The nights have drawn in, Christmas and all its associated commercialism is bearing down on us, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ is inescapable in my house seven days a week and ‘I’m a Celebrity…’ has just kicked off with its highly unpalatable presenting double act. All these personal annoyances do cause me a degree of discomfort, but there is one unusual feature of the last three months or so, that I finally believe I may have begun to come to terms with.

During the last few years there have been some scenarios that would be impossible to believe; Liverpool FC winning a major honour, President Assad of Syria being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, FIFA operating as an open and honest organisation and Wivenhoe Town FC being at the top of their division!

Well thankfully miracles, or dreams, do very occasionally come true, however unlikely they appear to be. Certainly The Dragons current run of good results could not have been seen coming over recent years – although I still maintain that had we had either Hampy or Razor playing alongside Ben Parkin last season we would NOT have been relegated. We were solid at the back, competitive in the middle of the park, but just lacked that goal threat to win us sufficient games to stay in the Premier Division.

But that’s irrelevant really; we have to deal with the here and now – which at the present time is a great place to be if you support Wivenhoe. Yes, as a seasoned supporter and Sad Old Bastard (that’s SOB for short – obviously) the joy and elation of watching the current team is something I’ve not been able to experience for more years than I care to remember.

In recent times the SOBs standing behind the visitors goal have found it difficult during some games to glean little in the way of footballing entertainment, turning occasionally to gallows humour to lift the collective mood of those few who steadfastly refused to give up on the side during years of struggling at the wrong end of the Premier Division League Table.

Somebody – probably Blythey, looked to justify our ability to remain loyal to the lads wearing blue and white by stating that we “are so used to watching a losing team, we couldn’t cope supporting a successful one – we wouldn’t know how to deal with it.”
And for a while that was spot on. It has taken me the best part of three months to adjust my mind-set from the often forlorn, wishful thinking that has previously prevailed prior to going to support The Dragons, to the present time when expectations have now raised considerably as we sit at the top of the League.

But being Wivenhoe, there’s always a ‘but’, as over previous years when good times appeared to be beckoning us, there always seems to be some unforeseen disaster which comes along to unexpectantly to nobble our hopes. That’s not me being negative, it’s just the unfortunate number of times in the past that I’ve experienced having my hopes raised only to see them crushed, it’s left me as a ‘glass half empty’ supporter, I suppose.

I’d been finding it hard to get too carried away with our present wonderful start to the league campaign, initially was it just a ‘flash in the pan’ start to the season initiated by our new signings? Would the bubble burst and normal service, as we know it, be resumed? Clearly not, I now firmly believe we will win promotion this season, just as long as we can keep Ray and Adam fit and in the side – see I can’t help but have a little negative niggle at the back of my mind!
Of course our current run of ‘success’ is not just down to these two lads, they are just the missing links that we needed to make the side what it currently is. The rest of the squad is obviously still playing its role, with of course Mo Osman and his coaching staff continuing their great work with the players.

Mo – we should call him Mr. Wivenhoe really, has stuck with the club through thin and thinner, he deserves to be overseeing a side at the right end of the League table. Cynics would probably point out that he was never going to be sacked by the club, he would only have left of his own volition, and those same cynical individuals were probably the one’s trying to plant seeds of doubt and uncertainty in the minds of others as he helped steer the club through distinctly choppy waters, when the survival of the Football Club – a valuable community asset – was in danger of folding.
We all owe him and those who are and have served the club recently a debt of gratitude for their unstinting efforts.

In an ideal world I’m sure all connected with and supporting the Football Club would love to see our current on the field successes continue, with promotion back to the Premier Division at the end of the season – ideally as champions. That would be the first step in returning this great club to a level of Non- League Football that it can comfortably sustain. And even that would be a challenge as money, I would guess still remains tight. What is needed are more people to get involved with the running of the Football Club, taking the weight off the shoulders of the current few, and allowing the club to explore new income streams and maximise those which currently exist.

My own personal hopes for the team on the football pitch are obvious. What I also dream of is that with a successful team out on the grass, more individuals will be looking to get involved in the operation of the Football Club as a whole, to enable it to, dare I say, start to make further strides forward. Hopefully this is not one of those impossible scenarios and is another dream which does come true.

COYD!
Richard G.