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Ten Years Ago....

GazzaBTFC

By GazzaBTFC
in Billericay Town Forum

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Patriot Newbie

Patriot

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Christ ten years ago. I remember going down with my dad for that one! Great away day that, all my old man raved about on the way home was how good the Pasties were!!

 

I actually really miss being that one league higher. The Conference south was fantastic, even if it were for just the one season :(

 

Much better quality of football, some proper grounds and some decent support at other grounds, made the whole non-league experience that little more inspiring!

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Nitetime Neil Newbie

Nitetime Neil

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I actually totally disagree Patriot, I didn't enjoy us being in the Conference South one little bit, visiting fans constantly belittling our club, facilities and players, getting stuffed relentlessly on a Tuesday night and seeing our normal good away support virtually evaporate due to the longer distances and poor playing form. The better football was played by our opponents, the good grounds were filled with home supporters vastly outnumbering us not my idea of a good day out - I enjoy seeing us take 100 fans to quaint old grounds and being in the majority, if I want to see Premier League style football I switch the telly on !

I'll never forget the arrogant attitude of a couple of Salisbury City supporters towards the 15 or so of us at the end of their 2-0 victory down at their place, slagging off everything about us along the lines of "we're going up - you are shit" instead of a sympathetic "never mind, better luck next time" approach. Oh, hang on ... Salisbury City don't exist anymore, well that went well !!

No, Ryman Premier is just fine for me - if we go up, all well and good, maybe we will get a better season and wipe out the bad memories of the previous visit to Step 2. But I am quite happy watching semi-professional players who understand this is Non-League football and enjoy where they are - except on the odd occasions when teams turn up at our place in their first season in the Ryman Premier after spending most of their existence in the Essex Senior League and expect to be treated like Man Utd !!! ;-) rant, rant, rant ... it's Wedneday :-(

Edited by Nitetime Neil
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Patriot Newbie

Patriot

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This is exactly in my view what a forum is for.

I thought it was a very good rant but nothing wrong in what you say as its your opinion although I of course totally disagree with you. 

 

I loved the new grounds, the weekends away the Tuesday night in Chichester (even though we got stuffed). New grounds, proper towns and actual support. 

I agree that some of the travelling got too much for some but to many, as you say they were put off by the poor form and that was not helped by the many issues off the pitch that affected us that season. To me it is soul destroying travelling to Met police on a sat to watch us play in front of 80 fans I would much rather put the effort in and make a day of it in Chichester, Dover, Salisbury or Truro!! Proper away days and actually some noise in the grounds. 

 

So people slagged off our facilities, I couldn't care less, I am sure away fans slate Burnley for their wooden seating and they are in the premier league. Its all part of the club moving forward and in my view growing, improvements off the pitch come with stability as you move up the levels. Yes I was bitterly disappointed we didn't put some money in and stabilise in that league, we certainly looked capable of doing so in the first couple of months but to be fair to this club and to Steve he never wanted to jeopardise us like those at Salisbury did and for many reason we didn't progress.

I love being an underdog, turning up to Chicester on a tuesday night 30 strong and cheering the boys on, thats a good night out. Week in week out turning up at the same old grounds with the same empty stands to me is depressing and I want to see us move on.

 

As I say everyone to their own but I for one want to see us push on as a club and move higher up. We belong in the conference south with our supporter base and a town our size, I don't want to forever play Met Police, VCD athletic etc. Lets live a little.

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BuzzyBee Newbie

BuzzyBee

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Chichester, nope don't remember that one http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/chichestercityfc/

 

Dorchester, now that's another matter.

 

And great to see a good old discussion on the forum again. Tuesday football, Forum rants, Sapp’s penalty jig. Happy days

 

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GazzaBTFC Newbie

GazzaBTFC

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God... Dorchester... That was a god awful game... Players not showing up... Edwards Jnr. injured for life (and I am not joking)... Numbskull home supporters behind our goal... Jay May centre back... And the cold!!!

 

BUT

 

The officials were really nice and as myself and the Missus had holidayed in the area, it was nice to visit under more sporting circumstances...

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billericayboy28 Newbie

billericayboy28

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I'd love us to be in the Conference South. The reason i go and support Billericay is because i want us to be the best we can be, I think sustaining mid-table in the Ryman Premier will become quite boring and won't be financially beneficial in the long run. I still am hopeful of a late playoff push this season, but it will be extremely difficult. Concord and Wealdstone, both recently in the Ryman, are having  good seasons this year. Whilst we were favourites to go down it made winning feel so much better. All the attempts to grow the club off the field are worthless if we're not growing on it

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Umbrella Man Newbie

Umbrella Man

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I have to agree with Patriot on this one probably my favourite season following the Blues even more so than the season before and that was ending up as champions as strange as it may sound.

 

Can't even start to compare trips to Harrow Hendon and Met Police with Bath  Salisbury and Chichester :D .

 

And who will ever forget the weekend in Weston proper trips :382: 

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Patriot Newbie

Patriot

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Mate Weston away, that was a blinder!!!

 

So no video of you dancing in Dorchester then......?

 

Thought Billericayboy28 summed it up nicely in his last sentence.

 

Yeah Gazza that was a god awful game but you know what, when with the boys we always discuss it and say what a cracking trip it was and that's why football is sooooo addictive! Maybe you should jump in the van with us monkeys on more trips?

Edited by Patriot
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Brightside Bloke Newbie

Brightside Bloke

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I really enjoyed that season. went to every game home & away. Even paid my next years season ticket for the lights to help keep us up but it was not to be.

 

As sad as it was for Edwards junior Dorchester was one of the best. 

 

Checking the vid's as we speak hee hee 

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Nitetime Neil Newbie

Nitetime Neil

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Some good "pro-Conference" points made above - I can almost agree with most of them ! To be honest, I am generally a less ambitious person than most and 2013 was a dreadful year for me personally, having been affected very negatively by a bad experience the December before, so I don't look back on that time with much fondness, especially with all the issues our club had to suffer that season.

I was planning to go to Truro in January, but my head wasn't up to such a long trip and was so gutted I didn't, that I went and visited the ground anyway and chatted to the staff there in the close season in late May ! Salisbury away was my first Ricay match home or away since the "incident" in early December and to paraphrase a popular golfing saying was a "good day out ruined" (by the match!).

I too was at Met Police this season and it is not quite the typical Ryman fixture I have in mind - totally surreal with a nice stadium but absolutely no home support... at all. Wouldn't want to be "enjoying" that kind of "atmosphere" on every away trip - i.e. playing in Ryman North !!  I thoroughly enjoy decent classic Premier trips out to the likes of Lewes, Bury, Tonbridge, Leatherhead, Hampton and Bognor (when work allows - not this Saturday! :(  ) watching a decent level of footy alongside genuine like-mnded fans.

There's usually a chance for me to visit a couple of new grounds at least with Town each season in the Ryman Prem with relegated / promoted teams coming in - I have the Saturdays at Peacehaven & VCD marked in red in my diary, plus a chance to visit Maidstone for the first time. With those ones alongside the friendly familiarity of old rivals, it suits my football needs just fine. Wherever, I go to watch us, I will be cheering the boys on just as enthusiastically as those fans whose burning desire is for us to be in the Conference South for years on end - just like Chelmsford City ! ;)

Edited by Nitetime Neil
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