Furness Rovers under 9s

26/09/2026

This morning, the little Rovers were in their first ever Autumn Cup semi final, and it was against Dalton Reds.

We have progressed into the semi final of the shield before by finishing second in our group, but as we topped our group this time, the level of opposition today was about as strong as it could be.

Although I felt upbeat going into the game, I was bloody nervous this morning! Which is probably ridiculous, but it shows how much this thing takes over your life.

We currently have a really strong starting 5 at Rovers who I think can compete with anyone on their day, and this group changes over time as the levels in the group ebb and flow and other lads catch up and grow, so as long as they are all up for it, I'm always happy to give them plenty of minutes to develop and enjoy their football together.

Saying that, I do try to make sure the 5 on the pitch is as balanced a team as I can make it, so when around 3 minutes into the game one of our best defenders wanted to come off, and the obvious replacement wasn't on my side of the pitch when the call had to be made, I was forced to swap one player and a couple of roles immediately.

This group can be pretty good at creating chaos, but even this was a cracking effort at achieving a personal best. Both flanks of the team completely changed. And it was avoidable! The players know the lesson from this.

Needless to say, we lost balance, we lost bite and unfortunately it just didn't work out. Starts like this are so difficult to recover from.

Somehow we got to half time without a complete mental breakdown, but this was maybe the first time I've had to give the lads a bit of a dressing down mid-match. I tried to word it carefully as the lads are still 8, but attitudes in training have been slipping for a few weeks now and I knew a poor performance wasn't far off.

I love the fact that the lads are becoming friends and comfortable having a laugh together - their personalities and voices are certainly growing - but there is a time and a place and training just needs to be better than it has been.

And as for the match, some of our lads are talented little players, developing well, but without the required effort from the first whistle, they simply will not win games. Where were the tackles? Where were the runs and the movement off the ball we've been working on so hard for weeks?

To a degree, the talk worked. Of course it was too late to claw anything back but our pride, but the effort clearly increased and Dalton only scored one goal more than us in the second half.

This was more like it. We hit the crossbar and their defenders were called into plenty of action. They defended brilliantly by the way, but at least we were finally asking questions! We had shots, we had corners, we had free-kicks. We finally had some pride.

So I'll see how we train this week. I want us to have fun, always, but I also want the sessions to have flow and not continually be interrupted by clowning around and have to re-explain every activity because they are not listening.

We have another tough game coming up next Saturday and I'm looking forward to seeing if the boys start it with a bang, if they have taken my words and the lessons from today on board.

I'll be on them until they have.

We can take positives from the the way we ended the game today.

Boys - you could have given up, but continued to fight right until the final whistle. That's how we need to play. That's how we need to start. Every single time.



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19/09/2026

This morning, our little U9s were in action in the Autumn Cup, up at Haverigg in borderline galeforce winds.

These group games were meant to be played on the Soccer Bar mini-pitch, but it just hasn't been in good enough condition to host.

One of our kind followers has helped repair the holes in the pitch with some new turf, and I've been back down there a few times adding top soil underneath to help with the flatness. So hopefully we will get there, but this weekend was certainly too soon for us.

We want a mini pitch to be proud of and have all chipped in this week with a scorecard to raise some cash to allow us to replace the sagging goals. It was a great effort and hopefully we'll see the improvements we all want before too long.

As for today, I was relatively happy going into the competition, as although 2 of our 3 opponents had defeated us in our most recent encounters, I felt that we could give them real good games this time around.

And that proved to be the case. A couple of wins and a draw saw us top our group and it's another sign of the steady progress we've been making.

I asked the lads to think of the team today, not of their own whims and wishes. These are cup games and they are going to be required to do so many football related things in the coming years that they may not be used to or comfortable with. I suggested that the self should come secondary to the team. Hopefully in words 8 year olds can understand! :-D

I immediately got pushback. They've probably never been asked to seriously consider doing things for the collective and not their own immediate desires! There was some moaning about positions - nothing major - I think we generally just have an instinctively moany bunch of kids!

Some want to play in goals, some dont, some want to play in defence, some don't. And it changes by the week! None of that mattered today. They had to get on with it and do their best. That was my message.

Hopefully I can help them cultivate more positive outlooks going forward as I'm convinced mindset is ultimately an option - you cannot choose everything that happens in life, but you can choose how you approach and react to situations.

So that's something to work on. Making sure we're all doing the right thing for the team, like not taking the crazy shot because we really want to score, and defending when the team needs it even though we just want to go and attack freely!

We scored some nice goals as a result of the care-free attacks to be fair, so it is just about tweaking the balance a little and being conscious of what is required of us at different times.

Of course I'm being picky. And patience is always needed from the coaches and parents. These kids are 8 and today was a solid team effort and I told the lads at the end they should all be delighted with how they played. They also got the result we all wanted. Get in!

The lads then tucked into some chocolates (and a bacon butty!) and scattered off to enjoy the rest of their weekends, my message probably lost in the wild coastal wind.

But I'll keep trying.

We will have some tough games coming up. We cannot change that. But I hope we can approach them with optimisim.

Bring it on as far as I'm concerned. I know we're moving in the right direction and have no need to fear anyone. Challenges are opportunities to help the lads learn and grow. We have to facilitate that. Or this is all for nothing.

Well done today, boys. Great effort and a great result. Stick with it.



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05/09/2026

This morning, the little Rovers were back in action at the Soccer Bar as they head into the new season as under 9s.

They scrubbed up well in their new kit (pictures next week), courtesy of Atherton Developments, so many thanks there! 🙏 Grassroots football relies on the kindness of volunteers giving their time and resources and I know all the boys are super grateful and love the new kit.

Summer training went fairly well for us I thought as there seemed to be fewer crazy sessions, and we used the time we had to focus in on their passing skills.

A friendly last week was a bit of an eye opener as we saw the first signs of this starting to click. I had hoped it might have clicked for the summer tournaments, but they came around too soon!

Of course it isn't going to be plain sailing, it never is, and the behaviour in the last training session was borderline again, but we have to take the small victories and focus on signs of progress. And I think Paul and myself are becoming better at accepting that sometimes the lads are just going to be mental and need to let off steam - as 8 year old kids frequently do!

So often my little notepaper full of scribbles goes back in my pocket as the drill instructions hit deaf ears and restless eyes. The goals have to come out early or we then have races and games. But that's life and we have to try to go with it and make those sessions as enjoyable as possible as well.

Holker Stags were our opponents this morning and they gave us a cracking game. Holker have improved loads in my opinion and looked well organised and that goes a long way in terms of being able to get results and compete with anyone. It's good to see the hard work that coaches and kids put in bearing fruit.

Our own performance was also much improved and it makes me so optimistic for the season ahead. The boys are working more as a team, they have started to sit back and defend when it's required and then push forward at the right times. And most importantly, they are doing it together.

We still have a million things to work on and improve, but it seems to be coming now and some of the passages of play and goals we score are a pleasure to watch. I wish I had recorded some of them from last week!

The Holker coach mentioned our 2 bosses at the back for praise, those 2 being Albie and Fin, and rightly so - they were terrific. I've been telling Albs that even when he starts in defense he can still bomb on and score and I think he is starting to see this now. He's doing it. And it's working.

Fin was our top scorer from defense last season, so the proof is there. Both of them scored today and we had 5 different scorers in total! Love that.

Aiden got a superb hat-trick from midfield and Jonah got a brace as they both started the season on strong, positive notes, adding goals to their already tremendous link up play.

But for me, I want to give player of the match to Joseph. The opposition coaches don't know our players and their history and their progression, but we do.

Today I asked Joseph to play in the defense, which for those of you who have followed us the last few years will know, is a fairly bold move! Joseph is a player who loves scoring goals and spreading the pitch higher to play off the last man, so this was truly alien to him.

Playing players in unfamiliar areas may be risky in terms of how the results could go, but that doesn't matter. Because if we can get players like Joseph on the ball more and involved in the game and the physical battles, it will do them the world of good for the future, and today Joseph took to that challenge like a boss.

We have to remember that we are in the development stage of the boys football journey and that matters so much more than going for instant results.

Ok, I maybe won't be doing such things in the cups, but today was perfect for it. Joseph tackled, battled with the forwards, he received the ball and still managed to be a goal threat in the opposite box with a few good strikes on target. He'll sleep tonight!

Beforehand, I half expected to give player of the match to the whole team, then their coach mentioned our other two defenders, we had the goalscores right in the mix as well, but for the scale of improvement between last season and the start of this one, Joseph gets it today.

Well done bud, keep it going, and well done to all the lads who started the season with the enthusiasm and determination we all love to see.

The lads gave massive scores when I asked them how much they were looking forward to the game and to the new season. One even gave 15 out of 10. 😂

I hope that continues.

Here's to a cracking new season.



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01/09/2026

Share widely, lets get more kids involved in the beautiful game ⚽️💙

The rovers family is expanding 😁😁

Come and join our newest age group 🐬

🐬

02/05/2026

This morning the little Rovers were up against Walney Blues at the Soccer Bar. Somehow it was our final official league game, which seems a little bit absurd as it's gone by so quickly! I had plans to chat to the boys afterwards, but these things rarely happen as I ended up searching for lost balls and putting barriers and cones away.

But a game against Walney Blues was a fitting one I think, as they've beaten us a couple of times and we've done the same to them. So in that sense a final decider on the last day was perfect for us!

It's been a decent end to the season and I was looking forward to the game as a chance to keep the recent momentum going. I feel like we're getting closer to being the team Paul and myself hope we can be. Of course there are a million things to improve on, but we have time on our side!

Some of lads still needed to realise how much effort is needed in a competetive football match and this was my advice to them all before the game. Some players are doing it now and its great to see. It has lifted the team. I said it doesn't matter if you're the best player on the pitch or having a tough time, the very least you need to do every week is give 100%.

And then (with plenty of practice also!) the tough times start to subside.

We really weren't far off that required effort today. It was the best game from the boys as a collective in that regard and I'm proud of them for that. Hopefully they can see the correlation now between workrate and performance and although this is the end of the season, I hope it can be the start of a new benchmark in terms of effort.

Once again, our lads passed the ball around so well. I've said it loads of times before, but I just haven't seen many other teams pass it like we do. Some of the chances coming from link ups between the lads were fantastic! The only thing missing in the first ten minutes, were goals.

Thakfully, the game ended with 10 scored in total between the two teams, so another end to end game, just what we love to see, and the comeback at the end was amazing.

Last year we ended on a bit of a low up at Holker, which took me by surprise at the time. But this was much better and the lads deserve pats on the backs from their grown ups.

We've a few tournaments coming up now and maybe a few friendlies too. I'll try to keep the lads ticking over in various ways, but I'd just like to thank everyone including the grown ups for their efforts again this season. You hear horror stories about infighting and politics from the grown ups at other clubs and I'm so grateful we have none of that at Rovers! 😁

Its been rocky at times with the lads, it's certainly been challenging, but why would we want it any other way?

The lads just need to keep practising now, they all know the skills I tell them to work on, because it's only getting more competetive as we go along, that's become clear and I maybe didn't expect it so early, and it could be so easy for lads to get left behind from here if they lose interest and dont practise.

Paul and myself will keep doing our best to help the lads keep improving and I'm already looking forward to all of the seasons ahead of us, I have loads of ideas on how we can get better and I can't wait to see how good we can become as a team.

Oh, and Noah got player of the match again today! Their coaches were impressed with him and Noah is a perfect example for me of how being keen as mustard and working hard for the team can produce results. Noah is still so raw in terms of technique, but he punches well about his weight in respect of how important he has made himself for the team.

Others can do it too.

Well done Noah, and well done everyone.

Let's see what next season brings.



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25/04/2026

This morning the little Rovers were in action up at Furness Cavaliers, and for the first time in what seems like forever, it wasn't cold!

The pitch at Rampside was spot on, the sun was shining and after a good team talk, I thought the lads were up for it.

Before we get to the game itself though, we need to talk about training... This week left me and Paul speechless.

We were back on the training pitch at the soccer bar for the first time since the summer, it was very blustery and cool and it felt wide open compared to the enclosed and sheltered cage at Pulse.

Right from the off the arrival game was pure chaos and I knew me and Paul were in for a character building Tuesday.

The lads were at each other from the first kick, arguing and bickering over the smallest things. They were booting balls away wildly, moaning in general and barely listened to a single thing I said. This eventually culminated in two separate incidents of lads squaring up to each other, in both groups, at the same time!

That was enough.

I blew the whistle, gathered them round and told them they were to go see their grown ups, explain how badly they had behaved and to go home.

I've never had to do that, but I had used holidays to finish work early for training and that behaviour simply wasn't on.

Anyway, I mentioned none of this to the lads today. It was a clean slate and time to play football.

I was quietly confident this morning, but maybe I always am. I explained to them in our teamtalk they had two options, the Askam workrate or the Swarthmoor workrate. I recommended the latter if they wanted to play well and enjoy the game. I told them they could get something from the game and I had no doubt about it. They should have that same belief in themselves.

Thankfully, most of the boys genuinely took the message about workrate on board.

Cavs caused us problems like they are always capable of doing and as we expected. They are a well coached group of good players and are always organised and scored some good goals today. Thankfully we were able to compete with them and turn into a fantastic game overall.

I reckon their were 14 goals all in, including the 3 own goals our boys scored 😁

Incredible stuff. I came away buzzing from the performance though and I hope the lads were too.

Floyd and Oscar both had excellent games for us in goal. Floyd was alert and came off his line right when we needed him to. He still maybe gets bored after 20 minutes and was happy to come off when he did, but he did very well when he was on.

And Oscar added to his recent stellar performances between the sticks and seems to be getting better and better as the season draws to a close.

Jonah and Aiden were basically possessed today and did not stop running all game, driving up the pitch and back again, doing their best to terrorise the Cavs players when out of possession.

It's no coincidence that such workrate produced arguably their best performances for Rovers today. Both were phenomenal.

At the start of the season I had to bring Jonah off the pitch multiple times in games. He wasn't tackling, wasn't trying hard enough and just wasn't up for it in general. Since then he has worked hard at his game and so it was great to see him score a couple of cracking goals today to top off a smashing performance.

Fin and Noah worked incredibly hard at the back also, defending like champs for the Rovers and contributing to the team performance.

The Cavs coaches mentioned all of the above players for praise and felt it unfair to choose a single player of the match from them. I'm happy with that. It shows the team are coming on as a whole.

Our games with Cavs are always good ones, played in great spirit and with plenty of action and goals. I hope that continues in the future and will do my very best to ensure it does!

Top game boys, great performance again. I'm made up with it and hope you are too.

See you all Tuesday 😁 💙

18/04/2026

💙

Every weekend, kids walk off the pitch replaying their mistakes…

They don’t need reminding.
They already know.

What they need is support.
A smile.
A “well done for trying.”

Because confidence doesn’t grow from pressure —
it grows from feeling safe to learn.

Let them play.
Let them make mistakes.
Let them enjoy football.

⚽ If this hits home, share it with your team’s parents.

18/04/2026

This morning the little Rovers were in action at Askam, and just for a change, it was bloody freezing! I'm sick of saying it now, surely a bit of warmth is just around the corner?!

We had all ten players available today and whilst it is great to have all the lads showing up, the flipside is that they all get fewer minutes on the pitch. Next year the match length will increase to 50 minutes, which should help a bit.

Paul was away for training this week and we had all 10 again, so instead of splitting them into groups and juggling it by myself (choose your battles!), I just did a variety of matches with different restrictions, some aimed at encouraging passing and others at using their weaker foot to score!

It was a decent session, the lads seemed to enjoy it and behaviour has been consistently better since the rocky start to the season. But as is the case at this age, training performances don't always follow through into the matches...

The lads offered graft but just struggled a bit today. It's expected and understandable but hard to watch sometimes without being able to offer them much to change it in the moment.

Askam closed us down quickly and made it tough for us.

The fixes come with time, training, practice and more time! These lads have so much growing and developing to do and even in terms of coordination and agility, you can see it a mile off that they are so young and that things will start to improve.

I'm more than happy with how the lads are doing though. We're practising the right things and the overall trajectory is positive and the improvements are steady. Perfect.

Today, we conceded a few scrappy goals very early on and although we got a couple of goals back in the game, we never quite got to grips with it.

So it's a case of heads up, keep going, keep practising and we'll keep improving together. That's a promise.

As for player of the match, there are a few lads to mention. Firstly, I want to mention Noah, for once again being steady in defense and becoming an increasingly important player for Rovers as the season progresses. I was impressed with his passing in particular today, after gaining possession he never panicked, never hoofed it wildly, he simply picked out a short pass up the pitch and hats off to Noah for that. He made it look easy. There will be times for clearing the ball long from defense, but for me, it's not at under 8s. Thats nothing about tika taka or philosophy, I just want the lads to learn composure. So well done Noah.

Albie was full of endeavour again and his recent performances and behaviour are appreciated by Paul and myself. I felt Albs pain today as we struggled as a team to get back into the game, he wants to win so badly, but his efforts did not go unnoticed.

Player of the match this week though, goes to Oscar. His first 10 minutes outfield were admirable and full of effort, but it was his 20 minutes in goal that sealed his player of the match. Oscar made a couple of exceptional saves which you don't see very often at this age, and he is looking the part between the sticks for Rovers. Oscar always looks to be enjoying himself as well, diving all over the place to stop the ball crossing his line, and it's that enthusiasm that is great to see as a coach. I say it all the time about Albs, but Oscar shows the same attitude in goals.

Keep it up Osc! Great stuff again!

Today was one of those days, we tried, we did our best, and right now, that's all we can ask for. 💙

13/04/2026

Nominations for the 2nd annual BDJFL Awards Evening will be open for another week or so with the deadline being 19th April.

Many of the award nominations are open to the public, parents, grandparents, guardians, supporters of all kinds can nominate their chosen grassroots heroes.

The form can be found here: https://forms.gle/hvYo6cqzZcMJTpbS6

Please share amongst your clubs, coaches and supporters.

Additionally there are a number of other awards that are to be nominated by club officials and secretaries should have that link in their emails. Please ask if you have not received it.

12/04/2026

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🇦🇷🗣️ Lionel Scaloni: "We are losing the essence of football. Not only at a professional level, but also with kids."

"My children play in Spain and are overwhelmed with information. They receive the ball, and they're already being told what to do."

"There are fewer dribblers because if they barely get the ball and you say, 'Pass it!'... Imagine if Messi, when he was eight years old, had been constantly told by his coaches to "Pass it!" We wouldn't have him today."

"Football has become such a huge thing, everyone reads, studies, and thinks that with that, they can already manage."

"If you tell a 7 or 8-year-old to make a diagonal run, cover defensively... He's seven years old! Let him play with the ball, make mistakes, and when he's 14 or 15, then we can start correcting."

"It's a message for the future. This is a sport, and the beauty of football should not be lost."