A battle for Herts and Minds

[swedish88]

Discipline is for professionals.
Motivation is for amateurs.

All Clubs started somewhere, drifting in the wilderness , amateur and rudderless. Something has awoken in the Footballing hotbed that is Hertfordshire. Known for its single professional team Stevenage, that continue to punch above its weight in league 2, Hertfordshire has been left behind as a footballing county. So much so that Watford tries it's best to disassociate with it and claim London residence. One man has a dream to change that. He has been given the reigns of an amateur team playing in the in 11th tier. The chairman, a professional, has raised his raised his eyes to the stars, dreaming of what could be. But for now professionalism is not needed.


And so we begin a long term save, taking the lowest ranked team in the 11th tier of England in Herts Senior County League and we have hit the ground running. The sleepy village of Knebworth wont know whats hit it.

no staff
no facilities
no players of note
12 season ticket holders...

Where do I begin? this is grass roots football at its finest​

 

[swedish88]

Trials, Pie Gate, International Caps & a bit of Sky Sports!

I didn't know what to expect in my first month, getting feet on the ground (physically and metaphorically) in between the two training session a week and friendlies appeared to be the order of the day.


Backroom staff

Adverts out , sitting back and waiting for the CVs to roll in. No budget for wages at this amateur level but a chance for people to get experience? absolutely

budgets not the only thing limited, numbers would be sparse with 2 medics, 2 scouts and 3 coaching staff allowed, I could only take on the best there was to offer

A Fitness Coach was in first, my players may not be the most technically gifted, but my god they will run. A Head and assistant Physio in the door next followed hastily by the scouting team that were put to work immediately.

Then a sprinkle of stardust for Knebworth. Guilleme Balague of Sky Sports fame wants a a Director of Football role, I'm not sure what that role involves at this level but I cant turn him away (not like i'm paying him a wage anyway) so his names on the door.

the only thing to get you noticed quicker than a bit of fame? infamy. the GK coaches applied and it was slim pickings. But one name stood out ... Wayne Shaw. FA cup pie eating reserve goalie / coach wants a job here. He must of fallen on tough times. But he's the best the Job Centre has offered. He is in


Playing Staff

The scouts have been busy and trials have been given to anyone they have suggested. Im not sure if its the scouts fault but quality is low to none on most with many trials ending early (with a few tears from some realising the dream may be over). But 15 players have been signed and the squad is shaping up nicely

2 friendlies left to play when a message sneaks into my DM's - a chancer looking for a trial. At 41 years old I shouldn't have even looked twice at him. his technical states were good but his physicals were in his boots, not what you need in a CM. But hang on whats this ?

International caps - 1

who is this Grandad? History - Villa - Stoke - Sheffield Utd - Leicester - Blackpool - Derby followed by a quick decline , 1 England cap in amongst that.

He hasn't kicked a ball in 4 years but he's back in the game. Welcome to Knebworth, Lee Hendrie

bring on the season opener​

 

[swedish88]

“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”

When I signed up to the job the board where looking for a comfortable mid table finish but with the squad Ive mashed together, plenty of team cohesion slots in training times and a comfortable if not completely successful Pre season (mainly against higher tier teams) confidence in this season is already on the up.

with just 28 games against the 14 other teams in the league I wanted to hit the ground running with 5 in August alone

Game 1 - 2-0 v Ware Sports (H)

in front of a bumper gate of 73 (33 of which Ware had brought up with them) the locals got a taste of things to come with a comfortable win.
A goal each from Strikers Hutchings and Brown, Ware seemed incapable of stopping the counter and we should of had more. 5 yellow cards for knebworth showed som indiscipline but the odd ban here and there never hurt anyone if it means the opposition know their in a game.

Game 2 - 0-0 v New Salamis (A)
A disapointing result against a team named after a dodgy packaged meat product. Despite the lack of goals, this game had everything, a dissalowed goal in less than a minute, two player sent off in the first half, a missed penalty and the bar having more hits than Ed Sheeran. We move on knowing Salamis will be happy from having stopped us and with our second clean sheet in two league games.

Game 3 - 5-1 v Bedmond Sport (H)
A result that looks better on paper than the performance. our clean sheet record gone on the 12 minute mark and heading in at HT having equalised through Browne, the
boys needed a their first taste of the hairdryer and boy did the react , 2 from Whiting with Butler and sub Fallah rounding off the goals, Knebworth were heading tot he top of the league.

Game 4 - 4-1 v Belstone (A)
A result that looks worse on paper than the performance. complete domination from start to finish with one mental lapse at the back to let them in, a change to a narrow pressing 433 meant the opposition where rushed into mistakes that we capitalised on. two for Fallah on his debut and two more for Brown puts him top of the goalscoring charts.

Game 5 - 2-0 v Cuffley (H)
needless to say the early results may have gone to our heads and we were done over by a Cuffley side that appeared to have luck on its side on a warm end of summer afternoon. Two shots on Target (one a Peno) meant two goals for the away team whilst Knebworth could only muster a measly eleven on target. The keeper had decided we wasnt scoring today. we move on

the last result aside a solid start to the season with plenty of promise to go forward. On a side note the FA vase 1st prelim qualifying round was drawn. Of the 957(Thats a lot of balls!) teams i could of been drawn with, I will be at home against Steyning Town

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