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It began with a mess- as many stories do. The Russian, Sergey Bilardinko, had bought Eastbourne Boro with many assurances that there would be changes for the better. Unfortunately, for both the club and the players, that wasn't true. When everything was sold off and moved out virtually overnight- Conference South and the FA was at a loss on how to handle the disaster on the eve of the season. One bright PR person suggested a lottery to replace the club and the seemingly silly idea was seized upon.
Entering the lottery was abundantly straightforward- put up the fee the FA was imposing to enter and be prepared to declare yourself at least a semi-professional club if you were selected. I didn't really take it seriously when one of the Board members mentioned that he thought they might actually enter us in the lottery- after all every club around seemed to be entering it. Imagine how stunned I, Jack Winston, was when they called out the name of the winning club- Harrow Hill.
The press descended on me (the Board had asked I attend) in droves and there was little enough I could tell them. I was completely unprepared to make any kind of statements, but did my best to murmur the usual platitudes before I could finally free myself from the press conference.
By the time I returned to Mitcheldean, there was a whole host of congratulatory messages on my voicemail. There was also urgent messages to contact the senior Board member. The Board hadn't had a true Chairman in quite some time as the infighting to replace the last one had proved troublesome and they had sorted out an uneasy alliance in the face of their problems.
The information the Board member gave me was certainly nettling. Most of the money they had available had gone to entering the lottery- and now winning it would mean a large chunk going to the ECS coffers. Because of that I would have to build the club without transfer funds. The next call I returned was worse- as a senior player told me that most of the current amateur players weren't in any way interested in participating in play in ECS. With the expectation that Harrow Hill would only last one season, most had little liking for the situation and would not play for us.
I have to admit it was a daunting situation- no players, no staff, and no transfer funds to try and establish the club. Despite that, my fighting spirit was ready to accept the challenge and see if we could make a success out of this unlikely venture. This is my journal of that time.
Obviously, had to edit Harrow Hill in place of Eastbourne. Harrow Hill was picked because I both liked the name and because they had nothing- no staff, no players, no money- and that was how I wanted to start out.
Thanks PM for the confidence Not like you didn't get a mittful of awards yourself Hope you continue to enjoy this one...
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12.7.04
The starting point needed to be finding some staff. From my long stretches in scouting I knew the names of several I thought might be interested in expanding their horizons. Bob Pearson agreed to join us as the Assistant Manager. David Jarrett signed on as our only coach. Paul Caton signed on as physio. Rob Campkin and Dean Yates joined Harrow Hill as scouts. Running on a shoestring budget was going to be difficult, but I was convinced we needed at least this many staff to make it work.
I went over the freely available players- and this is where my scouting connections and roots paid dividends as I called in some favors with current scouts and managed to get a few recommendations on players who might be willing to play for us. I offered quite a few contracts and hoped to sign at least a few of them over the next few days to help begin building a squad.
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13.7.04
I felt very buoyant when we were actually able to get some players signed. We signed six of them right away- a day after the initial offer. They were: Ryan Ashington 21 yr old AMC Mark Berry 18 yr old DR Kieron Gradwell 17 yr old DC Peter Griffiths 24 yr old AMR Michael Jago 21 yr old GK Paul Moss 22 yr old DC
Of these, I felt that Ashington and Jago might be key signings as they both seemed to have good talent. Griffiths looked like solid winger and Moss was one I expected to be one of our team leaders. Gradwell and Berry I was unsure of, but we needed to start filling the roster somewhere. The Board communicated that they had an expected wage limit of 1.9K a week- I flat out told them that was unreasonable and they should expect me to slightly exceed that- they didn't seem too surprised or upset at my admonition on that.
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14.7.04
A couple more signings today. We signed 16 yr old D/DMLC Wesley Erskine and 23 yr old DMC Leke Odunsi. I thought both would have a prominent place in our plans for the season. I plan on not featuring Erskine too heavily as I would like to get him under a new contract when 17. Odunsi should be a solid middlefield player for us.
15.7.04
Three more signings today and one of them I expected to be a key signing for us. Carl Laurie, a multi-talented 22 yr old D/DMRLC, was a player that I hoped could provide both leadership and strong play wherever he was slotted. We also managed to add a 2nd keeper- 18 yr old Jordan Yorath. The other signing was 18 yr old DRC Liam Parrington, who would help us fill out the backline.
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16.7.04
More signings as we continued to fill out our roster. Nathaniel Griffiths was an 18 yr old SC with enough wheels to start up front. I expected his strike partner to be 19 yr old SC Steven Fraser. 26 yr old DL Lea Jones was one of the few veteran players initially interested in playing for us. 20 yr old DC Liam Eves was another solid cover signing for the backline. We also signed a cadre of unattached 16 yr old players- Paul Bonar AMC, Steven Brown ML, Danny Singh SC, Wayne Barber MR and Dave King SW/DRC. All of the 16 yr olds agreed to very modest contracts which helped take some of the strain off our tight budgetary restrictions. With those signings, I decided to wait and see the further evaluations from Campkin and Yates before adding any other players. I felt we had at least established a core squad, but we were very thin in some aspects- so while I knew we would need to add more players, I wanted to be a bit more selective about further additions.
21.7.04
Our first friendly at Larksfield Road was a success as we defeated Aintree Villa 3-1. It was a surprisingly good performance, but I refused to get too excited about the results.
***
25.7.04
Our friendly at Bishop Auckland showed we still had plenty of work to do, as they scored a pair of late goals to best us 2-0.
Our first serious injury occurred when Peter Griffiths was lost for a couple weeks due to a calf strain.
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26.7.04
At Rob Campkin's insistence, I signed promising 20 yr old GK Daniel Austen. I didn't really want a 3rd keeper, but Rob kept hammering away at me and I finally relented and worked out an agreeable contract with him.
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28.7.04
We came from behind and defeated Bromsgrove Rovers 2-1 at Larksfield Road in a friendly. Despite spotting them the lead with sloppy defending, we managed to rally and set ourselves up with a couple of nice goals.
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31.7.04
We added a bit more depth with the addition of 25 yr old ML Scott Thomas who was free transferred from Deal and 21 yr old AMC Steve Clark. Clark has a wealth of physical talent, but no guarantees that we can develop him skills wise. Thomas seems a fairly sharp player but also has limited skills.
OMDave- yes, I guess that is true This is something that I had tried when still in LLM (and not FMS yet) awhile ago. The main reason- beyond the story that is- that I wanted to do this is because this gives me a lot better idea of how the tactical engine works (if it can work with nothing players, it should do well with some talent )
bartley- it will be a challenge, because even the players I was able to gather are unwanted
Gino- Jack will say hello to your former mate for you (same one). Thanks for the kind comments and hope it stays enjoyable for you.
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1.8.04
St.Albans allowed transfer listed Adam Parker to come to us on free. Parker is a 29 yr old AM/FC with the reputation as a good finisher. Though he has played mostly midfield, I think he is most likely to help us up front. He adds a veteran presence to the dressing room that we really didn't have. One of the difficulties I had was in convincing veteran players to join us- at modest wages we could afford. I had one flat out tell me that he didn't think we had a hope of staying up and that was why he wanted more money and a one-year contract.
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6.8.04
I was trying to be more selective with my signings at this point- since we were already over the weekly budget from the Board. I added 20 yr old DRL Ben Griffiths on free because his ability to play either fullback role would provide good cover on our club.
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8.8.04
While I was watching Manchester United defeat Arsenal 1-0 in the Charity Shield, I managed to finish off a couple deals. 19 yr old D/DMR Wesley Hammond will join us on free after Margate let him come to us that way. Hammond has a lot of potential at the rightback spot. Also, Jordan Fowler- a 20 yr old DMC from Arsenal- will join us on loan for the season. Fowler is a very promising player and should help us a lot in the midfield, though he is still undeveloped offensively.
On the eve of the season, I am not sure how ready we are, but it is time to start facing our trial by fire.
13.8.04
A reporter asked me about my 'goals' going into the season. I gave him the usual prattle about building the club, but later this question did stir my thinking. For this season, survival is the key goal. With no money to speak of- I will have to hope my free signings are good enough to keep us afloat and to avoid relegation. Beyond that, I am committed to building up a young side that can learn to play well together. I have avoided signing the 'usual suspects'- the veterans that would bring more polish, but at the expense of preventing youthful players from learning from actually playing. Is this the best choice? I don't know, but time will no doubt be the final arbiter on my decisions.
14.8.04 Bognor Regis (1) Harrow Hill (3)
We opened our 'trial-by-fire' in EC South with a trip to Nyewood Lane to face Bognor Regis. We dodged a bullet in the opening moments of the match when Mark Berry was whistled for pulling Mark Lovell down in the area. Lovell stepped up and missed wide left as we all breathed a sigh of relief. We expected a grinding match, but the penalty miss seemed to discourage them a bit. We took full advantage of them being down as Nathaniel Griffiths and Adam Parker scored in a 10 minute span to give us a lot of life. Dave Hanson tempered that enthusiasm as he got Bognor Regis back into the match with a strike late in the first half to make it a 2-1 Harrow Hill lead. Steven Fraser, on for a tiring Parker, snapped home the clinching goal as he struck a shot inside the left post to make it a 3-1 final score. It was a very physical match with a total of 12 yellow cards handed out. Moss was sent off with 2 yellows, as was Mark Lovell and David Piper of Bognor Regis.
A Harrowing Misadventure 
Not like you didn't get a mittful of awards yourself 
Hope you continue to enjoy this one... 
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