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 !!!