GUILLEM BALAGUE: I know we will be fine; I know we will prevail

As Biggleswade United face a final-day showdown in a bid to secure their United Counties League Premier Division South status, chairman Guillem Balague gives us his thoughts in his latest Chronicle column
A huge week lies ahead for Biggleswade United and chairman Guillem BalagueA huge week lies ahead for Biggleswade United and chairman Guillem Balague
A huge week lies ahead for Biggleswade United and chairman Guillem Balague

You wait seemingly forever for a final and then suddenly - in the style of London buses - two of them arrive more or less at the same time.

Okay, so maybe the Biggleswade United men's first team's last game of the season against Bugbrooke St Michaels on tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm kick-off) is a not a final as such.

But what it most certainly is a one-match shoot-out and unquestionably the single most important game wehave faced since I joined the club.

In its simplest sense, it is a match where we need to win or at the very least, equal the result of Northampton ON Chenecks, currently one point behind us in the league table (after they won their game in hand 3-1 at Cogenhoe United on Wednesday night), if we are to retain our status in the United Counties League for next season.

I can't wait. I don’t remember the last time I looked forward more to two games than these next two matches that will be so important for the future of our club.

Few things in life give you the chance to stand up and be counted more than football and the occasions when you can do so most are in matches such as these.

Saturday we of course need to win (and we will win) and then on Wednesday night (7.45pm kick-off) at Stotfold FC our Women’s Red side face Bedford Ladies in the final of Bedfordshire Women’s County Cup.

It is a fitting climax to their first season that has also seen them finish as runners-up in Division One of the Eastern Region League.

An end of the season where football will be at the centre of our lives!

And we need to love it, embrace it, because it is for games such as these that we have such a passion for football; for the chances to take the winning penalty, score a historic goal, lift a trophy, battle adversity, win through against all the odds.

To all of our players - men and women - I would say that these are the sort of games you have dreamt of playing since you kicked a ball for the first time.

Now it's over to you toput into practice all those things you have learnt in training.

Rest, then put in the effort, help each other, be brave and on Saturday kill to get the ball back.

Sometimes in football as in life you get the chance to come out of your shell and find out stuff about yourself that you didn't know.

Finals really are those times.

'Carpe Diem' - Seize the day, because as in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "the future depends on what you do today."

And to our fans I would say come early, bring friends, let our players hear you and feel that strength that is the hallmark of our club.

Get behind us and, between us, I know we will be fine; I know we will prevail.

See you there.

Guillem