|
Added Saturday 31st January
Yeltz 2 Bedford Town 1
Good news on the pitch - relatively speaking - any win is cause for wild celebration at the moment. Bedford looked a poor side and are the kind of opponents we need to play every week. There were yet more new players, one of whom was Davion Hamilton, back again, a left back who played centre forward and got the winner. Another new bloke scored the first goal. I'm not sure it's worth remembering his name because he probably won't be around long.
Off the pitch - Mark Danks and Michael Briscoe have left. They are two contracted players as well so it's fairly obvious what's gone on there. I can see another transfer embargo around the corner.
Possibly the biggest development occurred in the HTSA Suite but that's for another day.
Added Thursday 29th January
6 new players since last Friday and apparently Morell Maison is targetting even more before the weekend. The transfer policy at the club is starting to resemble a game of pin the tail on the donkey - aimless swinging attempting a lucky hit. He could know exactly what he's doing of course but I doubt that even he, persuasive as he undoubtedly is, could claim that the season is going to plan.
Added Tuesday 27th January
Southern League Premier Division
Brackley Town 4 Yeltz 1
Well, we won the second half, I suppose. So, that's the 10th League defeat in 25 games and 39 goals conceded now. We're going nowhere this season.
Added Tuesday 27th January
8.30pm
Half time - 4-0 down. Can't wait until Saturday. There's sure to be a party atmosphere at the Grove.
Added Tuesday 27th January
8.00pm
Three goals down in the first 15 minutes. There is a danger we may come back to look back fondly on Saturday as being only mildly embarassing. I'm too depressed to even watch Holby City.
Added Tuesday 27th January
There's been a lot of activity ahead of tonight's game. Twins Carl and Jerome Paul have arrived from Maidenhead whilst the club are trying to get clearance for Kwasi Edusei from Farnborough and Eric Young from Kettering. Presumably not the Eric Young who won the FA Cup with Wimbledon who is now about 48.
Added Monday 26th January
I had a dream yesterday that we were going to beat Brackley 5-0 tomorrow. I will check myself in for psychiatric treatment immediately. I know that the team have the habit of doing exactly the opposite of what we expect but I have never been less confident about a game as I am about this one. I have a horrible feeling that the slide into mid-table mediocrity is about to begin in earnest.
Added Sunday 25th January
Maybe I was a bit harsh yesterday. Not in suggesting that the team were rubbish because, one or two honourable exceptions aside, they undoubtedly were, but because I suggested they weren't bothered. I think they were and I also think they tried but perhaps the harsh reality is they are not good enough to turn it on consistently over a season. The squad's not big enough and Morell Maison's signings this season have been hit and miss at best. It's backed up by the stats as well with nine league defeats in 24 games with five of those coming at home, 35 league goals conceded and four goals conceded on five separate occasions in all competitions.
The financial problems are well publicised and if it's true that Morell is spending all of his time raising money then is it not inevitable things will suffer on the playing side as a result? This is just one of a number of potential pitfalls involved with an owner who is also manager as there are only 24 hours in the day, even for Morell Maison, and perhaps he is spreading himself too thinly at the moment.
Added Saturday 24th January
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 0 Rugby Town 4
After the Lord Mayor's show on Tuesday night, you really do get the shit cart. A pub team would have been embarassed by today's effort, both on and off the pitch. Jon Stevenson apparently was unable to find the ground on time and some other bloke we signed was (a) late and, (b), useless. We played the entire second half with ten men because we didn't have enough subs to cope with the injuries and quite frankly we were absolutely pathetic. Were it not for Nick Bussey, who is rapidly becoming my favourite player for the simple fact that he actually looks bothered, we could have lost by nine or ten. The amazing thing is we are still third. Not for long though.
Added Friday 23rd January
Shows what I know. The embargo has been lifted and we have signed ex-Leicester and Corby striker Jon Stevenson.
Morell has also spoken via the Yeltz forum . I almost feel guilty for doubting him now.
Added Thursday 22nd January
According to this, the transfer embargo hasn't been lifted yet but soon may be. Whether we'll have any new players for Rugby on Saturday must surely be debatable though.
Amazingly, according to the Halesowen Chronicle, Morell Maison is behind a £3m bid for the site of Cradley School. Maybe this just proves why I'll never be a businessman but how the bloody hell can we have this on one hand and all the stories about the club being in dire financial straits on the other? I understand there are different backers for different projects but I wouldn't be happy knowing this if I was one of the allegedly several local businesses owed money by Halesowen Town.
Added Wednesday 21st January 2009
Rumour is the transfer embargo has been lifted. It's great news if true as the squad isn't so much threadbare as transparent. All new players must understand that they will be paid in chocolate buttons though.
Added Tuesday 20th January
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 2 Merthyr Tydfil 0
Now that's more like it. There's nothing like two late goals, a controversial red card for their goalkeeper and an outraged bunch of one-eyed Welshmen (not literally) to take your mind of the off-field woes. In reality the game could have been won in the first half so the Welshmen can count themselves lucky to still be in the game by the time of the incidents that upset them so. There's something funny about an angry Welshman, their accents don't lend themselves to fury.
Added Tuesday 20th January
Afternoon
What a week. Not only are we skint but Maison's revolving door has been locked by a transfer embargo from the Southern League. Apparently a contractual dispute with Tom Bryant (contractual dispute presumably in this case means not paying him) means Ken Turner and co have waded in. For once I don't blame Ken. What this means of course is we have virtually no players and no means of adding to the squad, leading to a worst case scenario of not being able to field a team at some point in the future. All of a sudden promotion doesn't seem to matter much, just finishing the season would be nice.
Never fear though - Zema Abbey could be back tonight!
Added Saturday 17th January
Southern League Premier Division
Oxford City 4 Yeltz 1
They missed a penalty as well. We probably shouldn't be surprised given the last few days but that is still a pretty feeble Yeltz effort. This season is in danger of coming apart at the seams now. I guess we'll find out how good a manager Morell Maison really is in the next few weeks.
Added Friday 16th January
It doesn't get any better. There has been a deafening silence from the club about the rumours circulating which suggests, in this case, there's no smoke without fire. Nuno Barreto has gone back to Portugal for undisclosed family reasons which is a shame because he was good; and finally, Morell Maison has been charged by the FA after the Chippenham incident. His charges are violent conduct and failure to provide information. Failure to provide information? Sounds familiar...
Added Thursday 15th January
There's serious problems at the club judging by stories coming out in the local press. I heard things earlier in the season where the club were apparently having problems paying relatively small amounts of money to creditors and it appears now that they weren't isolated incidents.
"Halesowen Town manager and owner Morell Maison could not be contacted for comment as the News went to press" is becoming an icreasingly common ending to a lot of stories at the moment. He's not usually shy so it would be nice to hear something from him.
More bad news...Nuno Barreto is rumoured to back in Portugal and possibly not coming back.
Added Wednesday 14th January
What with all the moaning yesterday, I failed to mentioned we had two new players last night. Dominic Weston and Thibault Aliadiere both started last night and both were unceremoniously given the hook at half time after, at best, anonymous first-half performances. Thibault is the brother of Middlesbrough forward Jeremie and whilst he looks like him he doesn't seem to share much of his footballing ability. Dominic Weston wore some truly horrific pink boots and has a MySpace page the likes of which make me fear for the future of the country. Knock yourself out and have a look here.
Anyway, I'm prepared to stick my neck on the block and predict both are more Ludovic Quistin than Eldon Maquemba and neither will be here long.
Added Tuesday 13th January
Southern League Cup
Yeltz 0 Atherstone Town 2
Oh well. The Southern League Cup dreams are over for another year.
I may just be in a bad mood but if there is a more niggly, whinging, whiny bunch of tosspots than Atherstone I haven't seen them. They must practice tantrums in training. Their numbers 8 and 6 (I can't be bothered to look their names up) led the way but numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7,9,10,11,subs and manager weren't bad either. The ref didn't help either but then they rarely do. I'm going to bed.
Added Sunday 11th January
Yesterday's result:
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 2 Bashley 0
The man of the match yesterday was the Halesowen groundsman who got the game on. It was the only fixture played in all three Southern League divisions yesterday and this time the players put in a display worthy of the hard work done to get the pitch playable. It was good to see Dennis Pearce back in a Halesowen shirt as well (it would be even better to see Stuart Pierpoint and Nick Amos, who were both watching yesterday, back too though. Pierpoint may be a possibility but Nick won't be back I'm afraid). Goals came from Mark Danks and midfield goal machine Jay Denny with a brilliant finish at the death. The only downside was the red card for Aaron Cornwall who was quite rightly sent off for petulantly lashing out at the Bashley number 2 who, I think, is called Paul Gazzard. What a girl he is. He looks a bruiser but he spent the entire game either rolling on the floor (including one pathetic attempt to get Cornwall booked or worse in the first half) or mouthing off at the ref. What Cornwall did was inexcusable but perhaps, just perhaps, slightly understandable.
Anyway, we're up to second now in what is proving to be a very unpredictable season.
Added Thursday 8th January
Players are leaving the Grove at quite a rate at the moment. Dino Melitas, peripheral at best, has left but more surprisingly so has Dean Smith. I thought he was going to be a bigger player for us what with the full season at Aldershot and all that but his contract has been cancelled by mutual consent. Either (a) he's fallen out with Morell Maison which, let's face it, isn't impossible, (b) is too expensive or (c) we're freeing up money to bring other people back in. Take your pick...
Added Tuesday 6th January
It's -4 degrees as I write this so it wouldn't have been much fun at the Grove this evening anyway. All three of tonight's scheduled Southern League games have fallen foul of the weather. It's third time lucky on the 20th January for Merthyr, and Cambridge at home is now at the end of next month.
Poor Jermaine Palmer has been shown the door at Corby after 55 minutes of action. Slightly harsh.
Added Monday 5th January
Merthyr tomorrow must surely become our fourth postponement of the season. It snowed last night and it is predicted to be the coldest night of the winter tonight, so unless we're branching out into Southern League On Ice then it looks as if it's another night with sodding Holby City.
Added Sunday 4th January
My observations on December 15th about the crowded fixture schedule for January are looking like they're going to be fairly academic. With the weather being as cold as it is, the groundsman is going to have to work minor miracles for Tuesday night against Merthyr.
Chris Nurse has left to join Tamworth. Judging by his performance against Stourbridge the other day I think he left quite a while ago.
Added Saturday 3rd January
2.30pm. Hmmm, the game has just been called off. I would imagine there's a coachload of Yeltz fans that are none too impressed in Tiverton at the moment. Tiverton didn't think a pitch inspection was needed this morning but the ref has just arrived and called it off. A bit of a shambles by the sound of it.
Added Saturday 3rd January
Lunchtime - the freezing weather has decimated the Southern League fixtures but the Yeltz game at Tiverton is on. It's difficult to second guess this current side as they are about as consistent as a drunken chimp at a picnic but I reckon our best chance today would have been a postponement. Yes, I am that confident.
Added Friday 2nd January
Yesterday's result
Southern League Premier Division
Yeltz 1 Two Left Feet Brigade 3
A bumper 1200+ crowd saw another insipid home loss. We only lost seven games in the whole of last season yet we have already lost that amount this time round, with four of them coming at the Grove. That we are still fifth and only five points off top is down to the inadequacy of other teams around us as results elsewhere went our way yet again.
Yesterday was rubbish. Morell Maison says he understands what Halesowen v Stourbridge means but he clearly didn't tell his players as they were outfought and outplayed for the entire game.It could have been 5-1 and Stourbridge wouldn't really have been flattered. Man for man Halesowen are better in virtually every position but not so much so that they can turn up and give such a half hearted display against opposition who actually try.
There will be those who say it's because our players are generally not locals whereas Stourbridge's are and they understand what a local derby means. While it's true that most of our players probably couldn't find Amblecote on a map, I don't go along with the argument. Professional pride should be enough. Our players had it last season. If this lot can't be bothered to get up for a game like yesterday maybe they should make way for players that can.
The groundsman yesterday - New Year's Day remember - was at the ground at 6.00am making sure it was playable. He was one of the few Halesowen staff that showed real commitment. Some of the players looked as if they hadn't gone to bed by 6.00am and as a result most of the 1200 odd who turned up to have a look probably won't be back. Yesterday was an opportunity to beat our local rivals and win over some new fans. Some, not all, of the players didn't look bothered and that is difficult to forgive.
Anyway, my mate Chris - a Stourbridge fan - demanded I apologise for my disparaging remarks about the two left feet brigade from Amblecote. Well, I won't because everything I say is always true (sort of) but I will concede the best team on the day won yesterday. How's that?
| 
