DAYS LIKE THESE

 

To be printed in the FA Cup 1st round v Altrincham Saturday 1st November 2025

Photo by Scott McNeish

There’s moments in football you wish you could bottle up and keep. To sip from when times are bad. There’s pictures that capture a moment in time. To look at after some heavy defeat miles from home. 

As the goal flew in deep into injury time Arbour Park erupted, cue pandemonium on the terraces. Followed by smiles and ‘we’ve done it’ to everyone who stayed afters for drinks. An amazing day in a town that needs more days like these.

Trying to explain to someone what you love about watching football. Like a first date? The best concert you’ve ever been too? But it’s also much more than that, because football can often be a slog. But those terrible away defeats, freezing cold on terraces, those hard miles and rail replacements; they all make the magical moments even more special.

Yes we lost to Salisbury but I got to drink in a place built in 1330 called the Haunch of Venison, which has to be up there with the best named pub ever. It even had a mummified hand behind a metal grill, apparently the remains of a card cheat killed in the pub around 1820. We were just glad no one had been killed for adultery. We also found ourselves in another boozer that instead of a sign for the men's urinal just said - ‘God Save the King’. Was I meant to bow as I had a wee?

We’ve had 50% of our first team out injured for six weeks or more. And that squad is made up of just 15 senior players – the rest are from our Elite Development Squad (EDS). In any situation that is going to affect performances. So that win against Enfield was even sweeter – and after the game Scotty Davies said it was one of his best moments in football in part because of so many missing personal.

There was some grumbles after the Maidstone game – no one likes to lose 4-1 at home – but as our legendary Kitman Trent posted on the Supporters Trust page (which I suggest you all join) “I don't often comment on wins or losses but i do need to after last night and Saturday, I did not hear 1 negative comment from any of our fans at either game which i think speaks volumes for the fact that we have some of the best fans in the non league game. Imagine Wenga, Pep, Fergie dealing with this as well as Scotty!”

And so too today. We’ve got no players, Altrincham don’t have a manager. Slough hold the world record of being in the second round proper (eight since you ask) without ever reaching the Third round. Altrincham hold the record for the most victories against football league opponents of any non league club. Infact they were known as the Manchester United of non league in the 70’s and 80’s and if the English Football League wasn’t such a closed shop in those days, they would have been a football league club.

Altrincham have a Lionel Richie song ‘Once, twice, three times to Wembley.’ We’ve got MarsBars, Thunderbirds and Zebra crossings. With bins, trumpets and other instruments to liven things up.

The FA Cup has delivered so much for Slough Town over the years and this game is massive. As Scott said “a huge chance for the club to make some much needed finances, for us to create some memories for players, staff and supporters.” So let’s get behind the goals and make Arbour Park a cauldron before the players even step onto the pitch. Win this and who knows what could happen.

Let’s get Slough the Town dreaming.

A DOSE OF PEACE

 

Printed in the National League South game v Maidstone United Saturday 25th October 2025 We lost 4-1 in front of 1,102

With so much gloom in the world I thought I’d tell you a tale about our little charity Moulsecoomb Forest Garden which just held its Annual General Meeting in the Bevy – Brighton’s only community owned pub.

‘If I didn’t come here, I would be sitting outside doing nothing. I don’t get out much, coming to the garden helps me get new friends.’

‘I get bored at home. Its easier working with other people and getting to meet people. People can get jobs like gardening, cooking and woodwork.’

Now Annual General Meetings are often dull affairs, so we like to jazz ours up. This year we decided to combine it with the Bevy’s monthly disability disco. This is a disco run by and for people with disabilities with support from Bevy staff and free for everyone to join in. Afterwards the our newest member of staff at the garden said it was something else to see people with disabilities, builders, small children, seniors, all getting on in the same place. Which is what a proper pub should be.

It was also the launch of artwork by people with disabilities being displayed in the pub. First up was one of our gardens long term volunteers. Aida has very complex needs and not very verbal – but boy can she can paint. Her stunning art is now up for a while for everyone who comes into the pub to enjoy.

The disco and the art display comes from the same ethos as our charity – showcasing what people can do rather than what they can’t.

We have two workdays a week at our garden and are at the local schools the other days. We also work with children in care and the head of the care home spoke at the meeting about how so many of their pupils are lost and feel they don’t belong anywhere; that’s until they started coming along to our place. Here they are flourishing – one has just gone to college to do horticulture, one has become a dab hand in woodland skills, others in the room were shocked when they heard about one lad who is so polite and helpful at the garden but very different at school. "I like it because it's calm, it helps me forget some things that are going on. If I didn't come here I probably would have been excluded from school. There are nice views. I do lots of things here that make me feel good. I like doing the work in the garden, and I also help sometimes with the cooking. The people are all nice and the food is amazing"

We can deliver certificates that build up pupils portfolios, many of them having never received anything in their whole time at school.

We run free holiday schemes for the local primary school – where 68% receive free school dinners and help look after their stunning school grounds and chickens. The school recently held its annual Harvest Festival – a celebration of the work the children have done over the previous year, cooking the vegetables they have grown, turning apples into juice from their orchard and giving it all out for free at the end of the day.

The senior leadership team at the academy where we work visited our annual open day. The head messaged ‘A huge thank you for inviting us. We left completely overwhelmed! It was great to see some of our most challenging students so engaged and very calm.’

The Councils Child and Adolescent Mental health services use our garden regularly “Our visits have been incredibly beneficial for the families and children with learning disabilities that we support. It has truly become a special place for our families to grow, relax, and build confidence together.”

We held another day with the Sunflower Group for families with children with additional needs. One participant said “While the world burns, you’ve created a magical oasis. I feel like I’ve had a dose of peace.”

We all need a dose of peace and then some.

I love to see people flourish. Gain a sense of belonging. Be part of a community. Anyone who watches their local football team regularly will understand that feeling and why it’s so important for their well being.

If you watch the news or doom-scroll social media, the world can seem a very dark place. But there are so many amazing people, so many brilliant organisations doing stuff up and down the country in their local communities. I’m so lucky to be part of a few of them. If you’re starting to look for some New Years resolutions, I can highly recommend you get involved in some too.

PLANE CRAZY

Printed in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying round game v Enfield Town Saturday 11th October 2025. We won 3-2 with a goal in injury time in front of 1,207. Into the first round proper we go 

Bedfont Sports away in the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round. One of those games that serve up all the right ingredients for a proper day out.

A new place to visit. With planes flying so close you could bathe in the engine fuel and two Bedfont football clubs; not so much near neighbours, as partners who sleep in the same house but separate bedrooms. And the added bonus of a Desi pub. A Desi pub is an Asian owned boozer where you can get a curry and a pint which the Slough lot took serious advantage off. Except for Jonathan who went for that well known Asian speciality, fish and chips. With fish which had no doubt been sitting at the back of their freezer for years. He didn’t even have curry sauce with it.

We’d been to Bedfont before; well the other Bedfont. It was the last time most of us saw Chris Sliski alive. I remember peering over a wall and seeing another ground and getting an impolite answer from a Bedfont official what he thought of their new neighbours. Sports who were only formed in 2002 have powered up the leagues thanks to the vision of one man David Reader. With a team of volunteers and help from the local council and raising more than £1.3 million, they built the club from next-to-nothing, with the aim of giving children in the community somewhere to play with the very best facilities. Twenty years ago the Hatton Road Recreation Ground was derelict. Today it has a smart clubhouse with a 3G pitch surrounded with over 750 seats in 10 different stands and covered terraces on all four sides of the ground. David Reader passed away in 2020, but with more than 20 junior teams plus ladies, men's' and Sunday league set-ups, his legacy was there for us all to see.

A litmus test that we’ve never played a team before is the appearance of Alan ‘Slough Town database’ Smith. Alan also informed me this was the first team with Sports in their name we’ve played since Bradwell Sports in the 1930’s who were a works team based on the Farnham Road that built the Manor Park estate. Now I bet you didn’t know that.

Over land, sea (well a canal) buses, cars, taxis and Terminal 5 – all the joys of Heathrow without the holiday – hundreds of the Rebel Rabble descended, battling the rugby crowds as they cheered England on to victory.

I got chatting to a few heading to the rugby and they said they stopped watching football because it was too tribal. But there was none of that at the Bedfont game. A couple of us entered the ground early to beat the queues and then found ourselves back at main bar with no way of showing we had already paid. When Sports officials realised their mistake they turned to Trusty Richard Kendall who asked those that had already paid to swap their glass for plastic and make there way to the side door. Relying on peoples honesty, he believed everyone did the right thing. Depriving smaller clubs of matchday revenue is not the done thing. Which is the only reason we drink at games. It’s our way of supporting other football clubs.

As for the match, we had a scare or two, our keeper was red carded but eventually we came through and here we are now with the first round proper – were the previous rounds improper? - dangling tantalizing in front of our faces.

What I also liked about Bedfont Sports was the lack of visible stewarding; stewards so often cause the problems they are there to stop. I think in the main Slough Town supporters can police ourselves and honourable mention to Hampton as well who let us enjoy the game against them. Three points and no hassle – well apart from another poxy rugby game at Twickenham swamping public transport.

Which is why its a real shame today's game against Enfield Town is once again segregated. I think it created more problems in the league game than it was there to solve. It creates an us and them mentality and I like chatting to opposition supporters – especially ones like those from Enfield who set up the first ever supporters owned club in the country. It’s one of the reasons many of us like going to lower league football.

And while promotion for some is the dream it was taking a look at one of the articles in the excellent ‘Where's the Bar’ fanzine from a Maidenhead supporter whose stopped going to away games because it became apparent that being a football fan was the same as being a criminal; except you are guilty until proven innocent. And trying to get a drink, some decent food, celebrating a goal, standing up, or just breathing was a step too far for so many who love the power a uniform gives them.

With increasing popularity and bigger crowds, it’s inevitable that it will attract some idiots. So how to deal with these? Our stewards are the friendliest around but sometimes – like with Maidstone and Borehamwood last season – they should have thrown their loudmouths out. It clearly states in our programme foul and abusive language and generally acting like a prat will get you an early exit. So off you trot.

A few of us had watched Chatham home game highlights before we went to last seasons FA Cup game. They had a real problem with 10 year olds who seemed high on haribos. But when we arrived, their supporters couldn’t have been friendly – well apart from one lad who threw a Percy Pig sweet at me, presumably cos I looked hungry. At the end he came over and apologised. As for the hooligan nappy firm? They had been banned from coming to games because of their behaviour. Problem solved.

So here’s to us getting behind the team and getting Arbour Park rocking. Because make no mistake, this is a massive game. So let’s be the Slough that are loud and proud, have fun and enjoy the rollercoaster that is the FA Cup 4th Qualifying.