The End - Guest Post from Roger Ramone

The End - Guest Post from Roger Ramone. As I'm sure most of you know Roger has been an important part of The Terrors Social Media output and a long time supporter. 

 So its finally over. After 67 seasons and 2663 games in the Isthmian League we have been relegated to the county leagues at step 5 of the football pyramid. For a team that was once amongst the top 10 non league clubs in the country with a couple of football league scalps in the FA Cup under the belt, this represents a disastrous fall down the leagues. 

 From my personal point of view, I have been watching Tooting for 49 of those seasons. And there are plenty of fans who have been going longer than that. I have had various voluntary roles in that time from groundsman to match reports to social media to website work – and other times just as a supporter behind the goal. Its not just relegation though. Virtually every team in the country has a relegation from time to time – its part of the supporter’s experience to suffer every now and again. It does make successes taste all the sweeter. In fact, in my time we have gone down four times previously but there just wasn’t the same sense of despair from the terraces as we are experiencing this season. 

 This drop seems so much worse. Apart from leaving the league that we have been members of since Elvis first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, this relegation has been signposted to us (well, the fans at least) for two years. And again, from the fans’ perspective, we have just been sleepwalking towards the precipice – seemingly without taking any action until a few weeks ago when I’m afraid it was too late. Its all the more frustrating for the rank and file supporter as this season hasn’t come out of the blue. After the brilliant week in May 2021 when we won the semi final and final of the London Senior Cup in amazing circumstances its just been flop after flop starting with the FA Cup defeat to Erith & Belvedere from the division below us. It became clear to the manager that some of our more senior players weren’t performing so players like Jelley, Coleman and Wedgeworth were released. But the trouble was that we didn’t replace them. At least not with equal or better players. And that is the ongoing theme that has led us to this point. Admittedly there were some things that were probably out of the manager’s hands such as the departure of top scorer Danny Williams and the long term unavailability of the likes of Ahkeem Belford and Jake Rose. 

 However, these are issues that all managers face at our level and they have to be dealt with. But by and large, none of the players who came in last season performed to the required level. All 59 of them. And I don’t blame the players. I presume they gave their best and worked their hardest. But if the quality isn’t there, it isn’t there. And selecting the right players is the manager’s job. Now, as I’ve said earlier, I can take relegations as part of football supporting. I can take bad seasons. It comes with the territory. A look at the final 2021/2022 table shows we escaped relegation by 13 points. The reality was that we were in serious danger of going down until the last couple of games – and part of that was down to a few clubs folding and a number of Step 5 clubs not meeting the requirements for promotion. We were lucky. It was the worst season in our 90 year history. We had the warning – and it needed to be heeded. Over the summer we lost the services of our best player – Mark Waters and a long term stalwart – Dean Hamlin. But in my opinion we failed to replace these players with equal or better. In fact our whole summer player acquisition filled me with trepidation. As far as I could see it looked like we had signed either untried players and our level or youngsters with some potential. 

 In the SLiB&W “Spaces” meeting in pre season I expressed my worries. And I suggested that we would be in the bottom 6 all season. I wasn’t prepared to be so wrong. And I know you can’t normally read too much into pre season games but our results and performances were pretty bad. But we were comforted by various players who were kind enough to engage with supporters at that time. But things didn’t improve. And 9 games later we were in the relegation zone. And out of all the cups. I think it was about now that Ashley Bosah’s credit ran out amongst a lot of fans. Me included. Now, I am not a “sacker”. I have very rarely campaigned for a manager to be sacked. I stuck with Frank Wilson in our relegation season and I even backed The Magician in his short stay in the “season of 3 managers”. But I felt that the manager has shown himself unable to sign good players. When I say good players – of course most of our players are good – I mean players with a proven track record in step 4 and step 3. This is a season where there are 4 relegation places. The bottom 2 are relegated automatically whereas the next 2 have a safety net of a playoff. After 9 games we were in the bottom 4. We started slipping further and further from safety – but there were still 2 teams adrift at the bottom – Guernsey and Merstham. So although in an awful position we still looked like we would still be in a playoff to save our season. But January saw us lose our 1st 6 games of the year and plummet to the bottom. But we still had a game in hand and still had to play a couple of the rubbish teams. But we couldn’t beat them either. Suddenly we were bottom by more than 3 points. We needed a win from somewhere. It was early February when the club acted at long last. But I’m afraid it was a fudge. 

 We brought in Andy Hunt – but retained Ashley Bosah to work together as co-managers. Whether the club were actively looking for a new co-manager for a while or whether Ashley Bosah selected the new man - its never been made clear. But with only 15 or 16 games to turn things around I feel the new man was on a hiding to nothing. We desperately needed a lot of new faces, but at the same time, most football people know that you can’t just ship in 11 new players and expect them to perform as a team straight away. And that is what panned out. Yes, the co-manager brought in a lot of players but with a couple of exceptions they weren’t players who had proved themselves at our level. And of course, with the exception of the surprise win against Binfield, the results didn’t improve. We failed to beat relegation rivals Bedfont Sports and Merstham. We were now 6 or 7 points adrift at the bottom as all of the other relegation candidates were picking up the odd wins and draws whereas we went on another 4 game losing streak. As March petered out there was an exodus of our most senior and experienced players for unknown reasons. It left us to play 2nd bottom Sutton Common Rovers in really our last chance to get a little boost to maybe set up a Great Escape. But we succumbed to a 5th straight defeat with a bit of a whimper. The mathematics might not have said so yet, but we were gone. With still half a dozen games left to endure. It was eventually the 1-1 draw with Chipstead which finally delivered the coup de grace. 

 Although you can’t really compare today’s football pyramid with the league structure of yesteryear, the last time we were playing at the 5th level of non league football was in 1909 as Tooting Graveney when we won the Southern Suburban League Division One. Now, in 2023/2024 we are back – probably in the Combined Counties League. What will life be like in that league I don’t know. Crowds will be a lot less, the quality of the players will probably be lower, and the standard of officiating – well lets not go there. Will we come straight back up? Well as far as I can tell, most relegated teams take time to readjust. Some clubs have returned a couple of seasons later but a few have just languished in that league for years – or worse. So I am not confident. All in all its been an awful couple of years for the club – the worst ever in fact. The whole management structure from the owner down to the team managers have failed badly. And failed to react when the warning signs were flashing large. Failed to react when supporters expressed their worries. Failed to react when the results and the tables were showing very clearly there were problems. The only people who have come out of this relegation with any credit are the supporters and the matchday volunteers who have somehow continued to keep the football club going and supporting the team. And will again next season.

 Roger Ramone 

 Very wise words. A big Thanks to Roger for sending this in

This is the end....

Well, the mighty Toots finally confirmed their relegation during the Easter period. Little sign of any type of fight back or intervention from the Football Gods who obliviously decided they had finally had enough of us and banished TMUFC to whatever step five league we get placed in. Such a sad end for the supporters and volunteers who have helped so much this season.

 91 years of History and Tradition now gone. I believe the club had one of the longest runs in the Isthmian League and now the supporters can look forward to going to grounds were most of the crowds will be in double figures. The huge effect on match day income and sponsorship will mean less money coming into to fund the team. Imagine being involved with arranging sponsorship from local businesses after the last two seasons we have had. Now try and imagine being the poor sod who has to run the Official Twitter page and other social media platforms. Tooting and Mitcham are often mentioned as being “Sleeping Giants” in the world of Non-League Football. One that can be better described as being in a coma after sniffing glue and doing LSD for a couple of decades. It could be rightly said the club has been in decline for many years but the drop down into Step 5 of the Footballing Pyramid is a new low for the club. My last game of this season was the home defeat to Leatherhead. Once big rivals and games to look forward to when the fixtures come out. They had an awful start to the season, but they made changes and bought new people in early enough to make a difference and finished just outside the play off places. Leatherhead supporters making up most of the crowd at Fortress Imperial as much of our support have given up on this campaign and stayed away. I personally have missed more games this season than in the past 12 since I first started coming regularly. I had far too many weekends ruined by results and bad performances to put myself and Mrs H through much more. She is the one who has to put up with mine and Ants miserable faces and deserved a break. I said way back in October last year that the club had major problems. Concerns were raised by the Supporters Club in the form of an open letter put out in November. I know people involved with the Members Club spoke up and of course not forgetting the fans who watch games from the stands and terraces who also voiced their opinions. Emails were sent and supporters spoke to those in charge in person and by phone. All seemingly to be ignored by those who could have changed things earlier on in the same way Leatherhead did. Official and unofficial social media accounts and WhatsApp groups are full of in fighting. Many rightly questioning the direction or more to the point, lack of direction the club is taking. The police were at the ground for the Leatherhead game. I take it, thinking there would be protests and possible crowd trouble but apart from two banners and the Bog End Choir vocally calling for change the afternoon was peaceful…. Which is more than could be said for the social media side of things as Ex Players, Supporters, Academy Pupils and Club Officials fought keyboard battles with each other. A number of Ex-Players are in contact with our supporters and are often speak with them. In other words, many of us in the stands and on the terraces possibly know far more than the Club thinks we do. I have had a number of conversations with various people telling me that “We” (The Supporters) need to work together with those in charge and that “We” (The Supporters) need to get more involved and that “We” (The Supporters) voices are important and are valued. If this is the case…. Why were “We” (The Supporters) totally ignored, and our views disregarded. I also know a number of fans who have stated they have had enough and will not bother going to games until there is a radical shake up behind the scenes. We’ve lost enough fans as it is over the last few years. To lose even more when things could have been avoided if action had been taken will have a huge effect on match days. TMUFC seem to take their supporters loyalty for granted as if fans will turn up on matter what. I think they are in for a shock next season and of course only have themselves to blame. If we go into next seasons campaign with the same naivety, stupidity, and total contempt for everything and everybody at Fortress Imperial, we will be in for a very hard time ahead. Of course, the aim will be to come straight back up, but don’t be like many I’ve spoken to, daft enough to think that we will have an easy ride in Step Five. The Combined Counties have some very strong sides who will take a great deal of pleasure and local pride in putting one over on a club like Tooting and Mitcham. I’ve seen a few Raynes Park Vale games and it looks as if they will swap places with us to become the big Non-League club in Merton. Their opposition in the games I’ve watched have looked more than capable of handling games in Step 4 and more than capable of giving us problems. Lots of very physical sides and frankly dreadful match officials. Plus look at resent cup fixtures against teams below us in the Footballing pyramid and check out the results…. Not good is it. Something to think about when we’re walking along side the busy A3 as lorries and fast cars go hurtling past to go and watch as play at Colliers Wood ground or walking through the dark dangerous cemetery as we make our way to see games at AFC Croydon’s ground, or waiting at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere waiting for a strange, coloured bus to drop us off 3 miles away from somewhere that makes South Parks ground look like Wembley Stadium. What has happened has happened. You can’t change history, although, it is possible to re write it years after the event. But I doubt if anyone will be able to put a spin the 2022 – 23 season into anything other than a total balls up. You can however learn from history. This is the lesson those in charge will need to take onboard if they want the club to regroup, rebuild and grow. We deserved to go down, no ifs or buts. A handful of good games far outweighed by some frankly embarrassing matches. I’ve said many times that our last relegation from the Isthmian Premiership down into the South-Central galvanised fans into helping out and we were able to turn things around off the pitch and make the most of a bad situation possibly turned out to be a good thing. But many of the fans who jumped in and volunteered back then have gone. Social Media accounts started up, now gone. Interest in the team locally now gone. Interest from local news groups gone. All of it was avoidable. The paragraph below is taken from a previous blog…. “There are people at the club who must now look at themselves in the mirror and look at their own role in this car crash of a season. Do they fully understand the part they themselves have played in the club’s demise. Is their lack of self-awareness of the dreadful situation that was allowed to take place on their watch gone straight over their heads. Supporters’ concerns raised earlier on dismissed as if their views were not important. People spoken to as if they were employees not fans. If we were shareholders in a company going through such a dreadful spell, would they still be in a job”. In truth, this is my third taste of relegation since following Tooting. The first season I started taking Anthony to games was when he was six years old, and they dropped down into the Isthmian South League back in the dark days of 2012. I remember walking out of the ground on many occasions with him in floods of tears and trying to explain about the highs and lows of supporting any football team. After bad performances on the pitch, we would walk up towards either the tram stop or up to the Cricket Green to catch a bus, stopping of in one of the local shops to by a Twix bar which we would share as we continued our journey home. A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Now I not saying that has anything to do with Tooting and Mitcham’s home form over the last few seasons but, it is rather a coincidence. 

 Up The Fucking Terrors !!!!!!!

Non League Paper Article 16th April 2023

Below is taken from the Non League Paper from Sunday 16th April 2023.

TOOTING & Mitcham United fans have slammed club chiefs for presiding over a demise which has seen their famous old club relegated to the lowest  level of football they have  ever played.

The Terrors saw their  long-standing association  with the Isthmian League  come to a end after Monday’s 1-1 home draw with  Chipstead confirmed their  relegation from the South  Central division.  In their proud 91-year  history, the club have never played as low as Step 5  but are staring demotion  to either the Combined  Counties League or Southern Counties East League  in the face following a disastrous campaign.

The team’s  last win was  against Binfield  in February, 11  games ago, and  since then they  have seen a  group of senior  players including wily keeper  James Shaw leave Imperial  Fields, disillusioned with  the club’s direction on and  off the field. Supporters club member Steve Harrold, a prominent voice on social media  as ‘Hackbridge Harry’, believes chairman Tony Cox  should shoulder the majority of responsibility. “It’s been the perfect  storm,” he told The NLP.

“The players are not doing  it on the pitch and the people who run the club don’t  seem to understand what it  takes to do that. They seem  to think ‘we’re a big club,  we’ll stay up’ but the truth  is we have been sleepwalking towards disaster and  they only tried to change  things when it was too late. “You can accept a bad  season but there are problems that have just been  ignored and now it’s too far  gone to make a difference.

“It would be wrong to  pick on one person when  it’s fair to say everyone  takes responsibility. I’ve  been going to watch for  about 16 years and this is  by far the worst period I’ve  experienced as a supporter. “We’re in a right state  and I’m very concerned  about supporter morale. It  all seems to be going terribly wrong and the chairman has allowed it to do so  through naivety. “If there is somewhere  to lay the blame, I’d pretty much put it there but  the players have to look at  themselves too.” Another fan, Anthony  Harrold, says he can even  see Tooting going to the wall  with the club  now competing  at Step 5. “We haven’t  been listened  to,” he said.

 “It’s as if the  club have just  seen supporters  as being there  to be negative and cause  problems. All we want to  do is help the club. I’m disillusioned and many feel  the same. It’s gone too far.  It wouldn’t shock me if the  club folded.” But first-team joint manager Ashley Bosah insists  the club can rise again  next term.

 “There is a disappointment from a management perspective in the  expectations we set out for  this season and where we  are now,” he said. “We have to look at what  we could have done better,  on reflection, like the recruitment. But there is a  lot of support inside the  club, they believe in what  I do although it is challenging mentally. “There is a plan in place  for next season for rebuilding and restructuring and  for us starting to go forward again.”

Yes, Surrender....

Sutton Common Rovers, a relegation six pointer with everyting resting on it's outcome..... And yet it was a total capitulation. A game that should have seen our players fighting for survival against the club above us in the league, a chance to claw back points and self pride. Instead we witnessed a game that seemed more like a pre season friendly or a end of season mid table clash between two clubs just seeing out the last few matches. Sutton Common Rovers have not had a good season, however they have done the double over Tooting in what probably were their easiest matches of this campaign. 



Tooting have lost a large number of senior players over the last few weeks. Were they pushed or did they jump. Who really knows. A number of them turned up to watch from the stands along with ex managers and coaching staff. What must they have thought ? The new players drafted in made no difference what so ever. They played with no passion perhaps knowing they weren't going to be here for too long before the end of the season and the relegation for which we now need miracles of almost Biblical proportions to avoid. Bringing so many new players in so late in the season who have no idea about the club and have no relationship with the fans looks to many watching as a pointless exercise. One of our ex-players now banging in goals left, right and centre at Farnham just rubbing salt into some very open wounds, while we struggle to even trouble opposition keepers.

There are people at the club who must now look at themselves in the mirror and look at their own role in this car crash of a season. Do they fully understand the part they themselves have played in the clubs demise. Is their lack of self awareness of the dreadful situation that was allowed to take place on their watch gone straight over their heads. Supporters concerns raised earlier on dismissed as if their views were not important. People spoken to as if they were employees not fans. If we were shareholders in a company going through such a dreadful spell would they still be in a job.

No matter where we end up next season and even if we do hopefully avoid the drop, this will take years to sort out on the pitch, behind the scenes and on the terraces and stands. It will take far more than inspirational twitter posts and hash tags to win our missing fans back 

Clubs at all levels take supporters loyalty for granted, but Tooting, seem simply naive to the fact that our fan base is shrinking with every game. The large away support that followed the club now getting smaller with each trip. A crowd of over 200 at the SCR game made up of many who travelled down the A217, and supporters from other clubs whose games had been postponed. Very few standing on the Bog End. Possibly the quitest they have ever been. Our normal vocal support resigned to yet another awful home performance. Morale crushed yet again as relegation seems a mere formality. 

Sitting in the bar after the game with the supporters of this great club, all looking stunned and at a loss to explain what was allowed to happen. As I said in my last blog. We are a community on the terraces and stands, united by their support of The Terrors. The club prides itself on it's work with local communities. Yet, we seem to have been forgotten. 

We Go Again... and again and again and.....

Well, just as you think things are starting to turn around and just as you think that there is light at the end of the tunnel, reality jumps up and kicks you straight in the nuts. 

In the world of Footballing quotes and sayings you can honestly say that Tooting and Mitcham have trumped anything “Spursy” that Tottenham Hotspur can do. But “We go again” at the next game (Spoiler Alert, we never do). The “club of progression” is firmly anchored at the foot of the league, seeming happy that the progression is into either the Combined Counties League or some other crappy Kent based division where there will be even less rivalries that in the division we have ended up in now. I’m as “sick as a parrot” which really does not tell the absolute story of how bad I feel watching our club sink faster down the footballing pyramid. 

The truth is. It doesn’t matter they we have played well against W&H or Basingstoke this season. We have still lost. When you look at the league table there is not a separate column saying, “Played Well” or another column saying, “we go again”. There is just a glorified spread sheet showing the simple fact is that we seem unable to win games, score goals or fight our way up the table. The changes made by bringing Andy Hunt in to work alongside Ashley is beginning to look, as many of us have said, too little and too late. If the club knew that Ashley needed help and support, why wait so long to bring it in. As I have said on Twitter and other Blogs the writing was on the wall after the away fixture at SCR. 

At the time of writing, we have 10 games to save ourselves. Not impossible but with our form and inability to get any form of run of results going…. Well, it doesn’t bear thinking about. 

The club is fond of bringing up it’s links with the various communities in and around South London and Surrey. But there is one community that seems to have been forgotten in all of this. It’s the community of people that follow the club both home and away. The community that watches games from the stands and terraces at Fortress Imperial. The community that in some cases travels to games from deepest Essex and Hertfordshire to watch Tooting. People within the community that also travel up from Surrey and Sussex for games, as well as those who live nearby. The community that has donated so generously to collections for the ongoing war in the Ukraine, the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and closer to home, local food banks and children’s hospitals., St Georges Hospital, the MS Society, and other local charities. The community have has volunteered to help out at match days. The community that has put their hard earnt money into the club. The community that has helped the social media profile of the club grow over the last few years. The community that helps run web pages, Twitter and Facebook accounts and other online platforms. A community of people for whom watching Tooting and Mitcham is an important part of their social life. A chance to meet up and chat to friends. A place to have a drink and watch football. A chance to support local issues. A community of people from across Europe who have come together at games to support The Terrors and developed friendships with others whom without this (our) club may not have ever met. For a few, being a part of this community is the only social life they have. 

To the hierarchy at Tooting and Mitcham. Don’t ignore these people or disregard their views, Don’t just treat them as an endless supply of cash. Don’t just class them as an endless supply of unpaid volunteers. Don’t treat them as idiots who don’t deserve to be told what is happening behind the scenes….. because if we do get relegated. You are going to need these people, this community more than you’ve ever needed them before. 

Come On You Terrors !!!!!!

Another day in paradise.....

Well due to ill health and work commitments, I’ve not seen us play since the Uxbridge game at home in November, no bad thing you may think and perhaps you’re right. 

At the time of writing, this once proud Non-League Club sit rock bottom of the league and seemingly without any idea of how to change things. 



I care about this club, and it really upsets me the way the club has imploded so badly since the London Senior Cup victory and then failed to build on the crowds and new supporters we were getting that short time ago. The club missed a massive chance to build on the interest shown by newcomers. Covid hit the club badly, to lose two seasons including the income from the other interests at the ground would have had a huge effect on things. In many respects the ground is far too big for us. The facilities, rates, insurance, and maintenance must be a huge drain on finances. 

I don’t believe the club was set up to fail but I do think that at this moment of the club’s history it is failing dramatically. With Steve Adkins stepping away from things, Tony Cox has stepped in to oversee what’s going on. Although, to his credit he makes himself available to fans at games. But he seems totally oblivious to their feelings and worries about the club. Talking to people as if they were employees and not supporters who have been regulars at Tooting games for many years and therefore don’t understand or need to be told what has happened and why it has gone so disasterly wrong. 

I’ve spoken to Steve Adkins on a number of occasions about the club and his hopes for it. I don’t believe for one minute he is happy with the way things are going. Why would anyone want a business to go so badly wrong? Maybe it’s time for a fresh pairs of eyes and a knowledge of running sports events etc to take a look at the current business plan and advise on moving forward. I wonder if the links with the Members Club and running of the club as it stands holds things back. A bit of honesty wouldn’t go a miss…. Caroline McRoyal leaving also had a big effect. She has not been replaced and we miss her influence at the club. 

The Members club although providing match day volunteers, helping raise funds though events and sponsorship needs a major shakeup. The mantra seems to be “We’ll get a volunteer to do it” or “We’ll get supporters to pay for it” seems to be the answer to everything, forgetting that a large part of our fan base will have very little time or disposable income to help out with. Well, good luck with changing that that with the drop in crowds and interest in the club goes elsewhere. Their reply to the open letter written on behalf of the supporter’s clubs raising concerns about supporter morale seemed to be ignored and not taken seriously. I get the feeling that the fact of that losing games, no matter how well the team have played will wear down support so much that people will stop going to matches, they simply don’t seem to understand. 



I have spoken to other fans at games and socially who have also said that unless there is a rapid change in fortune, they will also stop coming to matches. A large number of our regular support has already stopped. Many of these are long term Tooting and Mitcham United fans who have followed the club for decades who watched from the stands and terraces of Sandy Lane. This is not due to any coordinated boycott from fans or any hidden agenda from any groups, this is simply that many supporters are feeling less and less involved with the club and feel the club has lost its way. Many of the people I meet and spoke with when I first started coming to games, people who welcomed me into the Terrors Family are no longer seen at any of our fixtures. For the club to succeed we need to get big crowds. The bigger the crowds the more income comes into the place. The bigger the crowds the more people will volunteer to help. The bigger the crowds the more interest on social media and local media outlets. All aspects of our supporter based social media has dropped away to nothing. No posts, No Blogs, Nothing from fans on Twitter apart from doom and gloom. Supporter morale is at an all-time low, which is quite a statement when you look back over resent history. You need success on the pitch, winning teams will bring the fans back and attract new fans along. Relying on Supporters loyalty to turn up no matter how badly the team is doing is very naïve and does not work. 

On the pitch. A very stop start season with games getting postponed and called off for a number of reasons. Plus, the dreadful run in all of the cup competitions means the team has not had the chance to play together continually for any period. The coaching staff have brought in a number of new faces, but lack of game time means the team often seems to play as if they don’t know each other. 

I like Ashley, I’ve always got on well with him and personally I think he is a great bloke. Do I think he should still be the manager; well results are hard to argue with and at most other clubs he would have been replaced by now. But are the links between the Academy and the running of the first team so intwined that it is impossible to run things differently. One thing I don’t want to happen is that if things get worse and we do end up getting relegated, that Ashley is not thrown under the bus so to speak and blamed for everything that happened. I spoke to him after the Supporters Club letter went out. Spending some time at the ground watching him working and interacting with the pupils and staff there. We spoke about the team, playing budgets at Tooting and some of the playing budgets that other teams in our division are working with. This is a very difficult league with some clubs able to work with huge budgets. Is he good for the academy? Absolutely 100% … I want the Academy to work. I want to see pupils get something from their time at the club with Ashley and his team. Being a father, I want to see kids given a chance to build their knowledge and confidence. I know people at St Matthews Project, who know him and have worked with him. All saying what a difference he has made to peoples lives though working there and at Tooting and Mitcham. 

But… I also want the team to do well, and I believe the vast majority of our support feels the same. Are we a football team with an academy or are we an academy with a football team? What is the long-term plan? Is there a long-term plan? Will we the supporters ever get any form of answer. 

Come On You Terrors !!!!!!

Bin Fire at Binfield

“If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs…. You obviously don’t understand the seriousness of the situation”. 

So here we are. Third from bottom, out of all the cups and it’s not even Christmas yet. My last blog was on the 19th of October, yet again another doom ladened, sad piece of literature more suited to the letters page of the Daily Mail than for fellow Terrors. But now I’m finding things seen to have gone even further backwards since fingering my keyboard back then. A deserved win against Bedfont Sports being the only highlight. Our home form is still mind blowing, we’ve lost to teams who have been shite but still managed to take all the points from us. I hate to say that some of the matches this season, have been some of the worst I’ve ever witnessed. Some very sad faces on the Bog End at full time. 

                   Happy Harry

 Away from Fortress Imperial. The game against local “Rivals” SCR was plain awful. A defeat to a team that probably won’t have an easier game all season and who I’d be very surprised would finish higher than mid table. I watched fellow supporters laughing with some kind of gallows humour to try and keep away the tears as the second half came to an end. SCR players celebrating as if they’d won the Champions League showed how much they wanted to put one over us. 

A handful of fans managed to get over to Walton and Hersham to see a much-improved side play possibly their best performance of the season so far. But too many players switched of during injury time after a quite baffling free kick was given against us and players were having a go at the match officials allowing W&H to score their winning goal in a game, we should have at least left with one point. A bitter pill to swallow after many had made the journey across Surrey on a day when the trains were on strike, some long bus trips and hefty cab fares paid out. But compared with other trips down to that neck of the woods when I’ve seen the travelling Toots outnumber the home fans on several occasions a very low turnout. 

Basingstoke, again defensive mistakes leading to in my opinion three of the four goals against us. Yes, we seemed to have two perfectly good goals disallowed and two penalty shouts turned down along with the two well taken goals scored. The heart-breaking thing was that when we got a goal back to make it 3-2 with about 5 mins to go, after getting a free kick which I think should have been played straight up field, somehow, we gave the ball away after messing around allowing Basingstoke to score from a penalty after their player was brought down…. How from an attacking option we ended up conceding another goal from a situation all of our own making? Players switching off. Last year about 70 Terrors possibly more made the trip, this year about 30 turned up. 

 Now for the bin fire at Binfield. Three goals conceded in 7 minutes when we were already 1 nil down pretty much sums up what a bin fire this season has been so far. I class myself as being lucky not to have been there and only following on social media, which dear reader was bad enough. 

 I am totally at a loss what has gone wrong. It has rightly been pointed out that we have not had a chance to build up any momentum as we have missed playing on a couple of Saturdays. Once due to a tragic accident outside the ground but the other occasions have been due to us going out of the two FA competitions leaving Saturdays free as the clubs, we were due to play progressed into the next rounds. 

A couple of wins could see us move up the table, but with our form at the moment, it’s hard to see where they will come from. A mid table finish is looking like the best option at the moment, the other option doesn’t bear thinking about. 

 My main worry and what the main part of the Blog is about is supporter morale. Along with the long-time fans of Tooting and Mitcham. We have to be honest and say, a lot of our fan base both home and away, we’ve borrowed from other clubs. Supporters from Palace, Fulham, Chelsea Arsenal, Grimsby, Lincoln, WBA, Norwich, Man City, Liverpool, Hartlepool, Newcastle, Leeds, Man United, Tottenham, West Ham and QPR can be found in the stands and on the terraces at Tooting Games. 

Many now watch us like me after becoming disillusioned with the modern game and many due to the cost of watching league football. 

Throw in the geographical nature of the local population that people simply can’t get to see their home teams after moving to South London. Tooting and Mitcham has become their new footballing home. Very easy for them to go and watch one of our many local neighbours. I’ve seen a few Terrors in the crowds at RPV and Carshalton games on the “free Saturdays” and I know of a few others who now go ground hopping for their football fix. 

One of the big reasons to go to games is to meet up with friends and have a laugh and socialise with everyone. I’m under no illusion that Toots will win every game, but it’s also about watching your team or adopted team play well, I’ve seen Tooting lose loads of games and thought that they were unlucky but at least they tried, and I’ve gone home feeling optimistic about things. These last two seasons since the London Senior Cup win have been hard to watch. It worries me that a lot of the fans who I used to see no longer turn up for games. This isn’t some organised boycott. People just can’t be bothered anymore. People talk about life in the Combined Counties and wonder if the club would still be able to get the crowds we get now. 

I’ll be at the game Saturday as I have some important Supporters Club business to deal with, but in truth, I could quite happily miss yet another crap day out watching us play. Even a win on Saturday must not allow people to think that things have changed, and we have turned a corner. Things need to change, and they need to change sooner rather than later. 

Up The Terrors !!!!

Where to start.....

Right where to begin, 

To say that this season so far has been a complete disaster is not far short of the mark. Our home form has managed to be even worse than last season, which I’m sure none of us would think possible. We now find ourselves sitting in the lower half of the table with the Combined Counties looking up at us…. Out of both FA competitions, which in fairness we can only dream about winning or at the very least getting a couple of good games out of now gone for yet another season. Both trophies are considered money earners by clubs at our level and to go out of both so early on must be a big hit in the pocket of the club when it looks at playing budgets etc. Out of the League Cup which is no real surprise looking at our record in the competition is not surprising. Now out of the London Senior Cup, which is a personal favourite of mine. Now our only hope of any cup success is in the Surrey Senior Cup where we have been drawn against Chertsey, so let’s be honest, a very tough draw. Ashley looks as if he’s won a Tottenham Season Ticket in a raffle, and I don’t think I’ve seen him smile in ages. The players look to be suffering low morale and confidence wise and a lack of self-belief especially during home games. Away matches are better, maybe there is less pressure on the players when not at Fortress Imperial. This is a big worry and I’m think I ‘m right saying we’ve not won a home game in the league since December last year. We avoided going by the skin of our teeth last year. In truth two clubs going out of business done us a huge favour but even now I find myself looking at the clubs below to be having worse results than us. It’s only October but I think we need to get the mindset that we at the time of writing are in a relegation scrap. A couple of good results can see us climb the table but it’s hard to see where they are going to come from at the moment. There is a dark cloud hanging over the Bog End. I have not fingered my keyboard in ages, as the results have led to a big hit of “Writers” block as I honestly can’t think of anything to say. I could copy any number of blogs from the last couple of seasons, change a few names and post them up and no one would be any the wiser. The excellent social media output has dried up and it’s very hard to think of what to put out in regard to the club. Crowds are still good but the game against Westfield had a large number of staff from St Georges in attendance and they are not there every week. A number of regular fans have stopped going to home games and I don’t mean the tinfoil hat brigade on the forum. Some pretty heated discussions in the stands and on the terraces when even die-hard loyal fans are questioning the direction the club is taking. In a nutshell, low morale on and off the pitch on match days, low confidence and a huge lack of self-belief missing…. And it’s only October…. We all have our views on what to do to change things but one thing we can all agree with is that things need to get put on track before it’s too late. 

 Up The Terrors….

Happy Clappy Harry

Well, goodbye and good riddance to the 2021 – 22 season. One which will be the stuff of nightmares for players, supporters and everyone else at the club. The Football Gods who had sat up in the clouds laughing and giggling at our plight while thinking up even more fiendish ways to fuck us over decided at the last minute to bring back Whyteleafe into the league equation and therefore pushing us up the table and finally out of harm’s way after victories against other bottom dwelling rivals. 

I don’t think anyone could have seen this happen, although a few Dulwich and Sutton fans probably prayed for it. Two good seasons lost to covid and the London Senior Cup win against the young Wombles meant we started off full of hope for the campaign. The happiness was not to last too long.

Not sure the best way to describe the season in a simplified way. We spent the first third of the season trying to bring in younger academy players and get them involved with the 1^st team squad. But in truth it was looking obvious that it was not working out as well as the club hoped. Stuck in the lower mid table just ready for the second third of the season when a number of players left, and others were brought in to replace them. A couple of whom never really had the impact we all were looking for. Then the final third, when we lost a 3-goal lead at Bedfont sports and then became one of the few teams Staines have beaten this season. Staines went on after their victory to lose their next game 12 nil. The loss of a number of senior players hit hard and the Terrors found themselves in a relegation fight and one for a period of time, that they didn’t look to have any chance of winning. 

Losing top scorer Dan Williams threw a large spanner in the works and it is fair to say the strikers who stepped into the breach had problems hitting the back of the net. Defensively, things looked ok. We didn’t suffer any real heavy defeats and with a bit more luck Infront of goal we would not have ended the way they did. 

 But it all ended with songs, cider and smiles after the Staines game and the Player of The Season awards presentation. Cheers to Joel for being an excellent awards host and for letting me rant and rave while giving out the Supporters Club awards.  

 

Sometimes we all have to accept that the club you support will have a bad season. Even the top clubs have them, but it still hurts when it happens to you. A strange feeling off the pitch this season with splits in the supporters ranks and some really negative stuff going up on a couple of media platforms not helping fan moral. There is so much good stuff going on supporters wise and it’s upsetting to see people turn on each other. The club has been in bad places before moral wise but this season it was hard to see after all the good work that had gone on over the last few seasons.

Lots going on behind the scenes and many new companies coming in as sponsors etc. Kingstonian ground sharing will also help bring more money into the club. As I’ve said before, bills need to be paid and with all of our household utility bills going up the same is happening to all types of businesses including Toots.  I had a number of chats with people who work at and run the club. They all fully understand the frustrations we all felt. I’m sure they are all more than aware that changes will need to be looked at the next season. No one at Tooting and Mitcham wants things to fail. No matter what anyone says. We all want to move up the football pyramid and regain our true position. We all want this club to succeed.

This is a big club with a great fan base and history, one we should all be proud of.

Take a good look at our crowds and remember that more than any other South London Non-League club how much our fan base represents the people that live here.  There’s so much to be proud of. Please remember that, when the dust from this season settles.

I’m handing over running of the Club Shop to the Members Club next season. Anyone interested in running it please come and see me and I’ll point you in the right direction.

I’ll still be involved with the Supporters Club and will be trying to raise their profile through social media etc. and also trying to get new members signed up and involved. A bit hard to do that when also running the shop on match days.

Shout Out Time !!!!!!!!!

 I won’t mention names because I’m always worried, I will forget someone, but a big thank you to all the match day volunteers and people who do so much behind the scenes over at Tooting. Clubs at our level need people to help out so anything you can do please get involved. 

 Good to see so many people from St Matthews Project becoming regulars at our games.

I always look forward to a good to chat with people who help over at SMP. Even if one of them is a moaning old git who manages to make me look like the happiest bloke South of The River. We have a number of links and friendships with the people there. Please visit:

https://thesmp.net

 Spread the word please, so much negative press about young people especially in South London and yet there are so many people making a huge difference who never get mentioned.

 As always, a big thanks to Jimmy and everyone over at the Ramble Inn up near Amen Corner in Tooting for all their support. They have done so much to bring people together and get them down to Tooting games over the last few years. Love and kisses to all the Irish Lot xxx

 Last but not least, Go and visit those South London Is Black and White Herberts for far better Terrors related stuff all written by intelligent sensible people, not the rantings of a mad old bloke in Hackbridge. Been a bit quite on there over the last couple of months but in truth, it’s been hard to finger our keyboards and try and come up with anything happy.

https://www.southlondonisblackandwhite.com

 

 Just remember. No matter how bad things were, we all know that after spending a couple of Saturdays on all those DIY jobs you’ve ignored and spending quality family time in the Asda Beddington Lane you’ll get checking out Twitter hoping and praying for the preseason friendlies to start and to all get together shouting our heading off following the mighty Toots....

Come on you Terrors !!!!!!

Tears on the Wandle - A tale of woe and heartbreak.

A great Irish Philosopher said on twitter that Tooting and Mitcham went from flirting with relegation to sending it dick pics in a couple of weeks. One of the most true posts I've seen on any type of Toots social media.

This will be a short blog. I really can't think of too much to say. Dear reader, If you were there Saturday, you will understand.

 The game against Ashford was awful. The atmosphere was down beat and even the mighty Bog End was often out sung by a single Ashford Loon who had a great afternoon down on the banks of the Wandle. Both teams played as if it was an end of season game between two mid table sides, the trouble is that one of them was in a relegation fight and didn’t seem to know it. Billy Smith hitting the bar was the nearest thing we did to trouble their goalie who had quite a relaxing day between the sticks. I said after the defeat at Bedfont that we were heading for a fight to remain in this division. I thought at the time it was possibly too dramatic and over the top, but it turns out I was right. 

 I have said a number of times that the last time Tooting went down that we sleepwalked into it. Not realising until it was too late that we had a major problem on our hands. That time we were able to build on things for the following season and improvements off the pitch have changed the club for the better. Even now we are still getting good crowds for the league position we are in. The major doubt I have is if that will be the same in the Combined Counties or some strange Kent league if we do go down. Will we still get people willing to volunteer their time on match day to help out? The simple fact is, the better the team is on the pitch, the better the crowds are, and more people will want to get involved behind the scenes. Ask any of our regulars about friends and family who no longer come to games for various reasons. A successful team will bring them back I’m sure, another relegation however, could lose them forever. 

Bog End Ant has missed a number of games this season due to feeling so low after results, we have both swerved away games which we would have gone to normally.... You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger Terror than Ant... If he feels like this, you know there are problems...

This club has so much potential, a great history and fantastic fanbase. I sometimes think this is taken for granted. People need to realise this. All of us will have different ideas on where things have gone wrong. I never want to use this platform to have a go at anyone. I have my views, as we all do, but personal attacks are not the way I do things. I feel sorry for the players and coaches. All good people, all of them now in a horrible position. A big Hackbridge shout out to Nathan Daly who has played his heart out this season...  But I also feel sorry for our fans, many of whom looked crushed on Saturday.

 

More than anything at the moment we need to pull together and show some unity. Yes, easier said than done… But fucking important at this moment in time.

 Come On You Terrors !!!

Guest Blog From Darren Parker

Hello Dear Reader, another guest blog, this time from Darren Parker with his views on the South Park game and also his views on this season and what is happening at TMUFC...

 TMUFC Vs South Park………….time for a change? By Darren Parker.

 Having not attended any Tooting games for a few weeks, and with a weekend off work with no commitments, I decided to head down to Imperial Fields for my footie fix. In truth, I was in two minds as to whether I should go or not, as I haven’t really been enjoying the entertainment on the pitch recently, and thought my time might be better spent catching up with the washing. Having got that ridiculous thought out of my brain, I made my way down to the ground, just in time for a pre match pint, and a catch up with some familiar faces. The first thing that hit me when entering the bar area was the lack of people inside. It wasn’t so long ago, that with an hour to go till kick off, you would have had to wait in a queue at the bar to get served. Perhaps this has something to do with the recent increase in pricing, or are the hard core fans staying away in favour of washing their smalls! Entering the ground I was greeted by the familiar faces of Hackbridge Harry and Dee Pee, the later of who gave me a sneak preview of the new book that is coming out. It looks fantastic, and is a must buy for all die hard Tooting Fans. I would encourage everyone to get in contact with David to make a pre order. I certainly have, and look forward to getting my copy in the next few weeks. I was happy to see that although the bar area wasn’t particularly busy, the numbers inside the ground we’re still up to our normal levels. The team itself was pretty much an unchanged side since the last time I visited. Looking through the team sheet I recognised the majority of the names, which given the number of players used so far this season pleased me no end. I wasn’t particularly happy to see both Billy Brown and Jordan Clarke on the bench, both of whom are exciting experienced players that can make things happen. The game itself was fairly well contested in the early stages, with Toots having most of the possession, and the visitors looking dangerous on the break. We managed to take the lead on the quarter of an hour mark, a cross into the box looping away to Mark Waters on the edge of the box, who done really well to keep his effort down. The shot bounced off the bar and over the line, a good spot from the officials. This seemed to force South Park into a more attacking mentality, and it wasn’t long before they equalised through a penalty. Their big centre forward got kicked in the head, and I don’t think even the most die-hard Terror would argue with the referee’s award of a spot kick. South Park took control of the first half from this point, and I felt we were fairly lucky to go in level at the break. Tooting came out with a new vigour in the second half, and took the game to their opponents. However, we struggled to create any real clear cut chances and didn’t look like we would make the opposition keeper earn his money. I, along with a number of other supporters, became increasingly disgruntled at the seemingly lack of action to change things up, and started berating our Management team as to why Billy Brown wasn’t being introduced. The bog end faithful stirred up a rendition of “We want Billy Brown”, which finally had an effect with 5 minutes remaining. This was far too late in my opinion, but I was nearly made to eat my words as Billy forced the Park Keeper (I have been waiting to use that one!) into a brilliant save to tip the ball over the bar. It was a rasping shot, and came out of nowhere. That’s what Billy can do! Unfortunately, time ran out, and we were forced to settle for a point. Probably a fair result at the end of the day, and is a true reflection on the standard of our football at the moment. I didn’t really fancy a pint in the bar at the end of the game. My partner in crime was down in Exeter, watching a far higher standard of football, and I had promised Mrs P a Curry in the evening, so didn’t want to fall into her bad books by rolling in pissed. Two pints had served me well, and I would only have ended up crying on someone’s shoulder about the lack of experience and organisation within our team. Which brings me on to my thoughts on the current situation at our beloved club. In my opinion, we don’t have enough experienced players in our team, the tactics aren’t working, and things need to change. We very rarely create any clear cut chances, and keeping players like Brown, Clarke, and Hamlin sat on the bench is just criminal. Losing Daryl Coleman was a real kick in the teeth, and just a few weeks later our top scorer in Danny Williams also departs. Player retention is key at our level. For me, too many good footballers have left for pastures new and there is little cohesion in the team. We have given debuts to a number of youngsters, who in my opinion do not look ready for first team football at our level, and the obvious connection with a certain Consultancy company is quite worrying from a player promotion point of view. Sky Sports cameras have been an unnecessary distraction, and having the Manager’s discuss tactics on the pitch at half time so that they can get footage is just ludicrous. Ashley and Cornelius have worked wonders with the youth teams, and up until this season have performed reasonably well as joint first team Managers. Perhaps they have too much to deal with, looking after teams at so many levels, and can’t dedicate enough of their time to concentrate on first team matters. We have been told by our Members club chairman, via an unofficial forum, that everyone at the club, from the very top down, are really concerned about our results, and it is not an issue based around money. So hopefully, they will do the right thing, and make a change. Personally, I would love to see an experienced non-league Manager brought into the club, to take the reins of the first team. Let Ashley and Cornelius continue to work with our under 23’s and below, whilst learning from an experienced hand in first team matters. I am sure there are Managers about that would be happy to consider joining our club, and that would fit into the way that we operate. Thanks to Steve for giving me the opportunity to air my views and opinions at TMUFC, and I look forward to seeing you all at a game sometime soon. Come on you Stripes! 

Cheers Darren for sending this over.

#Disappointing

I have seen Toots lose cup finals and get relegated and still left the ground in a better state than I did when the final whistle blew at the match at Bedfont Sports. 3-0 up and looking good and then to end up losing 5-4 with a last-minute goal left me feeling totally numb. 

 The group of Bedfont kids singing “3-0 and you fucked it up” as the cheered their players off was the icing on the very large cake. Although in fairness to them, it was funny and if you are going to lose to a last-minute goal, it helps if it’s a good one.

 Check out Bedfont’s Twitter account to see the last goal if like me you are a glutton for punishment. Anyone that lobs the goalie from the halfway line should get a bit of respect for their efforts. I'm sure they will talk about that goal for years to come, I know we will.

I was also in the crowd at the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final between Arsenal and Real Zaragoza played in Paris when Ex Tottenham player Nayim, scored a last-minute goal with a 40-yard lob over Arsenal goalkeeper, David Seaman, securing the win. Oh, how I laughed when that went in. Nayim did fuck all at Spurs but will always be classed as a legend over at WHL because of that bastard goal. Unlike Paris however I didn’t get tear gassed when leaving the stadium by heavily armed riot police. 

Every cloud..... 

My first trip to Bedfont’s ground as the last couple of times Toots have played mid-week games there and as the season seems to be getting worse and worse, we must all get used to the fact that relegation is a very real possibility, it could well be my last visit for a while. 

 Tooting and Mitcham are rightly proud of the Academy set up and the way that it is helping young people in South London. But, have those same young people battered and beaten on the pitch every week will not do their confidence any good whatsoever.

 Some very angry travelling Terrors in attendance on Saturday and my mood not helped by the TMUFC official twitter account describing the game as “Disappointing” for about the hundredth time this season. If you're 3-0 up in any game, you should at the very least leave with one point. But this is Tooting I'm talking about and things don't go to plan.

 I don’t know what the solution is, and I have no words of in-depth footballing knowledge to say where the club has gone so badly wrong this season. But it has. The last relegation was bad enough but the whole set up at TMUFC seemed to grow stronger from that and I still regard that as the start of a new beginning at Fortress Imperial. But nevertheless, things need to change and maybe there will need to be some serious discussions behind the scenes about the direction the club is taking. Relegation into the Combined Counties would be nothing less than a disaster for Tooting.

Guest Blog from Bog end Ant

Dear Reader. A bit of a change for this one. A blog written up by Bog End Ant... 

 I feel like I've needed to write this blog for a while, things are just not right at the minute both on and off the pitch. 

 First of all the news come in last week about Kingstonian ground sharing at Imperial Fields with us next season. I am happy to be helping out another local club and have nothing against Kingstonian, another club with a rich history and it is a real shame that they don't have their own home to play at. Although, I and many others have questions about what is happening to Tooting Bec FC. I understand that Bec will definitely not be playing on our main pitch next season but there is still uncertainty about what will be happening to them. Tooting Bec are a good club run by great people who I get on very well with. I do wish them well and I hope that the great relationship our club has with them is not affected by this news. 

 There are plans for a changing block and seating to be installed on the back 3G pitch which is somewhere Tooting Bec could potentially play their games and that leads me onto my next point. My only problem with this is that the stadium plans seem very long term and I can't see them being ready for next season. Tooting and Mitcham have been granted planning permission for a new block of flats to be built right by the ground and next to the site. There are also plans for a new facility to be built on the back pitch as mentioned above when talking about Tooting Bec. 

 If the plans do happen (I'll believe it when I see it), then I think they will be a brilliant thing for our football club. I believe that the idea is for the money from selling the flats will go straight back into the club for building the other new facilities. This all seems like good news and hopefully everything works out for the best. 

 On the pitch, this season has been dreadful for Tooting and Mitcham, after the London Senior Cup success last season, this season was expected to be a big one and we had high hopes of potential promotion, unfortunately this hasn't worked out at all. We have had 50 players play for us so far this season which is both very inconsistent and very concerning. 

The last 2 games away to Staines and at home to Hanwell both ended in 2-0 defeats. Staines were bottom of the league at the time and outmuscled and outplayed us all night, it was embarrassing to watch. The home game against Hanwell was a similar story with us not having a shot on target in either game. To be fair to Hanwell they are a very good team who are chasing a play-off spot, they were well up for it against us looking for revenge for last season’s Cup semi-final so I weren't expecting much going into the game. 

 There are still concerns that we could get Relegated, we are only 6 points of the drop and the teams that are in the Relegation zone at the minute are Staines who beat us the other week and Guernsey who still have many games in hand and are playing us next Saturday which is increasingly looking like a relegation 6 pointer. 

I do hope that we have enough to stay up but we can't be naive as we made the same mistakes the last time we got relegated in the Bostik Premier. 

 In my opinion it is clear to see that there is not enough experience in this current squad and we are desperately missing key players. The club prides itself on developing youth players and we have a brilliant track record with the likes of Isiah Jones, Hady Ghandour, Abraham Odoh, Sam Forlain and Saidou Khan all playing professional football. It is great to see all these players doing well especially Isiah Jones who is playing week in week out and getting Man of the match awards in the championship. He has become a fans favourite at Middlesbrough, and it won't be long until top Premier league clubs are looking out for him. However, I do wonder how this ethos benefits the first team as it is clear that things are not working at the minute.

I am very concerned that the current model and ethos of the football club is not the right way in trying to get this club promoted and to be sustainable in a higher league. There have been many successful things happening at the club lately with the youth academy, planning permission being successful and the Farm Road project, but as many others have said this success doesn't seem to translate to the first team which in the end of the day is what us supporters care about most at the club. 

 Monday's game vs Hanwell attracted a crowd of 333, our highest of the season so far. To be fair to Hanwell they brought a fair few supporters with them. There are many new faces at Tooting games but with the way we played on Monday and so far, this season it will be difficult to keep these people coming to games especially with how successful many other clubs have been nearly. Sutton United are now in the football league and chasing promotion to League One, AFC Wimbledon are back at Plough Lane, Carshalton Athletic are doing well in the Isthmian Premier and attracting very good crowds, even Walton & Hersham are getting good crowds this season with 503 watching them on Monday. With all these clubs nearby being very successful, if you are a local floating fan looking for a game to watch, then Tooting would probably be one of the last places you'd look to at the minute. 

 As many people are aware Sky sports are currently filming a documentary on young footballers in South London. They have been filming at many Tooting games this season both home and away. They've been using microphones during half time talks with managers and even asked the linesmen to move out the way at the Hanwell game. They've also been using drones at games. 

Many of us on the Bogend have made ourselves clear what we think about the cameras both vocally at games and also on social media. It's not just our supporters who don't like them, If you ask many of our players they will say that they don't like the cameras following them around and find them a distraction. Another reason why I don't like these cameras is that they give opposition teams extra motivation to beat us. They see the cameras there following Tooting and that gives them the extra will to win. An example of this Is when we lost 2-0 away to South Park on a Tuesday Night. After the game South Park's twitter tweeted how their win was caught on camera and many of their players had tweeted how good it was to win in front of them. 

 Social media wise Tooting and Mitcham have come a long way in the last few years. The people running our club’s social media have brought this club into the 21st century and I'm really happy and grateful for that. However, in my opinion, the main 2 Hashtags the club use at the minute, which are #ClubOfProgression and #TerrorsTogether couldn't be further from the truth at the minute. 

 At the moment it seems like all our local rivals including Carshalton and Corinthian Casuals are progressing very well both on and off the pitch with crowds going up and both doing well on the pitch in the Isthmian Premier. Many other clubs nearby seem to be progressing and going places, but Tooting still seem to be stuck where we are, exactly the opposite of what I'd consider a Club Of Progression. #TerrorsTogether is another hashtag the clubs uses on social media, used with the best of intentions but Tooting And Mitcham are not a together football club at the minute. 

There is a major split between the fans and the club, and it does feel like us vs them for a lot of our supporters. There also seems to be a big split in our own fan base between older and newer supporters which has turned quite sour this season especially in recent weeks with there being many arguments happening recently about the way the club is on and off the pitch. Tooting and Mitcham isn't a happy place to be at the minute and in my opinion, the opposite of a together football club. 

 This club has got so much potential with a great ground and great facilities but at the minute we are not living up to it. So after all I've said and moaned about, if you think I'm going to Bedfont Sports away on Saturday you'd be absolutely right.

The Joy of Football - Part 38

Hope you all had a groovy Christmas and are looking forward to a fantastic 2022 both on and off the pitch…. And that Dear Reader is about as happy and cheerful as this blog gets….

 Now for the Hanwell game and where to begin is a tough one. A bad game in which we didn’t seem to trouble their goalie at all. Very sad to hear booing at the end. Many of these players are very young and looked totally crushed when they came up to the fans that stayed behind after hearing the jeers. But the fans pay good money to watch the team. Their weekends can be ruined by bad results just as much as the players and coaches. They have a right to be upset and to question what has happened this season. It upset me to hear the jeers and it upset me to see the players faces, but it also upset me to see the faces of many of our fans as they headed home or to the bar for the after-match discussion. 

 Sky TV are still filming over at Fortress Imperial. I’m sure when they first come into film the team and academy, things were buzzing after the progression of a number of players though the footballing pyramid and the London Senior Cup win. It would have been great to get more media exposure and help raise the profile of the club. At the moment, hopefully they will have lots of positive footage from behind the scenes as there has been very little to look forward to if the match day footage gets shown. It’s bad enough seeing the team lose but to know that it’s being filmed for all to see is sickening. A couple of people involved in the footballing side of things have said that having Sky walking around filming has been a distraction that the players and coaches do not need. It’s also obvious that the Bog End faithful are not happy with the cameras at games. I for one do not blame them. 

Non-League football has become more and more popular, Sky will know that. The chance to stick their nose into a number of places will be too much for them to turn away on their hunt for viewing figures and the chance to fuck up yet another sport…. Bear that in mind if in 5 years’ time our away game with Chipstead is on Pay to View on Thursday night at 9pm. 

 There are splits growing in the ranks of our supporters. The various reasons would fill a blog in on their own, one I may well do. Different groups with different views on how things could or should be done. All of their views valid and worth listening to even if they are not the views you want to hear or agree with. I like to think that I know most of the people who come to see Toots and have heard various views on how the clubs has gone wrong and what the club is doing right. Covid has caused the cancellation of a meet the people who run the club night. A new date needs to be looked into and if possible and able to be done safely as I know a lot of people are concerned about the direction the club is going. Some kind of clear the air meeting should be done to at least try and heal some of the bad feeling at Toots.

 Kingstonian will be ground sharing at Fortress Imperial next season it has been announced. Strange move for them as they were over at Corinthian Casuals and at least were playing games in the Kingston Area. An awkward journey for many of their fans and one that many seem unhappy with. This is meant to be for a couple of years / seasons until they are able to go back to the Kingston. As for Tooting Bec and the various teams they have set up, I should imagine there will be major changes for them. What this will mean for all three clubs remains to be seen but I’m fully expecting various weird and wonderful conspiracy theories.

 Let’s face some facts here. TMUFC have lost two years’ worth of income including gate money due to Covid so in all honesty extra gate money coming in will help out any short falls that have happened over the last couple of seasons. I work in the facilities industry. This involves looking after and managing budgets, invoices and bills. We need to face facts that to run Imperial Fields is very costly. The Electric, gas and water utilities have to be paid. Insurance and rates. The upkeep of the ground and pitches. Ironically the Sky sports subscription to show games in the bar, not forgetting the wages of the staff etc. Plus, the added cost of finding funds for the playing budget all needs to be found. 

I get on with both Steve and Jackie and have no axe to grind or hidden agenda against them or the way the club is run as a business etc. But I believe that supporters should be given some idea of the costs of the day to day running of TMUFC. I'm not suggesting anything untoward, but how was the money collected on the Crowd Funder page put to use at Imperial Fields. A lot of people put money into this and would like a rundown of what the money went towards I would ask for more information from the club and the Members club, who I believe own 10% of Imperial Fields on what goes on behind the scenes and what goes on in general. The social media side has much improved in the last few years, but supporters need more updates. The rumour mill often goes into overdrive when announcement are made. Two and Two becomes Five as people try and find out what is happening. For a start some of the conspiracy theories that often spring up could be put to bed early instead of growing and growing. A lot of the good work that the club does with the local community and local business either goes unnoticed or is not explained allowing Roswell/ JFK type conspiracies to spring up. Recently, the club has had to find a lot of money to upgrade the ground after recommendations and regulations that have come into force since the terrible fire at Grenfell. Plus, the work done on the pitch. Yet this is not common knowledge. If more people knew this, they may well become more understanding when it comes to the costs of running the place. Bills have to be paid and staff have to be paid. My job possibly may give me a better idea of costs and budgets. Not everyone has the same experience. We don't need to know everything and see every single invoice but an idea of what is going on behind the scenes could help people understand more. Might even help stop more of the negative stuff that goes up on various platforms. 

 At this moment in time many people do not know what the Members Club do or their role in the club and what stake they have in the set up at Imperial Fields. There is very little communication between the Directors of the Members Club and the other supporters when it comes to these matters. Directors sit in the stand and are not seen or visible before and after games. It has been good to see Chris Woolley walking around and chatting at resent home games, it would be good to see a bit more of that in future. In short and maybe unfairly, many fans do not know who the Directors of the Club are and what the Members Club do. There needs to be more open dialog between the Members Club and the supporters when it comes to their part in the running of the club and financial matters. Supporters need to be informed of what the Members Club are asked / expected to contribute to the Team / playing budget each season. What other costs the Members Club may also be responsible for during the year. Without this information people do not know where their money is going or what it is being spent on. A regular newsletter given out on match days or regular articles in the programme could go a long way to heal the "Them and Us" feeling that some supporters have in regard to the Members Club. The club over the years lost a number of supporters who were willing to help out but became disillusioned with things at TMUFC. Last of information and bad communication often playing a part in this. 

Christ, how depressing was that…. It must be bad enough having read it if you managed to get this far. Believe me it was hard enough writing the thing. I’ll be there Saturday and I’ll be cheering the team on. None of us are enjoying this. Not the players, fans, coaches, owners or staff. Try to stay positive and cut others some slack if you don’t agree with them. We are stronger together than we are when split up into various factions. 

 Up The Terrors !!!!!

Hackbridge Wonderland

Mention Westfield to most people they will think of the large shopping centres in and around London which, in turn make me dream of  "Dawn of the dead" type of days out. Well getting eaten alive by Zombies would have been preferable to witnessing  two of the worst Tooting performances that I have been "lucky" enough to witness over the last couple of years at Westfield ground in Woking.

         Merry Christmas Oiks

As Toots enter the Christmas holiday fixtures needing points, playing Westfield could either be the test the team needed to help kick start the season again or the chance for me to start the holiday period  looking at my online credit card statement while crying and praying for a Zombie apocalypse to put an end to this season sooner rather than later. 

A one nil victory in a game that will not live in the memory of those who turned their backs on Christmas shopping in Croydon for a Saturday afternoon in the freezing cold. Still, three points and I left Fortress Imperial feeling rather pleased which is more than could be said for Westfields twitter account writer who after moaning constatly about time wasting from TMUFC was trolled by various Terrors all though Saturday night. I've watched loads of clubs do it to us and it made me rather happy to do it back to someone at long last... But my happiness was short lived.

Like many, I work very long hours in a badly paid job. This means I miss the vast majority of mid-week away games. Every now and again I thank fuck for long hours as I missed the trip to Staines for what would turn out to be another "disappointing" result against a team which somehow was having up until then, a worse season than we are. I'm told by those in the know that we have so far played over 45 different players in our attempt to find our best match day squad. Even if this is down to the ongoing pandemic or injuries, we are strugling on the pitch to get things right. Not good is it.

There are some large splits in the ranks between fans and supporters about the direction the club is going. The club of "Progression" is not progressing that well. It's hard to sit on the fence when it is obvious to everyone that on the pitch things are going badly. I have accepted the fact that the best we can hope for is a mid table position in the league, there is still hope for a good cup run as we are still in a few trophies, but this season has been dreadful league wise. 

Yet again just to add to the joy, all other local teams all seem to be doing well but never the less we are still gettings loads of new faces in the stands and terraces at Toots, many now becoming regulars. Maybe there is some kind of masochistic sex cult in the area which involves regular bouts of pain and humiliation.

"Right, you dirty little pig. After you've finished the lawn, you can clean the toilet with your toothbursh and then go and watch Tooting and Mitcham"

So after Santa emptied his sack over the carpet at Hackbridge Towers there was the small matter of our away game with Sutton Common Rovers. Worth bearing in mind we would regularly play their Landlords Sutton United in games not so long ago. Now at the time of writing they sit in the play off positions in League two while we have Chipstead as our big local rivals or Sutton Common Rovers.... But..... The dreaded Bug struck again which meant no Christmas fixtures this year. On the plus it meant Christmas wasn't ruined by by another "Disappointing" result.

Shout Out Time !!!!!!!!!! 

Thanks and a Merry Christmas and fantastic New Year to Jimmy and everyone at the Ramble Inn up near Amen Corner in Tooting and thanks for their help and support over the last 12 months

St Matthews Project are still doing great community work and putting on various events over the Christmas period. A fantastic group of people. Great to chat with a couple of people from there at the Westfield game.

Please go and visit: 

https://thesmp.net/ 

And show them the support they deserve.

If you need a bit more intelligence with your reading material than this. Go and visit those South London Is Black and White Herberts for far better Terrors related stuff than this rubbish I come out with  https://www.southlondonisblackandwhite.com/ 

Last but not least, all the hard people over at Tooting and Mitcham who help out on match days and in many cases all though the week at Fortress Imperial. Thanks to all of you xxx

Christmas in Hackbridge Towers is always a happy occasion. We all sit around the table while I play the harmonica and Ant sings Christmas Carols with lyrics changed to mention how shit Dulwich are. Mrs H was really happy with her black designer "Sports Direct" bag which is the equivalent of a   Louis Vuitton handbag to the locals in Sutton, you can guess how envious the local ladies will be when we next visit the Asda. I've told her not to take it to the Asda on Beddington Lane though as she might well get mugged.

Bog end Ant has his £400 Stone Island underpants to wear on match days and I got a tube of Pringles. Hope Christmas was full of peace and love where ever you are.... 

Up The Terrors !!!!!