RIP Christian Rowe.

Published in the National League South game v Billericay Town Tuesday 25th January 2022  We drew 1-1 in front of 586

This was going to be a positive piece on our fantastic away support at York, the return of Manny Williams and ongoing success of our U23s. But now a dark cloud hangs over the club with the death of one of our young players. 19 year old Christian Rowe was tragically killed in a car traffic accident and our game against Braintree was called off as a mark of respect.

It’s every parents worse nightmare and football seems so meaningless at times like these. And yet the outpouring support - how being part of a community – is exactly what’s needed in times like these.

In the week Jon Underwood commented on Manny's return saying he was ‘a firm believer in surrounding yourself with good people if you want to be successful and we’re delighted to have this Rebels legend back on board.’  Manny's message after the tragedy perfectly summed up why our managers were so keen to have him around the club again. “If anyone needs to talk or just need someone to listen. especially the younger U23s please message me and I’ll call you straight back. Don’t go through it alone.”

The arguments over a toilet on the coach seem petty now. As the two coachloads trundled up to York, it was to become a journey as long as my day trip to Cornwall, with the same stupid o- clock start and obligatory bus break down. (Not the Slough one this time, which was fixed on the side of the motorway by our former legendary driver Anil on the way to Truro. This time is was the rail replacement bus just outside Brighton at one in the freezing morning).

Maybe i'm becoming an old git, but I'm not sure I would be able to travel the length and breadth of the country regularly to watch Slough and it makes no sense to have a non league national league which has really turned into Division 5 in old money.

Still, we’d never played York and 220 Slough fans wanted a peak at their new stadium. It’s taken the club a long time to move from their old home which was bang in the centre of very cultured town. Now on the outskirts we arrived too early for the turnstiles to be open so ended up having a beer in a bowling alley. Not exactly the culture I was hoping to find.

Our support was fantastic but we just couldn’t find a way past their defence. But we never stopped singing and its always welcome to hear our management full of praise for the fans.

Ironically despite the move which took nearly a decade York fans aren’t happy and their Supporters Trust recently passed a motion of no confidence in their board. The complaints about ticket pricing, hospitality and stewarding added to a feeling that the board don’t listen or communicate with the supporters, despite the Trust holding 25% of shares in the club. After getting their fingers burnt by previous owners as they tumbled out the Football League they drew up a legal framework on how everyone should work together. However, after the no confidence vote the Trust issued a scathing statement “Over the past 15 years, they have chosen to divorce themselves from the wealth of goodwill of the fans and their binding commitments to us all. These choices have only served to amplify a negative and toxic atmosphere at the football club and fuel growing mistrust amongst the fans. We remain at a loss to understand why they made that choice.”

“At the core of York City’s challenges is the sad erosion of the close affinity that so many fans feel toward the club. They feel let down by the broken promises, systematic management failures, terrible customer service, poor communications, data protection breaches, ticketing problems, verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, a constant blame game, and a lack of effective leadership or governance. Many fans don’t even recognise the football club as their own anymore. They feel painted as an inconvenience and sometimes even the enemy.”

“Part of the charm of football is that we come together as a passionate and faithful tribe working together in harmony with our club, particularly during times of adversity. This togetherness goes to the heart of what a football club is, why it exists and how it can succeed.”

Reading that statement made me even more proud of what we have at Slough. I'm not saying its all a bed of roses and that we can’t do better especially with attracting new supporters through the gate but as Clubshop Sue pointed out a while back ‘Supporting your club should be fun.’

Our U23s currently sits top of the Suburban League Premier Division but the biggest positive is the development of young talent for the club. Six graduates from the A23 programme made the trip to York. Some starting, some on the bench but as our managers said ‘The experience they all gain from travelling with the senior players, the overnight stay in a hotel (including some excellent initiation songs from them all!) and the big match experience will have been valuable for them all.’ Others are out on loan to other clubs including Christian Rowe who was playing for Binfield, who also cancelled their game at the weekend.

We are blessed to have so many amazing people who give up their time for the Rebels which makes it feel for me that we are more than just a football club. Yes we have our disagreements but when the whistle blows, we get behind the team and support each other no matter what. In times like these that’s more important than ever. 

RIP Christian Rowe.