Assignment Two, Article Two

Many articles and broadcasts about the promotion of Aldershot Town have been announcing that, after winning the Blue Square Premier Championship, the club is ‘returning’ to the football league after 16 years. This is not strictly true.

The original Aldershot FC was formed in 1926 and was accepted into the Football League in 1932.

There have been many ups and downs for the club over its history.

Aldershot FC won its first ever promotion from Division Four in 1973 and went on to finish eighth in Division Three in the following season. This proved to be the highest ever position that the club has reached.

In 1979 the Shots were a matter of seconds away from reaching the FA Cup Quarter finals in front of 12,000 spectators. They were 2-1 up at the Recreation Ground against Shrewsbury Town going in to injury time but the West Midlands side equalised just before the final whistle. The Shrews then went on to win the replay.

Aldershot FC always maintained reasonable attendances in the league despite being one of the smallest towns in the Football League. The location of military base in Aldershot did help contribute to Aldershot FC’s attendances.

The record attendance at the Recreation Ground was in January 1970 when the Shots played Carlisle United in an FA Cup fourth round replay. The attendance that night was an impressive 19,138.

In the very next season the club achieved its highest ever attendance at a league game, when the visit of Manchester United attracted 18,509 to the Rec. In the same season The Shots also travelled to Anfield to play Liverpool in the FA Cup in front of 45,500 fans.

The fate of Aldershot FC was sealed towards the end of the 1991/92 season. The players had agreed to play unpaid and the fans united in a desperate attempt to save the Hampshire side. However, on 20 March 1992 Aldershot FC played its last ever Football League match away at Cardiff City. The club was wound up in the High Court five days later.

Aldershot Town Football Club was formed from the ashes of Aldershot FC on Wednesday 22 April 1992 with over 600 Aldershot fans attended the public meeting at the Royal Aldershot Officers Club.

At a second public meeting on June 16th 1992 it was announced that Aldershot Town had been accepted into the Diadora Isthmian League Division 3, five divisions below the Football League.

On Saturday 22 August 1992, Aldershot Town played its first ever match. Even though the Shots went 2-0 down early in the game at the Rec, they came back to beat Clapton 4-2 with forwards Mark Butler and Steve Stairs each scoring two goals.

The Shots went on to win the league by 18 points and remained unbeaten at home all season. Aldershot won a second successive promotion the very next season and reached the quarter finals of the FA Vase.

Aldershot eventually won promotion to the Nationwide Conference in 2003. The Shots went on to reach the play-offs in both the 2003/04 and 2004/05 seasons all they missed out on promotion on both theses occasions.

The Blue Square Premier trophy will be presented to Aldershot Town at the all-ticket home game against Weymouth on Tuesday evening.

Assignment Two, Article One

Aldershot Town, the reincarnation of Aldershot FC, have won promotion to the Football League 16 years after the liquidation of the old Division Four club.

The Hampshire side, who have already won a league record number of games this season, confirmed their promotion with a 1-1 draw away at play-off contenders Exeter City.

Around 900 Shots fans travelled the 145 miles to Devon on Tuesday evening to witness Gary Waddock’s team clinch the Blue Square Premier title.

Aldershot Town’s message board, shotsweb.co.uk, was as busy as it has ever been on Tuesday evening and Wednesday as fans discussed their feelings about promotion, their chances next season and what the most memorable moment of the season was.

Dave Shearer, 20, and Aldershot fan for 9 years said: “hmm...words can't really describe the feeling we all went through last night. I'm no good with big words but... joy, excitement, relief etc... were a handful of the emotions I went through last night”

Another Dave, who posts under the alias One Club 26-08, has been a supporter for 39 years and his thoughts looked to both the past and the future.

When the final whistle went at St James Park the 50-year-old felt: “Relief, happiness and thoughts of past players and staff. I wondered how many of them were actually watching last night.”

In regards to the first season in the league he said: “I obviously want us to do as well as possible but just to stay up will be good. I think it is most important to get on a financial even keel and I have every confidence that out chairman will achieve just that.”

Many fans felt that Scott Davies’ 94th minute equaliser away at Torquay was the defining moment of the season, including 20-year-old Adam Carmichael who said: “The most memorable moment of the season I have witnessed was undoubtedly Scott Davies' 90th minute winner away at Torquay, at the beginning of March.

“I wasn't prepared to admit it until yesterday, but that goal won us the league - it gave us a huge lead over Torquay and gave everyone a real lift.”

However, Geoff Covey, alias Analex, 37, said: “The moment I started thinking 'aye aye, we might do something here' was when we got a late equaliser at Cambridge.

The 37-year-old, who has supported Aldershot since he was eight, also added that: “As for next year, the euphoria is great and I don't want to dampen that. Let's just say that in 60 previous years in the Football League, we managed only two promotions… So I'm not expecting miracles. On the other hand, I didn't this season either.”

Other Aldershot fans are confident of doing well next season, with several feeling that a play-off place is within their grasp.

43-year-old Bagshot Bob, real name Tony Roberts thinks that: “We will surprise a few teams and may just make the play-offs” and Zorro aka Geneva Shot, 32, will “stick £20 on a playoff place now.”

However, Adam Carmichael, who has supported Aldershot for 10 years said: “My heart says we will finish mid-table, but my head says we will probably struggle. The old club were always scrapping around the lower regions of the old Division Four when we went bust.”

Dave Shearer was also slightly less confident than other fans. He said: “With a handful of new defenders and a couple of strikers....I'm going for a mid table finish.”

Aldershot will be presented with the Blue Square Premier trophy at the all-ticket home game against Weymouth on Tuesday evening. The side can then start planning for next season in the Football League.

Glastonbury 2008

So... Jay-Z at Glastonbury? Likely to be a repetition of 50 Cent at Reading/Leeds? Which is a bottle-ing (bottling?) if you were none-the-wiser.
According to the offical Glasto website, there are still tickets available, which, as far as this festival is concerned, is unheared of. Perhaps the leaking of the headline acts has removed the 'mystery' /'excititement' of Glastonbury preformances? Or maybe they aren't quite as exciting/Glastonbury endearing as previous years (see below)?

2008: Kings of Leon [rock/alternative]/Jay-Z [rap/hip-hop]/The Verve [old/depressing-but-good]

VS

2007: Arctic Monkeys[indie/alternative]/The Killers[indie/pop]/The Who [old/mod-ish]


Well I have managed to get my application in to help out Oxfam this year. I hope I get a ticket because I could have just bought one apparently. Although, I won't get that warm, fuzzy feeling from volunteering.

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NME Awards

So it was the Shockwaves NME Awards last week and an absolute triumph for the Arctic Monkeys who scooped a hat-trick of awards. The Sheffield based four-piece won the Best Track award for 'Flourescent Adolescent', Best Video for 'Teddy Picker' and the much sought after Best British Band award - beating Babyshambles, The Cribs, Klaxons and Muse.
Noel Fielding had a field day (ho ho!) at the ceremony as he also picked up three awards. Individually he won Sexiest Man and Best Dressed and also picked up an award for Mighty Boosh, which won in the Best TV Show category.
There was a wee bit of controversy as Pete Doherty picked up the award for Hero of the Year. The Sun's Bizarre section writer Gordon Smart was less than impressed with the choice of winner:

"HIS bleeding, bloated, greasy, drug-addled junkie was named Hero Of The Year at the bash.
Proof, if any were needed, that showbusiness has gone as mad as Wino’s barnet.
NME readers voted for this disgrace to win the award."

You kind of have to agree with Smart even though he does seem to be a bit self-righteous. Also, he did have the audacity to slag off Noel Fielding's dress sense which is pretty out of order to be honest - anyone who can pull off capes, ponchos and cowboy boots (although not at the same time!) is to be praised and worshipped for his style.

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Album Review of The Feeling - Join WIth Us

The Feeling return with a new album this February and the hope of mirroring the success of their 2006 debut album Twelve Stops and Home.
The ‘tricky second album’ sees The Feeling maturing considerably and moving away from the upbeat, poppy sound of Twelve Stops.
First single ‘I Thought It Was Over’ is a strong album opener and immediately shows a change in The Feeling’s sound.
‘Spare Me’, ‘Connor’ and ‘This Time’ are absolutely beautiful tracks and demonstrate a real song writing maturity.
‘Won’t Go Away’ is far more upbeat than a lot of this album but still illustrates The Feeling’s new mature sound.
There is one too many album fillers on this release with several of the tracks being rather forgettable.
Join With Us is unlikely to reach the dizzying heights of Twelve Stops but The Feeling have undoubtedly shown that they will continue to grow into a really great band.

Ewan Gibb