Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the lads at Old Alts A.

From We Are Old Atls

Club AZ v Old Alts
TheFA.com Match Report -
"A big 8-1 win for Club AZ against Old Alts A saw them consolidate their place at the top of the table , three points ahead of FC Flyers who do have three games in hand . Dale Peters gave the visitors the lead but injury forced Manager Simon Sidderley’s hand as he was pressed into action himself despite illness. Club AZ are no charity and they took full advantage. Jon Blackburn equalised and Jamie Collins and Lee Anderson gave them a two goal advantage by half time. It was more of the same in the second half. Jon Blackburn scored a hat-trick to finish the match with four and Gareth Gibbons scored two."

The Art of Defending

Poynton Kings 5-1 Old Alts A

TheFa.com - Match Report:

"Poynton Kings moved up to fourth with a great team performance in a 5-1 win against Old Alts A at Woodford Rec. Despite conceding a first half penalty which Dave Howard despatched, Kings led 2-1 at half time and further extended their lead with three more in the second half. Josh Roberts scored from the spot and there were further goals from Tom Hopkins, Tom Darcy, Ali Breed and Dave Brindle."

Old Alts A v Cheadle Hulme

Remember, remember the 5th of Novemeber (One to forget for Old Alts)

"Goal scoring feat of the week is awarded to Mike Hooley of Cheadle Hulme who plundered six against Old Alts A at Crossford Bridge as the visitors ran out easy 8-1 winners. A weakened Alts side trailed 5-1 at half time with Dale Peters’ goal one of the few positives from the first half, but they conceded three more in the second, Scott Bradley and Jon O’Brien completing the rout to take Cheadle Hulme second".


Match report source The FA.com

Old Alts A 4 - 4 Bentley FC (4-2 on penalties)
Inter League Cup First Round.


"The unluckiest side were Old Alts A"

The unluckiest side were Old Alts A as they eventually lost 4-2 on penalties to Bentley after finishing the game 4-4 after extra time. Dale Peters, Mike Pascal and Dave Howard had put the visitors within thirty seconds of the second round but Bentley made it 3-3 to take the tie into extra time. They then took the lead before Rammal Morrison made it 4-4. Then came the dreaded penalties.

Match report source The FA.com

Up for the Cup



Meet at the Bridge 12:15
Mini bus will be taking us to the away fixture in Crew.

FC Flyer 10 - 3 Old Alts
a game of 2 halfs. ( a good half and a bad half)

FC flyers - Team analysis

FC Flyers are currently the only team with a 100% unbeaten record in the league, however they have conceded a number of goals in the first half when put under pressure. They have 2 key players namely Scott MacGowan (forward) and Bobby Hunt (Midfield) in their squad with both players scoring over 9 goals each already this season. Taking out this duo is the key to beating a confident and free scoring FC Flyers. A formation that suits the counter attacking system seems to be the best way of defeating this team, you have to take the fight to FC Flyer or with time to pass and play the ball they are good enough to beat any team in this league. If we turn up in the right frame of mind and with a full squad we could potentially show the rest of the league how to beat FC Fylers. Clever tactic and passion will win the game. C'mon Old Alts!!

Pynton Nomads 9-1 Old Alts A
The good, the bad & the ugly. Full match report to follow.

The FA.com "Another team from Poynton, Nomads faired rather better than their Village rivals as they ran out easy 9-1 winners against a scratch Old Alts A team at Crossford Bridge. The match was marred by a double sending off in the second half but the game was already out of Old Alts reach. Marc Toomey, Andy Kershaw, Nish Joshi (2), Alan Hay (2), Anthony Mape and Jonny Blissett were all on target for Nomads."

6-0 smashing against local reveals (Match report)

This derby game never disappoints with Goals, cards, passion, and all important bragging rights! And this game was no exception. After old Alts getting their biggest win of the season last week confidence was high. All the lads were looking forward to this weeks game. The only issue was the record heat wave that both teams would have to endure.

As the game kick off Old Alts A looked the sharper of the 2 teams, with some fast smart passing made it very hard for Old Alts East to get in to the game. With Old Alts A controlling the tempo from the back it was only a matter of time until we score, this came on 12mins with a screaming half volley from Dave H from 18 yards out. This goal made Old Alts A even more confident & echoed through the team. The back four look were strong and assured namely Simon Sidderley and Skinner as center pack pairing. With less than 20mins played Old alts East were reduced to 10 men when their right winger was sent off for an awful tackle. With this, Old Alts A found more space and created a number of chances. Dale Peters continued his run of good form with 2 excellent goals, Old Alts A were looking very good at 3 -0 with the opposition running out of ideas another goal could of finished them off in the first half. Luke Hewitt found him self breaking into the box chasing a ball over the top, however it needed a skilled player to take it down and finish with one touch over the keeper fortunately Luke did just that.

Old Alts A 4-0 Old Alts East

A great first half performance from the lads but we wanted more goals so we approached the second half as 0-0. This paid off when Old Alts A made a number of chances falling to Conor Kingsley & Jordan Jackson. Dale went on to complete his hat-trick with a smart finish looping the ball over the keeper. This put the game out of sight and Old Alts A started to really enjoy themself. With less than 10mins to go until ful time Skinner drove the ball from center back in to midfield and played a sweet through ball to Dale Peters to make it 6-0.

A fantastic team performance from Old Alts A with a convincing win of arch reveals.

Man of Match - Conor kingsley

A convincing win for Old Alts against Poynton Village



FA.com "Old Alts A had their biggest away win for several seasons as they fired seven past sorry Poynton Village who remain rooted to the bottom of the table . John Doyle‘s goal providing little consolation."

Old Alts 1-5 High Lane
Full Match report to follow.

Old Alts v club az

Boosted by last weeks win old Alts fancied getting something from this game with this season favourites club Az.

A tactical change in formation looked like it was paying off as Old Alts more than match Az for the first 30 mins creating the better chances and keeping Az at arms length. Unfortunately a momentary lapse of concentration saw old Alts go 1-0 down. A big kick from AZ keeper was brought down by AZ stricker who had far to much as neither the old Alts defender or midfield pick him up, he had time to play a simple throughout ball that lead to the goal. Old Alts felt hard done by but kept there heads up. More chances fell to both side but we could not seem to find that deceive ball. On the other hand when Club Az pushed forward they looked dangerous and they very raley miss their chance, this was shown when centre back David Moore only half cleared and Club Az stricker Gaz fired it back at goal beating Ashely Walker old Alts stand in keeper. 2-0 down at half time felt a little un-just as we match Az across the park.

As the second half began both teams started brightly, a couple of close calls for Dales Peters as he attempts to beat the off side trap. Club Az scored first after the break with a long ball from left undoing the old Alts defense and this created a 1 on 1 chance that was smartly finished. At 3-0 down Old Alts could have crumbled but a nicely worked goal started with a through in from a dean duignan who got the return pass and played a sweet cross for dale peters to finish at the neat post. This looked like it should have given old alts a life line but ad the second half went on Club Az grow syronger and we resorted to firing long hopeful ball up front, this was not part of the game plan and did not pay off. As the game got stretched Club AZ scored a further 2 goals to make the score a lot more flattering than it should have been. Some on field agreements between some of the Old Alts players unfortunately over shadow the many positive they could have taken from the game. Final score 5-1.

An entertaining game at Crossford Bridge saw Old Alts A come from 2-1 down with a minute of normal time remaining to take the game 3-2 and secure all three points against Mary Dendy .It was an even first half hour before David Howard set up Dale Peters for the opener but Dendy game back strongly and should have equalised five minutes later when Neil Hodgkinson got on the end of a James Monaghan freekick but could only direct his effort straight into Alts keeper Ash Walkers arms from point blank range. Matt Morris did find the net on 37 minutes taking a ball from Martin Brunker he jinked his way into the penalty area before calmly dummying the goalkeeper to leave him stranded on the ground and rolling the ball into an unguarded net.

Alts started the second half with real purpose and both Dale Peters and David Howard will both feel they should have done better with early chances but it was Dendy who took the lead Nick Brunker fooling everyone as he shaped to cross the ball at the near post and proceeded to slide the ball between keeper Ash Walker’s legs and into the net.

Spurred on by the impressive Dean Duigan Alts had a chance to get back in the game barely five minutes later as referee Mike Clulow adjuded Dendy centre half Ryan Fallon had handled the ball on the line in an attempt to keep the ball out and awarded a penalty kick. Duigan took responsibility himself but sent a tame effort low to the goalkeepers left and Matt Robinson saved well.

James Curbishley, Paul Cronshaw and Josh Wilkinson all wasted good chances to extend Dendy’s lead despite most of the pressure coming from the home side but with a minute remaining of normal time Dean Duigan redeemed himself from his earlier penalty miss with a thundering header at the far post from Sailesh Vara’s corner to equalise. With their tails up Alts continued to press and it came as now real surprise when they scored again . In the 7^th minute of stoppage time Dale Peters stooped low to nod home the winner from Jordan Jackson’s cross.

For images from the game click here

Old Alts 5 -4 FC Hybird

Pre-season has started well for Old Alts with a testing game against FC Hybird. After going 3 goals behind in the first half Old Alts showed true character to come from behind to take the win. A hat trick from last seasons goal keeper and now newly appointed striker Dale Peters the pick of the game.

Old Alts pre-season training has started well - But here is Owen Hargreaves showing us how not to do it

Who needs Tevez? – Why Manchester City can win the league
Manchester City will most likely be parting company with arguably their star player – Carlos Tevez. In normal circumstances this would be greeted with outrage from fans – even if he was unhappy and potentially disruptive – and new concerns about whether the team can reach the heights of last season.

However at City there is an air of calm. Most fans, whilst appreciating his contribution, are excited about the prospect of finding a replacement. The smart money is on Sergio Aguero who, if the rumor mill is to be trusted, sees Eastlands as his preferred destination. For Manchester City these are exciting times.

City may not have maximized their expenditure thus far, but qualifying for the Champions League is a huge step forward. There are obvious parallels between City and the Chelsea team of 2003/4, when Roman Abramovich first came into power. Chelsea steamrolled the league that year, and the following year too. I think City can potentially do the same.

Previously they had the money but no status; without the lure of Champion League football they could only attract players at so called “lesser” clubs or players after a big pay day. Now it is different. Players like Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez are all very realistic targets. Teams who previously had more to offer now no longer have that claim, plus City still have the financial clout to outbid on both transfer fees and wages.

Roberto Mancini has first of all formed a solid defence which is essential for Premier League success. He has developed a top class core in Hart, Kompany, De Jong, Toure and Silva. Of course the tip of this core (Tevez) will need to be replaced but I have no doubt that this will be done. Mancini has also had 18 months in which to assess his large squad. The fringe squad players will be sold and the first teamers who are not quite up to it, like James Milner and Gareth Barry possibly (that is just my opinion, I am sure Mancini is better placed to decide), replaced by world class talent like Nasri and Sanchez. The squad has been gradually improved and this will continue through the Summer. The important factor here is that there will not be massive changes to deal with as City embark on what could be a landmark season for the club.

People will always cite the importance of a team rather than individual stars, and you cannot disagree with this ethos. However as Chelsea proved when they first splashed the cash if you get individual stars playing as a team then you are unstoppable, and this will be Mancini’s biggest challenge. In my opinion this is why Tevez’s departure is actually a blessing in disguise. If rumours, of Tevez refusing to speak to CEO Garry Cook and only directly with the owner Sheikh Mansour, are to be believed then they highlight the arrogance of a man whose popularity in England is fading rapidly. Mancini even seems to have calmed the walking time-bomb Mario Balotelli. He gave a disciplined and hard working performance in the FA Cup Final, I am sure he will mature further this year.

If we ignore the financial fair play rules for the moment – with the impending investigation into the new “Etihad Stadium” deal likely to drag on a while – Manchester City have the financial clout to have a whole squad of top players on top wages. If a team is able to replace injured players with top class Internationals then they can look forward to a season unaffected by injuries and only dependant on form. Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all suffered dips in their results when faced with as little as 4 injuries (in Chelsea’s case). A dip in results is often described as a dip in “form” but in reality the players individually are just affected by the quality across the board due to injuries, which then affects the form of the team as a whole. Big squads seemed to have gone out of fashion as the recession hit the Premiership, but this trend has been disregarded in the latest transfer window, which has been crazy by recent standards – so we should see a higher quality all round from the “Big 6”.

Although City finished the season in third place it is important to look at how they grew throughout the season. Players like Yaya Toure and David Silva started slowly but were amongst the league’s top performers by the end of the season. This coincided with City finishing the season top of the form table, leapfrogging Arsenal and finishing level on points with Chelsea. Skybet list Man City at 7/2 (behind United and Chelsea) and these relatively short odds reflect how far City have come.

As Wenger keeps preaching financial stability and taking, what he considers to be, the moral high road and Chelsea chase after the “unavailable” Luka Modric, City no doubt will spend and strengthen their claim as one of the “Big 4”.

The final piece of the jigsaw is a winning mentality. In my opinion City have a number of “winners” in the team and leadership throughout. Kompany will be the obvious replacement, for Tevez, as captain. But players like De Jong, Barry and Hart also possess similar qualities, not to mention absent ex-captain Kolo Toure who will be like a new signing for the team next season. This quality, absent from an Arsenal team bordering on a crisis, but in abundance at United and Chelsea is an absolute necessity in order to win the Premier League.

The same day United won their 19th title, City claimed their first piece of Silverware in 35 years and, although United fans will deny it, this definitely took away some of the limelight from the red half of Manchester and saw City emerge from the shadows. The belief that this will have given the players and fans is immense. They still have a long way to go if they are to create a dynasty, and the league will be as competitive as ever this season. However if you are planning on having a flutter on the destiny of the Premier League trophy you might find good value in the Premier Leagues big spenders.

This article first appeared on Thomas’ The Drog’s Bollox site.

Wednesday night Training Session

Training we be held at Crossford Bridge at 7.00 p.m. every Wednesday starting from 13th July. This Training is open to all players of all Old Alts teams.

Why Arsenal should let Fabregas go now

It’s still early days but this is the sort of summer that promises a flurry of big name transfers in the Premier League especially. Take Liverpool, with a new found hope in Kenny Daglish and financial backing from the Fenway Sports group, who will be aiming to bounce back at the very least to a top four finish and the Champions League next season. Champions Manchester United will be looking to replace Paul Scholes and inject much-needed creativity into their central midfield to compete with Barcelona. United’s neighbours, Manchester City have the resources, and will look to add talent as well as experience ahead of their Champions League campaign next season. Not forgetting that the beginning of the Andre Villas Boas era at Chelsea promises a few signings as he looks to establish his style at Stamford Bridge.

Amidst all of these expected changes, there is a constant. It is the recurring matter of Arsenal’s captain, Cesc Fabregas’s proposed move to Barcelona. It is the worst kept secret in world football that Fabregas would eventually trade the Emirates for Barcelona. He has repeatedly stated his intent to move and in this age of player power”, top players like him do eventually get their moves – (Thierry Henry to Barcelona, Michael Essien to Chelsea, Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Kaka to Real Madrid to mention a few). If action speaks louder than words, what about being pictured in a Barcelona shirt while celebrating Spain’s 2010 World Cup victory in South Africa?

Needless to say, Arsenal’s six year trophy drought has done nothing to quell his desire to leave the Gunners. More so where will he rather be than Barcelona, his hometown and football’s place to be. Furthermore, the Catalan club and its fans would relish welcoming back one of its own, who in the long term would be Xavi’s successor both for club and country. It is a good fit for Barcelona and for Fabregas.

However, if this transfer happens early enough, it could be for Arsenal too. In truth, motivation – from seeing Arsenal falter consistently at crucial stages of the season, and lately injuries have taken their toll on the talented midfielder. A fact that is certainly not lost on Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, who recently stated that the value of Fabregas has fallen from the 40m Euros offered last summer. Whether that is true or not, it makes economic sense for Arsenal to let go now, than lose out on more money in one or two years.

Is Arsenal willing to risk his market value dropping any further, and lose out on valuable revenue before the inevitable happens? Perhaps we forget that there is a quite decent player in the Arsenal squad called Samir Nasri who would seamlessly fit in place of Fabregas. The move to Spain for Fabregas now could free up more funds to keep Nasri at the Emirates with an improved contract and on the evidence of the Frenchman’s form last season, it may indeed not be a bad idea. It is worth remembering that Arsenal has not won any title with Fabregas as captain. Is it time for a change?

Source: Backpage Footbal

"A message from the Manager"

"Hi Lads,

Cant wait for the start of next season. Training will start off on the first Saturday of july (Saturday 2nd) at our home ground at 1pm for 2 hours and will be pure fitness. Friendlies have been arranged and hoping to enter us into a tournament. As discussed with all lads at end of season we are getting new tops and equipment for training next season and there will be a £30 sign on fee this year which all the lads seem happy about. I have a few new lads coming down for training and would like anyone else who knows decent players to come down and try out. they will be part of our friendlies.

I will be managing the team next year and have the backing of the team i hope. As i will try and make things more stable and push for a trophy next year. Lastly because there was no end of season presentation last year once training starts there will be a night sorted when we are all together to arrange.

My number lads is 07877269854.

I hope to see you all there next season.

Cheers Simon."