Thank You’s are the first order of the day, Martin and Rob, without whose help none of this would have been possible, people outside do not know how much tiring work is involved in getting everything in place for the club and to get a team out every week. Thank you Guys.

Also, our respective partners, Heather, Elaine and Julia, who have all had to put up with constant phone calls at all times of day and night, travelling to games to support us and the team and being a message service for us while we were out!! Thank you Ladies.

Now, to the players, without whom we wouldn’t have been able to achieve so much in such a short space of time. We were encouraged by the majority of players who wanted us to form this Club in signing up so quickly and to the new players that we signed last year giving me a squad of 23 to choose from for most weeks. Thank you.

And last to our detractors. We had comments thrown at us that we couldn’t do it, we didn’t have the knowledge or skill to do it and it wouldn’t last.
Well, Thank you, because we’ve proved those people wrong and we’re going from strength to strength, with some exciting times ahead. The possibility of a Reserve Team and even a Youth Team in the not to distant future, being just two of the options open to us.

Now to the football itself. The start of the season was slow to take off due to injuries and work committments. The Herts Junior cup run proved good experience for us, as did the Jubiliee and the Division Three Cup. The league campaign was gathering momentum and a top half finish looked on the card before Christmas. But then as soon as Christmas was over our season took off. Only two league defeats meant that we were looking at a top 3/4 finish!! And that is what we duly did, with victories in our last two games we finished a creditable fourth.

To sumarise, our first season had it’s ups and downs, and there are a lot more ahead for us, but with the sound backing of our sponsors, a good Club infrastructure in place and a good squad of players to build on from last year the future looks very bright for SARACENS FOOTBALL CLUB.

C’mon the SARRIES.

Ken Benbow
Manager

Well here we are at the end of our 1 st season together and what an entertaining season it has been both on and of the pitch.

Firstly I would like to say well done to Ken & Rob in keeping things ticking over for the season, I know how much work goes into these kind of things and believe me it is a lot.

Well then onto the football and what can really be said about this season, probably best to split it into 2 parts here I feel, before Christmas & after Christmas.

The 1 st half of the season was very interesting, especially with the new players in and old alike to see how we would Gel, although the club got off to a winning start we didn't really capitalize and found ourselves drawing games we should of won & loosing games which we were dominating. This was attributed to never being able to get a settled defence in place due to a mixture of work commitments and injuries which seemed to show in the 2 nd half of the season.

The 2 nd half of the season showed a very different type of form, with the team settling down and the same regular players, this has lead to much improved performances, the team only loosing 2 league games this side of Christmas (both matches due to having players sent off)

If anything this has showed that the team can improve and with most of the players we have are certainly capable of producing consistant performances week in week out.

So what do we have to look forwards to then? We are currently looking at a number of options for next season including adding a reserve team, this will almost involve twice the work but if the interest is there and the players want it then we feel it is certainly worth doing.

So finally, well done to all involved in the club this season, and well done on making it to the end.

See you all again in the summer.

UP THE SARRIES

Martin Southall
Asst Manager

First I would like to say a few thankyous to people who without their hard work and backing Saracens would not be here. Me, Ken and Martin started this club knowing it was going to take a lot of time and effort and we have all taken up our responsibilities and have had to make sacrifices but without each other the club wouldn't be here so thanks to Ken and Martin for all the effort. And don't forget our better half's who have had to put up with it all season.

Without sponsors it would cost each player a hell of a lot more to play for the club and who wants to pay hundreds of pounds a season so without our sponsors backing there would be no players and no club so a big thank you to;

The Varney Practise in Hertford- for their financial backing and thanks again for agreeing to back us for the next season.

The Saracens Head Pub in Hertford- for their financial backing, for the great food after the games and the general use of the pub for our presentation evening etc.

Weblight Limited in Stanstead Abbotts- for buying our kit for us and allowing the use of one of their vans.

Amwell Studios in Hoddesdon- for sponsoring our club photos.

Power Lift UK in St Neots- for providing our graphics.

BMG in Hoddesdon- for sponsoring our kit printing.

www.southallit.com- for building and updating our fantastic website.

All these people/companies have put their hard earned money and time into our club and trusted us to use it wisely which we have done, so once again thank you.

It is true that this season was a tale of two halves, before Christmas the club was trying to find its feet and inconsistency and injuries played their part but the second half of the season was a different story. We started to gel and play some good football with a consistent team week in week out. I think if the season had started at Christmas on our performances we would have finished in the top two so there is a lot to look forward to next season.

Through all the seasons ups and downs I can only remember one argument which lasted all of 2 minutes, how many teams can say that?. I can honestly say this has been the most enjoyable season I personally have had for as long as I can remember and I want to thank all the players for that, you're a special bunch keep it up.

Congratulations to Rob Convey (managers player) Dan Hemmings (players player), Steve Summers (golden boot), Martin Southall (M.O.M) and Paul Dobson (clubman) and well done to the everyone else for attending presentation in was a good laugh and I think we should do it more often.(obviously without the trophies!)

Finally congratulations to Andy Payne who got married recently and Martin Southall, Dave Cooke and Rich Butler who are all getting married in July and August.

UP THE SARRIES

Rob Djemal
The Daddy