Category Archives: Editorial

Clive White RIP

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The FWA is saddened to learn that another of our dear friends, Clive White, has passed away. On the same day that Vikki Orvice lost her battle with cancer, we heard that Clive, who was an extremely popular and friendly colleague on the football and tennis circuits, had also succumbed to the illness. He passed away peacefully at his daughter Chloe’s home.

Below is the story carried on the Sports Journalists’ Association website, followed by a tribute from Paul Newman, his friend and former sports editor of The Independent.

CLIVE WHITE joined The Times in 1981 becoming deputy sports editor from 1982-84 and then deputy football correspondent where he covered three World Cups and two European Championships before leaving in 1991.

From there Clive – often known as Chalky – joined The Independent where he covered tennis and football and in 1995 moved to the Sunday Telegraph as tennis correspondent and football writer for the next 13 years.

At the Sunday Telegraph he wrote the columns of both John McEnroe and Gary Lineker. He also co-wrote Lineker’s 2010 World Cup diary.

Tennis played a major part in his career. He was author of the ITF Davis Cup yearbook between 2010-12 and worked for the federation in a writing and broadcasting capacity.

He had also written the programme notes for Wimbledon and was back at the All England Club in 2012 as tennis team leader for the Olympic News Service.

Clive also worked for ONS at Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, reporting on cross-country skiing. At the Baku 2015 European Games he covered boxing and karate.

Thoughts go out to his children Chloe, Phoebe and Elliott and the rest of Clive’s family and close friends.

TRIBUTE FROM PAUL NEWMAN

There have certainly been sports reporters who had a better record of hitting deadlines and there have been a few who could write as elegantly about football, but I doubt whether many cared more about their words than Clive White.

News of his death, after a long illness, brings back memories both of a colleague who always wanted to do his very best and of one of the most likeable people in sports journalism. As a mutual friend said to me today: “Clive was the original Mr Nice Guy.”

Somewhere in a box of papers in my study I have a piece of copy which Clive wrote for The Times when we were both working there more than 30 years ago. I was the chief sub-editor on the sports desk and was one of the last to leave the office late one Friday night when a messenger dropped into our in-tray a late item dictated to our copytakers.

I imagined it might be a late-breaking story about an impending transfer or maybe news of a manager who would be sacked the following morning. Instead it was a message from Clive, who had written the main football preview for the following day’s newspaper.

It said simply this: “In the ninth paragraph of my football preview, please change the words ‘with two-thirds of the season gone’ and replace them with the words ‘with one-third of the season remaining’.”

I can just imagine Clive having worried all evening about what he had written, wondering whether he had got the tone right or always found the mot juste. The importance of stressing whether there was one-third of a season left or whether two-thirds of it had gone clearly mattered to him.

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to give the impression that Clive was in any way nerdish or obsessive about his work. He was a smiling, sociable character who was always popular with his colleagues and always willing to help. A personal memory is of my second day working at The Times. I introduced myself to Clive, who could not have been kinder or more helpful to a raw and nervous newcomer.

Clive worked at The Times for 10 years. He joined as a sub-editor and eventually became deputy sports editor and then deputy football correspondent. He had a deep understanding of football and wrote about it with insight and elegance. He could turn his hand equally well to match reports, news stories, features or interviews. If Clive missed a deadline or two, it was nearly always because he wanted to polish his work to perfection.

He left The Times in 1991, by which time I had become sports editor at The Independent. With Clive going freelance, I welcomed the chance to bring him into our pages. His writing style suited us perfectly and he was an excellent addition to our football team.

Clive eventually joined the Sunday Telegraph, where he wrote about football and tennis for 13 years. He ghost-wrote excellent columns by Gary Lineker and John McEnroe. Ghost-writing is an art that not many journalists can master, but Clive knew exactly how to bring out in the written word the voice of whoever’s name would be appearing above the column. Lineker, learning of Clive’s death, described him on Twitter as a “brilliant and trusted journalist”.

After leaving the Sunday Telegraph Clive focused more on tennis. He used to write the programme notes for Wimbledon and was also a regular contributor to International Tennis Federation publications.

His latter years were dogged by ill health, but throughout his troubles he retained his sense of humour. For those of us who were lucky enough to have known him, we will remember the man as much as the journalist.

RIP Clive

Tributes flow for Vikki Orvice

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Tributes have been flooding social media after Vikki Orvice, FWA vice-chair and The Sun sportswriter, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 56.

Her husband Ian Ridley, one of our most esteemed members and a fine sportswriter in his own right, announced on the morning of February 6th that Vikki had finally succumbed after a long battle with cancer.

Tributes from all over the world followed and obituaries were carried by The Sun, whose former chief sportswriter Steve Howard penned a lovely tribute to his friend and colleague, The Guardian, British Athletics Writers’ Association and many more.  Jacqui Oatley, whom Vikki introduced the FWA’s National Committee, wrote movingly for our own website.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast a tribute from Anna Kessel, Vikki’s co-founder in Women in Football, and there were messages from many other journalists and sports stars, including Sebastian Coe, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Paula Radcliffe, Kelly Holmes and many more.  Sports federations and clubs, including her beloved Sheffield United, paid tribute, too.

When Ian returned to social media later on Wednesday, he admitted to being “overwhelmed” by the messages on the medium.

He added, poignantly:

and Ian added thanks, particularly to close friends, Vikki’s MacMillan nurse and the Royal Marsden Hospital.

There are far too many tweets to list here, but you can see most of them by typing Vikki’s name into the searchbar in Twitter.

Her legacy lives on.

Links to Obituaries:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/8363990/vikki-orvice-dies-aged-56-the-sun-tribute/

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/feb/06/vikki-orvice-the-sun-trailblazer-women-sport-dies-aged-55

https://www.iaaf.org/news/iaaf-news/vikki-orvice-obituary

https://www.athleticsweekly.com/news/tributes-paid-to-trailblazing-journalist-vikki-orvice-1039920471/

Vikki Orvice (1962-2019)

Vikki Orvice’s legacy – Sun Scholarship scheme

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The Sun are launching a scholarship scheme for aspiring female sportswriters in honour of Vikki Orvice, who passed away on Wednesday.

Vikki was the Sun’s athletics correspondent and also covered football for the paper, having become the first female sports journalist to be employed by a tabloid newspaper in 1995.

Sadly Vikki succumbed to cancer after a 12-year battle, but her legacy will be the Vikki Orvice Memorial Sports Journalism Scholarship, which is seeking a “young woman who has all the qualities Vikki held so dearly” to join The Sun’s sports team.

Shaun Custis, a fellow FWA member and The Sun’s sports editor, said: “Vikki lived and breathed the job every day and was so proud to work on The Sun’s sports team. There could be no finer tribute to her wonderful work than to have a scholarship in her name.”

Details of how to apply will be released in the near future.

Vikki Orvice – a tribute by Jacqui Oatley

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Jacqui Oatley, the broadcaster, was brought on to the FWA’s National Committee by Vikki Orvice, who passed away today at the age of 56.  Here is Jacqui’s tribute to her friend and our dear colleague.

 

BRAVE. FEARLESS.  TRAILBLAZER. PIONEER. 

There was only one Vikki Orvice. That’s clear from the many tributes which have poured in from journalists and senior sporting figures alike following the desperately sad news of our beloved colleague’s passing. Taken from us by cancer at the age of 56, but not before she’d squeezed every drop out of life and found humour in even the darkest of days.

This funny, strong Yorkshirewoman and fiercely loyal friend was unrivalled in her experience, yet did everything in her power to draw others alongside her.

Vikki had been a member of the Football Writers’ Association since the mid-1990s, joining the national committee in 2015 and becoming vice-chair two years ago. Holding the belief that change must come from within, she was also a committee member of the Sports Journalists’ Association. Vikki had so much to offer so, when she heard about our new Women in Football campaign group, she wanted to get involved. WiF was set up in 2007 by Anna Kessel and Shelley Alexander with a plan to champion our peers, challenge discrimination and create opportunities for other women. Vikki saw this as another avenue to make a difference in a heavily male-dominated industry so became a founding board member.

Vikki had been a staff writer for The Sun since 1995 and could easily have chosen to focus on the considerable demands of such a role on a national newspaper. She could have kept a low profile to focus on simply keeping her job. But no, Vikki’s political beliefs stimulated her determination to stand up for the vulnerable, those who lacked confidence and needed a guiding hand. She was in a perfect position to mentor others. Nobody else has equivalent experience so every word she uttered to wide-eyed students and aspiring journalists was absorbed and digested. She would always make the effort to attend our WiF events over the past 12 years – only extreme ill health or being in another country would keep her away. Such was her dedication and commitment.

Just a fortnight ago, Vikki attended the FWA tribute dinner to Gareth Southgate at The Savoy Hotel. She was in a wheelchair and so frail, her body ravaged by cancer and the drugs required to fight it. Most would have taken the easy and sensible option to stay at home to rest but not Vikki. She had to be there alongside her husband, the renowned sports writer, Ian Ridley. Spirited and resolute to the end. Naturally, she was still smiling.

Vikki achieved so much in her relatively short but action-packed time on the planet. Far too much for one article to detail, so here’s a brief overview: she was the first female staff football writer on a tabloid, athletics correspondent at The Sun, charity campaigner and fundraiser, patient governor at the Royal Marsden Hospital, diversity campaigner, board member and despite the effects of intensive treatment, she even found time to chair her local book festival in Hertfordshire. Her inspirational story will be told in full in due course.

Vikki’s passing is devastating to all who knew her. I have cried a steady stream since taking the call from my WiF colleague, Jo Tongue, at breakfast time. Too soon, just too soon to lose this special person. But Vikki was such a force for positive change that her friends and colleagues will turn our grief into her legacy. Plans for a sports writing bursary in her name are just the start.

Rest in peace, dear Vikki. There was nobody quite like you but your warmth, wit and spirit will live on. We will do everything in our power to ensure the sporting press rooms and press boxes of the future are a more welcoming and equal environment. On behalf of all female sports journalists: thank you.

Pictures courtesy of News Group Newspapers

Vanarama National League column – Danny Rowe

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By Glenn Moore

Football is brutally ageist. Once a player passes his mid-twenties, unless he is already a success, his chances of career progression decline rapidly. Clubs, with an eye to sell-on fees, are generally reluctant to pay high prices for anyone who would be nearing 30 when their contract ends. Even the poster boy for late developers, Jamie Vardy, was only 25 when Leicester City paid £1m to take him out of non-League. He was a gamble, but the likelihood was he would continue to improve, although few expected Vardy to be such a success.

Add a few more years, however, and players are thought to be, if not quite over-the-hill, certainly nearing the brow. And yet, in an era of conditioning coaches, nutritionists and all-round enhanced professionalism it seems rash to write off a player who could have another five years in him.

Consider Danny Rowe, briefly a team-mate of Vardy at Fleetwood Town. Rowe is the most prolific scorer in the Vanarama League having scored more than 150 goals for AFC Fylde in the past five seasons. This has been noticed. Oldham bid £50,000 for him in summer 2017. Cheltenham bid £175,000 in summer 2018. On both occasions Fylde, only a dozen years out of the West Lancashire League, turned the bids down. Though Rowe is keen to play in the Football League he accepted the decisions and kept on scoring. The dream of both player and club is to go up together.

At the weekend Rowe scored goals number 20 and 21 this season as Fylde won 2-1 at promotion rivals Solihull Moors. That followed the 48 goals in Vanarama National League North in 2016-17, which propelled the Coasters to promotion, and 28 goals last season as Fylde reached the play-offs.

If Rowe seems in as much a hurry as his club it is with good reason. Time is not on his side. On January 29 Rowe enjoyed his 30th birthday, a questionable landmark in an industry which confers veteran status on 30-somethings.

However, in playing terms he is not so ancient. A prodigious scorer as a boy, so much so he joined Manchester United at 11, Rowe quit the game at 16, released by United after falling out of love with the grind. He took up a joinery course and played for fun, at amateur level. Soon the goals began to flow again. Fleetwood signed him, but while he did OK on loan to Droylsden and Stockport he failed to score for Fleetwood. They preferred Vardy, though Rowe occasionally played alongside the future England international in 2012. 

It wasn’t until Rowe arrived at Fylde, in August 2014, that it clicked. “He’s found a place where he is comfortable and his goalscoring record over the last for or five years has been outstanding,” said Fylde boss Dave Challinor after Saturday’s win. “He has ice in his veins. His calmness in and around the box is amazing. He is not bothered if he misses a chance and rarely celebrates when he scores – he just sees it as what he is there to do.”

If Rowe and Fylde win promotion to the Football League, it will be just reward.

For great deals on van and car hire and leasing visit: https://www.vanarama.com/

For more on Fylde visit: http://www.afcfylde.co.uk/

Hugh McIlvanney, OBE

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We at the FWA are sad to report the passing of Hugh McIlvanney, one of the greatest sportswriters of the past fifty years and a much-loved colleague.
Hughie passed away on Thursday, aged 84, after a battle with cancer, but he left behind a legacy of prize-winning sportswriting and a reputation as one of the true greats.
The majority of his career was spent writing for the Observer and Sunday Times before he retired three years ago, and he was the first journalist inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame two years ago.
Below is a tribute from his friend and former colleague Pat Collins, himself a giant of sportswriting.

“One winter evening in the eighties, a group of sports writers boarded the London-bound train at Manchester Piccadilly station. We started to speak of the match we had covered that afternoon, and of United’s decisive goal. Somebody praised Bryan Robson’s pass which had created the goal, and we all muttered our agreement. All except Hugh McIlvanney.

“’It wasn’t Robson, it was Frank Stapleton’, he insisted. The ensuing argument lasted until Crewe, by which time Hugh conceded that he might be mistaken. He got up, swore loudly and yanked his typewriter from the overhead rack. “I’ll have to speak to the office’, he said. We told him it was the last train, that he’d be marooned until Sunday morning and that, anyway, nobody would notice the error. “But I would’, growled Hugh. We were still pleading with him through the carriage window when the train pulled away.

“When his countless admirers speak of Hugh’s writing, they recall the rolling phrases, the astute insights, the dramatic sense of occasion. But those who worked with him — and especially the heroic subs who placed paragraph marks on his copy — will tell of the tireless perfectionist, the man whose Sunday would be spoiled by a misplaced comma or a wayward colon.

“His passing, at 84, has provoked torrent of tributes; glowing and utterly merited. His influence on British sports writing is profound, and he has long since secured his place alongside Ian Wooldridge and Frank Keating in the trinity of our greatest sports writers.

“Setting out on the Kilmarnock Standard, McIlvanney moved to The Scotsman, to The Observer from 1972 to 1993 — with a two – year spell at the Daily Express — before joining the Sunday Times until his retirement in 2016. The honours came pouring in: he was Sports Journalist of the Year on six occasions and he is the only sports writer to be named Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards.

”But the honours only hint at the talent, far better to consider his sporting heroes. There were the towering football men from the West of Scotland: Jock Stein, Bill Shankly and – most notably – Sir Alex Ferguson. Hugh spent countless hours in their company, and he painted some imperishable pictures in his columns. But if he admired those fine managers, we knew that he actually loved George Best. It was Best whom he described as having “feet as sensitive as a pickpocket’s hands’. It was Best who gave him some of his most revealing interviews. And it was Best of whom he wrote: “He appeared to regard gravity as an impertinent con – trick, unworthy of being taken seriously, gracefully riding tackles that looked capable of derailing a locomotive’.

“Sure, Hugh was anxious to celebrate the great sporting figures, yet he had an unforgiving eye for mere pretenders. Of Vinnie Jones, he wrote: “Plenty of hod carriers made it in football in the past, but they had to learn to play first’. While I remember wincing when I read his one – line demolition of the British heavyweight boxer Joe Bugner: “The physique of a Greek God, but with fewer moves’.

“Boxing was his prime passion. He recognised its hazardous cruelty, but he saw courage and genuine nobility in the nature of so many fighters. Again, his heroes came from the top drawer: Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis and – way above the rest – Muhammad Ali. Hugh enjoyed extraordinary access to Ali, and his interview on the banks of the Zaire River in the wake of the astonishing fight with George Foreman remains one of the most memorable pieces he ever wrote: “We should have known that Muhammad Ali would not settle for any old resurrection. His had to have an additional flourish. So, having rolled away the rock, he hit George Foreman on the head with it’.

“His boxing writing made his reputation in America, and for a while he moved home to upstate New York to spread his talents more widely. But the pull of the British sporting scene proved too great. “I missed it for all kinds of reasons’, he said. “Especially Cheltenham’. He loved the races. He loved the air of rascality, the guile of the jockeys, the wisdom of the trainers, the sense that there was a killing to be made if only he could hold his nerve. He was, to put it kindly, an optimistic gambler, but he shrugged off his losses and cherished his occasional coups.

“He also wrote this stunning intro one winter’s day at the races: “The tarpaulin they threw over the remains of Lanzarote on Thursday afternoon was a winding – sheet for our enjoyment of this year’s Cheltenham Festival’.

“His contribution to our rackety old trade was prodigious, but I shall remember Hugh McIlvanney for other reasons; for the late nights and the laughter, for the unpredictable explosions and the brooding remorse, for all the songs that were sung and all the tales that were told.

“A final memory: some thirty – five years ago, we covered a world middleweight title fight at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. The fight took place on a Friday evening, which allowed us to watch the event, speak to the “connections’, attend the Press Conference and return to our hotel rooms to work through the night before dictating our pieces to our Sunday papers.

“I finished around three or four in the morning, after which I slept for a few hours before knocking at Hugh’s room at mid – day. The place was in some disarray, the floor strew with discarded sheets of copy paper, empty coffee cups and the remains of breakfast. The air was thick with the purple fug of cigars: “He would spend more on Cuban cigars than the rest of us would spend on our children for Christmas’, as David Walsh once wrote. Hugh sat amid this chaos with a sheaf of copy in one hand and a smouldering cigar in the other. He was staring, distrustfully, at his report. “I’m not sure this works’, he said. Boldly, I said: “Would you mind if I read it?’. He handed me the copy. It was a long piece and I took my time. As I had expected, the piece was brilliant. I handed it back. He lifted an eyebrow and then, almost as if he valued my opinion, he said. “Well’, what do you think?’. “Honestly?’, I said. “It’s rubbish. Total rubbish. I wouldn’t bother sending it if I were you’. He jumped to his feet, bellowed a stream of insults and hurled the copy at me as I dived through the door.

“Then I heard him laugh as I walked back down the corridor. I remember his laughter. I think I always will.”

Hugh McIlvanney, 1934 – 2019

Hugh McIlvanney of The Observer (left), and Ian Wooldridge of the Daily Mail (right), who shared the Best Sports Journalist award at the 1976 AstroTurf British Sports Journalism Awards in London. Minister for Sport Denis Howell (centre) presented them each with a set of cut glass and a £250 cheque.

Gareth Southgate honoured by the FWA

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Gareth Southgate became the latest recipient of the FWA Tribute Award at a star-studded ceremony in London’s Savoy Hotel on Sunday January 20.

The England manager was honoured for leading the Three Lions to the World Cup final last summer, and importantly for helping to reconnect the national team to their fans and the media.

Southgate gave a superb speech, thanking the FWA and talking about the work England have yet to do, starting with this summers Nation’s League finals in Portugal. He also presented Charlie Sale, who is retiring from the Daily Mail, with the infamous dartboard on which England’s players took on the media during the World Cup in Russia.

Gary Lineker spoke with great humour and wit about what it is like to be an England captain at a World Cup, carrying the nation’s hopes, and he was foillowed by Ben Williams, the former Royal Marines Commando who led England’s players and manager through a three-day bootcamp last year.

Finally FWA Chairman Patrick Barclay paid tribute to Southgate and introduced a tribute film put together by Gabriel Clarke and Sean Martin of ITV Sport.

For more on what was a memorable night, please visit the FWA’s social media feeds and YouTube channel to see video and photos from the event. https://youtu.be/-lo1BUbSDVI

Vanarama National League column – York City

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York City – by Glenn Moore

Steve Watson was never one to shirk a challenge as a player, but few were as daunting as the one he has just signed on for as a manager. The former Newcastle United and England defender has become York City’s third manager this season.

Watson, 44, had been at Gateshead, whom he had steered to the fringe of the play-offs in the Vanarama National League despite a tight budget and youthful squad. York City are 17th in Vanarama National League North, their lowest position in at least 90 years, and arguably in the club’s history (Prior to joining the Football League in 1929 City had been in the old Midland League, then an established feeder into the Football League).

Leaving a club in contention for promotion to the Football League for one in danger of relegation to the Evo-Stik [Northern] Premier League is not an obvious move, but Watson was looking at potential. Despite their poor form York are averaging nearly 2,500, almost three times Gateshead, and crowds will surely increase further when their much-delayed, long-awaited new ground opens next season.

“It was a tough decision to leave Gateshead but an easy one to join York City,” he said. “I had a great 15 months at Gateshead but I couldn’t see the progression. With the new stadium, the size of York City – there are probably only two clubs in this league that you’d call ‘a League club’ and York is obviously one of them. There is huge potential here and my job is to realise that.”

Watson faces a tough start. Though he has technically overseen one match, a quarter-final against Redcar in the North Riding Senior Cup which was won 6-1 by a relatively experienced XI, the real thing begins Saturday. York travel to what is presumably the division’s other ‘League club’ Watson referred to, third-placed Stockport County. That is followed by a home debut against leaders Chorley.

The first priority is to change the mood around a club that has become accustomed to failure averaging one win in every four matches over the last four seasons. Then York need to climb clear of relegation trouble; City are six points from the drop. Next is an assault on the play-offs – nine points distant. Watson’s ultimate aim, regaining a place in the Football League, won’t be easy. The Vanarama North alone has nine former Football League clubs.

York are in danger of becoming one of those established Football League clubs that drops out and never returns – as the likes of Southport and Bradford Park Avenue seem to be. They have spent 11 of the last 15 years in non-League having been relegated from the league in both 2004 and 2016. Exacerbating the woe for supporters is that they have been overtaken by nearby Harrogate Town, a club traditionally well below the Minstermen but now challenging for promotion to the Football League.

Desperate to regain their former status City have remained full-time despite dropping into the sixth tier. This should provide a healthy advantage but also brings added pressure and expectation – Watson is the seventh manager in five seasons.

Watson is happy to face up to that expectation. “This season is far from over,” he said. “They seem to have lost their way a bit, but the ability here far exceeds where they are in the league. There are 17 games left, can we put enough wins together to have a real dash at it?”

For more on York City please visit: https://www.yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk/

For more on the Vanarama National League visit: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/

For great deals on van and car hire and leasing: http://www.vanarama.co.uk/

 

Vanrama Column – Attendances

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The Vanarama column – Attendances, by Glenn Moore

It was the crowd for Truro City’s ‘home match’ against Torquay United that caught the BBC’s attention. Not many matches in the Vanarama National League South attract 2,760 ‘away’ fans – or 62 ‘home’ ones.  The reason was not hard to discern. Truro have been playing in exile in Devon with their Treyew Road ground, 100 miles to the west across the Tamar, earmarked for redevelopment. Those plans have been put on ice, so Truro will soon return to their real home, but in the meantime they groundshare with Torquay whom they ‘hosted’ on New Year’s Day. Thus the huge imbalance between what was technically the home and away support.

Less notice, however, was paid to the remarkable attendance for the Boxing Day match between the teams, 3,863. There was another 3,000+ attendance on December 29 when the Gulls beat Gloucester City. Indeed, since  Gary Johnson took over at Plainmoor in September Torquay have averaged 2,430, comfortably their highest gates since dropping out of the Football League in 2014.

Obviously it helps that the Gulls lead Vanarama National League South after a club record nine successive victories, but they are by no means the only club in the sixth tier division packing in the crowds. Woking, two points behind, drew a combined 4,540 for their brace of Holiday fixtures while Dulwich Hamlet, celebrating their return to Champion Hill, pulled in 5,900 for their pair of matches.

In Vanarama National League North eight of the 11 matches on both Boxing Day and December 30 drew four-figure gates with Stockport County’s two games bringing in 8,333 combined and Altrincham, Hereford and York City registering 3,000-plus gates over the Christmas/New Year period.

There were even bigger crowds in the fifth tier Vanarama National League. Wrexham drew 8,283 for their Boxing Day match with Salford, and more than 4,000 attended the return. Leaders Leyton Orient pulled in 6,000-plus against Dagenham & Redbridge – and 4,755 for the visit of Chesterfield on the traditionally poorly-attended weekend before Christmas. Chesterfield fans, despite their hugely disappointing season, posted holiday programme attendances above 4,700, Hartlepool and Maidstone, two other teams struggling to meet expectations, drew nearly 3,000-plus and string of clubs either with no Football League heritage to draw on, or one in the dim-and-distant past, pulled in more than 2,000 fans: Barrow, Dover, Sutton, Harrogate, Gateshead and Fylde.

Accepted this was a holiday programme and most matches were relatively local derbies, but these figures underline one of the unique elements of English club football. Arguably the most remarkable aspect of the nation’s devotion to football is not the global reach of the Premier League powerhouse at the apex but the depth of support further down the pyramid. Nowhere else in Europe do teams at the fifth and sixth tier attract such attendances. To take a random weekend in Spain earlier this season, the regional third tier Segunda B had a 26-match programme. Half of those failed to attract 1,000 fans and only three exceeded 2,000. Meanwhile, in England, on the last Saturday of 2018, more than 50,000 fans paid an estimated half-a-million pounds plus to watch Vanarama League football.

For more on the Vanarama National League visit: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/

For great deals on car and van leasing visit: https://www.vanarama.com/

Vanarama National League column – Managers

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Who’d be a manager?  by Glenn Moore

There was major news on the managerial merry-go-round on Tuesday as one of the leading clubs made a change. Wrexham, arguably the Vanarama National League’s biggest name (though Leyton Orient and Chesterfield might disagree) appointed Graham Barrow, former manager of Wigan, Chester and Bury.

The decision went under the radar – another managerial move that day, in Manchester, absorbed the media’s attention – but it meant seven of the 24 Vanarama National League clubs now have a different boss to the one they began the season with. If speculation linking Aldershot’s Gary Waddock to Bristol Rovers proves correct it will be a third of the division. Indeed, add in the summer changes and already less than half the clubs retain the manager they ended last season with. Not so much a merry-go-round as a set of fast-revolving doors.

The spotlight may be smaller in non-League, but the expectation can be big. The Vanarama National League is like the Championship; the promotion prize is so great clubs are desperate to succeed, sometimes over-reach, and tend to react quickly. The vacancy at Wrexham arose because Sam Ricketts quit to join Shrewsbury, similarly Andy Hessenthaler left Eastleigh in October to take over at Dover Athletic, but the other five managers were pushed rather than jumped.

Hartlepool, anxious to regain their league status, are now on their third manager since being relegated in 2017, Richard Money this month replacing Matthew Bates who took over from Craig Harrison last season. The other four clubs making a change have never played in the Football League, but are ambitious to do so: Ebbsfleet, Dover, Braintree and Maidstone (whose namesake predecessors briefly played in the league before folding in 1992). Progress has slowed so, albeit with heavy hearts, each parted company with the men who had taken them into the top flight, Daryl McMahon, Chris Kinnear, Brad Quinton and Jay Saunders respectively.

However, there is a coterie of Vanarama National League managers who are part of the furniture. Paul Doswell has chalked up a decade at Sutton United, a feat Harrogate’s Simon Weaver will match at the end of the season. At Fylde Dave Challinor has been in place since late 2011 while Havant & Waterlooville, having seen off interest in Lee Bradbury from Hartlepool, have just completed six years with him at the helm. In each case longevity has bred prosperity.

So far Hessenthaler has had the most dramatic impact of the new men. Dover were bottom when he arrived and while they remain in the relegation zone the trajectory is upwards.  Going full-time has helped, though that is a tricky change to implement mid-season and has meant a turnaround of personnel.

Ebbsfleet’s results have also picked up, those of Braintree and Maidstone less so. Chairmen will wonder whether they were right to make a change so soon in the season, or whether they should have acted earlier. They will never know. While many would argue managers need time there are many factors involved and, when even hiring a multiple-Champions League-winning manager fails, no guarantees.

For more on the Vanarama National League visit: http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/

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