Sunday 4 August 2013

#footballhat's New Season thoughts

The 2013/14 #footballhat.
How long before I drunkenly lose it?
I've had this blog set up for a couple of weeks but not really found the time to start putting anything on it. With work commitments, recovery from surgery and other bits and bobs things have just kept getting in the way but having a chilled Sunday morning has given enough opportunity to kick things off.

The majority of this blog will focus on the various exploits of the Mighty Beavers of TW12 over the coming season but at various points will probably veer left and have a Sci-Fi or Aston Villa theme. Also should myself and the #footballhat get to any other non-league shenanigans it may well be stuck up on here as well.

For those that are interested the #footballhat for the coming season is a mighty fine brown fedora bought for the princely sum of £5 from Ebay....I have no idea what happened to last years #footballhat, it appears to have vanished from the face of the planet.

So here we go....

Beaver Expectations

The Home of Football
Before I start I think it's worth clarifying that I put these comments up as my own opinions as a supporter and season ticket holder. Since March I've held no position within the club and with other things going on in life at the moment I can't see me taking on anything official at the time being. Also being honest the guys now doing the programme, press and website are doing a much better job of it than I did and are making the club's comms much more professional and joined up.

Last season was, diplomatically speaking, a massive disappointment; probably the least enjoyable in 20+ years of watching Hampton. The displays on the pitch after October were poor and there was a general air of resignation from the loyal supporters. There were of course outside factors that probably didn't help with my enjoyment last year, the passing of a good friend, the house being burgled and suffering a prolapsed disc in February which put me in constant pain and required surgery in July probably didn't help my mood!

There seems to have been a lot of activity during the close season, the Academy has now taken over the running of the Suburban side with the removal of the Capital League side makes sense to me. Make use of the best coaches the club has and push the best of the Academy team through to the Suburban League to see how they get on in Senior Mens football can only help. The pitch looks in good nick and the signing of the new long term lease gives the club stability and the ability to build upon it's existing relationships and become a much bigger part of the local community.
The 'Management' 

During the close season the new management team seem to have been busy in working out who they want to keep from last year, who they want to go after and who needs to go or we can't afford with this seasons playing budget. There have been trialist games and so far 40 named players have been used and several under the pseudonym of A.Triallist and I guess that the Paul and Darren now have a good idea of who they want to start the season against Margate on the 10th. Of those who have departed it would have been good to keep Tony Taggart who I thought did well at left back at the end of the season and of course Dean Inman, but after the situation last year with his loan to Farnborough that was never likely to happen.

Starting from the back to the front lets look at the options available....

Goalkeepers - We've seen three keepers pre-season but it looks like, unless there is someone else on the horizon, that we will be starting the season with Rodney Chiweshe occupying the number 1 spot. Tim Roberts hasn't appeared for the last 2 games and Matt Peglar played one game at the start and hasn't been seen since. I still have some concerns over the keeping situation, Rodney is an excellent shot stopper but in the Ryman League you need keepers who are vocal, control their defence and dominate the penalty box on set peices. There are areas where Rodney is probably not as strong as other clubs keepers and need to be worked on, there is also the concern about his work commitments if the local press are to be believed.

Billy Jeffreys (with Tommy!)
Defence -  We appear to be well stocked in the center of defence, on his day Alan Bray is as good as any centre back in the league, he just needs to be carefully managed due to his injury record. Billy Jeffreys is strong and solid, however having spent the pre-season in America coaching may be a little short of match fitness. New signing Marcus Rose looks very good, the former Maidenhead defender looks strong in the tackle and composed on the ball. Paul Barry has also spoken well of the former Camberley defender George Hardy. In the full back positions we have seen Malvin Kamara retained who, if he can recapture his early season form from last year, is one of the best right backs in the league. On the opposite flank it seems that 17 year old George Wells has nailed down that spot, a series of impressive displays towards the end of last season and the start of this has seen him earn a contract with the club, as back up there is Anson Cousins who has recovered from the injury sustained at the end of last season.

Midfield - Again we have a plethora of options in the middle of the park and with Paul & Darren seeming to favour a 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 I can see the reasoning behind this. Tom Hickey, Tommy Brewer and Stuart Lake can all operate as the holding midfielder, all are good on the ball and can break up play, although Brewer has the energy to operate as a box to box midfielder. Both him and Trigger are great acqusitions for the club and having Tom Hickey back is a great bonus. Karle Carder has returned for a second spell with the club and on his day has the ability to control the midfield and along with James Simmonds can unlock a defence. Consistency is once again the key with these two, their ability is not in question. This leaves Rob Carrick as the sixth midfielder. I've been impressed with the former Chertsey midfielder, against Ascot he was trying to get ahead of the strikers and making some great runs from deep, this gives defenders something different to think about. With Karle and Tom suspended for the first three games he should get a chance to make an impression in the early part of the season.


Joe Turner
Strikers - You may have noticed that I didn't put Joe Turner in the midfield section, within the new system Joe has been used as the right hand striker within a very wide front three, usually with Joel Ledgister on the left hand side. Joe's pace, ball control and work rate seems suited to playing further up the field and he looked good when used in this role last season. The return of Charlie Moone has been a boost to the expectaions, Charlie is good for at least 20 goals a season at this level and is not your normal striker his movement and willingness to drop deep means he finds space and is hard to pick up. Also returning is Joel Ledgister for a third spell, if fit and motivated Joel can win games on his own and playing on the left hand side should give him some extra space and the ability to drift in on centre backs. Hopefully we will see the best of Joel this season. Jordan Rocastle appears to be the third striker, due to my rehabilitation I've not actually seen him play yet but his record in Norfolk seems to be excellent and from speaking to other supporters they seem very excited by him, he may be that fox in the box that we have missed since Lawrence Yaku hung up his boots. The only concern I have about our strikers is that I think we are lacking some height and strength up front, even only as a plan B, we don't currently have a striker who can physically bully some of the lumps we are likely to come up against.

I think the make up of the squad is overall fairly well balanced, maybe lacking a bit of natural width but Turner, Cousins and the full backs can provide that if needed. 

The league this year is,again, very strong. Billericay and AFC Hornchurch will be looking to bounce straight back up and the promoted teams from Division 1 South in Maidestone and Dulwich will be strong. This is before you start considering the teams who made up the top 10 from last season! Where can the Beavers finish I hear you say? I'd like to think we can make a tilt at the play offs this season, but I'd expect a top 10 place. Lowestoft have strengthened, Bury, Wealdstone, Canvey Island, Kingstonian, Met Police and Leiston all look strong this year. I think it will be a very tight league, at this stage I think that it will be between Lowestoft and Billericay for the title with any of up to 10 teams scrapping for the play off places.

Next up for the Beavers is a visit from a Crystal Palace XI side on Monday night, it will be interesting to see what the starting XI is for this one as it should give a guide to Paul and Darrens thinking for the first few games of the season.

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