It's an interesting time at Billericay at the moment, for different reasons. Our teams are doing fantastically well, the first team, the reserves/U21's, and the U18's are all top of their divisions. The ladies having won promotion last season now sit just four points off the top of their division, and on Sunday they comfortably progressed through to the first round of the Women's FA Cup. Our Colts are also doing well, and it’s really nice to see groups of them at first team games, their enthusiasm adds to the atmosphere on the day, and they all look as if they are enjoying it. Our supporter numbers are creeping upwardly of late, which is encouraging, and to top it all, when it looked as though we were heading for an abandonment due to floodlight failure, Uncle Fester hung onto the cables, used his special powers to light the bulbs and we managed to get in the full 90 minutes. Being top of the league brings its own problems and new pressures, not least from players and their egos. They sometimes forget that they are part of a team and the reason they are doing well is because their team mates around them are all working hard for a common cause. Also the system we play, has been put in place by Craig, so we are using player’s strengths and not having to draw too much on the weaker side of their game. We are just 14 games in and have won nothing, I hope the players don’t get sidetracked with desires of more money and, or, moves away,  because at the moment we have a fantastic opportunity to realise our ambitions of at least a top five finish. There are still 28 league games to play and I’m sure there will be a few twists and turns on the way, but if we keep focused and not get all 'St Neots' about ourselves, then we have a chance.

Floodlights

Last month we had to re-new our floodlight certificate, which we achieved, but to do so we needed three lamps replacing, and that’s where this particular problem began. The work was undertaken by C. Mumford, who are a business  specialising in floodlights. We provided the access platform and the cost of new lamps/bulbs was shown separately on the final invoice. Mr Mumford and an operative turned up just after midday, the operative did the work and Mr Mumford looked on. Mumfords are the same company who were to do the inspection and this was done on the same day (the cost of the inspection is paid for by the Ryman League). I was in attendance during the day; the guys turned up had a look around, used the cherry picker and changed the lamps. A little over an hour later the job was complete. “All done?” I asked … ”yep, all done” was the reply and off they went to wait in their van, ready to do the lux inspection when the sun went down.

A few days later we get the invoice, the labour charge only, no travelling, no components, just the labour part of the invoice was £942.00 inc VAT, that’s £450+ per hour, per person!!! To ensure I make this factually correct, (it will go to court if we don’t pay him) we did have an estimate and our invoice was for the estimated cost, BUT, Mumford are the experts, we contracted them to do the relevant work needed so that we would gain our certificate, we had trusted C. Mumford to charge us an appropriate amount, for the work needed. Due to the cost on the estimate, we had assumed there was considerable work to be done to pass the inspection, possibly realignment, cleaning of lamps, servicing (now that would have been handy given what happened Saturday) etc.  Had it been made clear that the estimate was for an hour’s work, or all that was needed was to change three lamps, then we would not have given the go-ahead. We have tried negotiating with Mumfords but they say NO, you agreed the estimate, so you have to pay the full price. What a sad state of affairs that businesses like Mumfords have to stoop to that level and charge non league football clubs. £900 for and hours labour.

Finally, and away day

After a marathon eight home games on the bounce we now have six away, the first being at Leiston in the Alan Boon League Cup, we have a few players suspended for that one so it’s a perfect opportunity for whoever comes in to show why they should keep the shirt. Then Saturday we are away to Conference South side Maidenhead and I’m looking forward to this one. Most of our cup games this season have been against teams from lower divisions and I’m keen to see how we compare to a team from the division above.

C’mon you Blues

Steve