A recent “Favourite Albums” thread on the Daggers Unofficial Forum prompted a flick through the CD collection. Coming across Rage Against The Machine’s Evil Empire album, it seemed none other than Billy Bingham was staring back from the cover!

Google tells me a 15-year-old kid called Ari Meisel is the subject on the cover, but I’m not sure it’s telling the truth. Billy’s recent games have certainly seen us Settle For Nothing, although he wasn’t present for Hereford’s Bulls On Parade a couple of weeks ago. Maybe he didn’t Wake Up in time.

Do any of these guys actually stand a chance of grabbing a shirt for next season though? Well, yes actually. The satisfyingly alliterative Richard Rose has been involved since the very first game of pre-season, and looks set to sign a contract within the next week. He comes with a reputation as a reliable performer, and his versatility across the backline and as a defensive midfielder should prove very useful as we return to a more sensible 5 substitutes next season. For a full rundown of his Bulls career, take a look at this article on Bulls News.

Another couple of players who look certain to be pulling on the red and blue next season are Sam Williams and Luke Howell. Williams, 24, has spent the last 2 years of his career at Yeovil where he managed the rather unenviable strike rate of 6 goals in 75 games. He made his first appearance in the 0-0 draw with Leyton Orient and John Still has since confirmed he will be offered a contract. For those not of a squeamish nature there is rather stomach-turning picture of him to be found on google image search…

Howell is best known for his spell at MK Dons but he ended last season at Lincoln. Also 24, his box-to-box qualities will hopefully go some way to replacing the energy of Romain Vincelot. He was one of only 3 players to be offered a new deal by the Imps, but has spent the summer trying to find a League club and seems to have got his wish. He made 67 appearances for the Dons over 3 years, and a further 27 for the Imps before making his Daggers bow in the 2-2 draw at Ebbsfleet and impressing in the 0-0 draw with Orient.

Also likely to sign is another former Imp, central defender Moses Swaibu. Swaibu was a part of the same Crystal Palace youth team as Billy Bingham and has recently turned 22. A promising start to his Lincoln career seemingly tailed off rather dramatically, and he was released in January. Notable for his physical abilities – he stands at 6ft 2in and has plenty of pace and strength – he is unfortunately also notable for some off-field incidents including stealing a chicken. Which isn’t at all amusing. Not even a bit.

The Crystal Palace connection doesn’t end there, as another former team-mate of Bingham has turned out several times in recent weeks. James Comley, a midfield player, made his Palace debut in 2009 and went on to make 6 appearances before his recent release. Also featuring in midfield has been Harvard graduate Scott Prozeller. The former USA U18 player made 18 appearances scoring 3 times last season and can been seen netting a penalty in this season-ending showpiece against Haiti.

A second American, Erik Opsahl, turned out against Billericay last week. A defensive midfielder, he attended St John’s University and more recently had a short spell with Reading – detailed in this interview. He has trained with Fluminense, Bordeaux and Auxerre and is 18 years old.

In defence there have also been several unfamiliar faces, with former Spurs youth player Takura Mtandari and Slovakian Vladimir Galbavy both making appearances. Mtandari, a right back, dropped down to play for Winchester after leaving Tottenham. He has since been linked with Nancy, PSV and Charleroi and played a game on trial at Norwich earlier this year. Galbavy is a 19-year-old central defender formerly of Petrzalka and has now moved on to a trial with Southend.

Other players who have featured in recent weeks include former Chalfont St. Peter left-back Adam Louth, Waltham Abbey winger Tyler Campbell and former Notts County and Elche midfielder Matt Marshall. Another midfielder, Connor Heffernan, has played for Dartford, Sittingbourne and Welling. The former West Ham youth player had looked set to join FC Torrevieja in Spain last season after impressing on trial, but was strangely placed in the reserves by the manager before returning to England.

Up front a couple of interesting names have appeared on the teamsheet in Dwight Gayle and Arthur Gomez. Gayle was the Essex Senior League top scorer last season with 35 goals and has trialled at Brentford. The former Arsenal youth player made an immediate impression with 2 goals against Grays in our second pre-season game. The origin of Gomez is less clear-cut, but he is believed to be a Gambian former Manchester United youth player. A goalscoring loan spell at Antwerp brought a move to Dessel but he soon moved to China with Henan Construction where he spent 2 years. His whereabouts since 2008 are difficult to trace but wikipedia suggests he has been in the Andorran league with UE Engordany – and that really is a mouthful.

Now we find ourselves back in League Two, a division you would rather expect us to be comfortable in, the chance is there to give our younger players a taste of first-team football. But who can make the step up?

Billy Bingham finds himself in line for a starting berth with Gain ruled out for the opening weeks of the season, and he has a great chance to keep hold of the shirt. He has plenty of quality on the ball but we need to see whether he can offer the same tenacity as Gain when it comes to scrapping out results.

Also in midfield, Lee Wootton and Conor Okus will hope to be involved. Wootton signed his first professional deal last summer after coming through the U18 side, and was immediately loaned to Histon. Despite his stature, he is certainly not a shrinking violet as his 34 matches came with 3 red cards. A staggering run of 13 straight defeats at the end of the season saw them relegated to the Conference North, but to play the majority of a tough Conference season aged 18 is no mean feat.

Okus meanwhile played one Conference South game for Thurrock before linking up with Ebbsfleet United. A two-month spell brought 13 matches and a single goal which came from the penalty spot after he himself surged into the box and was brought down. That goal helped Fleet up to second place in the league, as they went on to win the playoffs.

Up front, a trio of new young players will be aiming to stake their claim for a place. Jake Reed, 20, scored 21 goals for Great Yarmouth last season but will be making a 5-step jump this season with the Daggers. Taking an even bigger leap is Brian Woodall, 23, who signed from Gresley this summer. Capable of playing on the wings or through the middle, he previously played 18 games for Hinckley before netting 51 times in 88 games for the Moatmen. Both men may benefit from loan spells in the Conference South or Ryman League, but either could find themselves involved at some point this season.

Making a less daunting rise is Rob Edmans, from Chelmsford City. The 6ft 6in striker has played for Maldon, Tiptree and Witham but impressed last season with the Clarets, scoring 5 goals in 17 matches before a broken leg ended his season early. He also played college football in the USA, setting up the winner for Virginia Tech in the 2007 NCAA quarter-final before missing this chance in a narrow semi-final loss.

Another option up top is Alex Osborn, who was signed from Grays last summer but immediately loaned back to the Ryman Division 1 side. At just 16 he managed 11 Conference games and 2 goals, and last season he hit 20 goals in 44 games. He is another who could benefit from a loan spell slightly higher up the pyramid, but he certainly seems to have the ability to make an impact from the bench this season.

At the back Duran Reynolds and Luke Wilkinson will look to take advantage of Antwi’s departure. Reynolds, who isn’t yet 20, is another player who spent last season at Grays, where he made 41 appearances. His left foot would give good balance should Arber miss any games, and his versatility makes him another option at left back. It is probably premature for him to play just yet, but an early-season loan move could set him up for some games in 2012.

Wilkinson’s season at Boreham Wood ended in a mid-table Conference South finish, with the 19-year-old centre half playing 26 games. Wilkinson has actually played for and against Wood this pre-season, turning out for the Daggers in a 2-0 win and for Wood in a 1-0 win over Hendon. He may have a chance of starting the season on the bench with no other recognised centre halves currently signed, although Rose and Walsh can both do a job there.

The player everybody will be talking about though is Danny J Green. The winger with the questionable hair showed some nice touches from the bench at the end of last season, and has been involved with the first team in pre-season. His sudden rise to prominence has come as something of a surprise, with 3 separate loan spells in the Conference South last season with Braintree, Chelmsford and Boreham Wood. A fair amount of that time was spent on the bench, however it certainly seems that he will be given his chance to shine this season.

Macclesfield Town, 2006/07

Under Brian Horton, the Silkmen failed to win any of their opening twelve matches of the season, sitting bottom on just 4 points. With almost a month passing without a manager and still without a win, Paul Ince took charge in late October. Losing his first match, they found themselves 10 points from safety. Almost immediately they began picking up the odd point and, coupled with a good FA Cup run which ended in the 3rd round at Chelsea, secured their first 3 points in early December. Going on a superb run, they moved away from the drop zone and survived by 2 points.

Oldham Athletic, 1992/93

After a decent start, the turn of the year saw things start to go wrong for the Latics. By mid-January they were in the relegation places, and found themselves propping up the division in March. A fixture backlog left them with 3 matches to play in the final week of the season, which they went into 6 points from safety. Beating title-chasers Aston Villa 1-0 started things, and a 3-2 midweek win over Liverpool set up the dream. On the final day they went into a 4-1 lead against Southampton and held on by their fingernails to win 4-3. Crystal Palace’s loss at Arsenal meant the two clubs swapped places and Oldham survived. An amazing 8-point gap between them was bridged in 7 days.

Sheffield United, 1990/91

Promoted to the top flight, the Blades looked horribly out of their depth and at one stage in December were a whopping 11 points from safety. The first win of the season came just before Christmas putting them within 8 points. Dave Bassett’s side never looked back and moved out of the drop zone in mid-March, continuing their run to the safety of mid-table come May. With 4 points from 16 matches, they took 42 from their remaining 22. Incredible stuff.

Eintracht Frankfurt, 1998/99

Six points from safety with 4 matches remaining, Eintracht pulled off one of the most bizarre escapes ever seen in 1999. Three straight wins put them a point from Hansa Rostock going into the final day, meaning they needed to beat 4th placed Kaiserslautern. Stuck at 1-1 and with most teams involved in the relegation picture winning, their best chance was to pick off Nuremberg who had started the day in 12th but were losing 2-0. Three goals in 12 minutes put Eintracht safe but Nuremburg scored a late goals to plunge them back into the drop zone on goal difference. However, Fjortoft netted a late winner and Die Adler stayed up on goals scored.

Brighton and Hove Albion, 1996/97

At the start of December the Seagulls would’ve been 9 points from 2nd-bottom Darlington which was bad enough. However, a pitch invasion saddled them with a deduction leaving them 11 points shy of safety. Beginning to pick up points, a great start to February put them back in contention. Finally hauling themselves off the bottom in the penultimate match of the season, a 1-1 draw with new basement boys Hereford ensured they preserved their Football League status at the Bulls’ expense.

Thanks to Who Ate All The Pies, The Independent and The Guardian for inspiration!

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Eddie Howe got a lot of attention on this weekend’s Football League Show as his move from Bournemouth to Burnley was finalised. However, he took our eye for different reasons. Anybody else think he bears a certain resemblence to Daggers defender Damien McCrory? Probably not the best picture of Macca to illustrate the point, but you get the idea!

This time last year a sleigh-ride to the midlands saw us beaten at Northampton. In a truly dire match, Arber put too much pudding behind his spot-kick and saw the ball land in the shivering crowd, before McKay fortuitously stole the points from under our tree. Just two days later, a relegation-threatened Cheltenham Town beat us 2-0 at Victoria Road which brings back the terrible memories of Nana and Miller to name just two of the elves sent to sabotage our promotion push.

And who can forget Christmas 2007 when Puncheon gave Marlon Patterson the wrapping-paper treatment, ripping him to pieces as Barnet recorded a 3-1 victory at Underhell. It was a similar story 5 years previous. Despite Paul Terry’s opener within seconds of kick-off, the Bees regained control and won courtesy of Heald’s head and an injury-time Agogo winner after Shipp had opted for an early shower.

Another side who gave us a couple of uncomfortable holiday periods is Canvey Island. There were few experiences in non-league football worse than a visit to Park Lane, a mish-mash of stands where you had to wade through puddled grass to change ends, and with a short fence which allowed locals to watch from outside for free.

On 27th December 1999 the signs were ominous from the start, Steve Conner making only a 2nd start of the season, but we actually looked good until 2 goals in 2 minutes put the Islanders in control. Two Christmas crackers in the 2nd half, Cobb for us and Duffy for them, made it a 3-1 defeat. New Years Day 2005 was even worse as Canvey ran out 4-2 winners. Just as he had 5 years previous, the irritatingly effective Neil Gregory netted and former Dagger McDougald got in on the act with the final goal.

Going back even further, 1997 saw probably the worst ever Daggers Christmas panto in a 4-0 defeat at Purfleet. Most of the Christmas spirit had seemingly been drunk by our team as they stumbled around the pitch, and we were behind within 5 minutes to a Gentle goal. Berry, Lawrence and Macklin added further goals before Steve Conner saw red for a punch-up with Carter which saw both players land heavy blows. The game was also notable for Robbie Garvey’s horrendous tackle on Matty Bird which saw him stretchered off.

A year later we clearly hadn’t learnt our lesson as ‘Fleet again turned us over. Georgiou scored midway through the first half and only a number of saves from Gothard prevented them from extending their lead. Again there was a sending off, Tolo Mas – who had only just come on as sub, scything down Macklin.

Still, the holiday season doesn’t always bring unrivalled woe – there has been the odd sprinkling of cheer. In ’96 we beat Heybridge 3-0 and two years ago we managed a 2-0 win over Gillingham courtesy of Strevens and Benson. If we are to clamber out of the relegation places, this is exactly the sort of tonic we need to go with our spirits. We can’t afford to be this year’s turkeys.

The transfer window was originally introduced in an attempt to make football more competitive. The idea was for management staff to achieve results with the the available players, rather than simply buy players to solve every problem that arose. No more quick-fixes, and also no way for a star player to leave for more money at short notice.

For clubs like us, it has been less than ideal. Whilst we have perhaps benefitted from speculation surrounding our star names to be confined to the set periods, it has posed a problem in other ways. Firstly, when players are courted by bigger clubs close to deadline day, the management’s hands are tied with regards to replacements. Secondly, the loan system is being used to circumvent the window, whereby clubs take players on loan with a permanent deal agreed in principle.

The first problem is best illustrated by the Benson transfer this summer. Charlton had 3 bids rejected, before finally agreeing the fee on deadline day. This left us no time to find a replacement and we’ve since tried free agent Bas Savage, and a host of loans to fill the gap until January. Still is correct in saying we must honour our agreements with players – they are always free to make a step up if the finances are right for Dagenham – but the timing in this case couldn’t have been worse.

We saw a similar problem a year previous, when Solomon Taiwo went to Cardiff City at the end of August. Although Gain initially moved inside, various injuries meant Tommy Tejan-Sie was thrown in at the deep end, before Spiller, Miller, Folly and Pack all had a go at plugging the gap. Only when Romain Vincelot was converted from full-back did we somewhat fortunately stumble upon the answer to the conundrum.

The second problem, using the loan system, cost us the services of Scott Griffiths in October 2009. We had little option given Griffiths’ agent making it clear the player wanted to leave, and so we scratched around the likes of Lockwood and Day for a solution, until McCrory was signed permanently in January. Whilst there isn’t anything to stop us using the same system to find our replacements, there are very few clubs in League Two or even the Conference which we can afford to purchase players from.

To add to the problem, the loan window also has a cut-off, the 25th November. This means there’s a period of just under 6 weeks where no players can be added to the squad at all. Without a crystal ball no manager can forsee injuries and suspensions, and so must ensure they have enough players to cover every eventuality. With the Daggers having the smallest budget in the division, we could do without adding extra wages to the bill. However recent injuries to Roberts, Lewington, Doe, Antwi and Gwillim have prompted the acquisition of Oshodi from Watford and Locke from Reading. Although Roberts now seems fine and Lewington, Doe and Antwi are expected to recover quickly, we can’t take chances and instead must make possibly needless signings.

The Daggers’ gaffer is less than impressed with the current situation and was happy to share his views earlier this week:

This transfer window for clubs like us is shocking. We’ve got quite a few loan players, and I don’t like to loan players, but we can’t just add people to our squad. When you come up to the window, because you can’t do anything until January, you’re forced into doing something you might not have to do if there wasn’t a window. It really, really annoys me, this ridiculous law. It doesn’t help us, if those [injured] players find fitness, we have players we don’t need.

With the transfer window in effect, our temporary replacements for Benson have been raw young players borrowed from clubs above us in the pyramid. The first to arrive was Nat Pinney from Crystal Palace, and he has yet to start a single match. The management saw fit to extend his loan stay, but it is clear that he isn’t ready to start matches at this level. The second is Kayleden Brown, a lanky Wales U19 player from WBA. He had to settle for a place on the bench at Yeovil but has started the last two games without scoring. Although he has promise it is difficult to see him notching regularly with so much still to learn. His spell has been extended into a second month, possibly prompted by recent knocks to Scott and Tomlin, which could again leave us over-staffed.

Another option, although naturally a winger, is Medy Elito. He has made the biggest impact so far with a goal and 2 assists in just 2 and a half matches. His pace and composure as well as his versatility have been a welcome lift to the side and hopefully we can secure his services for the rest of the season.

With Stuart Lewis having breached club disclipine, we’ve also found ourselves searching the loan market for his replacement. Re-signing Taiwo was a big boost considering his familiarity with our staff and style, and he has sporadically shown glimpses of the talent which earnt him the big-money move in the first place. Acquiring Victor Palsson from Liverpool was also a coup for us, and he has shown good ability on the ball when chosen. Central midfield is now looking like our strongest area with Victor and Gain pushing Taiwo and Vincelot hard for a place.

The loan market on its own can prove invaluable for clubs at our level. The likes of Taiwo and Elito are quality signings for us, and it is good for their parent clubs that they play competitively. A couple of years ago it also gave us the services of Matt Ritchie, who had a brilliant campaign. However, the November cut-off for loans and the window for permanent transfers are causing serious issues for smaller clubs such as ourselves. The better players are still being snapped up by the bigger clubs, but now we’re left with less scope to replace them.

Roll on January, and fingers crossed Still can add the necessary talent whilst keeping our key players intact.

The last reported sighting of Willy was on a beach. Can you help the Daggers’ management find the big stopper before it is too late? Click for full size.

Notts County

Charlton Athletic

MK Dons

Walsall

Rochdale

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