A Wash Out

It’s been just over two weeks since we last went to a game, the insipid (on pitch) away loss to Stevenage on the Friday before new year. And so this is our first game of 2023, and it will be our only January game as it will be nearly a month before we get to another game due to being in the States. We will miss two home games, Grimsby Town, a rearranged game that should have been last Saturday, but they were still in the FA Cup, and the one against Salford City. Out trip abroad also wipes out the chance to get to two easy to get to away games with Sutton United and Gillingham being either end of the trip. The fixture list has not been kind to us. We had booked the US trip before the fixtures came out and other games were moved.

Anyway, in the time since our last game, there was an away game where we threw away a 2-0 lead with less than ten minutes to go away against Newport County, and then ex Newport striker Dom Telford missed a late late added time chance to get himself a hat trick and us all three points. Plus out latest temporary manager Darren Byfield managed to get himself sent off. Preston Johnson was advised not to travel to this game and definitely not to go and sit in the dugout again after the reaction at Stevenage.

Off the pitch is still an omnishambles. Last Sunday’s Dilbert cartoon seemed very apt with our Crypto owners

https://dilbert.com/strip/2023-01-08

And a comment calling our other co-chairman Eden Smith, Ebeneezer Goode prompted me to write a whole new lyric set to Ebeneezer Goode called Eben Eezer Dick.

https://ctfcfansforum.freeforums.net/thread/2363/eben-eezer

It’s amazing what a bored mind can do when there’s no football to watch for a weekend.

Then in the last week the links to Scott Lindsey leaving Swindon Town to become out latest permanent (a very loose wording for us this season) manager, became reality and he was announced as such on Wednesday. Much to the delight of Swindon fans and on the whole to the horror of ours. He leaves Swindon after a poor run of results (including of all things a loss to us) saw them drop out of the playoff places.

OK, he has League 2 experience, something I was calling for in my last post, but he seems to want to play the same kind of football we started the season playing under Kevin Betsy, which as we saw, is neither use nor ornament to us.

It would seem that the co-chairmen are determined to shoot themselves in the feet. But, like much else they have tried this season, they were off target, and can still walk. (But definitely not run.)

Anyway, today’s opponents are Doncaster Rovers who sit tenth, eleven places and sixteen points above us. With us not playing last weekend, and others around us doing so we have dropped a place to twenty first, just two places and three points above the drop zone.

We need a win.

Not only is it Scott Lindsey’s first game as out manager, but Doncaster Rovers also arrive with a new manager. Almost as if managers were being snapped up in the January Sales.

And speaking of sales there have not been any incoming players. Glenn Morris did come back from his loan period, only to then be let go, and then sign for Gillingham on a permanent contract and link back up with Tom Nichols. And with Tony Craig, George Francombe, and Jake Hessenthaler not being included in the last couple of game day squads, I think some of the younger players need to watch out. If I were them I wouldn’t be announcing I’d found any grey hairs. Though if someone wants to photoshop any pictures of Jack Powell with a full head of grey hair……

I was going to be going straight to the ground from my writing group, and before I’d headed out this morning I’d checked about any postponement with the non-stop torrential rain for the last week, but there was nothing. I must have logged off seconds before the cancellation of the game was announced at 8:50. Fortunately another member of the writing group is also a Crawley fan and had been on the forums before arriving, so I found out before I made my way to the ground.

There is the whiff of whether the pitch has been left uncovered on purpose to take advantage of the weather to buy us some time, but the underpass to the ground is flooded as well, so it’s not just the pitch, as it would make it dangerous for fans trying to get to the ground.

In some ways it is annoying, as this was going to be the only game in January we could get to, but it does mean that the new manager gets some time to work with the players.

And so, I’m sat at home watching Soccer Saturday. Four of the teams around us in the relegation danger zone are playing each other. Gillingham are hosting Hartlepool, and Rochdale are playing Colchester. And I’m hoping that they all lose (or as that’s impossible, at least draw with each other). It is no surprise that Tom Nichols manages to score for Gillingham on his debut and they beat Hartlepool 2-0. FFS. Meanwhile, Swindon Town, who’d been on a bad run, suddenly put a 5-0 performance together now that Scott Lindsey has left and joined us. Colchester’s good run continued as they beat Rochdale. We stay twenty first despite not playing, and we now have games in hand on everyone apart from bottom of the table Gillingham, and Newport lost and Harrogate drew (can’t rely on Stevenage for anything) as well to keep us in touch with them.

No game for us until February then, and as it stands, no idea which random Tuesday night we’ll end up playing Doncaster now.

Come on you reds.

Back To Bed

Last week was a bit of a culture shock after 18 days off, it was back to work. The National Lottery e-mails have been conspicuous by their absence. We did go out for a walk on our last day of freedom, and easy amble up to Tilgate Park and a lap around the lake. Lots of people had the same idea despite the dull day, and the car parks were all full. They have finished their work around the lake, and although being a couple of feet lower down than it used to be, they was no wire fences hiding the blue plaque to Donald Campbell.

I eased into the week with working from home on the Tuesday, spending all day catching up on rubbish e-mails, including morons chasing for answers before I’m even back in. FFS people, read the fucking out of office. Thursday morning was frosty. A deep deep frost. Even after using a few bottles of lukewarm water the windscreen still needed the ice scraper being busted out. But with a clear sky, the colours on the horizon as I drove down to Hove were glorious. But by the time I was heading home the rain had returned, and it hasn’t let up much since.

To celebrate surviving the first week (yes, even if it was only a three-day week), we went out for a meal Thursday night to the Royal Thai Taste. It was a nice meal, but when the bill turned up, I was somewhat shocked to read their address, especially where it said after the word Crawley – LONDON. They whipped that away before I could keep it or take a photo of it, but seriously people, there’s a whole fucking county between Crawley and London.

We had been to Ikea over the holidays before New Year and ordered a new mattress and headboard as Christmas presents to ourselves. They delivered early on Friday morning. The mattress was a lot heavier than we thought it would be, and it was a struggle to get it up the stairs, and around the corner into the bedroom, having to stop on each step, and also to take some of the framed maps down before the mattress knocked them down. Then I managed to make a pig’s ear of putting them back up, managing to slip and slice the side of my right thumb open. That would make it awkward to do a lot of things all weekend.

Having got the new mattress (and some new pillows) it makes me realise just how shot the old mattress had got and how uncomfortable it had become. Getting out of bed is going to be a lot harder now the bed is so comfortable.

The rain stopped long enough for us to get a six mile walk in Friday afternoon. Even the concrete paths were muddy with all the rain. We had been back in less than five minutes before it became torrential out there again. It was still raining, persistently, when I went to writing group on Saturday morning, and still when I came out nearly four hours later. I needed to get a few bits in town, but it was like paddling in the sea. The whole town centre was a puddle. The grass in the memorial park was looking like paddy fields.

After coming out of Poundland (where I went a bit mad on their replay CDs – just the 27 of them) there was a break in the rain, which I celebrated by getting an ice cream. As I passed County Mall, I got the impression that they aren’t really Mr Current Affairs, declaring that if you need easy parking use their car park as it gives direct entry to Debenhams. Which has been closed for going on six months.

Crawley were away, to Northampton Town, who were second in the league, but their better form carried on and we got a somewhat surprise away win and headed into the top half of the table.

We had a tip slot booked this morning, to get rid of the old mattress. It’s certainly a lot easier getting an older, lighter mattress downstairs than dragging a heavy new one up them. We even managed to get it folded up into the back of the car and dump a load of other stuff on top. It almost jumped out of the car by itself when it came to taking it out at the tip. Shopping followed and some radio listening at home, but it brought a couple of stupid random thoughts to mind.

Why would anyone use poo to wash their hair? Especially when it is sham poo, it’s not even as if it’s real poo is it?

Then Simon Mayo was on, but I really do think it is time that he was upgraded to become Simon Salad Cream instead.

And now I’m watching the last games of the NFL regular season. The 49ers need to win to guarantee playoff action. Or the Saints to lose. It isn’t going well in the first half; we are playing like a group of uncoordinated school children. If this carries on, then the only way we are going to have a chance to win would be to return to school children’s rules. Get to the end of the game and say, “next score wins.” Plus, the Saints are easily winning. To be fair playing like this we don’t deserve to reach the playoffs and if by some miracle we did there is a thrashing awaiting.

PS, the miracle may well be on, they appear to be a different team in the second half.