[sloughtownsoapbox] DUCK AND COVER
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brighton rebel
Dec 6, 2009, 5:34:00 AM12/6/09
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brighton rebel
Dec 6, 2009, 5:38:23 AM12/6/09
to slough town soapbox
Printed in the Southern League Midlands Division match v Bury Town
Saturday 5th December 2009. We were top of the league beforehand, but
lost 1-0 in front of 276.
Visiting Leighton Buzzard last Saturday to watch us put Aylesbury to
the sword, bought back not so very distant memories of just how Slough
supporters have been put through the mill during the past decade. Here
we were facing another club that had seriously fallen from grace;
homeless, bottom of the league with just 3 points and shipping goals
for fun. The last time I saw Slough play Aylesbury they thumped us 4-0
in front of over seven hundred people in March 2002. It was the season
they were promoted back to the Ryman Premier, managed by the legendary
Cliff Hercules.
Aylesbury, nicknamed 'the Ducks' due to the famous Aylesbury breed,
have experienced some incredible highs over their long 112-year
history but now are battling out a nomadic existence. In the summer of
2006 their former Chairman failed in his plans to convert their
Buckingham Road grounds playing surface to a 3rd generation artificial
surface, what he described as his 'last ditch' idea for creating a
viable football club. He cut his ties, and when the ground lease
expired Aylesbury United were made homeless. They now play ‘home’
matches some 20 miles away while their old ground sits idle.
Just as when Slough were at our lowest ebb and some suggested that we
should cut our losses and merge, there is another club in Aylesbury
playing in the town that would love to become the towns top dog. Last
season Aylesbury FC were Aylesbury Vale. 3 years before that they were
known as Haywood United, who themselves only came about in 2001 after
a merger between Stocklake and Belgrave F.C. The ambitious new
Aylesbury approached the United chairman to offer to buy the club – so
they could close them down! They contacted the Southern league to
check the Ducks had a ‘bond’ in place; they rang Leighton Town
Football Club to see if a 'ground share agreement' was in place, and
tapped up members of the clubs committee for confidential information.
At the beginning of this season, United’s manager, the clubs main
sponsor and most of the players then left for Aylesbury FC. As
United’s chairman Graham Read put it “The ‘scheming and plotting’
that’s being going on by certain individuals has been totally
underhanded and delivered with sheer arrogance and total disrespect to
the supporters, committee and the history of Aylesbury United Football
Club.”
As for Aylesbury FC, they are currently top of the Spartan South
Midlands League Premier Division and reached the 4th Qualifying round
of the FA Cup. While they are clearly ambitions, their morals could do
with an MOT. Slough supporters know from bitter experience, as you
turn up each week to watch your team get thumped, as you reel from one
crisis to another, that it’s sometimes hard to see any future. But it
will be supporters that get Aylesbury out of this mess, and after the
game with Slough there was a well attended meeting with the manager,
chairman and supporters who now run the club through 21st Century
Ducks Supporters Trust. There was talk of plans to develop a sports
stadium at Aylesbury College, but also discussions about a groundshare
with Aylesbury FC.
With a population of 70,000 is there room for two Aylesbury clubs?
Only time will tell, but as the United chairman put it “The season
ahead will be one of the most challenging in the history of Aylesbury
United Football Club. But we will fight on, battle each battle, with
your support, will achieve and maintain our status as Aylesbury’s
senior respected football club.” As Slough Town has shown, if everyone
pulls together for the future of their club, then there is a future
for the Ducks.
Saturday 5th December 2009. We were top of the league beforehand, but
lost 1-0 in front of 276.
Visiting Leighton Buzzard last Saturday to watch us put Aylesbury to
the sword, bought back not so very distant memories of just how Slough
supporters have been put through the mill during the past decade. Here
we were facing another club that had seriously fallen from grace;
homeless, bottom of the league with just 3 points and shipping goals
for fun. The last time I saw Slough play Aylesbury they thumped us 4-0
in front of over seven hundred people in March 2002. It was the season
they were promoted back to the Ryman Premier, managed by the legendary
Cliff Hercules.
Aylesbury, nicknamed 'the Ducks' due to the famous Aylesbury breed,
have experienced some incredible highs over their long 112-year
history but now are battling out a nomadic existence. In the summer of
2006 their former Chairman failed in his plans to convert their
Buckingham Road grounds playing surface to a 3rd generation artificial
surface, what he described as his 'last ditch' idea for creating a
viable football club. He cut his ties, and when the ground lease
expired Aylesbury United were made homeless. They now play ‘home’
matches some 20 miles away while their old ground sits idle.
Just as when Slough were at our lowest ebb and some suggested that we
should cut our losses and merge, there is another club in Aylesbury
playing in the town that would love to become the towns top dog. Last
season Aylesbury FC were Aylesbury Vale. 3 years before that they were
known as Haywood United, who themselves only came about in 2001 after
a merger between Stocklake and Belgrave F.C. The ambitious new
Aylesbury approached the United chairman to offer to buy the club – so
they could close them down! They contacted the Southern league to
check the Ducks had a ‘bond’ in place; they rang Leighton Town
Football Club to see if a 'ground share agreement' was in place, and
tapped up members of the clubs committee for confidential information.
At the beginning of this season, United’s manager, the clubs main
sponsor and most of the players then left for Aylesbury FC. As
United’s chairman Graham Read put it “The ‘scheming and plotting’
that’s being going on by certain individuals has been totally
underhanded and delivered with sheer arrogance and total disrespect to
the supporters, committee and the history of Aylesbury United Football
Club.”
As for Aylesbury FC, they are currently top of the Spartan South
Midlands League Premier Division and reached the 4th Qualifying round
of the FA Cup. While they are clearly ambitions, their morals could do
with an MOT. Slough supporters know from bitter experience, as you
turn up each week to watch your team get thumped, as you reel from one
crisis to another, that it’s sometimes hard to see any future. But it
will be supporters that get Aylesbury out of this mess, and after the
game with Slough there was a well attended meeting with the manager,
chairman and supporters who now run the club through 21st Century
Ducks Supporters Trust. There was talk of plans to develop a sports
stadium at Aylesbury College, but also discussions about a groundshare
with Aylesbury FC.
With a population of 70,000 is there room for two Aylesbury clubs?
Only time will tell, but as the United chairman put it “The season
ahead will be one of the most challenging in the history of Aylesbury
United Football Club. But we will fight on, battle each battle, with
your support, will achieve and maintain our status as Aylesbury’s
senior respected football club.” As Slough Town has shown, if everyone
pulls together for the future of their club, then there is a future
for the Ducks.
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