Well, that escalated quickly

I had been expecting rain for Prescot Cables game at home against Glossop North End, and, as I had not replaced the hood I lost a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering where to stand to get a decent view without getting wet. There were some cask ales from the Melwood Beer Company in the bar: the Walloper Gold the brewery makes for us is usually on keg dispense, presumably to avoid losses from tapping a cask before a late postponement and the contents going unsold. I need not have worried about the weather, and I found a plastic pint glass somewhat tricky to handle in conjunction with the camera.

Our Train Crew is often mentioned in these pages as respectable people naming themselves like a dodgy outfit from the late seventies. Some Glossop supporters with a minibus had the same idea.

I took up position in front of the tea bar, as against Witton in midweek, although this time I was alongside the half we were attacking.

I have reported over the last few weeks that we have kept about half the side we had at the end of last season. However, that has come a bit undone, with only three of the team that played against Padiham on the team sheet for this game, with Joe Evans, James Edgar and Ben Morrow all on the bench. I was unsure on the whereabouts of the others, apart from Jonah O'Reilly, who was injured.

Phil Bannister has been getting back into his stride since rejoining.

Phil Bannister

We did not have a good first half, not only conceding three goals, but also losing Leon Williams and Rob Doran to injury.

Rob Doran

In the second half, we seemed to be playing a bit more as a team, but we still conceded a fourth goal.

With three poor results from three poor performances, there was talk of whether the manager's position was in jeopardy. This seemed premature, although the board would need to feel he was on top of the situation. I am not aware of any discussion that took place between Neil and the board, but they clearly did not feel they had the reassurance they needed, and the following afternoon the League posted a club statement that we had parted company with Neil Prince.

The problem was that this was not the first anyone heard of it, as the news dribbled out on social media, with the first club related statement being from the Reserves' Twitter feed that Joe Gibiliru Senior would be taking temporary charge of the first team. I see how they reached the conclusion that the news was in the public domain, but it points to a gap in our communications. Hopefully the new website will be active soon, as it will allow multiple people to add content, and make it easier to ensure the club's official channels are the first to issue news.

I enjoyed the football Neil Prince's team played last season, with a decent group of young players - perhaps the team I have felt most attached to over the years - and we avoided relegation with a couple of weeks to spare, so this blog wishes Neil well in his future endeavours.

Neil Prince

The rest of the pictures from the game can be seen here.

Final score: Prescot Cables 0 Glossop North End 4.