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Interesting new developments at Penzance


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4 hours ago, East Cornwall Magpie said:

I really do hope that Penzance can become a senior side once again. It is one of the oldest clubs in Cornwall and over the years I have enjoyed many matches down there. The facilities from the spectator point of view are excellent and the club deserves to be a player in senior football again. The best of luck.

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I don't get it - Penzance are a team / club that were very big, they paid very well and attracted players from all over Devon (Plymouth) and Cornwall. They were not built on a strong 'local' player base, which is always going to be difficult so far West. The money disappeared and they quickly fell from grace and and found themselves wallowing at the bottom of SWPL West - staring relegation to the Combo in the face. - some 'back door' deals were obviously done and they bought in half of Mousehole first team (and shipped out several of their existing players), this being done before the new manager was appointed, although actually taking place after.

They have now attracted sponsorship from a businessman who has a questionably financial background (if the above reports are to believed). They have an average weeky attendance of 73 if you can believe their attendance figures (£219 generated at most) and are now forking out again far more than is coming in. The outcome seems obvious, to me - they will buy their way out of relegation, stay in SWPL W, money will dry up leaving club worse off than they currently are and players will disappear off.

Surely local supporters and sponsors should look at clubs that are built on a sustainable footing, with a minimum number of good local players - look at Sticker, they will definitely need to buy in some better quality players when promoted but have a good solid core of players; or Ludgvan and Charrack below from the Combo, again good teams with a core of local players.

Teams that have to buy in new squads to avoid relegation are simply putting off the inevitable, just look at St Blazey in the Prem (the simple fact is their core of players are not good enough for their current league). I understand the sentiment of looking back at once great clubs, but things have changed with players and supporters and as St Darren put it, it's all about sustainability.

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4 hours ago, BIG AL said:

I really do hope that Penzance can become a senior side once again. It is one of the oldest clubs in Cornwall and over the years I have enjoyed many matches down there. The facilities from the spectator point of view are excellent and the club deserves to be a player in senior football again. The best of luck.

It's not often that I agree with anything you say but there's always a first time for everything!

I have great memories of my time at Penzance as a player winning the Senior Cup and helping out with some managing/coaching a few years back. Lovely club and good people. Good luck I hope it turns round for you. 

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30 minutes ago, Tommy Matthews said:

It's not often that I agree with anything you say but there's always a first time for everything!

I have great memories of my time at Penzance as a player winning the Senior Cup and helping out with some managing/coaching a few years back. Lovely club and good people. Good luck I hope it turns round for you. 

Yes Tom, we did win the Senior Cup and I will always have a soft spot for the club as long as they finish below Dobwalls this season!

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Some bleedy trek down there but a lovely proper ground I call it, had some great games against Pz in the 80's. A big catchment area to pull from also. I said on a previous post that I was told last weekend at Ludgvan that the current manager will be getting the job full time if they go down, if they stay up its Wayne Quinn who will be appointed manager for next season,  Mousehole not pulled up any trees this season, & Pz look to of signed 5/6 from there, interesting to see what sort of side they acquire if the budget is good in comparison to what success they get if any. Good luck.

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As a lifelong PZ fan, now living outside the county, good luck for rest of the season. With the Leeds Utd connection I wonder if there will be a pre-season friendly arranged. Been a while since we had League opposition at Penlee Park. I was there when Celtic visited and when Liverpool used to bring a side down in late 1980s.

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To bobjfh,you haven't got a clue what you are talking about. As for Sticker  ,why does a team unbeaten and at the top of their division ,playing the best football "definitely need to strengthen..." ?     Thank you to all the people who have expressed messages of goodwill over the last few weeks,they FAR outnumber the "haters" and uninitiated.

Best wishes,Charlie Farley,Pz secretary

 

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1 hour ago, Joe Slovo said:

To bobjfh,you haven't got a clue what you are talking about. As for Sticker  ,why does a team unbeaten and at the top of their division ,playing the best football "definitely need to strengthen..." ?     Thank you to all the people who have expressed messages of goodwill over the last few weeks,they FAR outnumber the "haters" and uninitiated.

Best wishes,Charlie Farley,Pz secretary

 

Joe Slove (Charlie) - first of all the forum is supposed to be about opinions, not 'let's all say every team is great'. 

First thing - about Sticker, I have watched them several times this season - if you have, then my comment s were complimentary about them - they have a great core of good local players. Will they do well next season in the Prem without bringing in new players - No (my opinion). If you want to quote the 'Exmouth cup game', dont waste your time, I watched it and Sticker played well, but the Exmouth team on show was not their Prem team.  If you are going to bring up Boywers 4 hat tricks in 4 games - no doubt a good finisher in the West - not the same against better defences (was on another forum thread about him being up to playing at Truro - needs to prove himself consistently at a higher level first - not saying he couldn't but no need to get carried away either). I would love to see another mid Cornwall team competing in the Prem and hope that will be Sticker - but dont be blinkered.

Going back to Penzance - I am neither a hater or uninitiated - I have actually paid to watch them this season. This difference is that I am not tied to Penzance in the 80's or their history over a 100+ years. Penzance have been very poor this season - they have (shamefully) taken half of Mouseholes team and are currently buying their way out of relegation - which will mean that one of Vospers, Liskerad, Bude or Wadebridge will go down in their place. Have you read Penzance's last match report (I know you have) - every player mentioned is'new' to the club - it sounded more like a Mousehole match report from December.

Because I may not be a supporter of Penzance, does not mean I want them to fail, it also does not mean that I want other teams to fail either.

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We are probably the biggest sleeping giant in Cornish Football. Being in the far West of the County with Cornwall's Premier rugby team across the road it is/was always going to be difficult to attract sponsorship into the club.

When did Penzance start to go downhill? Not when Mr Mewton was there but before then when Dicky Evans took over the Pirates. We could not compete with their full time commercial managers hoovering up all the local sponsors and backers. We could not compete with them climbing the leagues to the Championship. We would be outside Penlee Park on a Saturday watching supporters who had been with us for years almost running past the ground hoping we didn't notice them as they made their way to watch the Pirates. Money is tight down our way, people can only afford one or the other, football or rugby.

Yes we paid out travelling money but we realised a few years ago that for a local club in Cornwall it is impossible to break even no matter what league you play in, SWPL, East, Combo, Trelawny, Duchy. Don't come back to me and say such and such a team breaks even as they don't. They have sugar-daddies who put their hands in their pockets. Even the clubs at the top of SWPL Premier would not survive without off the field backing. 

We all know it but most won't face up to it.

Well at Penzance we did. We stopped paying out for cars that must have engines so knackered that the must have only been doing 5mpg. We worked out a fair cost for people to come to training or matches. We lost a few players and suffered for it but we kept our head above water. As the BBC report says we are debt free, how many clubs can say that. We need to get the floodlights fixed but can only do it when we can afford it, If we don't have the money we do not go cap in hand. One reason we needed to do our Crowdfunding campaign last year. We thought we raised enough but the lights were in a worse shape than we thought.

I was on the Committee at Penzance for quite a while calling it a day at the start of this season to concentrate on the Combo Website. We were/are totally committed for the club to succeed but not at the expense of the club. No short term glory for long term loss. Our club is not like that any more.

I am grateful for every player who has put on the famous Black and White of the Magpies over the years, and hope to see a slow but steady rise up the ranks.

 

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This is very interesting and well explained Paul. I can understand the ongoing development and rise of the Pirates is going to have a detrimental effect on the Football club, which as you say has proved to be the case. However hopefully now the club can pull together and redevelop. It can be done, just look at how my club St Austell has recovered from the mess it was in ten years ago. 

Good luck in getting the sponsorship you will need. 

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Thanks for all the positive comments and good wishes; it's a shame that some people take rumors as being the truth but fully accept that everyone is entitled to an opinion - even if it is based purely on incorrect information.

I can assure those who might think differently, there was no pre-arranged influx of players from Mousehole prior to John Dent's departure and Bryn Wheeler's arrival but -  given the position Penzance were in - as local, ex Penzance players became available it would have been non-sensical not to seek their help. David Haigh has joined the Club to help with its structure and on-going community development and definately not to bankroll the team. 

Hopefully Penzance will manage to retain their SWPL status and everyone is working their socks off to try to make that happen - only time will tell!

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I can tell you Darren that Penzance's aim in the next 2 or 3 years is hopefully get back in the Premier division and FA Cup and Vase. This all depends on ground improvements etc. However the only thing we are talking about at the moment is retaining our Peninsula status. Again,thanks for all the messages of support and also to SPB and Mousehole officials for the recent transfers and swapping of players.

Charlie.

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Nice one. I think clubs like Penzance, Newquay, Falmouth, porthleven should be in the premier league.  

I'm glad you said that as well as in my opinion you have to have a realistic level of ambition. But more importantly it's about providing a facility for the community for years to come, so not just thinking about today!!

best of luck

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On ‎15‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 16:39, ex-chairman said:

First requirement is a good keen Committee who are football minded.

Truest thing said on this thread. A motivated committee lead by one or more business-minded people with contacts is worth it's weight in gold in local football. 

As a Falmouth Town fan I hope that our West Cornwall neighbours can survive this season and then push on out of the West division so that in the future there will be another local away game to watch.

I believe that once the Falmouth ground is built on Penlee Park will be the best ground left in Cornwall in terms of the stand and the other vantage points available.

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52 minutes ago, The Town Man said:

Truest thing said on this thread. A motivated committee lead by one or more business-minded people with contacts is worth it's weight in gold in local football. 

As a Falmouth Town fan I hope that our West Cornwall neighbours can survive this season and then push on out of the West division so that in the future there will be another local away game to watch.

I believe that once the Falmouth ground is built on Penlee Park will be the best ground left in Cornwall in terms of the stand and the other vantage points available.

Will the Falmouth ground ever be developed - talk about this has been ongoing for years ?

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On 17/02/2017 at 07:10, Joe Slovo said:

I can tell you Darren that Penzance's aim in the next 2 or 3 years is hopefully get back in the Premier division and FA Cup and Vase. This all depends on ground improvements etc. However the only thing we are talking about at the moment is retaining our Peninsula status. Again,thanks for all the messages of support and also to SPB and Mousehole officials for the recent transfers and swapping of players.

Charlie.

Charlie , aren't you limited on developing the ground as you are Tennant's?  Good luck to Penzance  for the future be great to get a reserve team back in the combo for some great local matches .

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I can tell you Darren that Penzance's aim in the next 2 or 3 years is hopefully get back in the Premier division and FA Cup and Vase. This all depends on ground improvements etc. However the only thing we are talking about at the moment is retaining our Peninsula status. Again,thanks for all the messages of support and also to SPB and Mousehole officials for the recent transfers and swapping of players.

Charlie.

I'm just talking about hard standing around the pitch etc for Vase/fa cup

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