Balague: I thought of asking Beckham to sign for Biggleswade United!

My own season began in typically dramatic fashion at an event in Monaco last week where I hosted a presentation with Ronaldo. No, not Cristiano, the Brazilian legend.

Later in the day I crossed paths with David Beckham and we exchanged pleasantries. As you may know David has an interest in American soccer team MLS Miami so I was happy to give him a few tips on running a football club.

In jest he mentioned that he was thinking of returning to playing football. For just a second there I toyed with signing him for Biggleswade United!

Academy training has begun and our coaches are looking forward to the new season, mindful of the great responsibility of maintaining the ethos of our club, training young people to play good football but, perhaps more importantly, teaching them the life skills that will benefit them in the future; team work, communication, courtesy and a sense of fair play. We welcome back all our children, and a particular welcome to new members who have joined us this season.

Congratulations too to our coaches for continuing to enhance their skills by acquiring new professional badges. The Academy has grown considerably in the past two years and we now have some 145 children proudly wearing the BUFC strip. Fran Constancio, head of the Academy has some exciting plans for the coming season, but more of that in a future article. Suffice to say it’s going to be a very enjoyable season.

The first team season kicks off on Saturday with a home game against Baldock Town at 3pm at Second Meadow. Our Ladies’ team play their first game against Kempston Town on Sunday at Kempston Rovers Ladies. (MK 42 8SZ, 2pm). Sadly our FA Vase game against Worley Rovers last Friday was postponed due to one of the players becoming ill, but the reconvened game was played on Tuesday.

We made life harder for ourselves than it should have been. We lacked a bit of discipline but in extra time we showed a collective quality that suggests we are going the right way.

See you Saturday at home against Baldock Town.