Remembering Windsor and Eton F.C.

Yesterday yet another football club breathed its last breath. Windsor and Eton FC succumbed to the pressures that so many other clubs struggle with day in and day out. They found themselves faced with a winding-up order due to money owed to HMRC, this is sadly a situation more and more clubs are finding themselves in due to the debts that add up over time . It is all too common in today’s game and needs to be prevented.

If you were at a funeral you would not hear tales being recounted about how much money someone had owed during their lifetime so it feels unnecessary, even disrespectful to focus on money now. This piece intends to look back on all the achievements of Windsor and Eton FC, a celebration of the life of the club if you will.

The club was founded in 1892, and played in numerous leagues since then and in 1981 they joined the Isthmian League; this was the same year they reached the first round of the FA Cup. The 80’s was, in fact the ‘Golden Era’ of this proud club. They reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase and in their first season playing in the Isthmian League Division Two they finished fifth. Over the next two years they managed back-to-back promotions and found themselves in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

From the early 90’s until recently, the club experienced many ups and downs in the league and after many league restructurings they were playing in the Southern League Division One South and West at the beginning of the 2009/10 season. 2009/10 was the season that saw them finish top of the league and achieve promotion.

Tragically of course, the club did not see the end of this season due to the growing debts and subsequent winding-up order. The silver lining however is that plans are afoot to start afresh next season most likely under a new guise as we have seen with AFC Wimbledon, F.C. Halifax Town and Chester F.C. to name a few. They would do well to follow in these clubs footsteps, as all three are currently top of their respective leagues.

R.I.P Windsor and Eton F.C.

1892 - 2011

The trials and tribulations of being a non-league fan

In a transfer window that has seen the British transfer record broken and over £100,000,000 spent between just two clubs within a couple of hours, anyone who doesn’t follow football closely could be forgiven in thinking that financially, all is well in the game.

Throughout the whole of January, just under £225,000,000 was spent altogether in the Premier League. By contrast, throughout the non-leagues only £75,000 was spent; £50,000 by Luton Town and £25,000 by Darlington and they were both league clubs in the last few years.

Fans of the ‘big’ teams; the ones which are usually found battling it out over the Champions League places in the top flight are more than likely to know of the huge debts in the Premier League. However, they will never lose sleep over their clubs future and the thought of entering administration or even folding would never enter their heads, because they reason that these ‘big’ clubs are too big for that ever to happen.

They are probably right (with Wimbledon and Leeds being obvious exceptions), but not all fans are this lucky. The further down the football pyramid you travel, the shorter the bitten fingernails are and the faster the hearts beat. Not just during matches, for most non-league fans this is constant and unrelenting.

If things aren’t going well on the pitch, the manager can’t go out and spend millions, not even thousands on the transfer market searching for a ‘quick fix’ or a morale boosting big name transfer. If things aren’t going smoothly off the pitch, these clubs can’t just hike up ticket prices and risk alienating their small fan bases or ship out new branded merchandise around the world.

Following a team in any sport is often compared to being on a rollercoaster, there are ups and downs. However, for non-league fans, supporting their team is more like going off-road in the back of a pick-up truck without restraints; there are ups and when they are happening it’s amazing, weightless, nothing can stop the club going higher and higher and getting better and better but in the back of the mind there is always the knowledge that if and when the fall back down comes, it will be with a crash, it will be sudden and it will be painful, very painful.

Kick-Off

Hello and welcome to theone-two blog. The main aim of this blog is to give an honest unbiased view on football(soccer for any lost americans who found themselves here by mistake).

We intend to cover as many leagues as possible from the English Premier League, down to the English non-leagues. We intend to have some guest bloggers and some blogs from fans as well.

Enjoy