The Cleanest Sweep

The first time I ever saw Cheltenham Town play was a Southern League Cup match at Minehead in August 1976. In none of the 658 matches I have seen the club play since then have I seen a starting XI for the first team that did not feature at least one player I had seen play for the club before.

I cannot make it to Lincoln on Saturday, but if we field the expected team there, and then do not change it for the home game, this should change in the next week.

I am not worried by the fact this is a completely new team. The team we had last season played so poorly, and were so demoralised that even those who can play a bit were not showing it in our colours, and they will be better off elsewhere.

I have not bothered much with reading the interviews as the new players come on board. Any player can say how much he wants to be part of the squad and is really pleased to be here. The succession of signings last season all gave a good initial interview. Many did not then follow this up on the field. “Obviously”, a player is not going to say in the interview that he is joining our club, because he could not get a better offer elsewhere – but in most cases that is really the case.

So now, on the day before we start in earnest, if the boy can play quietly for a couple of hours I will look over who we have signed, and where they have come from. (I am using soccerway as the primary source of stats – it is not 100% accurate, but other sites tend to use the same sources).

1. Dillon Phillips (age 20). Goalkeeper on loan from Charlton Athletic with a six month agreement. Phillips has had loans in the division below us with Bishops Stortford and Whitehawk. He has also been on the bench a few times for Charlton without playing in the league.
2. Jack Barthram (21). Barthram has made starts, and ten substitute appearances for Swindon. He was a non-playing sub for the visit to Cheltenham last season.
3. George McLennan (19). McLennan made three appearances for Scotland U-19in May last year. He has been released by Reading without ever making the bench for them. He played a few games last season on loan for Hayes and Yeading. That again is one step below our status.
4. Kyle Storer (28). Storer has a lot of experience at this level, mainly with Kidderminster, before switching during the last transfer window to Wrexham. He has played in friendlies against Cheltenham, but is a new face to me.
5. Aaron Downes (30). At thirty years of age, Downes is the senior member of the squad. The Aussie played for Chesterfield from 2004 to 2012, and then switched to Torquay United. He also had a short spell at Bristol Rovers on loan. Downes has played against Cheltenham in the league for all three of Chesterfield, Bristol Rovers and Torquay United, but not (as suggested by our official site) in the 2012 play-off semi-finals. He was a Chesterfield player at that point.
6. Daniel Parslow (29). The Welshman started with Cardiff, but has spent most of his professional career with York City. In 2012 he played in both the Trophy final and the play-off final for York City, a notable double as York won both. He played at Whaddon Road for York in November 2012. Parslow spent most of last season on loan at Grimsby, and came on as a substitute in the Play-off final.
7. Harry Pell (24). For someone who has not reached his 25^th birthday, Pell has played for quite a few clubs, with football league appearances for Bristol Rovers, Hereford United and AFC Wimbledon, Conference for Cambridge United, Hereford United and Eastleigh. Pell played twice for Hereford at Whaddon Road in 2011, and then in both games of the 2012 FA Cup encounter, before coming to Whaddon Road twice more for AFC Wimbledon. Pell spent a month last season on loan at Grimsby, then transferred in January to Eastleigh, playing against Grimsby in the play-off semis.
8. Billy Waters (20). Waters came through the Crewe Academy, and has spent two years in the first team squad, He made his football league debut in November 2013 and has gone on to make 30 appearances for Crewe – evenly divided between starts and coming off the bench
9. Daniel Wright (30). Wright knows his way around this league, with 83 goals at this level in just under 300 appearances. Wright has played for Histon, Cambridge United, Wrexham and Gateshead before moving to Kidderminster last January.
10. Amari Morgan-Smith (26). Morgan-Smith is expected to be the strike partner for Wright, and our season may depend on how this works out. Amari made his football league debut by coming on as substitute for Stockport in the final game of the 2007-8 season. On his release, he signed for Ilkeston Town, moving onto Luton in September 2010. He was with Luton when we played them in the FA Cup in 2011, but missed the game, (and most of the rest of the season, having been a regular before hand). He then moved on the play for Macclesfield and Kidderminster. His career took a jump last summer, and his second football league appearance, (again coming on as sub) was for Oldham Athletic at the start of last season. He played 13 times in the league last season, but made only three starts, and scored twice. There were also appearances in the Football League Trophy (starting) and the FA Cup (last minute sub).
11. Jack Munns (21). The youngster started at the Tottenham academy, then spent time with Aldershot and Charlton – for both clubs he has been an unplayed substitute in the football league, but he still has to make his senior debut.

This is likely to be the starting line-up at Lincoln. I would say it is a good mixture of younger and older players. Still, I would say that if Gary Johnson has managed to find the right mix first time out with eleven new players, he is a footballing genius. We will have to wait to see how it develops, and with seven games to play in August, we will get a feeling for that very quickly.

Johnson has been disappointed in a couple of his attempts to bolster the squad. We know about JJ Hooper agreeing to sign, but then wanting to talk over another club’s offer. We saw that Johnson stamped on this very quickly. He has also been attempting to add another loan player who still has not turned up.

We have more new signings, of course, although two of these have been loaned out.

1. Calum Kitscha (22). Calum has been playing at one level below the National league with Histon, and then Hayes and Yeading. He has managed to get selected into the England ‘C’ squad (the non-league team) despite this. It would not surprise me if we made him our first choice goalkeeper during the winter and allowed Phillips to return to his club, especially as we also have a third goalkeeper,.
2. Rhys Lovett (not squad number) (out on loan at Tiverton) who can be recalled.
3. Adam Page comes in from our youth team, and having signed a professional contract, he has gone out on loan to Midland League newboys, Hereford FC.
4. James Rowe (23). Rowe was a substitute (replacing Eliot Richards) when Cheltenham Town won at Tranmere early last season. He was released by Tranmere in January, and had previously played for Forest Green.

As Johnson has tried to sign two more, it seems possible that we still have additional names to name – meanwhile we have almost have a team out on loan. As well as Lovett and Page, Zack Kotwica, Harry Williams, Bobbie Dale, Jack Deaman, Omari Sterling-James and Jamal Lawrence are all away at the moment. The latter three were transfer listed along with Lee Vaughan. We also had three players “to be assessed”. Of these, Asa Hall may well be on the bench tomorrow, but Jordan Wynter is apparently not fit, while it will be a while before we can properly rate Eliot Richards again. It seems that James Rowe, Asa Hall, Joe Hanks and James Bowen have to be on the bench, as we may have only sixteen fit players actually at the club. However, two of the players are heading to Farnborough who will not play for at least two Saturday as the club’s status remains to be confirmed and a c.v.a has still to be agreed. Hence, Dale and Williams are available to join the squad at Lincoln.

It is all very well and good that everyone at the club feels confident that we can bounce back, and return to the Football League in one go, as Bristol Rovers have done. However, it is by no means cut and dry, there are at least three teams with resources from significantly better crowds (Grimsby, Tranmere and Wrexham), and two who seem to have a fantastic level of support from benefactors (Eastleigh, Forest Green). Of these five, most bookmakers offer shorter odds for the title on all but Wrexham.

I am worried about the words coming out of the club, that suggest that this season is an “all or nothing” season, and that if we fail in our attempt to return in one season, we may have to go part time. In the current climate, it appears that no part time club can be competitive in the National League. There are too many full time outfits in the league, (some on lower crowds than we can expect and without obvious outside support), and over a full season the superior fitness of a full time squad does prove its worth. It is great that we are having a go, and I am positive this will be a good season, but I do not like talk of “do or die”. I am hoping that the talk is basically a way of pushing the players to go for it, telling them that their future is on the line, along with some of the other good people employed by the club. I really want to feel that even if not acknowledged, we have a plan B, and this allows for an extended stay at this level with a full time squad that remains competitive and can at some stage win back our league place,