Kingfield of dreams New boss Dowson tells players: Silence the moaners and create your own history

WOKING manager Alan Dowson has challenged his men to silence the moaners and groaners at the Kingfield and carve themselves a place in the club’s history.

The 6,000- odd capacity ground has two special areas, one of which pays tribute to the celebrated Woking teams of the past and legends such as Clive Walker and Geoff Chapple.

The other is Moaners’ Corner, where the more negative and vocal element of the Cardinals’ supporters are encouraged to stand.

Dowson said: “The funny thing about this place is that, when you go to any game, you have people who moan, and you think, ‘ You moaning beggars’.

“But they’ve got their own Moaners’ Corner here – if anyone wants a moan they’ve got their own place to stand.

“I get on all right with them now.

“I was going to have a go at them in one game, but Enfield were winning 3-0 to be fair.

“You can have a good moan and get a nice cup of tea at the same time, it’s a fantastic tradition. Although I knew I was 50-50 in my job when I saw the chairman standing in there.

“I said, ‘Come on, chairman, it’s not that bad’. But she was shouting, ‘Dowson out’.”

Dowson is on safe ground at the moment, having led his side to a third-round clash against Premier League Watford in the FA Cup today and guided them to second behind Torquay in the Vanarama National League South.

But despite his good work, he still does not believe his squad has earned the right to adorn the walls of the stadium alongside the pictures celebrating the FA Trophy victories of 1994 and 1995, and the famous 4-2 FA Cup third-round slaying of West Brom in 1991, when the Baggies were in the old Division Two.

Dowson added: “We know Geoff Chapple’s history and what he has done for the club, we know Lloyd Wye and Shane Wye because they come to say hello.”

The Wye brothers made close to 900 appearances between them.

Dowson continues: “Trevor Baron is a great friend who played in the West Brom game. He came to our hotel before the Swindon game in round two, and I still speak to Clive Walker.

“We know the traditions of the club. A lot of managers might say, ‘ We don’t want to know about the history’, and keep them away.

“But I’ve never believed in that because those players were excellent footballers and they nearly got them into the Football League.

“We owe them a lot.

“I believe a manager came in not so long ago and he wanted to bring down the pictures of the great FA Trophy sides.

“But we’re saying, ‘ We’re not good enough to be in that league yet, it’s something to strive to, it’s what we want to do, and of course by the time we are finished here we want to have made our own history. But don’t forget how great those other players were when they were here’.”

Dowson’s assistant, Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler, said: “It’s really nice out by the side of the stand. There is all the history of the club.

“And we hope maybe something from Sunday will go up there as well and we’ll have a little part of it.”

haPPY daYs: Woking players celebrate after beating West Brom in 1991 FIT-AGAIN Tom Cleverley is hoping to maintain his shock-free record in the FA Cup when Watford face non-league Woking today.The former England, Manchester United and Everton midfielder missed the start of the season after Achilles surgery but has made cameo substitute appearances recently against Cardiff, West Ham and Bournemouth and is expected to step up his involvement against Woking.“I hope so,” Cleverley said. “I think the manager will make a few changes from what’s been a busy spell.“There’s a lot of players that have played a lot of games and me not being one of them I’m hopeful to start.“It’s a real good chance for me to get some good minutes under my belt.”Today’s teams are five divisions apart and Cleverley is confident that complacency will not be a concern for the Premier League outfit at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.Cleverley, whose great uncle Reg Stratton scored 64 goals in 123 games for Woking, said: “First of all, your attitude has got to be right.“You’ve got to apply yourself properly because I’ve played in a lot of Cup games against lower league opposition and luckily I’ve never had a shock. That’s because the team has gone out and applied themselves.“Everyone knows, if you don’t get out of the blocks fast, then it could be a difficult afternoon. But hopefully our quality will show through.”