News - February 2008

Cambridge United‘s Jimmy Quinn has won the Blue Square Premier “Manager of the Month” award for February. Quinn‘s side remained unbeaten as they negotiated a number of tricky fixtures throughout the period to go third in the table. The U‘s beat fellow promotion hopefuls Forest Green and Stevenage - as well as holding table-toppers Aldershot to a goalless draw followed by an away win at Halifax. Setanta Blue Square Premier pundit Paul Parker had this to say about Quinn - “When you look at the quality of the opposition that Cambridge faced, the fact they remained unbeaten was a real achievement.” Quinn is the first manager this season to pick up a second monthly award, after scooping the November prize.

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With the kick off on Saturday 1st March being set at 13:00 both the club bar and ticket office will be open from 10:00

All matchday mascots are reminded that they need to meet in the main office at 11:15

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Grays Athletic have signed left sided midfielder, Marlon Patterson, on one months loan.

Marlon was with Yeading FC before joining Dagenham & Redbridge in the summer of 2007

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Grays Athletic would like to apologise o the residents of Grange Road for the erection of the temporary scaffolding to the rear of their property, this scaffolding is being erected for the live televised fixture on Setanta Sports on Thursday 20th March 2008 when Grays Athletic will host Droylsden.

As the scaffolding is a temporary structure, no planning permission was required and it will be removed at a later date, once again Grays Athletic do apologise for any inconvenience caused.

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Grays Athletic Manager, Mick Woodward, has wasted no time in strengthening his squad with the loan signing of Dagenham & Redbridge Striker, Jamie Taylor; Jamie has played for Aldershot Town, AFC Wimbledon, Woking and Dagenham, Jamie is on 1 months loan at The New Recreation Ground

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Chairman and Manager, Mick Woodward, has added to his coaching staff with the introduction of ex Woking Captain Neil Smith, Neil has a wealth of experience that he can bring to the club and has recently completed his coaching qualifications.

Neil was released from Woking FC when Frank Gray became manager in May 2007 and went on to take over as manager at Welling FC

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Grays Athletic are looking for people to work as Matchday Football Safety Stewards. Working match days (weekdays and weekends) you will have a varied role. Please note you wont be able to watch the games as this is a paid role to do a job

Training and Equipment: You will be required to attend training courses to assist in developing your competence as a steward. You will be provided with suitable clothing for use solely in discharging your employment as a Club Steward

If you are interested in applying please contact Mark Franklin on 07966028926

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Grays Athletic have bought in Tim O‘Shea as a Senior Coach

Tim was a Tottenham youth player who went on to make three first-team appearances. He also won two Ireland Under-21 caps and was part of the 1985 Under 18 squad which included the likes of Niall Quinn, Terry Phelan, Pat Dolan, Martin Russell who beat England 1-0, the first time since 1949.

Tim has also played for played for Leyton Orient and Gillingham before spending seven seasons in Hong Kong. Tim was club captain at Farnborough Town, but was on loan to Welling at the time of their glamour tie with Arsenal in the FA Cup in 2003, Tim has also been involved with the Millwall FC Academy.

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Following Justin Edinburgh‘s departure from Grays Athletic, Chairman Mike Woodward will be taking over as First Team Manager, Gary Phillips will be Assistant Manager and the club will be employing two senior coaches to look after the fitness and tactics of the team

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Further to discussions between The Chairman and Justin Edinburgh where a proposal to restructure the clubs management was discussed Justin feels unable to continue with his duties as First Team Manager in a satisfactory way, as a result of this it has been mutually agreed between The Chairman and Justin to terminate his employment at Grays Athletic with immediate effect.

Justin would like to thank all at Grays Athletic Football Club for their support over the past 15 months and would like to wish everyone at the club success for the future.

Chairman, Mike Woodward, would like to thank Justin for everything that he has done for Grays Athletic during his time as Manager and also wishes him well for the future.

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Tottenham Hotspur will face Chelsea in The Carling Cup Final on Sunday 24th February 2008 @ 15:00, this game will be shown live in the Grays Athletic Clubhouse.

As a special promotion for the game all draught beer, lager & cider will be available for £1.50 a pint from 14:30 until 16:00

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Following Grays Athletic U18‘s 4-1 win over Bowers & Pitsea in the Essex Pelly Under 18 Cup Quarter finals on Sunday 9th February they have been drawn against Billericay Town in the Semi Final.

The fixture will be held on Sunday 9th March (kick off tbc) at:

Billericay Town Football Club
Blunts Wall Road
Billericay
Essex
CM12 9SA

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Jon Gaunt performs live in “An Audience With Jon Gaunt” at the Civic Hall in Grays on February 26th at 7.30pm.

FREE TICKETS TO THE SHOW FOR THE SIX BEST QUESTIONS FOR GAUNTY!!
(Plus a copy of his new book for the top three!!)

Jon Gaunt is fast becoming the UK‘s most talked about broadcaster - the man who says what the nation thinks.

Whether he is talking to his million listeners most mornings on TalkSport, or putting the world to rights on Sky TV News on Tuesdays or in his popular Sun Column on Fridays, you can guarantee that ‘Gaunty’ will always ‘shoot from the lip’ in his usual pull no punches style.

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Following the abandoned game against Rushden & Diamonds on Tuesday evening the club have looked at the situation and have put in place the following policy should this happen again in the future:

If a fixture is abandoned prior to half time then full refunds will be made against the match day tickets on the day only, any persons not obtaining a refund will be able to use the ticket for the rescheduled fixture.

If a fixture is abandoned at or after half time there will be no refunds made against the tickets nor will they be able to be used for the rescheduled fixture.

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Grays Athletic Defender, Jack Haverson, has left the club by mutual consent, Jack will be joining Blue Square South club Bromley FC, Grays Athletic would like to wish Jack all the best for the future

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Any refunds for the abandoned Rushden fixture must be made by close of business today, all outstanding tickets will only be allowed to be used for the rescheduled fixture (tbc) you will not be able to exchange the tickets for tomorrow‘s game as previously stated.

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The Grays Athletic vs Torquay United fixture on Saturday 1st March 2008 will now kick off at 13:00, this change has been made to accomodate Torquay‘s Monday night fixture which is live on Setanta Sports.

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The Grays Athletic vs Burton Albion fixture that was due to take place on Tuesday 26th February will now be played on Tuesday 11th March 2008 @ 19:45

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Grays Athletic Midfielder, Karl Murray, has left the club. Manager Justin Edinburgh stated that Karl had wanted to leave at Christmas but decided to stay a bit longer, unfortunately he still could not settle and has asked to leave, both Justin and the club are disappointed but have allowed him to leave as they don‘t want unsettled players and prefer to have players that want to play for the shirt.

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Tonights fixture has been called off due to the fog

Tickets purchased for tonights match can be refunded, exchanged for Saturday‘s fixture against Exeter or retained for the rearranged Rushden fixture

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The fixture between Grays Athletic and Droylsden has been moved from Saturday 22nd March 2008 to Thursday 20th March 2008 and will now been shown live on Setanta Sports, we are still awaiting a confirmed kick-off time, once this is known it will be advertised on the site.

The Grays vs Burton Albion game which was scheduled for Tuesday 26th @ 19:45 has been postponed due to Burton Albion having to play their Setanta Shield 5th round fixture on that evening, no new date has been agreed for this match, please check the web site for further details.

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Crawley Town‘s versatile attacker Jamie Cook has topped the fans poll to be the Blue Square Premier “Player of the Month” for January. Cook found the net a remarkable seven times in four matches to fire his team up the Blue Square Premier table. The summer signing hit goals against former clubs Oxford United and Rushden & Diamonds. A second-half brace from Cook, away at Droylsden, ensured that the Red Devils left Manchester with all three points after trailing at half-time.

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Grays Athletic Reserves will face Ipswich Town Reserves tomorrow evening in the Pontins Combination League at The New Recreation Ground, kick off is 19:00.

Ipswich are the current East Division League leaders with an undefeated record, there last game was a 12-1 win over MK Dons, Grays Athletic will be putting out a strong side against them and hope to be the first team to defeat them.

Prices for tomorrows game:
Adult: £4
Child/Con: £ 2
Season Ticket Holders: Free

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Alan Power has been recalled from his loan spell with Grays Athletic and has returned to Nottingham Forest.

Jack Obersteller has extended his loan with Grays Athletic until the end of the season

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Next Monday‘s (11 Feb 08) Pontins Combination fixture against Peterborough has been rescheduled for Monday 17th March 2008 @ 19:00

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Liam Daish has won the Blue Square Premier “Manager of the Month” for January and has proved that when it comes to managing Ebbsfleet United - he knows best for now. With the Myfootballclub takeover in full swing, over 25,000 online managers are itching to get involved in team selection for the Kent club. The former Coventry and Ireland defender led his club to three straight wins in the Blue Square Premier during the month, part of a nine match unbeaten run in all competitions. The Fleet now find themselves just six points off the Blue Square Premier play-off positions after some fine displays including inflicting the first away defeat of high-flying Burton Albion‘s league campaign.

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Colin Daniel has returned to Crewe Alexandra.

Mark Marshall has signed a permanent deal with Eastleigh FC.

Charley Hearn has gone on loan to Lewes FC for 1 month

Adam Gross has returned to Grays Athletic following his loan spell at Weymouth FC.

Jack Haverson has returned to Grays Athletic following his loan spell at Sutton United

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We have had several requests from players about the possibility of having trials with Grays Athletic Football Club; we would like to state that there will be no further trials until pre-season of the 08/09 season.

Players are reminded that all requests and CV‘s should be sent in writing to the football club, unfortunately we cannot accept applications by e-mail

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