New season approaches for the Tons

Clapton FC Supporters' Association, 1937 - not an Ultra in sight!

Lew Listz, stalwart of the Friends of Clapton FC, looks forward to next season at the Old Spotted Dog.  What follows is an edited piece from the Friends website, to whom we are grateful for allowing us to reproduce it here.

The fixture list for the Tons will be published soon and we will bring it to this site, asap.  Another Tons fanatic, Andy Barr, has written a brief history of Clapton FC for us, which we will publish as a curtain raiser, here.

We hope to be able to cover the Tons progress closely next season, possibly with regular match reports. Other commitments permitting, we will endeavour to add to the Ultra's numbers at the Old Spotted Dog in the months ahead.

Lew writes:

The Clapton players and team management are back in harness, preparing for the new term and will undoubtedly be looking to better last season’s performance. As one would expect, there is no lack of effort and a good number of new faces, trialists, fringe players and some of last season’s regulars are being put through their paces.

For this season the Clapton team will need to set realistic and achievable targets. Last season was littered with set backs, but the players and team management staff ably negotiated this rocky path.

The 21 points were won with a lot of blood, sweat and tears but, let us not forget, that we took points at the home grounds of the Champions and their main rivals for the title. Thus there were many positives to be drawn from those efforts, upon which the team can build.

The first thing to establish is stability and this is certainly achievable when the only way is up. For the Tons to win 35 points this season would be a sound improvement and, when one reflects on those games we lost by a close margin and the emerging strength of the squad, this is totally achievable. To win 40 points would put everyone in Dreamland and would no doubt earn Chris Wood the freedom of Forest Gate.

In reality we are talking about a sizable target for a team with a budget of zero. But, if we aim high, you never know what the season will bring.

I am sure that the players and the playing staff can’t wait to see the Ultras in action again and I have no doubt that the ‘support from the scaffold’ will lift the squad ready for the battles ahead.