Tim Leader sees it from his eyes...

18/05/2008

Has it really been nine months since my last update? You can grow a baby in that time.

So much has happened in my life in that nine months, I really don't know where to begin. So, I won't.

Here are the salient points in summary,

o We won our league in the Autumn Fives
o We won our league in the Winter Fives, and the overall competion
o I bought a new car
o Kat moved in.

That's me done for another nine months...

18/08/2007

So yet another league season comes to a close, and Alltraders can be fairly proud once again that they finished as champions, albeit only just. Although finishing with an identical goal difference to AFC United, Alltraders snatched the title by scoring two more goals than them. One of them was mine.

It wasn't such a successful season for Reloaded however, finishing a mere sixth in league B. I'm sure manager James Gregory will be adding new players to his squad in readiness for the Autumn Fives.

So no records beaten this season, no 'most goals', no 'consecutive wins' and so on. But, we won the league and I guess that's all that matters right now.

It has been a fairly eventful couple of weeks one way or another. The paintballing event was once more a great success, although I have to say that being kitted up in full camouflage along with a total face mask on the hottest day of the year did present a challenge or two. I must have lost half a stone in sweat. It also didn't help that certain members of the opposition appeared to have been suffering from anger management issues. Franco getting pinned by the neck to the wall of the castle by one such loony was the only downer of the day (well, for him anyway!) This minor skirmish was just after being shot point blank in the face..Z

I think that's a hit!

The afternoon finished with a stylish Barbecue at Mr Howard's house. There were some stories about a dog making unwanted advances on a squad player, but I had gone by then. I think video footage may appear here fairly soon !

The next Paintballing session is booked for Oct 7th, and we are hoping to get a full 30 attendees so that we can have a private game to avoid having to be pitched against opposition like this. We shall see ...

Talking of anger management, Scott showed some real composure under pressure last week after being effectively kicked off the pitch in the Ricey's game. The final scythe from behind resulted in Roy deciding that enough was enough, and brought out the red card. Most other players would have lost it by then, but I suppose if that's the only way he can be stopped, then it has to be taken as a compliment to the guy.

Scott took a bit of a kicking...

So we're back to another knockout stage. We will be pitched against League B fourth placed team 'Dynamo Chavski'. I'm sure manager Andy Howard will ensure that his team are at full strength and mentally prepared for this game, as we were quite frankly outplayed by Horley in the previous competition. On paper we have the players in the squad to take us all the way, it's now up to them to fully focus and play each game in the style I know we can deliver...

03/08/2007

Yep, I know it's been a while, but it's been a busy couple of weeks. What with the 50th birthday celebrations and the trip to Tavira, I really haven't had the time to get my keyboard hands working to any great extent.

The birthday bash at Fiveash mansions went very well. Credit to the ol' skin and blister for the excellent food arrangement. I was very touched by the gift of the pewter mug from my collegues at Alltraders. It now takes pride of place in the lounge, just next to the tele !

Pewter mug !	Selection of Alltraders players	Proud dad and daughters	Mark and grandaughter	More Alltraders

(Click on pics for full size)

It was great to see everyone there, and a great time was had by all ! There was a bit of an 'Eastenders moment' at the end, but that just all added to the entertainment...

Shortly after that, it was off to Portugal for a week for a well deserved break in the Algarve. Click here for the photo's, and here for the video. It made a nice pleasant change to actually see the sun shine for the whole of the day. The beaches were superb and the people very friendly. Tavira is definitely not a place to visit if you are looking for a MacDonald's, or a greasy spoon cafe. You'd better like fish, because that's all there is on the menu, along with Olive's and bread and 'Super Boc' beer.

The final part of the great 50th celebration comes on Sunday with the long-awaited paintball event. This will be the third paintball outing for the Alltraders crew, and on Sunday we will be pitched against a team of all-stars.

So, after all that excitement, we come to tonight's footy. It was good to see both teams had done well in my absence, so I was a little nervous that my return would put the mockers on this good progress. Reloaded were supposed to be playing the Foyer Flyers at 7pm, but as we suspected they didn't bother to show for the second week running. Although the three points were very welcome, it's always a real pain in the arse when teams don't show like this. All it takes is a quick call, or even a text, but that seems to be beyond some teams. Anyway, as it turns out, this 'result' for Reloaded now actually puts them in a real striking distance of qualifiication. Sporting Devils went down 2 -1 to Felbridge which has really opened up that league.

We all hung around for 9pm in readiness for the encounter with Real Apathetic. We knew this was an important game for both teams - we needed the win to ensure we stayed in the top four, and Real needed the points to get themselves there. I've been watching Real over the past few weeks and have seen that they are a very good side that battle hard. They have upset one or two good sides so far this season, so we prepared ourselves for that challenge ..

It was good to see the return of a mildly bronzed Scott Cullimore, complete with free football boots and tales of wild beach parties. Of course these new boots came with a preloaded excuse in the possibility that he may not slot.. "They seem a bit heavier than my other boots".. I warned him that I would not take that as an excuse if he didn't get on the scoresheet.

I'm not really sure what happened during the game. Maybe it was scoring within thirty seconds that may have unsettled Real Apathetic, but from that point on we seemed to have complete control of the game. I would definitely have not bet on a 7 - 0 victory, but somehow that's what happened. Andy even brought me on for the second half which was a nice thought, especially as I haven't touched a football for over two weeks. I managed to provide the assists for Nick's two goals, and was unlucky not to slot myself when my prod hit the inside of the post..

Scott didn't score, and guess what, the boots took the full blame ..

Oh well, this result puts UK back at the top of League A. We have yet to meet Ricey's Rockets, who slipped into second place tonight. This could well be the league title clincher.. I know I've said this before, but the important thing is to qualify. We keep winning the leagues simply to lose concentration in the knockouts. If we enter the knockouts knowing we have to work hard, we do much better..

Is that the time? I've been waffling far to long..

Time for bed

13/07/2007

Sorry I didn't get around to finishing the diary entry for last week, it has been fairly hectic of late. I've started taking my fitness a little more seriously now I'm approaching that delicate age, and have spent a bit of my free time doing some weights at the Gym. I've also been doing a bit of road running. It's amazing what you notice when you go out running. On Sunday I discovered a Polo club over at Rowfant. All the years I've been driving past without even noticing it. It's really quite nice.

So, my blog is a bit backed up this week, so I'll try and make up for lost time as I don't have to get up too early tomorrow ...

Anyway, it was good to see the return of three old faces tonight - After a club petition signed by most of the players, Suggy Patel made his playing return this evening. Another surprise was the return of the old Caledonian goalkeeper, Barthez. He is over here from Oz for a few weeks before returning to his mansion somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane. Thirdly, Mr Westerman appeared having just returned from his world travels. Sadly though he had acquired a rather stiff back and was unable to play. We won't ask how this bad back came about. Nevertheless it was good to hear his voice encouraging the Reloaded team during their struggle against Horley (see video below)

Back from Oz, for seven weeks	Suggy's back in the team

It wasn't a particularly good return for Mr Patel. He sat out just about all of the game, coming on the pitch for James Gregory with just a minute remaining.. In that sixty second period, he never touched the ball and Reloaded conceded.

Although a bad result, it could have been worse. Sporting Devils also lost, and the other teams drew. So with a good following wind, it may still be possible for Reloaded to sneak a top four place. I wouldn't put any of my money on it though.

The game spacings weren't too kind to us tonight. After watching Reloaded lose to Horley, there was a two hour wait before UK could take to the pitch to tackle third placed 'The Boro'. UK were without the solid dependable Franco in goal this evening, he was off attending a concert. I was hoping I was going to get some time out on the pitch as promised by Andy, but as nine o'clock approached, there was no sign of Andy's replacement goalkeeper. I couldn't help feeling a few pangs of dread as it became increasingly likely that the gloves would probably be heading in my direction. Flashbacks of that last disaster still keep me awake at night, and knowing tonight was going to be a 'must win' night for the team, the pressure was mounting by the second.

Well, he didn't arrive, and I took my place in goal. With just the bare five of Nick, Neil, Andy, Ian and myself, it was always going to be a tricky game. Fortunately though the first half came and went with me only accepting a couple of backpasses for company. And of course, the constant claims by the opposition that I had broken the backpass rule by knocking it back to the original sender. When will teams get to grips with this rule?!

The second half saw us finally start to hit the target - two goals in as many minutes, followed by a period of total possession leading to a further three goals in the dying stages. I can even claim an assist - Andy Howard's first goal coming from a pin-point kick from my area.. I even made two saves, wiping out nearly all of the memories of the now infamous 'open leg' incident of the first game.

So all-in-all it was a relatively successful evening. Before I go there's just enough time to remind all players of the big event next Saturday, 6PM at Fiveash Mansions. The second part of the great celebration is the paintball event on Sunday 5th August. Although only UK won on the night, I will keep my promise to pay the deposits for the attendees. All I need now are the actual names so I can go over there and officially book it.

As I am not at the next two matches, I will probably update the blog with something totally non-football related some time in the week - so keep watching this space. There will also be some photo's from the party next week finding there way up here I'm sure!

Right, just checked, and the video is now up on YouTube - be warned, there is some rather colourful language in this weeks montage...

Nite Nite

06/07/2007

I decided to check out a couple of 'dream interpretation' websites in the week to find out if there was any hidden meaning to my series of odd dreams about being caught out in a snow storm. Here's what it had to say:

Blizzard
To dream about a blizzard, suggests that you are feeling emotionally cold and frigid. You are feeling excluded and left out. It may indicate a lack of love and the absence of warmth within your own family circle.

I know I haven't been picked to play for a while, and Nicola forgot to drop off a Fathers day present, but it hasn't been that bad, has it?

Anyway...

Tonight couldn't really be described as one of the best of nights for Alltraders. After an incredible unbeaten run, UK put on a performance tonight that frankly shocked the watching usuals (Real Apathetic and a guy walking his dog). And if that wasn't bad enough, Reloaded put up an equally poor showing against Maidenbower (there were two dogs there too, I detect a conspiracy)

I suppose that we all have bad nights. And that includes me. I've just caught the end of my thumb in the levers of the corkscrew trying to pull the cork out of a bottle of red wine, and it is quite painful so I can't really concentrate on anything right now. I might come back later and finish this up when my thumb stops aching and the bleeding stops.

Fiveash nearly keeps a clean sheet	Could we see the return of Suggy Patel?

In the meantime, someone tell me what story Ian was trying to tell here

Oooh, the video has just finished uploading to Youtube. Strangely it's been viewed by someone already.. Only Reloaded tonight. I didn't video the UK game because I foolishly believed I may get on the pitch at some point.

Silly me ... Wonder if I'll dream of a snow storm again tonight?

Two big events coming up shortly, both related to the big birthday. A session at Fiveash Mansions (West Wing) on 21st July, and then a major paintballing event on August 5th or 12th depending on availability. All club members and associated other halves welcome to both..

I'll come back later and finish this up properly .

29/06/2007
It's been a bit of an odd old week.. All hell breaking loose at work for the end of the fiscal year, odd weather, and a recurring dream about getting caught in a heavy snow storm (if there are any psychologists there, please tell me what it means, I don't want to get caught in it again tonight).

As Andy was off pissing it up somewhere this week, the managerial duties were temporarily handed over to me. It would have been nice if he had told me who was available though. After several texts and emails, I had to rely on Ian and Nick to tell me who they actually believed were coming along.

As it turned out, seven arrived, one of which was Aaron who had apparently been 'transferred' for the evening. As all good managers do, I left myself on the bench to give the younger fitter members of the team the duty of getting us a result.

Tonight, UK were matched against the 'Cream Egg Casuals'. An interesting choice of team name.

I brought along the trusty video camera with me tonight to see if I could capture something exceptional. As usual I was disappointed. After having the bulk of the play and taking a well deserved lead, the game seemed to fall apart. I was reminded (several times as it happens) that every time Nick Hawtin is substituted, any lead we may have accrued is instantly wiped out.

And so it was this evening. In under one minute of his departure form the arena, in slots a maverick attacker to slot one past Franco who hadn't really had much to do all evening. It could have been a whole lot worse if he hadn't pulled off a superb save from a one-on-one attack in the dying seconds.

What makes all this worse is that Cullimore and Howard are going to be reading this from some foreign land smug in the thought that this drop in form is down to their absence. That's the last thing we wanted to happen...

And so to Reloaded, tonight matched against the Sporting Devils. If any match had nil -nil stamped across it, this one did. Discounting the two-nil walkover win last week, the Devils have started the season with two nil-nil results already.. It wouldn't have taken a betting man to predict that this was going to be the likely outcome this evening. Even with the talents of the newly acquired Jamie Taylor, the game was stifled and lacked any real incision from either side. It was nice to see Warren arrive though, tonight chosing to do his bit for the 'traders over going out for a meal, or a cruise.

Roy's upset again	One man's brave stand

Both sides had their chances to snatch the all important goal, but neither could quite do it. All-in-all it was another quite dull game.

Next week we do this all over again against two different sides. It should be fun, as always..

The 'action' from the night is here - enjoy ...

23/06/2007
Well, mid summer's day came and went accompanied by a deluge of flash floods. I saw a sign being displayed on a School hoarding on the way to the game tonight, "Mid-Summer Madness event cancelled due to the weather". A certain irony there.

The weather didn't dampen the spirits in the Alltraders camp though (I couldn't pass that cliche up really could I?). Reloaded notched their first win of the season with a stunning 5 - 0 slaughtering of 'The Whisky Chasers', who are not exactly push-overs on the best of days. It seems Mr Gregory has secured himself the sneaky signing of Jamie Taylor, who grabbed three on the night. It will be interesting to see how well Reloaded fare against 'The Biggest Five-a-Side team in Crawley' next week - Sporting Devils. It will probably be a 0 - 0 draw.

Storm clouds over Crawley

Sadly I didn't quite get my full ten minutes against Caledonian this week. There were six available, and a win was the number one priority, Andy Howard played his solid five to try and get us an early lead. Cullimore was at his sharpest tonight, slotting two excellent first half efforts in his final week before jetting off for the States. Typically, he returns on Finals week (Don't expect to walk straight back into the team if we qualify young man !)

So with about 5 minutes to go, Andy called me on for Nick Hawtin. Within two minutes of joining the game, our lead was gone. In my defence I have to say that neither of the goals were anything to do with me. In fact, I think the first two touches I had in the game were kicking off from the restarts.

So things were starting to get a little tense, until Mr Holmes latched onto a perfect long pass from Howard to score a pearler with just two minutes left. I've never see Caledonian get rattled before, but that goal must have been like a knife through the heart after coming back so valiantly from a 2 - 0 defecit.

The moment of the night was yet to come though. Cullimore was doing his usual mating dance on the ball over in the far corner, covered by a couple of Caledonian defenders. Knowing that it was very unlikely that he would release the ball, I slowly ambled toward goal. Can you imagine my surprise then, when he gently side footed the ball across goal to the space in front of me. Fortunately I reacted a nano-second faster than my marker and sprinted as best I could onto the ball and side footed it over the 'keeper for my first competitive goal in nearly two years. What a moment - proof that it's sill there if needed ! Somehow I just knew I'd slot this week, don't know why, but I always seem to get on the scoresheet against our oldest rivals.

That capped a very successful night for the Traders - two wins, and we still haven't lost a game this season. As I said last week, there does seem to be a much more relaxed feel about everything this year. I'm not certain just how well we'll do, but I think at least we'll have a bit more fun getting there.

Before I go, I was clearing out the old pics from my camera this week, and found the image below. Anyone want to lay claim to it, and perhaps tell me what was going on at the time?

Andy Howard is away next week, so I'm in charge. Be warned.

16/06/2007
Blimey, nearly the longest day. Seems like it was Christmas only yesterday..

Sorry for the break in updates to this page. To be honest I didn't think anyone looked at it.

Anyway, we are now two weeks into the new Summer season, and both Reloaded and UK have got off to a pretty indifferent start. Reloaded have drawn both of their games, and UK have drawn one and won one. At least we haven't lost yet, but clearly we could do a lot better. I suppose UK could have had a 100% record but for a moment of madness from their goalkeeper in the last second of the game. Glad he won't be playing in goal again - his name escapes me.

So, we have Nick Hawtin back again! And he's already managed to sneak the FTP password off of Ian and start to tinker with the front page. Funny, because I was just thinking that the site had a bit of the Hawtin style to it - honestly, I had no idea until last Friday when Ian let it slip after I took the headshot photo's ! "Where's the management?" I ask myself, good thing I have a complete backup of everything ... I'm sure Nick will add a bit of a buzz to the site again, and with three people now updating it, there's no excuse for any stagnation or predictability !

I've noticed that there seems to be a more relaxed feel about both sides this year. Andy Howard even let me have five minutes on the pitch (being three up at the time may have helped with his decision - doubt I'd be allowed on if we were one down). I actually enjoyed it too, I seem to see a bit more of the ball in the UK side. No bugger would pass to me in Reloaded. It looks like I may get the full 20 against Caledonian this week too as half the team are in Ibiza - At least Caledonian are the same age or older than me, and I normally have a good game against them. Hoping to slot my first for nearly two years if I get on..

A more relaxed feel about Alltraders this season	A cloud

One other thing to mention - From now on I'm using Flickr to store a lot of our photo's on , and will use YouTube to put the videos up on. This keeps the bandwidth usage down on the site and opens us up a bit more into the public arena. And it's easier of course.

Good luck to both teams on Friday - see you all there...

28/04/2007
A week is a long time in football it seems. After a cracking league stage of the Crawley Winter Fives, Alltraders go and blow it in a disjointed and lack lustre display against a very strong Horley Casuals side. I'm sure Ian Britton has already chosen suitable words to describe the performance on the night, so I won't dwell on it here. The warnings signs were there as I stated last week, but this time I really thought we would have learned our lesson. Sadly not.

This followed a reasonably successful qualification stage of the Umbro Fives midweek. The next stage sees the team ready meet Real 60, Maidenbower and our old friends Sporting Devils (who incidentally also had a nightmare in their first stage game, losing 4 - 1 to the other Horley side) in the second stage to be played on Wed 2nd May. Wembley here we come !

Although this was a rather mixed week from Alltraders point of view, there were some other highlights worthy of mention. The funniest of which was during the Sporting Devils / Horley game. The Horley goalkeeper was enjoying some 'banter' for want of a better word with the watching Devils supporters, only to mistake the final whistle from the adjoining pitch to be the end of their game, casually walking out of his area (removing a glove in the process) to the loadest chants of 'AREA REF!' from just about everyone on the sidelines (see video extract below).

It was also good to see Roy stamping his authority on each game he officiates in his rather unique style. Keep it going Roy, you are a star !

Some pictures and video from the week below. As always, click on the images for the full size.

Alltraders.co.uk prior to the first round game	Action from the Umbro Fives
A pensive Ian Britton	Click on the Pics for the large image
Roy took no crap as usual - click image for video

A video selection of the week here - parental guidance required

21/04/2007
So, another league season has come to an end. For alltraders.co.uk, it was yet another record breaking campaign. It seems that each competition poses new challenges for this exceptionally gifted side. Another four records tumbled this year:

Most goals scored in one season : 49
Most goals scored in one game: 12
Least goals conceded: 2
Consecutive wins: 11 (100% record)

On top of this, Alltraders enter the knockout stages with a run of 23 unbeaten games under their belt...

So it's going to be a very challenging Summer season if there is going to be any hope of breaking more records!

Watching the game against Horley yesterday, it was clear that manager Andy Howard has got the team balance just right. Although missing regular 'keeper Warren Fiveash, Howard has a team now that is virtually unstoppable. However, most sides tend to raise their game when meeting Alltraders in the knockout stages, and they have stumbled at the first hurldle on a worrying number of occasions in the past. Therefore Howard needs to ensure that he gets all of his regulars together and ready to push hard for their second consecutive Crawley Fives championship medals on this, the most important night of the season.

Alltraders Reloaded ended the season in a slightly subdued manner, drawing nil-nil in a rather bland game. After a promising start to the campaign, a mixture of shift work and general variation of the team on a weekly basis, the team finished rather disappointing fifth overall. Manager James Gregory has done very well with the team over the last couple of years, but consistency is the key, and I believe that he needs to get a team together that are willing and able to play more regularly if they want to progress further in the Summer Fives.

14/04/2007
Just edited the Alltraders 2005 Winter Fives collection. Here it is, in an easy to digest five minute chuck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY6wy3q_1Tw

Loads more alltraders video on Youtube - just click on user 'timlc' for the curent collection

18/03/2007
Paintballing ! Covered in bruises and mud, but it was a great day out!

Read the comments in the forum here and here !