Page 8 - Deal Round Up March 2020

Suggestions from BBC anchorman Gary Lineker about starting the FA Cup
Preliminary rounds at the end of the previous season were misguided to
say the least, made without so much of a thought towards life outside the
Premier League.
With or without the presence of Klopp and his A-listers, Shrewsbury fans
won’t ever forget the club’s first visit to Anfield in 134 years.
Similarly, the supporters of Barrow, who will always have a tale to tell their
grandchildren one day...The Day We Went To Dover on a Tuesday night. The Premiership is
Try telling them that football has lost its magic. cheapening the FA Cup.
Who Said Age Is Just A Number? By Edd Paul
THEY say age is just a number but in football it’s one that can increasingly count against you –
especially as it increases! So let’s show our appreciation for some Golden Oldies, who are doing
their bit to show if you’re good enough, you’re young enough also rings true.
After all, it was only a few years ago that Chris Swailes became the oldest scorer at Wembley when
he notched for Morpeth Town in their 4-1 FA Vase final win over Hereford. Swailes was 45 years old
when he turned the ball into the net to silence the mass of Hereford fans who had made the trip.
Not bad for a defender who has had a long, career that took in plenty of stops in the Football
League.
Non-League is
always good for
an evergreen
f oot bal le r ,
particularly the
strikers. Paul
Brayson has been Left to right; Chris Swailes, Paul Brayson, Jamie Cureton, Grant Holt
a regular scorer for
Newcastle Benfield in recent years and he is still knocking them in aged 42.
Perhaps it’s something about those genuine goalscorers that, while the legs might not be as quick
as they used to be, the minds are just as sharp. That gets them into the right goalscoring positions
and then, when the ball is at their feet or the cross is in the right place, they just know how to
stick the ball into the back of the net.
Jamie Cureton has scored at every level from the Premier League down. At 44 he isn’t just on the
back nine of his career, he’s strolling up the 18th. But he’s still one of the leading scorers in the
Isthmian Premier Division and despite a surprise departure from Bishop’s Stortford last week – the
club couldn’t guarantee his continuing role as player-manager next season – he has already found
the net for new club Hornchurch. I caught up with his new manager, Mark Stimson, last week and
he spoke to Cureton’s desire to get in behind the back four burning as bright as ever. Stimson
describes Cureton as a “clever” player and he’s sure the youngsters in their squad will take plenty
on board from the former Norwich City man. Cureton himself says it is all about diet and re-fuelling
the right way after matches. When I spoke to Cureton last year as he reached his 1,000th game,
he said he genuinely felt like he could do a job in the League still. And while you’re feeling good,
why not keep playing?
Back in the FA Vase, there was a familiar name on the scoresheet in Wroxham’s win over
Stowmarket Town. Grant Holt, another former Norwich striker, turns out regularly for the Thurlow
Nunn Premier Division Yachtsmen. He hit a penalty in the 2-0 win that has put them in the last
eight of the competition. A final hurrah at Wembley Stadium for Holt? Although aged 38, he could
have far more opportunities yet. Just ask Swailes!

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