Godalming Town
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Godalming Town
FOOTBALL CLUB
Godalming Town FC is a club working hard to lay solid
foundations to enable them to look forwards to a successful
future. Football Focus Magazine recently caught up with
their Vice Chairman Giles Pattison to find out more about
the club.
Giles told us, “I’ve been watching
the club for several years and have been
doing the programme and match photos
for the last three years. I Joined the
committee two years ago and became
Vice Chairman at the start of this season.
I initially got involved with the club
due to Geography to be honest. Lacking
time and income to watch Leeds, I live
in Godalming so can’t really imagine
watching anybody else on a Saturday
afternoon. That and the Bovril!
“The most challenging part of my
role is getting the programme out on
time and our club colours mean I often
get mistaken for a Norwich fan. The
most rewarding thing for me is when we
enjoy a good home win and a bar full of
happy people.
“I’d say the mood at the club at the
moment is one of cheerful stoicism.
We’ve got a great coaching team across
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all squads who’ve put a huge shift in for
us with little to no financial backup. The
legend that is Darren Wheeler retired
from the 1st team and then un-retired.
Les Cleevely likes his teams to play
the ball out from the back rather than
hoofing it long all the time so the football
has been pretty good to watch even
when results haven’t gone our way.
“The Ladies under Steve Davies and
Darren Wheeler are once again doing
brilliantly, challenging for their third
consecutive promotion and Jordan
Knight our U18 Coach (as well as 1st
team goalie) is assembling a promising
U18 squad. Our aim now is to get the
squad settled and stabilised, ready for
next season and try to bring a few more
people through the gate on a Saturday
afternoon.
“Youth football is very important
to the club; we’ve got a great coach in
Jordan Knight (also our 1st team goalie)
and as injuries kick in the 1st team squad
gets a bit threadbare so we’ve been able
to give several U18s a taste of 1st team
football.
“I’d say we are a community club,
although I’m not sure what a non-
community club likes like. Unlike many
clubs these days we’re still playing in the
town we’re named after, but on the other
hand Godalming has never really been a
football town.
“Far more people turn out for
the Rugby up the road on a Saturday
and whilst we’re very grateful to our
current sponsors we’ve found it quite
hard to consistently bring local money
into the club. People use our clubhouse
for private parties and Jordan runs an
excellent goalkeeping school.
“Our biggest challenge will be staying
in business … like most clubs at our level,