News From The Management
From The Management
With all the latest news and updates from the entire Aylesbury United management team, as well as periodic reports from the club captain, this is the best place to keep in touch with the goings on at the club.
We also welcome any questions from supporters. If you have something you wish to put to management team then please e-mail info@aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk.
2007
If we had been told coming into the Christmas fixtures we would be 3rd in the league 2 points off the leaders we most definitely would have taken that, at this stage of the season you are where you are on merit with the exception being Chasetown due to their fantastic FA cup run.
When we sat down with Graham and John at the beginning of the season the main word we used was progress with both on and off the field activities with an emphasis on developing young local talent.
It's easy to forget we are still a very young side who are punching above their weight, some have had only one season at this level others have had none and every so often in a game it shows. John has been fantastic with his energy and endeavour with the Bring the Ducks Home campaign.
We had some fantastic performances after the Bromley FA cup game where we completely dismantled teams like Willenhall, Stourport and Romulus, but those games are not the norm in this league and as we have found in recent games learning to win without being at your best is vital.
We have not yet recorded victories when we played the leagues stronger teams like Chasetown, Stourbridge, Sutton Coldfield and Evesham but we face all of them plus Leamington twice so there is everything to play for.
The two Bromley games were a big turning point in our season as prior to this we didn't have as much confidence to get the ball down and play mainly because the type of teams we normally face don’t let you. We learned last year that first and foremost you have to be competitive and we now believe we have a team packed with winners who are prepared to give their all for the cause the bonus is we have really good football players who can also play and we have at times been able to impose our passing game on teams, the pitches recently have made this more difficult.
I don’t believe there is a better midfield pairing than Ben Stevens and Sam Swonnel in the league and in every department we are fairly strong.
In previous reports it was stated that we wanted to continue searching for local talent, Nathan Graham of course has been find of the season and it's also great to see his buddy Jason Castello making the same in roads, raw talent but massive potential.
We are very proud that we are continually fielding a team made of local lads we have a fantastic team spirit and this is a massive strength as they are all good mates on and off the park.
The signing of another local lad James Faulkner has strengthened our squad and he has shown by his performances and goal tally what a talent he is.
This brings me on to the Sunday football issue which has created lots of publicity most unnecessary in my opinion. So everyone knows what has gone on James did play for the Aristocrat and was sent off. The sending off has gone to appeal and to date no decision on any suspension has been made.
We were unaware that James had played and therefore it has nothing to do with Aylesbury United. We spoke to all of the players and made it clear that Sunday football although tempting to play with your mates was not acceptable for obvious reasons like injuries and recovery time.
Since then it was reported despite our warning James was persuaded to play again which appeared on the Sunday League website. We have met James and conducted a disciplinary hearing the result of this was James was fined by the club and warned of his future conduct. James was very honest at the meeting and it is now time to draw a line under this matter and concentrate on getting him fit to play.
On the injury front apart from James (hamstring) we have a full squad going into the Christmas period; Justin Gordon, Aston Goss, Roni Joe Jamie O'Grady and Jack Silletoe have been on loan at Buckingham but are still training with us. Although not desperate we would still like to bring in another centre half to cover for Leachy and Carl.
With our current on field success it's easy to forget the club is still in a precarious position - the recent Monday night games with a poor attendance mean we lose considerable amounts of money due to the ground share and lack of additional revenue.
It is vital as the season progresses we get support from the local community even if it does mean a trip to Chesham, the supporters we have are so loyal and all of the players and management alike appreciate the fantastic support given.
If anyone knows companies or individuals who may be prepared to get involved with sponsorship opportunities both general and match day please contact John Newman.
If nothing else please encourage other friends and family to come and support a young team full of potential. We have a run of very winnable games and will be giving our all to stay amongst the leaders right until the end of the season.
Up the Ducks
Mark Eaton
Assistant Manager
Email 
Share 
RSS 2007
Club captain Nick Leach writes about Aylesbury's start to the season and elimination from the FA Cup:
Its two days after our FA cup replay away at Bromley as I write these notes. To say I’m gutted would be an understatement, the lads were absolute different class and maybe I'm biased but I really do think we were the better side over both games.
We all felt that we just needed a rub of the green and decisions to have gone our way on the night. Personally to be 5 minutes away from winning the tie and to have that penalty awarded against me for what was a dive which the referee got sucked into giving (some of their players admitted so afterwards) was hard to take on the night.
As for our start to the season it hasn’t been too bad, obviously we lost personnel during the summer for different reasons. We have had the serious injuries to Butts, Liam and Sheddy to contend with, along with Ben’s suspension and Tom missing games due his Honeymoon etc, having all tested the squad this early on in the season.
We are not a million miles away in terms of points from the early pace setters at the top of the league but due to our cup games haven’t had a lot of successive games to build up momentum. We proved last season it’s not a sprint but a marathon and you get nothing for being top at end of September!!
We don’t think there is going to be a team that’s going to run away with it this season and all feel that if we can get consistency in our level of performances, we believe we will have a chance of getting out of this division.
We are still in the league cup and start the F.A Trophy campaign this weekend so there is still plenty to look forward to this season, it just means the quadruple is not going to happen now that’s all!!
The new additions to our squad this season players like Sam, Ross, Nathan Graham, Craig, Jamie along with Roni and Aston returning have all fully settled into the squad now which can take time, they all now know what is expected of them from the Management and what this league is going to be like.
With some of the injured lads not too far away from being in contention again in the next 3-4weeks this will enable us to have the strongest squad we would have had all season, This gives the management a headache but a good one at that and having competition for places is always a positive and healthy thing to have in any squad.
One of the major assets of this squad is the team spirit and the fact that everyone does get on off the pitch as well as on it. Everyone knows the work ethic principles required of them individually and collectively which is constantly drummed into us by the management team of Tommo, Mark, Ken and Paul.
We are a young team but a lot of the lads have had a full season already under their belts now and with more belief in their own abilities can help to drive the club forward back to the level it should be at, starting with this season.
As always the support from the terraces has been first class whether it is at home or from the hardcore who come to the away matches! I know that all the lads really appreciate it and know it really does give them a lift and an extra push in games when you all get behind us!! The club is moving in the right direction again off the pitch now so its important we all pull together to make this club successful and envied once again.
Onwards and upwards!!
Cheers,
Leachy
2007
As most people are aware we have been very unfortunate with injuries at the start of our campaign. Matty, Liam and Sheddy would have almost certainly figured in our first eleven so to lose them long term was a massive blow.
The situation at the moment is that Liam will have key hole surgery on 17th September and will be out for a further 6 weeks. Matty’s op will take place very soon and he is in good spirit despite such a horrendous injury. The positive news is that Sheddy should resume training next week he’s naturally a fit lad so hopefully he’ll be back in the squad very soon.
To update you on players coming and going - Julian Old left us to go to Aylesbury Vale. Jules was excellent last year and very consistent but probably by his own admission didn’t start the season as confidently.
Last year we were fortunate with injuries which meant, due to our budget, we normally survived with one senior sub and two youth team players. We knew we would have to improve in this area and have a stronger squad. When we had a meeting with the whole squad we made it clear that there would be competition and no one was guaranteed to play every week and our plan was to be able to rest some players at certain times. Obviously that plan was before the injuries were suffered.
Personally I would have liked for Jules to stay and ironically due to the injuries he would have probably played every week. Luke Melisi also went to Vale before the season started but that decision was taken after dialogue with Tommo as naturally Luke wanted to play every week and we are pleased he is doing well.
Danny Jones signed for Vale last week and that was a joint decision as we felt that Danny needed some match time. Danny is a great prospect but unfortunately our league is uncompromising physically and therefore difficult for someone of Danny’s build, but we will continue to monitor Danny’s progress.
We have been constantly looking at strengthening the squad which is one of the main reasons we asked Paul Burgess to join our management team. Paul has a wealth of experience managing teams at this level and importantly has a large network of players. As well as helping on match days Paul will be going to watch other games for us both looking at players and opponents. We believe that you can never have enough good people at a football club and Paul definitely fits that bill.
We are also working hard on the clubs strategy to bring Aylesbury based players through to our first team and we have been delighted with the way Nathan Graham has fitted in. We were aware that Nathan had been at West Ham as a youngster but thought that his professional boxing license would prevent him from playing, Tommo watched him in a reserve game and saw enough to suggest he could do a job for us.
Historically the club has failed to bring through local talent into the team and we want to give a message out to the players in Aylesbury if they are good enough they will get a chance here. There are other players we are looking at in training and we will announce any further signings. Our pursuit of a proven target man has been frustrating we have had some let downs and no one has really fitted been what we are looking for but that search will continue.
As far as results are concerned up until last week we were relatively satisfied particularly with the Romulus result they are a big powerful team and will upset a lot of teams this year. It’s easy to forget we still have a very young team and some of the players haven’t played at this level of football before.
We certainly didn’t play well enough during the defeat against Stourbridge but on reflection the goals were simply down to individual mistakes in the first half which left us a mountain to climb.
We have had injuries, illness and suspensions which I know all teams face from time to time but it does mean we have some big challenges ahead no more so than at Banbury on Saturday in the FA Cup.
Regards,
Mark Eaton
News Links
Change Page
More News
Search Website
