If you dont know, I used to write for the Halesowen Unnoficial fanzine as well as run the Bluebirds Beak, our old forum. Heres an article from October 2008, as the credit crunch bit the country. It eveventually went to print after much editing for legal reasons. As everything is done and dusted now, I reproduce it in it's original form. Enjoy... Cepen Park

Best part of a quarter of the season has passed, and I would be sitting smugly behind my keyboard, basking in my pre season predictions, except my own club sit 7th from bottom. Bollocks. However as unbeaten Farnborough have only managed 21 points from their first 9 games - courtesy of three draws it has to be said, there’s still hope for most of us.
Looking around the forums for suitable material, I chanced into the forum of Rugby Vs, UTD or Town - whatever they’re called this season. Now I know 2 points from 27 isn't the best start, but it seems the fans have given up already - the spam postings of 'free lesbian sex' videos having had the most views, with free gay sex videos coming close behind. So to speak...
The mood was further darkened on the Banbury forum, which declared "This forum is closed - Please post your sterile, must be positive, brass band comments on the official forum"
 
I know the end of the world is nigh and all that (at least according to ITV news) but this really wasn't filling me with confidence for the future of the BGB league.
 
Thankfully there’s always Chippenham Vs Halesowen - or as we've come to know it "The Big Fight Live". The horsdeurve  was won by Chippenham by 2 goals to 1, and the main event was won by Morrel 'Mugger'  Maison by TKO against Dean  'The Bench'  Brennan- who lasted as long as a Gloucester City FA cup run against his much bigger opponent. The  fallout from this has lasted well over two weeks on the internet at least, with Chippenham fans sitting in ivory  towers and demanding that Maison must banned from all non league grounds - having broken ground regulations with a  show of violence. However, football has a funny way of coming back to haunt you, as in the following league game,   Chippenham's Ashley Williams got an early bath for punching a player in the throat. The Yeltz guns have been reloaded, and counter demands for Williams to be banned from every ground have ensued. Just like the optimistic predictions of the Bluebirds travelling support or the Yeltz perpetual stoppage time, this one will surely run on (and on)
 
Surprise package of the season so far must be Swindon Supermarine (as predicted by...ahem..Me!) You can tell football fever has reached south Marston as their forum now has 16 topics. I think they must be due to get dialup networking in that part of Wiltshire pretty soon. Apparently they now have an 'online shop', presumably so you don’t have to queue at the ground?
Where else but non league football, would you find a successful organisation with so little support? It makes you wonder -where does their money come from? Although I do know where they get their players from, they’re mostly Chippenham castoffs, and given that I wouldn’t be rushing to sign any of them, the clubs lofty position does trouble me somewhat.
 
Take a map, mark out Clevedon, Yate and Mangotsfield and draw a line between each to create a triangle. This is not a geometry lesson - this is Bristol’s triangle of death! Abandon hope all ye who enter here... From the spookily named Hand stadium (after the worker who lost his hand in a tragic accident, during its construction), to Mangotsfield - which aptly resembles a field, to Yate, which (I was once told) had the biggest pitch in non league football. All three teams cancel each other out, as the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees - a flat line.  So mathematically that’s why nobody from this area wins anything. - see it’s not just chance....
 
Down at Tivvy, the love hate relationship with Martin Rodgers, Manager - coach -commercial director continues; ok I exaggerate - there’s no love at all for the bloke. He played 5-3-2 at home against Farnborough, eliciting all sorts of criticism from the fans. Here is a manager, who lost the Midas touch years ago, has reduced the fanbase by 50%,  yet still because of his commercial connections retains his position as an untouchable (that sound familiar up in  the Midlands?). During the week, he lives hidden in a cave complex somewhere in the Mendip Hills. Legions of Tivvy fans have spent many millions of dollars calling in air strikes fr4om B52's, but somehow the wily bastard survives.
 
Elsewhere in the league, Bashley's 'difficult second season' continues. Last year’s promotion hopefuls sit 2 points off the relegation zone, and familiar cracks are appearing in the supporters ranks. It’s the same with all clubs promoted from more regionalized beginnings. Picture the scene. Club 'x' has white railings, 50 supporters, and plays in the Wenslydale Creameries Premier league. Local vegetable shop owner pours £50 quid a week into the club, and they get a Vase semi final and narrowly miss out on promotion. Suddenly the local Courier paper has a full page  spread every week, Cup days draw 400 gawping yokels, they get an internet forum to talk about the excitement, the  vision of Conference football and there are hundreds of volunteers willing to give their all 'for the club'.... Now fast forward 4 years.... Promotion came and the bandwagon was unstoppable, yet behind the scenes, everyone knows that Milly only sells 50-50 tickets so she can get in free, the supporters’ club committee are only doing it for their own glory. Then the defeats start coming, and with it, the first criticism of the board via the wonderful internet.  The forum becomes unofficial, as sycophants rally to their paymasters and the ordinary fans pour out their opinions.   Who needs 'The Sims' on PS3? - The politics of the world are played out at non league level every year!
 
As an aside, those who fail to make the leap from the BGBL this year, will next season undoubtedly meet Truro City.  The most southerly City in England has a millionaire chairman and a VERY good football team. Providing they avoid Bashley syndrome (above) expect them to be big hitters in 09-10.
 
Till next time