Eastwards To Garforth

A new season, a new-ish league and a new team to face as Mossley make the first of what will be many trips across the Backbone of Britain™ to take on Simon Clifford.

Sorry that should read 'to take on Garforth Town' but in my defence, if you've ever visited their website you'll realise what an easy mistake it is to make.

Besides employing the kind of self-promotion that makes Dave Pace look like a publicity shy introvert, Simon Clifford, Garforth's chief executive, has gained something of a reputation amongst supporters of some non-league clubs; a few examples of which can be found here on the NonLeagueZone forums.

You can't fault his desire for wanting what's best for his club though. According to this months 4-4-2 magazine, with Garforth needing a win in the final game of last season to claim a spot in the Unibond, Clifford placed a picture of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in the dressing room as some form of motivation or inspiration. They lost and their conquerors on the day Carlton leapfrogged them in the league to clinch a guaranteed promotion place.

However his 25 year plan to reach the Premier League got an unexpected boost when Durham's decision to remain in football's very own Royston Vasey (the Northern League) allowed Town the opportunity to enter the Unibond via the tradesman's door.

During this time they also lost central midfielder Craig Farrand to a great club, whose name currently escapes me, on the other side of t' Pennines and at the time of typing they're currently scrambling around for a goalkeeper following their #1's decision to join Farsley Celtic last week. The Miners though do contain one player who's recently made the national media.

Duncan Williams announcement that he'll play Premiership football for nothing, and instead earn his corn suckling at the corporate teat, made the Times at the beginning of the week. And yes, Simon Clifford does get a mention or two. It's a generous stance to take and Mr.Williams seems more level headed than most players at the top tier will ever be but, is it really any different to one of us suddenly announcing to the world that they'd selflessly accept no payment whatsoever to sleep with Scarlett Johanssen but would be prepared to slap a Pepsi sticker on their bum for the event should Pepsico pay them to do so? That's to say how noble is a gesture when there's a slim to nought chance of it ever happening? Good luck to him but it does seem a tiny bit naiive.

Finally, whether you're going by car or the 11:48 train, don't forget to wrap up warm for this one. Despite the onset of global warming it's very cold in the Leeds area, around -12 at the moment. Lousy topical football humour - Mossley80 must be back for the new season.

Prediction: Having confidently predicted wins for most of Mossley's games last season and seen us ultimately get relegated, I think it may be a wise to start backing the opposition this time around. A win for Garforth.