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"The Thoughts of Chairman Billy..."
Latest News from the
Chairman:
Chairmans Update February 2010
February saw us exit 2 cups but also gain 2 away
victories in the league. The farce that was
Stokesley at home in the North Riding Cup was
decided after penalties. The game should never
have gone ahead due to the condition of the
pitch but the powers that be decided the game
was going ahead regardless. With an arrogant
disregard of what our thoughts were and those of
our grounds man, we had to play. A much changed
team gave an encouraging account of themselves
on the night against a good Stokesley side only
to miss out on penalties. The downside was that
all the hard work that had gone into getting a
good playing surface for the promotion has been
put at risk.
The next game saw us travel to Whitehawk in
Brighton. A healthy following saw the players
give a magnificent effort to force a replay
after extra time. In truth we had chances to win
but found Whitehawks’ goalkeeper in outstanding
form and rightfully claiming man of the match.
The replay on the following Saturday had us full
of hope and expectation. As with Glossop last
year we never got going for some time and found
ourselves trailing 2-0. A spirited comeback to
2-2 had us getting our Sat Navs out again only
to be done by a killer winning goal for
Whitehawk. A big pat on the back for the players
and management for getting us this far, and well
done to the fans who once again clocked up the
miles following the team.
The following Tuesday we travelled to Whickham.
Never the easiest place to go and it was
pleasing to see real character and determination
to ensure our promotion charge remained on
course. Last year we suffered a Vase hangover
and went on a dreadful run, I feel this result
was a statement of intent from everybody at the
club.
The last league game of the month once again had
us on the road to Northallerton. Earlier on the
season we stuttered to a draw despite dominating
the game. Whether this was on the players’ minds
on the day, we were comprehensively outplayed
for 40 minutes of the first half until Tommo
reduced the arrears. As stated elsewhere there
is character within this team and this showed
with a great 2nd half performance to
ensure the 3 points. The one negative of the day
was a bad injury to Richie Ward following a
disgraceful challenge which sickened everybody
watching. There is no place in football for such
recklessness.
Let’s get behind the lads for the last couple of
months of the season. We are in for an exciting
run in.
Chairman's Update January
2010
We had to wait
until January 19th to finally get a
game in the New Year. Away to Pickering in the
Vase was always going to be tough as they were
gunning for revenge for last year’s heavy defeat
at Mount Pleasant. We visited Pickering the
previous Friday afternoon for the scheduled
pitch inspection. The referee had said if the
snow was cleared from the pitch he would allow
the game to proceed. Pickering said that they
couldn’t do it in time. We did offer to assist
them but they were not keen for the game to go
ahead on the Saturday. Make your own mind up
about that. On to the game and Pickering were
out of the blocks a lot quicker than us and
could have been a couple of goals ahead at half
time but for some sterling work in from Ledge.
The 2nd half saw Pickering take the
lead through old boy Jon Newton. This seemed to
get us going as we then dominated the game and
even had the luxury of a missed Thommo penalty.
Once again the supporters were brilliant as we
look forward to WhiteHawk in Brighton.
Next up were Newton
Aycliffe where we gained a credible 1-1 draw.
Aycliffe are a good side and have already beaten
North Shields, Whitehaven and RCA. This set us
up for our derby game with Guisborough. After an
even first half we took control in the second
half to secure a comfortable victory. It’s a
great run we are in at the moment in the league
as we haven’t been beaten since September. Well
done to the lads.
A massive thank you
goes to those supporters who turned up at the
ground to try and get the Jarrow Roofing game
on. Despite our efforts which looked to be
successful a blizzard saw that the game was
postponed. Once again, a big pat on the back to
everybody who helped.
With all the
postponements and the backlog we now have,
please keep checking the website for up to date
fixtures.
Chairman's Update December
2009
December saw the team continue their good run. 2
league victories and an emphatic Vase win sets
up the 2nd half of the season with
everything to play for. In the league we had a
hard fought victory against Gilford Park, the
difference being the firepower we had at our
disposal. Gilford are a good footballing side
and I am sure will take points off our rivals,
in saying that they were the biggest whingers we
have seen at Mount Pleasant for some time
continually harassing the officials from the
first minute to the last. Our last game saw us
away to Crook who were have having difficulties
putting a side out. Mentally the players
probably expected an easy game which didn’t
materialise on the worst pitch we have played on
this season. After a poor first half, a half
time roasting from Burto obviously worked as we
ran out comfortable winners 4-0 with some good
individual performances as well.
In the Vase we met Nelson at home who came with
high expectations. From the off we were at them
and in truth if it had been a boxing match the
ref would have stopped it. It was said that they
were a poor side; this does a disservice to our
lads who on the day competed and won every ball
as well as scoring some great goals in a 5-0
victory. Fair play to Nelson who sent us a
handwritten letter thanking us for our
hospitality and for making it a memorable
occasion despite the score line. The next round
sees us away to Pickering who will be looking
for revenge for their defeat here last season,
also in the Vase.
The weather has been unkind to us as we have
lost some fixtures, but unlike last season I
think that we are better equipped to cope with
the backlog as I believe our squad is stronger
and our rivals are in the same position as
ourselves regarding postponements. The Boxing
Day fixture which was due to be played at
Stokesley was called off, to say we were peeved
is an understatement, if we had been the home
side our pitch was playable and the game would
have went ahead. We will endeavour to ensure
that we are at home next Boxing Day (whichever
league we are in).
Off the pitch the new clubhouse is up and
running, it is essential that we support the
club as we try to implement the next stage of
our development which is a permanent building
and facilities. Our thanks go to everybody who
supported us through that difficult period
without a clubhouse.
Here’s to a happy New Year to all of our
supporters, and hopefully a successful team.
Chairman's Update November
2009
November was a terrific month for
the team. In the league we had 3 league wins
scoring 13 and conceding 2 including 2 clean
sheets which has seen us climb up into 2nd
place in the battle for promotion. We bowed out
of the league cup at 1st division
Bedlington after extra time 3-2 in a game we
didn’t deserve to lose and also lost out in the
Ernest Armstrong Trophy 2-0 at home to our
neighbours Guisborough. Despite us not playing
particularly well on the night, we managed to
hit the post twice , cross bar twice and had 2
goal line clearances as well as the Guisborough
keeper pulling off some good saves.
In the Vase we advanced thanks to
the performance of the season at Benfield.
Benfield who were last seasons’ league champions
and league cup winners was always on paper going
to be a difficult tie for us. We were slow out
of the blocks and conceded to a deflected goal.
This seemed to give us a wake up call as we
totally dominated for the next hour with goals
from Thompson and Brunskill ensuring victory. A
big thank you to the travelling support who were
tremendous with their vocals and also a pat on
the back to Benfield who were gracious in
defeat. Our reward is a home tie on Sat December
5th against Nelson FC who play in the
North West Counties Premier Division.
A couple of players moved on,
Chilli went back to Northallerton and Ross
Diamond moved to Guisborough. Unfortunately it
didn’t work out for Chilli at Marske but we wish
him well at his new club. Diamos games have been
restricted due to work commitments; his finest
game was probably St.Ives away last year in the
Vase where he was at his tigerish best in
midfield. He is due to go to Australia in the
New Year and we hope it works out for him.
Players incoming were Danny
Brunskill and John Seaton from Whitby and the
return of Mickey Waller. Danny was a major coup
for the club as he had several offers to go
elsewhere. John is just starting out as his
career having spent 2 seasons with Carlisle
United as a youth player. Mickey has returned to
provide cover due to forthcoming suspensions.
Off the pitch planning permission
has been granted for the new clubhouse. If
everything goes to plan it should be open on
Friday 18th December.
Chairman's
Update October 2009
October was a mixed
month with 3 draws and 2 victories. Late goals
conceded in games have been a problem throughout
the season and perhaps raises questions about
our levels of fitness and concentration over 90
minutes. On the plus side we remained unbeaten
despite being down to 9 men for most of the 2nd
half against Team Northumbria. There is some
background to this which we couldn’t really
discuss at the time which we believe had an
impact on the outcome. In our first meeting with
Team Northumbria one of their players had to
leave the field injured and required hospital
treatment, nothing was said to either myself or
Les about the incident. A couple of weeks later
we received correspondence from the league which
they received from Team Northumbria with
numerous allegations including an alleged
attempt to deliberately harm their players. The
letter also talked about police and legal
matters. It was within this context that the
reverse fixture was played and in my view had a
significant influence on the outcome of the
game. The sendings off masked a magnificent
effort from the team in which we got a deserved
point and might have had 3.
In between those
games we drew 1-1 at home with Northallerton
missing a host of chances in the process,
defeated Darlington comfortably 4-1 and drew 1-1
with North Shields at home. North Shields were
without doubt the best team we have played this
season and will no doubt be involved in the
shake up at the end of the season.
October saw Steve
Cochrane leave to join West Auckland. Steve goes
with our best wishes a great player on his day
who unfortunately allows himself to get dragged
into situations he shouldn’t. Steve will be
remembered for some terrific performances in
particular VCD away in the Vase where he was
instrumental in us getting victory.
Keep checking the
website for fixture changes.
Chairman's Update September 2009
September has seen
a poor return in the league despite a terrific
win at Jarrow Roofing. Our inability to finish
teams off coupled with our ability to implode
has seen us throw points away. The pattern we
saw last season whereby we beat the so called
better teams only to throw points away to the
more unfancied teams has reared its head again.
I feel that promotion is there for the taking as
I haven’t seen a decent team yet but the players
need to mentally tune in for each minute of
every game and not just 80 minutes as witnessed
with the debacle at Brandon and the poor
defending at home to Whitehaven. The other
disappointing aspect of our displays has been
the constant bickering between players. I firmly
believe that if you waste energy arguing and
disputing you take focus away from the job in
hand which is to win the game. I have in the
past defended players over their behaviour quite
rightly in my view putting it down to passion
however what we have witnessed in recent weeks
goes beyond that and reflects badly on the team
and the club. It needs to stop now if we are to
progress.
In the league cup
we finally put a team to the sword with an
emphatic 7-2 victory against neighbours Thornaby
rewarding us with an away tie at first division
Bedlington. Burto has managed to strengthen the
squad with a couple of signings in Rob Jones and
Tom Raw. Rob is a player we know well at Mount
Pleasant having come through the ranks , always
a talented footballer he drifted away from
football for a while , I am confident he will be
a hit with the fans. Tom has terrific pedigree
and I am sure our supporters will appreciate his
style of play, unfortunately Tom took a knock at
Thornaby and we are still awaiting news on how
serious it is. On the pitch the emergence of 2
of our juniors Josh Myers and Owen Dixon has
been a bonus with Josh arguably being our best
performer of the campaign so far. With Glenn
Wesson hopefully returning in weeks and possibly
another new signing our squad is looking the
best for some time, if we can iron out the
problems I mentioned previously we should have a
good season.
Off the pitch the
Parish Council accepted the MSRA business plan
and planning permission has been sought for a
temporary building from the Borough Council, if
things go to plan we are looking at about 6
weeks until we open however we will not be
surprised if there is some opposition and the
process is delayed.
Keep checking the
website for fixture changes.
Chairman's Update August 2009
Supporters at our first home game of the season
will have noticed that work has begun in
demolishing the club house. When the new MSRA
committee was elected at the AGM it emerged that
the club was not insured as the insurance
company was not told of the repairs back in
November. Efforts were made to get insurance but
due to the fact that the building was in such a
state this proved fruitless. At an emergency
meeting it was unanimously agreed that the
current clubhouse was not fit for purpose. After
discussions with our landlords (The Parish
Council) it was also agreed that we would erect
a temporary building with a view to a new
facility within 5 years. There is a meeting with
The Parish Council early September where
hopefully our plan will be given formal approval
and planning permission will be sought. If
everything goes to plan then we hope to have
something in place before the end of October. In
the meantime we are using the Top House for
pre/post match refreshment.
On the pitch in the league we have made a solid
start taking 7 points from 9. A healthy 138 saw
us defeat Whickham in our first home league
game. In the FA Cup we were heavily defeated 4-0
against a very poor Team Northumbria (that says
it all about our performance on the day). Burto
is still trying to bring in a couple of players
to strengthen the squad but it is proving
difficult.
Chairman's
Update July 2009
What a weekend.
After months of preparation , countless hours of
work at the ground we were all set for our
Annual fundraiser for Mike Findleys MND Fund
between Bernies X1 and Emmerdale All Stars. With
ticket sales steady , a big crowd anticipated
and excitement building disaster struck 2 hours
before kick off. Mike telephoned at 11.55am to
tell me that Emmerdale were not coming. The
reason given was that they couldn’t field a
team. A 10 second awkward stunned silence
followed. A decision was taken that the game
proceed with a Marske United XI. I telephoned
Paul Burton to see if he could get some of the
lads together to make up some opposition for
Bernie. Having told all the volunteers the bad
news who were deflated it was refreshing to see
a steely determination for the day to proceed as
best as we could.
As the crowd
started arriving we offered refunds to ticket
holders but after explaining the situation only
a handful asked for their money back. Most had
come for the day out and to support the charity.
Bernie arrived and when I told him the news he
was obviously disappointed as he was looking
forward to defeating Emmerdale again but was
more than happy for the game to proceed.
The game itself was
fairly competitive until late on when the
United XI legs told, the result of little
importance in the wider picture of things.
A massive thank you to all the volunteers who
made the day possible who showed great resolve
in making the day enjoyable for everybody. A big
pat on the back for the crowd of nearly 1,000
who braved the poor weather to support the event
and to Bernie and his team for once again
proving to be good sports.
The Gazette gave the day great
coverage including a quote from Mike. “If
it hadn’t been for everyone at Marske United it
would have been a disaster". It wasn’t what some
people wanted but it was a decent afternoon and
people enjoyed the football. It proves that
local people all pull together and out of
diversity comes success. “I would like to thank
all those who gave their time and the support we
had for the game after only a handful wanted a
reduction. “I'm so grateful for the continued
support given to my MND Fund which is nearing a
total of raising £50,000 in four years.”
We aim to continue the annual event with some
different opposition to be announced.
Chairman's Report
Season 2008/09
A great season for
the club on/off the pitch despite falling just
short at the end. Highs include the Vase run
which saw some great away days for everybody
involved at the club , semi final of the North
Riding Cup and the record breaking undefeated
league run. What was disappointing was the
amount of midweek games we struggled to field a
team which ultimately cost us promotion and the
number of bookings received for dissent,
although fines were down on previous seasons. A
big thank you to Burto , Rilo , Jamma , Kas and
Mickey Waller for their efforts. The juniors
again had success with the 18s finishing 3rd
in the league, winning the North Riding Cup and
the 14s gaining promotion.
Financially it was
an achievement that we managed to get through
the season without a crisis meeting. We managed
to increase the budget slightly and managed to
buy in a couple of players. The platform was
laid with PC doing some sterling work in
securing sponsorship. This was followed up by a
hugely successful sportsmans dinner. As well as
that we managed to get every game sponsored. A
big thank you to all our sponsors. The Vase run
didn’t really benefit us as well as it might as
we gave the players the opportunity to stay
overnight on a couple of occasions which I know
was really appreciated by all. The closure of
the clubhouse affected us in a number of ways
especially financially as there wasn’t a profit
share and we lost potential income through blind
cards and functions. A big thank you to Basher
for the toilets , Pete , Les and Tess for the
washing and Ann ( Top House ) for the post match
refreshments.
Well done to Moss
for once again winning the league programme of
the year and regaining the national award.
Thanks to everybody who contributed throughout
the season.
The ground
improvements continued with the pitch drainage ,
new away changing rooms and new showers. A big
thank you to everybody who helped.
Once again we had a
successful day supporting MND and we managed to
assist The Poppy Appeal and James Cook Hospital.
It shows how committed and how proud we are as a
club to be supporting charitable causes.
The MSRA situation
went from bad to worse with threats of law suits
, police action and suspended memberships.
Hopefully the new MSRA committee will work with
us in trying to improve facilities for the
village. It has highlighted some issues we need
to address as a club regarding MSRA memberships.
We managed to
retain our Chartered Standard status which
should help us in trying to secure funds for any
future capital projects.
Finally a big thank
you to the committee and small army of
volunteers who give their time and effort for
free . Long may it continue.
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