The most wonderful time of the year

 Forget Christmas. Football pre-season is really the most wonderful time of the year!

Give it a couple of months and millions of football fans up-and-down the country will be leaving grounds and stadiums feeling well and truly deflated. Their weekends utterly ruined by their team’s unfathomable failure to beat the division’s whipping boys or staggering ability to somehow turn a comfortable 2-0 half-time lead into a baffling 3-2 full-time defeat. We’ve all been there. Some of us more often than we’d like to have been!

But in pre-season none of the above matters. At this time of the year, the only emotion for most fans is one of prevailing optimism (unless you happen to support Everton or Manchester United, that is).

The playing field is level. Everyone (well, in theory everyone) has the same number of points. You’re still in all the cup competitions you’ve entered. The deadwood has been got rid of (let’s be honest, even if said deadwood happened to be your team’s star player last year, this is how we now think of them). Exciting new signings haven been made. The youth prospects are a year more experienced. The season is a blank canvas just waiting for your team to paint a picture of triumph onto it. 

Everything is up for grabs!

In recent years, pre-seasons at non-league level have changed somewhat. Especially for clubs playing in Steps 3-6 of the non-league pyramid.

The advent of social media means that the majority of clubs now announce new player signings (or re-signings) in a way they never used to. My Twitter feed is simply clogged up by local clubs announcing their new arrivals and letting all and sundry know who they’ve managed to keep hold of (somewhat conveniently omitting to mention those players who have left for pastures new).

I’ll be honest, when this trend first started materialising a few years ago, I – along with quite a few other people, I suspect – was a bit dubious about it. ‘It’s all a bit much, isn’t it’, I’d sneer into my phone. ‘Who do they think they are?’

How times change. Now I love it.

The more games you watch at a certain level, the more you get to know the players – not just at your club, but others as well. Therefore, not only is announcing signings a great way for clubs to build anticipation for the season ahead, it also allows regular match goers the opportunity to assess what other teams you need to be wary of this season. Or, to put it more accurately, what teams are splashing the cash this season.

Scrolling through Twitter at this time of the year is certainly entertaining.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who sees a team proudly announcing the arrival of a new player (insert random name here) who can’t “wait to get going”. A player that everyone knows full well will be heading to another club the second an extra fiver becomes available. I’ve seen at least four such players announced by sides in the SCFL so far already this pre-season. I’m sure there will be others to follow.

As far as Newhaven are concerned, pre-season seems to be progressing well.

The majority of last year’s regular playing squad have already re-signed (I’m sure – and hope – that there will be a few more to follow in the coming days; if Ian Robinson isn’t announced soon then it’s only a matter of time before my youngest starts rioting!) while a number of new signings have made their way to Fort Road. Welcome to the club Ryan Storrie, Tom Underwood, Alex Plummer, Marcin Ruda and Harry Reed.  

The other great thing about this time of year is that, after a month or two of football-free Saturdays, pre-season friendlies are getting underway.

Great news! No more Saturday afternoons spent listening to either the wife urging me to a) do the hoovering; b) mow the lawn; or c) both of the aforementioned, or the eldest shouting a load of incomprehensible claptrap at whatever PS4 game he happens to be playing.

Unfortunately, I missed this past Saturday’s opening outing at Lancing, due to the early kick-off time of 13:00 – the time I finish coaching in Brighton – so I’m unable to give any insight into the game itself.

However, the result was hugely positive. A 3-2 win for the Dockers against higher-league opposition should prove to be a confidence booster. What’s more, the goals being scored by Marley Ambler (youth prospect with an extra year’s experience), Lee Robinson (of course) and Tom Underwood (exciting new signing) all further the cause for optimism for the season ahead.

This Saturday, all being well, I will be off to Arundel for the second of six away pre-season friendlies (Fort Road being out of use this summer while the new 3G pitch is laid). This will be my first chance to see how the youth prospects with an extra year’s experience and the exciting new signings meld with the existing first-team players. I can’t wait.

Even better, with it being pre-season, you can always underplay the importance of any results that happen to go against you. After all, it’s all about getting minutes into the player’s legs and getting the squad used to playing with one another. Right? There’s nothing to worry about. 

Win, though, and suddenly dreams of a successful coming season are magnified ten-fold

Like I said earlier, pre-season. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Dockers remaining pre-season schedule:

9^th July - Arundel (A) 14:00 kick-off

12^th July: Mile Oak (A) 19:45 kick-off

16^th July: Seaford Town (A) 14:00 kick-off

19^th July: Whitehawk (A) 19:45 kick-off

13rd July: Rusthall (A) 15:00 kick-off