Altrincham Football Club News Archive
8 to 13 April, 2005
13 April 2005
RESULT
ALTRINCHAM 2 WORCESTER CITY 0
Right: Even this pat on the head from an Alty supporter could not dislodge the Man of the Match champagne from Stuart Coburn's grasp as he left the pitch on Tuesday. Apart from a stupendous penalty save in the first-half, Stuart also made another exceptional stop in the second-half.
Tuesday 12th
Before Worcester's defeat at Altrincham last night, This is WCFC quoted manager Andy Preece: 'We've got to win at Altrincham to give everyone a huge incentive to come and watch us. It's on our shoulders to win and bring a few more supporters through the gate. Unless we win, I don't think the floating fans are going to turn up. Altrincham are going to put out their strongest team. I think it will be a tough game and one that we look forward to. At least we are in a game that is big for both teams and in the right way too. These are great to play in and I hope we can keep it going to the last three games of the season to make sure they are all big games'".
MOORS MISS GAME AGAIN
The UniBond League announced on Tuesday that after meeting in Altrincham on Sunday they had fined Spennymoor a further £3000 for failing to fulfil fixtures and docked them 9 more points, making 12 in total this season. The League said that they then expected The Moors "to fulfil their fixture against Prescot Cables on Tuesday 12th April". But The Moors failed to play that match last night, so further action will be necessary.13 April 2005
PATRONS' CLUB
Club press release:Patrons' Club 2005
With the impending close season and the recent news of the loss of Manchester United revenue, the club have been investigating other sources of income. It has been decided that this year we will start a Patrons' Club.
Running throughout the 10 weeks of the close season, we are looking for people or companies to pledge £5 a week (£50 in total). In return, their name will appear throughout the 2005/06 season in the programme and there will also be a draw held in mid-July for all participating patrons.
If you are interested in becoming a patron of the club in this coming close season please speak to Grahame Rowley at today’s game or contact him on 07720-606897 for further details.
Those already signed up include:- Geoff Goodwin, Grahame Rowley, Andrew Shaw, Derek Wilshaw, George Heslop, Barry Pond, Terry Surridge, Brian Flynn, Steve Foster, Jon Stack, the www.altrinchamfc.com website and Graham Heathcote.
Please add your name to this list the club needs your help.
THE RUN-IN
Before last night's defeat, Kettering Today reported that Poppies' manager Kevin Wilson "told his Kettering Town players to put all thoughts of fatigue out of their heads before the big clash at Hucknall Town... their third game in six days". Wilson said "When you look at the league table and see what a win could do for us tonight then it is fair to say that this is probably our biggest game of the campaign... Of course there are tired bodies... This is going to be the defining game of our season and I have all the faith in the world in our players".In the current top six, Altrincham can mathematically catch four teams (Droylsden, Nuneaton, Harrogate and Kettering) but, as Droylsden have a game in hand, the following list of remaining fixtures refers only to the more realistic prospect of catching one of the other three teams. The games left for Alty and those three teams are as follows:
16/04/2005
23/04/2005
30/04/2005
NEXT GAME
Alty play Stalybridge on Saturday. The Tameside Advertiser quotes manager John Reed- "The players were poor on Saturday and the supporters were poor how can we allow 150 Droylsden fans to make more noise? When we’ve been bad this year, they have got us through games like that win at Ashton. It was 90 minutes of sheer hell because over the years, my teams have played with heart, passion, commitment and determination, but the team on Saturday never had that. I had seven players out of 11 who lost their own individual battles and that’s why we lost quite comprehensively. I have to be honest and say Droylsden were far superior... In the three games since we came out of the relegation zone, it’s been one point from nine... There’s no way I’m going to let that continue make no mistake".OLD BOYS
Thursday's MEN says that Jason van Blerk, briefly at Alty last season, is "about to publicly reveal the secret he kept quiet for most of his footballing career... [Asthma] is a condition he has suffered from since the age of two". Jason is preparing to 'out' himself" in the London Marathon on Sunday when he runs to raise funds for Asthma UK. He has prepared by running 12 to 20 miles three times a week. In the final of the Lancashire Marsden Trophy, Ian Craney scored for Accrington who beat Burscough.TROPHY
Admission at the FA Trophy Final at Villa Park will be £15 and £20 for adults and £7 for concessionaries.NATIONWIDE NORTH
"Steve Soley is considering his future as Linnets boss over the welter of 'unfair' criticism hurled at him", says IC Cheshire. The website adds, "Even if Runcorn hang on to their Nationwide North status... there has been no confirmation as to whether they will be around next season. If they are, no-one knows where the team will be playing". Soley said: "I have done things above the call of duty and I have been getting stick off everyone which I feel is unfair. I could take stick if we had a massive wage bill, I would take it on the chin. I am just sick of things going on in the background. I am not going to be the fall guy for everybody. I have done this because no-one else would do it. I have been hung out to dry. I haven't been paid for a few months. I wash the kit, we have no matchballs and I have paid lads who haven't been paid out of my own money. If I walk out now, I don't think they have much chance. No matter what people think of me, the players respect me"."Pat Cremin, chairman of Redditch United, is calling on residents who have opposed the clubs' £300,000 plans to extend its training facilities and changing rooms... to make their way to the ground for a Fans' Forum on Thursday... Manager Rod Brown is keeping his cards very close to his chest on the plans for next season" reports This is Redditch. Brown said "Put it this way there will be four players that will dramatically change this club, I can't mention any names because they are all contracted players. We're also lining up a top goalkeeping coach as well for next season... We're looking for the top two and that means promotion."
NL Daily says that "Alfreton Town have announced a profit of £73,557 for the financial year ended June 2004... There was a small operating loss of £1,443 but a share issue conversion added £75,000 onto the balance sheet that converted the minor trading loss into a healthy profit... Chairman Wayne Bradley commented: 'With prudent house keeping we have avoided a situation in which some of the other organisations have landed in from chasing progression through the Pyramid... The Alfreton Town Gold Bond Lottery makes its debut on Friday... Top prize per week is £2000 except the last Friday in each month when this rises to a massive £5000. It doesn’t stop there, on the last Friday in May and November the top prize is a cash bonanza of £10,000".
"Sidelined skipper Gary Bauress is backing Lancaster City to beat the drop... 'I expected us to be in the top 10 this season... But apart from the Vauxhall Motors game away we have not played that badly'" reports This is The Lake District.
The Nationwide Conference has moved the national play-off semi-finals to May 6 to avoid clashing with the General Election on 5 May.
Worksop Town report that "The proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement was approved by a large majority, in monetary terms, of the club’s creditors... An agreement has been signed which allows a new company, 1861 Leisure Ltd., exclusive rights to negotiate with the club’s advisers to purchase the business and assets of the existing club. The Board of the new company comprises the three existing directors of the club, together with the Tigers' manager Mr. Ronnie Glavin and Mr. John Hepworth, a local chartered accountant, who has been a supporter of the club... The Board believes that whilst placing the club into a CVA is regrettable, the course of action taken means that it is now in a financial position from which it can move forward on a more secure footing". Worksop Today confirms that "Howard Raymond will step down as chairman of the club... while manager Ronnie Glavin will join as director of football".
The Tameside Advertiser reports that Droylsden boss Dave Pace was "surprised at Celtic’s decision to switch from their regular 4-4-2 to 4-3-3" when his side beat their Tameside rivals last week. "For them to play that way against us when they aren’t used to it isn’t as easy as just saying it... and was a little strange to be honest".
12 April 2005
OLD BOYS
For Huddersfield Town, Danny Adams laid on a goal from a corner on Saturday in what The Yorkshire Post calls "an encouraging debut at left-back".NATIONWIDE NORTH
Worksop's website reports that "Following the success of the CVA with modifications, the club have entered into an exclusivity agreement with 1861 Leisure Limited, whose Directors include Mr Ronnie Glavin and Mr John Hepworth. Further details, when available, to follow".IC Coventry states that "Nuneaton Borough's championship quest gathered more momentum in Cumbria on Saturday with a 3-1 win at Barrow that stretches their winning run to an impressive six matches... Manager Roger Ashby.. has had the faith and courage to back his team and sign up players who may have gone past their sell buy date with previous clubs but are producing the qualities that have helped take the Manor Park men within sight of their goal". With Borough preparing to move to a new ground they have appointed the Sports Editor of the local evening newspaper, The Heartland Evening News, as Sales and Media Manager.
Kettering drew at Gainsborough on Saturday but Kettering Today says this was "a point gained... as they put in a decisively average performance". Kettering's Jamie Patterson reportedly broke a rib in the game. Meanwhile This is Lincs says that "Gareth Grant was back in favour with manager Paul Mitchell after scoring... Mitchell had labelled Grant 'lazy' and dropped him to the bench" The boss added, "Gareth went on, scored and gave them a lot of trouble. I am not happy when somebody doesn't give their all - they have to be willing to challenge and chase. The minimum requirement is running about".
UNIBOND
If Alty are still in Conference North next season, one of their opponents could be whoever wins the UniBond Premier play-offs which "This season take on a slightly different outlook with the higher placed play-off semi-final winners at home in the final". The semi finals between the 2nd and 5th placed sides are on Bank Holiday Monday, 2nd May and the final is on Saturday, 7th May" says the UniBond League website.The League has also announced that: "Spennymoor United were NOT expelled from the League at Sunday’s Board meeting in Altrincham and are expected by the League to fulfil their fixture at home to Prescot Cables on Tuesday 12th April. As Spennymoor United did not have a representative at the meeting, the League are currently in the process of informing Spennymoor United of the full details of the outcome of that meeting. The League will not be making any further statement until noon, Tuesday 12th April via the official website".
11 April 2005
YOUTH GAME OFF
Tuesday's away Youth team match at Euxton Villa has been postponed due to the unavailability of the pitch.NELSON STIFFLE
I am informed from Australia by Russell Oakes that Nelson Stiffle, who was Altrincham's leading scorer in the early 1950s, has sadly died. In 1952-53, India-born Nelson was leading scorer with 13 goals and in 1953-54 he hit a magnificent 30 goals to head the scoring charts again. Nelson had been living in Queensland in his later years. He died last Friday (8th). Russell, who is his son-in-law, writes that Nelson "fought a long hard battle with his heart disease, and as throughout his whole life, did so with great dignity". The condolences of all at Altrincham FC go to his family and friends.After leaving Alty, Nelson Stiffle signed for various league clubs including Chesterfield (1954), Bournemouth (1955), Exeter (1958) and Coventry City (1960). By 1965, he was playing for Bankstown in NSW, Australia.
BRADFORD GAME
This site's match report is here.
I understand that Bradford PA officials and players held a collection on Saturday for the benefit of Alty's broken leg victim Marcus Hallows, which was a very generous gesture which is much appreciated.
Alan Hirst from the Bradford website has kindly sent me his impressively detailed match statistics from Alty's game at the Horsfall Stadium on Saturday; the full data are on the BPA website and are well worth a look. Amongst other things, they show that Alty had 9 corners to BPA's 1. The information also shows that only 4 (Coburn, Aspinall, Adams and Talbot) of the Alty starters on Saturday also started in last season's equivalent fixture. The BPA site also has a report on the game which says, "Yet again Avenue lose to a last minute goal! ... Altrincham were cheered on by a large following who brought some much needed atmosphere to the surroundings".
RESERVES
The updated Lancashire League table for Altrincham Reserves is here.THROUGH THE YEARS
Howard Watts's Through the Years statistics for Tuesday's game against Worcester City are here. If Alty can win or draw this game they will have gone through the season without any club doing the "double" over them. So far, Alty have done the double over one club (Gainsborough) but stil have the chance of also doing so over another club, Redditch United.NATIONWIDE NORTH
NL Daily says that "It has not been a good week for Worksop Town. They look certain to be heading for CVA and the subsequent deduction of ten points as a consequence, and on Sunday lost 2-0 at relegation-threatened Moor Green... The club will not appeal against a full ten-point deduction".10 April 2005
SUNDAY
ALTY YOUTH 6 MORECAMBE A 1
Four goals from Ben Deegan and two from Lee Hendley were the highlights of an excellent performance by Altrincham Youth. It was Morecambe's first defeat of the season. Lee's goals took him to a new youth team scoring record of 31, surpassing that of Steve Lunt (29 goals). Lee also scored yesterday for the Reserves. There is a match report in the Youth Section.ALTY RESERVES 6 WORKINGTON RES. 0
Alty Reserves got revenge yesterday for their heavy defeat at Workington on the opening day of the season. In that game Workington had used their first team, which has since been top of the UniBond Premier all season. But yesterday, without that advantage, the Cumbrians were well beaten. Report to follow.BPA 1 ALTRINCHAM 2
The BPA Forum has a match report on yesterday's game which said "Altrincham brought the biggest following I've seen this season, but they were quite frustrated in the first half because it was the Avenue that played the better football... The turning point for me was when Crossley went off injured and we changed back to our usual 442 system. From here on in, Altrincham took command... with Avenue defending deep and struggling to hold on".
COMING SOON
Alty play Worcester City, who have won 8 of their last 10 games, on Tuesday. On Saturday, City had Paul Carty sent off. Also doing well are our opponents later this month, Redditch United, who beat leaders Southport yesterday.OLD BOYS
Danny Adams played for Huddersfield Town. Leroy Chambers scored for Frickley yesterday, whilst Anthony Hargeaves hit two for Flixton. Chris Timons scored Hucknall's winner in the Trophy semi-final. Also playing yesterday were Peter Wright (Bamber B.), Richard Acton & Jamie Baguley (Woodley), Peter Band (used sub for Vics). Last season's youth team captain Alex Frost scored for Ramsbottom and ex-Youth keeper Barrie George kept goal for Salford City.NATIONWIDE NORTH
The NW Evening Mail says that "Lee Turnbull, manager of Barrow, will try for a second time to bring Ashton United midfielder Dean Johnson to Holker Street in the summer. Johnson was expected to be Turnbull’s first signing last pre-season after the two reached a verbal agreement. However, he had a change of heart just a month before the start of the campaign... Turnbull revealed he is also hoping to bring former favourites Glenn Murray and Jonathan Smith to Barrow next season"."Gainsborough Trinity have re-signed defender Adam Burley... The 24-year-old former Sheffield United left back, who was linked with a move to rivals Alfreton Town, has agreed a new deal until the end of next season... Defender Wes Parker has also been offered a contract, and is close to signing" reports This is Lincs.
Worksop Town confirm that "At a meeting of the creditors of the club a Company Voluntary Agreement was agreed by the necessary majority. A statement will be made in due course regarding the way forward by the Directors of the Football Club".
MOORS
Spennymoor, regular opponents of Alty in our UniBond League days, again failed to fulfil a fixture yesterday, at Marine, and their fate could be decided today at a UniBond League meeting in Altrincham.9 April 2005
RESULTS
Saturday:FAT Semis
NATIONWIDE NORTH
Runcorn FC Halton have announced that "their final Nationwide North game of the season against Lancaster City will be played at Haig Avenue, Southport... The Linnets left the Halton Stadium for financial reasons last month and intended to see out the season at Valerie Park, Prescot, which is the home ground of...Prescot Cables FC. However Valerie Park is unavailable for the April 30th clash, and the tie cannot be moved to another date since all league games on the final day have to kick off at the same time... Runcorn’s next two home games, against Ashton United and against Hucknall Town... will be played at Valerie Park, Prescot".The GLS Cup Final between Stalybridge and Woking will be on 27 April at the Bower Fold.
The Worksop Forum reports that "At a meeting of creditors the club's proposal of a Company Voluntary Arrangement was accepted by the required majority... The vote to accept the clubs offer of 19.4p was then accepted by the majority. The club now stands have a possible 10 deduction from the Conference League".
8 April 2005
RECORD BREAKERS
Altrincham's first and youth teams both have goalscorers on the brink of breaking records this season. In the first eleven, Colin Little has now scored 33 times for Altrincham, to become the joint top scorer since 1990-91 alongside Ken McKenna. One more goal would make Colin the highest scorer since 1978-79 when John Rogers got 35, as did Jeff Johnson the previous season. Colin's next target after that would be the 36 scored in 1968-69 by Jackie Swindells.
In the Youth team, Lee Hendley (right, in red kit) has now equalled Steve Lunt's haul of 29 in a season. Lee has also scored twice for Altrincham Reserves this season. A report on the Youth team's defeat at Formby on Sunday is in the Youth section.
APRIL 9th
Altrincham's historic record on 9 April, when we play Bradford, is in the Through the Years section, courtesy of Howard Watts.DON'T PANIC
SAM quotes chairman Geoff Goodwin on the loss of Man. Utd Reserves' games from Moss Lane next season: "I'm not panicking. People have got to remember Altrincham have been around a lot longer than [the] three years [that United have been at Moss Lane]. We are 100 years old, we've been here before and we'll be here again".SILVER LINING
The loss of United Reserves' games does mean that Altrincham Reserves can play at Moss Lane next season. This season their home base has been Abbey Hey, in Gorton, which is an inconvenient journey from Altrincham especially in the evening rush hour. This has sadly meant minimal support for the Reserves at home games. Also, the pitch at Abbey Hey has been so heavily used by other teams that many games have had to be postponed this season. Indeed, Alty have switched some home matches to other venues such as Robin Park, Wigan and Wythenshawe Town because of this.BUCKETS
STAR's bucket collection on Tuesday raised £86.11 for which thanks are due to all concerned.WORCESTER CONFIDENT
Before tonight's match at Altrincham, Worcester boss Andy Preece told This is WCFC, "We have got to go to Altrincham, win there, and wait to see how Kettering get on in their two games next week... Alty is a big game now. There should be a big crowd, good atmosphere and obviously we have to win that. Altrincham are not in a bad position. They have taken advantage of Kettering's slip-up, but we can stop Altrincham and the pressure is back on Kettering's shoulders".Alty finished the match at Bradford with Aspinall, Scott and Potts all injured and with Maddox having missed that game with injury, too, manager Graham Heathcote has some late fitness decisions to make today.
FOR EARLIER NEWS, CLICK HERE