to peel off and get himself onside for Godfrey to play him in, the Canadian was forced to go his own way.

With the Greens on top in terms of possession, Sinclair and Wharton marshalling Jason Hallett and Danny Heale well and James Fisher checking the supply of ball into the dangerous Rob King, we began to see why Mauro Vilhete is so highly rated by those at Underhill. In the first period, he beat Ashley Dumas, by no means the worst left back in the league, time and time again. If not for pace, then with a trick. Had his final ball been better, Hendon would have had every chance to have gone into the break a couple of goals to the good. Once he dinked the ball tamely into Russell’s arms with Godfrey and Charles well placed in the middle, once he fired over the bar from an angle and on a couple of occasions, slightly overhit his cross into the box. At the other end, Sean Thomas was largely untroubled, dealing well with a couple of crosses and watching as Canvey’s only shot on goal from Hallett after neat build up ended up nearer Harrow Road than the top corner of the goal. There were appeals for a spot kick late on in the half as Cousins eased King off the ball, but any award would have been extremely harsh.

As the half time whistle sounded, there were a few smiles detectable on the faces of some Greens faithful, although there were still a few nerves around. Although the better of the two sides, there was nothing tangible to show for their efforts in terms of working Russell or indeed, the netting behind him. Elliott Charles, who had once again worked himself to the bone up front was replaced at the break by Isaiah Rankin.

It took less than four minutes for the substitution to look like a managerial masterstroke. Darren Currie, having swapped flanks with Vilhete played a sumptious first time ball, not for the first time) in between Dumas and Steve Sheehan for the lively Godfrey to run onto, into the penalty area. He pulled the ball back for Rankin who took a touch and with two defenders converging on him guided the ball with the minimum of fuss beyond Russell and into the bottom corner of the net. It was a lovely goal and well deserved.

Any expected Canvey fightback never really materialised. Sean Thomas made a couple more good claims from crosses and one good tip over from a Hallett chipped that was just dipping under the bar, but otherwise, was really well protected by the four in front of him. Whilst Sinclair marshaled things well, it was once again Ryan Wharton who really impressed me. On more than one occasion he made excellent timely interceptions, won just about everything in the air and passed the ball well from the back. They looked a far more cohesive and confident unit. Out wide, Vilhete was having as much, if not more success against Andrew West, the Canvey right back who had to resort to a clothes-line to stop him at one stage in the second half as the winger threatened to burst away from him again. With the incident occurring deep inside Hendon territory, the yellow card was entirely correct.

With Rankin and Godfrey linking up well through the middle and occupying the two Canvey centre halves, it gave Vilhete every opportunity to run at West one on one. At one point he got through and his powerful drive was well repelled by Russell. On a second occasion his pull back found Rankin whose effort was superbly pushed away by Russell who was at first going the wrong way (Vilhete tapped the rebound in but from an offside position) and then late on, he got around the Canvey keeper, pulled the ball back again for Rankin who scuffed his effort wide of the goal. With a little more fortune, the former Arsenal man would have been walking home with the match-ball, one final chance that owed as much to his strength and resilience saw him poke the ball no more than 6 inches past the far post with the goalkeeper beaten. Hendon probably deserved a second goal for their efforts, but for one reason or another, it didn’t come.

James Russell - Outstanding for the Islanders

And that was fine, because Canvey in truth, threatened little. It’s obvious why they have only scored 16 league goals so far this season, they are probably a couple of players short of being a play off side. Maybe a livewire striker and a winger to compliment Alex Rhodes. Still, this was a good 3 points for the Greens who can go into the very difficult trip to Lowestoft in good heart and confident mood. If anything, Saturday afternoon was more than a return to the form of earlier on in the season, but the most complete 90 minutes I’ve seen us have so far. There’s no doubt that the additions of Sinclair and Currie helped, but I think just as important was James Fisher in the middle of the park. He brought a calm authority to proceedings that we have lacked in the last couple of weeks and on this evidence, looks a very neat signing by the manager. 3 points, out of the rut and a clean sheet again. A week really is a long time in football.

Player Ratings

Sean Thomas: Largely untroubled, but kept his concentration to make a couple of very smart claims and one good save to keep a well deserved clean sheet. 7

2. James Parker: Best I’ve seen from him this season. Dealt with any threat he was up against well, including Alex Rhodes in the 2^nd half and pushed forward to good effect too. Looked much more confident. 7

3. Scott Cousins: Another smart performance by the skipper, Mr. Consistency once again (one or two loose passes excepted). Defended well, used the ball well, Good stuff again. 7

4. Ryan Wharton: Outstanding. Fast becoming the lynchpin of the Greens back 4. Dealt with the physical threat of Jason Hallett, scorer of a treble here last season, extremely well. Text book centre half performance. 9

5. Frank Sinclair: Oozed class. Looked to have an extra few seconds on the ball, barely had to break sweat and passed the ball well. Not sure every match will be this much of a stroll for him, but reminded me of Ian Cox at Maidstone a few years ago. 8

6. Dave Diedhiou: Loose in possession once or twice again, but far more dominating performance by the big guy who along with James Fisher did well to stop Matt Game and Rob King dominating the game as they did 3 weeks ago. 7

7. James Fisher: Took a few minutes to settle down and misplaced a couple of passes but soon looked as though he’d been part of the side for years. Broke things up well, passed the ball well. Very assured performance. 8

8. Elliott Godfrey: Influential in what I suspect may be his favourite position just off the number 9. Looked sharp, fitter and happier in possession and was at the centre of much that was good about Hendon’s approach play. 8

9. Elliott Charles: Worked hard in the first half before being replaced at the break. Didn’t have a sight of goal, but kept both centre halves occupied at all times. 7

10. Darren Currie: As impressive off the ball as on it. His first touch was dead weight, every pass was made with purpose, can still beat a man with skill, if not pace, and still has a very sharp footballing mind. A pleasure to watch. 8

11. Mauro Vilhete: Wreaked havoc on both Canvey full backs and with a better final ball would have been the architect behind a far greater scoreline. Easy to see why he’s been involved with Barnet’s first team in the past. Worked hard as well, tracked back and made a superb tackle in his own half in the second period. 9

Substitutes

12. Isaiah Rankin: Best performance of the season by a mile coming off the bench at half time. Moments of class, well taken goal and unlucky not to add to his tally on a couple of occasions. 8

14. Belal Aiteouakrim: Came on late for Vilhete who took a knock. Threatened to break clear late on but his control let him down. Looks low on confidence.

15. Carl McCluskey: Replaced Elliott Godfrey with about 15 minutes remaining and kept things ticking over smoothly behind Rankin.

Star Man: Ryan Wharton

Match Rating: 7/10

Verdict: A thoroughly deserved 3 points and a much better feeling around the place than six days previously. Everyone was on their game, and didn’t let the visitors get started. No doubt that the new faces added a lot of quality to the side, on this evidence, the longer they’re available the better.