July 2006

Jay Devereux has added another piece of the puzzle with the signing of goalkeeper Dean Neal. Dean
who has previously been with East Thurrock United and Redbridge made his debut in Saturday's game against Cogenhoe and gave an assured display.

After just seven minutes into yesterday's friendly, the Cogenhoe United player Simon Flowerday went in for a challenge which resulted in a bad landing and as a result received a broken Tibia and Fibula. Last night Club Secretary Anthony Mercer and Physio Paul Baskin along with the Cogenhoe Manager visited Simon in Hospital where he was awaiting a surgeon visit. We would like to take this opportunity to wish Simon a speedy recovery from everybody at the Club.

Manager Jay Devereux has added a further two new faces to his growing squad. First is Matty West. Matty
is an energetic midfielder, who captained Ilford in their successful promotion winning side a couple of years ago before moving to Redbridge. Matty featured in Wednesday's defeat at Harlow scoring our goal.
The second signing is Mark Doyle younger brother of Ryan - Jay's opinion of Mark is "Mark is a young centre forward who has really impressed in training and in the pre season games so far" Mark joins us after a spell with Brentwood last year under former reserve team manager Tony Myers.

The Club has announced a friendly to replace this Saturday's (July 22nd) proposed game against Redbridge. We will play Cogenhoe United FC who play their football in the Eagle Bitter United Counties Premier division at Mayesbrook Park kick off 3pm.

Cogenhoe were champions of their league in 2004/05 and last season came fifth despite some injury set backs.

Manager Jay Devereux's rebuilding programme continues with two further signings both of whom featured in Tuesday's friendly against Dagenham & Redbridge.

Paul Carr (pictured left) is a returning Blue having played for our Youth side in the 90s and under former Manager Richard Thomas made ten appearances scoring one goal in season 2001-02. The following season Paul joined Barkingside where he remained until last season when he signed for Brentwood Town. Jay Devereux's assessment of Paul is "He has had an excellent goal scoring record in the Essex Senior League over the past few years and I am delighted that he has agreed to sign for us."

The second signing is Mark Barry who was a second half substitute on Tuesday night and can play in either midfield or defence. Mark's former clubs include East Thurrock United and Bowers & Pitsea. Jay Devereux commented "Mark is a no nonsense tough tackling player who can play in midfield or defence. He is a leader on the pitch and I think is exactly what we need for next season".

The recently announced friendly against Redbridge for Saturday July 22nd has unfortunately been cancelled. The club are trying to arrange a replacement friendly for the same day and if possible this will be announced as soon as possible.

The away friendly against Harlow Town has been put back 24 hours to Wednesday July 19th at the Sportscentre, Hammarskjold Road kick off 7:45pm.

The club has announced a further friendly which will be against Redbridge on Saturday July 22nd. The venue and kick off time are to be confirmed.

We are very happy to welcome the return of those two familiar and popular players Darren Bennett and Dave Reilly who have given excellent service in our colours in previous seasons. They bring to us a wealth of experience of which manager Jay Devereux says “I am sure their experience will prove invaluable to us “

Both Dave and Darren featured in tonight's friendly with Dagenham.

On the other side of the coin John O’Sullivan has joined Redbridge and we would like to thank him for all his efforts for the club over the years since he first arrived as a pony tailed teenager. We wish him every success for the future and are certain that his combination of skill and unflinching determination which earned the admiration of all supporters will be greatly appreciated at Redbridge. With Sully you know that you will always get 100%.

The away friendly against Harlow Town on Thursday July 20th has been confirmed that it will take place at the Sportscentre, Hammarskjold Road kick off 7:45pm.

Today's draw for the FA Cup and FA Vase has paired the Blues against one familiar opponent and one new opponent.

FA Cup Preliminary Round - Saturday September 2nd away to Barton Rovers. It was thought that this season we would be taking part in the extra preliminary round stage on August 19th however, it appears that this is not the case. The winners will be at home to Chelmsford City in the first qualifying round on Saturday September 16th.

FA Vase 1st Round Proper - Saturday October 7th home to either Langford or Hounslow

Yesterday evening Mayesbrook Park were visited by two officials of the Essex Senior League and following an inspection of our ground confirmed our participation for the coming season. The ESL fixtures will be published towards the end of July and will appear on this website.

Not so lucky were FC Risden who were denied participation in the ESL as their ground at the Harlow Greyhound Stadium did not meet the criteria - therefore the finalised line up is:

Barking, Barkingside, Basildon United, Beaumont, Bowers & Pitsea, Brentwood Town, Burnham Ramblers, Clapton, Concord Rangers, Eton Manor, Hullbridge Sports, London APSA, Romford, Sawbridgeworth Town, Southend Manor and Stansted.

The kick off time for next Tuesday's home friendly with neighbours Dagenham & Redbridge has been changed to 7:30pm.

Thanks to the hard work and determination of Chairman/ General Manager Dennis Elliott and Manager Jay Devereux the illustrious history of Barking Football Club continues. Due to Football Association rules we will play this season, our 127th, in the Essex Senior League which, in a way, is a return to our roots as we played in the South Essex League from 1898 to 1921. The opportunity to climb back up the pyramid is of course available to us. We have many friends in the ESL and many clubs are well known to us from various cup meetings but there will also be a few new grounds for supporters to visit.

The emphasis is on continuity, with Dennis and Jay at the helm and the reserves under the care of Dave Ross and Bert Hoyte. Dave managed the enormously successful youth side last season and guided them to a thrilling FA Youth Cup run which ended at Colchester United and to victory in two of the three cup finals they reached while Bert is a former Barking player who has been involved in management at the club for several years.

There will also be continuity on the pitch with many of last season’s squad continuing, including leading scorer Wayne Vaughan. However, Tony Tucker will not be playing due to work commitments, Gary Waters has entered a well earned retirement, Sam Taylor has joined Bishop’s Stortford and Liam Baptiste, Bradley Woodards and Warren Haughton have also left. We start our cup commitments in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup on August 19th, the draw for which is expected this week, but are exempted until the F A Vase first round proper. Entry into the Vase is a bonus of playing at this level and supporters will remember our exciting run to the last 16 some years ago.    

The change of name back to Barking FC will be reflected on this website as soon as possible.

At the recent Southern League AGM the Division One East all star side was selected. The team includes Barking’s captain and supporters player of the season Tony Tucker.

Full team: Tony Tucker (Barking & East Ham), Marvin Samuel, Ryan Moran, Mark Smith (All Boreham Wood), Richard Avery (Dartford), Steve Towers (Rothwell Town), Kevin Byrne (Corby Town), Martin Wormall (Stamford), Richard Howard (Potters Bar), Paul Barnes (Barton Rovers), Chris Bangura (Boreham Wood).