Releases, Realisations and Rants: Pre-Season continues, Arsenal XI preview

In my first few weeks of following Boreham Wood, I have made some initial judgements on a number of players who I have been impressed with, as well as those who have not been that easy on the eye as of yet. This is the thing with going from watching Premier League football to Non League - I haven't seen these players before, or know that much about them outside of the odd opinion you hear now and again. And of course, you are bound to get some things wrong. And boy, have I. Thankfully I am big enough to admit when I have made a mistake, so let’s look at them shall we.

Last Saturday Wood went to Billericay and came away convincing 4-1 winners. I was not at the game, but inside the official site's report (which can be found here), can be found a couple of examples of initial reactions being not quite what they seem.

You will remember (hopefully) from my post covering the Dagenham and QPR games that I was extolling the virtues of Elliott Brathwaite, a young, tall, strong centre half who looked like he could be something if he ironed out the creases in his game. I also touched on how Lawrence Yaku was possibly older than time itself and had missed an absolute sitter to the sound of laughter/frustration from the crowd. So it was with mixed emotions that I read the following:

'Lawrence Yaku and Elliott Brathwaite were released from the Club midweek as part of the long term plan. '

Now, I fully understood the Yaku release - he was very old and not good enough for the Blue Square South, and this seemed to be an opinion shared by many outside the club as well. But Brathwaite was quite staggering, to me at least. Here is a player who looked like he could have a real go at making a name for himself, only to be released. Now, I don't know anything that goes on behind the scenes, so maybe there are other reasons behind his release, but minus a few blips he had impressed me in pre-season. Incidentally, both turned out for Hendon last night, and by all accounts acquitted themselves rather well. I wish them both all the best in their futures away from Meadow Park.

Joining Brathwaite and Yaku for Hendon last night was one Elliot Godfrey, which was as much a surprise to me as Brathwaite's release. Quickly dashing to open up a new browser on my laptop, I checked the Boreham Wood website to see if they had any statements up, but nothing. Thankfully, the great guys who man the Hendon FC Twitter page informed me that a non contract player such as Godfrey can have dual registration, as long as the two clubs in question are not in the same league. Fascinating stuff, and I would be interested to see how the mechanics work as to who has the player when etc.

The egg was well and truly on my face when I delved a bit deeper into the Billericay match report and discovered the following:

'Two minutes later and Wood were flying into a two goal lead thanks to a quite fantastic piece of skill from Noto. Deep in his own half he spotted Morgan off his line and struck the ball from the edge of the centre circle fully sixty yards into the net.'

So yeah, the flashy man with no end product who looked like being surplus to requirements with Daryl McMahon becoming the key influence in the side decides to score from 60 yards. Well, I'll stick to my guns here - in the games I've seen him play in, bar the free kick he hit against Watford he has not impressed, so I sincerely hope this will be the start of a purple patch of form, where he scores backheels and 60 yard lobs in every game, and makes me look like a complete fool (not a hard task) for the rest of the season. Go on Mario!

Wood followed up their four goal haul with another at Potters Bar on Wednesday night, with Charlie Hunter amongst the scorers with what was by all accounts a wonderful free kick. The match report can be found here.

So onto tonight - Boreham Wood vs Arsenal XI. I've discussed how odd these fixtures can be in a prior post, and with the Emirates Cup taking oplace this weekend, I can only assume we will get to see the likes of Sanchez Watt and the reportedly Newcastle bound Henri Lansbury strutting their stuff tonight. It's a strange on for me as I am instantly put in a position where I have my two teams facing off just a matter of weeks after deciding to support Wood this season in a fit of anger at an Arsenal team that had been underperforming for years.

Now, friendly, kick about or Champions League final, I want Arsenal to win every single game they play in. But this one is a bit different. It almosts brings to ahead why I am doing this in the first place - a chance to go and shout at the Arsenal youngsters, 'I'd rather be here than at The Emirates'. A chance to sit there and shake my head at a team that will likely consist of players who may get a Carling Cup run out at best, yet still have a lavish lifestyle and if careful can be pretty well set up for life if they spend a few years in the reserves, plodding along until their eventual release. It's not a reaction at the players per se, but a general backlash at the lifestyles that they are afforded, when a player who at 18 has never cleaned a a pair of boots but can drive around in a top of the range sports car, despite the fact that the closest they have got to the first team is occasionaly training with them.

And this is the crux of where this whole project is coming from. As reserves, they are just cogs in the huge machine that Arsenal have become: the tours to China, the bastardisation of the club crest, the fawning to the middle and upper classes who not only don't know any of the players but never see out a match, leaving before the final whistle. I don't want to try and make myself out to be a working class hero because that is far from the truth, but I will take great pride in sitting in the east stand at Boreham Wood tonight, watching my home town team, and for the 90 minutes they are on the pitch, friendly or otherwise, 11 vs 11 against Arsenal. It will make no difference to anyone at the club that I am at Meadow Park instead of The Emirates, none at all, but personally I had to take a stand. And I don’t think I'll be the last one either.

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