"The cold reality of life in League Two"

BBC blog/Paul FLetcher - The cold reality of life in League Two

Monday, 18 January 2010

Aldershot manager Kevin Dillon was secretly rather happy when his team were hit by a couple of postponements in mid-December.

His team had played eight games in the space of 28 days since he took over from caretaker boss Jason Dodd and Dillon was relishing the chance to spend some more time preparing his players.

Fast forward a month and he is now itching for a return to action because the Shots have played just once since 12 December as the snow and freezing temperatures have led to the postponement of five fixtures for his side.

What's more, Dillon readily admits that his wife is starting to tire of seeing so much of him around the house.

Thankfully his side are scheduled to make a return to action for the first time since Boxing Day when they take on League Two leaders Rochdale on Tuesday evening.


The last of the snow was removed from the pitch at The Recreation Ground on Sunday and the story of how the ground has been cleared for action is not just about the hard work undertaken by groundsman Andy Nunn but a tale of a community pulling together.

Repeatedly over the last month supporters have responded to appeals from the club to help clear snow from the pitch and the stadium walkways.

Nunn, a former Shots player, was joined by 20 volunteers on Sunday morning - and he told me: "All year round we rely on volunteers to help us survive, with four or five that come in on a regular basis, but recently the help has been amazing."

It was the same story the previous Friday, when the club held what general manager Richard Petty described as a "shovel party" and they are scenes that have been repeated up and down the country.

Accrington Stanley's game against Rotherham on Saturday fell victim to a waterlogged pitch but the attempt to make the pitch playable and the ground safe in the days before brought the community together.

Volunteer support is important in the lower leagues

Stanley chief executive Robert Hey described Thursday's efforts to clear the ground as one of his proudest moments in his time at the club.

Supporters turned up, as did the first-team squad, the management team and the club staff. Mick from Redash, a big Stanley fan, appeared with his digger, which significantly increased productivity.

It all placed in perspective what a football club means to a community and how, at a certain level, supporters still retain a central role and indispensible role.

The same can be argued when it comes to a club's finances. League Two is a different economic world to the Premier League clubs that have become corporate, global brands.

"The postponements are a big concern for a club at our level in the football pyramid because we do rely quite a lot on the gate money that comes in," said Aldershot's Petty.

"Put it this way, we are very glad the weather has turned. It is a big relief."

Hey reckons that Accrington have been insulated because of their cup exploits. Stanley reached the Northern Area semi-final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy before losing to Leeds and are in the third round of the FA Cup, in which they play Gillingham on Tuesday evening.

"It gave us a bit of a buffer," he said. "If not we might have had to look at bringing in some money in the short term to bridge the gap."

Accrington, who have not played this calendar year, have received enquiries about several of their highly-rated young players.

Stanley are 11th in the table and with the play-offs still in their sights do not want to break up their squad.

But Hey was candid enough to admit that if the club had not been on such a sound financial footing, selling a player would have been one way of compensating for any shortfall.

Then there are others smaller issues that nonetheless accumulate over time. Hey pointed out that the club has still lost out financially after producing matchday programmes that have not been sold, while Petty cites a loss of momentum in selling advertising and sponsorship.

Two of the Aldershot fixtures that were postponed were away from home, at Hereford and Darlington. The team had already travelled north by the time they were called off and Dillon estimates the cost of each trip at £2,000. He also reckons that his players have spent 20 hours travelling to and from the two games.

Even so, Dillon thinks the situation could have been a lot worse if he had not found alternative training facilities for his squad.

Their normal training pitch at Aldershot Garrison has not been used since mid-December but the Shots have been training at Ash Manor School and, lately, Reading's large indoor dome close to the Madejski Stadium.

"The dome at Reading has been used by Portsmouth, Luton and a few other clubs and we have been very lucky to train there," said Dillon, a former first-team coach at the Royals.

"I'm quite relaxed because we have been able to do a lot of ball-work. In fact, I spoke to Luton manager Richard Money recently and he said he has almost done another pre-season with his players."

Accrington boss John Coleman has also been taking his squad to different facilities to ensure they train properly. They have used the Liverpool Academy facilities, the indoor pitch at the DW Stadium in Wigan and Preston Sports Arena.

One day at the DW Stadium facilities, Accrington found themselves training alongside Burnley and Bolton.

"We have had to go from pillar to post," said Coleman. "It is difficult when you don't train on grass but we are not the only ones."

Coleman, like Dillon, has had to endure the frustration of preparing his squad for fixtures and then try to wind them down and alter their focus towards the next game after a postponement.

Everyone I spoke to is desperate for a return to action - and both Aldershot and Accrington are confident their respective games will take place on Tuesday.

Finally, it seems, their respective communities can once again watch their local teams, while peace and quiet is restored to the Dillon household.

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/01/cold_snap_shows_footballs_comm.html#186708