Luke Blewden Leaves The Anvils

[Admin]

So it emerges today that Luke Blewden Has left Crawley Down and Followed Maggs to Tonbridge!

I'm sure Simon Wormull would have loved to keep hold of him? In the 1 and a half seasons he was with us he terrorized defences. Gutted to see him go! Best of luck next season Luke!

[Mike May]

According to Argus and general chat i thought he was under contract therefore a fee would be required for his services elsewhere, if true what was the fee i wonder?

John Maggs looking back in hindsight, was he really worth it, the carnage he has caused since he's walked out.

[totalfootball]

Great to see that Luke has tipped the club for promotion this season. Might be a little optimistic but who knows?

[Anvilite]

Mike, cast your mind back to Johns first season. Until he changed the majority of the team they had barely managed a point, if at all, by November. This was followed by a highest ever league position for the club. I think he was probably worth it, especially when you also factor in the commercial money and donations he earned the club.
Not sure the carnage can be attributed to John either. Even if John had stayed I am not sure he could have kept the team together with the money on offer compared to that on offer elsewhere.
You can't blame players for trying to improve their financial possition, they are only in it for a short time and have every right to earn as much as possible and try to progress up the levels.
Lets hope Simon can build a competitive team and continue the progress that has been made both on and off the field in previous seasons.

[HonestTruth]

Hi Anvilite, i do believe you have a very good point but an awful lot of the success was built on having a big budget. There was many opportunity to blood some fantastic young talent in the first team but week after week i watched to see them on the bench not even getting 5 minutes when 3-0 up. Whenever the youth team did get to play it was a forced change and not by choice.

I hope Simon is different this year as the fantastic youth players deserve to play their part and i hope they arnt held back.

My Motto if your good enough then your old enough.

[Anonymous]

Gossip amongst the U21s is that the new first team manager wants to sideline the Crawley Down Team to bring in the equivalent Lewis players, even though our boys took 4 points from them at last years matches!! Little bit of unrest in the team at the moment and it would be good to put all the gossip to rest and let the team prepare for the upcoming season.

[Anvilite]

Hi Honest truth,

I'm not sure you could call the budget big, hence the reason I would imagine on a lot of occasions that there were youth, Rob and Ian on the bench for a large slice of last season. Also, a vast number of the squad from last season have actually moved to other clubs in this league and a couple above and I'm sure they wouldn't have moved for less money than what Crawley Down were paying them.

Granted, when called upon last season the young lads did themselves proud but it is a massive step from under 18 football to Ryman South football and to do it week in week out is very difficult for young lads. This is why I think the under 21 league will be an excellent step for them and hopefully some of the talent from last year can try to use this as a stepping stone to eventually make the first team. Players like Tom Bingham, Ciaran, Jamie, and Tom Frankland at least deserve a chance to show what they can do.

[HonestTruth]

I have to agree Anvillite, I think these players need to be testing themselves at a higher standard but maybe the jump straight to first team is too far. I personally would love to see the lads given a chance in the Under 21's as I think Glyn and Co did a fantastic job with them last season.

Anonymous I would hate to see that team disbanded but I also feel that maybe a mix of the two teams would be good for the club.