An audience with Gary Mabbutt and Ossie Ardiles, two legends of the game up close and live.

Relive the glory days of Tottenham Hotspur as we bring together two of the greatest players in the club’s history.

You’ll have the chance to meet and greet Gary and Ossie, hear their stories and ask them questions in a Q&A session.

When: Thursday 19 October at 7.30pm

Where: Butlers Bar, Enfield Town FC, Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, Donkey Lane EN1 3PL

Book your tickets, priced £35, on the following link for a night filled with entertainment, nostalgia and humour.

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/legendsnight/an-evening-with-spurs-legends

The draw for the FA Trophy’s Third Qualifying Round has been made, with Town given an away tie to familiar opponents.

In a reverse of last season’s fixture at the same stage of the competition, Enfield Town will travel to the Meadow to face Chesham United of the Southern League Premier Division.

The fixture will be played on Saturday 7th October 2023. As is standard for ties in the Trophy, the match will go straight to penalties if drawn after 90 minutes. Please note that the Metropolitan Line will be running replacement buses for services from Wembley Park to Chesham that weekend.

.

Tricky Opponents

Chesham are having another strong season so far; sitting second in their league (P8, W7, L1) with a game in hand on Gosport in top spot, and into the third qualifying round of the FA Cup. They are, of course, no strangers to facing Town in FA competition; Andy Leese’s Generals prevailing with a 2-1 win in our FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie back in 2015-16, while Town collapsed to a 4-0 Trophy defeat at the QEII last October.

“It’s another massively tough draw”, said manager Gavin Macpherson. “Chesham are a team and management I know well having had some great battles in my Southern League days. It probably couldn’t be tougher for us at this stage but I’m sure Chesham will also feel the draw could have been kinder. I think it will be a decent game, it’s a competition we want to do well in but to make progress we’ll be doing it the hard way.”

“The boys are in good spirits and looking forward to a tough week ahead starting with a trip to the midlands on Saturday.”

Enfield Town 0-3 Carshalton Athletic

Report by Charlie Baker

A ruthless second half display by promotion rivals Carshalton Athletic put Town to the sword to end our unbeaten start to the season.

It was fourth against third in the Isthmian Premier Division’s game of the day, with both teams going in with an identical record. 

The first half had chances aplenty, with the majority coming from corners.

Carshalton number three Paris Hamilton-Downes headed narrowly wide early on, before Sam Youngs’ shot was blocked from close range.

Ollie Knight then forced a flying stop from visiting keeper Will Huffer, as did top scorer Marcus Wyllie after a slick turn. The ball was bobbling around the Robins box a lot, but we couldn’t capitalise on the loose balls.

James Richmond’s header went just wide, and at the other end Robins centre-back Luke Read somehow missed the target and blazed over.

After a good half of football there was nothing to separate two strong sides at the interval.

HT: 0-0 

It was our Whole Club Day, an annual occasion bringing together all sections of the club including men’s, ladies, youth and disability. However, high spirits were extinguished by a ruthless second half display from Athletic.

Four minutes after the break, Town lost the ball from a long throw into the Robins box. Winger Mark Marshall raced away and struck on the counter with a peach of a strike into the bottom left. Joe Payne stung the palms of Huffer as we tried to find an equaliser. But while their first was a gem, the second was a gift. Town keeper Rhys Forster played the ball straight to Tommy Bradford, who raced through and finished well to make it two. 

Town upped the tempo, but unlike the first half we struggled to really test Huffer. Then, minutes after a penalty appeal was waved away, Carshalton made it three.

Substitute Oluwabunmi Babajide finished despite Forster getting a palm to it, supplying the healthy away following with more delight. Babajide was causing a lot of problems and could easily have had a couple more as Athletic carried on with their fluid counter attacks.

Our day was summed up by some more wayward shooting from the attack, as Carshalton closed the game out with ease.

Going into the game, our highest-placed opponents were Folkestone in 10th, so this was perhaps a more realistic test of the challenges we face in the promotion hunt. 

It’s all eyes on the cup now – we’re away to Halesowen Town of the Southern League Premier Division Central in a tasty FA Cup third qualifying round fixture next Saturday.

Town: Forster; Parcell, Bailey, Richmond, Payne; Knight, Youngs, Thomas (Birch 87’), Bessadi
(Keeya 70’), Wyllie, Beckles-Richards (Adjei-Hersey 85’)

This Saturday we take on Carshalton Athletic at home in what promises to be the game of the day across the entire division between the teams lying third and fourth.

Like us, the Robins – ahead of us only on goal difference — are unbeaten in all competitions with both teams on 14 points.

Last Saturday they thumped Kingstonian 4-0 in the FA Cup and in the league have scored 15 goals in their six games.

Whilst they have only won once on the road, they drew 1-1 at Hornchurch and 3-3 at Bognor and are likely to provide stiff opposition as we bid to maintain our own excellent start to the season.

“They will be very dangerous opposition, the toughest test by far that we’ve had,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We will need to be very competitive.”

Not only is this Saturday a proverbial six-pointer but it  co-incides with Whole Club Day, a very special annual occasion bringing together all sections of the club including men’s, ladies, youth and disability.

Feel free to invite all your friends and work colleagues to what should be a memorable day for everybody – and hopefully three points!

Gavin has seriously bought into the concept which allies totally with his own philosophy.

“It’s hugely important to have a connection between the first-team players and management and the rest of the football club,” Gavin said.

“All these people are the soul of our club and need something to aim for. There has to be a connection in respect of a pathway running through the academy and the under-18s. All the coaching team are invested in the idea.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up for our popular striker Jake Cass who suffered a devastating ruptured Achilles in the second game of the season and is a huge loss to the squad.

Scott Thomas and Sam Youngs have set up the page for Jake who is a club member and was particularly looking forward to the season.

Please donate to Jake’s GoFundMe page if you are in a position to do so by clicking below:

Help To Get Jake Cass Back Playing

As the country’s first supporters-owned club, members are our lifeline. Without them there would be no Enfield Town FC.

Our membership continues to grow and we are looking at achieving record figures this season. How important individual members are and the contribution they make can never be taken for granted. To celebrate our members, we will be publishing articles highlighting their personal contributions over the years.

We start with two members who have been extremely generous with their support. Iain and Elaine Keay have supported the club as members since we were formed. Unfortunately, their health means that they have been unable to attend games so directors Paul Millington and David Bryant visited them at their Essex seaside home to chat about what being a member of the Town means to them.

Iain and Elaine were Enfield born and bred and have fond memories of supporting the old Enfield FC. Iain’s attention to the club was initially drawn when listening to BBC Radio on a Saturday afternoon in 1959 when the live commentary was Enfield’s FA Cup 2^nd round tie with Bournemouth. 

Both fondly recall the FA Amateur Cup finals and in particular the replay v Skelmersdale in 1967 played at Maine Road, Manchester. The family set off from Enfield with their car blazoned with balloons and scarves. The locals were obviously upset with the Enfield win as all the balloons had been burst when they returned to the car after the game.

Iain’s passion for football and his contribution to the game in Enfield went beyond his love for the local club. He was a sports teacher at Firs Farm in Edmonton and then Grange Park and Lavender Primary.  He obtained his FA coaching badges and qualified as a referee. He managed the school teams and was keen for pupils to carry on after school and formed Lavender Youth. Later a new youth team, Field End Youth, was formed and Iain was invited to help run the club and managed three of their teams.

He counts among those he coached: Paul Moran (Spurs & Enfield), Martin Grainger (Birmingham City), and Dan Woodhouse (Enfield). He also coached cricket and three youngsters went onto play for Middlesex CCC. Iain recalls during a break from teaching and whilst working as a social worker for Haringey Social Services in the mid 1970’s he was invited for an interview as assistant club secretary at Spurs but sadly did not get the job.

His involvement at Enfield included contributions to the Attack magazine. A supporters’ magazine that was one of the first, if not the first, fanzine. He let us into a secret in that he ghost-wrote the regular column by the captain (of Enfield and England), Tony Jennings. Iain recalls covering the visit of the England national team managed by Don Revie who had a training session at Southbury Road before an international.

He still has his collection of Attack magazines and has donated to the club shop his collection of football books and programmes including that for the inauguration of the floodlights at Southbury Road when 10,000 turned up to see the game v Spurs in 1962. His favourite player of the old club was Roy Thomas who regularly now attends Town games. Iain has too many favourite games but the FA Cup 4th Round replay v Barnsley in 1981 at White Hart Lane in front of 35,000 stands out.

After moving to the Essex coast, Iain managed a bookshop that supports the local hospice. He follows every Town game on Live Score and despite not being able to travel, he and Elaine have bought their memberships and season tickets every season. Additionally, Iain has made significant donations over the years that have made a real difference to our club. He explains that after the loss of Southbury Road he felt the Supporters Trust was the only viable way to continue with football in Enfield. He knew many of the old club’s stalwarts that followed the Town (Roy Butler, Keith Wortley) and decided supporting the Town was the way forward.

Iain recognises that as a supporters-owned club there is no single money person and progress and success on the pitch needs financial support.  The donations have certainly made a difference to our Club and helped bring us to where we are now, and hopefully will bring the club the future success we all want.

It was a pleasure to meet Iain and Elaine. We at the Town have been very lucky to have them as long-standing members. We thank them for their support and generosity.

Paul Millington

The draw for the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round has been made.

The Towners will head to the Midlands, having been drawn to step 3 Halesowen Town of the Southern League Premier Central. Once again, the cup has thrown up a tie between two sides unbeaten at the time of writing – with the Yeltz sitting second in their league having won four and drawn four.

The fixture will be played on the weekend of 29-31 September 2023 – please note that there is planned industrial action affecting trains on Saturday 30th September.

“I think it’s a game we should all be looking forward to,” said Gavin Macpherson. “It’s an intriguing game because both clubs will know nothing about the other. In many people’s eyes we’ll be underdogs and I don’t mind that.”

“Any team that has made it this far in the competition will be tough opponents and Halesowen will be no different. They’ve started well but so have we, I know our supporters will travel in numbers so it should be a competitive game.”

“We’ll plan for it when the time comes, at this time we are only focused on the visit of Carshalton in what will be another tough encounter.”

Enfield Town 3 Felixstowe and Walton 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Every Town fan will be glued to Monday’s FA Cup draw after we reached  the third qualifying round at the expense of opponents who were hit with an early goal blitz before trying their best to make a fight of it.

On paper the tie was a potential banana skin but was effectively over within the first quarter as we destroyed the hopes of our lower-ranked Suffolk opponents and in the process ended their unbeaten start to the season.

As we roared out of the blocks, Sam Youngs settled any nerves by getting us on our way from the penalty spot on four minutes after Ollie Knight was impeded.

Ollie himself doubled our lead four minutes later with a fabulous finish (pictured, celebrating) following some neat interplay between Marcus Wyllie and Reece Beckles-Richards.

Before the Seasiders could gain any kind of foothold they fell further behind. Wyllie and Youngs had successive shots blocked but Joe Payne made no mistake at the third time of asking as he lashed the ball home.

Town, themselves unbeaten in all competitions, were too slick for their Step 4 visitors and could, maybe should, have had a couple more by halftime. Knight shot just wide while one of his trademark crosses was inches away from being converted by Wyllie.

Youngs suffered a nasty-looking leg gash and also picked up a yellow card but continued to stamp his mark on proceedings until being subbed with 20 minutes to go.

Sami Bessadi curled another fine Town effort just wide but just before the interval, F and W should have got back in the game when Callum Harrison somehow missed the target after being put through by Noel Aitkins’ clever back heel.

H-T 0-0

It was one step too far for our Step 4 opponents but we were indebted to our three-goal cushion in the second half as F and W gave it a go.

To their credit they looked a different team, partly because of us easing off, partly through tweaking their system, playing an extra man in midfield and bringing on tall target man Josh Mayhew.

Mayhew headed wide just after the restart and we suddenly had to turn to our defensive skills to preserve our three-goal lead, Josh Okotcha falling awkwardly and limping off after keeping out one of several raids.

Mayhew and Joshua Hitter missed further decent chances for Felixstowe who for once, having notched up 17 goals  in six previous outings, left their scoring touch at home.

In the last 15 minutes Town regained control as Payne rattled a 25-yard freekick against the post and Wyllie picked up a rebound and drove agonisingly wide.

“I was disappointed with the second half, there’s no doubt about that,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We saw it coming but I don’t think we dealt with it particular well. If they’d got an early goal then, we could have had a hell of a game on our hands.”

“But you have to take your hat off to the boys. It was no fluke. They took on board exactly what we wanted them to do inside the first 35 minutes. Often at 3-0 human nature dictates sometimes that you think the game is done. I never think like that but it’s understandable.

“In the end we put them to bed very comprehensively in the first half which was good enough to do the job.”

It may be too early to think that far ahead but another favourable draw and we could edge ever closer to the dream scenario of the first round proper.

Town:

Forster; Parcell, Okotcha (Coker, 58), Richmond, Payne; Knight, Youngs (Keeya, 70), Thomas, Bessadi (Birch, 83); Wyllie, Beckles-Richards

Congratulations to Town goalkeeper Rhys Forster on winning the Uhlsport Golden Gloves Award for August!

Voted man-of-the-match for a string of saves away at Haringey Borough at the end of August, Rhys and his defence conceded just twice and registered 3 clean sheets in 5 Isthmian League games as we ended the month with the league’s meanest defence.

Well in, Rhys – here’s to many more!

__

Photo: Zenonas Klusas

We are pleased to announce the signing of experienced striker Tyler Blackwood.

Tyler, 32, has played most of his football in America which meant we had to obtain International clearance.

Born in London, the former Northampton Town and Barnet trainee moved to the United States to play college football at an early age – and has lived across the pond virtually ever since bar a couple of years in 2015 and 2016 when he returned to play in the UK including a brief spell at QPR

At his first US club, Tampa Spartans, Tyler scored 24 goals in 33 appearances. He most recently played professionally with Oakland Roots in the second division  USL Championship

Welcome Tyler.