Transition

 This season sees the largest change in my team selections that I can remember.

This is mostly because I have moved to South Devon and will be looking at that league rather than the Devon & Exeter League from Level 12 downwards.

My first two choices have remained unchanged although I had hoped to have to make a decision when I supported Brentford in their attempt to be promoted to the top table. Since lockdown was eased I have watched all of the Brentford matches and my wife was so shocked that it was not Arsenal that she bought me a Brentford mug. I am now a member of the squad alongside Benrahma, Mbeumo and Watkins, at least on the side of the mug.

Having worked in an office in Exeter where there were Plymouth and Torquay supporters it seemed important to choose one and only one of those teams in order to participate in discussions and argument. It is not acceptable to follow two local teams ... well why not? I will be following Plymouth Argyle in League One this coming season, mostly because my childhood team, Southend, were relegated. I could have ejected Exeter from my selection but I am more likely to get to St James Park than I am to Roots Hall so I have kept Exeter as my League Two choice.

Torquay could have been my National League team as they were already in position but I want to keep an eye on Weymouth as I have been watching them (not too closely) in their promotion from the National League South. I will now get to recognise how difficult it is to make it in the National League when coming from the half National League. This left a gap at the National League South level and all I did was pick the nearest club to me so I will be following Bath City. I also know that Bath is a lovely place to visit as my cricket club used to go on tour there every year.

Tiverton Town and Barnstaple Town remain unchanged at levels 7 and 8 although Barnstaple have been lucky for the last two seasons when they should have been relegated. They need to put a side together that can earn their place in the Southern League Division One South.

Exmouth Town have been my favourite for a few seasons now. The Western League is their home at the moment although I first watched them as they gained promotion. They have a good squad and it will be good to see how far they can go.

Bovey Tracey are new on the scene but I like their ground and watched a couple of matches there last season. The stand can hold around 50 people and there is plenty of room around the pitch for anyone to wander and find a good vantage point. I hope to watch them in the F.A.Cup this season but I am worried that fans will be banned when the match takes place.

I am already banned from watching Liverton United. They have put a notice up stating that the F.A. will not allow spectators. This means that they miss out on the cost of a pint. I know that the government likes football because it keeps people's minds off the mess that the politicians are making of running the country. Agenda 21 states that the population of the world is growing beyond our ability to feed the people so countries should reduce their populations where possible. The Tories have clearly started this process and will not put any money into helping the people that need it, hoping that they will die.

My research then had to kick in as I got to know which teams are in the South Devon League and which divisions they are in. Who should I choose? .....

I went with Buckfastleigh Rangers in the Premier Division.

I have gone with Ashburton in Division One.

Ilsington Villa are my choice for Division Two.

Division Three was quite easy as that is where the Liverton United Reserves play.

I also note that Liverton United have started a Ladies Team that currently play on Sundays.

Good luck to the ladies and I hope to get to watch you in action before COVID kills us all.

Ancient History

 For some reason I started looking back at the start of this blog and found several things that interest me. How are my selections from that year doing today? What about some other clubs?

I started this blog back in 2013 with a selection set of Arsenal (no change there although there was a chance this year), Yeovil who were in the Championship at the time, Brentford were in League One, Exeter are now an established stalwart of League Two. Those were the Premier and Football League selections.

I had forgotten that my Football Conference selection (now National League) was Tamworth. I had hoped to visit my cousin and get a match or two watching the lambs but they dropped down into the North division which is not part of "MY" pyramid. I keep watching to see if they will come back but it has not happened yet.

My long standing Conference South team was Weston-super-Mare but I dropped them when they were relegated to the Southern League. 

I began my Southern League selections with Bideford in the Premier and Tiverton in the South & West. There have been many changes since that season and Tiverton are now in the Premier League South (it helps having two Premier Leagues in the Southern League).

My Western League selections were Buckland Athletic in the Premier Division. I did get to watch them once when they played in the F.A.Cup extra preliminary round, the one before the preliminary round which is the one before the first qualifying round. Who decided on these designations? I understand that the public have to understand that Round 1 includes the Football League teams but maybe we should educate the public that there are many teams outside of that bubble. I chose Barnstaple Town who were in the Western League Division One at the time. I now understand why they are struggling in the Southern League Division One South. They need to make their current division their own. Strengthen the squad where it is needed. I know that money is always a problem. The main reason I do not visit more football grounds is that I want to ensure we have food on the table next month.

When I discovered the South West Peninsula League at Level 10 and realised that the Western League Division One was also Level 10 I broke my pyramid into two halves. The top half ended with the Western League and the bottom half began with the South West Peninsula League. For my memories I will state that my selections were Elmore Eagles in the Premier Division of the South West Peninsula League and I went very early to watch them play. I got talking to one of the officials at the ground and found that they were paying £25 a man plus expenses. That gave me some financial grounding in what is expected at Level 10 in the South West.

At South West Peninsula League Division One East I chose Exwick Villa and once paid £9 to get three of us into the ground. The other two bought the beers and it worked out approximately even. The football seemed to be of a poor standard but I went back the following week and got in free because it was the second team playing. The football was much better. That is one of the fascinating aspects of football. You can watch an exciting match at a lower level and a very poor match at a higher level. I was disappointed that Fulham won the Championship playoff by stopping Brentford from playing their great style. That is football though, and I was happy when second best Arsenal beat Liverpool and Manchester City. In 9 out of 10 matches Liverpool and Manchester City would have won but we held on and got the victory. Sad to say but we learned from Mourinho and that loss against Spurs.

The Devon & Exeter League saw me select Tiverton Town 2nds (Premier), Elmore Eagles 2nds (One), Exwick Villa 2nds (Two), those were the easy ones but then I had to choose Tedburn St Mary (Three), Lord's XI (Four), Countess Wear Dynamoes (Five), Exwick Village (Six), Tedburn St Mary 2nds (Seven) and Elmore Eagles 3rds (Eight). I very nearly got to watch the Elmore third team as they were playing at the ground over the road from the pub where we were lunching but my wife wanted to get home and family comes first.

I found mention of the Kent County League and Sussex County League at Level 9. The Football Association asked them to rename themselves in the cause of standardisation. The F.A. want the County Level to be Level 11 so the Kent County became the Southern Counties East League and the Sussex County became the Southern Combination. I also noticed the Kent Invicta League which has now become the Southern Counties East League Division One. The only constant in football is change. I watched a pre season friendly at a local ground last night and there was a drinks break at 22 minutes so I guess we have moved as a nation more towards America by having four quarters in our national game.

Finally, VAR. Is it there purely to disallow good goals if the forward is leaning too far forward when they make a dash for the ball? Olympiakos were very unlucky against Wolves last night. We will start seeing coaches saying "Lean back when you dash forward" soon. I thought the rule for VAR was supposed to be a "Clear and Obvious error". If it is a matter of millimetres LET THE GOAL STAND.

That is enough rant for this morning. It looks like a lovely day. The pre season has started for the lower levels of football and I am intending on going to a double header on Saturday. This is immediately after the English Football League season ended on Wembley on August 4th. I normally have an off season but not this year. Too heavily focussed on Brentford's promotion push I only noticed that my local team had their first game of the season on Saturday 1st August, a fact that I first noticed on 5th August.

Blogging is very therapeutic. I recommend it even if nobody reads it. I have enjoyed looking back at my thoughts from seven years ago.

Selections for the new season 2020-2021

So we found out in my last post that the number one and number two slots have been decided:

1) Premier League = ARSENAL

2) Football League Championship = BRENTFORD

The rest of the list will see some changes because of promotions and relegations. Southend United dropped into League Two so I need a new pick in league one. Are there any obvious choices? Firstly the three coming down from the Championship are Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Hull City. I have a friend and his family who are Charlton supporters so I might get some info there. Wigan Athletic have a rich history including the year when they won the F.A.Cup and got relegated. An interesting choice of priority as far as I am concerned. I went to university in Hull so there is some appeal there as well.

I quite like Portsmouth as it is the gateway to the Isle of Wight but the last two times I went via Southampton on the Red Funnel. Definitely not Gillingham due to crowd trouble in the 1970s when I was a Southend United supporter. Bristol Rovers are just up the road (M5) and the city is big enough to support a top flight club if they can find the right owners. Lincoln City were in with a shout until Danny Cowley went to Huddersfield. Accrington Stanley because of the milk advertisement. AFC Wimbledon because of the crazy gang.

The teams promoted from league two are Swindon Town (not that far away) but it is "the other side" of Bristol. Crewe Alexandra with the famous station junction. Northampton Town who thumped Exeter City in the playoff final. My selection, though, as they are just down the road from me, is Plymouth Argyle.

3) Football League One = PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

League Two now has my old favourite Southend United as well as my home town club Exeter City. Forest Green Rovers with the vegan ethic could have got a look in and still might if they leave this division. Salford City from the television program (where is Gareth Seddon and is his cheese shop still going?). Barrow and Harrogate coming up from the National League are both too far north for me.

I will stick with my home town club as it is the nearest and if I ever want to part with £20 to watch paint dry I will be there.

4) Football League Two = EXETER CITY

That concludes the football league but not the professional game as the national league is increasingly professional these days.

The National League offers me the greatest choice of teams so I need not mention those teams that are not going to get a look-in like Stevenage who came down from League Two. Yeovil Town would probably give me the best chance of promotion from this level. Torquay United are possible as the road links have now improved greatly and my last trip to the ground was easy. Eastleigh are still there but my one season following them was not easy as they have a poor online presence.

These would all be good choices but I am going for the weakest choice. Weymouth have just achieved promotion from the National League South and I am going to follow them in their newly elevated status.

5) National League = WEYMOUTH

That promotion has left a gap in the National League South which I need to fill. This is the level that I often find most difficult as many teams are a long way away so the obvious choice would be one that is nearer than most of the others. Consequently, and for no other reason than the geographical one I am going to choose to learn about Bath City.

6) National League South = BATH CITY

That ends the National leagues and my regional league at this point is the Southern League South. In the Premier Division I could choose the very best Cornish team Truro City, the Somerset Cider team of Taunton Town, the most isolated football team, Salisbury City, my old pick Weston-super-Mare, and many others but I am going to stick with my long standing selection, Tiverton Town. Who knows, this season I may actually get to Ladysmead to see them play. I just need to work out the parking.

7) Southern League Premier Division South = TIVERTON TOWN

The next choice is obvious and I am going to stick with possibly the luckiest team in the pyramid. Last season they were reprieved from relegation and this season they only avoided relegation because of the COVID crisis. Barnstaple Town cannot do as badly as they have done for the last two seasons. It is a lovely trip up on the Tarka Line if I want to go and watch them so we shall see if I make it this season.

8) Southern League Division One South = BARNSTAPLE TOWN

The team I have probably supported most partly because the town car park is a 5 minute walk from the ground is Exmouth Town. They also have a striker with the brilliant name of Ace High. I fully intend to get to watch this team in the F.A.Cup and probably in the Western League as well. Visiting this ground has provided the best value for money over the past three seasons.

9) Western League Premier Division = EXMOUTH TOWN

Now we come to changes as a result of my move a year ago. I now live just over a stone's throw from Bovey Tracey and they are competing in the South West Peninsula League so my allegiance has at long last changed from Elmore Eagles who were there at the start of this whole process.

10) South West Peninsula League Premier Division East = BOVEY TRACEY

I actually live in the village of Liverton and there is big news on the football front. Last season the team ran as a single side and I watched some very lacking in ability players take to the field. This season I have found out that there are two mens team and a ladies team as well. I should be able to head to the ground and find something going on most of the time. The online presence is still poor as I have to use both Facebook and Twitter to find out what is going on and sometimes there is just no information but a two minute drive is ideal if Arsenal are on television just before or just after.

11) Devon League = LIVERTON UNITED

That concludes the pyramid selections but I know that one of you likes the lower picks as well. That might not prove to be the case now that I have switched from the Devon and Exeter League to the South Devon League. Fewer divisions and fewer results to research.

12) South Devon League Premier Division = BUCKFASTLEIGH RANGERS

13) South Devon League Division One = ASHBURTON

14) South Devon League Division Two = ILSINGTON VILLA

15) South Devon League Division Three = LIVERTON UNITED RESERVES

There may be some more changes to my blog in the future but at least my selections are set for the new season 2020-21. Unless .....

Brentford v. Fulham

So I settled down last night to watch the Championship playoff final. My team Brentford were up against the favourites (due to money spent) Fulham. Thomas Frank was taking on Scott Parker who has been the butt of many jokes by my mates. We are Arsenal fans and he was with Spurs so it is no real surprise but what can I reasonably say? ... He has always struck me as rigid, never straying far from the straight line. Maybe that is what Fulham needed.

On the night Fulham flooded the midfield and prevented Brentford from playing. They did such a good job that I did not recognise the Brentford that I have been watching since lockdown. Lockdown gave me a great chance to watch my Championship pick and I got to know the players to such an extent that I am probably now a fan of the club.

I was thinking hard about what I would do if Brentford got promoted. I had nearly decided to drop my own club Arsenal from the blog and put Brentford into slot number one at least for one season while Mikel Arteta rebuilds the Arsenal side from the poor state that the Kroenkes have allowed it to get into. Following the result I can now keep my Premier League side and my Championship side as they have been this season and look forward to following Brentford next season although some of the players may feel the need to move on to better their careers.

The Fulham left back eventually broke the deadlock and scored twice to put Fulham in the winning position that they held on to despite the consolation goal that Brentford scored at the end.

There are more selection problems as we head down my selections but at least ONE and TWO are now decided for next season.