AT LAST, the new season is finally upon us! Logica kick off their new campaign with a home match against Townmead this coming Sunday, and the anticipation of both players and fans is barely containable.
New Supremo Simon Groom has already stamped his authoritative leadership on his new charges, and nothing less than a Championship Title in his first season at the helm will satisfy the club’s ambitious board of directors and a ravenous pack of press hounds. Already Groom has appointed the astute Dav Gautam as Head Coach, and the pre-season training has been going on since July (apparently). Two spanking new kits have been purchased - one of them not dissimilar to Norwich City’s famous canary kit, so our moles inform us. And Groom has not been found wanting in the transfer market as he has added such enviable talents as Keiran Toman and Oliver Plane to his e-mail distribution list.
And most revolutionary of all, our new Supremo has buggered off on holiday for the very first game of the season, leaving Dav to sort out all the problems. But Gautam has not been found wanting. In the unusual position of having seventeen available squad members to choose from, the Head Coach has selected a very impressive looking squad of fourteen after much agonising:
The only new face in this first squad of the season is Matt Denyer, who captained the Nippers in such style in this summer’s Logica World Cup. ‘Denners’ is another of Groom’s pre-season signings, and joins Logica with an impressive track record in Sunday morning ale-house football. Groom immediately coerced the newcomer onto his Management Committee, allocating Denners special responsibility for attending League Meetings and lugging two kit bags to the match on a Sunday.
One of the most noticeable absentees from this first squad list is the legendary Kevin Spence, who claims to have retired after just sixteen seasons playing for Logica FC. We here at "If Selected..." are a little skeptical about this claim, and are hoping to see Spence and his mobile supporter unit at a Sunday League ground near you very shortly.
Should these retirement rumours prove to be true, then Groom and Gautam are going to have one hell of a job replacing such a talent. Not only did Spence bag more than his fair share of goals, unselfishly create even more goals for his colleagues, and make Abbott look half way good on rare occasions, he was also an international class fannier in front of goal. Young footballers today just don’t seem to appreciate the art of fannying about, and it is a scandal that the subject no longer appears on the school curriculum. Whilst the fannying mantle is left in the capable and over-elaborate feet of the likes of Reevaldo and Abbott, the worry is that the art may die with them.
Despite this, the departure of one player is an opening for another, and "If Selected..." is of the opinion that Spence’s demise could be just the chance young Nigel Hoyland has been waiting for. The young Sheffielder has employed his blistering pace and clinical finishing to remarkable effect on occasions in the past (not least when he scored six against Wandsworth Town last season), but has found the ageing Spence-Abbott axis limiting his opportunities up front. To his credit, Hoyland has persisted, even sacrificing himself in an unaccustomed wing-back role for many games over the last few years, but we now hope that Hoyland will get the chance to show what he can do.
Looking at the squad above, one must feel that with this amount of talent, it really is time that Logica FC starting fulfilling their potential. This belief is reinforced with a quick scan at the players who did not make the squad this week: Craig Taylor, Nich Fazel, Damien Sutton, Neil Burdett, Jake Gow, Stevey Lambert, Manlio Trovato, ‘Big’ Jez Brown, and of course the Supremo himself. If we can maintain the right level of commitment throughout the season, "If Selected..." for one has a sneaking feeling that this could just be our season.
Logica v Townmead
Sportsman Sunday League Division Two
Kick Off: 10.30 a.m.
Venue: ILEA Ground, Grand Drive, Raynes Park.
Meet: 9.30am at Raynes Park BR, or 10am at the ground.