Waltham Forest v Grays Athletic (18-8-12)

Forest

Forest v Grays AthleticSaturday 18th August 2012Ryman League Division 1 NorthOfficial Matchday Programme £1.50

HERE WE GO!

Issue 1

Forest v Grays Athletic - Page 2


ContentsWALTHAM FOREST

F.C.Cricklefields Stadium, 486

High Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 1UE

chairman Isaac Johnsonvice chairman David Sogekecompany secretary Angela

Lewistresurer/hospitality manager

June Braziersecretary Tony Brazier M.B.E.

[email protected], 07715640171

assistant secreatry Steve Howe

front of house co-ordinator Andy Perkins

webmaster/programme editor/publicity manager

Andrzej Perkins

life members A. Brazier M.B.E., J. Brazier, D. Chapman, D.

Crabb, C.E. Gross, K.J. Harris, S. Howe, G. Larkbey, A & A

McLean, A. Perkins, D. Salmon, C. Ward, D.E. Ward

essex senior cup 2006essex senior trophy1996essex & herts champion’s

cup 1997essex & herts bordering combination cup 1997

eastern floodlit cup 1998, 1999

suburban league regional division 2006

conference youth league 2006

eastern junior alliance trophy 2004

south-west league junior cup 1969

south-west league intermediate cup 19670

south-west league senior cup 1971

south-west league premier league 1973

london junior cup 1975london metropolitan

league1975spartan reserve league

1981, 1991spartan reserve league cup

1981, 1989, 1991

essex county fa website of the year 2012

004 THE EdITOR Andrzej Perkins

006 vOICE Latest club and league news

008 MATCH ACTIOn Latest match report

010 TOdAy'S vISITORS Their season so far

011 TOdAy'S vISITORS Their players

012 THE TREE SuRGEOn Charlie Ward

014 STATS Fixtures, results and player statistics

017 FEATuRE The Twitter Revolution

018 SpOnSORSHIp Sponsor a player

020 STATTO Numbers

022 vOICE Latest news from the pyramid

024 THE nOn-LEAGuE pApER Sam Emery

025 OuR pLAyERS The Waltham Forest squad

027 On THE ROAd Travel Directions

027 THE bEER HunTER Graham Larkbey

028 THE TEAMS Today's line-ups


Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Cricklefields for this Ryman League Division 1 North match with Grays Athletic. We hope their supporters, players and officials have a pleasant stay with us, and a safe journey home. We also extend a warm welcome to our team of match officials today. I hope that you have all enjoyed a relaxing and summer, and that the summer break was not too painful. This summer, we had the European Championships to keep us amused, followed shortly by the Olympic games. I was fortunate enough to get to the park to see some athletics and to ExCeL to see some Boxing. I must admit that I was taken aback by the whole thing. On such a large scale, there was still room for so much attention to detail. I was not an Olympic sceptic before the games - far from it, but like

many others, I just had a feeling that something would go wrong. Well, it didn't. Everything went by perfectly. There was of course the commotion around ticketing, but this was something which was out of the hands of the organisers. The key point of London's bid was legacy. As a club, Waltham Forest will get nothing from the games - we knew that all along. However, if West Ham do manage to get their hands on the Stadium as sole tenants, this will no doubt see the end of Leyton Orient as a senior club. This hopefully won't be the case, but it is the only outcome I can see at the moment. Back to non-league football, and our pre-season has flown by. It feels like only a couple of weeks ago that we were at Wadham Lodge for our first friendly against Billericay Town (pictured opposite). Suffice to say, it wasn't the best start for us. A 5-2 defeat to a team of trialists may have been a warning for some clubs, but Wale and Colin have continued to work throughout the summer, and by the time our last friendly came around last Saturday, we looked in very good shape. You can read a more detailed round-up of our pre-season adventures on pages 8 and 9 of this programme.

The Editor

AndrzejpERKInS

“ “A 5-2 defeat to a team of trialists may have been a warning for some clubs


I briefly mentioned Colin Walton earlier in this piece, and it is with great pleasure that I can announce that former Ilford manager Colin has been brought in as Assistant Manager this season. This also means that Matt Waldron has taken a step sideways and will act as a player/coach this term. As I am sure many of you know by now, Colin worked wonders at Ilford, keeping them in the division more than once, on next to no budget. In addition to this, Ilford were often one of the best placed teams on the league's 'Respect' campaign table. Hopefully this is something which can be replicated this year. As far as this season goes, I'm sure many of us will settle for something not too dissimilar from last time. Our start was amazing, and shocked quite a few. After an exodus of players, it was always going to be hard, but Wale worked wonders. Him and Colin have now had several months to build a squad, and especially in the first half against North Greenford, we looked pretty handy. At the time of writing, the weather forecast for today (Saturday) is of blazing sunshine. We've been looking forward to this day since we finished our season at Ware in early May. As with any season at this level, it is not going to be easy - both on and off the field. It will however, no doubt be enjoyable - on occasion at least. Good luck today lads.

Forest v Grays Athletic

Latest News

vOICEO F W A L T H A M F O R E S T

WALTHAM FOREST HAndEd ESSEx COunTy FA WEbSITE OF THE yEAR AWARdThe Waltham Forest club website has been given the pretigous Essex County FA Website of the Year Award for 2012. A feature on the Essex FA website reads: Andrzej Perkins built the official Waltham Forest FC website at www.walthamforest-fc.co.uk from scratch six years ago and it has grown to become Club Website of the Year for 2012. His club’s website, regularly updated with match reports, news and downloads, includes some unique features of particular interest to travelling Stags fans.

“Our Beer Hunter’s Guide to Away Grounds has been especially popular!” revealed Perkins, whose site also includes the ability to download match programmes free of charge. “I was delighted to receive such an honour, which really made all the hard work worthwhile. Of course, I’d like to thank our loyal supporters and club members. There may only be a few of us, but their ideas and contributions to the website helped it to win this award.”

SHORTSThe majority of the clubs in the Ryman League Division 1

North for the 2012-13 are the same as those who finished the 2011-12 season.We have lost Leiston

and Enfield Town, who have both

been promoted to the Premier Division

of the Ryman League. At the other

end of the table, Great Wakering

Rovers have been relegated to the

Essex Senior League. Ware, who

finished in the second relegation place were given a reprieve by the FA.

Coming into the league are Aveley,

who were relegated from the Ryman Premier Division,

while Witham Town and Wroxham have

been promoted from the Essex

Senior League and Ridgeons leagues

respectively.

Chris Thomas in pre-season action against Hatfield Town

Forest v Grays Athletic

SHORTSWhy not follow Waltham Forest

FC on Twitter? We have one of the

most active Twitter streams in non-

league, and broke the 900 follower mark during the close season. The stream features

live match updates from all Waltham Forest matches.

It also features all the latest news

and gossip from the club and

throughout the non-league game. It also features the

latest match photos and downloads direct from the club's award-

winning website.On page 18 of this programme, you

can find an article on the importance Twitter now plays

to non-league clubs like ours, and the effect that it has had on the non-

league game.

Follow us by adding @walthamforestfc

or by going to twitter.com/

walthamforestfc.

2012-13 pROGRAMMEWelcome to a new season, and of course, a new programme design. After experimenting with a few things towards the end of last season, these have now been incorporated into this season's programme. Many of your favourite sections remain, including The Beer Hunter's Guide and note from the Tree Surgeon. As we have played the majority of clubs in our division for many years now, I have decided to ditch the club history section and replace it with a more up-to-date piece on that club. Enjoy.

OnE MORE SEASOn AT ILFORdThe club will be spending at least one more season here at Cricklefields, meaning that this will be our fifth season ground sharing with Ilford.

Please rest assured that the committee is doing everything in its power in order to find the club a new home, and secure a return to the borough.

pLAyER SIGnInGSSeveral players who were with the club at the end of last season have re-signed for the 2012-13 season. Club Captain Adrian Clifton has re-signed, and showed good form in pre-season. Aaron Omand, Inaki Ordono, Chris Taylor and Matthew Waldron have all re-signed, while Arian Retkceri has also put pen to paper after recovering from an injury which caused his 2011-12 season to finish early. Dmiti Larin is a right back with the same name. He has looked very good in pre-season nonetheless. He was with London Tigers last season. Corey Whitely is a winger who came through the youth system at Boreham Wood, and has top scored for Yalova FC for the past three seasons. He has impressed in pre-season, scoring in several matches. David Bryan, Armindo Dos Santos, Adam Griffin, Ben Head, Avni Islami, Jack Leachman have also signed.


PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY, SATURDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2012

nORTH GREEnFORd uTd.

WALTHAM FOREST

1

1

Scorer Unknown

Whitely

Dominic Okanu goes in for a challenge


Match Action Waltham Forest's final match of the 2012-13 pre-season campaign ended in a 1-1 draw with Southern League side North Greenford United on a pleasant August afternoon. Forest started the match the brighter of the two sides, and had several good chances before they eventually took the lead midway through the first half. Corey Whitely was able to run onto captain Adrian Clifton's sublime through ball and poke the ball underneath the onrushing 'keeper. During the course of the first half, Forest had three very good penalty shouts turned away by the referee. Two of these penalty shouts were by Clifton, who had a storming match playing as an attacking midfielder in the absence of Chris Taylor through injury. Just before half time, the home side equalised. Aaron Omand's clearance fell into the path of a home forward, who lifted the ball over Ben Head on the line and into the back of the net. While Omand's clearance was perhaps not quite strong enough, he was not given a call by any of his defenders either. North Greenford probably shaded the second half proceedings and were guilty of not putting away several good chances, the majority of which came down Forest's left wing.

The rest of pre-seasonThe start of the 2012-13 season has proved to be one of Forest's most competitive pre-seasons in recent years. We started with a 5-2 defeat to a team of Billericay Town trialists. The Forest squad itself also included several trialists, some of whom would not return to action for the first team. Hatfield Town of the Spartan League were up next, and an extremely confident Forest performance saw Hatfield defeated 5-1. The score was only 2-0 at half time, but the introduction of Manu Dagher changed the game. Dagher waltzed around the Hatfield defence time after time, making them look like park players. By the end of the match, Dagher was going easy on the Hatfield defence, but still managed to bag himself a hat-trick. A 3-1 defeat of Essex Senior League side Eton Manor was followed up by Forest's second defeat of pre-season, going down 2-0 to Southern League side Uxbridge.

Okanu holds the ball up

Luke Stanley presses a NGU defender

Inaki Ordono wins possession

Adrian Clifton on one of his many forward runs


Visitors

G R A y S A T H L E T I C

LAST SEASON'S DEFEATED PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINALISTS WILL BE LOOKING TO GO ONE BETTER AND CHALLENGE FOR THE TITLE THIS TIME AROUND

The 2012-13 season is to be Grays' third at this level, after their much-documented fall from grace in 2010. Today's visitors have also been homeless since 2010, and played their home matches at East Thurrock United's Rookery Hill for the last two seasons. This year, Grays will have a ground which they can call their own - more so than Rookery Hill at least. Athletic have spent vast amounts of time and effort in getting Rush Green Sports Ground, former home of Ford, up to Ryman League standard. The ground itself is owned by West Ham United, and Grays will be sharing the playing surface with West Ham's reserve side. A decent playing surface will no doubt be assured. Like us, Grays' long-term goal is no doubt to get back into their home borough, and though slow, plans are progressing to achieve this. On the field, Grays look to be building a very strong squad ahead of the start of this season. After losing a play-off semi-final on penalties last season to eventual winners Enfield Town, a top five finish will be the minimum expectation for former Forest manager Hakan Hayrettin. Their pre-season form has featured some impressive

results. They started with a 4-1 win over a West Ham United XI, and followed up with a win by the same score over Erith Town. They have beaten a Dagenham and Redbridge XI and AFC Hornchurch, both 2-1, the latter coming just last weekend. In between those matches was a 1-1 draw with Team Braintree. Close-season, Grays have made some very strong singings. Leon Lalite, Ryan Maxwell and Luke Marshall have all signed from Harlow, along with some other signings from Blue Square South clubs. One of Grays' stars from last season Harry Agombar has left the club and joined Blue Square Premier side Macclesfield Town in July. Jean-Michel Sigere has also left the club, joining Chatham Town. The FA Cup draw has been favourable to Grays, seeing them play Essex Senior League side Takeley at home. In the Trophy, they will be at home again, this time to Aylesbury. Impressive signings, along with a more permanent home should give Grays a good platform to work from this season. Last time around, they were quick out of the blocks but faltered as the season went on. Make no mistake, they'll be challenging for the title again this year.

*LAST MATCH...Saturday,

11th August, 2012Pre-Season Friendly

Rush Green

Grays Athletic 2Jack West, Joao Carlos

AFC Hornchurch 1Martin Tuohy

Starting line-upJohnson, Pope, Cooper,

Kirby (Baker), Flynn (East), Marshall, Lalite, Beaney,

Hall (Scarlett), Carlos, West (Sweeney)


Lamar Johnson: Keeper who joined Blues in the summer after playing for Romford and Aveley last year. Was part of the Charlton Athletic youth setup.George Kamurasi: Spent the majority of last season in the reserves, but was saw first team football following an injury to Tony Tucker in March 2011.Junior baker: Ex-Tilbury central defender who is into his third year with the Club, having joined from Thamesmead Town in the summer of 2010. Grant Cooper: In his second season with the Blues. Came through Enfield’s youth and reserve ranks before joining Chesham United in 2002. He went on to join Dagenham & Redbridge, amongst numerous other clubs.david East: Comfortable in either full back or central defensive positions, East joined the Club in the summer of 2012 having spent the previous two seasons at Essex Senior League side Southend Manor.Lee Flynn: Started his career with non-League outfit Romford in 1991, playing for a whole host of non-league clubs. Joined Thurrock in 2007, before his switch to Blues in the summer of 2011.Ryan Kirby: Joined the club in the summer, having played for Harlow Town last year. In total he had three spells with Harlow.Craig pope: In his second season with the Club, the defender came through Barnet’s youth ranks eventually making a total of 31 appearances, scoring once in the Conference National over three years with the club. Kenny beaney: In his second spell with the Club, Beaney

rejoined in the summer of 2011 following two and half years at Thurrock. danny bunce: Currently the Club’s longest serving player, Bunce started his career as a youth player in West Ham United’s academy. He is closing in on 120 appearances for the Club since joining in October 2009, and won the 2009-10 Supporters Player of the Season award.Jake Hall: Combative midfielder who signed for the Club in February 2012 after a spell with Conference South side Bromley. Leon Lalite: Midfielder who joined the club in the summer of 2012. Lalite started out his career with Barnet and Stevenage Borough. He had a spell at Waltham Forest in 2003 before the first of several spells with Harlow Town and Thurrock. Luke Marshall: Marshall joined Blues from Harlow Town in the summer of 2012.Joe Smallwood: Joined the Club during the summer of 2011 and was a regular in the reserves last season. James bunn: The experienced striker started out with Spurs, before dropping into non-league and has played at several sides including Enfield Town, Boreham Wood, and East Thurrock United.Joe Sweeney: Having had two short spells with Blues when the Club was in the Conference, the striker joined for a third time in the summer of 2011. Jack West: The striker started last season with Tilbury before moving onto Heybridge Swifts in October having been on top goalscoring form. He returned to Chadfields in March 2012, before signing for the Blues in the summer of 2012.

JOAO CARLOSpOSITIOn: WInGERpREvIOuS CLubS:

CLApTOn, bREnTWOOd TOWn, AvELEy, dAGEnHAM &

REdbRIdGE, THuRROCK

Last season's Player of the Year and top scorer with 11

goals, Joao Carlos joined the Club in the summer of 2011. The Portuguese winger started out with

Clapton before moving onto Brentwood Town and then Aveley in 2008. He went on to sign for Football League

side Dagenham & Redbridge in November 2009, where he

made just one appearance as a substitute. He rejoined Brentwood Town in August

2010, before a move to Thurrock followed a couple

of months later. Forest supporters will no doubt

remember Carlos from his days at Brentwood Town

where he tore through the Forest defence in the 2007-8 season. A superb player on his day, many non-league fans have been fustrated

by his lack of consistency in recent years.


“ “ Well, here we are, back again for another dose of Ryman league football, just as I predicted in the last column of last season. At the time of writing those notes, we were just finishing a season that had fallen apart after a great start, but, by October, we were hit with severe cash flow problems and for most of the season we struggled to pay bills and could not afford the players wages. So come April/May the doom and gloom merchants were our predicting “the end if nigh” (to be fair I think that there was more than one occasion when, even those close to the club had their doubts), so I nailed my colours to the mast and confidently stated that we would still be around, in the Ryman League, to begin the 2012/2013 season. The reason for my optimism was not just blind faith, but, faith in the Committee who,

since the departure of Harry & Hakan in 2006 (whatever happened to Hakan by the way ?) have had to cope with one crisis falling on from another. Three Chairman in that time and the loss of our ground at Wadham Lodge, should have sunk the club by now – lots of clubs would have gone to the wall – one who used to play at lea Bridge Road, were unable to continue for a few months, until the end of the season when they lost their Chairman and all funding and folded, almost, on the spot. But, we have shown, time and again, that we have the resilience to overcome these continuous setbacks and if not perhaps flourish, and then carry on regardless. Indeed, at this time, we are one of many groups, in discussion with the Local Authority, about, possibly being part of a new community sports complex, which would provide us with a permanent home, something we desperately need to ensure our long term survival. If we have to show our gratitude to the Committee, then, likewise , we need to say a massive vote of thanks to Wale, who managed to carry out his managerial duties under very difficult circumstances.

Charlie Ward

The TreeSuRGEOn

If it had not been for Wale, I doubt we would have managed to get at team on the park in some games”.

It is hard enough to plan a season, when you know you do not have a playing budget, let alone, to have a budget at the start and then lose it completely, which meant that Wale, once again, had to rebuild the side, almost from scratch. To quote one of our Committee “if it had not been for Wale, I doubt we would have managed to get at team on the park in some games”. Finally, what can you say about the players who finished the season with ups – bloody brilliant, that’s what. To the players who stayed throughout and to those who joined, knowing that there was little or no money to pay them, I thank you for all your efforts. Some of the performances in the second half of the season defied logic, Away at Sudbury, where out of four trips, we had managed just one draw – travelling with only one recognized striker who got injured after half an hour, we managed to turn around a 1-0 half time deficit in to a 2-1 victory. Them having suffered a bit of a tonking by Redbridge the previous Tuesday, we travelled to play off hopefuls, Harlow on


“ “

the Saturday and were two down inside the first twenty minutes – we responded by drawing level by half time and scoring the winner in the last minute, completely destroying their play-off hopes. Finally, the last game at Ware. Some ill-informed people have labelled the club “amateurish” and worse than that, “a disgrace to non-league football” – I totally disagree. If the match had been allowed to be replayed on a Saturday, after the first postponement, I am sure we would have managed to get a full side out, but, we were under pressure to complete the fixtures and so had to travel two players short. I have seen pictures of the Ware pitch at half time in that game and I most sincerely believe that the match, if it had been played at any other time in the season, would have been abandoned and rescheduled. I think the players performed magnificently and I for one, was proud of them. One nil down early on, it would have been easier to go through the motions and allow Ware their three goal margin, they needed to overhaul Ilford and send them in to the relegation zone. The fact that Ware only managed to get their second in added time, shows the amount of effort the team put in to do themselves and the club justice – the team were not to know that, in the end, the result was academic and that Ware would get a reprieve. I think they can hold their heads up high and there can be no complaints from Ilford on how we battled on their behalf to assure a fair and rightful outcome.

That is why, as I am typing these notes (Monday) I am delighted that nine of the squad that ended last season with us, have re-signed for this season and that will probably added to, by another two, come the kick off today. I want to see players who just want to play for the team, the manager and the club and are not interested in just pocketing their wages and moving on. Mention of Ilford brings to my next topic and that is to welcome our new assistant manager, Colin Walton, formerly in charge of Ilford.

today and the two other meetings between our clubs scheduled this season, so far). Once again, Grays will be seen as one of the promotion/play off contenders this season, which indicates a tough old test for us today – but, sometimes opening games can be the best time to play sides with a good pedigree, before they have had time to really gel, so maybe we could spring an opening day surprise (well it would be a surprise to most outside of our club) and get our season off to a great start.

He brings experience for Wale to draw on and in the last few seasons, has managed to run a side with the best disciplinary record in the division. Given, our own very poor disciplinary record in recent years, including last season, that can only help us get away from those annoying suspensions that we seemed to pick up with monotonous regularity and restrict Wale’s team selection, even further. Finally, my tongue in cheek mention of Hakan, earlier, brings me to welcome our visitors today and their manager, Hakan Ramis, who I know is not just classed as former manager, but, a “friend” to the club (except perhaps for the ninety minutes

Colin has managed to run a side with the best disciplinary record in the division

FOLLOW THE pLAyERS On TWITTER

You can now keep track of the Waltham Forest FC players'

Twitter activities in one handy location on the club's official

website. The list of players will continue to grow as the season goes on, and more

players sign up to the social networking site.

To see the latest, simply visit:www.walthamforest-fc.co.uk/

players-and-staff/twitter-stream

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“ “ Despite touting myself of something of a Social Media guru as part of my web design agency (www.adp-web-design.com (shameless plug alert)), I really did not think Twitter would take off the way it has done for non-league clubs. The Waltham Forest FC Twitter account was launched on the 26th of January 2010, and back then, it was nothing more than a feed of articles being published on the club website, and a couple of score updates, from our 3-0 win over Leyton. It was the start of the 2010-11 season which saw frequent match updates, and this is where the potential of Twitter was really harnessed for non-league clubs. Non-league football is often seen as a place where pen and paper rules supreme, but thankfully, most clubs do now seem to have one moderately tech-savvy person who has a smartphone capable of running a Twitter application.

Towards the end of the 2005-6 season, a Dartford supporter began texting half and full-time scores of the division's matches to a member of each club. This worked well at the start, but clubs soon stopped texting results through, and the service was soon stopped. The we had the NLN24 attempts at running a non-league vidiprinter. The idea was fantastic, and the service worked flawlessly (most of the time) on desktop computers. What I could never figure out - and this is perhaps the reason NLN24 are no more - is that the service didn't work on even the newest mobile phones! This would have surely been the place it should have worked before anywhere else, but obviously, NLN24 thought otherwise. We are now in a position where within a few seconds, I can find out the scores of the majority of Division 1 North matches, as they're taking place. Some clubs post score updates, while others, us included, post updates of any major events (this is also very useful when it comes to writing match reports!) Aside from running match updates, I really saw the usefulness of Twitter at the start of last season. Rod Lewis, our

Feature

The TwitterREvOLuTIOn

The club's is fast approaching 1000 Twitter followers, an amazing feat considering our crowds!

former club photographer was looking for a local club where he could hone his skills. Great Wakering Rovers manager Dan Trenkel 'retweeted' one of Rod's messages, and within a couple of hours, we had an official club photographer for the first time. At the time of writing, the club's Twitter account is fast approaching 1000 followers, an amazing feat when you consider our crowds! I recently attended an event at the Essex FA, based on social media and community integration. While interesting, the guest speaker unfortunately missed the point of Twitter at grass-roots level completely. The FA's guides on social media are not even worth talking about, but that's not really anything new. And this is where non-league has really begun to show its ingenuity and resourcefulness. Almost on their own, clubs, and especially Ryman League ones have created a very strong, but extremely useful online community, and one which will be more indispensable than ever in the 2012-13 season.

You can follow us on Twitter: @walthamforestfc, or Andrzej Perkins: @Andrzejperkins


pLAyER SpOnSORSHIpS U P P O R T T H E C L U B B Y S P O N S O R I N G A P L AY E R F O R T H E 2 0 1 2 - 1 3 S E A S O N

Tracksuit (£25) Shirt (£15) Shorts (£10) Socks (£5)

Olawale Ojelabi

Colin Walton

Matt Waldron

Lucelta Eugene

david bryan

Adrian Clifton

Armindo dos Santos

ben Head

Avni Islami

dmitri Larin

Jack Leachman

Aaron Omand

Inaki Ordono June Brazier

Arian Retkoceri Marc Fox

Elton Sackey June Brazier

Luke Stanley Richard Herbert

Chris Taylor

Corey Whitely

If you would like to help the club out by sponsoring a player, please speak to any committee member today, or visit our website:

www.walthamforest-fc.co.uk



StattoGRAYS ATH.Today will be the 17th time we have played Grays in all competitions. The two sides first met on the 17th of December 1996, when we lost 1-0 in the Full Members Cup. A year later, we won 3-0 in the same competition to record our first victory. We have only ever beaten Grays four times in our history, only two of which came in league matches. The last such victory was on the 12th of De-cember 1998, when a brace from Billy Read helped us to a 3-0 victory. Our most recent victory was a 1-0 win in the League Cup during the 2010-11 season, a victory which proved to be one of only a couple Tony Mercer would over-see that year.

Make no mistake, Brentwood Town are way out in front when it comes to the number of followers on Twitter. Interestingly, there does not seem to be much correlation between the number of followers and final league position. Below, we look at follower-to-attendance ratio.(All Data correct 14-8-12)

In a league table of Twitter followers to average attendance ratio, Waltham Forest storm out in front with 16.5 followers for every person at an average Waltham Forest match last season. Things don't look great for Waltham Abbey though, with only 59 followers and an average gate of 85.



p W d L F A Gd pts

1 Leiston 42 28 7 7 99 41 58 91

2 Enfield Town 42 27 9 6 96 46 50 90

3 Tilbury 42 23 11 8 82 62 20 80

4 Needham Market 42 23 8 11 104 56 49 77

5 Grays Athletic 42 24 8 10 80 47 33 77

6 Redbridge 42 21 10 11 79 59 20 73

7 Harlow 42 21 8 13 70 49 21 71

8 AFC Sudbury 42 20 9 13 65 57 8 69

9 Brentwood Town 42 18 8 16 58 42 16 92

10 Thamesmead Town 42 17 7 18 68 70 -2 58

11 Maldon & Tiptree 42 16 10 16 62 66 -4 58

12 Potters Bar Town 42 16 9 17 67 76 -9 57

13 Romford 42 15 12 15 64 73 -9 57

14 Waltham Abbey 42 15 10 17 79 76 3 55

15 Chatham Town 42 16 6 20 54 63 -9 54

16 Heybridge Swifts 42 15 7 20 59 64 -5 52

17 Waltham Forest 42 12 7 23 59 95 -36 43

18 Cheshunt 42 9 12 21 42 83 -41 39

19 Soham Town Rangers 42 7 13 22 55 93 -38 34

20 Ilford 42 8 6 28 47 85 -38 30

21 Ware 42 8 6 28 40 78 -38 30

22 Great Wakering Rovers 42 6 11 25 43 91 -48 29

Forest v Ilford

Latest News

vOICEO F T H E P Y R A M I D

SHORTSAs with any close

season in non-league football, there has been a number of clubs

which are no longer in a posi-tion to function,

including: Bedfont Town, Bletchley

Town, Castle Vale, Daventry United,

Goodrich, Norwich St. John's, Notting-

hamshire Police, Royal Marines and Slade Farm United. In addition to this,

Rothwell Town, who Waltham Forest

played several times between 2003 and 2006, will be sitting the season out, as

their financial trou-bles continue. We

first played Rothwell in a 2003-4 FA Cup match, where we lost 3-1 at home.

We beat the Bones 3-1 at home in the 2005-6 season, and

drew the reverse match 1-1.

LAST SEASOn'S FInAL TAbLE

Leiston were promoted to the Ryman Premier Division as Champions. Enfield Town were promoted as play-off winners. Great Wakering Rovers were relegated to the Essex Senior League, but Ware were reprieved.

Forest v Grays Athletic - Page 23Forest v Ilford

SHORTSThere will be two new clubs in the

Essex Senior League next season. Great Wakering Rovers

were relegated from the Ryman League Division 1 North,

while in an effort to reverse the stagna-tion of the ESL, the

FA have placed FC Bari, a former

Sunday League side straight at Step 5.The Essex Senior

League themselves have been quick

to stress that they had no input over

the allocation of FC Bari, and this has

raised questions in many quarters as to how Bari were allowed into the

Pyramid at Step 5, while so many other

teams have tried and failed. The ESL

undoubtedly needs new teams for the league to remain competitive, but the way in which Bari were chosen seems odd to say the least. The club

will be groundshar-ing at Clapton for the forthcoming

season. Despite ru-mours of a potential

resignation, Basil-don United remain

in the league.

dIvISIOn OnE nORTH LInE-upThe majority of the clubs in the Ryman League Division 1 North for the 2012-13 are the same as those who finished the 2011-12 season. We have lost Leiston and Enfield Town, who have both been promoted to the Premier Division of the Ryman League. At the other end of the table, Great Wakering Rovers have been relegated to the Essex Senior League. Ware, who finished in the second relegation place were given a reprieve by the FA. Coming into the league are Aveley, who were relegated from the Ryman Premier Division, while Witham Town and Wroxham have been promoted from the Essex Senior League and Ridgeons leagues respectively.

RyMAn LEAGuE 2011-12 AWARdSThe Ryman League 2011-12 awards were handed out at the League's an-nual dinner in June. Fair Play winners in each di-vision were Margate, Waltham Abbey and Dulwich Hamlet, while Respect awards went to Tooting, Leiston and, again, Dulwich. The Macron Team Perfor-mance Awards winners were East Thurrock United, who reached the

first round of the FA Cup and also the Alan Boon League Cup final. Red-bridge’s remarkable run to the second round of the FA Cup earned them the Ryman North prize while in the South it provided yet another honour for Dulwich, recognising their achieve-ment in preserving a clean sheet in the Respect markings for almost the whole season while mounting a strong promotion challenge.

nOn-LEAGuE dAy After the success of our first two events in 2010 and 2011, Non-League Day is back for a third year. After much discus-sion it was decided to hold the 2012 event on Saturday 13 October. Why not visit the NLD website? www.nonleagueday.co.uk


We want more goals, came the cry from over the pond. Before hosting the 1994 World Cup, US big-wigs suggested increasing the dimensions of the goal. When a country is fed on a diet of largely high scoring sports you can hardly blame them. Watch 40 games a season and 30 per cent will be bad – at all levels (this stat comes from a not-so-scientific NLP office poll). You know the ones. You get home or turn off the TV and wonder what else you could have done with that two hours of life you will never get back. Goals aren’t a pre-requisite for entertainment. Some of the best games are tense goalless draws or a blood and thunder 1-0 where the winner is scored via someone’s derriere on the line. The opening weekend of the Blue Square Bet Premier served up almost too many goals to get in the paper – 42 in all. Ebbsfleet and Nuneaton shared nine as the Fleet ran out 5-4 winners, and that was after Boro had taken an early 2-0 lead, while Newport County upset Mansfield 4-3. The early rounds of the FA Cup are always ripe for a hungry striker to fill his boots. Last weekend Northern League

Guisborough Town beat Northallerton 5-4 and Pilkington XXX won by the same score against Atherstone. There will be plenty more high-scoring thrillers over the next nine months. Whether any will rival a stand-out result from last season remains to be seen. The fans at Stone Dominoes’ Springbank home probably went home after an incredible 13-goal epic against Runcorn Linnets unsure about what they’d just witnessed. Linnets ran out 8-5 winners in a North West Counties league clash last October but that tells only a tiny part of the story. Three hat-tricks – two of which were the perfect left, right, header, the first completed after just four minutes of the game and the other in just six second-half minutes – a first touch 35-yard screamer, an outfield player going in goal, almost the comeback of comebacks from 6-1 down and barely enough time to take a breath. With just 30 seconds on the clock Kev Towey put the visitors ahead with a header, a minute later he made it two and after four minutes he’d completed a stunning quick-fire

Sam Emery

non-LeaguepA p E R

perfect treble. Two goals from Rob Whyte and one from Paul Prescott eased Runcorn into a 6-1 lead with 58 minutes gone before Stone Dominoes boss Shaun Hollinshead chucked on Dwayne Spence – and the fight-back began. With his first touch Spence rasped one in from 35-yards, nodded in on 66 minutes before making it 6-4 just 60 seconds later to wrap up a six-minute triple whammy. In his efforts to keep Spence out for a third time Runcorn keeper Damien Eastham injured his wrist meaning forward Matty Atherton had to pull on the gloves. A penalty from Dominoes’ Andy Matthews made it 6-5 with 14 minutes still left to play. They still had time to hit the bar before Whyte scooped the third match ball of the afternoon and Danny Smith banged his side’s eighth and goal number 13 of an end-to-end humdinger. Managers might not agree, but maybe those Americans were onto something.


OLAWALE OJELAbI - MAnAGERNow in his second spell at the club. Wale had a distinguished playing career, appearing for Chesham, Maidenhead, St Albans, Horsham and Enfield Town amonst others. Was made player manager in January 2009, but left the role at the start of the 2009/10 season. Rejoined in December 2010.

COLIn WALTOn - ASSISTAnT MAnAGERJoined in July 2012, Colin had been manager at Ilford for 2 ½ years having joined them from Clapton. Colin is a firm believer in the Respect programme.

MATT WALdROn - COACH / dEFEndERDefender now in his third spell as at the club. His first spell was in his 2001-2 season under Colin Richards, but left at the end of the season to join up with past Chairman, Terry Back. When Back became chairman of Forest, it signaled the return of fan’s favorite Waldron, who played almost every game at the back under Danny Honeyball. Unfortunately for Forest, Matt followed Honeyball to Arlesey Town, but is now back for a third time. Was voted Clubman of the year for the 2006-7 season.

LuCELTA EuGEnE - pHySIOTHERApISTAlso joined from Ilford to fulfil this vital role. Was a "Gamesmaker" at the ExCel in the 2012 Olympics.

AAROn OMAnd - GOALKEEpERYoung ‘keeper who joined the club in July 2011. Has experience with Chehsunt, Heybridge Swifts and Leyton amongst others.

AdRIAn GRIFFIn - dEFEndERAnother close season signing who was previously with Wycombe Wanderers.

bEn HEAd - dEFEndERSigned in August 2012. Was previously with Billericay Town and featured for them in our first pre-season friendly.

dMITRI LARIn - dEFEndERSigned in August 2012. Most recently, he has been playing for London Tigers.

InAKI ORdOnO - dEFEndER

Spanish defender, who, since he arrived in the UK has played for both Kingstonian and Epsom & Ewell. Signed for the the club from Epsom & Ewell, in late November 2011. Has impressed in his early appearances for the club. Scored his first goal for the club with a beautiful free-kick against Cheshunt. Was voted Most Improved Player last season.

ELTOn SACKEy - dEFEndERReturned to Forest in January 2011 after first appearing during the 2007-8 season. Has played for a host of non-league clubs including Maidenhead United and Lewes. Was an ever-present last season, and was voted as the Supporters' Player of the Season

AdRIAn CLIFTOn - MIdFIELdERJoined the club in March 2012, from Romford, where he had progressed from the reserves in to the first team squad.Scored on his debut against Tilbury, from the penalty spot. Has recently been apointed team captain.

JACK LEACHMAn - MIdFIELdERSigned in July 2012, was previously with Eton Manor.

AnvI ISLAMI - MIdFIELdERSigned in August 2012. Was previously with FC Ramiz Sadiku in Kosova, and prior to that played for FC Prishtina.

ARIAn RETKOCERI - MIdFIELdERIndustrious player, signed from Billericay Town

LuKE STAnLEy - MIdFIELdEROne of many players making a return for a third spell at Forest. Midfield player with excellent dead ball skills, he first arrived in season 2008/2009, after spells at Barkingsdide and Tilbury. Left at the start of the 2010/2011 season for Aveley, but returned in January 2011, when Wale

OuR pLAyERS


Ojelabi was re-appointed as manager. Started 2011/12 season back at Aveley, before re-signing for us in December 2011. By the end of last season he had clocked up 96 starts.

ARMIndO dOS SAnTOS - FORWARdSigned in July 2012. Was playing with Hamar FC in Iceland last season.

dOMInIC OKAnu - FORWARdA recent singing from Clapton. Made an impressive debut against Cheshunt, and returns for the 2012-13 season.

CHRIS TAyLOR - FORWARdRecently returned to the club where he first gained first-team expereince during the 2005-6 season. He came through the Barking Abbey youth set-up, and appeared in the FA Youth Cup side, as well as Capital and Suburban League sides. When Hakan Heyrettin moved to Thurrock, the midfielder, who can equally play up front, found first-

team chances limited, and moved to Tilbury at the start of the 2008-9 season. Now 24, Taylor made a substantial number of appearances for the Dockers, but again found first-team chances hard to come by, so moved to back to Forest.

COREy WHITELy - FORWARdSigned in July 2012, was previously with Boreham Wood. Has impressed in pre-season.

Would you like to sponsor one of these players? If so, please speak to one of our committee today.

A full list of players and statistics is available on the club website.

Hope you all had an enjoyable summer break despite the weather, and if you holidayed in this country, hope you found a decent pub or two to shelter in (and managed to get to the Great British Beer Festival - excellent as always). A warm welcome to our friends from Grays, who – like us – know what it’s like to be without a home of their own. Hopefully they will find one before too long, where they will be able to recreate the fabled Bar that they had at their former ground, which showed what CAN be done. Too many football clubs have deeply-mediocre beer selections on offer – though our recent friendly at North Greenford Utd produced one surprise in the form of a Double Diamond tap, a beer which the Beer Hunter thought was long extinct. He had to try it out of curiosity, to see if it has got any better since its 70s heyday. It hasn’t. Anyway, to business. Our first Away trip of this season takes us to Cheshunt. Whatever you do, don’t take the train to Cheshunt for this one – the station you want is Theobald’s Grove, and the Wheatsheaf (McMullen’s) is conveniently a mere throw-in away from the station exit. Alternatively, try the Vine in the High Street – another McMullen’s house with a garden. Next up is the trip to Romford – or more correctly

Thurrock, where they’re ground-sharing this season. Here the Beer Hunter has had to throw up his hands and admit defeat, as there doesn’t appear to be a pub of any description anywhere in the vicinity. Let’s hope the club bar comes to our rescue. Finally, Bank Holiday Monday brings our first Big Day Out of the season, to Wroxham amid the delights of the Norfolk Broads. Astonishingly, there only appears to be one pub in the entire place, but it sounds like a good one: the King’s Head in Station Road (right by Hoveton & Wroxham station) is described by that ever-essential guide www.beerintheevening.com as a large no-frills pub on the river, away from the main holiday-crowd area, with a good range of cask ales (including Woodforde's Wherry) and a garden. That ticks pretty well all the boxes in the Beer Hunter’s book!

ThebEER HunTER


Following our opening game at Cricklefield we now have 3 away fixtures.

Staring on Tuesday 21st August, when we visit Cheshunt in the Ryman League Division One North, kick-off 7.45 pm. Cheshunt play at Theobalds Lane, Cheshunt, En8 8Ru. Telephone: 01992-633500.

by RoadEither by M25 or A10 to junction 25 and head north along the A10. Take the right hand exit at the next roundabout and then turn left through Waltham Cross. When you reach the railway bridge by Theobalds Grove Station, turn left into Theobalds Lane. Ground is about ½ mile on the right. There is ample car parking at the Ground.

by public TransportBy National Express East Anglia to Theobalds Grove. This is about 35 minutes from Liverpool Street, but you can connect at Seven Sisters. Turn left from the station and then left into Thoebalds Lane. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the Ground.

Then on Friday 24th August we visit Romford in The FA Cup Preliminary Round, kick-off 7.45 pm. This season Romford are playing at Thurrock FC, South way, Ship Lane, Aveley, RM19 1yn. Telephone: 01708-737556.by RoadMake your way to the A13

eastbound and at the junction with the M25 (Junction 29) turn left into Ship Lane (the exit before the M25). The Ground is on the right. There is ample car parking.

by public TransportFrom Romford Station take bus 252 (every 10 minutes) to Elm Park Station, then take bus 372 (about every 20 minutes) to the Ground.

Then on Bank Holiday Monday 27th August we visit Wroxham in the Ryman League Division One North, kick-off 3.00pm. Wroxham play at Trafford park, Skinners Lane, Wroxham, nR12 8SJ. Telephone: 01603-783538.

by RoadMake your way to Norwich via M11 and A11. Join A147 northern ring road around Norwich and at 4th roundabout join A1151 towards Wroxham. After about 7 miles cross railway line and mini roundabout. Turn left after petrol station into Castle Street. On another railway bridge turn left into Skinners Lane. The entrance to the ground is at the end on the left.

by public TransportBy Greater Anglia from Liverpool Street or Stratford to Norwich. From the station walk to Thorpe Road and catch First in Suffolk

Travel Information

Forest onTHE ROAd

& Norfolk bus 12 to Park Road, Wroxham. From the bus stop walk back and turn right into Castle Street and then left into Skinners Lane. Allow about 2 hours 50 minutes from Stratford.

Please note there may be a coach for this game.

Also note that if either club requires a replay in The FA Cup the game will be postponed.

For more information see Tony Brazier today.

The Waltham Forest FC website now features travel information for all clubs in the division.

Alongside the usual travel guidelines, you can find all the Berr Hunter's Guides.

You can also enter your postcode and be given directions to grounds right from your home address.

www.walthamforest-fc.co.uk

Today's teamsOTHER

FIxTuRES TOdAy

AFC Sudbury v Cheshunt, Aveley v Maldon & Tip-tree, Brentwood Town v Tilbury,

Chatham Town v Waltham Ab-

bey, Heybridge Swifts v Harlow

Town, Potters Bar Town v Wrox-

ham, Romford v Redbridge, Soham

Town Rangers v Ilford, Waltham Forest v Grays

Athletic, Ware v Needham Market,

Witham Town v Thamesmead

Town

WALTHAM FORESTManager Olawale OjelabiColours White shirts, blue

shorts, blue socks

Aaron OmandDmitri Larin

Inaki OrdonoElton Sackey

Matt WaldronBen Head

Luke StanleyAdrian Clifton

Dominic OkanuChris Taylor

Corey Whitely

Jack LeachmanArmindo Dos Santos

Anvi IslamiArian Retkoceri

Adrian Griffin

123456789

1011

1214151617

GRAyS ATHLETIC Manager Hakan HayrettinColours All red

123456789

1011

1214151617

Lamar JohnsonCraig PopeRyan KirbyJunior BakerLee FlynnLuke MarshallLeon LaliteKenny BeaneyJake HallJoao CarlosJack West

Grant CooperDavid EastDanny BunceTyrone ScarlettJoe Sweeney

next home match:Saturday 1st September 2012, v. Redbridge, 3 PM.

Please note that if we draw with Romford on the 24th of August, there will be a replay at Cricklefields on Monday the 25th of August. Kick-off 3 PM.

Documents

Waltham Forest v Grays Athletic (18-8-12)