To PC or not to PC !!!! Fax is the question......

At the Conference AGM on 13th June, Dennis Strudwick, the Conference General Manager, announced that the fixtures for the 2009-10 season would be ready no later than Friday 3 July. Work couldn't start on them until after the Football League had announced its fixtures, since clubs are invited to ‘pair’ with other clubs to avoid clashes of fixtures and some Conference clubs pair with league clubs.

What you may not know is that the Conference fixtures are prepared ‘by hand’, rather than using a computer program. At the AGM, Dennis was praised for his work, which member clubs appear to prefer to the automated approach used by most other leagues.

I wonder if my team, Mansfield Town will agree with that after the "hand-job" gave them home Tuesday night fixtures against Oxford Utd and Luton Town, two clubs with huge travelling followings -- who knows how many fans can't or won't travel midweek that would normally travel on a Saturday.....the potential loss in revenue is a bit of a kick in the taters after how the club was treated by the League last season. If the fixtures are done manually or by PC programme, surely changes can be made to ensure every club gets the best fixtures package possible. As it is, 10 of the 24 Blue Square Premiership clubs, including the mighty Oxford United, have a free Saturday in season 2009-2010.... a free Saturday? Blimey, takes me back to kids football..............

Back in the days when a home PC was as rare rocking horse droppings, I remember taking a trip to the home of Young Elizabethan League Fixtures secretary Brian Ridgard to help him compile the coming season's fixtures. This was circa 1995/96 and the YEFL was, at the time, for Under 10's to Under 14's with well over 100 teams involved. Sorting out the fixtures was a tedious, mind numbing job -- with over 100 teams to have games allocated - and take into account that some clubs had more than one team, some clubs had teams in every age group, and some clubs had two teams in the same division!!! Then remember that some clubs used the same pitches so had to be kept apart - what a nightmare. There were bits of paper all over the kitchen units, the lounge floor, the coffee table.

But computer software ended all that hard work - or did it? There are FREEWARE programmes such as http://www.download3000.com/download-home-or-away-league-scheduler-count-reg-25729.html that do all the hard work, leaving just a few tweaks needed to tidy odds and ends up.

As I pointed out at the start of this diatribe, this is not so for the Conference because Conference fixtures are prepared ‘by hand’, rather than using a computer programme... I remember Mr. Ridgard fighting against the introduction of computer generated fixtures -- he wanted to keep his position on the League Management committee safe -- and it's just my opinion (and I know nowt) -- but shouldn't someone, somewhere begin to drag the Conference kicking and screaming into the 21st century??

Four clubs – the Stags, Oxford, Crawley and Bognor Regis – were docked points last season for fielding an ineligible player or players. That led to complaints from the teams and their supporters that the league needed to address the way the registrations were handled. Of particular frustration was that details still had to be faxed, rather than using an up-to-date computer database.

The Conference announced it would conduct an internal review and later publish their findings. The results were announced and Conference chairman Brian Lee said he was 'satisfied that all the necessary office systems are in place.

Conference Chairman Brian Lee - "we have endured a difficult season. We want things to be better. We are introducing a new software system." So the League does at least have a computer then....!!