for the Summertime blues...

PC upgrade of sorts complete, what files I could recover from a dying hard drive are safely on the new drive and the old 120 Gb drive will be formatted to act as a backup. 'New' 19" monitor means I can design to a higher resolution and the nomadsfc.co.uk TLD which points to the old netfirms.com domain will be revamped to provide a single page portal with fast links to as many CQN related websites as I can find, including the W-P.com site, the WPL one, the club's official sportsnetwork site and pages at BBC and the Daily Post etc.

One or two players have expressed a wish to have keepsake DVDs of various games. Production of those and some other memorable material is underway.

Connah's Quay Nomads FC awards 2007/8:

GARY PINCH - THE BRIAN MORRIS CLUBMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

CRAIG JONES - THE MANAGERS PLAYER OF THE SEASON

TOMMY BAKER - THE PLAYERS PLAYER OF THE SEASON

MARC CADWALLADER  - THE YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON

PAUL PRITCHARD - THE RON MORRIS SUPPORTERS PLAYER OF THE SEASON

I would have made Bungle my first choice as supporters' player of the season but I never voted. No surprise or dispute with any of the awarsd though, congratulations to all of the players concerned.

There is some widespread supposition that Nomads have been playing their best football of the season in recent weeks but statistically this is wide of the mark.

The matches up until Christmas yielded 18 points, and only a home triumph over bottom club Llangefni and a crucial win at Caersws broke a run of ten defeats out of twelve. Those two results, the points shared with Haverfordwest and Welshpool and narrow wins over Caernarfon, Cefn Druids and Caersws have kept us in the league. In this context, the recent draw at Airbus looks a far better result than popular reaction at the time suggested. Without doubt, the one player most influential when those crucial results have been wrought out has been Chris Herbert. His level of contribution and willingness to play in any position to drive the team on to some level of success has been unmatched, as has his enthusiasm whether selected to start or wait his turn as sub on the bench.

It's more the pity then that it took two thirds of the season before Herbert was given a decent run in the side. His early outings in the League Cup gave Nomads supporters a glimpse of his ability and willingness to work for the team but these games were lost opportunities to get a settled side. Either way, the spoils of success are all the sweeter with the memory of the bitter taste of defeat. Here's to the prospect of our gaining some just desserts on Saturday, and a season of sugar, spice and all things nice in 08/09, even though considerable long-term off-field uncertainty remains unresolved.

Following discussions at the weekend and the generous offer of sponsorship, Ar Y Blaen will remain operation for the forseeable future, at least until the end of another year. In this time a further round of screenings and workshops will take place, in all likelihood in Connah's Quay, Queensferry and Saltney - all along the river. See Ar Y  Blaen for further details, and note that the sponsors' page is back online, on an honarary basis and on Ar Y Blaen's own terms.

The last few days of Ar Y Blaen, possibly, and I mean to run a story that might have some echoes throughout the league. It concerns the aftermath of the Airbus v Rhyl match at the end of last year, when a group of Rhyl supporters apparently physically attacked a visiting Welsh Premier League manager and his colleague in fron tof several startled witnesses. The fracas was eventually broken up by security staff from the aircraft works.

The whole matter has been (so far) covered up, but this is very very wrong and means that the criminal element who have been marring many a Rhyl match have got away with it. In any other league, this would incur an investigation and quite probably a points deduction. I would say that this is in order in this case, and I would put the figure at around 50 points, enough to effectively expel Rhyl from the WPL. The net effect ofthe attack is that a senior manager has been lost to the league and that when this happens next, as it surely will, someone else is going to be hurt. If it was me or one of my family I would not hesitate to sue Rhyl Football Club or the FAW and take personal steps to bring justice and vengeance heavily to bear about the heads and wallets of the offenders.

As it is, WPL clubs face the prospect of heavy policing costs to contain a handful of hooligans that have caused distress at grounds throughout the league for over a year. Unless Rhyl FC take immediate steps to eradicate this poison, they may well find themselves out of the UEFA Cup, out of the WPL and out of business.