It's funny when I normally write articles for programme notes, I know straight away what I want to say, but that's just what is normal. is this the new normal? Will the old normal return or will anything never be what we know as normal, who knows?

If I'm honest at first I didn't really take any of the covid thing that serious, I thought we will have the two or three weeks off from the season, then start again in early April and that will be all it will be, as it always has been. We may do enough to have achieved promotion, or we may just miss out, that was how it looked in my eyes at that time.

However it soon became apparent that this was far more serious than any of us first thought, I fully think the decision to null and void the season was the most sensible thing to do, as life, etc, is far more important than football.

I honestly think that the EFL and the Premier League should have done that as well, so what if Liverpool have waited 30 years - another year wont hurt anyone. What is more important is people are around another year to be able to enjoy all the things that all of us had taken for granted, prior to the pandemic.

I honestly think Barkingside as a club will come out of this all the stronger for this experience, on one hand obviously as a chairman, there's no income coming into the club, however although we don't have our own ground, so are limited to what income we can raise, on the plus side, we don't have unnecessary overheads, we don't have players wages, we don't have large debts, because we have tried to cut our cloth accordingly over the 12, years or so I have been Chairman.

Yes we have commitments, yes we have little income, but we also don't spend what we don't have in search of trying to reach the promised land, does anyone know what the promised land is by the way?

I admit at the start it was a very welcome break from what had been a very testing 18 months or so for my football club, a time where I questioned a lot of things about how I do things, but I would now like to get some sort of clarity as to when football may be able to resume, even if its not for another 2-3 months.

At least if we have a date we can work towards it. It's obviously nice not to be laying out loads of dosh but I would like to know when I can resume my hobby of watching football again.

The thing I miss the most is the people, the brilliant people I have met through football, I miss seeing them, chatting to them, having a laugh and some banter with them. They probably don't miss my dry sense of humour, but I definitely miss them, there are too many to name.

As a club we will be looking at ways to welcome spectators to our games when football resumes, we have already mentioned some guidelines we will implement.

On a sad note two people who have been heavily involved at Barkingside sadly passed away during this time. Len Lewellyn, who knew more about football ,than most, who spent an absolute lifetime involved with the game, came to such a sad ending, which deeply affected me. Roger Chilvers will be attending his funeral on 8/6/20, as a representative of the club.

The lovely Barbara Bains, our Babs, who used to do raffle for us on a matchday, 91 she was. Three buses she used to get to each game, to walk up and and down the terraces, because she loved being involved with us, because she wanted to help us, yes she raised a bit of funds for us, but what was worth more than all that was the fact that she wanted to do it so much, no matter what the weather, because she cared because she was a genuine human being a true lady in every sense of the word,god do I miss her.

if I had the choice of signing a 50 goal a season centre forward, or have her do her bit for the raffle, I would choose her all the time. I genuinely mean that because she was at the club because she cared, not because of what she might get and that is priceless in my opinion, it's why I'm in football its why we should all be in football. Not for personal gain, but for the love of the game, to make sure all these great clubs that are 120, 130, 140 years old carry on going. That;s why I have so much respect for people like Andy Perkins and Tony Brazier at Walthamstow. They have been involved for decades at their club, our game needs people like that they are the heartbeat of the game at our level.

Football will resume, the new normal, will soon become the old normal, we will all adapt, however hard, we will all do it, we will all learn to do it, we will all curse the losses and cheer the wins, but more than anything, I just hope that when it does all start again at the first meeting we have as a league, there are as many people there as possible, that were at the last meeting, because that will mean they have survived, that we have all survived, that we fight on to keep all our great clubs going, despite all the obstacles flung before us we the football family show how much we care not only for our own clubs, but for all clubs in general at our level out of the love of the game.

I'm blessed at my club that I have a lot of good people around me on the committee, I am also blessed that I have a young manager, who gets what my club is about ,gets what we all have to do to make it work, we also have a group of players that included in that many of them get what Barkingside are all about.

One thing that is certain, we will resume football again, lets hope if one positive comes out of all this, we all learn to help each other. We all make that bit more effort to enjoy what we have when we meet each other, which in a lot of cases is friendship, we all try that bit harder to help our fellow clubs, if that happens then all the sacrifices we have had to make for the time we have had no football, will all have been worth it.

This has been a real learning curve for me, in all aspects of my life, a lot of people have given up a lot more than us, especially during the wars, so that we can all have the freedom we all have been guilty of taking for granted.

Pre-pandemic, countless more NHS & key workers, have all been like war heroes getting us through this current crisis, but as sure as god made apples we will have brighter times ahead of us, even those days that are freezing cold, rain lashing from the skies, losing 4-0, to the team who haven't won in the previous 10 games, but all of that will feel a lot better than what we have gone through, you know it will, because it will be what we know, what got us involved in this great game in the first place.

It's really nice that the guidelines now let our older supporters get out and about a bit more, which I'm really pleased about, they are so important to the club, likewise our loyal band of ground-hoppers.

Please all stay safe,I look forward to seeing you all at football again as soon as its possible for all of us.

Thanks
Jimmy Flanagan

Chairman | Barkingside F.C.