‘Step out the front door, like a ghost, into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white. And in between the moon and you, the Angels get a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right. I walk in the air, within the rain, through my self and back again, where? I don’t know….But Maria say’s she’s dying, through the door I hear her crying, I don’t know………’

Adam Duritz, lead singer of the Counting Crows, is one messed up individual, he struggles though life in a series of malfunctioning relationships, trying to find an answer to life and all it has to offer. But as a man he has been in relationships with both Courtney Cox & Jennifer Aniston……..The late 90’s double if you will…….The reason I use his words from the song ‘Round Here’ to start this report is simple, his lyrics are a thing of beauty………only matched by the way we played yesterday!

I have played in some pretty decent teams in the past but nothing comes close to what we have done this year. 20 games, 17 wins, 3 draws and 0 defeats, we have scored 88 goals and conceded just 16……….yesterday, we secured the league title with 2 games to spare……..gentlemen, this is about you.

Nothing say’s CHAMPIONS like a 7-0 away win at 4th in the league. It was our time and boy did we show it. This army of hero’s stepped onto the pitch and played their asses off with the sun beating down……….only down side, we couldn’t have every single person that has played for the squad with us yesterday.

In the song ‘Round Here’ Adam Duritz goes on to write ‘…….there is a girl on the car in a parking lot, say’s, man you should try and take a shot, cant you see my walls are tumbling down, but you look up at the building, and I’m thinking of jumping, she say’s she is tired of life, well everybody is tired of something’………..Gents, the girl Adam is talking about is our most wanted and desired prom queen………so in love with all of us that she just cant choose……..but did we get tired of winning?.........NO! ’But Round here, she’s always on my mind…….’ Boys, without her, we might just have fallen at the last hurdle.

This Ghost from the fog that is our Prom Queen, is essentially a fictional character, but what you don’t realize is that she represents everything we are about, everything you are. We had a collective prize, a collective goal, a collective inspiration, but she, in her infinite beauty counts for all that we are as a group, and what you are as man. We step on that pitch week in, week out and play our socks off, all for the love of a phantom that we made a reality.

Arriving at Holcombe, I saw Danny Moore warming up on the top pitch, Ryan Bishop was close by and the good Doctor, Nick Gough, appeared to be overseeing this sun bathed run around. A little something clicked in the brain to say…….’today is our day’…..

And so to the game, we started in a typically frantic manner, and Erik was binned before we got a chance to say hello. But we settled things down, worked our socks off and then the boy, JP, having been out for 6 weeks with a broken foot, stepped up. He beat one, anti skilled the second and slotted a goal from 12 yards, 1-0…….we were off. Now, I don’t go on too much about training, but, ‘TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING!!!!’ (calm yourself Browner)……a slick move from left to right and back to left, oh and back to right saw Adam Mulvanny in prime 45 degree territory…….The gaffer, called it, Adam delivered the most delicious cross and a reverse stick defleco from yours truly meant we were 2-0 and bouncing. We wanted a decent cushion at half time and after a double rebound corner, Erik shot, keeper saved and my man, Archie was on hand to slot it in…….3-0, 35 mins from glory!

Its always important to restart the game in a good way and after a couple of scares we won a corner, slotted it and it was plain sailing at 4-0 with 25 to play. I could go on and on about how good Erik, Ders & Ryan have been, but they are just such modest characters, they wouldn’t like me to praise them, safe to say, all our good work starts with them. Scott and Goughy were again impeccable and the midfield 4 of Dan, Glover, JP and the quite outstanding Tom Cleall ran their socks off in the March sun to make sure we were home and dry. The 5th, although tapped in by myself, was something of beauty. We ran them ragged, left, right, left, right, left, upwards of 15 passes from front to back, resulting in a fr post tap in…….this is how we do it!

Man of the Match JP was inspirational, for a man that has been out of the game for 6 weeks, he was simply sublime. He is a man that gives everything, EVERYTHING and is an example for all of us, put on the shirt…….be a Champion, and he was. The 6th saw him beat 3, pants down and all, and riffle a strike into the bottom corner, time to introduce him to the Prom Queen……Much could be said about the 7th…….I will say this, it went in, from Scott, End of!

I cant leave this without mentioning my partners in crime up top, Browner, Adam and my boy, Richard Archibald…….Gents, you were outstanding, liquid, just brilliant……..we were missing Ice, but we had champagne!

Duritz finishes the song with the simple line of ‘……..Round here, we all look the same……’ Yes we do boys, we are all bloody Champions. I will take this moment to thank each and everyone of you, it has been a pleasure to work with you and strive to be all that we are. As Ders said to me last night, this is just the start, well……if that be the case, then we are onto something quite special.

Know this, you are a man, you can stand tall and tell the world ‘I got this’…….i could go on for hours about how proud I am, but I am, you are worthy of everything we have achieved………and you are wonderfully proud!

Enjoy this, League Champions, undefeated……..

The reason I use Adam’s lyrics is because they are an inspiration, chaps, for 20 weeks, you have been a bigger inspiration! I never thought this was possible…….I should have known better!

ROUND HERE, WE ALL LOOK THE SAME…….

We did it!

Much love

Gaffer!
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