Ian Pethick

Agreed. But would be interesting to see the information on the relative playing budgets for Westbury, Willand, Bridgewater and Bitton that you have acquired.

Shows yhat ypu have to on it for every game at Western League level.Given both sides current form, Parkway would have been davourites for this. Losing Mikey Williams for a month must be a blow, e is a class act who is the main creator and threat in the team.

Plenty on this forum about dwindling attendances and the struggle to volunteers. Perhaps, in this era of social media and lack of local newspaper coverage, the poor on line presence of many clubs has been a contributory factory. Keeping fans informed of player comings and goings, injuries and suspensions, line ups and match reports are a must these days and something that is quite straightforward to do. Too often there seems to be a small circle at many clubs who like to keep infornation to themselves, probably a contributory factor to so many half stories and made up stuff appearing on this forum.Could pick many clubs out, but Bodmin (especially for a club of their stature and record of success) are one of the main culprits. To quote the late EK Brown, President of Liskeard Athletic in his 1991 book, 100 Years Of Football In Liskeard, "Public relations play a large part in life today. Supporters want to know when players leave or join a club, facts should not be left to rumour or speculation. "

What better time of year for a bit of casual regional stereotyping. Happy New Year!

Think it has always been the case at Saltash, and for Liskeard also. Even in the Western League glory days, the crowds were never that good outside of the Boxing Day/Good Friday derbies.

On a separate note, with a sort of reference to Bodmin Town's defeat to Exmouth today, Darren Gilbert's interview on the excellent Local Football Radio Show was very interesting. Seemed to highlight his growing disillusionment with the local football scene, in particular the commitment of younger players and the inflated opinion they have of themselves. This ties in with the stories on this forum that had previously appeared about the difficulty he had I'm recruiting younger players back in the summer. Made me wonder if the Gilbert era is drawing to a close at Bodmin, and how his legacy will be judged.

Great report as ever Graham, a lifeline for us distant supporters. Regarding the line up for the game, would be interesting to know about the respective, injuries and unavailabilities. Know that Ryan Lane and Mike Smith are suspended, but what is the current status of Nick Milton, Jack Rhead, Jamie Lowry, Les Afful, Ben Joyce and Connor McAuley (who didn't appear to be in the match day squad)?

Little challenge for you Ninja, what would a combined Parkway/Tavi team look like ? (Assuming everybody is fit and available)

Add Dan Evans and Liam Prynn to the list as well.

Always thought the Lambs had a close knit group of players, big part of their success over the last couple of seasons. If this is true, then I guess money talks. Would love to see Josh Oak and Josh Robins at Parkway though, would strengthen two areas of the team that need attention.

Hi Keith, would love to keep the conversation going, sounds fascinating. I'll send you a DM via here. Ian.

Hi Keith, don't live too far away (Stoke Newington). Being a copper stationed at City Road in the 70's/80's must have been, how would you put it, "lively."

Interesting read, thought that the Western League achievements of both Liskeard and Saltash in the Eighties were overlooked though. They took over from Falmouth as the progressive Cornish clubs and, between them, dominated a very strong Western League for a few seasons.

Wenlock Arms in Hoxton. Proper old man's boozer, pasties are the only food available.

Washed down with the three cans of cider I still owe you...

Been a very good season for SWPL clubs against step 5 sides in FA Cup and Vase (hopefully somebody can produce stats to support this). I'm going for St Austell and Saltash wins, but Bodmin to lose.

Heard Adam Castle (then Buckland manager) being very critical of Western League over lack of early season midweek matches. He feels that it cost them promotion, but also raised serious point about player welfare as a result of fixture pile up.

Could be a lot of postponements this Saturday, weather forecast looks pretty bad down in the South West. Hope it's not the chaos of last season starting to play out again.

Somebody closer to the squad than me will be better informed, but I think it's a been a combination of injury and illness over the past few weeks. Squad game though, Stewart knows that he'll have to bide his time as Jordan Annear and Adam Carter have done well in the starting spots.

Honours even at Lux Park yesterday, both sides can be justified in saying that they could have won it. Probably a slight moral victory for Liskeard though, getting back into the game after going behind and losing James Lorenz during the game injured goes a long way to dispel the "stop Lorenz, stop Liskeard" point of view. Interesting to see Lyle Johnson scoring, and seemingly playing well this season. Looked to be a future star when he played for Parkway a few seasons ago as a 16 year old, but seemed like he believed his own hype a bit and lost his way. Hope he stays at Liskeard and settles down after bouncing from club to club over the last few years.

You can add Shane Krac to the list as well. Agree with you Mike on the subject of dual registrations, I understand that it is useful to clubs in order to plug any injury, suspension and unavailability gaps (and is not against the rules) but it must have an effect on team morale and tactics. Confusing for supporters as well when players continually come in and out.

St Austell do seem to be a side that runs hot or cold. On their day, unplayable (ask Parkway fans), but when it's not, awful (see Ivybridge result last week).

Very interesting listen. Does seem big on aspiration and low on detail though, especially as they are hoping to play the first friendly in January. The two big issues are player availability (will clubs release them, especially in March when fixtures tend to come thick and fast after the inevitable winter postponements) and finance. Really hope this does happen though.

How does this sit with the Cornish FA? Would there be any potential issues with players competing in a non affiliated competition?

Saltash United. Growing up as Liskeard supporter in the seventies and eighties, it was a fierce rivalry. Still take some sort of pleasure in their defeats. Real Madrid. The club of General Franco and the fascists. I love the city of Madrid,, but hate this club. Visited the Bernabeu to try and purge it, but didn't work. MK Done. Good mate of mine is Wimbledon fan, he managed to pass on some of his hatred for Franchise FC.