GAME OF MOANS!
WOKING v WATFORD
WOKING boss Alan Dowson has challenged his men to silence the moaners and groaners at the Kingfield Stadium and carve themselves a place in the club’s history.
The 7,000-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.
Tradition
“I was going to have a go at them in one game but, to be fair, Enfield were winning 3-0. You can have a good moan and get a nice cup of tea at the same time, it’s a fantastic tradition.
“Mind you, I knew I was 50-50 in my job when I saw the chairman, Rosemary Johnson, 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 thirdround 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 doesn’t believe his squad has earned the right to adorn the walls of the stadium alongside pictures celebrating the FA Trophy victories of 1994 and 1995.
Not to mention the famous 4-2 FA Cup third-round slaying of West Brom in 1991.
Dowson added: “We know Geoff Chapple’s history and what he has done for the club, we know the Lloyd Wye and Shane Wye stories because they come to say hello.
Excellent
“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 speak to Clive Walker still. 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 Woking 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 for, 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, Martin Tyler, the Sky Sports commentator, 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 bit of a part of it.”
“I’m one of them – we’re Dowsonettes.”
Asked about Tyler’s best features, Dowson paused and said: “What good things? It’s a hard one, that. No, the honest truth is we’re the best of friends now.
“I knew he was the best in the world at what he does and if someone’s the best in the world at what they do, you want to copy that.
“We think exactly the same about football as each other.
While Dowson is delighted with the Watford draw, there’s one club Tyler wanted.
He added: “I’m a big Sunderland fan and I kept saying, ‘I hope we get Sunderland, I hope we get Sunderland’. But we’ve ended up getting further than them.”