crayvalley200819_full

The Secretary’s Jottings
Good afternoon everyone, welcome to the Martin & Conley Stadium for a new Isthmian League
season.
Our visitors are newcomers to the league, SCFL champions and FA Vase finalists, Cray Valley
PM. They will be a stern test for our side that consists of many new players since last season.
Unfortunately, I have some bad news for our supporters about the game at Whitstable Town last
Saturday. The team sheet that was given to the referee had an un registered player on it so we
will be deducted the hard-worked point we gained after going down to ten men before half time.
This should not have happened, the information required was made available, but it did. The first
time I have known us having an unregistered player since I became secretary twenty years ago.
We can only apologise to the players and the supporters for this error.
During the closed season Chris has played many players to try to find his best team. For various
reasons he has not been able to play that team up to now Over the weekend we signed three
more players. One or more may feature today. There will be an introduction to the new players in
future programmes.
I would like to welcome to the club Edward Lucas and his wife, Lynn. Edward is a very experienced
club secretary who has been secretary at both Whyteleafe and Ramsgate. At the moment
Edward is going to be our Assistant Secretary however, I am going to be away from mid-January
to mid-March so Edward will be taking over full Secretary duties during that time.
Last Saturdays match at Whitstable was a tough affair. We went into the lead after Chris Barnard
was fouled in the penalty area. Our new loan signing from Gillingham, Roman Campbell confidently
put us one up. Roman, of course was with us on loan last season and we were very
pleased to gain his services again, initially for one month. His sending off for getting two yellow
cards was unfortunate but I’m sure he will learn from it and score some valuable goals for us. His
one match ban will start Saturday when we have our important Emirates FA Cup match against
Uxbridge (Don’t miss it!). Gillingham do not want Roman to be cup tied so we would not be able
to play him anyway.
All those who came to our “Evening with Paul Merson” must have gone home happy. Paul talked
and answered questions for nearly an hour. The MC / comedian was also a great success. I’m
sure you will agree it was a very enjoyable evening, so much so that Andrew is looking to hold
another “evening with” at Woodstock. The evening raised much needed funds for the club.
Talking of much needed funds I have seen it mentioned on the supporters Facebook page about
donating a regular amount for the club. This is of course a great offer however; we already have
a very successful way of raising money regularly with our Brickies lottery. For an outlay of £1.00
a week you can win £40 (Three weekly payments), £100 (one monthly payment) or £500 (a special
draw at Christmas). Forms to join the lottery can be obtained from the bar or can be downloaded
from the web site.
Next Saturday we have our very important Emirates FA Cup match against Uxbridge Please remember
that everybody has to pay at the turnstile for that game. We really need your support. A
few wins in this competition can ease the financial burden that all clubs have.
Enjoy the game
John