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 !!!!!!

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….

There's only one Harry...

Some things never change.... Summer turns to Autumn, tide’s ebb and flow, the moon rises and the sun sets.... Tooting and Mitcham go one nil down in the first five minutes and miss penalties... Mother Nature can be very cruel.

                  The Thinker

 It's quite mind blowing following the Mighty Toots. Brilliant one week, crap the next. I had high hopes for this season but it's looking as if we will need a huge change of fortune to get anything from this. The Footballing Gods have a cruel sense of humour. You never really know what will happen on a match day. I should imagine that neutrals must love coming along to our games as they are often eventful, even when the results go against us, it's worth watching. 

Since I last put pen to paper, or more truthfully fingered my keyboard, The Terrors lost to Thatcham, Drew with Sutton Common Rovers and beat Chipstead, but I'll skip past those a go straight to Northwood at home and the chance to get things moving again after rather a long break from league games which led myself and Ant heading to the South Coast to watch Seaford Town and a shorter trips to Raynes Park Vale and Colliers Wood for our Saturday Football fix. I can't lie, watching games where I don't really care of the outcome is quite liberating and it's nice to know the result won’t ruin your Saturday night or even the whole weekend. 

"Today, I'm meeting Footballs hardest ground hoppers"

 So, at last I found myself back at the home of football for the visit of Northwood for the first Saturday league game in a while. I miss the first part of the home games because of sorting out and working in the club shop so I missed the first 20mins, but we went in at half time 3-2 up. Four goals in the second half at least giving me something to cheer. Got to be honest now, scoring seven goals is great but letting in three goals and seeing as Northwood also hit the post and missed a couple of sitters is worrying to say the least. 

Next up Whitehawk in the FA Trophy which we ballsed up quite spectacularly losing 4-1 at home and even managed to miss yet another fucking penalty which if it had gone in could have made a huge difference as we could have gone on to salvage something from the game.... or we would have just lost 4-2. Mind you they missed a penalty as well. Either way Toots need to sort out this penalty jinx as even the most ardent Bog Enders just shrug their shoulders when we get a spot kick now and look at each other with a knowing look in their eyes.

Can’t really say we played that badly, but finishing was a again our main problem. A couple of good saves from the Whitehawk goalie stopping any chance of us getting back into the game. 

So, no trips to Wembley this season. Out of both the FA Cup and Trophy at the first hurdle which is a big blow financially to the club and at a time where every club is having to try and get more money to help the running of things means a bit of a disaster over at Fortress Imperial. 

The league is still the main priority and it's important for the club to get out of the division we find ourselves in, so anything less than making the play offs will not go down well. Promotion means bigger gates as there are more travelling away fans in the top Isthmian Division as well as the chance to play more of our historical rivals. Glad to say that our defence of the London Senior Cup started well with a 4-1 victory over Redbridge. It's a competition I think we all regard with a great deal of fondness. Another good run in this please.... 

 So last one of the hattrick of home games saw the visit of Bracknell Town in what I was hoping to be a top of the table clash when the fixtures first came out. Our visitors winning one nil with a first half goal. The Terrors played well and should have come away with at least a point, but Bracknell defence worked well as a unit and were able to deal with everything we threw at them during the second half. Well, we didn’t concede after two minutes or miss any penalties. But we need a change of fortunes as the top five clubs are pulling away from the others leaving us in the mid table positions. A good performance yes but no points to show for the hard work. 

Even with all the gloom and doom, crowds are still healthy and going up. Loads of new faces coming to home games and becoming regulars. A crowd of over 260 for the Bracknell game. There's lots going on at TMUFC and if you can help out on match days please do. Even if you have Twitter, Facebook or any of the other social media platforms please follow other Terrors and the Official Accounts and help spread the word on fixtures and up and coming events. Just a couple of seconds on a smart phone or PC can do so much to help both the Club and supporters’ groups etc. 

 Before the Northwood game Some chap came up to me at the shop and asked if I was "Harry" Of course, I thought he was meaning Hackbridge Harry, thinking he must follow and be a huge fan my in-depth football punditry and match analysis on Twitter... Mr Chuckles was in fact taking the piss and meant that I looked like Harry Kane. How I laughed. I look more like Brad Pitt as everyone who knows me will back up. I've never been so insulted and even that big poo pants Totts at Sutton has never stooped that low.... Talking of which the way Sutton are taking points off everyone in League Two there is a chance of them having a very successful season. Just think in about four years’ time they could be playing Champions League games at Gangrene Lane while we’re missing penalties in our big derby game with Chipstead after going one nil down in the second minute…. I hate football.

Tooting and Mitcham 1 Whitehawk 4

The Joy and Happiness of Football. (Part 87)

Hello Dearest Reader. It’s me again with more tales of joy and happiness, mixed in with the normal doom and gloom. More doom and gloom in truth in this one....

            Sorrow in his eyes

 Well the season has stated at last and now we can get on with the real good stuff and proper football. Fingers crossed we will all get to finish this season. 

As with last season, the mighty

Toots started their season with the FA Cup. 

 The magic of the cup, the old footballing cliché that comes back to haunt us all in our search for footballing nirvana and the chance of a trip to Wembley to watch our Black and White stripes defeat one of the evil Premiership Giants. 

I know the clubs at Tooting’s level have to win about 47 games to even get a sniff of some giant killing but there’s always hope. So, with this in mind, off we all went to Fortress Imperial to watch us take on South East London team Erith and Belvedere FC in the FA Cup. They come from the same part of the world that Fisher came from who beat us in last season’s competition… So, what could possibly go wrong. 

 Well quite a lot as it goes. 1-0 down in the first half We only seemed to get going in the second. Finally hitting the back of the net from a penalty to make the score 1-1. A good goalkeeping performance and a couple of shots hitting the woodwork keeping us from winning. 

But the cup dream was over on Wednesday night as we lost the replay 3-1 in extra time and again another penalty miss when the score was 1-1 with 12 minutes left to play. Once it came up on social media, we’d missed from the spot again I knew what was coming. 

 Pretty upset about this. The FA Cup is a chance to dream and a chance to maybe get a draw against one of our rivals or another further up the footballing pyramid. 

As I have said before we are in a league with no geographical or historical rivalry and the cup competitions are the only way to meet up with old friends and foes. To go out of the FA Cup so early now two seasons in a row to clubs we should really beat is a bit of a pisser. The Fisher game still gives me sleepless nights. Well beaten on the day by a team we should have done a lot better against. Fisher seemed well up for their game a bought a loud vocal following and well deserved their victory. I’m sorry, Erith and Belvedere FC were nothing special at Fortress Imperial and should have been put to bed at our place. 

TMUFC are a big scalp to take for many clubs, our history, stadium and fans make us arguably one of the biggest clubs at our level and in our league. I sometimes wonder if the club take clubs below us seriously enough and realise how much other clubs want to beat us. Another footballing cliché is the comment “It was their cup final” when clubs play against so called smaller clubs…. Every game should be a Cup Final if we want to seriously get out of this league and onto the next level no matter who we play. I honestly believe we would have made the play offs in both of the cancelled seasons and would go as far to say we might well have won it outright last season, but it was not too be. This is a huge season for us, let’s hope those Footballing Gods smile on us in the coming weeks.

              Woking Bound

 Anyway, enough of this miserable bollocks this early in the season. What better place to get over the disappointment than a trip to Woking for our first league game of the season against Westfield FC. A chance to visit the lovely home of the best Pizza Express going so I’m told by those “in the know”. 

 I once won a bottle of Jamaican Rum in their club raffle which turned out to be two years out of date according to the sell by date. Well worth the price of the ticket. Also we lost that game after a dreadful preformance, so what could possibly go wrong. Well, It’s fair to say that the day did not go as planned, if fact anything but. Millwall Will called it “A bad day at the office” which is a pretty good cliché and one that sums up the afternoon’s events perfectly. To start with, we had most of the ball without really causing them any problems right up to when Westfield scored their first goal and we were still in with a shout up until we gave the ball away in first half injury time with an inch perfect cross field pass to one of their bemused players which lead to the second goal. 

You could tell we were in shock after that and really didn’t create anything of note in the second half. Westfield scoring a third which put a full stop on things. Can’t hide the fact that this was awful. The after-match post-mortem in the bar was not good listening. A lot of Terrors had made the short journey down to Woking and I doubt if any would have had anything good to say at the final whistle. As I, Ant and Millwall Will headed through the park back towards the station we could still hear Tooting’s finest and Anthony’s role models serenading the locals with songs which had more to do with Fulham’s win than anything the mighty stripes had come up with. 

Oh well….. On a positive note we are only three points off the play off places and now have a bit of time to get things sorted out now we don’t have the FA Cup to worry about this coming Saturday. I’m concerned, but not quite as much as Prince Andrew must be after reading the morning papers over the last few days. At least he had fun in Woking.

"We went to Westfield.....By      mistake 

Shout Out Time !!!!!!!!!! 

Thanks as always to Jimmy and everyone over at the Ramble Inn up near Amen Corner in Tooting for all their support. Jimmy sponsored the Erith game and has done so much to bring people together and get them down to games over the last few years….

Talking about great people, St Matthews Project are still doing great community work and putting on various events over the Summer holidays. Hope to see them soon over at Tooting Please go and visit: 

https://thesmp.net/ 

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/ 

 Finally, guess what….. 

There is a nice little brewery opened up on the Willow Lane estate. Drop Project Brewing Co. A couple of the Irish Lot went in to visit after the Erith game and I went to have a nose around the day after to stock up on supplies.

 The Drop Project Brewing Company Ltd Unit 8 Willow Business Centre 17 Willow Lane Mitcham CR4 4NX Walk-ins only. Dog Friendly. Under 18 curfew from 7pm. Disabled access and facilities. The main pedestrian gate to our estate is unlocked during the below opening hours. Opening Hours Friday 3-10pm Saturday 12-10pm Sunday 12-6pm 

https://www.drop-project.co.uk/ 

 Right, I’m off to sniff glue and listen to The Ramones…. Up The Terrors!!!!!!

Tooting and Mitcham 0 - Covid 19

So thats it, 2019-20 over done and dusted (probably).  - Tooting and Mitcham 0 Covid 19, does sound like a result from our 2011-12 season but instead of a heart breaking trip down memory lane this means that because some one decided to have a "Bat and Pangolin Toasty" instead of cornflakes or a packet of crisps for a snack this season has pretty much been written off.

 

" I don't care if the shelves are empty, if I don't get my bastard bean shoots, you're getting a punch in the fucking throat"

 

 

"Bat and Pangolin Toasty" does sound like something they'd serve up at half time at Dulwich along with a organic seaweed pesto and honey glazed turnip fries as part of a 14 quid meal deal along with a pineapple and stinging nettle infused IPA brewed in some blokes garden shed in Bexleyheath.

Typical bloody Toots, get the season back on track and the bloody thing gets cancelled. Of course we would have won the league with 12 points to spare and had most of our squad represent England in the Euros, but it was not to be. With Dulwich hovering around the relegation places they must be slightly releived as well. Bastards.

I spent over two weeks with "mild" symptoms  of the Coronavirus and I promise you It was no fun what so ever. So take care all of my Dear Readers and don't take things lightly. Wash your hands and change your underpants every half hour just to make sure. I though that after surviving the gents toilets at Barking that I would be pretty much immune to 99.9999% of all viruses but this knocked me for six.

 

Day one of isolation in Hackbridge Towers March 2020. 

 

So a big clap to all NHS staff, carers and any poor sod who's looked after loved ones and a huge dose of clap to all hoarders and twats who filled their houses with toilet roll, hand sanitizer and food they'll never eat.

 

Day seven of isolation in Hackbridge Towers March 2020. 

I've watched all 10 series of "The Walking Dead" and not once did I see an episode when Rick and the gang went of to find toilet rolls. My main concern was that if I was to die that my last football match would have been Sutton United v Hartlepool which would have put the dampeners on my funeral and turned a happy event of joy and fun into a rather awkward couple of hours of small talk and shoe gazing.  

Day fourteen  of isolation in Hackbridge Towers March 2020. 

 

Anyway I now seem to be over the worse of things and just as well as Mrs H has finished drinking the last of the Hand sanitizer after spending all this time locked in doors with me and Ant.... which must be fun.

 

Back to more important things, I'll name drop those chaps over at South London is Black and White who have continued to put up loads of well written Terrors related blogs apart from the rubbish that Phil Nightingale has put up obviously. Pop over and say hello and if you have anything to added to the online Terror community please drop them an email

 

https://www.southlondonisblackandwhite.com/

 

And everyone over at St Matthews Project, who have become regulars over at Fortress Imperial and one in particular who uses his Saturday Afternoons as much needed moaning sessions. They do great work over there so again pop over and say hello and send them plenty of love and support.

 

http://www.thesmp.net/

The Covid virus will hit groups like SMP and the great work they do so please support what they do.

Who knows when I'll be back... Soon I hope, Stay Safe everyone and keep your underpants clean.

Up The Terrors !!!!!!

 

The Joy of Six

The Joy of Six

So Dear Reader, we start this Bog End Type Blog Thingy with another home game, this time against FC Romania a club who had started a few years ago pretty much as a pub team. They have struggled this year which is a shame as they are a friendly mob but this is football and on the day the Mighty Tooty Wooty Boys were in no mood to be nice and of course with us playing FC Romania I get to mention The Cheeky Girls yet again and also get to mention those Hammer Horror Films from the 60,'s and 70's and my all time favorite actress Ingrid Pitt... Yes I know she was from Poland but this is my blog and I loved her. I met her once at a book signing in Central London, a boyhood dream came true. She was lovely and chatted to all of us there, who it must be said were all male between the ages of 35 to 60.

Back to football... The mountains and castles of Transylvania, I'm told does looks a lot like Cheshunt where FC Romania play their home games at the moment and they must have travelled "Down South" in a optimistic mood of a Vampiric bloodbath seeing as our home form had been rather pants recently. But six first half goals sent those Cheeky Boys back up Norf feeling well and truly spanked. Aparently scoring six goals in the first half is a new club record.... I also remember Chatham scoring five goals against us in 15 mins a few years ago and I wouldn't mind betting that was a club record as well, but I'm over that now and only think about that game two or three times a day.

 

My First True Love

Two goals from Ahkeem Belford and further goals from Lawrence Nzuruba, Jamarie Brisset, Danny Bassett and Connor French meant we got the three points and help to improve our goal difference. Another good crowd of 275 watching a brilliant first 45 minutes and a rather flatter second half 45 minutes which was understandable seeing as the game was pretty much done and dusted by the time both team came out after half time.
I hope FC Romania get some results go there way as I have a bit of a soft spot for them and hope they stay up. So an Ingrid type sexy six goal wonder game which both Besty and Lee missed therefore proving they both may well be jinxes after all.

 

Spanktastic Result For The Tooty Terrors

Next up for the "Mighty Toots" was a trip to Erith for the QF of the London Senior Cup was to end in a 2-1 defeat, which is a shame. The chance to possibly play AFC Wombledon or Brentford away at Griifen Park ended in South East London after we went 1-0 up from a goal from DMG. I really enjoy The London Senior Cup but alas for this season it is not to be. It's often said we play in too many cup compititions during the season and there may be some truth in that but I'd like to think TMUFC will always take the LSC seriously

With the club still in a very good position of making the play offs or a chance of getting the outright promotion slot, the league must be the priority so maybe not having the distraction of any further cup games could be a blessing. Well I hope so anyway. 

Next up for The Terrors is a trip to Staines... A team it could be said have bee a right pain over the last few seasons...

Shop (Table) news.... We are running low on stocks but will be getting a new design of scarf in soon and more beanie hats for those with cold heads. Hope to get them sooner rather than later and I've kept on at our supplier to pull his finger out..... ish

You'll all be pleased to know that my harmonica skills are improving although I've been getting negative feed back from Jackie who does the turnstiles at home games but I will carry on. I bet Nozart, Paul Lennon and John McCartney also had to put up with criticism, but like them I will not give in to Haters and Trolls.

 

Yes Hackbridge Harmonica

Up The Stripes !!!!!

5 MINUTE WARNING

Happy New Year Dear Reader 

 

Well it's been quite a while since I put finger to keyboard to discuss The Mighty Toots and their quest for Footballs Top Tier in an all conquering run of matches defeating all that fall before them...ish
Been really busy at work and being under the weather meaning I've not been my usual "Happy go lucky self".  My new job role as Prince Andrews PR advisor seems to be going really well though, so I'll try and be a bit more blogy from now on.
In my absence, hopefully you will have seen the stuff those cheeky chaps at South London Is Black and White have been putting up on their excellent page thus allowing me to lead a Blog few weeks while dealing with other things.

www.southlondonisblackandwhite.com

Please contact them if you want to help or add anything to what they do and make sure you follow them on Twitter as well.
@TaM_BaW

 A number of people send stuff on to be put online including players and coaching staff as well as supporters both new to the club and old grumpy regulars. Far better than my bitter and twisted rubbish and some of them seem to know a fair bit about football which again make a nice change from my wild guess work about what happens.

 

The travelling Bog End at Northwood proving that having a good education and following Toots does not often go hand in hand

 

 

As some of you know I run the Club Shop, when I say shop I mean the moss covered old wooden table which is inside the ground by the turnstiles at Fortress Imperial. I'd like to thank everyone who has bought stuff, which has helped the Supporters Club to pass on funds for training equipment and allowed us the donate merchandise to various groups and people and allowing us the spread the word about Tooting and Mitcham. I'll be getting new stock in shortly and hope to have a new range of scarves for sale soon.

 

New club shop stock available Mid February

The other thing which happens when running the table is that I miss the  first few minutes of the game putting stuff away or helping out with other stuff by the entrance. This as regular Terrors will tell you means I miss the team going one nil down within the first five minutes of each home game.
Or in the case of the resent Chipstead game by the time I'd put the club shop stuff away and gone to have a wee wee Toots were already two nil down.

It's a bit of a mystery how we can play so well away from home and win some really noticeable games and seem to go out of our way to balls things up at home.
But as anyone following Tooting and Mitcham will tell you that giving early goals away has been the case for the last few years. At the time of writing we have lost two home games on the trot after going down early on. Our away form still keeping us in with a good shout of the play offs but this does need to be sorted out sooner rather than later if we are to finish in the Play Off places at the end of the season. Away from home is a totally different matter. The games away at Chertsey Town and Northwood being brilliant days out for the travelling Bog End. If you do get the chance to get to an away match you'll find that we regularly take good numbers to most matches and we are rather vocal when visiting the Morris Dancing villages from Surrey and Middlesex.

Good to see Lee from The St. Matthew Project becoming a regular at Terrors home games which gives us both a chance to have a good moan about life in general which seems to act as much needed counselling sessions for us both. Along with Besty from the South London is Black and White mob he seems to think that he has brought bad luck to Fortress Imperial when he turns up. But I can assure them both that Tooting and Mitcham are quite capable of losing games no matter who turns up to cheer them on

Please have a look at the great work they do  by clicking on the link below

St. Matthews Project

Give them a follow on Twitter as well

@smpbrixton

 

I'll finish on a really positive note. There is a real good feeling about the place now and that is taking into consideration that we've just lost yet another home game. Crowds are still looking good and been growing this season. More and more new faces coming through the turnstiles and more people getting involved behind the scenes. Another special mention for all the regulars and staff from The Ramble Inn at Tooting who have turned up to home and away games over the last few seasons.

 

There are some good people following the team and there is a far better atmosphere at Tooting games than I'll admit there has been in the past. The club has come on in leaps and bounds off the pitch and that is all thanks to people who help out in various ways. Far too many to mention on here and I always worry that I'll forget to thank someone  but a big Hackbridge kiss to all of you x

Come along and make a difference. Say hello if you see me flogging badges and fridge magnets
You can't miss me.

 

Up The Terrors !!!!!!!

 

Reg Vardyians

Northwood...... Northwood...... The pain and anguish from our visit there last season is still etched into my feeble minded brain no matter how hard I try to stop thinking about it...... Northwood.... Northwood....
The Horror.... The Horror..... Winning 3-1 with a few minutes to go Toots managed to let in 3 goals and turn a comfortable win into a defeat of biblical proportions. But Dear Reader I'm over it now, I never ever think of that day.... Not once.

 

Now it's there turn to visit Fortress Imperial for our fourth game of the Victor Meldrew South Central campaign. It's also The TMUFC family fun day. So no stress, worry or blind panic as I set off to see if the Terrors could make it four wins in a row. Northwood almost putting a damper on the game by going ahead in the first half after having a goal disallowed earlier on. Toots seemed a bit out of sorts in the 1st half but came out in a far better mood for the second 45mins. An equaliser from Danny B set up a nervous finale as Toots pushed forward as Northwood looked to score from counter attacks. Well into injury time the fantastically talented Razzaq Coleman scored, sending Fortress Imperial into some pretty mental scenes as only last minute goals can do.
It was also the TMUFC family day and a good crowd of just under 300 turned out for the afternoon. Great to see Tooting MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan at the game and hope to see her back again soon.

A big thanks to everyone who helped make the day a sucess. One of the really positive things this season is the amount of volunteers who help out on match days doing various jobs. This really does help improve the whole match day experience and means more things can be arranged and run behind the scenes  

 
Sunday and another trip to the Fortress to see Tooting Bec play Walton and Hersham play out a very entertaining game in the FA Vase. W&H winning 4-2. Tooting Bec our new tenants playing some good football but undone by a couple of great goals by the visitors. 

A reasonable crowd including supporters from Sutton United, TMUFC and a few ground hoppers

As I've said before Non League football is far far better than people seem to imagine. Two days, two games and still change out of a twenty pound note for admission and programmes for myself and Ant. Add a couple of quid for food and drinks still far less spent on watching mercenary premiership players going through the motions for a weekly wage that would cover the playing budgets of two or three Non League clubs for a year.

Another trip to Gangrene Lane for another Friday night FA Cup match for Sutton Common Rovers this time against Beaconsfield was next on my hectic lifestyle, an enjoyable game but it was not to be SCR night as they lost 3-1. I was hoping they would get through for the chance to play them at Suttons ground. It's about time we played there again.

      The Greggs Superstore on Sutton High Road.... The only reason to go to Sutton
                                                                   this season ?

 

Anyway sod them. The big game this weekend was the visit of AFC Varndeanians to Fortress Imperial for the FA Cup fixture. A couple of years ago the Footballing Gods seemed to have it in for the Mighty Toots, well the Terrors got a huge hand from them as just before we scored our first goal the Ref and Linesman missed a nailed on hand ball in the penalty area which the South Coast side were quite understandably pissed about. TMUFC pretty much scoring at the other end a couple of seconds later. Good job VAR was not in operation but it's about time we had some luck. Goals from Nathan Daly, David Castanho and Nebay Haile sealed the 3-1 win which takes us into the next round. A crowd of 260 at the game including a number of Varndeanians who brought more than most of the other teams in the Victor Meldrew South Central will do.

 

                                          Varndeanians on the starboard side Captain

Spent the second half with Lee from St. Matthews Project and what a top chap he is. St. Matthews links with Tooting and Mitcham are getting stronger and that can only be a good thing. Although we spent the whole of the 45mins moaning just like charectors from a bad episode of "Last Of The Summer Wine"

 

Please play them a visit and find out more about this fantastic group :

 

http://www.thesmp.net/

We have drawn Dorking Wanderers at home in the next round. A town famous for it's massive cock statue and little else. Saying that they are a team that have had a huge amount of sucess since we just beat them to the title in Franks second year so maybe I'm just jealous of sucess on the pitch and large cocks in general. Winable but it will be tough. Probably at good job it's at home. I'm sure they will bring a few over to add to the crowd, hope so anyway.

 

Massive Big Cock

 

Missed two events during the week. A league cup fixture at South Park and a 2-1 victory in the group stages. Why the league has thought this to be a good idea is totaly beyond me but "Hey Ho" a win is a win. Also missed the meet the manager get together at the ground die to work which was a shame and something I was hoping to attend. I work in a government office in Westminster as as you may have noticed there has been a lot going on there over the last few days, keeping your truely stuck at work sorting out various problems caused by the loons running the country.

 

Missed the 1-1 draw away to Harlow which means we have gone 8 games unbeaten so far this season. Fantastic stuff from the Terrors which has lead to much happiness and laughter in Hackbridge Towers over the last couple of months.

 

Talking of laughter the club will be holding a comedy night this coming Friday 20th Sept. So head over to Fortress Imperial for a night of chuckles and smiles which is not rhyming slang for piles. I'll be signing autographs and showing off my Twerking skills so be there early.

Up The Stripes !!!!!!