GCFC v Cinderford Town

GCFC Striker PAT COX gives defender a Wedgie.

A competitive match, but a penalty and two more goals means the long winless run continues. 1-3 to Cinderford. Some good performances but just more lousy refereeing decisions. COYG

GCFC v Didcot Town

27/11/2013 City v Didcot Town FC. City ran out 2-1 losers after a spirited and physical match.
Jamie Thoroughgood scores.

GCFC v Didcot Town, City really need to record a win, after 9 straight defeats, but on the night were unable. They really missed Calvin Thomas and a couple of others didn’t have their best games.

Cinderford at home is the next game, come on the City!!!!

Shortwood United

I drove one of the Minibuses to the Shortwood United v Guildford City FC match yesterday. They have a lovely little set up there, a nice compact little stadium and nice facilities, however the journey to get there is really interesting, I am glad that I was driving a “little” 17 Seat Minibus, anything bigger would have been a problem, I wish that I had set up a dash camera to record it.

If you haven’t been there you really probably can’t imagine. But I can help, you know the end of the Italian Job, where the coach is barrelling through the Alps, well keep that in mind, reduce the width of the road to a car & a half wide. Great Fun, but when it came to leaving it was even more fun, pitch black, icey and headlights that have next to no spread so turning in blind into a blind corner, time after time.

Thanks to Methold Vehicle Hire, another Away trip negotiated without a problem (unlike some previous trips last season, with another Minibus supplier)

Football F*cks me Off

Ok, let’s get this straight, I am a Gooner, always have been always will, “We are top of the league, We are TOP OF THE LEAGUE!”. But as a functionary of the Guildford City Football Club (I take photos & drive one of the team buses) I am thoroughly pissed off with the standard of refereeing in this league (The Calor Division 1 South & West). Today the GCFC were cheated by some shocking refereeing decisions, including one goal that was so far off-side that even from the other end of the pitch I questioned it.

It seems that a lot of the “western” teams know all of the referees by name as well as Assistants and not only the 4th Officials but also seemed to have gone to their daughters weddings, and today the GCFC manager was refused permission to talk to the ref & his officials after the game.

GCFC having some brilliant players that seem to be persistently targeted by referees because of the “former” GCFC disciplinary record which really annoys me, if you know me, you’ll also know that I am annoyed by lots of other things, lying, cheating, corruption & being shit at your job are just a few, and over the last couple of months I have seen them all from “match officials” It’s wrong, it has to stop..

I am not going to call the referees and assistants corrupt, YET. BUT F*ck me what do GCFC have to do to get decisions to go their way. I’ve got a grand or two in the bank, maybe that will help.

Well played to all of the GCFC players today, you certainly wouldn’t believe that Shortwood had knocked out Aldershot and met Port Vale in the FA Cup. In particular Pat COX, Calvin Thomas, Omari Hibbert. Josh Clayman, Dom Ogun, Dean Thomas (I was surprised, well played!) Darren Stapleton (no more bookings please) and others deserve special mentions, Didcott on Wednesday, more of the same spirit please,…..

GCFC today

23/11/2013 Shortwood United v Guildford City. City ran out 4-0 losers after a spirited and physical match. City’s PAT COX battles

Sometimes, Football just pisses you off. City fought and battled in a physical game against the team that beat Aldershot Town and then lost to Port Vale in the FA Cup. The result didn’t reflect the standard of the game, whilst 3 points was probably unrealistic, 40 minutes into the game they had more than “held their own”.

A second yellow for Darren Stapleton, kind of sealed the deal in the second half, but you have to say that if you are looking for positives out of a 4-0 drubbing, the main thing is that we made them work very hard, and at times they really didn’t look like a team that should give us a problem at home. Next up Didcott at home, 3 points please lads.

Shortwood United V GCFC

Should be fun, A two hour trip to Gloucestershire tomorrow to play the team that knocked out Aldershot Town and eventually lost to 4-0 to Port Vale in a good FA Cup run. After several team changes since the beginning of the season, it looks like City have a good solid core of players, assuming no fitness/injuries or disciplinary problems, they should start to climb the league table.

Guildford Christmas Lights

21/11/2013 Turning on of the Guildford Christmas Lights.
Bonny Langford turns on the lights, with Guildford Mayor Councillor Diana Lockyer-Nibbs, Kit Heskith Harvey (the Ugly Sister) & Jamie Brooks (Buttons).

So tonight I was covering the Guildford Christmas light switch on, with the lovely Bonnie Langford, from a balcony that has a restriction of 5 people at any one time, along with another photographer and several others, we did get ordered from the balcony after a little while… “Elf & Safety” and all that, although I did over to record video if the balcony did collapse (ever the professional) but that was declined, so into the warm I retreated for a little while..

Met Police v GCFC

19/11/2013 20:56. Met Police v GCFC in the Surrey Senior Cup. City ran out 3-0 losers on the night
City’s OMARI HIBBERT

Last night saw me at the Surrey Senior Cup match against the Metropolitan Police Football Team. Despite their playing in a higher league than Guildford City FC, the result really didn’t reflect the performance that GCFC put on. Next game is against the team that knocked Aldershot Town FC recently and then lost to Port Vale 4-0. Apparently Shortwood United’s ground is an interesting place to try & drive a minibus too. Should be fun, GCFC team bus & fans bus leaves the Spectrum at 1030hrs on Saturday. Be there or be missing.

GCFC v Paulton Rovers

16/11/2013 15:20. Guildford City FC v Paulton Rovers. City ran out 3-1 losers against high flying Rovers.George Bowerman Celebrates City’s equaliser

I Was at @guildfordcity Fc v @PaultonRoversFC, 3rd placed team against relegation zone strugglers. The game wasn’t as one-sided as I expected it to be, with some good debut performances from a couple of the Guildford City Under 18s.

The images will be available on line from about 2200hrs tonight.

Photos Here

From The Archive

23/02/02. West Ham United Versus Blackburn Rovers at Upton Park. Joe Cole

A very young looking Joe Cole whilst playing for West Ham United back in 2002.

Another visit to Archive

02/03/02. Action From Charlton Versus Chelsea At The Valley. Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink is fouled

From 2002 At the Valley, Charlton v Chelsea.

Well the camera kit has dried out

It has taken two days but the cameras & bags have finally dried out, after covering the Brentford v Staines Town FA cup match.

FA Cup Action

09/11/2013. Brentford Town v Staines Town. FA Cup.

Today I was covering Staines Town v Brentford FC, the first time that I have been at Griffin Park since 2001. My brief was Staines Attack, which was a shame as there wasn’t very much of a Staines attack as they went down 5-0 in the end. They were outclassed by a team that is I think, three leagues higher, and the class did show. If I was being harsh I would say it was like Men versus boys.

I don’t think that the Brentford keeper was required to make any actual saves, just plucked a couple of crosses out of the air. Otherwise until the last five minutes I think he had a problem keeping warm. However in the last 5-10 minutes Staines Town went close on a couple of occasions.

Disappointed to lose my 100% record

Having covered every match for Guildford City FC (both home and away) since the beginning of the season, I am disappointed to miss my first match, however today I am at Brentford v Staines Town in the FA Cup. As was pointed out I still cannot get away from teams in Red & White Stripes.

Should be fun though…. Pictures Soon.

Another Blast from the past

29/06/01 (PIC PAUL BURGMAN) Chris Evans with Billie chat with the James Ward, the landlord of the White Horse in Hascombe village who later died in a boating accident

Another job from 2001, sent by the Sunday Mirror for pictures of Chris Evans & Billie. They were, as was common then, at the White Horse In Hascombe, This frame was also subsequently sold when James Ward the landlord died in a boating accident.

FA Cup Action This Weekend

Brentford V Stoke February 2001

Going back to Brentford for the first time since 2001, this time for an FA Cup clash with Staines Town.

Once more into the Archive

From 2001. Having sent more than a year living in a Mobile Home in their front garden, a Chertsey couple get fed up with the delays caused by their insurance company,

Yet another one from the Archive

2001 Easter Chicks

Easter chicks photographed in 2001 for the NOTW. They phoned on the Thursday before Easter wanting some pics of little chicks. However Easter is a little late for chicks, so if you need Easter pics you need to photograph them when they are a few days old, if you leave it too long you get ropey looking ones like these.

From The Archive…Again

8 July 2009. Helen Barker a Medical Secretary from Chester. On the Fourth Plinth dressed as Britannia. 0100-0200hrs

I covered the “One & Other” on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square back in 2009, with Mike Wheeler for the Daily Mail, seven days, 24 hours a day. Meant an awful lot of photographs, or maybe a lot of awful photographs.

Whoo Hooo

Just found out that I am covering the switching on of the Guildford Christmas lights, with Bonnie Langford…. & the cast of Cinderella & Santa’s Singing Elves.

Beats some of the previous celebrities that have turned the lights on in the past, I seem to recall doing Floella Benjamin some time back in the 1980s, and fairly sure that Molly Sugden did it also…..

Continuing The Archive Theme

Sara Crowe and Ann Bryson before they shot to fame as the Philidelphia Cheese Girls. Original Publicity photographs shot for their Cabaret Act the Flamin’ Hamsters.

From back in the day, I think 1983/4, but it could have been even earlier than that. Photographed in a studio in Godalming. Sara Crowe & Anne Bryson went on to become famous as the Philadelphia Cheese girls, but first they had a cabaret act called “The Flamin’ Hamsters”, never really found out what the background to the name was.

They both went on to considerable success it TV comedy shows & Sara also went on to star in a Carry On film, admittedly it was one of the worst Carry On films ever made, although there was a memorable quote, but I can’t even remember what that was 🙂

Well that was different

After many years working for the national newspapers, this weekend was the first time that I have worked for a local paper. What a difference! Whereas for the nationals it was very rare that I would cover more than 2 jobs in a day, then it was a rush to wire the images as quickly as possible. Frequently “doorsteps” would involve standing around from stupid o’clock until late, usually with 10 minutes of frantic activity followed by a rush to move the photographs as quickly as possible. Because even if you are on a paid shift for a title, frequently the picture editors would use the first photograph to land on their desktop, (especially so if it came from Reuters or PA etc).

Anyway this weekend involved lots of jobs, and then a leisurely trawl through the images, and as long as they are on the FTP server by Monday morning all is good.

It is funny that the pictures that seem to be favoured by the local press do not seem to have changed much in the 25 years since I last did the usual “grip ‘n’ grins”, “cheque presentations”, “tree planting ceremonies”.

Good Fun anyway.

Now I am a Gooner, so f*ck off you scousers

From Paul Burgman, GCFC v Cirencester Town. PAT COX, goes for all-In Wrestling or Mixed Marshall Arts (not sure which)

Now I follow Guildford City, but I am a Gooner, so f*ck the Scousers 2-0 To the ARSENAL, 2-0 to the ARSENAL. GCFC played Cirencester Town today at home,but despite the new signings, and a questionable starting line up, and a dodgy penalty & to be honest, one of the hardest working players in “Tuan West” having a bit of an off game, City couldn’t make the Spectrum a fortress. They ran out losers, but the game was really not a pretty spectacle, for both sets of fans, unfortunately, this seems to be the last game that I can guaranty covering, the next game is away & I have a shift for a local paper that I have to cover, although I am hoping that I will be able to do the next home game. COME ON CITY.

I have been sorting out the archive

From PressPhotos-UK.com 12/04/2003. Cadet at RMA Sandhurst, passes out in front of Brigadier General Sir Michael Jackson Copyright Paul Burgman

From the Archive. This photograph caused an unbelievable amount of shit at the time, actually I may have contributed to some of it….

When I arrived at RMA Sandhurst the guy in charge of PR was a Major Park-Weir (retired) said to me “If you follow my orders, everything will be fine”. Well I am not in the forces, and explained to Mr Park-Weir, that I don’t take orders. & even if I was I wouldn’t take orders from a Retired Major.

He really took umbrage at the fact that I called him Mister.

Anyway a Cadet passed out in front of the then Brigadier General Sir Michael Jackson, the most senior officer in the British Army at the time, and I think that I had the only frames, because all of the other photographers agreed with Mr Park-Weir that they would happily photograph an ex-professional Rugby Player & the first female officer to win a prestigious award. I knew I had the picture in the bag, so didn’t agree to a posed-up photo.

So I left, and wired, anyway, a friend of mine that works at the RMA, said that the shit hit the fan & that if Park-Wier knew the name of the photographer that put the picture out, I would be barred from any future passing out parades. He still doesn’t know who I am, and I have been back a few times, but this still remains the best picture that I have had out of the RMA Sandhurst.

Busy Bunny Tomorrow

Busy Day tomorrow, split shift for local newspaper with 3 jobs in the morning, a Guildford City FC footy Match in the middle and shooting a fireworks display for the first time in 30 years…. Which could be fun.