Season review 2024/25

It’s time for my season review.  There’s still the League Cup Final ahead of us later (and yes, there’ll be a report from that too) but that’s not going to change anything I have to say about the last ten months or so.

First up: congratulations to AFC Portchester.  It’s been well-documented that they’ve been gunning for promotion for a few years, they’ve invested in it, they’ve fallen short – and this year, they have been outstanding.  33 wins, 4 draws, one solitary defeat, a whole raft of cup finals (one lost and three more to play, including in the aforementioned League Cup) – OK so they were beaten and reinstated in a couple of competitions, but that’s not their fault.  They were by the far the best team we played.  The stadium deserves Step 4 football, so do their excellent crowds – best of luck to them next season.  And huge congratulations to Fareham Town also – another stadium that deserves to be at a higher level.  I’ve said for years that I couldn’t really understand why the Creeksiders were down in Step 5, and best of luck to their young team as they take the next step.

I do think it’s worth noting a couple of hard-luck stories here too.  AFC Stoneham, three years in a row with more than 90 points, only one league defeat: it was the draws which cost them a shot at the title, but then succumbing to the penalty shootout kings in the playoff semis: rough.  They had the joint ninth-best record across all 16 Step 5 leagues, but…  And also, Andover New Street.  A superb season which goes down as one of those “nearly but not quite” tales: I can’t call it glorious failure because it wasn’t a failure by any means, but it probably wasn’t glorious either.  One step from Wembley, one step from promotion, but defeat in what were probably the biggest two games in the club’s history.  Both those teams deserve huge credit, which is no doubt of zero consolation to either. 

At the other end: US Portsmouth looked doomed from very early on, and this year Blackfield and Langley weren’t able to pull off another recovery from a slow start.  Brock played them four times and based on that evidence, it’s not really a surprise to find them relegated.  Well done to Downton, who did just enough and will probably shape better next season.  And while I’m handing out praise – Hamworthy Rec and Millbrook both settled into the league really well.  Hamble Club had a season which may even have surprised themselves (and that League Cup final to come), Baffins would have surely made the playoffs but for their mid-season crisis… and everyone else was in the mid-zone, some higher and some lower, but never seriously threatened either end of the table.  Meanwhile, we’ll be joined by near-neighbours New Milton Town, who survived last season only because others were not ready for promotion but this year won the league comfortably and had the distinction, I believe, of being the only club in steps 1-10 to score in every single league game.  Top marks.  Also coming up are East Cowes Vics, after two away wins in the playoff series, so get out those ferry timetables…

Which brings me to my beloved Brock.  There’s no way of sugaring the pill: it’s been disappointing.  There were some good moments, but in truth not enough of them; and there were an awful lot of moments which weren’t so good.  The high points: look back to August and those two successive away games where we scored six; a really good draw at Foxcotte Park; a great win on pens at Portchester (albeit in vain); and then the home wins against Wincanton and Blackfield which secured our status.  I won’t list the disappointments, although the last half-hour at Sherborne will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.  Having said that, the target for the season, after all the disruption last summer, a new manager and a largely new squad, was staying up – and that was duly delivered, actually fairly comfortably despite some jangling nerves amongst the fan base.  So congratulations to Danny and the squad for that. 

Fact remains though that this group has too much talent to find itself in that situation.  So how did this come about?  Other people are much better qualified than me to comment, of course: my only claim is that I saw every competitive game this season, so my uninformed comments are based on evidence, if limited insight.  But before I start, there’s a couple of things I want to say.

The first is that regular readers will know that I don’t generally like to criticise the players or the management team.  That’s not just because they’re better than I ever was and we couldn’t do it without them, but because it’s just too easy to sit and snipe from the stands with no accountability, and I don’t see what good it does.  And the second thing is – I really love this group of players.  I don’t just mean in a “Badgers till I die” kind of way: they’re a great group of lads and I really hope most of them stick around for another year or two. 

All of which said – evidently things didn’t work out this year, so why not?  For what it’s worth, I think there are four things which combined to make this happen.  And to be clear, this isn’t a criticism of any individual; it’s about the group as a whole, the squad, and how it fits together: an outsider’s view.

Four things.

Number one: there’s a lack of height in the squad.  There are some very good headers of a ball, but at any set piece, Brock are second favourites to get the first touch.  It’s no wonder we don’t often just “put it in the mixer”, because most of the time it’s not going to be a Badger head on the ball – and when others put it in the mixer, it’s often not great for us. 

Number two: connected, there’s a lack of physicality.  I’m not wanting a bunch of thugs, but you can see from the moment that the teams line up before the game that the opposition is, in most cases, just… bigger.  Stronger.  Too often, Brock players get eased off the ball – not fouled, just not as strong in the challenge. 

Number three: almost as a direct consequence of those previous two points, there’s a lack of tactical versatility.   Irrespective of the state of the game – 3-0 up, 3-0 down – we play the same way.  And of course we do, because those are the players we have.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the way we try to play, keeping possession and willing to put the ball at risk: but you know, when you keep trying to play out, and you keep getting picked off, you might need to think about trying something different.  Very occasionally, towards the end of the season, that changed a bit – and we certainly learned from some of those early games where we played around patiently in front of a packed defence, got everyone beyond the ball, and then lost possession.  But, in the words of another regular watcher, we don’t and indeed can’t “mix it up”, which can make us very predictable to play against, and indeed to plan for. 

And then, number four: this is the one I have to explain carefully, but it appears to me from the sidelines that there’s a lack of intensity.   I absolutely don’t mean that the players don’t care: they do.  But do they demand enough of each other?  Too often, to my eyes, a player is too casual (passing woefully into touch under no pressure, or taking far too long on the ball and getting dispossessed), and it’s greeted with a shrug.  Just very occasionally, I hear someone being called out, but it doesn’t happen often enough.  Of course I don’t think players should be berated for mistakes – we don’t have 10 Lionel Messis plus a Lev Yashin (one for the older reader!) – but setting standards and expecting players to be at their levels, yes, that's reasonable. 

Anyway.  Others will disagree with my assessment, and that’s fine.  None of those things alone are “the reason” we didn’t do better; but in my view, a combination of them led to some of those disappointing performances and a season of “what might have been”.

Back to the positives – brilliant bunch of lads, trying to play the right way.  Tyler was clearly my player of the season, didn’t have to think twice despite his injury late on.  Jordi has been a brilliant signing, finally doing it for Brock rather than against us.  Rian delivers solidly every game (thanks, sponsee!), and I’ll always love watching Harry and Jake.  Which is unfair to everyone else, many of whom I could mention, but that’s how it is!  And it’s been a pleasure to watch Harley in the last few games of the season, stepping up incredibly well at such a young age, hope to see more of him next year.

Finally – massive thanks to everyone who makes it possible.  To Danny, Steve and the coaching team; to Matt; to the players; and to the fellow regulars, including the Content Adviser, who are there to share the joy and the… less joyous… moments.  Worryingly, I’m already looking forward to the publication of the fixture list for 25/26, and the announcement of pre-season friendlies.  Come on you Badgers…