Insurance Broker to the Southern League

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1 Insurance Broker to the Southern League Our tailored Insurance Products include: Stadium Buildings, Floodlights, Damage to Pitches, Contents, Stock, Business Interruption, Wines & Spirits, Money, Frozen Food, Loss of Liquor Licence, Goods in Transit Liability Employer s, Public and Products Liability. Includes Community & Social Activities of the Club Player to Player Liability Widest Cover in the Market, including Cover for Legal Defence Costs AND Injury Awards Other Products Personal Accident Directors & Officers Motor David Howell, Bedford Town said Red Insure are specialists in their Field. They provided us with excellent service and cover whilst saving us money, which is critical to a club of our size. FIELD REVIEW - Contact Us Tel: Emai: sales@redinsureltd.com

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3 AND ANOTHER THING!! - 2 FROM THE EDITOR S DESK Oh well, let s just see what happens in the remaining weeks, but I somehow suspect that the 3 teams to be relegated from the Premier League are more than likely to come from the 4 clubs I ve just named; clubs who appointed foreign managers in what were probably moments of panic by their boards of directors who are/were scared stiff of dropping out of The Land of Milk & Honey.. But then again, on 6 April & with just 5 (difficult) games to go, Norwich went & sacked BRITISH manager Chris Hughton, replacing him with their YOUTH team manager! It was a sacking that had been on the cards since about Christmas, but the timing of it certainly was bizarre. Only time will tell if their Board made the right decision or not.. THIRD BATCH OF QUICKIES: Ninety quid for the new England shirt! Well, more fool you if you buy one at that price. Just wear the old one for the World Cup & if you do see someone wearing the new shirt, well, he must have more money than sense And much as I would love to see Uncle Roy take England all the way to a repeat of 1966, we know it s not going to happen, so let s just hope we can just get out of the group stage to start with but will Roy s nose grow longer when he tells us it s going to be all right as we head towards the tournament And where were all the Peterborough fans for the 2-0 home win v Colchester? Three days earlier, the Posh took 18,000 fans to Wembley for the JPT Final v Chesterfield, but then on the following Wednesday, only 4,000+ turned up to see them play Colchester. It shows how many TRUE Posh fans went to Wembley, I suppose And Lionel Messi is now officially Barcelona s all-time highest goal-scorer. What a pity we ll never see those silky skills on display in this country, just so that we could see for ourselves on a cold Tuesday night in February just how good Messi is/was. IT S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOTBALL!! Three things today: (1) SCOTTISH RAIN & WIND STOPS LANCASTER FLYPAST! With the famous Dam Busters 617 Squadron being disbanded, a fly-past at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland featuring 4 Tornado jets & the last flying Avro Lancaster bomber was cancelled because of the weather, resulting in the outdoor event being moved into a hangar because VIPs don t like getting wet & Squadron flags would have become damaged. Just about sums up the Health & Safety era we live in today. What a damp squib of a way to remember the gallant men of RAF Bomber Command who gave their lives in all sorts of weather during WW2 & beyond so that we could all live as we do today (2) THEY DID WHAT TO AN UNEXPLODED BOMB???!!! Two weeks ago, a 227 kg WW2 bomb exploded in Bangkok, Thailand as construction workers tried to cut it open with a BLOW TORCH. Can you believe that??!! At least 7 people were blown literally to smithereens & 19 were injured, as the bomb left a crater over 3 metres deep. (3) RAILWAY LINE UP & RUNNING AGAIN! Yes, it was good to see on TV last week that the railway line at Dawlish, destroyed in the early February storms, had been repaired reopened. In the end, it only took 8 weeks to re-build the sea wall & re-lay the track & given the fact the bad weather continued for some time after the tracks had been destroyed, praise must be given to those who did the work in (at times) difficult conditions. Well done to all those involved and there was me thinking, It ll take 6 months at least. FOURTH BATCH OF QUICKIES: What a difference a few years in football makes on 5 April 2008, Portsmouth beat West Brom in an FA Cup Semi-Final & a few weeks later, they won the FA Cup. On 5 April 2014, Portsmouth beat Hartlepool 1-0 in a vital League 2 game in their bid to avoid dropping into the Conference. Congratulations to Leicester City, the first side to win promotion in the Football League this season..meanwhile, the bloke that took over Leeds last week, one Massimo Cellino, recently sacked the 36 th (!) manager in his 22-year reign at Italian club Cagliari. Clearly this is one foreign owner who gets very impatient, so now he is at Elland Road, then it s going to be Arrivederci to Brian McDermott quicker than you could say spaghetti bolognaise.. Interesting to see Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino remonstrating with the 4 th official recently at the 4-1 defeat by Man City. Did the official understand a word of what he said??...and it was also interesting to hear Bristol Rovers German player Fabian Broghammer on Radio Bristol last week. He sounded about as German as the Wurzels! THE FIELD MARSHALL FIELD REVIEW - 24 Our penultimate home game of the season sees us host CIRENCESTER TOWN and they will push us hard this afternoon as they now have a great chance of taking the title and automatic promotion, following Merthyr s defeat at Taunton Town on Tuesday. Our record against them in recent seasons has not been good and in the last five meetings, we have lost four and drawn the other. MATT SAWYER, JAMIE REID, MATT SYSUM, and NEIL ARNDALE, have all won the red and black at some stage. The Centurions finish the campaign at home to Shortwood United, and travel to Yate Town on the last day, whilst their closest rivals Merthyr Town, are at Swindon Supermarine this afternoon and complete the season at home to Evesham United, and then travel to Thatcham Town. Having been in a play-off contention spot for so long, it s a case of what might have been for us, but as we know, a disastrous spell from early March to date, when we lost seven and drew two of our 11 games, put an end to a possible challenge. Local rivals YATE TOWN completed the double over us in league competition and on Tuesday evening it looked as though they were about to knock us out of the Gloucestershire Senior Challenge Cup, of which we are the current holders. Strikes by Lewis Haldane and Jordan Ricketts gave The Bluebells a 2-0 half-time lead. Despite having had a lot of possession, we were not creating enough clear-cut chances. Everything changed when Thommo brought on all three substitutes in DARREN EDWARDS, REEKO BEST and IBRAHIMA DIALLO. With six minutes remaining, ARON ROBBINS pulled a goal back with a free-kick from a difficult angle which went straight in after clipping the far post and with the game in stoppage time, LEWIS POWELL prodded home the leveller. There was no extra-time played and the game went immediately to penalty-kicks. FIELD REVIEW - 1 SHAUN LAMB, ARON ROBBINS, NEIL ARNDALE & LEWIS POWELL were spot-on as we went through to the final 4-1. For the record, Jake Cox scored for Yate, Mitch Tippins shot wide and Jake Jackson s kick was saved by KEVIN SAWYER!! A remarkable turnaround, which, to be honest, did not seem likely for most of the game, although we enjoyed a far better second-half. If we are to retain the trophy we will have to face either Bristol City Reserves, or Cheltenham Town Reserves, in the Final at Oaklands Park, Almondsbury. The date is still to be confirmed. As previously mentioned, in the league, Taunton Town maintained their winning run to defeat Merthyr Town 2-1. Shortwood United moved briefly into 4 th place with a 2-0 win against Godalming Town and Tiverton Town kept up the pressure on the top two with a 2-1 defeat of Cinderford Town. Tivvy could still yet take the title and were due at Stratford Town on Thursday. A tough one for them though. The other result saw Bishops Cleeve, under new management, defeat Bridgwater Town by 2-0 at Kayte Lane. On a sad note, we have been informed of the death of MEL PARKER, aged 69, who was a Mangotsfield United player in the 1950s when the club played in the Premier Combination. He was also still involved with the club in later years in the late 60s/early 70s. The club would like to express their condolences to his family. Thankyou everyone for your support, for both of our teams. So, remember the cry COME ON THE FIELD Or, if you prefer COME ON THE MIGHTY MANGOS EDITOR

4 For Life Insurance, Pensions and Savings Contact or Roman Glass, 332, Two Mile Hill Road, Kingswood Bristol Marcus Hudd, AND ANOTHER THING!! -1 Loads to get through today, as per usual, so let s crack on: FIRST BATCH OF QUICKIES: Well, I ve always thought that West Ham fans were a strange lot at the best of times; they don t like former players one bit when those players return to Upton Park with opposing clubs & recently, they booed their team & manager after they had WON 2-1 v Hull City. OK, so you don t like your team s style of play, Hammers fans. I don t suppose a fan whose team is bottom of whatever division isn t exactly too pleased with their team s lot either, but in this case, the Hull win put the East End Olympic Stadium-bound Cockney Wide Boys into mid-table, and yet they still moaned unbelievable! Mind you, some of them paid 45+ to watch their side beat Hull. More fool them. Should have saved their money & put it towards some decent binoculars for when they move to the Olympic Stadium, where the pitch is about 3 miles away from the crowd And what about Bayern Munich, wrapping up the Bundesliga with 7 games to go, and still in March too! That s quite an achievement in what is a very tough league & Bayern players celebrated with a party that went on until 5am the next day. But in Scotland, Celtic can beat that early title win quite easily. They wrapped up their title last AUGUST, without even having to kick a ball still, I suppose the occasional Champions League match does liven things up a bit at Celtic Park as the season goes on.and you had to smile at the irony last month when Arsenal fans spent the Saturday watching their team get hammered 6-0 at Chelsea & then the next day, many of those fans queued for over 2 hours to get tickets for Arsenal s FA Cup semi-final v a Championship side called Wigan and I ll bet that, at the time, the Wigan fans looked forward more to buying their tickets to face Arsenal than those Gooners did! (Btw, Lucky Arsenal, penalties hah!) SECOND BATCH OF QUICKIES: Now if Norwich do stay up this season, then the idea of giving out thousands of clackers to the fans at home games will have been a lot to do with it what a noise they make, & when there s thousands of them in the Canaries yellow & green, then it s a colourful sight around Carrow Road, and as well as that, I remember getting free clackers or whizz-bangs as they were often called, many moons ago in comics like The Beano or The Valiant And with gates going up at many grounds as the end of the season grows nigh, what about the 20,000+ gate they had at MK Dons the other week, with 9,000 (!) of them being Wolves fans Meanwhile, Tottenham hope to move into a new 58,000 capacity stadium (next to their present one) within 3 years or so. Mind you, they are still waiting for a Secretary of State decision regarding a Compulsory Purchase Order of nearby property before building can begin, but I m sure they ll get that rubber-stamped soon & can start planning properly without the fear of any NIMBYs/Town Green Nonsense Merchants/TrashWhoever Delay Tacticians to stop their progress! BRITISH MANAGER OR FOREIGN MANAGER? Now after all the Premier League games on the weekend of 29/30 March, it was interesting to note that the bottom 4 clubs were all managed by foreign managers, whilst the 6 or 7 teams above them were all managed by British managers! Anything significant in that? Things have obviously moved on now a little from 3 weeks ago, but it does make you wonder. Did some clubs panic & go for a foreign, but un-tried (in this country) manager because they thought he d be more likely to keep them up than a British manager? Let s look at the bottom clubs from 29/30 March & their managers from that weekend & give you my take on the managers in charge at the time: FULHAM Felix Magath Who is this bloke? He looks like a cartoon character & previous success he may have had in Germany means nothing here & he certainly won t keep them up. TalkSport even debated as far back as 2 April whether Magath was the right manager to get Fulham back up from the CHAMPIONSHIP next season!! (But he has won his last 2 games, which was a shock!) CARDIFF CITY Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Well known as a player, but managing an average Norwegian club is hardly good preparation for a battle to stay in the PL. Not really up to the job. SUNDERLAND Gus Poyet Also well-known as a player & manager in this country, but he has struggled to get Sunderland away from the bottom 3 for some time now. Going down! WEST BROM - Pepe Mel. Another one nobody had heard of & who doesn t even speak the lingo. Interesting to see how he sorted out the dressing room disagreements after the 3-3 draw v Cardiff when speaking English is clearly a problem! (Continued) FIELD REVIEW - 23

5 MUFC - SECONDARY SPONSORS MANGOTSFIELD UNITED SECONDARY SPONSORS MUFC would like to thank the following for supporting Our 2013/14 Stadium Draw CARLING ARMOUR SEALED UNITS BYSTRONIC WHITTAKER, GREGORY & CO LTD BRISTOL TRADE COMMERCIALS SOVEREIGN B.I.S. PRINCIPAL MORTGAGES DESIGN SCAFFOLDING BRISTOL TILE COMPANY POPLAR INSULATION DYNAMIC SIGNS THE THREE LIONS THE LORD RAGLAN SWAN MOTOR COMPANY PARK CYCLES LANCERSCOTT SOUTH GLOS TAXIS LTD PARK INSURANCE R.H.WINDOWS ROMAN GLASS GLOUCESTER ROAD GEARBOXES SMART HUDSON BRISTOL DRAINS LTD DOUG HILLARD SPORTS L.P. GENIUS CURTIS DREW AVON TRUCK & VAN G.J.C. COMMERCIALS TRADE WINDOWS PREMIER ARCHITECTURAL GLAZING GLASS CONSULTANTS UK LTD S.M.GAUGE COMPANY ANDERSONS WASTE MANAGEMENT LTD FREAK OR UNIQUE CUSTOM TATTOOS LEVEL CUTS BALSON & CO LTD ASHTON GLASS LTD JELF J B GLASS & GLAZING EXPRESS GLAZING & SONS URBAN WINDOWS JOHN GEORGE DECORATORS WEST STREET GLAZING MR. JOHN LAWRENCE COPSON & GRANDFIELD P J M SCAFFOLDING MAIN SPONSOR The Winner was Cossham Street is to be known as --- Glass Consultants UK Ltd THE GLASS CONSULTANTS UK STADIUM

6 Saturday 19th April 2014 Kick-off 3.00pm THE CALOR LEAGUE Division One South & West Mangotsfield United v Cirencester Town FC "The Field" - Maroon & Sky "The Centurions" -Red / Black Squads Kevin Sawyer (capt) Neil Arndale Shaun Lamb Alex Kite Matt Sysum Jamie Reid Josh Egan Ashley Williams Lewis Sommers Lewis Powell Aron Robbins Darren Edwards Toby Osman Clayton Fortune Ibrahima Diallo Reeko Best Tom Parrinello Glyn Garner Shayne Anson Ben Prictor Mark Pritchett Matt Liddiard Leigh Henry Sean Wood James Mortimer-Jones Will Morford Steve Davies Lee Smith Jody Bevan Aidan Bennett Brad Hooper Joe Shepherd Dean Bromley Richard Thompson MANAGER Brian Hughes Lee Barlass ASSISTANTS AND Kevin Willetts Mickey Bell COACHES Warren Evans Doug Pringle Hayley Smith PHYSIO Lisa Vicat Today's officials Assistant (Yellow Trim) REFEREE Assistant (Red Trim) Alan Somers Mark Lawrence Michael Halford Bristol Bridgwater, Somerset Bristol TODAY'S MATCH SPONSOR Prospect Developments BALL SPONSOR Calor South West & Wales Next at Cossham Street - Saturday 26th April 2014 The Calor League - Div. 1 South & West Programme No pm Didcot Town FC GLOUCESTER ROAD GEARBOXES Andersons Waste Treatment Centre Ltd Unit 6 Hydro Estate, St. Andrews Road, Avonmouth Bristol BS11 9HS. Tel: FIELD REVIEW - 2

7 MUFC - SECONDARY SPONSORS THERE S just a couple of weeks left in the Non-League calendar but for a selected few clubs, their seasons are far from over. They ll have the play offs to look forward to. Whether you like them or you don t; you have to acknowledge the great tension and atmosphere the play-offs create. A whole season can be defined in 90 minutes. Fantastic campaign ending in promotion or yet another stumble at the final hurdle - the margins in football are extremely fine. You ll often hear the play-offs referred to as the end of season of lottery. I don t know about you but if I could enter a lottery where I had one in four chance of winning, I d snap your hand off! As I m writing this, most teams in the Skrill Premier have three games left and but for Cambridge United, the play-off places are still yet to be decided. I m not sure you can look past Grimsby and Gateshead. I saw the latter last week against Hereford and Gary Mills side will be a tough proposition in the play-offs. They defend well when needed and keep the ball brilliantly; teasing the opposition and waiting like a bird of prey to go in for the kill. The last spot looks like going to either FC Halifax Town or Braintree which is fantastic for other part-time sides who are constantly told you can t compete in the Conference Premier. Cambridge can be devastating on their day but history will tell you the team finishing in second struggle to get through the play-offs. It must be psychological. On paper the second placed team should be the best side in the play-offs but missing out on the title and the added pressure of being best of the rest can take its toll. The biggest criticism I ve heard of the play-offs is that it s not fair. Every team knows what it s getting itself into at the start of the season. Imagine no play-offs and the top two going up automatically in each Non-League division? I d be interested to see how many would prefer that route but I doubt it would be many. Managers and players I ve spoken to, including ones that have finished second and not gone up, still say they wouldn t get rid of the play-offs which sounds to me like a ringing endorsement. In the Skrill North it looks like a battle between Boston and Guiseley for the last spot and whoever loses out on the title between North Ferriby and AFC Telford United may struggle to overcome that disappointment. Havant & Waterlooville have come into contention in Skrill South and the play-offs in that division is full of big hitters and promotion could go to any of the four sides. Similarly, the Evo-Stik NPL looks extremely tight and FC United of Manchester fans won t be looking forward to them considering they ve lost three finals in a row! All eyes will be on Maidstone United to see if they can get into the Ryman Premier play-offs after finally being allowed in but in form Kingstonian will be fancied if they make it. And in the Calor Premier, we may end up seeing some high-scoring shoot-outs. Two sides currently in the play-off spots, Chesham and Stourbridge, have scored over 100 goals with Cambridge City and St Albans netting over 80! So in a couple of weeks time, if you re lucky enough to be watching your team in the play-offs, just remember that you could be at home twiddling your thumbs. Or even worse, out shopping! Steven Coney FIELD REVIEW - 22

8 MUFC - SECONDARY SPONSORS PHOTOCALL THATCHAM ACTION. FIELD REVIEW - 21

9 WHAT THE PAPERS SAY THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT DECISION FOR THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL. FRIENDLY INTERNATIONALS DON T REALLY INTEREST ANYONE NOT THE AUDIENCE, NEITHER THE JOURNALISTS, NOR THE PLAYERS. The words of UEFA chief Michel Platini, as quoted in the Metro on 28 March 2014, as he talked about the new Nations League competition which will all but scrap international friendlies in the future. Now I don t usually have much time for Platini, while he wears his UEFA hat, because he doesn t usually have any time for us ( us being England or Great Britain), but in this instance, he has done something right. Yes, international friendlies are, by & large, a waste of time, though international managers would say otherwise, but if you haven t heard much about the Nations League, which was unanimously voted in across UEFA last month, then this is what it will entail: Overall, the event will feed into qualification for the 2020 European Championships. There will be 4 divisions, each of teams. Right now, England would be in Division 1. There will be minileagues in each division, so countries will play 3 or 4 rivals over 2 legs from September November One team from each mini-league will go into the division s semi s & Final in June Whilst 20 of the 24 teams will qualify for Euro 2020 in the usual way (qualification groups), 4 Euro 2020 spots can be won through the Nations League with the top 4 from each group playing off (unless they have already qualified), in which case the team below them in their division steps up. As an added bonus, 2 of Europe s 13 World Cup 2022 places in Qatar (or wherever it is eventually held, given all the ongoing complaints about holding it there) may also be up for grabs via the top 2 divisions. Yes, it does sound a bit confusing & club managers will tear their hair out at possibly losing their star players to international squads for more times than usual, but that s going to apply to all countries & all in all, fair play to Platini for coming up with this idea. Will it work? Let s wait & see. I JUST WANTED EVERYBODY TO KNOW THAT I AM THE MANAGER AND YOU KNOW WHERE I AM STANDING AT THE SIDE OF THE PITCH EVERY WEEK, THAT S MY JOB. FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SPENT MONEY ON THE PLANE AND THE BANNER, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER SERVED BY PUTTING IT INTO DARREN FLETCHER S COLITIS CHARITY INSTEAD. The words of under-pressure Man Utd boss David Moyes, as quoted on the BBC website on 30 March 2014, after a plane trailing a banner saying, Wrong one Moyes out flew over Old Trafford just after the start of the home game v Aston Villa, which United eventually won 4-1. The sight of the plane was greeted by masses of jeers from most of the Old Trafford crowd. Well said, David. For some fans to go to THAT amount of trouble to vent their anger over United s choice of manager, well, like he said, the money could have gone to charity instead. Yes, Moyes has endured a tough season at Old Trafford, far tougher than expected & yes, he has had his critics on many occasions, but for me, a plane banner like that is a disgraceful way to treat the manager & it s good that the Old Trafford crowd expressed their own dis-satisfaction at the stunt. United have had a fantastic history in the last 20 years, but now, they are having a poor season by those standards & even Europa League qualification wasn t guaranteed at the time of the Villa game but let them get the season over as best they can & then let s see what David Moyes does in the summer in the transfer market because he knows full well that he has to invest heavily to re-build the team. IF IT HAD BEEN THE OTHER WAY ROUND, IF THE FA HAD APPROVED IT, BUT THE FANS SAID NO, THEN I WOULD HAVE SEVERED MY TIES WITH THE CLUB IMMEDIATELY, BUT THE RESULT MEANS I OWED IT TO THE SILENT MAJORITY TO APPEAL & FIGHT ON. The words of Hull CITY (Not Tigers) owner Assem Allam, as quoted on the BBC website on 10 April 2014, after the FA Council (rightly) threw out his bid to change the club s name to Hull Tigers. However, there is no appeal process with the FA & the Council decision is final, but he could try again next season though. The decision also shut up TalkSport pundit & totally-biased Chelsea fan Jason Cundy, who was in favour of the Hull Tigers bid, but then again, if Roman Abramovich wanted to change Chelsea s name to Chelsea Town or Knightsbridge Athletic, what would Cundy say then, I wonder??? FIELD REVIEW - 20 SPOTLIGHT The last five campaigns have seen mixed fortunes for The Centurions. In 2008/09 they finished 14 th in the South & West Division and in 2009/10, reached the play-offs by finishing in 5 th spot. Away victories at AFC Totton and Bridgwater Town, saw them regain their Premier Division status. However, after finishing 13 th in 2010/11, they were relegated at the end of 2011/12, when finishing in 22 nd place. After a bright first half to the 2012/13 campaign, they fell away & finished 11 th. They are contesting the play-offs, once again. BRIAN HUGHES remains in the hot-seat. After taking over in 2002, he previously resigned in May 2006 to make way for Adie Viveash, following a four and a half year spell, but has been again in charge since September 2008, when Viveash moved on to coaching at Chelsea s Academy. Cirencester Town FC was formed in October 1889 and played amateur football in the Cirencester & District League, Cheltenham League and eventually, the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League. In 1968/69, Cirencester were founder-members the Gloucestershire County League, moving up from there, after just one season, to the Hellenic League in 1969/70. During that time, they had their first national cup run, reaching the 2 nd round proper of the FA Amateur Cup. Despite a relegation in 1972 from Premier to First Division, they won their first silverware by taking the Hellenic League First Division Championship in , regaining Premier Division status. Following a subsequent relegation in 1978, the modern phase of development was slowly established, with their ground at Smithsfield, being improved. President Alan Sykes was first elected to the Club Committee on the 7 th June 1971 as a young man, having been first involved in the junior teams. In his long association with the club, he has regularly advised wisely, including the far-sighted vision of working to ensure the club purchased, rather than leased, the Smithsfield land. At the same time, a team capable of competing at a higher level, gradually emerged. Runners-up to Cinderford Town in 1990/91, put the club back in the Hellenic Premier and they also picked up the Hellenic League First Division Challenge Cup for the first time, as well as the Gloucestershire Senior Amateur Cup (North). Premier Division runners-up in 1991/92, behind Shortwood United, they also lost to the same opponents in the GFA Challenge Trophy, but bagged that season s Arthur Shipway Cup. Season 1995/96 was the start of the new era. In partnership with Cirencester College, the club began the ground-breaking Football Academy programme. Developing rapidly, first under Dave Hockaday and when he moved as Youth Team Manager to Watford FC, followed by Steve Lowndes, the Academy have been National College Champions in 1997 and 1998, five times winners of the English Schools FA U19 Colleges Cup since 1998, and British Colleges Trophy Champions four times since The youngsters have regularly reached the latter stages of the FA Youth Cup as the last-remaining nonleague club in that competition, and in 2008/09 reached the Third Round Proper, before losing to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The success of the Academy has had the knock-on effect of providing CTFC with new blood and developing talent. The first team marked 1995/96 with a triple, winning the Hellenic League Premier, the Hellenic Premier Challenge Cup and the GFA Trophy. With these successes came promotion to the Dr. Martens Southern League in Proving hard to beat under the managership of Ray Baverstock, with Jim Saunders now replacing the long-serving Brian Davis as Football Secretary, the club established themselves in the Southern League and started to bring through Academy players. Off the field, a long planning process led to the development of the Community Club phase led by Chairman Steve Abbley. FIELD REVIEW - 3 Continued over.

10 SPOTLIGHT This was implemented over three years by Business Manager Anna Kocherhan. In the summer of 2002, BRIAN HUGHES succeeded Ray Baverstock as manager. At the same time, the club, having invested the proceeds of the sale of Smithsfield into the Corinium Stadium at Kingshill, moved into their new facility and renamed as The Centurions, after having previously been known as just Ciren. This development was followed in November 2004 by the opening of The Arena, a state of the art full-size indoor training facility. The club were awarded the FA s Charter Standard Community Club status and received the 2006 Gloucestershire FA Award for Charter Standard Community Club of the Year, which was presented to Steve Abbley by Sir Geoff Hurst. The junior section of the club, with its philosophy of football for all and which has in the region of 380 members, is of vital importance to the club and with a thriving Ladies team in addition to the Men s first team, the club really does provide a valuable service to the local community. With The Arena hosting approximately 70 teams in a 5-a-side and 6-a-side football leagues, and also the club being a thriving private and corporate event venue, the future of the club must be assured. The Management committee of CTFC has planned a long term, secure future for football in Cirencester. They have a strong balance sheet and own the stadium and training facilities, as well as The Arena the biggest indoor football facility South of Manchester. The Cirencester Football Academy players complete college courses as well as developing their football skills. They play in high level regional Youth leagues as well as in the national colleges league and frequently progress to the later rounds of the FA Youth Cup. This is Cirencester s 18th campaign at Southern League level. They had three seasons in the Southern division, finishing 16 th, 18 th and 12 th and then switched to the newly-named Western division (ex-midland), having better fortune with 7 th, 11 th, 13 th, 14 th and 3rd placings. That 3 rd spot under Brian Hughes guaranteed them promotion to the Premier Division, under the new re-structuring and in their first season at their highest-ever level, they surprised most by finishing 7 th and missing the play-offs by just one point. They then finished 18 th, 21 st and 21 st, which saw them relegated, at the end of the 2007/08 season. A Development Team, born out of the previous season s Under 16s, made their bow in the 2009/10 season, playing in the UHlsport Hellenic league Reserve Division Two West, and against all expectations, won the division title convincingly to be promoted to the Reserve Division One. After a re-structuring of the Hellenic league, they are currently playing in Division Two West. As the emphasis of the team is primarily on young players who have been playing Youth football, it was decided to call the team a Developmental Team, rather than Reserves. Many of the Academy & Youth team players have progressed to play for the first team, which embeds the vision that local people can take their footballing ambitions to the highest level of which they are capable. Many of Cirencester s young players have moved on to Football League clubs. There is an emphasis on Youth at CTFC and we aim to offer football at all levels to as many people as possible. We welcome CIRENCESTER TOWN FC to Cossham Street, once more. Last season, we lost both league matches against them, 0-1, with JAMIE REID scoring at Cossham Street and Ellis Dunton finding the net at The Corinium Stadium. In September 13, we lost 1-2 at The Corinium Stadium with JAMIE REID scoring for us, this time!! FIELD REVIEW - 4 MANGOTSFIELD UTD SUPPORTERS CLUB (2009) Fundraising 2013/14 ************************************************************************************ IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ANDY MILNE & DAVE BLACKMORE have been duly elected to fill the vacancies of Acting Chair & Secretary respectively until the end of the season, and the AGM. This now leaves the committee with a shortage of members and they are now actively seeking new blood. If you are interested in joining, please contact DAVE BLACKMORE. NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING MONDAY 28 th April All members are urged that if there are any issues they would like to be discussed, then they should contact a committee member ahead of this meeting. Members will be advised by post or of the date and details of the AGM. The 2013/14 Season s 50 Club draw, (for March) were held after the game against Thatcham Town. The winners were: BRIAN GOLLEDGE 50 8 BOB WEST SHAUN LECRASS The FINAL DRAW of the Season, for APRIL, will be held after the final game of the season against DIDCOT TOWN on Saturday April 26 th. Don t forget that you can still vote for your PLAYER OF THE SEASON, but this afternoon is the last available opportunity. Just return your voting slips to the Club Shop or KEITH HACK and the presentation will be made at the final game of the season, when we entertain DIDCOT TOWN. Two players are neck and neck and after Tuesday evening, it seems that just one point separates them. Your vote could have that final say, so if you have not already voted, then do so TODAY! Thankyou to everyone who has participated in all of our activities this season. We do hope to be even more active next season, when we will have a new Chairman and an additional Committee member or two. The importance of the AGM cannot be stressed too highly. The new Chairman and Secretary need to be elected and this is your chance to have your say. Other Committee members, it is hoped, will be standing for election. Please do your best to attend. It is also hoped that, as in other years, there will be a Fan s Forum, with the Manager, so that we can hear of their plans for the 2014/15 season. Hope to see as many of you as possible on Monday, at Winterfield Road, when we take on PAULTON ROVERS, who are hoping to secure that play-off spot. We last won there in August 2010, with a late goal from KARIM RENDALL and we have lost on our visits in 2011/12 and 2012/13. FIELD REVIEW -19

11 YOUTH TEAM NEWS & STATS 2013/14 SOMERSET FLOODLIGHT YOUTH LEAGUE FIXTURES 04/09 WESTON-SUPER-MARE SFYL H 2-2 Monelle, Broughton 12/09 KEYNSHAM TOWN RSMC-1` H 2-0 Rhys-Jones, Josh Bennett 25/09 BRISTOL ACADEMY FAYC 1QR H 1-2 Justin Lee 30/09 TAUNTON TOWN SFYL H 6-1 Broughton 2, Hemmings 2, Rhys-Jones, Henry 09/10 BRISLINGTON SFYL H 7-0 Hemmings 3, Henderson, Monelle, Rhys-Jones, Henry 13/10 Gotherington GYFAS-R1 A 8-0 Monelle 3, Stevens 2, Broughton 2, White 16/10 Ashton & Backwell SFYL A 6-1 Broughton 2 (1p), Henry, Lee, Dodimead, Hemmings 24/10 ASHTON & BACKWELL SFYL H 6-1 Lee 2, Broughton, Hemmings, Dodimead Shamrock 14/11 LYDNEY TOWN GYFAS-R2 H W/O 19/11 Gillingham Town SFYL A 2-1 Broughton, Dodimead 27/11 PAULTON ROVERS RSMC-QF H 2-1 Dodimead, Josh Bennett 01/12 Cinderford Town GYFAS-R3 A 3-1 Dodimead 2, Rhys-Jones 04/12 BRIDGWATER TOWN SFYL H 3-2 Hemmings, Dodimead, Shambrook 22/01 GILLINGHAM TOWN SFYL H 6-1 Dodimead 3, Broughton, Hemmings, Etta 23/02 GLOUCESTER CITY GYFAS-QF H 4-1 Broughton 2, Dodimead, Rhys-Jones 26/02 CLEVEDON TOWN RSMC-SF H 2-1 Dodimead 2 02/03 THORNBURY TOWN GYFAS-SF H 2-1 Hemmings (pen), Dodimead 06/03 Odd Down Athletic SFYL A 3-1 Broughton 2, Henderson 10/03 Weston-super-Mare SFYL A 1-2 Hemmings 20/03 Tiverton Town SFYL A /03 Frampton GYFAS-F N 2-0 Dodimead 2 01/04 Bridgwater Town SFYL A 1-0 Rhys-Jones 09/04 Weston-super-Mare RSMC-F A /04 Brislington SFYL A 22/04 TIVERTON TOWN SFYL H 24/04 Taunton Town SFYL A 28/04 ODD DOWN ATHLETIC SFYL H SFYL Table Premier Division (at 14th April 2014) *point deducted* Weston-super-Mare MANGOTSFIELD UNITED Tiverton Town * Bridgwater Town Taunton Town * Gillingham Town Ashton & Backwell United Brislington Odd Down Athletic The youngsters won the Gloucestershire FA Youth Shield, beating FRAMPTON 2-0 at Oaklands Park. The last time they won this trophy was in 1999/2000. DANNY DODIMEAD scored both goals. Weston-super-Mare have strongly featured in our quest for honours this season. In the Final of The Roger Stone Memorial Cup, at Woodspring Stadium last week, they beat us 2-1 again, to deny us a second trophy. The Seagulls have also taken over top spot with a 4-0 win at Gillingham and an 8-1 thrashing of Odd Down, but still face tough away matches at Bridgwater Town and Tiverton, whilst Tivvy still have to visit Cossham Street. We can still win the title, whilst Tiverton have their own designs and can swing things their way with victories against ourselves and The Seagulls This is the website for all the information you need. Go to the letter S andclick on the SOMERSET FLOODLIGHT YOUTH LEAGUE. FIELD REVIEW - 18 INTRODUCING THE CENTURIONS GLYN GARNER - GOALKEEPER Glyn started his career at Cwmbran Town before moving to Llanelli. In 2000, he joined Bury, where he played over 140 games over five seasons. He turned down a new contract with Bury and joined east London side Leyton Orient in May 2005 on a two-year contract. Manager Martin Ling described him as "a big, commanding goalkeeper who is widely rated as one of the best in the lower divisions." He went on to make nearly 100 appearances for Orient. In May 2011 he signed for Bath City. After making 57 league appearances he signed for Cirencester in January and has been an inspirational signing ever since. SHAYNE ANSON Defender/Midfielder Shayne signed for Ciren in January from Hellenic League Slimbridge and slotted straight into the starting eleven and has been ever-present since. Strong and intelligent defender who reads the game well and very few players get past him. His pace is electric and his recovery quite often stops clearcut goal opportunities for the opposition. Club captain. LEIGH HENRY CENTRE BACK/DEFENDER Signed from Maidenhead, Leigh began his career at Swindon Town in 2003/04 season and had loan spells with Bath City and Weston-Super-Mare before signing for Swindon Supermarine in February He played a major role in the Wiltshire side s promotion to the Premier Division via the play-offs. He made 152 appearances for Swindon Supermarine before joining the Magpies in the summer of 2011 where he spent 2 seasons before joining the Centurions midway through a last season loan, before making the switch permanent. A commanding centre back who can play from the back with either foot and dominates in the air. CHRIS HOLLAND - DEFENDER Chris joined in pre-season from Gloucester City having been previously at Eastleigh and Bath City earning cult status at the Romans. Powerful and dominates in the air but equally as good on the deck. A great signing for the Centurions who will forge a great partnership with Leigh Henry and can be regarded as the best centre-backs in the league. BEN PRICTOR DEFENDER Ben has signed from Brismcombe & Thrupp and has established himself in the first team squad. A left sided defender with plenty of pace. Ben has also previously played in Cyprus before joining the Centurions. AIDEN BENNETT DEFENDER / MIDFIELDER A promising young defender/ midfielder who put in some really good performances in a number of positions during the second half of last season. He has established himself as an important member of our first team and has developed from our Academy into an attacking winger who likes to run at defenders. Bags of pace and ability, Aidan has been looking to really take the league by storm this season. ELLIS DUNTON - MIDFIELDER Ellis is a very promising young defender who has come through our Junior ranks from the age of four. HE is a strong determined player who is good in the air and on the deck, who is able to play on either side of the pitch as he possesses two good feet Ellis made three substitute appearances for the First Team during the season before making his first full appearance in March 2011 at home to Hednesford Town. He has now clocked up an impressive 65 appearances and is a first team regular, whilst continuing to develop. FIELD REVIEW - 5

12 INTRODUCING THE CENTURIONS LEE SMITH RIGHT WINGER This is Lee s third spell with us and he joined in pre-season from Cinderford. Lee has had spells at numerous clubs including Nuneaton, Worcester City, Forest Green and most notably at home town Club of Gloucester City, where he originally made his debut as a 17 year old. Lee was a big hit with the fans during his first spell at Cirencester and comes back to a club where he is liked and respected JAMES MORTIMER-JONES - MIDFIELDER Joined from Didcot Town in 2010 and has been an ever present at the heart of the Ciren midfield clocking up over 100 appearances. He is an intelligent player, good on the ball and has a wide range of passing. DEAN BROMLEY MIDFIELDER Joined the club from Stouport Swifts in the Summer having also played at Rocester. A left footed midfielder with a great range of passing with the ability to split defences and scores his fair share of goals. JOE SHEPHERD - FORWARD One of the fittest lads in the squad, Joe is another Academy product who runs all day long and has already proven he has the ability to step up into the first team by producing some impressive performances and also grabbing important goals in the process.jamie signed for us in 2008 from BEN WELLS MIDFIELDER Ben has joined us this season from our neighbours Swindon Supermarine and was part of their amazing FA Cup run. After previously playing for Supermarine and Basingstoke Ben has showed us what a great player he is last season with a superb range of passing and dangerous dead ball deliveries. Ben picked up Players, Managers, and Supporters POTY awards and deservedly so. BRAD HOOPER Brad has come through from our Academy and made 14 appearances last term. Brad is a talented, skillfull ball player who likes to keep the ball in the deck. Great vision and awareness, has the ability to unlock defences with a single pass. STEVE DAVIES - FORWARD Steve comes to us from Gloucester City for his second spell at the Corinium. Steve is a pacey forward who had a loan spell with Forest Green Rovers before signing for City last season. Will score plenty of goals this season and will create just as many for the strikers with his ability take on defenders and deliver telling final balls into the box. JODY BEVAN - STRIKER Jody has returned to the Centurions for his 3 rd Spell after his shock departure from Shortwood. A true non-league legend with 240 southern league goals to his name after spells with Cinderford, Weston Super-Mare, Ciren, Gloucester City and Shortwood. SEAN WOOD MIDFIELDER Sean has returned to Cirencester for his second spell at the club after left to join Hungerford Town whom he helped to promotion last season. Sean also helped us gain promotion in his first spell at the club in He has a great range of passing and reads the game well, a proven player at this level. JAMIE EDGE MIDFIELDER Jamie has signed from neighbours Gloucester City. Former professional at Arsenal before moving onto the Nike Football Academy. Technically very good on the ball and loves to pass the ball with either foot. GREATEST EVER COMEBACK Graham Mills is based in St. Neots, Cambs. He produces the Eynesbury Rovers programme and pens articles for Bristol Rovers. He has very kindly passed on some very readable articles for the FIELD REVIEW. The greatest ever come back in a match involved Charlton Athletic back in December They were playing Huddersfield Town at The Valley in a Second Division fixture, a match that attracted just 12,535, Charlton s sixth lowest attendance in 11 years. The visitor s were managed by 44-year-old Bill Shankly, who went on to achieve unprecedented success at Liverpool. Denis Law, a future Scotland International, was a 17-year old at the time on Huddersfield s books but he was sidelined through injury. The first significant action came when an innocuous collision between Derek Ufton and the Terrier s centre forward Stan Howard resulted in a dislocated shoulder for Ufton and he could not continue (remember there were no substitutes in those days). Huddersfield made their extra man count and scored in the 27 th minute through Les Massie and they doubled their advantage eight minutes later when Alex Bain beat Charlton keeper Willie Duff to make it 2-0. Johnny Summers took half-time as an opportunity to kick off his old football boots and replace them with new ones. Little did he know that he was about to enjoy the most astonishing 45 minutes of his career. Two minutes into the second half Summers scored a mis-hit shot with his right foot to give Charlton a lifeline. However, they failed to press home their momentum and Town restored their two goal advantage with a second Bain goal. A penalty from future Wolves boss Bill McGarry followed and when midfielder Bob Ledger made it 5-1 in the 62 nd minute Charlton fans began to leave in droves. However, just two minutes later Charlton s amazing fight back began. First, John Buck Ryan made the score 5-2, before Summers scored again with his wrong foot. In the 73 rd minute Summers claimed his hat-trick to make it 5-4. Charlton were rampant by now with Summers new boots working their magic as he scored in the 78 th and 81 st minutes. To the complete disbelief of the crowd ten-man Charlton now lead 6-5! Left footed Johnny Summers had scored five goals in 34 minutes all with his wrong foot. The scoring still wasn t over as Huddersfield hit back to make it six each when John Hewie scored an own goal. With two minutes on the clock John Ryan was sent clear of a stranded Town defence and slotted the ball past Sandy Kenyon to give Charlton a 7-6 victory. A number of records were broken at this match. Charlton had never scored seven in either half. Huddersfield became the first team ever to score six and lose, especially away, and the 7-6 scoreline is unique in Football League history. The story is tinged with sadness though as five goal hero Johnny Summers died five years later in 1962 from cancer at the age of just 34. Derek Ufton, whose shoulder injury had reduced Charlton to ten men that afternoon, recalled that when in Miller Hospital that day he underwent anaesthetic with the side losing 4-1. I remember coming around and wanted to know the final score, imagining it had got a lot worse so I said: What happened Dad? I remember Dad was sort of chuckling and he said: Well, we won 7-6. We both began laughing. Neither of us could believe it. Ufton went on to have a brief spell as Manager of Plymouth Argyle in the late 1960s and later became a long-serving director of Charlton Athletic. FIELD REVIEW - 6 FIELD REVIEW - 17

13 Blaine Nolan, Unit 27A, 71, Whitchurch Lane, Bishopsworth Bristol BS13 7TE. Tel: INTRODUCING THE CENTURIONS MARK PRITCHETT DEFENDER Pritch signed from Shortwood United in December 2013 after starring in their FA Cup run which ended at Meadowbank when they played Port Vale.. He is an uncompromising central defender who has good experience at this level but is still young enough to develop further. Started his career with Gloucester City Youth, moving to Hardwicke FC where he enjoyed successive promotions before joining Cinderford Town and later, Bishops Cleeve. JACON DAVIDGE - WINGER Previously part of our junior set up, Jacob has broken into the first after some impressive displays for the Development team. A fantastic talent who has bags of pace and enjoys running at defenders. Scored his first senior goal against Swindon Supermarine recently with a sublime chip. A big talent and one to watch out for. BRIAN HUGHES MANAGER Previous to becoming Manager of Gloucester, Hughesy served City for many seasons as a skilful ball-playing right-sided midfielder, captaining the side to the Midland Division title and to within minutes of the Conference in 1990/1. When Murphy took over as manager the following summer Hughes stayed at Meadow Park as player-coach, Continued to learn from Murphy as his assistant at both Witney and Trowbridge before returning to Meadow Park as Rosenior's assistant in November Took over as manager of Witney Town in May 2000 and has since moved on to Cirencester Town. Dave Salter, Bristol Tile Co, Fishponds Road, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 3AF KEV WILLETTS ASSISTANT MANAGER Started his career at Longlevens, aged 17, before moving to Sharpness a year later winning the Hellenic League before being picked up by Cheltenham Town, where he was for 9 years, playing nearly 400 games. He is the only player to have been Player of the Year 3 times. When leaving Cheltenham he moved to Gloucester City for a season and after a brief spell at Weston super Mare he joined Kidderminster Harriers, where he was for 4 years and made 150 appearances. He represented the FA XI 8 times and toured Japan with Middlesex Wanderers in He was also a member of the England semi-pro squad in EARLIER THIS SEASON.. On Saturday 7 th September 2014, we travelled to The Corinium Stadium, with MATT SYSUM making his debut for us against his old club, having signed from Evesham United, and LEWIS POWELL returned to us, after being on loan to us back in Our record against The Centurions in recent seasons has not been good and, before a gate of 138, we were a goal down to Sam Collier after 32 minutes and then Lee Smith scored a second in the 74 th minute. JAMIE REID, also making an early return to his old club, scored a consolation for us in time added on, but it was clear that Cirencester would be a strong contender for an early return to the Premier Division after finishing in mid-table in 2012/13. Our line-up that day was: Sawyer, Arndale, Lamb, Sysum, Bennett, Reid, Tooze, Williams, Powell, Hunt, Egan. Subs. Monelle (57 for Tooze), Stone (71 for Egan), Hitchings (80 for Powell) FIELD REVIEW - 7

14 VILLAGE GOSSIP MICKEY BELL has joined the club as a Co-Assistant, alongside LEE BARLASS, until the end of the campaign and with a possible view to continuing next season. Having had a recent difficult period as manager at Clevedon Town, he feels he needs a break from management for the moment. Welcome to Cossham Street Mickey. THATCHAM TOWN have announced that they are leaving The Calor League at the end of the season. Financial problems during this season, caused by being unable to gain access to their ground for several weeks, and the loss of their main sponsor, are the main causes. They will probably return to the Hellenic League. This will probably mean that only one club is relegated although the proposed changes for Step Four, by the FA, is likely to cause a few changes anyway. There are several scenarios at the moment, all depending on who is promoted, but we will probably see AFC TOTTON & BASHLEY back with us together with SHOLING FC and a possible WANTAGE TOWN and LARKHALL ATHLETIC, but it looks almost certain that GUILDFORD CITY and GODALMING TOWN will be re-aligned. It has also been reported that CALOR will end their Southern League sponsorship at the end of the campaign, after just one season. Managerial changes already in the Division One South & West. JOHN BROUGH has left his position at Bishops Cleeve and is now in charge at CINDERFORD TOWN, with Causeway favourite, DAVE BIRD as his assistant. Meanwhile, the BISHOPS CLEEVE post has been filled by Gloucester City s CHRIS BURNS. MANGOTSFIELD UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB are pleased to announce details of the next Sportsman s Evening to be held at the club s Cossham Street ground. The event, on THURSDAY 25 th SEPTEMBER will feature the larger than life former player, manager and now Peterborough United s Director of Football, BARRY FRY as guest speaker. Barry started out on his footballing career as a Manchester United apprentice and went on to play briefly for Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient. He was forced into early retirement by injury. Barry was determined that his football career wouldn t stop there. He went into management and thereafter managed teams such as Dunstable Town, Bedford Town, Maidstone United, Southend United, Barnet, Birmingham City and, most recently, Peterborough United. Barry in entertaining and unpredictable and on the afterdinner circuit can always be guaranteed to keep things lively. Tickets are 40 per person or 400 for a table of ten (VAT inclusive). Doors open at 6.30pm. Demands for tickets are likely to be high so you should book early. Contact Mike Richardson on or Val Grzesiczek on FINALLY, a few one-liners.just for a laugh. Last night I reached for my liquid Viagra and accidently swigged from a bottle of Tippex. Woke up this morning with a huge correction! My wife said she was leaving me due to my obsession with the 60s group, The Monkees. I thought she was joking..and then I saw her face. I was sat in a restaurant and got hit in the back of the head by a prawn cocktail. I looked around and this bloke said And that s just for starters! FIELD REVIEW - 8 THE WORLD OF SOCCER Welcome to THE WORLD OF SOCCER, the column that brings you news stories from around the globe. We begin in ITALY, where, in late March, Napoli FC were fined 26,000 euros ( 21,500) by European football's governing body after hundreds of Swansea City fans missed the start of their Europa League match in Naples. Swansea City said fans suffered "unnecessary and deplorable delays" at the match on 27 February. Those affected were on escorted buses to ensure they arrived safely. The escorts came after fans of other clubs faced trouble at previous European matches in the Italian city, but up to 700 of the 900 fans said they missed the first half-an-hour of the game at Stadio San Paolo, a second-leg tie in the Europa League's round of 32 that followed a goalless draw at the Liberty Stadium. They had been advised to avoid public transport & use the convoy of buses escorted by police from the port area to the stadium to avoid possible clashes with Napoli fans. The Swans were beaten 3-1, a result that put them out of the competition. Napoli's fine by UEFA was not only for insufficient organisation, but also for illicit banners and the throwing of fireworks. Historical fact time now & we stay in ITALY, but go back to the 1990 World Cup do you recall Mr Cheat himself, Diego Maradona, accusing FIFA of fixing the outcome of that tournament? I had forgotten this, but no, Maradona did believe that Italia 90 had ALWAYS been set up for a Germany v Italy final. In his autobiography, he claimed that the first European team drawn was supposed to play against Argentina & the second drawn would play against Italy, in order for Colombia & Uruguay to avoid Brazil & Argentina s groups. Czechoslovakia came out first, but they went into Italy s group, while Argentina got the former Soviet Union. Maradona said at the time, I asked FIFA to explain, and the s*** hit the fan. I knew from the word go that Italia 90 was going to be difficult for Argentina. I don t remember any outcry at the time, but Argentina started badly anyway, losing 1-0 to unknowns Cameroon, but they got through to the Final where they lost to a controversial German penalty. Maradona maintained that, it felt like the winners had been picked out in advance. Personally, I don t know which one to laugh about first the Hand of God himself, the ultimate CHEAT accusing the powers-that-be of fixing the World Cup, or the scandalous fact that FIFA could be accused of cheating one way or another. As if!!! Now we all know that football and politics should never mix, but occasionally it does & when tensions are still running high over whatever the political issue is, then it s understandable. That s certainly the case in UKRAINE at present, with Russian troops currently occupying the Crimea region of the country & it has affected football there as well because Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev have backed out of a forthcoming friendly v Russian team Spartak Moscow because of the political dispute between their two nations. "We have decided to go back on our agreement because of the current political situation between Ukraine and Russia," said a Dynamo statement. "We do not think it is the right thing to do to travel to Moscow." Dynamo were due to play Spartak in a July friendly to officially open the Russian club's new 44,000-seater Otkritie Arena stadium, which will also stage games in the 2018 World Cup. The two clubs are historically arch rivals after they dominated the Soviet Top League before it was disbanded following the break-up of the old Soviet Union back in The two clubs were the Soviet Union's most successful clubs, but they have not played each other in a competitive fixture since a Champions League tie back in Meanwhile, back in ITALY, there was an interesting little story of mistaken identity which I spotted in the Metro 2 weeks ago. Just as one of our referees, Andre Marriner, sent off the wrong player recently in an Arsenal fixture, an Italian referee did likewise in a non-league game over there as you do! The Italian official sent off SSD Castello s Michele Rossi against GS Alviano, but it had actually been his TWIN BROTHER Matteo who committed the foul! In the ensuing confusion, the Italian FA ordered the match to be played again. And just for your information, Wikipedia tells me that SSD Castello, from Citta del Castello in Umbria, play in the Eccellenza League, which is a regional league at Level 6 in Italy & is comprised of 28 (!) divisions dived geographically across the whole country, with all 20 state regions in Italy being represented by at least one main division. So now you know, and in the meantime, our final WORLD OF SOCCER for this season will follow next week! FIELD REVIEW - 16

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17 THAT WAS THE MONTH THAT WAS! Time now for a nostalgic look back at a particular month in recent or not-so-recent years & see how we fared in that period. Today we look at DECEMBER PHOTOCALL TOBY OSMAN MUFC RESULTS IN DECEMBER BRIDGWATER TOWN 0, MANGOTSFIELD UNITED 2 ZL SW DIVISION THE SEASON OVERALL The season saw manager PHIL BATER s good work continue, as the side, a mixture of youth & experience. climbed to a respectable 3 rd place position, having finished 9 th in the previous term s Zamaretto League South-West Division. The Club therefore qualified for the ZLSWD Play-Off Semi-Finals for the first time ever, but unfortunately, we bowed out at the first attempt, losing 3-1 at home to eventual play-off winners Frome Town before a gate of 753. The season itself was memorable in several ways, however, not least of all for another bad winter that decimated the fixture lists in December & January. The Club also announced a December budget cut, caused by the continuing poor economic climate, & later announced that the Reserves would disband at the end of April in a cost-cutting exercise, but First XI performances remained solid & the team embarked on a healthy run of form, including an amazing 12 successive away wins sequence which helped cement our position in the play-offs. The season was also notable for an amazing 3-3 home draw v North Leigh, which saw all 6 goals scored within the opening 11 minutes, something that is unlikely to ever happen again! All in all, proved to be a good season for the Club. THE GAMES IN QUESTION: What a quiet month for the Club! The late November bad weather continued into December with the trip to ABINGDON UNITED being called off due to a frozen pitch, but prior to that, the subsequent home tie v BIDEFORD also went due to the Devon club s cup commitments taking priority. Chances are the game here would have been off anyway as the Big Freeze continued. A day later, it was then announced that the home tie v HUNGERFORD TOWN on 13 December was also off, as the Berkshire side also had a Cup tie to play instead, leaving us with no home games at all in December. Then came the announcement of a budget cut, which saw a number of players leave the Club ANDY GURNEY & MICHAEL MEAKER, plus EUGENE KEARY & several other reserve players, who all joined Longwell Green, as well as loanee ANDREW HUGHES, who returned to parent club Newport County. The following day, we finally returned to action with a very welcome 2-0 away win at struggling BRIDGWATER TOWN, who included in their side, one ANDY GURNEY, released by us just 24 hours earlier! We began well though, with TOM KNIGHTON, playing as a striker, netting after 6 minutes when a neat back heel from MITCHELL PAGE inside the box found KARIM RENDALL who crossed for TOM KNIGHTON to chest the ball home from 4 yards. On 23 minutes, we made it 2-0 & it was TOM KNIGHTON again, who turned inside his marker to drill the ball into the far corner from 10 yards. We dominated the rest of the game & created more chances, but could not add to our tally. Bridgwater then went down to 10 men (72) when defender Josh Turner picked up a 2 nd yellow card, but despite some late pressure by the home side, we stood firm to confirm a fairly comfortable win. One week on, more heavy snow & freezing weather across the UK caused the p/p of the trip to STOURPORT SWIFTS & the freezing temperatures stayed with us in the run-up to Christmas & over the holiday period itself, with the mercury dropping to as low as 11 degrees at times around Bristol. A gradual thaw, however, began on Boxing Day, but the Christmas Monday trip to YATE TOWN still fell victim to a frozen pitch. That particular p/p also led to a delay in new pre-christmas midfielder signings OLLIE CLARK (Bristol Rovers loanee) & NUNO FELIX, an ex-bristol Academy, Gloucester & Minehead player, making their debuts for us. An unsuccessful attempt by MUFC to persuade Yate to play the Boxing Day tie on 30 December meant that, as far as we were concerned, 2010 was over! FIELD REVIEW - 15 TOBY OSMAN MIDFIELD/STRIKER D.O.B. 24/9/1990 Southampton. 23 year old versatile midfielder who began his career at Birmingham City Academy, has joined Mangotsfield in February 2014, from Bridgwater Town. He also played for Salisbury City, Eastleigh, and Frome Town, before joining Chippenham Town for 2012/13. He joined Bridgwater Town in September FIELD REVIEW - 9

18 DAVE S DIARY - 1 GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYONE & WELCOME TO THE GLASS CONSULTANTS UK STADIUM for today s Calor League clash against our very welcome friends from CIRENCESTER TOWN. Thank you for your attendance today & for buying this programme and HAPPY EASTER! As things stand when I wrote this last Sunday, the Centurions are level on points with Merthyr in the race for the title, though Merthyr were due to face Taunton on Tuesday. Cirencester s away record, however, is second to none, with FOURTEEN away wins on their 19 trips so far, so we know what we are up against today. Please then, give Our Boyz all your support as we strive to pick up the 3 points on offer & try & finish in the league as high as we can COME ON THE FIELD!! THESE NOTES WERE PENNED BEFORE TUESDAY S GFA TROPHY CLASH v YATE TOWN, so you can probably guess how I would have hoped that particular match would turn out! OUR PREVIOUS HOME GAME WAS THREE WEEKS AGO v LOWLY THATCHAM TOWN, who had been beaten 7-1 away just 3 days earlier and who might have been low on confidence themselves, but they duly left Cossham Street with all 3 points in what was a very, very disappointing 2-1 home defeat for us a defeat which, in all honesty, seemed to end our play-off hopes there & then. We started the game well & created 4 or 5 great scoring chances in the opening 15 minutes, but we never converted any of them & once Thatcham were ahead with their first real shot of the game, we lost our way collectively & we struggled after that. Yes, a brighter spell at the start of the 2 nd spell saw us equalise, though ASHLEY WILLIAMS shot did bounce awkwardly & deceive the visiting keeper, but we were still unable to take the game forward & Thatcham s second goal succumbed us to defeat. The defeat followed on heavy defeats at Bishops Cleeve, Shortwood & North Leigh, in which we conceded 11 goals & continued to leave most of us wondering why things had gone so wrong since the 1-0 home win v Wimborne Town on 1 March. THE NEXT GAME CAME ON THE FOLLOWING THURSDAY & it was a pleasant surprise indeed to get a 3-1 away win at CINDERFORD TOWN, which has never been an easy place to win. Striker LEWIS SOMMERS (not surprisingly) found himself among the goals at The Causeway & the whole performance suggested that perhaps we could turn the corner now & put the disappointments of the previous 5 weeks behind us, especially as the win still gave us an outside chance of staying in touch with the main play-off contenders. The result also gave us fans more belief as we looked forward to the next game away at Lodge Road against our near neighbours YATE TOWN. BUT ONCE AGAIN, WE CAME UNSTUCK AGAINST THE BLUEBELLS as we slipped to a very disappointing 1-0 defeat at Lodge Road. It meant our rivals remain the biggest bogey side we have had since the days of Taunton Town dominating us in the 80s & 90s & the defeat also extinguished any possible hope that we might still have a say in the play-off race. The speech marks used in the first sentence of this paragraph are my way of trying to emphasise the manner of the defeat in a programme editorial way, rather than express words of a stronger nature! The bottom line is, though, that we must simply take this latest defeat against Yate on the chin yet again, move on & try again next time, but I am sure that everyone connected with MUFC was as frustrated as we supporters were following our generally poor performance at Lodge Road. When will the bad run v Yate end? I m not sure, but I do know it will take more than 1 good result to convince me the bogey has been finally laid to rest just like it did when we finally ended the Taunton bogey in the late 90s! THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY SAW US DRAW 0-0 AT HOME TO BRIDGWATER TOWN in a fastpaced game as they always are when played under lights but the game was devoid of sufficient scoring chances from our point of view. LEWIS POWELL had a couple of good efforts in the first half & there was a strong downwards header from LEWIS SOMMERS as well, but there were no clearcut chances after the break & Bridgwater looked the more likely team to score, even if most of their finishing was somewhat wayward. All in all, the team worked hard & deserved a point, but when we do look back on this season in the future, the main talking point will be as suggested earlier that everything was going fine up until the end of February, but the slump in results that set in during March from the Stratford Town & Bishops Cleeve away games onwards cost us a place in the playoffs and we will always wonder why that slump happened. (Continued) FIELD REVIEW - 10 DIVISION ONE SOUTH & WEST Up to and including Wednesday 16th April 2014 Pos Team P W D L F A Pts GD Results 1 Merthyr Town x CIRENCESTER TOWN x Tiverton Town x Shortwood United x Swindon Supermarine x Paulton Rovers x 7 North Leigh x Yate Town x MANGOTSFIELD UTD x x x 10 Taunton Town * x Stratford Town x Wimborne Town x Didcot Town x Bridgwater Town x Evesham United x Cinderford Town x Godalming Town x Thatcham Town x Bishops Cleeve x Clevedon Town x Fleet Town x Guildford City x 2-1 * Point deduction FIELD REVIEW -14

19 WHERE THEY PLAY.2013/14 The Calor League - Division One South & West BISHOPS CLEEVE Grd Kayte Lane, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, Glos GL52 3PD Tel Col. Green shirts / Black / Black BRIDGWATER TOWN Grd Fairfax Park, College Way, Bath Road, Bridgwater. TA6 4TZ Tel Col. Red & White Stripes / Black/ Red CINDERFORD TOWN Grd Causeway Ground, Edge Hills Rd, Hilldene, Cinderford GL14 2QH Tel Col. White shirts / Black/ Black CIRENCESTER TOWN Grd The Corinium Stdm, Kingshill Lane, Cirencester, Glos GL7 1HS Tel Col. Red & Black / Black / Red CLEVEDON TOWN Grd The Hand Stadium, Davis Lane, Clevedon, North Som. BS21 6TG Tel Col. Burgundy & Blue stripes / Burgundy / Burgundy DIDCOT TOWN Grd Loop Meadow Stadium, Bowmont Water, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7GA Tel Col. Red & White / White / Red & White EVESHAM UNITED Grd Jubilee Stadium, Cheltenham Road, Evesham, Worcs WR112LZ Tel Col. Red & White stripes / White / Red FLEET TOWN Grd Calthorpe Park, Crookham Road, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 5FA Tel Col. All Blue GODALMING TOWN Grd Wey Court, Meadrow, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3JE Tel Col. Yellow / Green / Yellow GUILDFORD CITY Grd The Spectrum, Parkway, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1UP Tel Col. Red & White stripes / Black / Black MERTHYR TOWN Grd Penydarren Park, Park Terrace, Merthyr Tydfil CF47 8RF Tel Col. White & Black / Black / Black NORTH LEIGH Grd Eynsham Park, Woodstock Rd, North Leigh, Witney. OX29 6SL Tel Col. Yellow/Black/Yellow PAULTON ROVERS Grd Athletic Grnd, Winterfield Road, Paulton, Nr. Bristol BS39 7RF Tel Col. All Maroon SHORTWOOD UNITED Grd. Meadowbank, Shortwood, Nailsworth, Stroud Tel Col. Red & White stripes / Black / Black GL6 0SJ STRATFORD TOWN Grd DCS Stdm, Knights Lane,Tiddington, Stratford-u-Avon CV37 7BZ Tel Col. All Blue SWINDON SUPERM'E Grd Webbs Wood Stdm, Supermarine Road, South Marston SN3 4BZ DAVE S DIARY - 2 BUT ONE THING THAT THE BRIDGWATER GAME WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR (well, by me anyway) concerned the number of ex-mangos in the visiting line-up, both in the starting XI (where there were 8) & on the bench (where they were 3 more). 11 in total! Has there ever been a game in the past at Cossham Street where so many of our former players have lined up for the opposition? Not for a while, I d say & without checking, you might have to go back to the early 90s to find such a similar scenario when, you will recall, so many of our Championship-winning side moved (almost) en bloc to Clevedon Town something I could never quite get my head around at the time! FOR THE RECORD, IN CASE YOU MISSED THE BRIDGWATER GAME, the 8 ex-mangos in their starting XI were Sam Alexander, Nathan Rudge, James Pilling, Jake Mawford, Tom Knighton, Kyle Tooze & Karim Rendall, whilst Daine O Connor, Geraint Bater & Danny Greaves were on the bench. But it could have been even more where was Mitchell Page??!! (Interestingly, one or two of those lads even looked different because of different hair styles & beards I, for one, had a job to fully recognise Jack Allward & Tom Knighton!) (Don t forget Manager Richard Fey played for us also Ed) THAT RESULT TOOK US ON TO LAST SATURDAY & a subsequent 2-1 loss at TAUNTON TOWN, where, after taking the lead through ARON ROBBINS, we conceded 2 very late goals to lose the match. That means we have just one more away match to come, which is away at old rivals PAULTON ROVERS this coming Easter Monday at 3pm. Rovers are, of course, chasing a play-off spot, but they have Shortwood United & North Leigh breathing down their necks in the final run-in. Paulton were due to play at Bishops Cleeve on Thursday (17 th ), before travelling to Evesham today (19 th ) & then they face us on Monday, so Rovers Easter weekend is more hectic than ours is. North Leigh weren t due to play in midweek, but Shortwood were set to play Godalming on Tuesday, so that will have added to any pressure building up for Paulton as the Easter weekend progresses. I hope that this works in our favour on Monday, as there s nothing like winning your final away match of the season & that s something everyone here at MUFC is keen to achieve in 48 hours time. NOW YOU MAY WELL HAVE READ ON THE INTERNET that THATCHAM TOWN have resigned from the Calor League S & W Division at the end of this season. The official reason given is: Thatcham Town has resigned from the Calor League due to failure in finding a replacement main sponsor for BMG after their 3 year deal ended. The 5 week closure of the railway crossing, causing a massive fall in revenue, as well as rising maintenance costs, has left the club with no alternative but to drop to a lower level in an attempt to cut costs & survive. The club has some of the best facilities in the Southern League & with the population size of Thatcham deserves more local support. We hope this is a minor blip in the clubs 120 year history & hopefully can recover & return to step 4. For me, it s always a sorry thing to lose any club for whatever reason, but I hope that TTFC recovers from their current predicament & I wish them well for the future. SEASON HOME ATTENDANCES STATISTICS (up to & including v Bridgwater ) Tel Col. All Blue TOTAL HOME CALOR LEAGUE ATTENDANCES (19 GAMES) = 2893 TAUNTON TOWN Grd Wordsworth Drive, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 2HG Average Home Calor League Attendance = 152 TOTAL HOME FA CUP ATTENDANCE (1 GAME) = 142 Tel Col. Claret shirts / Sky Blue / Sky Blue Average Home FA Cup Attendance = 142 THATCHAM TOWN Grd Waterside Park, Crookham Hill, Thatcham, Berks RG19 4PA TOTAL HOME FA TROPHY ATTENDANCE (1 GAME) = 109 Tel Col. Blue & White stripes/blue/blue Average Home FA Trophy Attendance = 109 TOTAL HOME ATTENDANCES (ALL COMPETITIONS 21GAMES) = 3144 TIVERTON TOWN Grd Ladysmead, Bolham Road, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SG Average Home Attendance (All competitions) = 149 Tel Col. Black & Gold stripes / Black / Black WIMBORNE TOWN Grd The Cuthbury, Cowgrove Road, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 4EL THE OFFICIAL MANGOTSFIELD UNITED WEBSITE! Yes, if you have access to the Internet, why not log on to one of the BEST websites in the entire Southern League? Courtesy of DANNY WEST, Tel Col. Black & White Stripes /Black /Black you can find the website on so check it out every day for all the latest news on YATE TOWN Grd Lodge Road, Yate, Nr. Bristol, South Gloucestershire BS37 7LE your favourite club! (And many of us do!) DAVE SMALE Tel Col. White/ Navy/ White FIELD REVIEW - 11

20 FIXTURES/RESULTS/SCORERS 2013/14 THE CALOR LEAGUE Div.1 South & West 17/08 GUILDFORD CITY TCL/1SW H Hunt 2, Reid, Williams, Stone 20/08 Merthyr Town TCL/1SW A /08 Fleet Town TCL/1SW A Stone 26/08 CLEVEDON TOWN TCL/1SW H Monelle 31/08 BITTON AFC FAC PR H Reid, Egan, Lamb 07/09 Cirencester Town TCL/1SW A Reid 11/09 BRISTOL ROVERS X1 FRIENDLY H 1-3 Hunt 14/09 Winchester City FAC-1QR A Arndale (pen), Stone 21/09 SWINDON SUPERM NE TCL/1SW H Powell 24/09 TAUNTON TOWN TCL/1SW H Tooze 28/09 Eastleigh FAC -2QR A /10 Tiverton Town TCL/1SW A Ballinger 2, Sysum 05/10 THATCHAM TOWN FAT-PR H Powell 2, Reid 12/10 NORTH LEIGH TCL/1SW H Bennett 19/10 Shortwood United FAT-1QR A Egan 2 26/10 Bridgwater Town TCL/1SW A Hunt 2, Sysum 29/10 Evesham United TCL/1SW A Bath, Hunt, Egan 02/11 Tiverton Town FAT-2QR A Hitchings 05/11 Bishops Cleeve GFAST -QF A Ballinger, Powell 09/11 Wimborne Town TCL/1SW A Powell 16/11 BISHOPS CLEEVE TCL/1SW H Powell 2, Sysum, Reid 19/11 STRATFORD TOWN TCL/1SW H Reid, Arndale (pen) 23/11 Godalming Town TCL/1SW A Arndale (pen), Powell, Bath 26/11 SHORTWOOD UNITED TCL/1SW H Bath 30/11 Thatcham Town TCL/1SW A Bath 03/12 CINDERFORD TOWN TCL/1SW H Powell 07/12 YATE TOWN TCL/1SW H Ballinger 14/12 Didcot Town TCL/1SW A Powell 2 21/12 MERTHYR TOWN TCL/1SW H Ballinger 2, Powell, Robbins 26/12 Clevedon Town TCL/1SW A Robbins, Williams, Hunt 28/12 FLEET TOWN TCL/1SW H Powell, Hunt 11/01 Swindon Supermarine TCL/1SW A Lamb 18/01 TIVERTON TOWN TCL/1SW H /02 EVESHAM UNITED TCL/1SW H Bath, OG, Powell 04/02 PAULTON ROVERS TCL/1SW H Edwards 01/03 WIMBORNE TOWN TCL/1SW H Powell 04/03 Stratford Town TCL/1SW A Reid, Edwards 08/03 Bishops Cleeve TCL/1SW A /03 GODALMING TOWN TCL/1SW H Best 19/03 Guildford City TCL/1SW A Powell, Williams 22/03 Shortwood United TCL/1SW A /03 North Leigh TCL/1SW A Reid, Sommers 29/03 THATCHAM TOWN TCL/1SW H Williams 03/04 Cinderford Town TCL/1SW A Sommers 2, Powell 05/04 Yate Town TCL/1SW A /04 BRIDGWATER TOWN TCL/1SW H /04 Taunton Town TCL/1SW A Robbins 15/04 YATE TOWN GFAST-SF H Robbins, Powell (won 4-1 on penalties) 19/04 CIRENCESTER TOWN TCL/1SW H 21/04 Paulton Rovers TCL/1SW A 3.00pm 26/04 DIDCOT TOWN TCL/1SW H TBA Bristol City/Cheltenham GFAST-F at Oaklands Park, Almondsbury NICEIC REGISTERED DOMESTIC INSTALLER FULLY QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN 17 th EDITION PART P REGISTERED FOR ALL YOUR HOUSEHOLD NEEDS NO JOB TOO SMALL FREE QUOTE WITH FAIR PRICES msbuddelectrical@gmail.com ****************************************************************** TODAY S FIXTURES Saturday 19th April 2014 THE CALOR LEAGUE DIVISION ONE SOUTH & WEST Bridgwater Town v Fleet Town Cinderford Town v Wimborne Town Evesham United v Paulton Rovers Godalming Town v Stratford Town MANGOTSFIELD UNITED v CIRENCESTER TOWN North Leigh v Clevedon Town Shortwood United v Bishops Cleeve Swindon Supermarine v Merthyr Town Thatcham Town v Taunton Town Tiverton Town v Guildford City Yate Town v Didcot Town A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Governments constantly choose between telling lies and fighting wars with the end result always being the same. One will always lead to the other Thomas Jefferson (3 rd President of the USA). FIELD REVIEW - 12 FIELD REVIEW - 13