Welcome to the new ‘Monday Moment’ column. Each week I’ll be taking a look back at the last seven days in non-league show and picking out what you might have missed or something that makes a great thought provoking choice.
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What another great week of non-league football in the books and plenty to catch your eye for me to get down on paper here.
Where do we start today? Let’s get some celebrations underway to begin with, and we’ll start with a club and manager that I have a lot of time and respect for.
Wroxham FC are out on a bit of a limb in Norfolk. Set on the famous Broads in the area the Yachtsmen have been on my radar for years, countless childhood holidays in the area and a few trips within those times to Trafford Park I keep an eye for the results and have had a couple of trips up in seasons past, the next one is due.
Manager Jordan Southgate has been instrumental in the rise of Wroxham and has now completed 300 games in charge, split by a short spell at Lowestoft Town as assistant manager. Managers don’t get the chance these days to build too often at any one club but at the time of writing Southgate has the Yachtsmen in the Isthmian North Division play-off places, long way to go but can’t wait to see how this one pans out.
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Next up is another gaffer hitting big numbers and I mean big numbers! Danny Robinson is in charge at Hungerford Town in the Southern League currently, I first heard of him leading Thatcham Town to the FA Vase final and winning it.
He’s now surpassed 1000 games in management and he’s still only 39! Like Jordan above getting to levels with one club or in total is tough these days, too many managers and not enough jobs to go around makes these guy’s achievement something to be proud of, great interview with Danny in this week’s Non League Paper as well.
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DAZN and the National League in partnership with supporters of clubs within their division is not a marriage made in heaven. Last week the streaming broadcaster announced splitting the 12 games of the weekend before Christmas over three days with some kick off times that really give the fans a kick in the teeth.
Starting Friday night at 7.45pm, games have been moved across the weekend with 4pm kick off’s on a Sunday the harshest. There was already a fair amount of travelling that weekend but Carlisle fans face a trip to Boreham Wood with that Sunday kick off time, what on earth are they thinking?!
Truro City heading to York City for a 5.30pm Saturday evening game, granted that is a standard ko time for a DAZN game still a mission. Again on Sunday, Wealdstone finding their way up to FC Halifax for that 4pm kick off, two hours earlier, Hartlepool Utd in Essex, Eastleigh in the North East at Gateshead, read the room fellas!
An attempt to increase their watching numbers for the inconvenience of travelling supporters? Someone needs to remind them and the board of the National League this isn’t the Premier League and fans buy travel well in advance to watch their team in action, not settle for the armchair brigade that the PL rely on, as I write this piece they’ve deleted the link but luckily the National League have the fixtures set on the pages, they look ridiculous in the main!
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We can’t not finish today without dear old Matt Saunders. The man who supposedly ‘completed football’, left League Two Notts County but finding he needed to get back into football this time in non-league at Bracknell Town. The side bottom of the Southern League Premier South Division only cemented their position whilst Saunders was in charge but the talking point has been his post-match interviews rather than anything else.
Digging out senior players, telling everyone players weren’t fit enough, demanding no one has a beer after the game didn’t bring much of a positive reaction and only seemed to make more people go to town on social media.
Saunders lasted six weeks, possibly lucky to have had that much amount of time, his final game a 6-1 hammering at Gosport Borough last midweek and that was the end. One point from six league games a sorry state of affairs and unsurprisingly they picked up an FA Trophy win and a clean sheet immediately after his departure, who knew eh…..
