Samson, Dartford and Amy’s nemesis.

It was a frustrating day at base today. Nothing much happened apart from an investigation into how much interest a few clients should have received on some accounts with very little money in them which pay a negligible rate which only complicated matters more. Two hours work to find 47p. It was a bean counters dream.

The mood of our team perked up when a tin of Celebrations were left on the desk opposite. A cuppa and a couple of mini chocs always lift the spirits. And across the office there was a box of Krispy Kremes, donated a part of the fines system they have when something doesn’t quite to go plan. Sometimes there are more than a dozen boxes on their round table…

Amy had a tennis tournament today. She has progressed to mini-orange otherwise known as the Satsuma Standard. The SS’s are around 8 years old and play on a two thirds sized court with tennis balls that are not as bouncy as mini-green, but livelier than min-red. It’s a progression to get the little ones hit the ball harder but as the balls are softer they don’t go as far. Easy.

Amy won two out of four encounters, and lost her final match, which if she had won, may have meant she finished top of her group. The crucial last game was against Amy’s nemesis, a sweet girl called Dominque who has a sporting pedigree which was much closer to home than I realised when Amy and she initially met.

Amy first played Dominque in a Kenton tournament last year, and won narrowly in her first and only victory over her. I got chatting to her Dad, and I recognised him from somewhere but I wasn’t quite sure where. After we had introduced ourselves we made some small talk and he mentioned that he had played for Spurs youth and also Wealdstone, and his name was Samson. It was then that I recognised who he was and I said his surname, Olaleye, before he had the chance to fully introduce himself.

Back in the late eighties I was a frequent visitor to Lower Mead. I couldn’t afford to get up to Norwich so going to see Wealdstone was the next best option, much cheaper, and only a couple of miles away as opposed to well over a hundred. I saw Samson play quite a few times one season. He was a tall, gangly but athletic player who scored quite a few goals. When he scored we were treated to an obscene dance called the “Samson Boogie”. It was a series of very unsubtle pelvic thrusts in the direction of the home supporters.

His most memorable goal was at Dartford. It was a nothing game for Wealdstone, who were mid-table but an everything game for the Darts. Two wins would have seen the team, managed by Peter Taylor, promoted to the Conference. Samson scored the only goal of the game, Wealdstone hung on for a memorable win and that loss left the door open for Merthyr Tydfil to win the league and promotion at the expense of Dartford which they duly did.

I’ve no idea why the Stones played so well that day, but it was just one of those games.

Teed Off

I have been at work this week. I didn’t want to be at work this week, but circumstances beyond my control have meant that I have had to report in to base at 7.15am each day to get on with things. The project I have been working on has over-run very badly on the other side of the fence. Not our fault, but as we are a partner with our client we all share their pain and do our best to get through to implementation.

I do feel sorry for myself but more so for those over the road who are under much more pressure than us to deliver a solution, at minimal cost and impact to the business, with immediate savings to the current cost base and an enhanced customer experience.

And what is my reason for not wanting to be at work? It’s half term, and a most other Dads in the office are using up their annual leave with their family doing things that Dads do at half term. Having fun, going to the park, going out and acting the same age as the kids.

My elder daughter Gemma has recently joined Stanmore Golf club and I wanted to take her to a golf tournament on Friday, and I wanted to see her play today. I also wanted to help her with her swing (file note: this sort of help is often considered a hindrance) as she is pushing the ball out to the right at the moment. I could have also helped Lucy with the taxiing round and got involved with all the other parent type things that go on in the school holidays.

Alas, none of this was to be, and I had to be satisfied with a verbal report on her round. I was informed that she didn’t manage to get a par, but scored a four on one of the long holes (?!), plenty of sixes, four eights, and a five and a seven. I calculated that she was round in around 112 shots, not bad for a ten year old. Her target is to be under a hundred by the spring.

Gemma now has a handicap which is thirty six. I’m not sure how this is calculated as I thought the juniors were allowed a few more shots than the seniors, but according to the certificate thirty six it is. I’ve played for years and never ever had a handicap so she's now officially ahead of me in the world of golf

Up the Back Passage

It was a long but enjoyable day at the office, involving many cups of tea, a number of ginger biscuits, a visit to my favourite client, and some heads and chickens that were in varying degrees of proximity to each other later on in the afternoon.

I nearly didn’t get into the office today. This was because my special pass, which allows me to go up the back passage (no jokes please) and saves a couple of minutes walking time stopped working. Over the weekend all the passes had to be re-registered for some reason or another and despite a number of beeps on the thing by the door, the computer was most definitely saying “No”.

Luckily the front door was open and Dave sorted me out, and my back passage credentials were restored. Good job it was this weekend as we are working late next Friday and all day Saturday and the back passage is the only our only out of hours point of entry.

In the morning we had a meeting over the other side of Liverpool Street with my favourite client about a new project. They are a decent bunch, and a real “old school” city type firm. Work hard, but play even harder. Their owners know they have a real diamond of a company on their hands, and hopefully they’ll continue to let them do what they do best which is managing money better than their competitors. And of course, spending money with us.

Being out of the office for a couple of hours meant I had some serious catching up to do. It was just before noon and I had only drunk one cup of tea, so it was straight to the kitchen to get back on track.

The afternoon was spent doing some analysis for another client based round the corner and by around 4.00pm I’d worked out most of I was planning to recommend to them. Not the most interesting piece of work I’ve ever done to be honest, but cherry-picking the good projects isn’t an option and as I was sitting next to their account manager and I mistakenly mentioned that I knew (sort of) how to help them I was in the frame to do the work.

Just as we were approaching golden hour the ginger biscuits made a guest appearance (32p a packet at Tescos), and we all perked up and another cuppa saw us through to after 5.00pm.

Nostalgia

I wrote an article for the Capital Canaries Magazine today about my first game at Carrow Road. It was on 10th April 1971, and the score was Norwich 3 QPR 0. The attendance was 15,651.

I have a great deal to thank my Dad for. As well as guiding me into the sport of hockey where I had a decent run in the game, played in the top indoor hockey league in the country, and made a couple of appearances in the England U21 squad, he made the decision that I would be a Norwich City supporter. It wasn’t a difficult one for him to make, and he didn’t have to negotiate with Mum about which team I should follow as she was as ardent a City fan as Dad.

As was traditional in the Allman family, we went up to Norwich during the school holidays to see our grandparents. We mostly stayed with my Mum’s parents who lived in Mountfield Avenue, a very long dead-end off the Reepham Road.

My first game was Easter 1971. As we lived in London we would have travelled up on the Thursday evening for the long weekend which meant we could attend the Good Friday mass in St John’s Church (then a church but now a Cathedral).

As they say about the good old days – they don’t make them like they used to. Fixture lists being one such example. During the course of the 1971 Easter weekend, City played three times in four days. The first game was on Good Friday at Charlton where we lost 1-2, and there was also a game on Easter Monday at Carrow Road which resulted in a 1-1 draw. Kenny Foggo scored in both these games.

Sandwiched in between the Friday and Monday games was the home fixture against QPR on Saturday 10th April 1971. I was approaching my 7th birthday, and my only experience of live football had been a couple of non-league matches at Lower Mead, where Wealdstone played.

It was a fine day as I recall, we drove to the game and parked in Rouen Road. At least I think it was there as Dad always used to try and get to the games early and find a good space for a quick getaway. Dad had arranged for us to sit in the Main Stand and we had seats towards the Barclay end, near the edge of the penalty box.

As regards the game, City won easily beating QPR 3-0, with two of the goals being scored by City legends, Dave Stringer and Kenny Foggo. The other goal was scored by Malcolm Darling who claimed one of his five career goals for Norwich that day. “Canary Citizens” wrote of Malcolm Darling “A utility player who wore four of the shirts that made up the conventional forward line, which is usually a sign that one’s stay will be a short one” His last game for City was in September 1971. Graham Last, who was also at the game, remembers Darling as “A winger who didn’t hang around that long”.

We attended one more home game that season, and a few in the Championship season of 1971/2, including the finale at Vicarage Road. We even attended Saturday afternoon reserve games when we back were in Norwich if the first team were playing away.

I was hooked, and even more so when I got my first Norwich City kit which was a purchase from Pilches. My overriding memory of opening the present and seeing the kit was one of disappointment as Dad had forgotten to buy the yellow socks. Luckily he phoned up my grandparents who bought a pair and posted them down to London for me.

Nearly forty years on and I’ve managed to persuade my elder daughter Gemma to become a City fan. Her first game was in a baby-sling when she was only three months old, but her first “real” game was towards the end of the Championship season in 2004 when we beat Walsall 5-0.

Maybe one day she’ll write about her first game.

Movin’ on up

A long day yesterday, but every home game is a long day out. We left at 9.30am, and met everyone else at Liverpool Street around 10:30am. Finally back at 8.15pm, thanks to a lucky H9 bus that appeared at Northwick Park station just as we had started to walk home.

As the game was a sell-out the atmosphere was a bit flat as often seems to be the way, and with City the worry is always the bigger the expectation the worse the team will play.

As regards the game, it was not a classic, but it was three points. City played well first half against an organised but limited Swindon team who were missing their best player, Jonathan Douglas. We had the majority of the play, created chances, and hit the bar before Chris Martin scored from close in after thirty minutes. George Francomb, who I first saw at Gillingham had a good first half, but didn’t appear for the second due to a thigh strain. Korey Smith dropped into right back and we lost some bite in midfield.

The second half was very average, but City didn’t look like conceding and I can’t remember Forster having to deal with a shot on target all game. The defence today looked very good, and I’m sure the reason Swindon didn’t look dangerous was that the back four played so well as opposed to Swindon being poor.

It the sort of result that teams near the top of the table need, get ahead, keep solid, get a win and move on to the next game.

And finally, well done to Wealdstone who won 4-2 at Aylesbury and are in the first round of the FA Cup for more than twenty years. I’m still optimistic that it will be City vs Wealdstone when the balls are pulled from the bag at 1.00pm.

Golden Hour Flies by

For some Friday is normally a slow day in the office. In late, bacon rolls and coffee, some chat about Thursday night out, some more chat about the weekend, and even fitting in some work. And then off to the pub for lunch (which I don’t do) and back for a leisurely afternoon, and then away at 4.30pm, via the pub of course, just to make sure it’s still there.

This of course was not a description of yesterday, and is never a description of my day in the office, which normally starts between 7.15am and 7.30am, and has been know to kick off at 6.45am.

Rocky coined phrase “Golden Hour”. Yes we do have someone in the office called Rocky, but any similarity to Mr Balboa starts and ends with his christian name. He is a gentle, grey haired religious man of around fifty years of age who has a dry and wicked sense of humour. He arrives each day before 7.00am so he can leave at 4.15am to catch his train home and have dinner with his family. Golden Hour starts just after 3.00pm pm each Friday when the slow down for his weekend begins.

I tend to go into Golden Hour mode with him as we go to get a cup of tea, have a chat in the kitchen, then wander back to one of our desks to talk through “work”. But for whatever reasons yesterday our clock watching didn’t even get out of first gear as we fielded questions and mails from all and sundry about nothing much really. It seemed important at the time though.

The unofficial factory whistle is the toll of the bells at the Dutch church, but I didn’t even notice them ringing at 5.00pm and left forty minutes later.

Trials and Tribulations of Travel

So that’s the travel organised for another home game. Forty five good Caps and true on the 11.00am from Liverpool Street, and back on the later trains in various states of inebriation. I’m looking forward to meeting our first time traveller, who shall be nameless, after the booking problems we had earlier in the week. He seems like a good guy from the mails we have exchanged.

We’re going to be ticketless on the journey, thanks to the Royal Mail and the Unions, so I have had to queue up at Liverpool Street to get a permit to travel for a huge bunch of us. This procedure to get the bookings and permit was painful, taking me over half an hour. The promised fax of our booking had not arrived, or did arrive at the wrong fax machine, and despite the best efforts of Tracey, the girl in window No 6 at Liverpool St, we had to contact the Newcastle office by phone to get them to help. After pressing the buttons on my phone, I was politely informed that the office was closed and I would have try tomorrow. Aaaarrrgh! A quick email on the move and Jai from National Express Newcastle was on the phone, and we had the two departments talking to each other, but via me. Whenever I deal with National Express I’ve always found the staff very helpful, but they do struggle as the company as a whole doesn’t seem very organised.

Now all we have to do negotiate the barriers at Liverpool Street and Norwich with one ticket for 45 people. Easy.

On Saturday, although the main business of the day will be at Carrow Road, my thoughts will be at Aylesbury where Wealdstone will be attempting to get into the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in years and years. If I could pull two balls out of the bag on Sunday at 1.00pm it would be Norwich vs Wealdstone, assuming they are successful. All I can do is hope, but it would be a good chance to progress for City and a decent pay day for the Stones.

Getting started...

I don’t why I’ve started this blogging lark. It’s bound to take up even more of my time staring at a screen when I could be doing something more useful, such as staring another type of bigger screen. And the difference between the two is? I’m sitting at a desk as opposed to slumped on a sofa, and less likely to fall asleep.

I’ve no idea what I’ll write about, but as I generally start an article with no real plan, come up with a few ideas, and end up with a few hundred words, I reckon I’ll be ok.

I’d say I’m generally a quiet sort but will offer an opinion when provoked to do so, but I like to hear what others have to say first. It’s just my way.

I’m happily married and a father to two daughters who love their sports in equal measure, but when it comes to their education they are very different. The elder of the two is moving schools at the end of summer term, and this has caused Lucy and I some head scratching as to how we should approach this, and involve Gemma in the decision making process. We’ve decided now and hope that we’ve made a choice that we are all happy with. My younger daughter Amy has lofty ambitions as to where she would like to be taught, and as we cannot afford to have her educated privately she will need to join the grammar school rate-race to get the place we know she is well capable of obtaining.

Lucy loves tennis, darts and gardening, and going out. The gardening interest comes from her parents, who are fantastic in-laws and treat me as one of their own.

I work up in the City, but not for a City wage, and just enough to keep the family happy. Comfortable is the way I would describe myself.

My spare time and pocket money is used going to see Norwich City play. I’m also involved with the London Supporters Club (The Capital Canaries) having joined in 2001 when I noticed from an email address that one of the committee worked in the same office as me. I volunteered to organise the home travel when Gav stepped down after three years hard work, and this is now my fourth year in the hot seat. It’s a bundle of work, but having met so many good people when I’ve been doing the job, its well worth the time I spent on it. I also get to write a column in the on-line PinkUn every couple of weeks.

My “other” team is Wealdstone. I try to see them play a few times a season, but with City games, family commitments and kids sports, getting the time is difficult.

As with all blogs, my intention is to update it frequently, with some interesting articles. How frequently or how interesting? Who knows, we’ll see.