Expect the worst, don’t hope for the best.

The other day I heard the above phrase when I spent a Saturday morning on a Drivesafe course, having been caught out driving at 38mph on an empty dual carriageway at 7:30 on a Sunday morning and issued with a penalty under the ‘accident reduction scheme’. Not that I’m bitter about it.

Anyway, the instructor had shown us a scenario on a road and asked us to point out the hazards, and looking into the distance, with the DVD on pause of course, the group spotted over 20 potential problems that might pop up, and how these would be exacerbated should our speed be over the 30mph limit. “Expect the worst, don’t hope for the best”, he said “and you won’t end up haunted by something you’ll regret for the rest of your life”. It was a fair point I suppose.

And whilst I don’t think the latter half of his sentence applies, the phrase certainly can be transferred to football. This first came to mind when I heard New Mills AFC chairman Ray Coverley moaning on High Peak Radio’s Football Fantime show about his team having to play at Grantham on a Tuesday night. This in turn reminded me of a former Glossop manager who in the space of a minute blasted the club for lack of ambition and then moaned about having to go to Silsden on a week night.

Yes, these trips are the worst, but that is what you have to account for in your planning when signing up for any league. Even in the NWCFL, you run the risk of a trip to Holker on a Wednesday, but once you apply for promotion you surely have to plan for the worst case scenario so that you are ready for it.

For Glossop North End, who undergo their ground grading today, that means putting plans in place for being placed into the Evo-Stik South, including what that entails for Manchester based players and management with potential midweek trips to Lincoln, Stamford and indeed, Grantham.

New Mills must surely have expected this, and therefore their vociferous complaints are hollow. Similarly, if Glossop do win this league (and how good is it still to be typing that in March?) and have the opportunity to progress they will have to think very carefully about whether or not they accept. Hoping for the best would mean Evo-Stik North and very little upheaval, but we should expect, and plan for, the worst. Then if it happens, we won't be knocked off our stride.