Still in his sweaty training kit.

Robbie with a certain celebrity he bumped into yesterday in Manchester.
The Coxhoe Cameraman

Our starting eleven

Any doubt we're a powerful squad!??!

Quiz Time Part 2

Okay merry Bloggers as Billy is off to Prague tamorra just time for another picture and the question is: What is it?
Suggestions - keep it clean guys and remember abreviated alias's to protect the innocent.

To stop Billy from tearing his hair out or from pulling his plonker further Quiz 1 is answered in the comments section of the previous blog.

Quiz Time!

A bit similar to Huytons quiz last year of pictures and where am I.

Well I have decided to run my own this time before Huyton gets to grips with his archives and best shagging places in the North East for a Sunday stroll with your missus.

Well bloggers can you guess what this tidy picture is? Please try to be clean with your answers and apply the usual blogger alias's.

Usual rules and regulations apply - this means no prizes!

 

Who Argentinian Mackem really believes will win the World Cup

Isn't that right?

Walter shows his true colours!!
The Coxhoe Cameraman

Government Minister in pulse feeling shocker!!!

John Prescott and friends ( if he has any)
The Coxhoe Cameraman

the new WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!

We'll lift the cup in Germany... ANY DOUBT GUYS?!?!?


WALTER

Retained List

Comments from our blog members please:-

Sunderland AFC today announced the Club’s retained player list for the 2006-07 season.

Chief Executive Peter Walker said “Several out of contract players have been released by the Club, including Gary Breen, goalkeeper Joe Murphy, midfielders Martin Woods and Billy Dennehy and defender Sean Taylor.

“Academy 3rd year scholars Ben Christensen, Ian Graham, and Jay Martin have been advised that they will not be offered professional contracts with the Club and Under 18’s Michael Allan, Luke Ball, Kevin Davison, Craig McFarlane and Jake Richardson have also been released.

“Grant Leadbitter and Dan Smith, players who have progressed through our Academy ranks and whose contracts were due to expire on June 30th have both been offered new deals and loan signings Anthony Le Tallec and Justin Hoyte have returned to their respective clubs.

“The Club has chosen to exercise an option in the contract of Kevin Kyle, retaining his services for a further year.

“Andy Gray currently remains under contract with the Club, however a permanent move to Burnley has been agreed and we expect the deal to be completed in early June.

“The retained list shows those players currently under contract with SAFC and players whose contracts have expired but have received further contract offers. “

RETAINED LIST AS AT 17th MAY 2006
Players retained on professional contracts for the 2006-07 season or in receipt of a contract offer are as follows:

Goalkeepers
Ben Alnwick
Trevor Carson
Kelvin Davis

Defenders
Steven Caldwell
Danny Collins
Neill Collins
Peter Hartley
George McCartney
Nyron Nosworthy
Dan Smith
Stephen Wright

Midfielders
Julio Arca
Christian Bassila
Rory Delap
Liam Lawrence
Grant Leadbitter
Tommy Miller
Andy Welsh
Dean Whitehead

Strikers
Chris Brown
Stephen Elliott
Kevin Kyle
Daryl Murphy
Kevin Smith
Jonathan Stead

The MillerMen in Amsterdam

Now, what happened in Amsterdam has to stay in Amsterdam - the above photo is the only one I have taken as camera's were kinda barred from Chrissy's (DEC) stag do. The obvious reason for this photo being the bottle of Corona stuck to the top of my mate Quinny's head.

This photo was taken in Teasers, Amsterdam. Anybody had the pleasure? Fantastic place. I would love to write a "Jimmy style" account of the weekend but I cant remember a thing - too much smoking and too much lager.

Ian Miller - the Best Man who made a pig of himself. 12-14th May 2006.

Mr and Mrs Anonynous you were warned

Well Mr or Mrs Anonymous who ever you are - you had your chance twice and you still haven't sent me an email to be a member of our blogsite - so you are now off the list to add comments as I have changed the status to members only.

So if you want to contribute to this blogsite please send me an email request to be a member it's easy to do and you can also hide your name from the messages or comments you may complete.

So come on send me an email.

Jim Gilling
Secretary SAFCSA Coxhoe Branch

The Female Art of Showing off their Pair of Waggers

Billy - hope this explains what a female wagger is - Kella terminology for a G String or Thong!

Now you know what I had hung from my rear view mirrow instead of furry dice!



 

Chelsea and Ferryhill - Mighty Blues.

Whilst there may be some differences between the lifestyles and affluence of the "SW" district of London and the "DL" postcode in County Durham (for instance, Chelsea has the Kings Road with it's art galleries and posh shops whilst Ferryhill has the High Street featuring the Black Bull and the Club!) there are also some similarities, the most obvious being BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONSHIPS! Yes, the Ferrhill Under 12's have done it again and won their Division for the second year running. Published below are some pics of the championship winning side and their 'champagne' celebration after winning the title with 3 games to spare. Well done lads - at last a positive football posting, my first of the season.

The Billy's Week-end Away ...... Censored version!

Role call was at 9.30am only one Billy missing that was due to illness and not a desire to miss the week-end away due to the performance on the pitch.

Billy Senior was first to be picked up and had a grin as big as a Cheshire cat on his face; was this for what lay ahead or the fact he had a holdall and not his usual carrier bag. We then went and picked up Cousin Billy who had the most important thing on him … his mobile phone! So it was off down to Leicester and the start of what we hoped would be a good week-end and the end of a terrible season for us all. No scarves pinned in the back window we were off and incognito.

The usual banter all the way down, including what we were going to be this time when Billy Senior was to meet the “Black Pearl”. It was agreed that Billy Senior and Cousin Billy would keep the same job as described on the last meeting with the Black Pearl, site foreman and his assistant and I elected to be an architect designing exclusive houses through out Europe; Billy Senior had already said he had come clean about owning a villa in Portugal.

So we arrived at the hotel about 12.30pm and were unable to book in so the car was parked up for the stay right outside the casino next door as Cousin Billy had his disabled badge with him. As we walked away from the car we all appeared to walk with a limp, were we all disabled or just didn’t realise that you can have a disabled badge and not look physically disabled.

We decided to pay our first visit into the casino and after Cousin Billy was signed in as a member we signed Billy Senior in as a guest as he did not have any identity on him at all; I wonder why? We then headed for the bar only to be told that the bar did not open until 2.15pm so our first visit of the day lasted a mere 2 minutes well at least we did not loose any money. We then decided to head for the Richard III pub, the famous pub from last time that the other Billy’s looked into from the window only to see me and Billy Senior slavering on to the landlord who was trying to get rid of us as he had a private function on in the back room. To our surprise it was under new management, Aston Villa fans, and they had made a decent job in tidying up the joint even extending the bar area to make it bigger. First winge of the day and without StevieW being there was that my drink was all of 5p dearer than the other Billy’s drinks; I could feel the arrows in my back just like the advert for my tipple. Billy Senior got on the jungle drums and called up the Black Pearl and the rest of the guest list, we were not sure who was coming but perhaps a few beers would prevent any shock waves later. The Black Pearl Gang were at least another 1.5 hours away, so we got on talking to the locals and the landlord until the arrival of the Black Pearl Gang.

After receiving a few text messages on the jungle drums saying the Black Pearl Gang (BPG) were lost our newly found friend of the Billy’s, the landlord, guided the BPG to the pub. The Black Pearl greeted us with a smile with teeth as white as ivory we all said our hellos and the rest of the BPG headed for their hotel and after one or two further drinks the Black Pearl was keen to go to the room booked next door for “light relief” before the night ahead. Me and Cousin Billy went into the casino while Billy Senior went back to book us into the hotel and assist the Black Pearl with the “light relief” with the assistance of a bottle of wine and some “Manchester Jelly”

In the casino both me and Cousin Billy lost £20 each on the roulette table and after a quick drink we retired to our room to think about the “light relief” that was going on the floor below us.

Me and Cousin Billy had booked a table for 6.30pm at the Chinese buffet just opposite the Richard III pub and recommended as the best eating house around the block, Billy Senior was also booked with us but did not turn up for his meal; perhaps the “light relief” had gone into extra time. Anyway as we settled down for our meal we realised we were next to a couple with the guy talking abit like a Geordie. Anyway our suspicions were correct he was from Blyth and was a Mag! His wife was a Leicester fan as they had met down Leicester when he came here in search for a job many years ago …. so there we had it yet another plastic Mag. The presence of this Mag did not put us off our meal as it can only be described as fucking marvellous, we were given a time limit of 1.5 hours as the restaurant was full after 8.00pm but we couldn’t have eaten any more and it had only been an hour into our session.

So after a great meal and a good bottle of vino, that had Cousin Billy reaching for his mobile to write a memo to remind him of the vineyard and name of the wine, we headed for Wetherspoons at the corner of the street to await the arrival of the BPG and Billy Senior. After a few pints we at last could see Billy Senior walking up the street did he have a limp and should we get Cousin Billy’s disabled badge again. Alas what we thought was old age setting in was merely a suspected groin strain for performing his “light relief” duties. We waited and waited for the BPG to arrive but could wait no more as Glass House and Yates awaited us; that’s if I still can get in these two fine establishments.

Well we entered the Glass House and it was heaving with people and music, I looked around in amazement as I can’t actually remember being in here last visit. We still awaited the arrival of the BPG and the Black Pearl kept getting on the jungle drum and asking where they were; they were lost again. We thought the amount of time they had been going around Leicester to find us in the first place they must know it like the back of there hands. We noticed the bright lights and chandeliers of the hotel opposite and as we were still waiting our BPG guests I decided to investigate the Jarvis Hotel further. After blagging my way into a wedding night disco as a distant relative of the bride I made for the window over-looking the Glass House and gave my buddies in there a wave just like the Queen would give to her people. After a quick drink, no I did not toast the bride, it was back off to the two Billy’s and the Black Pearl. After another drink the BPG joined us, the smaller guy probably named Billy looked as if he did not know what was happening apparently he was chaperone for the night and was there to look after the BPG. As we were now assembled we decided to head next door and into Yates, scene of my kicky out last visit. Again I looked around and heard tales from the two Billy’s about the last visit - where we stood, where I kissed a young lady on the back in front of her not amused boyfriend, where I was standing when I was shown the door and where the Billy and Miller gangs were all standing finishing their drinks off while I waited outside. As we left the Glass House and head towards Yates we were surprised when we learned that the newly arrived BPG were heading back to their hotel; what had we said what had happened or was one of them expecting a certain BigM to be with us that night? Anyway we were left with the Black Pearl to entertain us through the night but we knew that the lour of more “light relief” was required into the night.

After a few drinks in Yates we decided to head back closer to the hotel and try our luck again at the Richard III pub but it was closed for a lock in by the sound of the music inside. Cousin Billy and me went back into the casino and this time not to loose any more money, the other Billy went back to rest his groin and a bit more “light relief”.

We never lost any money but watched plenty loosing their mortgage money but looking at most of them they were not 100% true Brits but had great wads of £50 notes laying bets of £250 per go; doesn’t it make you fucking mad that a true Brit can’t afford to throw money away like that?

Cousin Billy decided to call it a day and left me in the casino to discuss the world events with two good looking barmaids while the singer and then the disco blasted out into the early hours. After several more Smirnoff Ices I headed back to the hotel at about 1.45am; would Billy Senior be alright with his groin strain, did he need any help getting in and out of bed, should I give him a hand or should I go to my room and get the first bit of kip for the day. I decided on the latter as I thought with a little more “Manchester Jelly” the groin strain may have gone away.

We were up pretty late in the morning as was Billy Senior he still had his usual “light relief” mode still switched on so was late in getting up or should I say off. I decided to leave Cousin Billy getting showered as I needed to get some fresh air and check that the Gilliganlimo was still outside the casino doors. All was okay and as I walked up the road Wetherspoons was already open serving beer and an old woman about 75 was hitting what was probably her second half sitting in the window and smiling at me as I went passed….. now if this had been Blackpool maybe but not after a session in Leicester I needed to keep my standards in tact.

On returning to the hotel we once again waited for the BPG to pick up their boss The Black Pearl but as the time was approaching 10.45am and they were lost again, we decided to head off to Birmingham and Villa Park for our last game of the Premiership.

We stopped off at Tesco’s opposite the Ricoh Stadium, home of Coventry City, for our breakfast. Impressive looking stadium and one we will see inside next season as we hopefully don’t struggle in the Championship.

As we approached Villa Park Billy Senior made a call to the Black Pearl to find that the Black Pearls back had seized while putting down the suitcase at home and was on the way to hospital. Although we were all concerned with the Black Pearls health we thought sod this “light relief” exercise lark as it had already claimed a groin and now a back; they must remember to warm up before taking “exercise” next time.

We arrived at the Armada pub under Spaghetti Junction at about 12.30pm as I was driving no beer for me just a lime and soda while the two Billy’s settled into their usual Carling Cold. The Billingham Branch were also in the pub and after seeing some un-usual photos taken the previous night they shook our hands and had a good laugh. As I had been in this pub before for Villa games I knew it was okay to leave the car so the Billingham branch also left their coach and we headed towards a watering hole near the ground. It took about 15 minutes to walk to the ground and we asked where the pubs were behind the away end. They were too far away so as we were informed the bars were open in the ground we headed into the stadium at 2.00pm YES 2.00PM!!!! as it was Billy Senior who suggested this, we thought he might want to rest his groin strain. The bars were closed with no alcohol on sale so we headed for our seats awaiting the entrance of the Sedgefield Branch including the Miller men, StevieW and ThomasH. They arrived about 2.45pm and were pretty pissed from a good sup in the Barley Mow pub near to Dudley. A lot of fans were in fancy dress and the Sedgefield branch did not let the team down, Clive in a prisoners outfit, Stewie was dressed as Donald Duck, there was a Mr Blobby and not forgetting StevieW who came as an old winging git without his cap!

So everyone was in a great mood and it was not kick off but party time that started at 3.00pm. Let’s all have a disco, my garden shed; bye-bye to the Premiership and Niall Quinn’s disco pants all rang out from the away end. Chants for Super Kevin Philips also were heard that was rewarded with a wave from the little man himself.

The game itself was crap with the usual capital C. We again looked as though we couldn’t put anything together and up front well did we have any striker. Some said that Brownie wouldn’t get a game in the Northern league I thought he would even be shown up by the Ferryhill Under 12’s that our dear Nephew Billy watches.

As the game went on the majority of the action was in the stands as the fancy dress display went across the front doing the annual conga dance only to be stopped by a jobs worth steward wearing a number 5 on his orange coat who warned the conga leaders and then after Superman was thrown out by him all hell broke loose with even StevieW getting involved and shouting things like “do you want a riot on your hands!” and grabbing the number 5 steward and telling him "what a joke he was". Nearly StevieW, nearly - if this had been Manchester we think you would have been out and a banning order for the next five years….. just think of it the shame on your family and the Branch … oh well at least the coach might be winge free next year if it had happened!

The game ended 2:1 to the Villa and as we exited the ground steward number 5 was once again getting involved and stopping fans getting on the pitch. One guy dressed as Fred Flintstone at least got on the pitch and got ThomasS gloves as a souvenir then was pulled off by his mates before arsehole number 5 got to him.
As we headed home we started to discuss and laugh at the week-ends events and if the Black Pearls back would be okay. At least I had the Black Pearls black and gold waggers over my internal mirror instead of furry dice as a souvenir. I must admit they looked a better souvenir than a pair of gloves once worn by a goalie that left the lads for money and the chance to stay in the Premiership.

So there you have it Bloggers our final away match in the Premiership and the last Billy away day until Ipswich and Leicester away next season. Hope you enjoyed the summary as you would expect a lot could not be said on the www so here’s hoping the censored version is okay until we all meet up again.

Pictures from the week-end not far away some shown below and some need to be edited before publishing!


See you next season


Billy Gilligan

The Girls from Sunderland

Dot to the left, Pauline centre and Diane hidden as usual behind her furry thing! 

Oh no are we that bad!

StevieW just realising that we are THAT BAD! 

The Look that Could Kill

StevieW without his belovered cap in fancy dress as a winging old twat! 

Prisoner CliveD awaiting sentance

Didn't dare take the photo lower as we all would find out how small CliveD really is!

 

Open Message to Mr or Mrs Anonymous

Dear Mr or Mrs Anonymous,

Sometime ago I offered you the chance to reveal yourself by giving you an open invite to add comments or write messages, you appear not to have sent any email address to our branch email address even though you are still adding comments some constructive and some amusing. However the members of this blog have now reached a limit where they really want to know who you are, so they can have more constructive dialogue with you.

I have detailed below the original blog that was your invite. Please can you send me your email address to allow me to send you an invite. I will leave the invite open for 1 week after this period if you have not sent your email address then I will have no option but bar you from posting anything on this blog as we feel that by now you would have wished to have a blog name and reveal who you are. Please send your email address to:- safcsa2004-coxhoe@yahoo.co.uk


"If Mr or Mrs Anonymous wants to reveal themself by sending me an email then I will send an invite to enable him/her to add posts not just messages.At the moment anyone can post a comment and leave a name as anonymous if they wish to keep their identity hidden (don't know why they would want to do this though) but we will not know if it's the same person always posting as anonymous if you get my drift.If we keep on getting anonymous comments and they get a bit personal I will have no option but to restrict comments to members only.So come on Anonymous reveal yourself and I will send you a formal invite"

With the close season now here.

and only the Cup Final, European Cup final, Play Off finals, the World Cup and Jimmy's report from the Billy weekend to come, will there be as many informative contributions as we have become used to?

I look forward to the German Chronicles of Jim and Miller as they journey around the Fatherland in pursuit of English glory and the aftermath of large steins of John Smiths and Carling. ( Can you get John Smiths in the Fatherland Jim?). Is the lap top going Jim and can we expect the WiFi to give us daily blogs?

To blog on a daily basis from Germany would be a good way of keeping us upto date with all of your exploits whilst you are out there, so how about it?

Fanatical in the extreme. Got it real bad. Sat through shite, home and away all season and still he can't get enough of it.

Good on ya lads. Soon be June, soon be on your way.

The North East Forum

Click the link.

Anyone ever looked in on this site?

Seems to be a well run board that covers most areas of the region, some better than others.

All over for the Boro

Valiant effort. Not good enough on the night against a side that played good football. Had their chances and a stone wall penalty turned down. May have made a difference but who knows.

Now Steve Gibson starts the search for his new manager, though I suspect he already knows who that is. Any money on Alan Curbishley and interesting to note that Keith Peacock and Mervyn Day, Curbishley's assistants at Charlton both resigned today.

Joe Lovejoy of the Sunday Times, got every aspect of McClarens appointment to the England post spot on. He tips Curbishley. Is he the man to build on the legacy of youth down the road in Smogsville.

Then we have our own wait, for takeovers, managers, chairman and investment in the club that could put some momentum back into SAFC.

Lets hope we can see times as good as the Boro have had this season, even if they have come away empty handed.

The Billy's Week-end away in Leicester

It's coming guys but you will have to wait abit longer as I am off on the car ferry to Holland today back on Thursday morning when I hope to post a special report before the end of the week on the great Billy experience.

Billy Gilligan

Last posting from Bally??????

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

When you consider that we played Arsenal on Monday, Fuham on Thursday and then today, we did OK.
Up until we conceded the goal I felt we were quite comfortable. We created chances. The thing that let us down most of all was our decision-making in front of goal - when to cross, when to shoot, when to keep the ball.
The lads have had a right go and they were tired.
I wanted us to up the tempo in the second half and we started it well. But then you concede a penalty, the keeper saves it, they get a corner and score from it. That is frustrating.
We should have cleared the corner. Had we done that I feel we would have got something from the game. They [Sunderland's players] did respond at 2-0 down.
Our fans were great and Villa's supporters got behind their team. It made for a good atmosphere on the last day of the season.
I wished it [Sunderland's goal] had come 10 minutes earlier. I asked the fourth official if there was 18 minutes to be added on. I don't think he found it funny.
It wasn't to be and from a result point of view it was disappointing. But I think we can be in a positive frame of mind to try to bring this club back to the big time.
George [McCartney] wanted to play, it was a gamble because it [his groin] was sore from the other day. We thought he might have been able to get through the game. Steve's [Caldwell] hurt his knee in a collision in the middle of the park.
We were in possession of the ball and we lost it and they broke on us and scored. It was a disappointing time to concede [just before half-time].
I'd still love to manage Sunderland, it [the 10 games as caretaker-manager] has whet my appetite.
It was important that we ended the season in a positive way and I think we have, despite the result today.
Thanks for reading my full-time email.
All the best,
Kevin Ball

Our First Premiership Home Win

The coach picked up at the usual time several members missing due to "other" commitments (or could not be bothered). Everyone seemed to be glad it was the end of the season; I am still looking forward to the Billy week-end away to Villa via Leicester on Saturday/ Sunday.

Collection on the coach was £100 a loss of £65 on the day this will just be added to the losses we made all year, Bankman Tommy gave me the float to add to the collection as we settled into the remaining journey into Sunderland.

All off at our normal stop and 10 of us headed towards the Black Cat Bar to get in while it was happy hour. Got mine in first, Brimlow offered to buy it for me as a thank you for the good work during the season but I declined at these prices and said he could get me a drink at the next AGM in Coxa club as it would be cheaper, after all he is an OAP.

The talk was all about Quinn's backers as we read various Irish newspaper cuttings, similar to what Hodgey sent by email. My philosophy on this is wait till it happens then we know who it is and then see what money they bring to the pot.

After 1 pint the happy hour was off and the prices had risen from £2.20 to £2.70 for a pint of Worthy's. StevieW declined anymore drink "I'll not pay that price for nee one". Looking out of the window with only 15 minutes to kick off the discussion turned to breaking more league records and could we break the lowest Premiership attendance for the season as the stadium looked very sparce of fans.

Game on and we looked positive - StevieW questioned why Hoyte on the right wing answer - and why not may be better than the usual shite up front. Anyway we scored not a bad goal through a borrowed French scoucer. The referee was appalling all the game and left most of his decisions questionable.

Half time 1:0 up and looking good. More beer at £2.70 per pint, none for StevieW.

The start of the second half and we were still on top and a shot from Nyron was not held by Crossley and Bomber Brown followed in and bang 2:0. I started a song off in our row " We always win at home, we always win at home, we always win at home , at home, we always win at home...... to everyones amusement.

Then I made a few more laugh when I said that O'Leary had turned us down but Frank Carson was still in with a chance. The guy infront insisted that he would not get the job as he had heard Jimmy Cricket was in the frame. Imagine the team talk "come here a minute - get closer - come here"

Any way just like we have seen all season we eased back played our usual shite and let them in with a fine goal - wish we had someone that could hit a ball like that. So the last 15 minutes were a bit nail biting but the final whistle came and we had got our first home win without any threat of players being sued

Unbelievably the players started a lap of honour as if they had won the league - I for one was not going to stop and watch that embarrassing moment after all we have put up with the embarrassment all season.

On the way back home a time to reflect and remember about a year ago we got pissed in the Club and were singing we' re on our way to the premiership we're on our way ....... this time we were all quiet on the coach and said our good-byes until the AGM.

Here's to the famous Billy week-end and some factual (censored) details of the trip next week.

Jim Gilling

Members letter

The following is the letter and questionaire handed to our members on the coach yesterday. The questions raised in the questionaire presume that there will be new management in next year. The letter and questionaire will also go out to those members not at last nights match. The AGM will hopefully be held on Monday June 5th at 7.30pm - I will confirm this later in a separate message.

4th May 2006


Dear Branch Member,



The 2005/2006 season is a one to forget both on and off the pitch, I for one believe it is the worst season in the 40+ years I have supported the club. Hopefully with a change of ownership and new management things may change and I hope that like me you will still support the team through good and bad times; I know it’s been more bad times of late but here’s hoping things will change for the good.

It is a very sad statement to make but this season with the low number of members attending and using the coach we have made an overall loss on the coach expenditure. Due to this loss we cannot offer our members a free fare on this our last fixture of the season, I trust you appreciate the reasons why I have made this decision.

There are presently three solutions to avert a loss next season: -

1) Cancel the coach completely and fold the branch
2) Increase the fare
3) Look for a new coach company with a smaller coach that may have a cheaper running cost

I do hope that solution 1 will not happen, I personally want to attend the matches next season using coach travel and therefore hope that you will also support the branch by using the coach and travel to all next seasons home fixtures.

If we were to consider item 2 we may get members finding that it is too expensive to use the coach and therefore this would eventualy lead to reduced numbers on the coach and higher losses. I will leave this point for your input in the questionaire and discussion at our end of season AGM.



The solution 3 may be the best solution for next season. I can either discuss with our present coach company, who I believe have done us proud for a few years now and charge £165 per fixture; this is the best quote we have obtained in the past two seasons. However as they don’t have a smaller coach and the rising fuel costs may lead to an un-successful outcome trying to reduce the present cost. The other alternative is to enquire for a new coach company with a reduced number of seats.

We used Griersons recently for one of the cup matches and they provided a 29 seater for £100; they also have a 33 seater coach. As we have a good relationship with the Sedgefield branch, who use Griersons for all matches, we may get a better deal going through their secretary Clive Dent.

The obvious down side to this is if we use a 33 seater coach and things do pick up it will be regular members first and only if they confirm either on the coach that they are attending the next fixture or call me 48 hours before a match. Any other members or guests will be on a first come first served basis. This may lead to problems but at least the coach may be full and hopefully giving profit to the branch.

I am not looking for a solution today as all points above will be raised, discussed and voted on at our end of season AGM. I will be trying to hold this meeting either the last week in May or first week in June depending on the committees diary. I ask you all to attend this important meeting to be held in Coxhoe Workmens Club; I will contact you again when we have arranged a date for the meeting.

What I require from you today is an indication from you on your attendance and thoughts for next season. Please review the questions raised on the following page and give your answers as accurately as possible. I have asked that you give your names on the page to allow me to review pick up points and the names of the members that will regularily attend all home fixtures next season.

Thanks for your assistance


Jim Gilling
Secretary

1) Name …………………………………………………………………………

2) Will you be renewing your season ticket next year YES / NO


3) Will you be attending all home league fixtures next year YES / NO


4) If NO to question 3 will you be selecting the fixtures you attend next year
YES / NO

5) Will you be travelling on the coach to all fixtures next year YES / NO


6) Are you prepared to pay an increase in the fare next season YES / NO


7) If YES to question 6 what is the maximum you are prepared to pay bearing in mind this seasons fares were £5 adults £3 junior and OAP’s

Adults ………
Juniors ………

OAP’s ……….

8) Should the branch enquire for a new coach company and smaller seater coach i.e. 33 seater YES / NO

9) What pick up points would you prefer for next season.

Kelloe / Coxhoe / West Cornforth YES / NO

Kelloe / Coxhoe only YES / NO

Kelloe / Coxhoe plus another (please state village) YES / NO

Village ………………………………………

A win at last and a lap of honour! What did they think we were celebrating to have the lap of honour????

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

From a selfish point of view it's nice to get that win you want.
But the main thing is that we wanted to send everyone home with a smile on their face. I'm pleased to be able to report that we've done it.
I'm pleased for everyone connected with the club. The supporters were magnificent. They kept on and on when we needed them.
The boys went round [the pitch] at the end and said thanks for everything. They [the fans] sang 'Sunderland 'til I die' and when you've been connected with the club for as long as I have it brings a little lump to your throat.
It was a hell of a goal [Radzinski's]. They got back into it and it does give you the twitches, but I thought the boys held firm.
I'll give a special mention to Andy Welsh who has been at Leicester on loan. He was outstanding tonight and he's only been back here for a few days.
He's one of many. The whole squad played their part.
At times it has been difficult for our supporters. I said to the players before that this was a must-win game, for themselves and for the fans. It was fantastic to hear their response.
I'm pleased for Anthony Le Tallec and for Browny. I'm pleased the two centre-forwards got on the scoresheet.
Our supporters are unique and I'm delighted for them. It was nice to get that home win.
All the best,
Kevin Ball

Message from Bally - as the Gunners don't even break sweat!!

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

"We were up against a team that could be the champions of Europe in a couple of weeks.
"We started well, we concede a goal and then all of a sudden the nerves kick in and it can be frustrating.
"Thierry Henry scored a tremendous free-kick, it was superb. But we reacted well in the second half.
"We could have gone under and not gone out [in the second half] fighting but they did and we created chances. I would have loved to see one of them go in.
"I can understand Arsene being upset. Dan [Smith] is not a dirty player. He's gone to win the ball and unfortunately he's caught the player. We hope the Arsenal player is OK. I think it's a bit unfair to have a go at Dan. I'd like to think Arsenal would give us a bit more praise about the way we went about our jobs in the second half.
"I felt we did well in the second half, we responded well.
"We want the home win [on Thursday]. It's important we win it. Fulham have got their away win so it'd be good if we could get our home win.
"Jens Lehmann made a great save from Kevin Kyle in the second half. I would have loved to see that go in.
"It was great to see the stadium full. The atmosphere was great. A lot of people have turned up and they seemed to enjoy their night.
"They've seen their own team and seen a team that will hopefully be the champions of Europe in a couple of weeks.
"There were some positives from tonight despite the result and we need to take that into Thursday."
All the best,
Kevin Ball