Another average season from Sassco, blighted by inconsistency. Unlike previous seasons, this campaign saw some heavy defeats against teams, transformed by handsome wins or, at least, massive improvements in results and performances over the same teams and superior teams a few weeks later.

The pre-season programme was full again; totalling nine games against teams who were in stronger leagues. The team were donning a new jersey and had secured another new sponsor in iKobo, a finance company based in Atlanta, Georgia and also Florida. The players added were returns for Wayne Greenwell, with Neil Richardson coming in for pre-season games (due to a competitive ban) as well as Paul McConville as a non-regular player. Gareth Stoker came in for a centre half berth. Andy Swinhoe also made a return as a regular player along with Mickey Pearson. And Stephen Lewis also returned after warming Redhouse FC’s bench. A unique feature seems to be past Sassco players wanting to return. On the opposite end, Andy Farrer, Andy Reay with Gav Brown were all gone. Also missing was Mark Middlemiss, albeit for a few returns. Jamie Wilson was also absent apart from a solitary appearance.

So, unlike last pre-season, the team was reasonably set for the marathon of games on artificial turfs in and around the region. A heavy hammering off Shildon was one of the notable ones. But battling performances against Rutherford AFC, Redhouse FC and Sunderland South were augmented with excellent wins over Washington Colliery, Whitley Bay Deaf and Forest Hall FC.

The most devastating defeat was actually the 11-a-side team losing to a Sassco B team, cobbled together with ex-players and player from the Sassco leagues. The poor A v B defeat helped in our first game, as confidence was questioned. Sassco blitzed Park View 8-0 away from home. However, after this, we had a poor game at Hylton CW with a depleted team and a 3-1 defeat. The big disaster came away to Sporting Redhouse with a heavy defeat, despite leading. This was mainly due to sending offs, substitutions and injuries, as the team only had nine fit players for the majority of the second half.

After this it was a record win against Sportsmans Arms (a team later removed from the League), with Steve Stubbs making a return. And then the best so far in the Cup against Blue Bell (3-1). Overconfidence nearly led to a home defeat against Traveller’s, but the team 2-0 down and 3-2 down clawed it back to 3-3 (with Lewis scoring two comeback goals).

By now, the team was suffering it’s typical share of player losses. Lewis became disillusioned again and vanished from view. Gareth Stoker was banned for several games. Critically, Dave Graham was missing more and more, and we didn’t have a ready placed replacement.

Then, in November, it was the logistically successful Malta Trip. Three games in three days fulfilled one of the many ambitions I had for Sassco. The results were three expected defeats, but overall the tour was so successful that a Portugal Tour is to take place in October 2009. Dave Gourlay was appointed as Team Coach for the tour and the system seemed to work, so he was appointed on a full-time basis, with myself being solely in charge of bringing together the best 14 players for Gourlay to work with.

Coming back from Malta, the team was caught cold in an away game to Seaham as Cresswell was poached by Hylton Castle (finally). It was then that I called on Jimmy Raeper to return. Craig Charlton also heard about it and requested to join. Charlie transferred from Redhouse and Jimmy came in for the final games in 2008. However, they joined at a poor time. Player shortages starting to occur and we played several important games with what I would call a second string side, or the bare eleven. I started making appearances which is a clear sign of something going wrong.

The Seaham defeat was followed by a heavy Cup defeat to Mountain Daisy in appalling, freezing weather. Pearson also left the team as a regular player.

A mid season game took place against Ovi’s disorganised NaSA team. An easy  win with Raeper and Charlton featuring. This led to a full team easily defeating travellers 4-2 in a Cup Competition. This was followed by a lucky 1-1 draw at home to Cambridge Hotel and a 6-3 win over Times Inn, which saw Anthony Pearson grab a hat-trick in front of the cameras. The games against Sportman’s, Traveller’s and Times Inn were captured on video (available in the Media section) as well as the complete Malta Tour. Back to reality, a good January, which is traditionally poor for Sassco, was followed by a disastrous February.

It was after Christmas when the real problems started occurring. Cresswell leaving left a bit of a void. Also, Stephen Lewis, who re-joined with such fanfare went missing – mainly down to work issues, but probably due to the fact that he wasn’t given the red carpet treatment and seemed to be jealous of Dave Gourlay for some apparent reason.

With the poor weather, several games were called off, thus creating a backlog.

Two heavy defeat in February with depleted sides (1-5 v Hyltion and 1-8 v Colonel Prior – both in the Cup), saw Craig Charlton leave the team (again), but Brian Marley and Andy Farrer making emergency appearances, along with Neil Richardson, due to his ban being lifted. An important win, 3-1 away to Cambridge (which saw Swinhoe playing his last game) revitalised the side, but another setback saw Travellers defeat Sassco, 5-2 away, with Steve Conlin making his first appearance; sourced by Jimmy. A poor squad saw Sassco lose at home to  the Seaham Times Inn, and it was obvious changes needed to be made.

The form was upturned and the best came with 4-1 home win over Usworth, with Kyle Robinson shocking the footballing world by making a return with Sassco. He was sold on the fake club vision by McDermont and this seemed to settle the squad. By this time, Dave Graham’s appearances were limited, Tim failed to show for several games and Stoker was banned again. In the Usworth game Rikki Kennedy made his debut, and Dave Simpson saved his first ever penalty with the scored tied at 1-1. However, the most important result in terms of a watershed moment came after a chaotic midweek 10-0 defeat to Hylton. This was after a superb 2-2 draw v runaway leaders, Sporting (when 2-0 down). This heavy defeat resulted in Dave Gourlay stepping down as Team Coach. I returned as Interim coach (with a 3-2 away win over Usworth) before making a controversial appointment of Neil Richardson as Team Coach (initially until the end of the season). Marc McDermont was also ejected from the team, but apologised and made a return.

However, for Richardson; his first task was to mould the weakest possible Sassco team on a Wednesday evening against The Fort, a team unbeaten in several games. Greenwell, due to the heavy midweek defeat and complaints about Neil Richardson refused to play for him and demanded a change (despite being aware of the change the night before). But Sangha backed his Coach and Greenwell was removed from the team five minutes before kick off. The ten men made a brave stand to gain a 2-2 draw against The Fort. Greenwell was told to apologise to Neil Richardson (his Team Coach) and the team, if he wanted to come back. The Sassco management always stand their ground and the majority of the players had a “stick two fingers up at Greenwell” attitude and were pleased he had left.

After this, things went on the up. Both McConville and Pearson made more regular appearances and we weren’t short for the rest of the season. A win over Country Park Inn was followed by a best performance away to the Fort (6-4). However, it all collapsed when a full and overconfident team were defeated 4-3 by the bottom team and everyone turned on the stubborn Nelly in the changing rooms. I then made the decision to take control of the team again. Nelly obviously wanted better players so he was hampered with the squad chosen for him. However, I didn’t want to change things, so decided that it’s best I pick the squad and the team.

We defeated Park View 3-0, with a wonder goal from Dave Graham, who spent the rest of the half asking people if they wanted his autograph. Then a midweek performance v Hylton CW was vastly improved despite a first half 2-0 deficit. Sassco dominated the second half but failed to score despite at least a dozen good chances.

The final game saw a reasonably full complement easily beat Country Park Inn, with a staggering four goals from Jimmy. The end of season enjoyment was somewhat lowered by Brian Watson’s announcement that he had to stand down as Team Sec. due to other commitments.

Marc McDermont headed the goal scoring list with twelve goals, but Jimmy was close behind him. Gareth Stoker was voted Player of the Season with 8 votes, which is 38%. Dave Gourlay, winner every year since 2005, got 5 votes, which is 24%.

Other things of note were that we had our Charter Standard award renewed. Sponsorship was also renewed and a new away kit was obtained. The website is still gaining many visitors and players seem to want to play for Sassco. A prime example being David “Bunta” Murton, who returns on a temporary two month contract before he vanishes again.

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David Smith and Mark Muers.

Dave Smith almost unanimously won the Player of the Season award, with around 99.99% of the vote. Muers won the Leading Goalscorer award. Both were presented with their trophies during the recent basketball game.

There was also a symbolic “handing over” of the goalscorer award, with McDermont handing Muers the award. It’s not surprising that Sassco have underachieved when the recipients of the award were McDermont and now Muers.

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Another defeat for the “A” team.

Firstly, thanks to Dave Smith and Scott Smith for arranging the extra players: Simon Graney, Liam Murray, Nick Danks and Dan Young. Also, thanks to Greenwell for saying he’s going to turn up and actually turn up.

The so-called “B” team was as follows: Dave Simpson, Simon Graney, Liam Murray, Scott Smith, Chris Taylor, Nick Danks, Dan Young, Davinder Sangha (replaced by Wayne Greenwell), Michael Garrett, Wayne Ramsey, Stephen Conlin

Couldn’t really call them a “B” team as such, and more of a Sassco XI. The A team was as follows: Dave Smith, David Oxley, Mark Muers, Paul McConville, Chris Dixon, Dave Gourlay, Lee Ramsay, Callum Howe, Scott Hembrough, Dan Campbell, Anthony Pearson

We had various drop outs and a couple of no-shows. However, I was sort of prepared for this and made sure everyone attempted to bring one or two players.

Callum Howe opened the scoring as the “A” team were resplendent in the new shirts (sponsored by The Bunker), however it didn’t all go well. A resilient performance from the Sassco XI backline, with Scott Smith and Chris Taylor being outstanding, so them recover from the wind against them and the mini-onslaught. The first half remained at 1-0.

Second half saw a more sure performance from the XI, as they had several chances. Titch, having missed a first half sitter, clipped the crossbar and Greenwell hammered in the equaliser. More chances came and went, with Garrett and Wayne Ramsay having much improved second halves. Eventually the XI team went ahead when Simon Graney deftly chipped the ball over an advancing Dave Smith.

Somehow, the scoring ended there. XI were catching Sassco on the break, but at the other end, the team were camped in the XI penalty box. Shots were cleared off the line and Simpson made several spectacular saves to keep the second half scoresheet clean.

So, once again, the XI team defeated the first eleven. McDermont and Pearson were missing, but the “A” team had the advantage of having the prolific Scott Hembrough at the helm. Take him out of the equation and the XI team could have had a much more comfortable game.

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Possibly the poorest Sassco season for a number of years, easily the most disappointing since we dropped out of the top division in 2005, without a single win to our name.

The pre-season was, as expected, quite busy, including trips a post season defeat to Redhouse FC by two goals to one in the AGUK Challenge Cup, a strong win on the Sandhill’s artificial turf against Thomas Wilson, before the team came unstuck on a Sunday morning with a surprise defeat to Leam Lane Rangers at Gateshead.This was followed with a tempestuous comeback win against Forest Hall, a massive victory over Rutherford Deaf and then a heavy defeats against West Auckland and Newcastle BT; both teams in higher levels than ourselves.

After ninety minutes of our opening game, it was obvious that the team had near-collapse. The 2-0 defeat against Cambridge was hard to bear, but the insolence of some key players, namely Stoker and Richardson, meant that I was forced to remove them from the squad. Both eventually returned, but the absence and the disarray saw a run of defeats.

We hadn’t won a single game against a decent team until we actually went to Portugal, where a memorable tour saw a win, a draw and a loss.

Back in the cold, the team suffered and Greenwell, who was appointed Coach, was ready to receive the axe, until a superb run saw the team unbeaten for several games. During this run, Greenwell suffered the “thumb” and was forced out of coaching the side, mainly due to lack of attention and interest. Michael Pearson was appointed in his stead, and kept the run going. However, as the player signing deadline approached, the team was hit with several injuries and hobbled over the finishing line with only five wins out of fourteen games in the new year.

A lot of soul searching during the summer months, but the advantage is that the team has an appointed coach for pre-season for the first time, who will bring his ideas in and look for reliable players to avoid some embarrassingly heavy defeats.

Leading scorer for the season was Mark Muers, who move from defence into attack, back into defence, then back into attack for the latter part of the season.

Overwhelming player nominated as the best Sassco player this season was goalkeeper, David Smith, who replaced Simpson (now outfield) and was a key figure in the long unbeaten run.

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Redhouse stumble to the finishing line with a win.

Scott Dixon strode up confidently and stroked the penalty to score for Redhouse FC, early in the second half to settle the game for Redhouse FC. This was the third AGUK Challenge Cup game, and Redhouse FC retained the trophy. It was a controversial decision and definitely swung the game into Redhouse’s favour, as Sassco put up an excellent first half fight.

Sassco produced one of their most stubborn performances for many years, mainly down to Davinder Sangha taking the reigns in Michael Pearson’s absence. Privately, many players after the game said that Sangha’s grasp and knowledge of football is far superior to the incumbent Coach, Michael Pearson. One anonymous source, when asked If Sangha should usurp Mickey Pearson’s role said, “I naar that.”

Sassco were depleted. Muers had to call off before the game, while Mickey Oliver dropped the team in it again. Jack Wright was roped in and there were “debuts” for Callum Howe and Lee Ramsay.

A disappointing defeat, especially as Sassco were still in with a chance right until the death…

*This report is littered with inaccuracies, cynicism and downright lies as the scoreline could be wrong.

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Muers misses chance after chance while Campbell went to watch Michael Bublé.

While Campbell was listening to the droning voice of Michael Buble, I was left on the sidelines in the sticks at Peterlee worrying if my car was being broken into while Muers put on a superb display of how to miss easy chances.

We went 1-0 up with the aforementioned watching the opponent ‘keeper palm an easy shot into his own net. At the other end, an equally flapping goalkeeper, Marc McDermont (Simma bottled it after I told him his stats were three games – twelve goals conceded), conceded easily and we were soon 3-1 down. Macca’s first act in the game was to run up and boot Nicky Smith as hard as he could in the knee, while pretending to look like MC Hammer with his ridiculously baggy tracksuit bottoms (non-Adidas as well).

After it went to 4-1, we made a comeback at 4-2, then 5-3. Muers scored again and Andy Turner struck his first for the team. A period of domination occurred when we hit the crossbar, had several chances misses and cleared off the line. Simon also was “snipered” early in the second half with no player near him. He just keeled over.

The team ran out of steam and conceded late on to make it 6-3 to conclude a poor season. Now everyone has to relax, put their feet up, go on holiday and return for our pre-season which starts next week with a AGUK Cup game against Redhouse FC.

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Muers is substituted for Sangha.

Another depleted squad, but this time, a superb win. Sassco eventually ground Arms Citys down and scored two second half goals to make the 1-1 half-time scoreline and Arms City’s equaliser irrelevant.

The game was actually quite open. Both teams had plenty of chances and struck the crossbar and post on several occasions. Sassco opened the scoring, but Arms equalised when Macca decided to dally on the ball. The second goal came in the second half when Nicky Smith struck to give Sassco a 2-1 lead. Finally, Ramsay scrambled in the third goal from a corner kick and Sassco were clear.

Muers suffered some humiliation near the end when he was subbed for Sangha.

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Simma’s conceded nine goals in two games.

A chaotic back line, with Simma seemingly forgetting how he was supposed to be a goalkeeper. Even then, it was mistakes all over the pitch.

Country Park Inn were facing a Sassco team who were a pale shadow of the side which defeated them 3-1 away. This meant that CP Inn were 2-0 up within a matter of a few minutes. Muers replied to make it 2-1 with an excellent header, but at the break, CP Inn were 3-2 ahead.

It was 4-2 after the break, but another goal from Muers; a free kick, meant it was a tight finish, but Sassco failed to capitalise and suffered another mid-week defeat.

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Dave Gourlay, languishing on the sidelines for varying reasons, decided to grill his General Manager, Sangha, with some Jeremy Paxman like questions.

Q/ Sassco has been running over 10 years now, how do you feel about the brand & did you think you would have made more progress or have you been encouraged by what you have achieved?

I’m quite encouraged to be honest with you. We’ve reached an off field standard that no other amateur team at our level could possibly hope to match. We’ve had our own custom kit, custom footballs, high quality match videos, overseas tours, give away badges, full history since day one and the best website anyone can hope to have. The idea for Sassco.co.uk was always to use the website as the focal point for everything we do and we’ve achieved that.

Q/ Do you still have any aspirations that you are hoping to achieve?

Hoping to win a trophy, but I won’t bring in specialists just to do that. We’ve always been strict on people paying up subs, turning up and helping with nets. I’ve simply been uninterested in certain players because they’re not the ‘Sassco’ type. Anyone not conforming usually sees the exit door rapidly.

Q/ How do you feel this 11-a side season has faired this season & do you consider that we have a good squad or do you think it has diminished over the years?

This season has been quite poor. We had a good run, then Wayne Greenwell decided to go under the thumb and not respond to texts, so there was a bit of instability. However, his replacement, Pearson, had his hands tied by a shocking injury list after the transfer and signing deadline. However, Pearson is far more on the ball than his predecessor and is in constant contact about the squad line up as well as giving more impressive team talks. We always try and get reliable players more than top quality superstars.

Q/ With this in mind, are you happy that Sassco have not achieved much on the field? Or does this not motivate you?

It doesn’t keep me awake at night, mainly because I know that winning at our level isn’t the big thing people make it out to be. I’d ask you to list the winners of our division and the above division for the last three seasons. I’d also ask you to name the cup winners. It’s something you’d have to look up. However, everyone knows about Sassco, because the website is rammed down everyone’s throat.

Q/ A big issue this season has been postponed games, can you comment on whether or not the team will be changing their home pitch to more suitable grounds such as Biddick or gateshead 3G?

This season was a shocker. Unfortunately 3G pitches are way too expensive. An average of £50 a game. We would have to increase subs to around £3 per match and even £4, which is quite scary, but then again, some five-a-side that I’ve been playing recently has costed £3.50 and £3.80

Q/ This season has seen a number of changes in terms of admin, coaches & team selectors, what do you put this down to & can you see the ship being steadied now?

The back end is reasonably stable as despite Brian Watson controlling all the paperwork, I also know the procedures. This means more work for me, but I will be delegating tasks in the close season if we can’t get a new team sec. Greenwell stepped up and performed well as coach despite an atrocious start, but then the thumb struck. Mick Pearson, as mentioned is much more a hands-on coach which is what Sassco needed. Also, there is always an interim coach and others to take over if for any reason we lose the coach. I still have my trusty Asst. Manager, McDermont and Finance Controller, Muers, who tend to assist in most activities.

Q/ Sassco has had two very succesful trips to Europe, can you see the brand being taken to any other continents?

The USA Tour of 2012 is the big one. It’s Spain this year and Cyprus in 2011 (possibly Italy), but a full week tour to the States would be the culmination of everything we’ve hoped for.

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Revitalised performance.

After the midweek chaos, it was back to bare bones again and near panic as Titch decided to go camping two hours before kick off. I managed to get in a replacement against the table-toppers, Washington CC, and the performance was one of the best we’ve had.

A narrow defeat with Washington’s goal coming in the last five minutes, meant we left the field with nothing. But a makeshift side performed stubbornly, with excellent outings from Tim Gillespie, Dave Smith and also Mark Muers (heaven forbid), who scored Sassco’s second goal.

The whole day was nearly overshadowed by Wayne Greenwell’s reappearance as he dropped off his missing shirt and received the usual torrent of abuse from me (wonder why he left in the first place?).

Minor hiccup before kick-off. A pile of dog turd had to be removed from the pitch, so Greenwell was nominated and stood over it like a tool with a carrier bag before Mickey Pearson did the dirty deed.

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