WEEKLY BULLETIN – 31ST DEC

As this is the last bulletin of 2021 I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have helped me to produce what I hope is an interesting and informative weekly round-up of what is happening at Hitchin Town FC. The bulletin started many years ago now when I felt our website did not have a great deal of news about what was happening at Top Field and it dawned on me that I was the person who was best placed to keep supporters updated. So I began to produce a weekly round up of news about Hitchin Town FC and all these years later the bulletin comes out every Friday. I was very proud of the fact that the bulletin never missed a week during the pandemic.

I am particularly grateful to Mark Burke who I interview every week during the season to produce his manager’s notes. I am sure there have been many times when he wished I did not call particularly during the difficult start to this season when results have been below expectations. But I must give great credit to Mark as he always gives an honest appraisal of what has happened in the previous games. He will not try and say black is white—if we have played badly he will say so but will equally praise good performances. I see so many other managers who just give totally biased opinions and Mark has much more credibility for being honest. I hope his manager’s notes give supporters a good insight in to what has happened during games.

Other regular contributors to the bulletin include Chris Newbold, Kate Deller, Mick Docking and Paul Sprague from within the club, club chaplain Nick Smith, Karla Chaffey and Callum Ellis from the ladies section and Michael Jones from the academy. I would like to thank Stewart Curtis who is now standing down from our social media team who has been responsible for uploading the bulletin for the last few seasons and has presented it so professionally.

So to this week’s bulletin and I asked our club chaplain Nick Smith to produce a special new year’s message for supporters. Nick said to me that ‘’ hopefully it’s a nice harmony of football themes and reflection as people see in the new year’’. I think you will agree that it is exactly that.

NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION?
I don’t know how you feel about the New Year, or what New Year’s resolutions you’ve made. But I do know that any Newcastle fans out there will be – perhaps more than any other humans – excited about the arrival of 2022 and the changes it could bring. The prospect of almost unlimited budget from their new definitely-not-run-by-an-oppressive-authoritarian-state (ahem…) owners has got them salivating at the prospect of signing Haaland, Mbappe, Stirling…you name the highly-rated player, and a gossip column somewhere will be linking the Magpies to them this transfer window.

Newcastle may be sitting in the bottom three rather than the top four, but that won’t stop the Toon Army having astronomically high expectations of the possibilities open to them. It’s certainly true that in football almost anything is possible with money, but, even so, Newcastle fans might be wise to take a breath and put their champagne on ice. Even with the easy money of an oil state (I mean, erm, not a state; just an investment fund headed by the de facto ruler of the state, who will totally keep his political and business interests separate, honest guv) a revolution doesn’t happen overnight.

Pub quiz question: who was the first Chelsea signing under the Abramovich era? Exactly…Chelsea weren’t immediately signing all the best players in the world, and nor were City when Sheikh Mansour walked into the boardroom. Of the 13 signings in Chelsea’s first sugar-daddy sponsored window, only Claude Makelele, and perhaps Joe Cole, set the league alight. Despite a huge outlay, players like Hernan Crespo, Adrian Mutu, and Juan Sebastian Veron had less-than-stellar careers at Chelsea, and were all quickly shipped out on loan or transferred for much less than was paid for them. Oh, and that first signing? Jurgen Macho. Even from a fourth-place finish pre-Abramovich it took Chelsea two seasons to win the league. Manchester City, the first Premier League club to have a country rather than a mere billionaire bankrolling them, actually dropped a position at the end of their first year under Dubai’s ownership and it was a full four seasons before they lifted the Premier League title. The Champions League is still only an aspiration.

So Newcastle fans should prepare themselves for a slower-than-expected transition. Success on the pitch will come, Newcastle will win the league. But it won’t be this year. Or next year. If I’m wrong (and anyone remembers this article) I’ll run around the pitch at Top Field wearing just a pair of black-and-white boxers and my dog collar.

Now, turning quickly from the world of super-rich football clubs (and scantily-clad clergymen!) to our not-quite-so-flush selves, I think the same need for modest expectations of the New Year holds true for us, too. There are things about ourselves that we all want to change. We might want to be slimmer, stronger, richer, have a better work-life balance, whatever. New Year is a time when many of us set goals and resolutions to change ourselves for the better. But there’s a fine line between challenging ourselves to grow and making ourselves feel guilty and disempowered. The slogan ‘New Year, new you’ is all well-and-good for advertisers wanting you to part with what little cash you have left after Christmas, but it isn’t fair to have such astronomical expectations of ourselves.

Instead, something like ‘New Year, small incremental changes gradually resulting in a slightly changed you’ is more realistic and is also kinder to yourself. Do, by all means, set goals and pursue resolutions this year. But don’t be disappointed with yourself if it’s a case of ‘two steps forward, one step back’ rather than ‘coming on leaps and bounds.’

For football clubs and football fans, revolutions don’t happen overnight. So be patient and kind to yourselves as we begin this new year. Be glad of the blessings you have now, and the things that you feel content with now. And for those areas where you want to grow, take it slow, do the next right thing (for the parents out there, yes, that is a quote from the movie Frozen 2), and be gentle with yourself when you fall short where you want to be.

A very happy, hopeful New Year to you and all your loved ones,
Rev Nick
Club Chaplain

NO FIXTURES
Unfortunately our New Year’s Day home fixture vs Peterborough Sports has been postponed. Our next match is at home to Redditch United on Saturday 8th January 2022.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

ROYSTON

I was absolutely delighted with both the result and the performance on Monday. This was especially true as we were without the suspended Stephen Gleeson and covid hit Jake Hutchinson who had both been very influential in the last two games. I was very proud of the players who put their bodies on the line to ensure we came away with a derby victory. We thoroughly deserved the victory as despite soaking up a lot of pressure we looked very dangerous on the counter attack and the fact that the Royston goalkeeper was named their man of the match spoke volumes.

The game was a scrappy affair and not pretty on the eye with the rain soaked pitch making it difficult. However I am sure the large Hitchin following would have enjoyed the game because of the endeavour our players showed as well as touches of quality. I would really like to thank the Canary supporters who turned up and made it seem like a home game.

Seven points from three consecutive away games is a great achievement but we will not rest on our laurels and will try to continue to improve and move away from the relegation zone.

NEW YEAR MESSAGE

I would like to thank the club’s management committee, our wonderful volunteers and our ever loyal supporters for their great support during 2021. There have unfortunately been more downs than ups but let us hope 2022 will be a better year. I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year.

50/50 DRAW
As always you have shown outstanding support since we resumed the 50/50 draw. This is a great way to support the club and be in with a chance of winning a worthwhile prize.

Both of the draws since the 50/50 have returned have resulted in a prize of £120.50. These are great totals.

We are still looking for the winner from the Tamworth Game. The winning ticket is 00480 – if you are the lucky winner please come in and claim your prize from the club shop before the end of the Peterborough Sports game.

TICKET/MERCHANDISE NEWS
Tickets for the Redditch game on 8th January go on sale today (Friday).

We are adding full length bench jackets to our clothing range. They will cost £55 and will need to be ordered. You can see a sample in the club shop on Saturday.

Please do visit the club shop on matchdays to see the ever increasing range of merchandise and if you cannot get to the game please visit the online store.

AND FINALLY…
I would like to wish all our supporters a very happy new year. Your great loyalty will never be taken for granted—without you there is no club!

BY ROY IZZARD