2008/9 Season
9th
December 2008
Monday
20th October 2008 a very sad day in the 107 years history of the football
club, that evening
the
committee had to make the tough decision to withdraw the club from the East
Cornwal Premier
League,
and cease to play as a Senior side for the rest of the Season.
WHY.....
Several reasons can be given as to why we came to this, the main reason can
only be laid
at
the feet of players, and the committment or non-committment as it was ! Over
the last 3 or 4
seasons
the club has suffered from a few knocks, managers have come and gone, we have
tried
an
array of men to fulfill the task of sustaining a competitive senior side
against very heavy odds.
In
todays climate money talks and this in some ways, may have contributed to
some very talented
local
players going to other clubs within the area, a clash of personalities could
have been another,
but
in the end we have probably lost more players due to the working environment,
Padstow in
its
increasing popularity with the restaurant eating public, has in a way caused
a change in the
local
shift patterns with a lot of locals involved in the restaurant trade and work
being more and
more
important as the cost of living in Padstow gets higher and higher for your
average young
local......who
can blame them for working rather than playing football in Padstow.
In
the days of Manager "Chico" when the likes of Dee, Rob T and Colesy
used to play for the town,
and
alot further back when Dave Roberts and Woody played, all they wanted to do
was play or go to
football
on a Saturday Afternoon, and nothing would stop that...Pride of Padstow.
As
a great man once said to me, " We used to go training on a Tuesday and
then run down to the
pub
to get a look at the team sheet for the Saturday, it was very disappointing
if you didn`t find
your
name in the first eleven."
How
times have changed, and while all of these are only views, reality says that
for any number of
reasons
the footballing fraternity of Padstow could not commit to playing for the
local Senior Club.
Hence
our decision.......it was a sad day indeed especially when you think of the
imense amount of
work
put in by the few committee members, to retain senior status this summer, put
alot of time
and
effort as well as money into maintaining Jury Park, behind the scenes was not
the problem !
WE
WILL BE BACK......
This
is not the end of Padstow United A.F.C. We are going to be continuing to run
the club and
maintain
the ground this season, we will continue to meet as a committee each month,
we are still
affilliated
to the C.C.F.A. And during the next few months we shall be revising our club
vision,
our
Under 13`s and Under 11`s will continue to use Jury Park for their Home
matches, we shall be
looking
to the future of the club structure as a whole, as well as the development of
Jury Park, the
possibilities
of playing friendly matches will occur as we look to what next season will
hold for us,
which
will include applying to the Duchy Football League to join them as a Junior
side in Division
Five.
We will also be approaching 1 or 2 people who maybe interested in the
position of Manager
for
this team and it will be someone who we hope can find the squad of committed
loyal Padstow
based
players, who may want to be part of the rebirth of this club.......it`s a
real back to basics
start
and those who feel they have the grit and determination to be part of it will
be welcomed
by
all those members, who at this moment in time feel such emotion at having had
to be put in
the
position of making that decision ....... PLAYERS IT`S DOWN TO YOU !!
NEXT
COMMITTEE MEETING - MONDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2009 - GOLDEN LION - 7.30PM
New
Members would be most welcome !!