Staines is probably more famous for Ali G than football, but even in the non league these boys take their football seriously and Brentford will be up against it when we face them on Saturday.
Staines were founded in 1892 and play their home games at Wheatsheaf Park which is a great standard of lower league ground. Their manager Steve Cordery has also been in change of two of Brentford's other pre season opponents in Yeading and Hampton and Richmond.
Assistant Craig Maskell used to play for Southampton and Swindon during their Premiership stay and he is still currently a player. In a some what transitional phase, Staines lost their two top scorers to other clubs in the Summer but are confident their current side can press on for promotion.
1. Introduce yourself...name, age, occupation etc...?
Laurence Wakefield, 29, from Ashford Middx, I'm a plumber by trade.
2. So just who are Staines Town, Tell us a bit about your club, where are you from, history, division...?
Staines Town play in the Premier division of the Ryman League which is 4 divisions below Brentford. We have played at Wheatsheaf Park in Staines since 1951 but benefitted from a £6.5m redevelopment in 2002 which saw a Health and Leisure club (The Thames Club) built along with some major ground improvements. The highest Staines have ever finished is 4th in the old Isthmian Premier division back in 1982 (just a point behind Wycombe Wanderers) and have reached the FA Cup 1st Round proper just the once back in 1984 when we lost 0-2 to Burton Albion.
The highest point in the club's history was winning the Barassi (Anglo Italian cup) against Italian side Banco Di Roma. 70,000 saw Staines win the first leg in Rome and a record 2,500 crowd saw Staines finish the job at Wheatsheaf Lane.
Two seasons ago we lost to Halifax Town in an FA Trophy replay after leading 2-0 but conceded a last minute equaliser and went on to lose to a hotly disputed penalty in extra time.
These two games were my most memorable and also gave me the highest and lowest moments following the club.
My first ever Staines Town match was an FA cup Fourth qualifying round tie at Wheatsheaf Lane against Yeovil Town. Back then I had no idea Staines even had a side due to the poor coverage non-league football received, but was amazed at the quality of the football played against Yeovil Town who of course I had already heard of. Unfortunately we lost 0--3.
We now have some of the best facilities in non-league football since our redevelopment and the pitch (which I only saw last week) is the best it has ever been and is certainly worthy of a pro club. Our Management team is Steve Cordery and ex Southampton striker Craig Maskell, they are putting together a side to challenge for promotion this season.
We finished 9th in the Ryman Premier division, unfortunately we went out of the FA Cup in the 1st qualifying round losing to Uxbridge after being 3-1 up with 5 minutes to go!
6. What were your high and low lights of last season?
8. What's your team like? Who's your best player? and is there anyone you think that could go on to play at a higher level?
Aims are certainly the play offs but then there is the small obstacle of AFC Wimbledon, Billericay, Braintree in our way! Love to see Staines in the FA Cup first round. I think the Football Conference is about the highest we can aim for with our setup as league football could never be staged at Wheatsheaf Park due to lack of space.
11. How well do you think we can do this season?
Things are definately looking up at Brentford right now and with Martin Allen have one of the best managers outside the Premiership, play offs are on the cards once again.
As much as I'd like a Staines win, I feel Brentford will be a bit too strong, so I'm going for 3-0 to Brentford.
I would once again like to thanks Laurence for taking time out to answer some of my questions. I hope that Staines have a sucessful season and that the game on Saturday is a good entertaining encounter.