By Mark Chadderton

"...Oh It's Such a Perfect Day, I'm Glad I Spent It With You..."

The Leamington team from their first game at the New Windmill Ground
Back Row: Robin Morey, Nick Mort, Mark Simmonds, Paul O'Keeffe, Liam McGovern, Will Payne, Ian Billington
Front Row: Simon Gulliver, Tim Romback, Jonny Burgess, Simon Wickson, Kevin Ariss, Adam Ball, Joshua Blake

Where were you on the 19th of August 2000? I was at the home of football - The New Windmill Ground, Harbury Lane, Leamington Spa. Seven Hundred and Thirty-plus disciples came to see what all the fuss was about, and were suitably treated to a footballing day out that will rarely be bettered for those feelings that any Brakes fan of old must have felt. An old love had come back to be a new love, Saturday's were once again to be looked forward to, and nostalgia mixed in with wonderment at those beautiful new surroundings. The view from the NWG provided a glorious backdrop of that marvellous Warwickshire countryside, and within eyesight was that lovely local landmark of Chesterton Windmill, so poignantly overlooking the scene of this triumph of footballing hope over adversity. What a scene, what a day, what a feeling and what a match!

This amazing ultra-special (keep those superlatives coming!) occasion really was, in the words of Mr. Lou Reed "...just a perfect day..." Looking around the new ground one could easily perceive all the work that had been done to get it looking so good, it looked and felt absolutely right to be there at our new little ground - everyone involved in bringing the ground up to the standard already evident must have been very proud of all the work they had done.

I can only hope that the people of Leamington continue to support the club, because there is plenty of room for future expansion to the ground. The atmosphere that built up before kick-off felt pretty special too, and the sight of our new footballing heroes running out onto the hallowed turf was indeed, something to behold. The new kit is magnificent and as this reporter said at the time of first seeing the kit, it really is appropriate that the new Brakes wear a colour that is 'new gold' in appearance, especially when previously, in years gone by the team wore an 'old gold' colour shirt!

Onto the match itself then. The new players all seemed well 'up for it', and their commitment and passion was evident from the start, very few of what seemed a young side will have played in front of such a large crowd, and this must have come as a very pleasant surprise for the lads. Their play and endeavour on this opening day certainly left Brakes' old fans with a glow in our hearts. One of the amazing things that overcame this particular supporter/reporter was the fact that I started to have biased views at a football match again, something that I hadn't felt in over a decade, what a strange and curious feeling that was! I found myself claiming corners for the Brakes, when the situation for the referee clearly was that of a goal kick, I began to look at my watch a ridiculous amount of times in those two 45 minute periods (or was it 50 minutes - "come on ref!"), I began calling out complete strangers names (i.e. the players) by their once-heard nicknames, and worst of all, I even cheered Leamington players committing fouls on the poor opposition (especially when they seemed to be looking dangerous, which was very often in my worried gold and black tinted eyes!). What had happened to me? Lou Reed's single 'Perfect Day' was certainly extra-apt as my soundtrack to this review because it comes from an LP entitled 'Transformer'. This football-loving fan once again became 'transformed' on that sunny August afternoon. And by the evening, his sore throat was audible confirmation that instead of being a 'football fan'; he had been transformed into a biased, shouting 'Brakes fan'.

On the pitch itself, it was gratifying to see that the Brakes were in essence, a decent looking, passing, footballing side, with some well worked moves and some neat interchanges - all credit to Messrs Cadden and Proctor for getting a team performance like this on the opening day. Our midfield looked impressive, with some nice creativity being on show, and the defence looked fairly solid as a unit. For the older Brakes fans amongst the new faithful, it must have jogged the memory to have another solid looking keeper named O'Keeffe between the sticks. (How many remember Vincent O'Keefe, the 6 ft 4 Mervyn Day look-alike who was one of the youngest players to play in the Midland Combination, before joining the Brakes in the 1970's?)

Ah, memories, memories, memories, and it is a lovely thought that this current side are going to provide a whole stack more for the Brakes fans to recall in future times, for as with all the past sides that have represented the Brakes, there will always be fans favourites, and the New Windmill crowd certainly latched onto a new golden boy after his goalscoring performance against Enville Athletic on the opening day of the season. Although only time will tell, and he is a long way yet from being 'Roy of the Rovers', this match gave us much to look forward to in the coming season from the crowds new favourite - whom this fanzine will hereby christen 'Blake of the Brakes'. Young Josh took his two goals well, and up to the seventh match was still averaging two-goals-a-game. However, to single out one player would be to give the wrong impression, for the real stars of this match were the whole side, as well as those of you in the crowd that had kept the footballing dream alive, and had the strength and determination to see the dream become reality. On this perfect August day, it could be stated in conclusion that an august Football Club of our memory saw its own new footballing-aurora, and if the people of Leamington continue to support and augment our dreams, then everything, especially on the evidence of this inaugural match- augurs well for the future of Leamington Football Club. "C'mon you Brakes!"

Leamington Paul O'Keeffe; Kevin Ariss, Simon Gulliver (80 mins Tim Romback), Adam Ball, Liam McGovern, Will Payne, Nicholas Mort, Ian Billington (75 mins Robin Morey), Josh Blake, Mark Simmonds (Capt.), Simon Wickson (64 mins Jonny Burgess)