Newsletter
September 30th 2024
Greetings from the Old Esthameians Football Club newsletter for September 2024. The aim of this newsletter is to keep you all up to date with all the team news, match updates, social events and much more.
What a month September turned out to be. The Old Es are second in the league with a game in hand. Three league games and three wins. 9 points, 9 goals, and only 2 against. In fact, the Old Es have played 225 minutes without conceding a goal. Will the clean sheets continue?
We had no game on 28th September due to that date being our week off. There is an odd number of teams in the league, (its an odd league) which means that one team each week has a rest.
We now have a full fixture list up to Christmas, so the entire squad will be getting an outing during this busy time. Why not come along to a game and cheer the Old Es on. Supporters are always welcome.
Injuries
It’s been a bruising month. Before the season started, we had a number of long-term injuries and the hard ground and hard matches have taken their toll.
Current List of Injured Players
Natham (Beans):
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Knee ligament damage, expected back training at the end of October
Robert Kirk:
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Ankle avulsion fracture, expected back at training late November
Charlie Camden:
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Dislocated Knee. Not expected before Christmas
Harry Evans:
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Broken collar bone first game of the season. Not expected before Christmas
Kane Williams:
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Groin strain expected back mid-October
Henry Gray:
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Hamstring, expected back mid-October
Harland Taylor:
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Piriformis injury, expected back mid-October
New Signings
We are becoming popular, with a number of players from other clubs wishing to join the Old Es. We are playing an exciting brand of football, and training is very competitive and the turn out has been full every week. The other good news is that the average age of the squad has come down, providing an excellent foundation for our long term growth plan.
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Average age of squad last season = 30 years
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Average age of squad of new signings = 22 years
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Average age of squad today = 26 years
Mind you, the average age of the management team has gone from 30 years to 62 years !
The new signings have settled in well, and with all the injuries we have had, the new players are indeed very welcome. Everyone will be getting plenty of game time over the coming months.
Major Housing Association
We are very grateful to our new sponsor MajorHousing for providing us with the funds to buy our own AI Camera man. Yes, we are now in a position to film every game using the latest AI technology to film, edit and distribute every game, goal and highlight.
A special thank you to John Swinney for the generous support.
Major Housing Association stands as a testament to our unwavering commitment to delivering quality homes. We proudly identify as a for-profit registered provider of Social Housing, and this unique position is central to who we are. It empowers us to combine social responsibility with the business acumen necessary to deliver exceptional housing solutions at scale. For more information, please visit
New Sponsor
New AI Video Equipment
This is exciting news.
With the help of Major Housing, the Old Es have purchased our own remote AI Camera man. Yes, this device actually tracks the ball during a game allowing the full game to be captured in detail.
Mounted on a 14-foot tripod, all of our games will be recorded and posted onto social media. The AI camera automatically tracks the game.
No cameraman needed, which his handy, as the current one never shows up.
Once the pilot is approved, and we have read the manual, we plan to stream all games live. Watch this space for more details as we hope to be broadcasting a game in October. In the meantime, take a look at the marketing video.
Very exciting. More Info
Next Fixture Cup Tie
Our next game is a cup game, against Buckhurst Way, on Saturday 5th October 2.00pm kick off. Buckhurst Way are two divisions below but are doing well in their league.
The match is a cup tie and we all know how they can turn out. There needs to be a result on the day so, if it’s a draw at full time, it goes straight to penalties. The players have been instructed with a detailed dossier of how to take penalties.
In summary, no side footed shots, and don’t kick the ball over the bar. This attention to detail can make all the difference in high pressure moments.
Hope you can make the game. It should be a cracker.
Full match details on our fixtures page.
Thank you as ever for your support.
What else are you doing when Saturday Comes?
Newsletter
September 2nd 2024
Greetings from the Old Esthameians Football Club newsletter for September 2024. The aim of this newsletter is to keep you all up to date with all the team news, match updates, social events and much more related to the Old Es.
Come down and watch a game.
All fixture information is on the home page of our website.
What else are you doing when Saturday comes?
New Executive Board
September 2nd 2024
Well, where do we start?
It has been a hectic period lately. After facing challenges in recent years, the Old Es are now under a new management team who have dedicated time and resources to revamping the old club, and we are already seeing improvements across the board. There are many expressions of gratitude to convey, but we will save those for later, as we understand your eagerness to learn about recent developments.
Click here to find out more about the new executive team headed by the Chairman Chris Wood.
Five-Year Plan
More Teams More Old Es
Our 5-year plan aims to have teams for men, women, boys and girls representing the Old Es at all levels. The goal is to propel the Old Es back to its former glory and reclaim our position as one of the top amateur teams in East London.
In year 1, we will primarily focus on laying a solid foundation. This involves stabilising finances, reintroducing the importance of training, fitness, tactics, competitive selection, and a winning mentality! We have a new kit, training facilities and a pumped-up football. Things are moving forward fast. The manager has committed to guiding us out of the division this season so we assumed he meant aiming for promotion. So we gave him the job. We are now eagerly awaiting the start of the season.
Pre-Season Training
August 1st 2024
The Pre-Season Training commenced on Thursday, August 1st. The players arrived as the clouds gathered overhead. The photos below capture the sky transforming into a deep orange hue amidst the mid-summer showers. Simultaneously, the team also underwent a noticeable change in their faces as the training sessions intensified with the introduction of new drills and our revised playing style. A few months off football certainly showed.
However, after a few weeks of training, the squad numbers have increased, with new players joining and the old guard returning from their breaks; the intensity of training has picked up, fitness has improved and our new playing style has begun to take shape.
Recruitment
New Players. Younger Players
We have been busy recruiting new players to the squad. Using both player contacts and social media our training squad is now over 35 players.
This recruitment has also changed the age profile of the squad, with a lot of under-23s pushing the old guard for first team places. The future is looking very bright.
Pre-Season Game
August 17th 2024
A pre-season match was held at our home ground, Ford Sports Ground on Saturday, August 17th against a very good SFN FC. The Old Es included several under 23 players in our team to provide them with match day experience, alongside many new squad players who had not played together before.
The team started well, and a well organised, solid defensive low block in the first half meant that SFN struggled to breach the well-structured defence, managing only to score from a late corner kick. As the game progressed however, the team succumbed to the heat, leading to a final 4-1 defeat. Many lessons were learnt, and the boys who played, especially the new boys, gained valuable match day experience, and gave everything for the shirt.
Royal Forest
August 31st 2024
Our last pre-season friendly was away against Royal Forest on Saturday 31st August. We brought a strong squad of sixteen players to this fixture. Being a pre-season game, rolling subs were used, giving minutes to the squad.
Royal Forest were a good side and managed to take a 2-0 lead, with both goals coming from corners. However, by half time things were even. Harry Evans fired in our first from the edge of the box after a stunning individual run. The equaliser was a good team goal passed across the face of the Royal Forest goal and finished off by an excellent placed shot from Nelson Goncalves. Half time 2-2. Shortly after the break, Brad Harris scored from a free kick from outside the box, a terrific strike into the lower right corner. The Old Es were playing well and leading 3-2. But with 15 minutes to go, another headed goal brought Royal Forest level, followed shortly afterwards by the winner.
A good pre-season warm up match, with tired legs at the end, and a top-quality entertaining game. Lessons learnt, mainly that we have to head it away. Other than that, we are ready for the season opener.
Season Starts
September 7th 2024
We start the season with an away fixture playing Loughton Town.
Saturday 7th September
Kick Off 2.00pm
The Football Academy
Langston Road
Loughton
Essex
IG10 3TQ
Please come along. It promises to be a very warm day, so bring a camping chair, a glass of something cool, and sit back and watch two footballing sides battling out the season opener. Loughton also have excellent club facilities, so it should be a great day out. We are really looking forward to it. Media highlights will be available on our website. We will keep you informed as and when they are posted.
Our Sponsor
Cavendish Venues
As mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter, we would like to thank a number of people.
We start by giving special thanks to Rachel Applegate of Cavendish Venues for sponsoring our new kit this season. With their generous sponsorship, we have gone retro.
The Old Es traditional kit has been restored !
Thank You
Honorary Members
We would also like to thank our Life President Dean Waterman, and also Keith Coffey and John Roger, who have stepped down and passed on the baton for running this great old club to the new executive management team. Without their help and enthusiasm, the club would have folded many years ago. Thank you gentlemen for all your efforts over the years.
More information about some great Old Es can be found here:
Supporters Club
Honorary Members
To help promote football in our community, we kindly ask you to share this newsletter with others who might be interested in supporting the club. The more supporters we have, the more we can do to promote community football.
Thank you.