Sunninghill Football Club

The club are in the process of arranging a friendly for this coming Sunday 27th July, opposition have been arranged, with the venue being the only stumbling block at this moment in time. Players should let Birdy know about availability asap so he can plan out his side for this opening friendly.

New Sunninghill FC manager Paul "Birdy" McDowell has spoken out about his excitement building towards the new season, with the league hopefully being better run it is now down to the manager to assemble a squad he feels can compete up at the top of the Premier Division this season, he is currently in negotiations with a number of new signings to strengthen last seasons squad which was stretched to the limit as the season wore on.

He has begun light training for the side which is taking place at 11am every Sunday morning at the clubs spiritual home at the Victory Fields in Ascot, anyone looking to join the Sunninghill revolution can come down at this time, email us on Sunninghillfc@yahoo.co.uk or contact Birdy directly on 07983441488.

We are also looking for a number of friendlies in the build up to the new season so any team managers interested can get in contact in the same way.

As the season came to a painful finish, not helped by an injury ravaged squad and for some reason very very little fixtures where 2 games were not played despite us having about 8 weeks off in a row before our final game against Blackwater, there were 2 players who still stood out despite giving a superb level of performance week in week out, which if the squad could all match next season would no doubt see us up at the top end of the league.

Managers Player

This season went to goalkeeper Chris Regan, after a number of consistent performances, making vital saves at vital times to often keep us in matches or preserve a narrow lead, the young stopper who is in his second season with the club excelled when things werent going right elsewhere, if he can maintain this level of performance next season then it will be a solid founation for the rest of the side to build on.

Players Player

When it came to the votes this season there were only 2 players really involved, one got managers player and the other which came as no surprise to everyone was captain Dan Parker, when available took control of games in the middle, solid in the tackle and also finished as the sides second top goalscorer with 7 goals, including 6 headers which show his danger in the air. Leading by example lifting team mates during matches, was really missed when he was absent, deservedly won this award after another season of consistent top level performances.

After a very poor season the Sunninghill FC board have announced that they have parted company with manager Clinton Harcup. This follows the 6th place finish in the league and defeats in both cup competitions at the quarter final stage, followed by a 2nd round exit in the county cup.

After the success of last season where our league title challenge went down the final 45 minutes of the season, Harcup was expected to push on and once again compete for the Premier Division title, but despite blowing the clubs transfer funds on centre back Jon Keough at the start of the season results were never up to the standard required, the loss of Mike Ward due to his lack of balls also further weakened the squad, and a fresh start is required. The final nail in the managers coffin came when a training ground bust up with captain Dan Parker showed that the young manager had lost the dressing room.

Sunninghill Chief Executive Roger Podactor made the following statement: "It is with sadness that we have been forced to make this decision, and first and foremost we would like to thank Clinton for leading Sunninghill FC to its higest league position ever, but with the best interests of the club we feel that a change of management is needed to take the club forward to the next level, we are looking for a manager with a wider experience of this level that can bring the best out of the wealth of talent already at the club, we will also give the new manager sufficient funding to strengthen the squad in the summer transfer market."

Harcup, who was the most succesful captain of the team after lifting the Parish Cup in 2005 was criticised for his henk ten cate "bully boy" approach that was rumoured to intimidate certain members of the squad, as earlier in the year ex player Mike Ward commented that he (Harcup) was the meaniest man he has ever met in his life as he wiped back the tears talking about his 18 months at the club.

Early frontrunners for the Sunninghill post are Paul McDowell who has enjoyed success as a player and has already managed the team from 2004-06, Ali Azarian who was assistant to Harcup for the 2007-08 season, and Avram Grant who was recently sacked by Chelsea.

            Early frontrunners from left to right; Avram Grant, Ali Azarian and Paul McDowell

This sunday Sunninghill finished their league season with a 5-1 home defeat to Blackwater Valley, both sides were missing a large number of players and with nothing to play for the game was never the most exciting.

For some reason the league have decided not to schedule our fixture away at Spelthorne, or arrange our game away to Hawley Select after the home side refused to play without a referee earlier in the season, what also makes this strange is that we went the last 8 weeks without a game, and trying to get enthusiasm out of the squad for this fixture after such a long lay off was always going to be tricky, we can only hope that 2008/09 will be better.

Sunninghill stars Jon Bennett and Charlie Harcup were both dropped from the England under 23 starting line up to face their Mexican counterparts on Wednesday evening after their were snapped by papparazzi with a couple of beautiful American women out in Cancun less then 48 hours before the game.

            Charlie Harcup With Mystery Blonde                            Jon Bennett with mystery Brunette

England Under 23 head coach Glenn Roeder said in an interview with Sky Sports News: "It is a shame that this has occured as both players were hitting form for Sunninghill in the Camberley Sunday League, but rules were put in place to ensure discipline within the squad, and neither of these players will represent their country at this livel while i am in charge."

It is a major blow for the 2 who also according to the daily star were involved in a "roasting" session at the £3,500 a night royal suite at the nearby Hilton, sources say that one was blonde whilst the other was brunette but there was no confirmation whether it was the 2 ladies snapped here with the stars earlier in the night.

The agent for both players Tanny-Gray Thompson refused to deny the rumours but stated "any allegations of roasting were a slight exaggeration of the truth"

Both players are set to be disciplined at training on Tuesday upon their return by manager Clinton "Paul Jewell" Harcup, and it is yet to be seen whether they will pull on the famous blue and black of Sunninghill again after reports that LA Galaxy are going to launch a bid to sign the players due to their marketing value.

Sunninghill were worthy winners over Beaulieu despite never performing anywhere near their best, chances came and went as the home side were always in control, until Barron popped up with his first goals of the season, the first a goal of the season contender midway in the second period to make it 2-1 before he won and converted a penalty 5 minutes later to seal the win, Chris Regan saved a penalty in the dying minutes as the 3-1 scoreline maybe should have been more.

Match Report Is Now Online

     Sunninghill bowed out in another quarter final this sunday as they lost out 3-2 to moneybags Yately Green and their multi millionaire owner, the home side lead twice through Steve Williams, and looked comfortable at the back but 2 sloppy goals from set pieces meant the runaway league leaders got back into the game and progress to the next round.

   Tabloid speculation that Yately have brought success this season have overshadowed their achievements as big bucks have obviously been spent assembling this side of world class international players, with qualification for the Champions league a real possibility and a great achievement for the millions invested in the squad this season.

   Yately chairman Phil Pound was quoted as saying after the game "the club hopes to break even by 2014"

In the build up to this weekends Inter Divisional Cup tie with Yately green news has been broken that Dave Barron has signed up a 5 figure deal to become the face of L'oreal mens skincare range on a 6 month deal, good news for Dave and a reward to all the effort he puts into his appearance before, during and after games. The club wishes to congratulate him on this and will also recieve 10% of the contract amount due to a clause in the contract Barron signed with the club.

Pictured below is Dave and his silky smooth skin taken earlier in the season alongside one of the products he will be officially endorsing.

                                                 Dave Barron                         A L'oreal skin product

 Meanwhile in other news Ernesto Santos has been unveiled as the new face of Nandos.

This Sunday we went down 3-0 away to Blackwater Valley, a game that was well contested until the game was ended as a contest with over half an hour remaining with Ernesto Santos dismissing both Paul McDowell and Clinton Harcup with the score at 1-0.

The 9 men left on the field battled well and worked hard to only concede twice more in the remaininder of the match, with Chris Regan in goal and John Gurr at the back both in fine form.

Next Sunday we are at home to Yately Green in the Inter Divisional cup, with our last chance of success this season the side who are missing only Dan Parker should be up for the game looking for revenge for the defeat the league leaders gave us earlier in the season.

Sunninghill put in a commanding performance today to comfortably see of Hawley Select in the first meeting between the 2 sides, a dominant first half display saw a 3-0 lead courtesy of goals from Parker, Bennett and Charlie Harcup, before Hawley missed a penalty after Gurr had tripped in the area.

Bennett made it 4 within a minute of the restart and McDowell added the 5th sandwiched between 2 Hawley strikes with ten minutes remaining.

Positive notes were the return to the side of Zutshi and Barron who both got 90 minutes under their belt and slotted straight back in with no problems.

Next week we are without a fixture whilst the rest of the league compete in the fourth round of the Inter Divisional cup.

p.s Toby Underwood is a penis

After Ralph Little signed for Windsor and Eton a couple of years back and MC Harvey then signed for AFC Wimbledon Sunninhill have got on the bandwagon for singing superstars for their football club.

At the start of the season supporters were unsure about the effect John Gurr would have on the team but have been surprised with the quality of the young defenders recent performances, after appearing in both Shrek 2 & 3 he has now decided to concentrate on his football career and has started his delight at the confidence Clinton Harcup has shown in him.

The Sunninhill manager was quoted as saying that the players inclusion in the squad was entirely a footballing decision and nothing to do with the revenue generated from the shirt sales in the clubs shop.

This week Sunninghill were held to a 1-1 draw away at Wheatsheaf after a battling performance from the away side, playing the first 40 minutes with just 10 men we took a deserved 1-0 lead when Bennett latched onto Parkers knock down in the area, with the numbers equal at half time the solid back 4 looked like seeing the game out when a long ball and flick on in a momentery lapse in concentration resulted in Wheatsheafs equaliser that Reagan could not get a strong enough hand on to keep out.

Match report now online

Next Sunday (3rd Feb) We have a home league fixture against Hawley Select, a side we are yet to face this season, at the Victory Fields in Ascot. Kick Off 10-30am

Today Sunninghill put in arguably their worst performance for a number of years going down 2-1 at home to Spelthorne Sports, throwing away a half time 1-0 lead to finish the game with nothing.

A poor season looks like getting poorer unless we can turn around our poor performances, and will need to be on top of our game if we are to progress in either cup competitions with the tough draw we have been given.

Sunninghill have been handed tough ties in both of the cup competitions, firstly in the Inter-Dvisional cup after the 6-0 drubbing of Wheatsheaf Heatherside, we have landed a home tie with runaway league leaders Yately Green, whilst in the Premier Division cup we will travel to last seasons champions Blackwater Valley which is always a well contested game.

This week (20th January) we continue our 2008 fixture list with a home game against Spelthorne Sports, weather permitting the game will be played at the Victory Fields in Ascot and it a 10.30 kick off.

Today we booked our place in the 4th round of the Inter-Divisional cup with a comfortable 6-0 victory over a spirited Wheatsheaf Heatherside Res, after a scrappy opening period the away side were always in control, and only really showed their superiority towards the end as the side began to play with more confidence.

Positive notes were the performance of Chris Reagan in goal who controlled his defence superbly and made some excellent saves to maintain his clean sheet, as well as goals coming from the midfield with captain Parker netting a double before Charlie Harcup showed what he is capable of with a fine strike in the final minute.

This result should give the squad a lift as we look to get our league campaign back on track, but with the fixtures not allocated as of yet we will have to wait and see if we are back in action next week.

The match report is now online on the results page.

After 18 months of loyal service, Mike Ward has decided to move on from the club, the main reason according to skysports.com is that "Ward is a Fanny"

Rumours in todays tabloid newspapers suggest that Ward is going in for a gender swapping operation in the United States, and that the reason for his disappointing displays this season were the femals hormone supplements that he has been taking since early in the summer, which would explain the players current physique.

The players agent and close friend Pete Burns has asked for the public to respect his clients privacy at this difficult time, the players last appearance for the side came in the 3-0 defeat away at Beaulieu in November, and the fans will have to live with their last memory of the player being his 4/10 performance that day.

Other rumours circulating are that Ward is focusing on winning a gold medal for the Great Britain womens football team at tha 2012 olympics, however it is yet to be seen whether the player can handle the notoriously physical domestic English womens game.

Whilst disappointed to lose the services of the player Clinton Harcup feels he has adequate cover in the squad to make up for the loss, the manager told the Villager: "Mike has been a loyal player over the last season and a half, some good performances notably against Blackwater on the last day of last season showed the fans what he was capable of, and with more consistency could have gone on to be a Camberley Sunday League legend, however now it is up the other players in the team to improve their levels of performance to fill the position left vacant"

Sunninghill will begin 2008 with an away Inter Divisional cup tie to Wheatsheaf Heatherside reserves, the opposition are currently sitting 3rd from bottom in division one, but Clinton Harcup will make sure his side are not complacent going into this game, in a cup competition that the side will be looking to do well in this season.

Whilst the home side wil be sure to be up for the game, with a chance to show what they can do against a team in the same division as their first team, the game will be over at Heatherside this sunday (13th) and is a 10.30 kick off.

Sunninghill got back winning ways this week with a 6-2 win over struggling Frimley Town, for the second week in a row numbers were very short and we were again unable to provide a linesman but the bare 11 (10 that started and one late) put in a good performance given the conditions and circumstances to come away with a well deserved victory that will hopefully give the side confidence going into this Sundays away game at "bogey ground" Spelthorne where we have yet to win a match despite taking the lead pretty much ever time we have played them!

This week we were rubbish, read the match report not a lot else requires saying!

      After his outburst after being omitted from the starting line up in the home defeat to West End at the weekend, it has been decided that Paul McDowell has been fined 4 weeks wages by the board, thought to be in the region of £5.50 and warned about his future conduct.

      Furthermore the player has been warned about his future conduct and his behaviour over the coming weeks will be examined closely, an official statement released today reads: "It is with great disappointment that we have decided to fine current player Paul McDowell 4 weeks wages, but felt we had no choice in the matter, we are all behind assistant manager Ali Azarian at  this difficult time and we feel the outburst from a senior member of the squad was 99% of the reason we lost to Wet End on Sunday, and nothing at all to do with the fact that we cant defend for toffee"

       According to Football365.com this may spell the end of McDowells second spell at the club with LA Galaxy keen on the former international, however his £1.30 a week wages may prove a stumbling block in any transfer negotiations.                                                             

Another disastrous late show meant we dropped yet more points and lost our 3rd consecutive game which pretty much ends any hope of winning the league, with already to many points dropped, after late goals have already dropped points against West End twice, Blackwater and Yately this is an obvious reason for concern, with players still to return hopefully we can turn the season around before it really does get any worse.

Sunninghill fell to their first defeat of the season away to Beaulieu, the 3-0 score sums up how poorly the team performed on the day failing to deal with a very direct opponent, the team now need to get back on track if their season is not going to be over by christmas, with manager Clinton Harcup and numerous players set to return next week we will need a much bigger performance at home to West End who we drew 1-1 with on the opening day of the season.

This weekends fixture away at Hawley Select was postponed after the referee failed to show for the game, with both sides out on the pitch ready to kick off it became apparent that the referee was not going to show up.

After Discussions between both managers it was decided that the game would not go ahead, so that leaves us still down in 6th position as the only undefeated side in the league, but with a few games in hand on all of the sides above us we are hopeful of improving our current league position in the coming weeks, starting with next Sundays league fixture away vs promoted Beaulieu.

Sunninghill today bowed out of the county cup in the second round after a 2-1 extra time defeat to Richfield Rovers at the Victory Fields.

The home side deservedly lead 1-0 at the break after a half of domination before Sunninghill picked up in the second half matching their opponents and half time substitute Bennett equalised with a fine header from an Underwood pinpoint cross.

No more goals followed with both sides creating chances and this pattern was repeated in the first half of extra time before a wicked cross from the left was unfortunately headed past Reagan by Man of the Match Hallt on his debut, who had a superb game leading up to that, and so the game ended 2-1 with the visitors going through, a result which they just about deserved on the balance of play.

A Hard fought 3 points that were never really in any doubt, with a nervy last 5 minutes after Wheatsheaf pulled the defecit back to 1 means we move up to 3rd in the table with a game in hand on both sides above us, and also sees us remain the only unbeaten side in the league. A brace from Jon Bennett and a predatory finish from Forde gave us a 3-1 lead early in the second which put the result beyong Wheatsheaf who never stopped battling and could have snatched a late draw which would have been more than they deserved.

With Blackwater dropping another 2 points at home to Spelthorne today and Yately Green winning again it has opened up the league table into what at this stage of the season looks to be a 3 horse race.

The Match Report is now available on the results page.

In an entertaining game, this fixture which was switched to an away game due to the Victory Fields being used for county cup action.

After a pretty even goaless first half, Blackwater took the lead when Millington-Lee cleverly opened the scoring for the home side following a corner, Suninghill hit back also from a corner with McDowell climbing highest to power his header in at the back post, Bennett then made it 2-1 following in after a good stop had denied Parker, before Blackwater got their equaliser very very late on with Millington-Lee bagging his second of the game following a through ball.

4 games gone now and we are still undefeated, but with 3 draws need to get back to winning ways.

Match Report Now Published on Results page.

Sunninghill won through to the 2nd round of the Berks & Bucks Intermediate Sunday Cup with a 4-2 penalties victory over Hurley after an entertaining 3-3 draw after extra time.

Mike Ward levelled the scores at 1-1 from the penalty spot before a Harcup free kick caught Hurley out, the home side again levelled before Bennett made it 3-2 with a glancing header from a Ward free kick, Hurley again equalised with 5 minutes remaining and had their keeper sent off for foul and abusive language towards the referee, extra time went with Sunninghill on top but unable to score and with Sunninghill scoring all 4 spot kicks, Hurley missed one and had one superbly saved by keeper Martin Riding to send us through

Match report now available...

Ali Azarians reign as manager is over after a total of 4 days in the hotseat with the pressure of top level management apparently taking its toll, grey hairs have apparently been spotted on the former Iranian under 21 internationals head although his agent Ray Finkle has strenuously denied any such rumours. However you can make up your own minds by looking at the picture of Ali taken in the last news post before he took the job, and the picture just below taken earlier today.

Tabloid speculation suggests that a fall out with captain Dan Parker could be a reason behind this although the club have no comment to make at this time, Parkers bad boy image and play boy lifestyle off the pitch appear to be causing some unrest within the squad.

                                               Ali Azarian

No fewer than 12 applicants came forward for the position of leading Sunninghill FC to glory but in the end Chief Executive Roger Podactor released the following statement to sunninghillfc.com:

 'It is with great pleasure that i can announce Clinton Harcup as our new manager, he has a proven record of success at the club in being our most successful manager of all time, although things didnt work out before we hope that any issues between the club and management have been resolved and look forward to the long term future under Harcups Guidance.

                The new look Clinton Harcup

  After todays 3-0 victory over Frimley Town, Sunninhill FC released the following statement with regard to manager Clinton Harcup.

                                               Clinton Harcup

   "In recent weeks it has become evident that the relationship between manager Clinton Harcup and the Sunninhill FC board had broken down, the main point being the disagreement over the treatment of Paul Charles, with Harcup not wanting to rush the injury prone defender back to soon, with the final straw coming in the build up to todays game, with Harcup having a spectacular bust up with captain Dan Parker over the midfielders poor early season form, the board has taken this as a sign that the manager has lost the dressing room and it is in the best wishes of the club that we part company"

  Managing director Roger Podacter also came out to add that Harcup was not sacked, nor did he resign but that this was a mutual agreement between both parties, we would like to thank Clinton for what he has done in becomming the most successful manager in the clubs history but now we both move on.

 As part of the agreement it has been decided that Clinton Harcup will not be allowed to take any managerial jobs in the CDSFL Premier Division for the remainder of the season whilst he is on "gardening leave".

  In the mean time former director of football Ali Azarian has been promoted to the role of head coach for the first team and has the full support of the board, and that adequate funds for transfers have been made available for the former Iran under 21 coach to strengthen his squad, his first game in charge will be this coming week end (30th September).

                                            Ali Azarian  

 Today Sunninghill got back to winning ways with a very comfortable 3-0 win against last seasons 3rd place Frimley Town. Although a sour note saw Dave Barron recieve what is likely to be a serious groin injury, and substitute Ali Azarian was sent off for 2 bookable offences. Even with 9 men for the last 10 minutes keeper' Chris Reagan was only forced into one real save throughout the game as the Sunninhill defence were superb.

 The goals came from Ben Moutrey, Dan Parker and Jon Bennett. A full match report will be posted soon on the results page.

After a slow start to the new season the fans appear to have turned on midfielder Toby Underwood, with some sections of the visiting fans booing the winger throughout our opening day draw at West End, Clinton Harcup took this week off to send a message to these fans who he claims were behind the troubled star only 12 months ago,

he said: "Toby has been a fantastic servant to the club throughout his 7 years and has asked fans to be patient and is confident that Underwood, 27 will be back to his best before the end of the current season" he went on to add "these fans were chanting  his name throughout last season but have singled him out which i feel is unfair, myself and the squad are 100% behind Tobes"

With only 10 months remaining on his current contract speculation is rife about his future with no new deal being agreed with the Sunninghill FC board as of yet.

The website forum is now up and running, feel free to get on there and post new topics or add your thoughts and views to existing posts.

Currently the big debate is whether Toby Underwood still has what it takes to compete at Premier Division level after he was booed by some sections of the crowd in the seasons opener away to West End. 

Sunninghill Fc kicked off the 2007/08 season with a 1-1 draw away to West End, despite dominating large periods of the game the home side managed to grab an equaliser with only 2 minutes remaining, for many this was the first game since the end of last season, and with fitness levels only going to increase we should be in for a good season.

Match report now available, click the link on the results page.

 The First 3 league fixtures of the season have been announced starting this Sunday (9th September) away at West End, we then travel to new side Hawley Select (16th September), and then face last seasons 3rd place side Frimley Town at home (23rd September).

 A good start is required if the side is to achieve the same succeess as last season starting with this week ends opening fixture. The game is at the Royal Holloway University Sports Centre, kick off 10.30am.

After an official Fa hearing last night in a similar secnario to Gabriele Heinze it was decided that manager Clinton Harcup was right not to sell centre back Toni Flisik to an unnamed rival Premier Division club, with time running out before the transfer window closing only division 4 side North Ascot FC were able to meet Harcups £150,000 valuation of last seasons most improved player. Flisik underwent a medical and penned a 3 year contract with the minnows stating first team football as the main reason behind his departure.

Everyone at Sunninghill FC wishes him well at his new club

 Meanwhile defender Jon Keough who was on a 2 week trial to prove his fitness came through 90 minutes last night and should agree a deal once personal terms have been agreed,

Keough who played for Ascot United in the 2005-06 season had retired from the game but the lure of european football has seen the tall centre back emerge as a transfer target for manager Clinton Harcup

The Parish Cup draw sees Sunninghill FC face AFC Sunninghill on Wednesday evening, 22nd August 6.30 kick off at South Ascot rec.

It will be the teams first game of the season after todays fixture away at Spelthorne was called off due to the pitch being declared unplayable

Pre Season Fixture:                                                     Sunday 19th August

Spelthorne Sports vs Sunninghill FC

Kick off 10-30am

Meet at the Dukes Head Sunninghill, 9-30am

Any problems please ring Clinton Harcup as soon as possible.

At the end of Season awards held at the clubs new home, the Dukes Head in Sunninghill, the end of season awards were announced,

Most Improved player was Toni Flisik, the 23 year old centre back returned from a serious knee injury at the beginning of last season and was an ever present at the back, playing a huge part in the teams league runners up finish and the best defensive record in the premier division. He was also captain for the team in Parkers absence.

Managers Player went to last seasons players player Jon Bennett, after finishing the season as both the teams and the league top scorer with 36 goals, was en ever present for the side not missing a single game all season.

Players Player of the season went to Martin Riding, winner of the managers award last season, after another season figured in almost every game, playing in goal when needed in Reagans absence, slotted in at left back mainly where his forward runs caused a lot of problems for the opposition, was solid in the tackle and in the air ensuring nothing got past him, probably the teams most consistent performer for the past 2 seasons.