Tuesday, 7th October 2008

News Archive

15th December 2007
Review of the Week

Although the weather devastated the Premier Division programme all three top sides beat the freeze but none of them managed to win.

Leaders WITTON ALBION extended their unbeaten run to 19 with a draw at STAMFORD to maintain a ten-point lead over FLEETWOOD TOWN who dropped two home points to EASTWOOD TOWN.

Those results gave third place MARINE a great opportunity to close the gap on the top two but they fared even worse going down at third bottom NORTH FERRIBY UNITED despite taking the lead. In the one other top flight game to survive KENDAL TOWN beat fellow strugglers LINCOLN UNITED but remain next to bottom although they are now only one point adrift of no fewer than five clubs who all have twenty points.

Just three games survived in the First Division North where leaders CURZON ASHTON overturned an interval deficit to win the Tameside "derby" against Mossley and go seven points clear at the top.

GARFORTH TOWN slipped in to the final play-off spot with a 3-0 win at home to BRIDLINGTON TOWN but just three points separates BAMBER BRIDGE in third from SKELMERSDALE UNITED in eighth. In the one other game two out of form teams in WOODLEY SPORTS and ROSSENDALE UNITED shared the spoils.

SPALDING UNITED produced the shock of the day in the First Division South leading second place CAMMELL LAIRDS until twelve minutes from time and as a consequence of the 1-1 draw leaders RETFORD UNITED are still seven points ahead with a game in hand.

Third place GOOLE also failed to make significant headway when held at WARRINGTON TOWN who gave new manager Paul Moore his first point after a torrid start leaving GRANTHAM TOWN to close on all the top three with a narrow home victory over SHEPSHED DYNAMO.

In the two other games to survive GRESLEY ROVERS and NANTWICH TOWN enjoyed away wins at ALSAGER TOWN and QUORN respectively.

There was little joy in the FA Trophy against Conference National opposition although GATESHEAD did hold Farsley Celtic to a draw. First Division BAMBER BRIDGE twice led against Rushden & Diamonds, COLWYN BAY held Burton Albion until 17 minutes from time and RETFORD UNITED held an interval advantage over Histon but all eventually succumbed whilst OSSETT TOWN lost at Stafford Rangers.

Railway Sign Hotte

Harrogate Railway Athletic have signed former Oldham Athletic midfielder Mark Hotte. The 29 year old Bradford based player spent four seasons with the 'Latics making more than sixty appearances before moving in to the Conference with Scarborough. This term he has played with both Droylsden and Vauxhall Motors.

Statement from Invision

The Board of FC United of Manchester in a formal statement on their official website are urging their supporters to boycott the away game against Curzon Ashton on 29th December alleging that the League has "reneged" on an agreement not to move kick off times in order to accommodate television that is allowed for within League Rules. The League refute this allegation in its entirety and in response the League's TV partners Invision has issued the following Press Release.

Prior to the start of the current football season, John Warrington of Invision met with FCUM chairman Andy Walsh and Mike Kirwin, whose attendance was to represent the interests of FCUMTV. This meeting was to discuss how NPLTV could affect the development of FCUMTV and how the club and its TV channel could work with Invision. At this meeting John Warrington was also informed that the club were worried that live screenings of FCUM home fixtures could cause a reduction in attendances of FCUM home games which in turn, would have an impact on its commercial arrangements with Bury FC in respect of its ground lease deal.

During this meeting and subsequent discussions Invision agreed with FC United the following.

1. That it would assist FCUMTV in helping to keep their programme on Channel M

2. That NPLTV would not cover any home FCUM games before Christmas.

The board of Invision would like to stress that it worked hard to help FCUMTV keep it's show on Channel M and gave the channel permission to use at no cost, footage of FCUM matches as long as NPLTV could have access to the same footage.

The board of Invision has also kept its promise not to broadcast any home FCUM games before Christmas.

Further, Invision also granted permission to Mike Kirwin for FCUMTV to film FCUM away fixtures and broadcast them on FCUMTV, subject to certain conditions.

Therefore the board of Invision is dismayed at the attitude of the board of FCUM and that no proper discussions were held before the board of FCUM released its statement and called for a boycott of this fixture, particularly since Invision has shown nothing but a spirit of cooperation to FCUM and FCUMTV.

The board of Invision would like to categorically state that at no time were any promises made in respect of changing kick-off times on a Saturday. The only assurances made in respect of transmission times were

1. A fixture would not be moved from a Saturday to another day of the week for television purposes

2. No Saturday 15:00 games would be screened live.

This second assurance had to be given because of UEFA rule 48 which bans the transmission by any medium of a game kicking off at this time.

Therefore the key point put forward by the board of FCUM against moving kick-off times and broken promises is invalid simply because no promises were ever made. If either Andy Walsh or Mike Kirwin had requested such assurances, the board of Invision would like to state unequivocally that such assurances would not have been given.

Invision received a copy of two letters sent out by the Unibond league to all clubs in August and November. Neither letter contains anything that could be even closely interpreted as a promise that kick off times would not be moved to accommodate NPLTV.

For the record, Mr Warrington met with Alan Allcock and Mark Harris of the Unibond League in early November to choose the matches for broadcast in December. It was agreed that the time was right to introduce live Saturday matches into the NPLTV schedule.

Generally match selections are decided by broadband connectivity at grounds and how many times a club has appeared. It has been a policy when selecting matches that as many clubs as possible share in the revenue and that no one club becomes a regular on NPLTV.

For live Saturday broadcasts, it was also decided that only matches between two neighbouring teams would be selected. This was to negate the impact of different travelling times for supporters as much as humanly possible.

The preferred game that fitted all of the criteria on this date was the game between Curzon Ashton and FCUM. At no time during this meeting was there any discussion about potential publicity because the game involved FCUM. The game was picked solely because it was the only one that fitted the criteria for the screening of a live game on a Saturday and any suggestion to the contrary is wrong and without foundation.

The board of Invision would far prefer not to have to request changes to kick-off times. But until UEFA rule 48 is changed there is no alternative. However Saturday games will only be selected for transmission if the criteria meet that as set out by the UniBond League.

For the record Mr Warrington was contacted by Andy Walsh when the league had notified FCUM that the kick off time was to be changed. At the time Mr Warrington was out of the country and requested that they have a discussion upon his return. Mr Warrington is disappointed that Andy Walsh did not wait for him to return to the country to have this discussion when the background to the decision to select this particular fixture could have been properly explained.

The board of Invision is disappointed that FC United have recommended to their supporters to boycott attending the fixture at Curzon Ashton. However while recognising and respecting the ethos of the club, it feels that the reasons for this recommendation are groundless because the supporters of FCUM have not been made aware by its board of all of the facts surrounding not just this game, but the agreed timescale of the development of NPLTV which were set in motion long before FCUM gained promotion to Unibond League North.

Invision would like to publicly express its thanks to the Unibond League for its support in this matter. Invision works very closely with the UniBond League and its various committees which are all made up of individuals who have dedicated a huge amount of time for the development and the betterment of the UniBond League.

NPLTV has proved to be extremely successful since its launch as Unibond TV in January of last year and is now attracting 15,000 visitors per week from all around the world. This has enabled us to keep the service totally free since August and in closing the board of Invision would like to thank the many, many supporters who have taken the time to write to us and express their support of this initiative.

UniBond League Television

Forthcoming Games

Sat 22nd Dec Hednesford Town v Fleetwood Town Match of the Week
Sat 5th Jan To be decided Match of the Week
Wed 26th Dec Marine v Leek Town Match of the Week
Sat 12th Jan Newcastle BS v Bradford PA Match of the Week
Sat 29th Dec Curzon Ashton v FC United Live Game 12:45
Sat 19th Jan Witton A v Leek T Live Game 12:45
Tue 1st Jan Frickley Ath v Guiseley Live Game 15:00
Sat 26th Jan Retford Utd v Belper Town Match of the Week
All games can be accessed through the banner link on www.unibondleague.com and are subject to change.

Macron "Safe Hands" Awards

The "Macron" Safe Hands awards for November have been won by Worksop Town's Steve Hernandez in the Premier Division, Jon Worsnop of Bradford Park Avenue in the First Division North with the First Division South accolade going to Goole AFC's Craig Parry. Hernandez won his award just in time as his three month loan spell from Sheffield United ended last weekend!

Frickley Confirm Heath Appointment

The Premier Division's bottom club Frickley Athletic this week confirmed Billy Heath as their manager after his stint as caretaker since Mark Hancock's departure. In his four matches in charge on a temporary basis Heath saw his side pick up seven points leaving the Board pleased with the turnaround in results.

It is Heath's second stint at the club having arrived, along with Assistant Mark Carroll, at South Elmshall in October 2006 to steer Athletic away from the relegation zone.

However, after nine games in the current campaign the pair resigned following a disappointing start but the poor results during Hancock's tenure which resulted in him departing left Hancock and Carroll indicating to the Board that they felt they may have acted too hastily in resigning leaving the way open for them to return on a temporary basis with a view to returning to their roles on permanently.

Crewe Snap Up Nantwich Youngster

16 year old Nantwich Town youth team midfielder Matt Freeman has been snapped up by Crewe Alexandra after undergoing trials with the League One club.

Whilst the agreement reached between the clubs only provides for a nominal fee to be paid to the UniBond side there will be an additional five figure sum payable should the youngster make five first team appearances along with a 10% sell on clause.

No doubt Nantwich will be hoping the youngster makes the same impact at Crewe as did Luke Varney after leaving fellow First Division South compatriots Quorn four years ago. Last summer Varney netted Quorn half a million pounds from a 20% sell on clause when Charlton Athletic signed the striker after he had netted 27 goals in around a century of appearances for the "Railwaymen".

Also leaving Nantwich this week was striker Andy Bott whose 30 goals last season played a significant part in their promotion to the UniBond League.

Extended family responsibilities and increasing work commitments left the player unable to devote the time necessary to compete for a place in the current Nantwich set up and, after a loan spell at Kidsgrove where there was less travel involved for him, an agreement was reached between the two clubs to enable Bott to continue playing at the same level.

Sheffield Run On Pirelli

Sheffield FC have this week tied up a twelve month sponsorship deal with Pirelli whose world famous name also appears on Inter Milan's shirts.

The Italian giants, of course, were Sheffield's opponents in the recent match played to celebrate Sheffield FC's 150th Anniversary in front of Brazilian legend Pele and almost 19,000 other fans.

At the game was Pirelli UK Tyres Managing Director Dominic Sandivasci and it hasn't taken long for a sponsorship deal to be thrashed out.

He said: "Nobody could fail to be impressed by Sheffield's momentous achievement and place in football history. Their contribution to football together with their current "Boots for Africa" campaign is a great credit to the efforts of Sheffield Chairman Richard Tims".

Moore Signs New Team

New Warrington Town boss Paul Moore whose side conceded fifteen goals in his first three games in charge has certainly wrung the changes at his new club signing thirteen new players in his short time in the job!

Leek Looking To Re-Develop Harrison Park

Leek Town's Harrison Park stadium will form part of a sports village development on two sites if plans by the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council come to fruition. The ground will be developed along with a playing fields site a couple of miles away to bring much needed facilities to the area.

The Council is driving the £2m scheme and a design company has been engaged to draw up plans that could see a brand new playing surface installed at the club together with a new perimeter fence within two years.

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