Horsham Town Football Club - All The Way To The Top

[Sam91]

I sat on the sofa in my two bedroom house flicking through the channels on my Sky + TV box trying to find something half interesting to watch. Its crazy how you can have so many channels and find nothing to watch at half six in the evening, I decided to leave it on BBC1 as South Today was on.

John Maggs Sacked!!

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So John Maggs was sacked after 11 years in charge of my hometown club. He'd managed to get us into the second round of the FA Cup 07/08 season and got a replay against Swansea which we ended up losing 6-2 after going 2-1 up!! I remember getting the coach up there and watching, for just a minute I thought we might just get to the third round! But last season was massively disappointing finishing just 6 points above the drop zone in the Isthmian Premier League and he paid the harsh price in my opinion.

I sat there wondering who might take charge, South Today had already moved on to something to do with the Sussex Cricket side. Probably the Worthing manager or someone else nobody had heard of. I checked the time and realised I had just half an hour to get to training for my own football team, Horsham Crusaders. We play Saturday days against other tiny Sussex League teams. I was never that great at playing, not a bad target man up front. I was slowly playing less though, I'm not old by any means its just we had some good younger players coming through and I'd taken on a bit more of a coaching role at the club.

I ran upstairs to grab my shorts, shin pads and Chelsea T -Shirt with Torres on the back (I got it when he first signed for the club, kinda regreted it now). I kissed my girlfriend and said goodbye grabbing my boots on the way out and jumped into my Seat Ibiza and headed to training, the thoughts of the Horsham Managers position had already left my head as I sang along to Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love driving to training....

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[Sam91]

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I arrived at training ten minutes early, a few of the lads were knocking a ball around already. Eamonn, our Irish Reserves manager and club legend, was laying out some cones for a few fitness drills for when the rest of the team arrived. I put down my water bottle and car keys and headed over to give him a hand.

''Hey Sam, how's it going?'' he asked

''Yeah not bad cheers boss, yourself?'' I replied

''I'm good mate, you hear about John Maggs?''

''I saw it on South Today, the whole ten seconds they mentioned of it'. Massive shame the guy was a legend, much like you Eamonn!!''


We both laughed, Eamonn was a great man. I had so much respect for him, he'd been at the club since 1986 and scored over 200 goals in over 600 games. He took me under his wing when I arrived here at the tender age of 16. Ten years on and he was no longer teaching me about football, he was more focusing on mentoring me on the coaching side of the game. He'd done some basic coaching courses and was passing his knowledge on to me. Eamonn was well into his fifties and gave up playing seven seasons ago, even before he officially stopped playing he barely made more than three games for the last few seasons.


By the time we finished laying out the cones for some drills most of the lads had arrived and we went over and joined them. Most of them were discussing the weekends antics, work and their families. The team was a nice mixture between youngsters and more ''experienced'' players. Eamonn and Paul(the first team manager) got us doing a few laps of the pitch to warm up, then some stretches followed by a bit more running. We then split into two separate groups to do some ball work. Training's never serious this time of the year, we'd finished the season only a month ago and only about half the squad were here anyway. After a while the two gaffers split us into teams of 5-a-side which took up the rest of the session.


At the end Paul held everyone behind, we all knew what it was going to be about.... Club Finances


''Alright lads, good session there. I have some news, due to the fact that the club have no sponsorship and everyone wants better training facilities we're going to have to up match fees and the signing on cost. Its not by much, but it will really help the club out as a whole. I hope its not going to have too much of a strain on yourselves, we understand that everyone is a bit short at times like these and if there are any concerns please come talk to us at the end. Cheers and see you next week, same time lads.''

I looked at the sheet of paper that we were all handed, signing on fee had gone up from £31 to £40, not too bad I could live with that. Match fees were £5 each no matter if you started of not, bit annoying but again I normally started anyway so no worries for me.


I started to walk over to my car when ran over and tapped me on the shoulder.

''Hey Sam, look we have some really good youngsters coming through this year and I just wanted to let you know that your game time might be slightly less than in previous seasons. You surely remember what it was like when you first arrived, you wanted game time and the club really wants to hold onto these young lads.''

''Oh, okay boss no worries..''

''But look, I don't know if you've heard but Paul has got a new job and he wont be able to continue as 1st Team Manager. The committee want me to replace him, I said I'll accept as long as they let you replace me''

''Wow, cheers Eamonn. I'd love too, as long as I can still play from time to time!!''

''Heck you're the boss, just do whats best for the team lad. I'm sure your'll make a great manager.''

''Cheers Eamonn, let the committee I accept''

''Will do pal. See you next week''




Reserve Team Manager, kinda felt right in a strange way...

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[Sam91]

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated lads as this is my first time writing a story in this format.

Thanks

 

[Greggylad]

No criticisms at the mo, Keep it up

 

[Sam91]

I arrived home excited to tell my girlfriend the big(ish) news. I came in through the garden like always (its easier as we have a car port round the back of the house) and saw a pasta bake left out on the side for me in an oven dish. I walked into the lounge but she wasn't there either. She must have gone to bed I thought.

We'd been growing more and more distant over the past few months, the *** had all but dried up. I work nights and she works during the day so we barely see each other. We sit on opposite sofas, I normally had the telly on some football match I didn't really care about whilst she tapped away on her laptop. God knows what she was doing but I really didn't care to be honest. I love her, but the passion and excitement had gone. We'd just hit THAT point in our relationship, I was really trying with her but we both knew it was all but over. I checked my phone to see I had a few texts from the lads who'd already heard I'd be the reserve manager next year but none from Charlotte. I walked over to the stairs and shouted up for her... no reply. I ran upstairs to check if she was there. Gone. Her clothes were still in the wardrobe though, I breathed a sigh of relief. I don't want her to leave me, it was more her problems with me that were driving us apart.


It got to 10:30pm and she still wasn't home and I had to leave for work, maybe she was just doing some shopping at Tesco. I sent her a text to let her know I was thinking about her and I'll see her tomorrow and left for work....