Football under the lights at Clarence Park this evening with the Saints looking to get back to winning ways. Hornets season ticket holders once again get admission at concession prices. Family discounts are also available. The clubhouse and three pitchside bars will be serving a range of local craft beers, ales, lagers, cider, and wine. Multiple food areas will be serving a range of hot food, and soft drinks, including the new and very popular Chicken George Junior (van): https://chicken-george.co.uk/ Tickets can be pre-purchased or purchased on the day from the turnstiles (card payments only). https://fanzone.stalbanscityfc.com/product/st-albans-city-v-dover-athletic-050923/
Hmm it all sounds good, but I'm a little bit doubtful about the use of 'chicken george' as a name for a business, although I realise that's not your responsibility. The name of course comes from the series 'Roots' about slavery. 'Chicken George' was one of the characters, but based on a real person. Chicken George's childhood George was born into slavery in the winter of 1806 in Caswell, North Carolina to Kizzy and her master, Tom Lea, who named him "George" after his first slave. He was conceived when his mother was repeatedly raped by her new master after her arrival on the Lea Plantation from Virginia. "The name "Chicken George" is applied as a derogatory term, usually toward an African American by another African American. It may derive from the character 'Chicken George' in the ABC television mini-series "Roots" (1977). The character is often identified with subservience, although he eventually earns his freedom from slavery, and comes to the aid of his son's family
@Saints How likely are St Albans to do well this season? I know they got to the play off final last year so would assume they are a promotion favourite, but there's Torquay and Yeovil in the league this season who presumably are both very strong and I believe Saints have lost one or two of the decent players they had? Is there a desire /ambition to kick on to promotion or happy to just coast a bit? Is there a new ground on the horizon also? I know one was planned a few years ago. I'm looking for a team with a modicum of heart and desire to follow - having been somewhat let down by my current Club . . . .
Sounds like a good win for them and Jeffers who seems to be a fan favourite but not so much with the manager scored. https://saintschat.proboards.com/thread/4127/dover-athletic-5-9-23
Saints did very well last season, until the play-off final where they simply didn't turn up. 3-0 down very early and eventually lost 4-0 to Oxford City on their comical 1G pitch (which has since been ripped up and replaced). As you say, they've lost a few of the players that got them to the play-off final. Jeffers – who is capable of scoring 25+ goals a season at that level – is often left on the bench. Saints have won 3 games so far this season – but those wins have come against three of the current bottom four, Havant, Dover and Weymouth. The matchday experience can be great. If you fancy a pint while watching the game, they have Mad Squirrel. It's punchy pub prices but better than the yellow dregs many football clubs serve. Clarence Park is a lovely place to watch football, although the two scaffold structures behind the goals are as ugly as sin (although they are handy when it rains). The football itself can be frustrating. Pass, pass, pass, pass for the sake of it. The club itself has really embraced the Dulwich Hamlet model since lockdown and the FA Cup win over Rob Edwards' Forest Green. The matchday experience seems to take up more of the focus than the football so if you want a team that'll turn itself inside-out I've seen better, more committed St Albans teams. As you can't serve beer pitchside in the next level up, I wonder what the commercial plan is should they actually manage to go up and whether the loss of revenue is (consciously or unconsciously) is a bit of a handbrake on the club's ambition. Longer term the owners want to move away from Clarence Park to some Meccano new-build on the edge of the city with a large housing development as part of the plan. Given the proximity of the current ground to the city centre and the train station it strikes me that such a move would deter huge numbers of people from going – unless they could do a Stevenage and get in the league.
