4^th July 2007

Hi folks – welcome to the new look Deeping Rangers website – hopefully you’ll all find it easier to move around than the one we’ve had for the last few years?

This season is an exciting one, as it’s our last as a “small sided” team, with us moving to 11-a-side in 12 months time.

But that’s in the future and we’ve got a long hard season in front of us before we have to worry about that.

This season will see us playing 7-a-side on the same size pitches that we played on last season. Doug & I played around with the formations last year during the friendly games and as I’m sure you’ll recall we did very well in the friendlies against most of the opposition – so I’m quietly confident about the months ahead.

The new league tables will be published soon, but the rumours are that our league has been stretched to 11 teams and our playing season will start in September and end next April.

We’ve also got two cup competitions this season so the lads will get plenty of time on the field – especially as we’ll be keeping the squad size down to just 9 – meaning I’ll have just 2 substitutes to choose from each week.

With that in mind, it is imperative that you keep me updated if you’re planning any weekends away during the season as I can postpone games if I’m given enough time to make arrangements with the opposition managers. The same goes for illness – the more warning you can give me the easier it’ll be for me to plan for the game. Although I can’t postpone games with less than 14 days notice at least I’ll be able to juggle the squad around and do my best to ensure every position on the pitch is covered.

That’s all for now – I’ll post updates in the NEWS section throughout the season so keep coming back to see what’s happening.

Enjoy your summer (when is this rain going to stop?)

Dave.