Last Saturday might have been described as an inauspicious start to the season, but surely Tuesday dropped us close to the rock bottom we hit at the beginning of last season?

There’s only one way to go from here so let’s hope that this Saturday sees the start of the climb back. Or should that be the roads back, or even the back of Rhodes?

Talk of last season inevitably leads to the end of that season and the options that HTSA has looked at in order to try to overturn the decision of the Football League Disciplinary Committee last week.

As announced on our website on Tuesday, we have been advised that our first, but not only, option is to approach the FA.

In parallel with that, we are monitoring the situation with the Football League very closely and note with some satisfaction that our own club’s statement last week promised to “speak to the Football League again once the detailed findings of the FDC are available.”

As the club said, it is cruelly ironic that the amount paid for tickets equates approximately to the amount that Blackpool FC were fined by the FA.

Cricket threw up a very interesting parallel on Monday, when the England & Wales Cricket Board fined Glamorgan following the umpires’ abandonment of a game because the pitch wasn’t fit for play.

Particularly relevant for us was the ECB announcement that part of the fine would be passed on to Hampshire to compensate their supporters who had travelled to the abandoned game.

Watch this space!

Next week sees more examples of the partnership between HTFC and HTSA, both on Wednesday.

HTSA representatives will participate in two meetings on the Museum project and other representatives will also be having one of our review meetings with the club’s chief executive, Nigel Clibbens. Please contact us if you wish to raise specific topics.

This month there are 68 HTSA members whose membership is due to expire. If you are one of these people please contact us quickly.

If you have not yet joined or your membership has lapsed, please consider (re-)joining. HTSA is the voice of the fans. Please help us to make that a loud and clear voice.

Today’s Free Draw number, 63416, is worth £210. If this is one of the three numbers printed on your HTSA membership card, please send details of your full name and postal address by text to 07725 036109 or by email to trevwhitehead@virginmedia.com before 19.08 tomorrow, Friday August 14.

You will receive your £210 cheque by return of post.

The winning number last week was 13135 and was worth £200. The holder of the winning number, J Sweeney, did not claim the prize.

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