New matchday programme
Brian Caffarey
6:18pm, Mon 10th Aug 2009
We’ve got a fantastic matchday programme lined up for Tuesday night. It’s been completely – and brilliantly! – re-designed by Woking fan, Andy Hall, of www.anthemstudio.co.uk and it’s got lots of new features, including, this time round, ‘The Ranter’ and Neil Bennett’s ‘Life Sentence’. Club Chairman, Shahid Azeem, talks about his ambitions for the Club, and Graham Baker reflects on his pre-season preparations and his aims for the season. Plus Sadie Gordon assesses our BSS rivals and we recall our last encounter with Chelmsford City in a memorable game back in 1986.
Some of the highlights are:
Page 3 Graham Baker reflects on Saturday’s encounter with Welling and looks forward to the clash with the Clarets.
“On behalf of Jimmy Dack, myself and the players, I’d like to warmly thank all the Woking fans on Saturday for their marvellous – and very vocal – support. It really was greatly appreciated and gave a big boost to Jimmy and the side. It felt as though you ‘willed’ that winning goal once we’d levelled the scores.”
Page 7 Lloyd Wye and Adie Cowler off! We look back on a dramatic FA Cup tussle with Chelmsford City over 20 years ago.
Pages 8-9 Shahid Azeem sets out his stall.
“What this club needs above all is some stability. We’ve had too many changes of managers and too much upheaval in the last few years. We haven’t set Graham any particular target and don’t see any need to do so. Nor do I intend to interfere at all in the football side of things. We know that Graham, Jimmy Dack and the rest of his management team will do their utmost to make us successful. We want to play attractive football, start winning some games and bring people back through the doors. I know that’s what Graham wants too.”
Page 13 The Ranter! A jaundiced view of the world from a Woking fan! Take cover!
Pages 16-17 Brian Caffarey quizzes Graham Baker on his pre-season preparations and what he hopes to achieve.
“As Manager, I think I need to keep a little bit of a distance, although there are times of course when I need to get very close to a player. I think it’s akin in a way to the way it used to be with your headmaster at school: there needs to be some respect and even perhaps a little bit of fear.”
Pages 24-25 Pictures and profiles of the Woking FC squad 2009-10
Page 28 Life Sentence. Neil Bennett, author of last season’s brilliant ‘A Season to Remember’, ruminates on life and Woking, recalling the day we lost to Oxford United:
“It’s over, I know. We're over. Salvaging even a point is beyond this most desperate of all Woking sides. We're the footballing equivalent of an acne-ridden, gawping-mouthed, baseball-capped, be-hoodied unemployable Jeremy Kyle Show participant.”
Page 29 Sadie Gordon picks out the BSS winners and losers.
Pages 32-33 Brian Caffarey charts our progress through the labyrinthine pre-season fixtures.
Page 42 Where are they now? Brian Caffarey discovers what’s happened to former Cards over the summer.
And, of course, the rest of the programme is packed full with all the usual reports, previews and great photos.
Support the Club and buy a copy! Only £2.50. You can order a copy from the Club Shop if you can’t make it to the game.