THE GAFFER

Ross Jenkins

It’s been another busy couple of weeks and we will look to end things positively with a win against Southport this afternoon.

 Like ourselves, Southport’s league position maybe doesn’t reflect their performances so far. They have good players and it hopefully sets things up for what we hope will be a very entertaining game for you to enjoy this afternoon.

I enjoyed quite a lot of last Saturday’s game up at Chorley but definitely not the final result, which is strange because you’d usually be pretty pleased with a point on the road. Unfortunately, having gone 2-0 up and dominating the game we let the home side back into it at 2-1. Then, having shown a bit of character to go 3-1 up we repeated the same bad habit and ended up drawing a game that was there for the taking.

Scoring three away from home and not winning was so frustrating, and it was the players I felt most frustrated for because they had given us absolutely everything, like they have done in every game so far. We don’t have the biggest squad in the league and injuries have stretched us over the last few weeks in particular.  Jack Bearne, Isaac Westendorf, Alfie Potter and Zac McEachran have all spent more time in the treatment room than on the pitch and missing players of their calibre would hurt any side in the division.

They will all be back over the next few weeks and we have brought in a couple of familiar faces in Ewan Clark and Chris Francis to further strengthen us as we head into the winter months where pitches start to get heavier and you need as many options as possible to cope with everything that an English football season throws at you.

Away from the first team I’d like to congratulate our young players on reaching the First Round Proper of the FA Youth Cup with an excellent 4-0 away win at Portland on Tuesday night. That’s a seriously tough place to go and get a result like that and shows terrific character. We wish them the best of luck in the next round.

Finally, as ever, a thank you to the fans who travelled to Chorley to support us. Get behind us again today and we’ll do all we can to leave you smiling after a win today.

ROSS

Let me start by welcoming an old friend this afternoon, Southport’s COO Andy Burgess. ‘Burge’ was an elegant, talented midfielder who starred for Rushden and Diamonds and they surged into the Football League  and was then bang average at Oxford United for a short time when Brian Talbot signed him at the Kassam Stadium.

 I won’t go into details but there were reasons behind that and Andy was at Oxford United at the worst possible time but  in hard times strong friendships are forged and we have stayed mates ever since. However, our reunion today allows me to bring you a story I’ve never managed to tell anyone before…

 Remember then, that Andy joined Oxford United from Rushden and Diamonds where he is their record appearance holder and a club legend. I was the head of comms and whenever we visited Nene Park we presumed that Andy would get a fantastic reception from his former admirers. How wrong we were.

 At one game the atmosphere was particularly toxic and Andy foolishly tried to ghost past a Rushden defender. This so angered his former teammate Darren Caskey that he flew in to a two footed challenge that left Burge in a heap and led to John Dempster getting a red card for racing across the pitch to shove Caskey over. 

In a press box you are usually asked to be neutral observers. Do not celebrate goals, do not wear club colours, do not get involved with fans. And, in my view, definitely do not leap to your feet and shout “Have that Burgess you traitor. Hope you’ve broken your leg.”

 As soon as the Rushden journalist bellowed that I saw red. It’s bad enough breaking press box decorum, but shouting that towards  a player you love(d), as a stretcher was called for, seemed outrageous and I simply wasn’t having it…

Off I stomped across the press box, red of face and eyes out on stalks. “YOU” I shouted, startling the sleepy Nick Harris of BBC Oxford as a I passed. “That is out of order…”. By now fans were turning and I had the eyes of the media on me. Somehow it was ME that was the bad guy! Worse followed. As I approached him I tripped over a flight case and stumbled full force into my foe, shoving him in the chest. It didn’t look great.

 Luckily my wingman, Julian Hitchman, had followed me along and got in between us, dragging me away to calm down and wait until my face was less purple.  We're still waiting.

Readers, I am not proud of that day, but I tell it as a warning to others. In the press box, you need to behave. Remember where you are and who you work for. Trade in being a fan and, if needed, sit on your hands.

Come and ask me about this today. I’ll be sitting  in the press box. Gatey will be holding my coat…