As I write my third column for Toddy’s website I’m actually at a bit of a loss as to which subject to cover, I said at the start that i wouldn’t be writing a weekly column, but a column when an issue or situation arose that i felt strongly about, but it’s now been almost a month since my last subscription so i feel I’m obliged to feed the column hungry mouths of my following fan club.

First subject has to be the 1-1 draw at the weekend with the New Derby. Now, I’ve heard a few different views from various people at the club and i can’t see what the fuss is all about. For a kick off the match write up is the biggest load of drivel I’ve read this season (this only a week from contacting the Indian with congratulations in abundance for his best match report of the season…R WMC.) I mean what’s all this about “old” Toddy’s…..granted the performance lacked a spark but this is something that happens in football and will sure as hell happen again this season. The weight of expectancy has occurred that quickly this season that only cricket scores will now do….but the latter fact should only apply to the fickle minded…match facts read that we were the only team pushing to win the game and if it hadn’t been for ginger nut finishing like the North East’s answer to Andy Cole we would have won at a canter….These sort of games do not win the league…but a victory over Roseberry Leisure in a fortnight and everything is rosie again….So to the Indian….stop fretting over nothing and just roll with the punches…

The next issue i feel the need to address is the Durham Alliance league, now what the fuck is going on there. We get told at the beginning of the season that we are to join next year and then nothing. Recent comments from the management have went as such…..” we would finish bottom three of the D.A with the current side”…..”There are certain players who wouldn’t play in the D.A as they aren’t good enough”……..”We are still to keep a team in the Dunsford’s league next season”….

Now I pose the following questions to the management…..

1. What is happening with this league: Durham Alliance.

2. Who isn’t good enough to take along.

3. Who will manage the Saturday morning side.

There is no way people can play in both leagues and do themselves justice. These questions need to be thought about carefully by the management and the side should be addressed ASAP.

Next issue on the agenda is Gary “The Hatchet” Gilby. If you go back to my second subscription you will see me almost campaigning to get Gilby into the side (or at least given a chance). Now i still stick to my opinion that Gilby is a very good player indeed but since he adopted his “Hatchet” nickname he has tried in every match since to live up to this billing. If only we’d given him the nickname of Gary “The hard tackling but fair” Gilby he’d be alright. Gilby listen to this mate. Play your football and play it hard but if you carry on playing for the crowd you’ll soon be nicknamed Gary “Always on the sideline” Gilby.

Last but not least is the sideline, the fans, the lads, what a difference them have made this season. First of all I think we’ve given them entertainment with the football that we’ve played for the most part of this season, but the same people are turning up week in week out, in the cold, in the heat, out of their nut, pissed, tired….there always there, so big up lads and keep the volume up. It doesn’t half make a difference when your playing…


As Toddy’s stroll on through the early stages of the season steamrollering light weight opposition the alarm bells are starting to ring for the hardcore who are Toddy’s. What i mean by the hardcore are the people with character, who have been there from the beginning, because as each new signing is drafted into the side a piece of Toddy’s is snapped off and thrown away . Eventually Toddy’s will be unrecognisable to those who know us. It all depends on which way you wish to address the situation though, There are arguments on both sides of the matter, The first being we have now been transformed into a team winning games and being expected to win things, From a team who wanted to win things just because other voices said that we couldn’t. Let it not be forgotten the man who started the club, Chris Baines and to him we owe our very existence but a serious ran club and an organised club we were not. Yes it is true and obvious to all that we’ve come a long long way from the days of turning up on a Saturday morning and pouring ourselves into our eighties throw back strips and having a prematch stomp to judge jules just to get us up for the match. Yet it’s hard to decide on (which i personally find it difficult to do) which is better, What must be found is a happy medium to keep all at the club satisfied, That goes from the supporters ( Big up) all the way through to the players, because if the management continue to overlook the ” Hardcore ” and draft in unknowns then the supporters will not have a Toddy’s to support. Gary Gilby is a prime example of this revolution, His temperament is the only thing that is keeping Gary from being an awesome part of the team, Yet we are coming up to the fifth game of the season and he is still to be given his chance. Yet the new signings have already booked their ticket in the team. Again going back to the otherside of the argument, look what these signings have achieved, we are top of the league for the first time in the clubs history. In the end I can pick no winner to this situation, but remember when Toddy’s were formed, we would run through brick walls for each other, we were unorganised but we cared, we finished near the foot of the table but we were the best, we turned up sometimes unable to speak but we could play, What I’m trying to say is the Toddy’s Unity must stay with the club, because the unity is the very being of the team, Take it away and we might as well change our name to R. WMC……..


Welcome to the first week of my column, and what a week it’s been. It’s true to say that in a footballing sense it’s been a peach of a start to the season for Toddy’s. Three straight victories, eighteen goals scored and one conceded is good in anyone’s eyes, But Toddy’s must not get carried away with this, as the opposition was about as weak as it’ll get all season.

Saturday the first of September will not be forgotten in a hurry by myself or a young lad probably still recovering in his bed this very morning. A brief insight into this incident was…..Take one mouthy young lad, mix in a couple of dirty tackles (on his behalf) add one psycho with personal problems….what do you get…two paramedics vehicles and a game being stopped 15 minutes from the end….Some people will say a very nasty thing to happen to a young lad starting off in football….My personal opinion is don’t mix it or you could end up a cropper…The most astonishing thing about the whole incident was this young lad’s so called team mates….Here is there youngest player waiting for a lift to the hospital and not one of them even said anything…..It goes with out saying if this had been one of my colleagues…The proverbial…OFF…would have occurred…so my award for the softest team in the league most definitely goes to…..SS Studio

The last thing i have to say this week goes to my favourite team…The Redhouse Club….Or as I will be calling them from now on…. The greatest team in the world F.C……A request from one of their many management staff (although I’m at a loss to what his input actually is), to try and stop me playing for Toddy’s again…See you in a months time ….You loser….!

Until next week then…..

 

Patrick Walsh….