Lewes Season 2012/13 Day 1: Open Day

Saturday the 7th of July and Lewes FC's season is underway at last. There is no game on today, however the club are taking the opportunity to have Lewes FC's first ever open day going along with the theme that they are a community club and all that.

The under 18's ironically pour around the bar to fill out their

 forms

Unfortunatly due to work commitments I was unable to attend this years open day and so I had to keep up to date with what was going on during my breaks at work on the now reliable source that is twitter. As I am sure you are aware the weather we are experiencing is not what you would expect in July and so the open day was desperatly hoping for a bit of nce weather so that the event wasn't a washout.

The main thing that would excite me about the day was to find out if there were any new signings or anyone else staying on from last year. Obviously there were a few players I did not recognise and with the images being so small and no sort of update as to who players were it was difficult to tell whether they were just under 18's or the real deal. However upon seeing a picture of all 4 Lewes squads for the season (Men, under 18's Woman and Girls under 15's) there was a face laughing at the back that I thought I recognised. But no, surely not that can't be former Lewes player, part time model and ex- The Only Way Is Essex character and boyfriend of Amy Childs, Jay Conroy surely? I didn't want to let myself get excited but I had known that Worms was looking to sign a new full back and so could it really be him? I typed his name in to twitter and on his account @conroy02 I could find nothing about signing for Lewes. But it appeared that I was not the only one who thought they had recognised him with @tomharper94 also questioning whether it is the man or not. Desperate now to find out I searched for him on google and still could not find out even what his last club was let alone whether he had signed for Lewes. I only actually found out when I got home from work and on the Lewes FC facebook page the question had been asked and confirmed by Stuart Fuller that it is indeed Jay Conroy, what a signing! Although it does still leave a taste of Steve King on the club but that will be forgotten with a few decent performances as we know he is capable of!

Lewes FC First team

When the first team photo came up I tried to spot what players we have and from what I can make out this is who each of these people are starting from the top left. In black we have kit man Pav, usually follows King so suprised to see he is staying here at the pan. Then we have Steve Brinkhurst great winger signed from Eastbourne Borough, he played here before on loan from Brighton a few years back when we were relegated from the Conference Premier, seems a long time ago now! Then there is Jay Conroy, can you spot the model look about him? Next to him Steve Robinson, well done Worms for getting our captain to stay at Lewes even though King cam calling from two divisions up at Macclesfield! Next up in white we have Pawel our Polish keeper, had a dodgy game last year but is young and still good to have around. Next to him is our main keeper Kieran Thorpe, signed from Eastbourne Town supposed to be a great shot stopper. Following him there is Chris Breach and Lewis Hamilton, Lewes fans will be aware of who they are by now. Next to Hamilton, I believe that it is Callum Dunne a midfielder signed from relegated Horsham, still ver young but was captain t the Hornets. Next to Dunne is a player who I am not sure on yet so still have some more exciting finding out to do! And finally on the top row is Sam Piper, our very kean yet very useful helper.

Players get photos taken for new website

And now the bottom row! On the very left we have Karl Beckford, one of those players who looks tubby but has the legs of anyone else, the kind of midfielder you hate to see playing against you, we signed him from play off rivals Concord Rangers, he scoreed a wonder free kick in Lewes 3-2 win over Concord last year. Then there is Charlie Leach, a product of Lewes FC's under 18's, a great young full back will quickly become a fans fave I feel . Then there is Aaron Hopkinson, also from our under 18's although he is now 20 years onl Aaron is setting himself the target of getting a first team spot this season after a few poor years of football for him personally. Next up our goalscorer, Nathan Crabb scoring goals for fun with his electric pace last season. And there he is in white, player/manager Simon 'Worms' Wormull, what a man. Next to Worms is first team coach and under 18's manager Nick Browne, who also happens to be employed by Chelsea FC in Sussex. 3 more products of our under 18's next in Leyton Scaaf, Max Howell and Jack Walder three very decent players who are all ver cabable of making the step up to our first team . Last but not least I am unsure of who the player on the end of the row is so that makes two players still to find out about!

Overall it seems that the open day was fun and so a success, lets hope the club made some money out of it and perhaps signed some members up, but for now, at last the season is here!