Haddenham United Football Club

It's hard to believe a month has passed already since my last article and with the start of the season rapidly approaching (Bierton away - 1st Sept), it's a good time to update everyone with our progress and our future plans.

Off the pitch things have been going very well. I have spent the majority of my time in July and early August on the phone working to bring good players to the club and am pleased to say in the next week or so I will be confirming our squad for the start of the season. This will take a lot of pressure off me and allow me to concentrate on other areas of the club that we have had no time to look at so far. I have also brought in Dale Sweetman (my previous assistant at the Oak) to help me. Darren ran the team and although he is only young, I know he will make the running of the team that little bit easier on match days.

As you are also all probably aware our Chairman Dick Marshall has resigned. It was Dick that first got in contact with me about the job at Haddenham and in the short time I knew him he was always looking to help me out. I'm sure I not only speak for myself, but the players and club as well, in wishing him the best, and hopefully in the future he may return to the committee in some capacity?

I really feel that the club is going in the right direction with the relationships between the committee, and the first and reserve teams being strong. We are all pulling in the right direction, which can only improve things all round. It is important that we keep it this way and as long as we all work together and keep talking it should be a bright season for Haddenham Utd. I am also extremely keen on building bridges with the Haddenham youth sides as they are the future of Haddenham Utd and I will be looking to get in contact with them shortly.

On the pitch and things have been improving with every game. I have asked the lads to play in a set way from the very start of our pre-season games and they are all trying hard to make it work, so all credit to them and hopefully this will soon start to pay dividend. The next month of friendlies will be all about getting a settled team, building the team spirit and hunger that will surely be needed if we are going to have a successful season.

I'm also really pleased by the early capture of Paul Alleyne from Aston Clinton. It is a massive boost for the club as he has scored goals for fun over the last 10 years and shows no sign of slowing down. His partnership with prolific young striker Ant Dawson is something to look forward to for everyone at the club as it develops this season, and will no doubt give opposing defenders nightmares.

We have had 4 games already to date, winning 3 and losing 1, where we were disappointed to go out to a very good Aston Clinton side in the Haddenham Challenge Cup semi final. We felt that until the early sending off we more than matched them, which is a great indication to the future as they are several leagues above us. I have also noticed that we have been watched several times by other ADL and Hellenic sides in our pre-season games and take that as big compliment to the players we have and the way we have been playing. There is still a fairly busy pre-season to go and im confident that we will be fully ready and prepared for the start in September.

So to finish, overall im very pleased with how things are developing. I'm sure that we will come up against a few more hurdles before the big kick off but feel that we are now in a position to deal with them and can look forward with confidence. If anyone has any thoughts on how we can improve the club please do get in contact with me as I am always open to advice, especially being my first season at Haddenham. Please do try and get out and support both the first and reserves if you can, we both appreciate it and it does give the lads a lift having you behind them, especially in the harder games.