History
After 17 seasons, 718 games and a shedload of medical advice, Tom Webb has, this week, retired from football. @JonPalmerSport declares that Webby is arguably Gloucester City’s greatest ever player, but he’s wrong. Webby IS Gloucester City’s greatest ever player and always will be. Not the best, but the greatest. Total commitment, time for everybody, not a tantrum or bad word in sight, GPSFA’s 94/95 captain is everything EVERY young footballer should aspire to be.
LV is injured and has no problem taking over physio duties, as High Definition is now well and truly back between the sticks. Pathfinder lives up to his new nom de plume by being last to arrive and is one of three players who forgets their warm-up top. The Photographer joins the inner circle as one of only two people capable of increasing the average age of the A Team coaching group and immediately zips up his pockets in anticipation of the southbound service stop that never comes.
Lansdown South is entombed in mist and rain for the second season running, the breath-taking views of high summer now limited to a vista of luridly-coloured umbrellas and Pathfinder’s equally horrendous pink & white boots. Myatt, who hauled the drinks from pillar to post so wonderfully in Robin Hood-land last Saturday continues to impress, his recent efforts putting him in the (very early) running for the Sam Collins Cup which is awarded annually for the season’s Best WC (water carrier).
Fieldhouse nets his first goal of the campaign and Obieri his fifth in game one, but twice Plymouth respond to earn a 2-2 draw, before Swansea are swept aside 3-0 thanks to efforts from Burgess and Obieri (2). High Definition meanwhile takes a cross at full stretch, eliciting a satisfied purr on the rain-drenched sidelines.
The biggest challenge seems to be keeping the blood flowing freely in the wind & rain and biting the heads off the between-games jelly babies, the orange ones proving to be the nailed-on favourites for compulsory and immediate decapitation.
Pronunciation of our next opponents varies from Bath to Barth to Barrth, depending on the social status of the perpetrators, who shall all remain nameless apart from Caple who says Bath, Jones who says Barth and Coach Wilson who enunciates Barrrrth as a matter of course. However they’re referred to, Myatt nips in at the back post and Obieri nets with his second right-footer of the day to complete a 2-0 win.
With the conditions taking their toll on players from all sides, West Cornwall compete excellently to secure a goalless draw, as do Gloucester B, who have won through their group thanks to victories over Poole and West Wiltshire. The Bs secure the penalty shoot-out victory courtesy of a couple of confident strikes, a fine save from Boakes and a couple of debateable efforts from Obieri and ‘I’m your man, you can trust me,’ Millward. Say no more.
Plymouth edge the final 1-0, but The Yellows can be well pleased with their efforts in reaching their first ESFA 9s decider, thus displaying once again the depth of talent in our little old town. A tent blows over in silent recognition of Gloucester Girls’ penalty shootout win over Swansea to take the girls’ title and elicit a smile from Coach Bebber for the first time since she demolished a sizeable bacon roll outside the pop-up café at 10.53am.
The changing room afterwards - and shirt numbers 6 & 10 are returned inside out, with the identities of the protagonists committed to memory. May considers which seat he can leave his medical bag under this week, Obieri’s icicle fingers mean he can’t do up his shirt buttons, while Freeman and Fieldhouse show how it should be done, standing to attention in silent celebration of a two-and-a-half-minute Christopher Reeve-style transformation.
Michaelwood is allegedly the only service station in the UK to be named after a TV presenter, but far more importantly, the a la carte menus of KFC, Burger King & Subway have recently been established on the northern carriageway, thus saving a five-minute hike over the increasingly rickety connecting bridge to the culinary delights of the south side.
Everyone over the age of eleven is hugely enthusiastic as the stop-off offers a quiet eating area for contemplation and reflection, but three steps inside the automatic doors it becomes obvious that both the B and Girls’ squads are already in situ and the chance of a relaxing and noiseless thirty seconds is shelved for the foreseeable.
Coach Harris emerges from the BK counter clutching a monstrous offering containing at least three beef patties and a fistful of gherkins, while Obieri returns to the KFC outlet for seconds, about four seconds after finishing his previous round of seconds. Three people consume cartons of seemingly pretty cold stuff, leading to Millward, palms on temples and eyes bulging like a clip from a Hallowe’en movie, hollering something about ‘brain freeze’, which at best seems to be a complete contradiction in terms.
The remainder of the journey is a panoply of songs familiar only to those situated behind the front seat, with (apparently) ‘Firework’, ‘Man Don’t Dance’ and ‘Roar’ just three of the incoherent numbers destroyed by the GPSFA 18/19 mini bus choir. At least the final offering, ‘Football’s Coming Home…We’re Coming Home’, has a slightly more familiar feel to it, though the overall effect is strikingly similar to that which has gone before.
Up the road, Webby’s in temporary charge at the Hartwell & Spiers today, following Rico’s midweek decision to up sticks and move to Hereford. Alongside him is his old mate Greener (GPSFA captain 1995/96) as the pair seek to plot a way past the world- renowned force that is Dorking Wanderers to reach the heady heights of the 4th round of the FA Cup (4th Qualifying Round, that is). It doesn’t quite go to plan, but it does go to a replay, proving that however many tributes you’ve received in the previous few days, the here and now is all important.
Never think past success has anything to do with the present; never think because you did well last time, you’ll do well today; never think because you had ten out of ten on Monday, that Tuesday will prove to be equally successful, or that three out of ten on Wednesday means that Thursday won’t yield great and wonderful things. Successful people know that the only important day is today, the only important minute is now and the only history that’s of any real significance is that which you make yourself.
The past is a fascinating subject, but in terms of impacting on success, it is just as the great industrialist Henry Ford famously explained to the Chicago public exactly 102 years ago. ‘History,’ he said, ‘is bunk!’
Gloucester: High Definition; May, Millward, Caple, Freeman; Myatt, Pathfinder, Jones, Fieldhouse, Obieri. Physio: Vye.
LV is injured and has no problem taking over physio duties, as High Definition is now well and truly back between the sticks. Pathfinder lives up to his new nom de plume by being last to arrive and is one of three players who forgets their warm-up top. The Photographer joins the inner circle as one of only two people capable of increasing the average age of the A Team coaching group and immediately zips up his pockets in anticipation of the southbound service stop that never comes.
Lansdown South is entombed in mist and rain for the second season running, the breath-taking views of high summer now limited to a vista of luridly-coloured umbrellas and Pathfinder’s equally horrendous pink & white boots. Myatt, who hauled the drinks from pillar to post so wonderfully in Robin Hood-land last Saturday continues to impress, his recent efforts putting him in the (very early) running for the Sam Collins Cup which is awarded annually for the season’s Best WC (water carrier).
Fieldhouse nets his first goal of the campaign and Obieri his fifth in game one, but twice Plymouth respond to earn a 2-2 draw, before Swansea are swept aside 3-0 thanks to efforts from Burgess and Obieri (2). High Definition meanwhile takes a cross at full stretch, eliciting a satisfied purr on the rain-drenched sidelines.
The biggest challenge seems to be keeping the blood flowing freely in the wind & rain and biting the heads off the between-games jelly babies, the orange ones proving to be the nailed-on favourites for compulsory and immediate decapitation.
Pronunciation of our next opponents varies from Bath to Barth to Barrth, depending on the social status of the perpetrators, who shall all remain nameless apart from Caple who says Bath, Jones who says Barth and Coach Wilson who enunciates Barrrrth as a matter of course. However they’re referred to, Myatt nips in at the back post and Obieri nets with his second right-footer of the day to complete a 2-0 win.
With the conditions taking their toll on players from all sides, West Cornwall compete excellently to secure a goalless draw, as do Gloucester B, who have won through their group thanks to victories over Poole and West Wiltshire. The Bs secure the penalty shoot-out victory courtesy of a couple of confident strikes, a fine save from Boakes and a couple of debateable efforts from Obieri and ‘I’m your man, you can trust me,’ Millward. Say no more.
Plymouth edge the final 1-0, but The Yellows can be well pleased with their efforts in reaching their first ESFA 9s decider, thus displaying once again the depth of talent in our little old town. A tent blows over in silent recognition of Gloucester Girls’ penalty shootout win over Swansea to take the girls’ title and elicit a smile from Coach Bebber for the first time since she demolished a sizeable bacon roll outside the pop-up café at 10.53am.
The changing room afterwards - and shirt numbers 6 & 10 are returned inside out, with the identities of the protagonists committed to memory. May considers which seat he can leave his medical bag under this week, Obieri’s icicle fingers mean he can’t do up his shirt buttons, while Freeman and Fieldhouse show how it should be done, standing to attention in silent celebration of a two-and-a-half-minute Christopher Reeve-style transformation.
Michaelwood is allegedly the only service station in the UK to be named after a TV presenter, but far more importantly, the a la carte menus of KFC, Burger King & Subway have recently been established on the northern carriageway, thus saving a five-minute hike over the increasingly rickety connecting bridge to the culinary delights of the south side.
Everyone over the age of eleven is hugely enthusiastic as the stop-off offers a quiet eating area for contemplation and reflection, but three steps inside the automatic doors it becomes obvious that both the B and Girls’ squads are already in situ and the chance of a relaxing and noiseless thirty seconds is shelved for the foreseeable.
Coach Harris emerges from the BK counter clutching a monstrous offering containing at least three beef patties and a fistful of gherkins, while Obieri returns to the KFC outlet for seconds, about four seconds after finishing his previous round of seconds. Three people consume cartons of seemingly pretty cold stuff, leading to Millward, palms on temples and eyes bulging like a clip from a Hallowe’en movie, hollering something about ‘brain freeze’, which at best seems to be a complete contradiction in terms.
The remainder of the journey is a panoply of songs familiar only to those situated behind the front seat, with (apparently) ‘Firework’, ‘Man Don’t Dance’ and ‘Roar’ just three of the incoherent numbers destroyed by the GPSFA 18/19 mini bus choir. At least the final offering, ‘Football’s Coming Home…We’re Coming Home’, has a slightly more familiar feel to it, though the overall effect is strikingly similar to that which has gone before.
Up the road, Webby’s in temporary charge at the Hartwell & Spiers today, following Rico’s midweek decision to up sticks and move to Hereford. Alongside him is his old mate Greener (GPSFA captain 1995/96) as the pair seek to plot a way past the world- renowned force that is Dorking Wanderers to reach the heady heights of the 4th round of the FA Cup (4th Qualifying Round, that is). It doesn’t quite go to plan, but it does go to a replay, proving that however many tributes you’ve received in the previous few days, the here and now is all important.
Never think past success has anything to do with the present; never think because you did well last time, you’ll do well today; never think because you had ten out of ten on Monday, that Tuesday will prove to be equally successful, or that three out of ten on Wednesday means that Thursday won’t yield great and wonderful things. Successful people know that the only important day is today, the only important minute is now and the only history that’s of any real significance is that which you make yourself.
The past is a fascinating subject, but in terms of impacting on success, it is just as the great industrialist Henry Ford famously explained to the Chicago public exactly 102 years ago. ‘History,’ he said, ‘is bunk!’
Gloucester: High Definition; May, Millward, Caple, Freeman; Myatt, Pathfinder, Jones, Fieldhouse, Obieri. Physio: Vye.
