Boss looks ahead to new campaign

It was 28 October when the first team last kicked a ball in anger. That night we played out a 2-2 draw with Hadleigh, and little did we know that it would be nine months until we play another league game.

It’s been a strange time for all of us. We trained when lockdown lifted through until May and had a couple of in-house friendlies while we supported Dave’s reserve boys in their cup games, and it was great being together as a team, but not the same as having competitive matches to prepare for and points up for grabs.

As a manager in a situation like this I’ve certainly missed being in the dugout and the buzz of a matchday, but for the players it must be so much harder. When I was playing, I lived for a Saturday afternoon. Nothing compares to being able to play the game, and when you can’t it’s horrible.

It’s hard enough during a normal summer, but everyone needs a nice break between seasons. This lay-off, though, must be so frustrating for players, they must be desperate to get back to action. As I tell them all the time; play while you can and for as long as you can. Make the most of your opportunities. And this last year or so has highlighted that.

But we can now look forward to getting back to business.

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes on plans for the new campaign. We’ve got a decent pre-season schedule in place, we’ve recruited Tom Rumsey and Dom Greetham, a top pair of chaps to run our U18s team with our beloved Mick Garbi heading off for a new venture in Spain (thanks for everything you’ve done for the club Mick!), and we have a good-looking squad.

The majority of the lads who were here last season are re-signing, just a couple are undecided if they want to commit to this level anymore, and we’ll also have some new faces at training too.

We usually all train together as one club, particularly in pre-season, and being able to watch the reserve games more over the last two or three months has allowed us to see some of the talented players in Dave’s group. No doubt if they keep working hard they’ll get an opportunity to step up. Some of those came to the club via our open training day last year and have been impressive.

So, we are looking forward to our next open training session on 19 June. Tom and Dom are aiming to finalise their U18s squad for next season, Dave, likewise, is keen to push on from a positive first season at Long Melford. Like last year, the door is well and truly open for players who are keen to play in senior step five football at Stoneylands. So if you are interested in coming along on the 19 June, drop us a line.

Pre-season training begins in earnest on 21 June, and we will put in the hard graft to be ready for the start of a big season for Long Melford FC. We hope you can join us…

All the best
Jamie