Has much been happening this week?

Key-Man Isiah-Noel Williams departed Latimer Park this week

If like myself you have supported Kettering Town for a long time you tend to get use to things never being plain sailing. From winding up orders in the high court to the 39 days of Gazza life is rarely dull if you support Kettering Town. Just when you begin to think things are looking good again, Bang something happens to bring you back down to earth.

Well this last week has most definitely been one of them weeks. It started with a 3-2 home defeat to a truly awful St Ives Town team that didn't really need to be anything more than awful to collect three points against our Sunday league defending and stop The Poppies going back to the top of the league.

Then came the news Star-man Isiah Noel-Williams had left the club because a relegation battle in the Northern Premier League with Matlock Town appealed more to him that a Poppies promotion push. I think it's been obvious for a while now that things haven't been great between Isiah and the manager Richard Lavery. Isiah had come close to leaving a few weeks back after being left out of the squad altogether for the match away at Sudbury. But all appeared to be sorted when he return for the next game and has quiet frankly been superb since he did return.

The news of Isiah leaving came from him himself, Posting on his X account "My time at Kettering has come to an end. I have tried to give everything for Kettering this season, but there is some things that are beyond repair and I can't allow my name to be unfairly tarnished. Thank you only to the fans and the players. The best set of fans I've played for". Now from the last couple of sentences I think it's pretty clear why he left and because of who he left.

There have been rumours of discontent in the squad since after Christmas. Personally I think Lavs has done a good job, but I think you can see from sometimes the way he acts on the touch line he can probably rub some of his players up the wrong way. I think footballers these days probably take more to constructive criticism than having expletives screamed in their faces after a not so great performance. He's a passionate manager and I don't think anyone can question his commitment to being the manager of Kettering Town. But something has to give soon. Does he calm down a bit and maybe become less of a manager or do the owners soon become annoyed at losing top talent such as Isiah Noel-Williams and intervene.  

But whilst feelings in the fanbase have been running high this week with quotes such as "That's it all gone tits up", "We can kiss goodbye to promotion" and just plain straight to the point "We are fucked" lets just look at the bigger picture. We are second, two points off the top with a game in hand. There isn't a stand out side in the whole division so no one looks like putting together a run that will see them win the title and others around us will drop points between now and the end of the season.

Yes Isiah going is a blow, yes there are rumours that the relationship between the manager and the players isn't the greatest but as it stands promotion is still very much in our own hands. We all (Staff, Players, Fans) need to stick together for these last 9 games. We can't throw the towel in here, lets worry about any tensions in the dressing room at the end of the season and act then. But for now, let's all stick together and see where it takes us.

Fans of other clubs like Bedford, Telford, Halesowen are Harborough might want to poke fun at us. The wheels are off they say. Looking at the league table they are very much still on. 

And if you are a Kettering fan ask yourself this. Would you rather support Bedford?, A club that can't get promotion as they are selling their soul and history for a merger?. Telford?, A clubs who's fans already let their club die once and think they are some massive club when they are anything but. Halesowen?, A little club who have never played above this level but have a fanbase who think they are a big non league club and who are a bit obsessed with the smell of Weetabix, Or Harborough?, A club who once the money men get bored of throwing money at it to barely get 400 through the gates and walk away will be back in the UCL league quicker than they came up?

Nah for me I'd take being a Poppies fan over all that. Because whilst It's never dull nothing else will come close to it