Thorpe Groyney
Open your mind
Good to read from the Non League Paper website that our Grays Athletic chairman friend Mr. Woodward being his usual quiet self last night ...
Woodward To Quit Grays
by Stuart Hammonds
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
GRAYS ATHLETIC chairman Mick Woodward has told The Non-League Paper he is quitting the Essex club after their 4-1 Blue Square Premier defeat at Histon.
The Blues owner, who started the season as manager, was so “embarrassed” by Gary Phillips’ team’s showing in the first half at the Glass World Stadium that he went into the dressing room at half-time to give them the hairdryer treatment.
Relegation-haunted Grays had found themselves four down inside the opening half-hour, with a Jamie Barker hat-trick and an Antonio Murray strike giving the Stutes an unassailable lead.
In an exclusive interview with The NLP, Woodward – who previously quit as manager and chairman immediately after defeat at Woking earlier in the campaign but was eventually persuaded to stay – said he was “insulted” by the 41 travelling fans chanting Phillips’ name in the closing stages while the chairman directed proceedings from the technical area in the second half.
Woodward said: “That’s not Grays Athletic Football Club. I’ve never been associated with a team like that. I can understand sometimes this, that and the other. But that’s embarrassing. That’s hurt me. I’m being honest with you. I feel like I’ve had enough now.”
Asked if he was ready to finally throw in the towel, Woodward replied: “Yes, especially after the supporters singing what they were singing there. I’ve done more for this club than anyone. That was an insult what they were singing to me out there, about Gary Phillips. Watch this space tomorrow, because I think that’s me done now.
“It has hurt me a lot. That’s me done. There’s a couple of clubs who want me to go somewhere, but what will happen with this club is, at the end of the day, they owe me a fortune and I’m going to take my fortune as well. I’ve had enough.
“That was an insult, what they were singing there. If they’d put the money in, what I’ve put into this club, and the time and the effort, and saw how much it f****** hurt me today, why you heard me ranting and raving in the dressing room. They don’t see it.
“I tell you what, at the end of the day they are the people that make or break clubs. I went round there to confront them at the end today. It was only because my best mate said ‘Micky, don’t’ – because I would have stood there and had a fight today.”
The Grays fans had chanted ‘There’s only one Gary Phillips’ as the former goalkeeping coach stood impassively next to Woodward in front of the Athletic dugout.
“I pay Gary Phillips’ wages,” said Woodward. “I was the one who brought him back into football. He’s the one who works for me. I’m the one who has to go and find his money and work 24/7. I’m the silly prat who has to get up at five o’clock in the morning and don’t get to bed until eleven or twelve o’clock.
“I work seven days a week and then you’ve got p***ks like this. I’m sorry, but I’ve got a wife up there who begs me not to do it anymore, and I have rows with her.”
Asked whether what he had just said meant Phillips’ future with the club was in doubt, Woodward added: “No. I thought they let him down tonight. In the first half they let him down, so he needed some backing in there because there was no passion.”
My sympathies lie completely with the 41 hardy souls who went to support Grays last night and not one iota with the chairman.
Woodward To Quit Grays
by Stuart Hammonds
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
GRAYS ATHLETIC chairman Mick Woodward has told The Non-League Paper he is quitting the Essex club after their 4-1 Blue Square Premier defeat at Histon.
The Blues owner, who started the season as manager, was so “embarrassed” by Gary Phillips’ team’s showing in the first half at the Glass World Stadium that he went into the dressing room at half-time to give them the hairdryer treatment.
Relegation-haunted Grays had found themselves four down inside the opening half-hour, with a Jamie Barker hat-trick and an Antonio Murray strike giving the Stutes an unassailable lead.
In an exclusive interview with The NLP, Woodward – who previously quit as manager and chairman immediately after defeat at Woking earlier in the campaign but was eventually persuaded to stay – said he was “insulted” by the 41 travelling fans chanting Phillips’ name in the closing stages while the chairman directed proceedings from the technical area in the second half.
Woodward said: “That’s not Grays Athletic Football Club. I’ve never been associated with a team like that. I can understand sometimes this, that and the other. But that’s embarrassing. That’s hurt me. I’m being honest with you. I feel like I’ve had enough now.”
Asked if he was ready to finally throw in the towel, Woodward replied: “Yes, especially after the supporters singing what they were singing there. I’ve done more for this club than anyone. That was an insult what they were singing to me out there, about Gary Phillips. Watch this space tomorrow, because I think that’s me done now.
“It has hurt me a lot. That’s me done. There’s a couple of clubs who want me to go somewhere, but what will happen with this club is, at the end of the day, they owe me a fortune and I’m going to take my fortune as well. I’ve had enough.
“That was an insult, what they were singing there. If they’d put the money in, what I’ve put into this club, and the time and the effort, and saw how much it f****** hurt me today, why you heard me ranting and raving in the dressing room. They don’t see it.
“I tell you what, at the end of the day they are the people that make or break clubs. I went round there to confront them at the end today. It was only because my best mate said ‘Micky, don’t’ – because I would have stood there and had a fight today.”
The Grays fans had chanted ‘There’s only one Gary Phillips’ as the former goalkeeping coach stood impassively next to Woodward in front of the Athletic dugout.
“I pay Gary Phillips’ wages,” said Woodward. “I was the one who brought him back into football. He’s the one who works for me. I’m the one who has to go and find his money and work 24/7. I’m the silly prat who has to get up at five o’clock in the morning and don’t get to bed until eleven or twelve o’clock.
“I work seven days a week and then you’ve got p***ks like this. I’m sorry, but I’ve got a wife up there who begs me not to do it anymore, and I have rows with her.”
Asked whether what he had just said meant Phillips’ future with the club was in doubt, Woodward added: “No. I thought they let him down tonight. In the first half they let him down, so he needed some backing in there because there was no passion.”
My sympathies lie completely with the 41 hardy souls who went to support Grays last night and not one iota with the chairman.
