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OLYMPIC CELEBRATE FIRST TITLE SUCCESS IN 25 YEARS 11/04/2005
Rushall Olympic were crowned champions of the Travel Factory Midland Alliance on Saturday without actually playing.
The Dales Lane club’s first league title success for twenty-five years was confirmed after second-placed Coalville Town suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Chasetown.
The celebrations have well and truly began in earnest at Dales Lane and pleased-as-punch Olympic manager John Allen commented straight after the news that Chasetown had beaten Coalville: "We were very disappointed when we didn't wrap it up at Loughborough last week. Not having a game for ten days has made it difficult for us. We are in this position because of our form over the last thirty games and we will be celebrating a little now."
Following their superb championship win Rushall now become the first Step 5 club within the National League System to finish in first place in their respective league and also gain the necessary ground grading criteria for promotion into Step 4 of the non-League Pyramid.
The Dales Lane side now put their name forward for promotion and dearly hope that they are fortunate enough to be declared as one of the eight clubs from the remaining ten feeder leagues that will gain entry directly into the next level of the non-League structure, without the need to endure a play-off game.
The picture should become far clearer by Saturday, 30th April when the Football Association will have completed the remainder of the secondary ground grading process and the destination of most of the various league titles may already be known.
It has been a terrific achievement by John Allen and his managerial team of player-coaches Dave Read and Steve McCartan.
Allen returned to the managers’ role in August 2003 following the departure of Kevin Hadley.
Allen (pictured) had ‘moved upstairs’ to the chairman’s role a year earlier to allow Hadley to take over, but, despite finishing the 2002/03 campaign as runners-up with a club record 96 points, Hadley and his assistants Dave Beasley and Nigel Conniff were surprisingly sacked.
Just over a month later Allen appointed Read and McCartan as his assistants, taking over from current Kidderminster Harriers boss Stuart Watkiss, a former Pics player, who had been helping out on a temporary basis.
At the end of that season Allen stepped down as chairman to concentrate on management, but the new 2004/05 season didn’t start too well with defeat in the delayed Polymac Services League Cup Final against Stratford Town.
However, that game probably came too soon for an almost completely re-vamped Pics squad after numerous summer signings.
They hit the top of the table in late November and have virtually been at the summit since then.
Undoubtedly Allen’s side, containing a mix of very experienced and youthful players, are worthy winners.
His strike force, including the likes of 37-year-old veteran former England semi-professional international Joe O’Connor and October signing Simon Truman, who counts Spurs, Bristol Rovers, Newport County and Barry Town amongst his previous clubs, have been one of the major reasons for the club’s success.
However, experience in the shape of midfielders Darren Goodall and Leon Allen, who both helped Willenahll Town finish as runners-up last season, Ian Long – an Alliance winner back in 1996/97 with Blakenall - defender Dave Davies, who was the league’s player of the year for 2000/01 whilst with Oldbury United, and another 37-year-old in midfielder Ian Mitchell, whose former sides reads like a ‘who’s who’ of non-League football clubs – has played a major role in the Pics’ success, along with the emergence of promising youngsters such as Neil Barnfield, Tyrone Barnett and Solomon Griffiths.
Willenhall have proved what can be done at a higher level, and whilst critics could point at last season’s Alliance champions Rocester as an example of what can go wrong, I have a feeling Rushall Olympic will enjoy their elevation.
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