Issue 03

01 - front cover
02 -
03 - editorial
04 - alt end of season awards
05 - cuttings
06 - badge quiz
07 - nightmare in basingstoke
08 - party political broadcast
09 - quotes
10 - the geoff collection
11 - interview with jerome john
12 -
13 -
14 - singing for england... deano
15 - changing face of football
16 - kingstonian web
17 -
18 - the old ones are the only ones
19 - cuttings
20 - letters
21 -
22 - wiao shorts
23 - the last page
24 - back cover

NIGHTMARE IN BASINGSTOKE

"Meet at Surbiton at 5.15, we'll get the 5.30 train," were our instructions from the group leader (only the leader for a day because he was the only one who knew how to get to Basingstoke). Tuesday 23rd December. Cold. Wet. Waiting to go to the Mickey Mouse of Mickey Mouse cups. To avoid embarrassment let's not use the leader's real name, we'll use a code name for him - Bimon Sell. Anyway, four of us were waiting for Bimon at Surbiton station. "Don't be late" he told us on Saturday. We weren't, but he was. The 5.30 to Basingstoke came into the platform. We almost got on it, but we all have consciences, and couldn't leave Bimon behind. Bimon arrived 10 minutes later, "Don't worry we'll get the train at 6." It never came. Neither did the one at 6.30. We were left waiting for the 7.00 train trying to make a 7.30 kick off. We got into Basingstoke at 7.45. Bimon had made the most of the long train journey, and was, shall we say, now under the influence of the little people in his head.

After spending half an hour walking round every single street in Basingstoke and a few renditions of "We're lost, and we know we are," and "Shit town, no ground," we eventually found the bus garage. The only problem was it had closed down for the night, so it was a 10 minute walk back to the train station, again via every street, to find a taxi. A £5 ride in a taxi and we were at the ground, just in time for the second half, much to the delight of Havin Gall (not his real name) as the Mark Murphy jokes were wearing a bit thin (see page 9) and he needed someone to talk to. It was half time, so we got in for free. We were most annoyed though that the programmes had sold out. I still haven't got one. Even Bimon in his happy mode was pissed off. The lack of programmes seemed to sober him up. He has his priorities.

The second halfers won the game 1-0, another classy Leworthy strike, but the 90 minuters lost 3-2. We hitched a lift back on the coach (sorry Mark), we couldn't be bothered to find our way back to the station. Any other club and we would have viewed it as a wasted night, but it wasn't any other club, it was K's. The things we do for K's! It was good to see the other K's supporters. It's games like this when you get to see the real hardcore K's supporters - the saddos who will follow K's absolutely anywhere – it wouldn't be the same without you, you make the club, this is what football should be like. But enough of that, who cares about the Full Members Cup anyway? We're gonna win the league.

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PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST

The 'I Am Good, Honest Guv' Party - Leader: Graham Westley

Friends, supporters, directors, lend me your beers. When I get into power I will strive to bring back the three 'r's to the club - relegation, relegation and resignation.

Vote Westley for a good laugh.

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INTERVIEW WITH JEROME JOHN

At a rainy day in Oxford, (Yes we made it all that way) WIAO caught up with K's number one goalkeeper Jerome John, and he talked about the title race, the lack of black goalkeepers, and Kevin Rattray's affection for other peoples underpants!

WIAO: Firstly Jerome, what did you think of the last issue of the fanzine?
JJ: What I saw of it, it wasn't bad, but one of the players took it and I haven't seen it since.

WIAO: Any names?
JJ: Kevin Rattray, (laughs) he passed it on to Danny Smith and I haven't seen it since.

WIAO: Going back to August, why did you join Kingstonian?
JJ: Geoff really, I spoke to Geoff, he told me what type of players were coming down, and the fact they wanted to get into the conference. And I wanted to play in the conference, that was my main reason.

WIAO: But you're still training with West Ham.
JJ: Yeah that's right. I went in Monday. We only trained one day this week because of the bank holiday.

WIAO: Do you find it difficult doing that or are you used to it now?
JJ: No, I'm used to it now, even though we train in the evenings, you get a break between morning training and evening training. I think it keeps me sharper than the rest of the players. Here obviously there is no goalkeeper coach, it's good to train at West Ham with people like Les Sealey and the rest of the goalkeepers.

WIAO: When you first arrived you made a bit of an impact; a penalty save in the first game and then a few clean sheets.
JJ: Yeah, but to tell the truth, he scuffed the penalty, and it's good to keep some clean sheets, but then I got injured.

WIAO: What was the story there?
JJ: I over stretched three of the ligaments in my ankle. I think you've got four, so the ankle was quite weak.

WIAO: That was at St Albans wasn't it?
JJ: Yeah, I caught the ball and went over on it and the guy who was about 15 stone landed on top of it so that didn't help.

WIAO: When Stuart Mackenzie came did you think you weren't going to get your place back?
JJ: I always believed that I was better than any goalkeeper down here, but because he was doing so well, I couldn't approach Geoff and say why am I not playing. When I got injured I wasn't playing particularly well, I didn't have a great time at Basingstoke because I played that game with an injury. I explained that to Geoff and he understood that, so I didn't play against Dulwich and Tony Wells came in and didn't have the best game (with a rye smile).

At this point we were interrupted by Scott Corbett who had been to the bar. Jerome had asked for an orange juice and lemonade. Scott brought over a lemonade.

JJ: Where's the orange?
SC: What?
JJ: I asked for an orange and lemonade.

Scott walks off.

WIAO: You just can't get the staff these days.
JJ: He's a bit thick, Scotty. Anyway, I was wondering am I ever going to play this season, but fortunately for me he (Mackenzie) went back to Farnborough, and I got back in.

WIAO: What happens if you get injured now?
JJ: I suppose we could call back Tony Wells because he is actually still available, touch wood I won't get injured (Jerome knocks the table). I really want to play the rest of the games because it's great at the moment because everybody is so confident.

WIAO: How do you see the title race now?
JJ: It's still up to us because if Boreham Wood win all their games in hand, they are still one point behind. If we win our last five games we will be OK.

WIAO: You have a big game at Sutton on Saturday.
JJ: Yeah but saying that, today would have been a massive game, game Monday is a massive game, because every game we win helps us get closer to the championship.

WIAO: But there was a slight hiccup against Yeading.
JJ: Yeah that's right. I watched the game on the cable 17, we didn't play particularly well ,but you know (shrugs shoulders).

WIAO: Why do you think there are not many black goalkeepers?
JJ: I dunno. A lot of black players like to score and get all the headlines, but I'm a bit lazy, I can only run for about 20 minutes, so I decided to go in goal. I always liked Peter Shilton, World Cup '86, when I was younger. I always liked him and I had the England goalkeepers kit, so I decided to go in goal.

WIAO: So who do you follow now?
JJ: Goalkeepers, Schmeichel, Seaman, I like Bernard Llama at West Ham. He has been really good in training, he has got a different style of goalkeeping. But they are all good goalkeepers.

WIAO: So, who is the joker in the dressing room?
JJ: Everyone is a joker in the dressing room, but the biggest joker is probably Jamie Ndah and Kevin Rattray, he is a massive joker Kevin.

WIAO: Any big set ups?
JJ: Socks going missing, peoples underwear going missing, shirts going missing. When the lads put out the shirts before the game, Kevin will nick Danny's or Lennie's, just small little cracks, but it keeps the spirit up.

WIAO: How do you think we will do in the conference if we get there?
JJ: I think we will do better than this year. I'm not saying we are going to win the league, but we play a lot better against better opposition. When we play teams that aren't as good as us it is sometimes hard to motivate ourselves.

WIAO: Like today, maybe you think we just have to turn up to get the three points.
JJ: That type of attitude, Oxford, bottom of the league they can't get out of the trouble even if they win all three games, but you still have to win the games, you have to have the attitude to win and win well, because you never know, the title might go down to goal difference, so scoring goals is very important.

WIAO: You've only really got David Leworthy and Lennie Dennis up front at the moment, is that a problem?
JJ: Well Eddie got injured the other day against Yeading. If we had somebody with a bit of pace we would have been in a few more times. Yes it is a big problem, but hopefully they can do a job to the end of the season.

WIAO: What is your message to the K's fans?
JJ: Keep shouting and making a lot of noise. There wasn't much atmosphere against Yeading, I suppose it didn't really help the players. Normally the fans are really loud, I think it's better when we play away. Everyone's a bit edgy, the fans don't really seem to say nothing until we score, or get a corner (laughs).

WIAO: You always seem fired up at the end of the game.
JJ: Yeah, I'm quite an emotional person when you win and it's been a particularly hard game like Boreham Wood, St. Albans was a tough game, and it's great to win games like that.

WIAO: What has been your best and worst moments of the season?
JJ: (long pause)........I think worst was probably the Boreham Wood game when we lost 5-2, I think that was probably my worst game of the season, I wasn't helped by a few dodgy backpasses, but I didn't play particularly well that day. My best moment, I dunno really, when we win. I'm quite happy to have nothing to do all day and watch the ball buzz about up front and score goals.

WIAO: Do you get any stick from away fans?
JJ: Yeah, all the time, the worst were either Boreham Wood, when we scored. They were saying ******* **** and stuff, and Dagenham at home I can't repeat what they were saying, but I try to ignore them because I know they only do it because you're good. If you're cr*p, they don't bother, and you have to concentrate on the game. It's like Les Cleevley, he gets involved and loses concentration from the game, and that's what happened at Dulwich. He got aggravated and tried to beat up three players in the tunnel. I always try to ignore it and concentrate on my game.

WIAO: Thanks Jerome and good luck for the rest of the season.
JJ: Cheers!

Jerome mentioned we play better against better opposition so we tried to prove it..

K's record against top 8 in the league as at 12.4.98:
P14 W7 D5 L2 F30 A17 Pts27

K's record against bottom 8 in the league as at 12.4.98:
P14 W7 D4 L3 F21 A10 Pts25

So there you have it, what we've known all along, K's raise their game against the top teams, although I wouldn't count Hendon as top. What are they doing 5th?

More proof:
K's 4 Dover 0 and Camberley 2 K's 1.

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SINGING FOR ENGLAND... DEAN HOOPER

As you may know, Dean Hooper was picked to represent England Semi-pro against Holland Semi-pro last March 3rd, played at Crawley Town. We just had to go. The thrill of seeing a K's player in an England shirt. Dean was the only player outside the conference in the squad.

Seven of us were squeezed into two cars. We each paid our £2 petrol fare and off we went. The day before the match (Whyteleafe at home) we asked Mark Murphy if he wanted to come. His reply was, "I would rather stay home and pick my nose." So he did.

The rain and wind couldn't suppress our enthusiasm. It was white K's shirts and St. George crosses all round. There were quite a lot of people in the ground. It was fun spotting all the different clubs. Nearly everyone there was a supporter of one non-league club or another. The biggest turnouts were Crawley (it was their ground) and Cheltenham Town, who had 8 players in the original squad. The noise was amazing. All the different clubs each with their own songs, all coming together for England. Us, Crawley and Cheltenham were the only clubs making any real noise though. The highlight of the singing was when all three of us started up 'red army.' We started singing 'Big Fat Geoff's red & white army,' so Cheltenham and Crawley started their versions of the same song.

Back to the match. Dean Hooper started the match. He was playing down the right, same as at K's. His best spell was in the first 5 minutes, when he had the first shot and won the first corner. Dean played consistently well through the whole game. He was taken off before the end of the game, but this was because of tiredness, rather than bad play. Also the coach was trying to give all the subs a game. England ended up winning 2-1.

From what we saw of 'The best of non-league' we can look forward to the conference. None of our players would have looked out of place in that England team, except for Davey Williamson, because he's from Northern Ireland, so I believe, I may be wrong.

We went into the bar after the match, and exchanged stories about various outings with the Cheltenham fans. They especially enjoyed the one about us not behaving gentlemanly in Gloucester's ground (Gloucester are their biggest rivals), and we enjoyed their stories about them beating Sutton.

The whole day was a great laugh and a good experience. We will all go to the next England Semi-pro game, even if there are no K's players (though there should be) and I would recommend you come as well, it is worth it.

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The Changing Face Of Football

What is happening to our game? You used to support one team and go to football at 3pm Saturday afternoon to see that team. We bought boiled burgers and bovril, not shares. We would always buy our match tickets on the day. Money has taken over our game. Luckily we can still survive as working class football supporters at our level, but how much longer will this last, especially if we start going up. The money men have already eaten up the Premiership and are working through the 1st Division.

The commercial side is amazing. Clubs are recruiting a lot of money from sponsors, and this is always on the up. Even Oxford City, bottom or the Ryman Premier League, already relegated, have their ground packed with sponsorship boards. Their perimeter fence has no room whatsoever left on it. If we do go up the price of following K's WILL increase. There is no way we can stop it. Not only will the cost of travel increase, but so will ticket prices. I was bored new years day, so I went along to the local derby between Hayes and Slough. I spent more than twice as much at a normal day out at K's.

The world cup has sent everyone crazy. No-one can get tickets unless you are an original England travel club member, or spend all your money on an executive package. These executive packages have been set up for rich posers. People who don't really care about football, they just want to be seen. What about us loyal fans? That's the problem, our loyalty. The clubs know we will follow them whatever. You can't get rid of loyal fans, so the clubs are able to treat them as badly as they want. I'm not saying this happens at K's, but how much longer until we get taken over by the money monsters?

Thanks to Sky, matches have been moved all over the place. You can now catch a domestic match any day of the week, throughout the whole season. Times vary, you can see a match any time in the day from 11.15am until 8pm. It just isn't football.

The whole game has become Americanised. More and more people are calling our national game s*cc*r. I hate that word. I hate it more than Sutton or Woking or Cleevely. Soccer is an evil American word. Why do we have to follow the Americans so much? Our league is fine, why do we have to change it to suit the Americanites. We don't want 6 teams per league. We don't want half way line penalties. We do want draws. Our problem is we can't stop what is happening. The fans used to run football, but not anymore. Whoever has the biggest wallet rules the game. One day we will get our game back. The multi-billionaires will become bored of football, move back to cricket and rugby. But this change may come too late. We are in danger of pricing out a whole generation of football supporters. If this happens, football will die out. If we are not careful, this could be the beginning of the end of football.

We want and love our game. This game is football. The perfect game. Stop ruining it.

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