Itinerary And A Few Words From The Senior Team Management For The Forthcoming 2012/13 Season In The Cheshire Football League.

The Club has worked very hard over the last few years to improve our facilities and playing surface to enable us to progress into the National Football Association’s Pyramid system and after a couple of failed attempts to eventually secure a place in the prestigious Cheshire league last season, albeit Division 2.

However after a helter skelter first season the club has progressed still further; not only as league champions but also by winning the league cup to create history as the only club ever to do this in their first ever season . Only the players, regular supporters and clubs connected to the Cheshire League will understand how much of an achievement this was; it is a massive credit to the players and everyone involved at the club should be very proud.

Whenever we have had the opportunity Jon & I watched several matches in the Cheshire Division 1 and the size of the pitches and facilities were impressive and a further improvement on what we’ve experienced this season; we also noted that the players looked fitter/sharper and the tempo of the game was quicker than Division 2.  The Cheshire league insists on a minimum size pitch, in excess of FA Guidelines, which suits the way we play.  This season we have proved we can score goals from any position and have the best defensive records in all the three divisions.

We will be changing the way we play a little to adopt a more patient style/pattern of play at times.  Our tendency is to attack with a fairly direct approach for 90 minutes but if we concede possession too much without scoring some of the quality these sides have in the Cheshire League will hurt us.  We will be spending a large part of pre-season working with the back four and midfield on stretching the game and making more use of the ball.

We have put a lot of our success over the last several years down to playing to our strengths with a lot depending on the individual players we have had.  Generally we have been lucky enough always to have two effective wingers and two good strikers and this worked for us again this season as it allowed us to go looking for goals when other teams have been too cautious and sat back.  We will though now be concentrating more on retaining possession for longer periods this season given the higher standard of the opposition.  Despite our attacking mentality we have been very proud of our defensive record over the years, conceding so few goals throughout many successful seasons and this was a very large factor in our success last season.

Senior Squad

We hope to have retained all our players in the first team from last season; however we are interested in a couple of players to strengthen our squad.  We believe we have enough quality and if we could add a couple of players to that squad then we will be going into the league, certainly not to be construed as arrogant but, not only to compete but looking to impress in our Cheshire Division 1, FA Step 7, debut season. 

We are also very pleased that our reserves, as the top reserve team in the HVFL, have progressed into the Cheshire Reserve Division, and now we are as one and will be looking to have 16 players in both squads every Saturday and working together a lot more than in previous seasons.  The reserve division is piloting the FA’s rolling sub programme which if it comes in to being will mean that ultimately 5 subs can be rotated on and off as often as the manager wants; we will see how that goes!

Discipline & Fair Play

You might be interested to know that WBAFC was mentioned on more than one occasion at the CFL AGM.  The main topic of discussion was the ridiculous amount of fines built up by ill-disciplined teams under the misconception that bad/agressive behavior wins trophies!  To make the point they cited WBAFC as one of only 3 Clubs not to get a red card, and who were very close to winning the CFL’s Fair Play Trophy, and yet still managed to win both the League and the Cup - a standard all clubs should aim for according to the CFL Chair!

Friendlies

We inclined not to play too many friendlies before the season starts - this being the case every senior squad player needs to attend as many training sessions and friendlies as possible to ensure their fitness is substantial for the demands of  both leagues.  The 1sts have four friendlies, the reserves several more, and players who are behind can gain some additional fitness playing in some of the reserve pre-season friendlies where possible, and if necessary.  The 1sts start the league campaign on Saturday 11^th August, the reserves on Thursday 9th - each team playing a total of 30 league games plus however far we go in the respective league cups.

See the front page for the pre-season itinerary; training & friendlies. 

Derbyshire County Cup

We’re still unsure which County Cup we will be placed in however we expect to be playing in the Derbyshire senior cup next season.

New Kit & Club Ties

With regards to the CFL's decision to outlaw 'all' navy kits in its 1st Division the Club is now seeking out a compromise kit with a substantial amount of navy but also with a contrasting colour.  Navy has always been a WBAFC colour and it is important to retain that tradition as best we can.  Unfortunately it will alos mean that having spent the last few years getting all 14 teams into the kit we will now have a variation which also needs to be addressed by the Committee.  Anyway the new 1st team kit, once approved, will be introduced as soon as possible although it may not be ready for the first league game.  The reserves will retain their existing kit until such time that it needs replacing and then they too will wear the new colours.

Note: we have been informed that a new FA rule that requires that tape must be the same colour as your socks will be enforced!

We also have club ties for sale now at approx £3 each; you will be required to wear as club dress code, which will be confirmed before the season starts.

New Training Kits

This will be discussed at training

End of Season Holiday

Given the massive enjoyment everybody had on this year’s trip to Tenerife we are organising another one next year for probably a week in Portugal (people can just go for two or three days if they want to). This season though Jon will be running a book and players wishing to save for the trip can deposit monies with Jon on a weekly/monthly basis.

Training at Whaley’s ground begins on July 4th all new players are welcome or if anyone is unsure please contact Darryl on 07870 907 970, Jon on 07783988082 or Dan (Res) on 07812003652 and please check on our website www.whaleybridgefc.co.uk for further details.

Darryl