Upon reflection....
Following an accrimonious break with the Subbuteo Association after Mike's lifetime of dedication to the game as organiser for the Midlands across the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and into the 200s, was dismissed by today's players as a " sad nobody anymore", he decided to pull the plug on the Facebook account and withdraw into just running the South Staffs TSC, the Staffordshire Cup, and the Robin Hood TSC in Willenhall. In a era of NO regional championships at any level or any entries outside the Black Country to the Staffordshire Cup, it also provided a moment of reflection to the dozens of clubs and competitions he helped or created over the past Sixty years in the West Midlands. Competitions are not about people or winners and losers; the important thing is to keep them going until the game-as it inevitably will- dies out completely in this country. Mike still has no problem finding 16 entrants each year for the Staffordshire Cup and continnues the tradition of always playing the final in Staffordshire. The UK Clubs Championships he single handedly put on at Bescot Stadium in 1999 still holds a record of the 24 clubs who competed; the drawing together of the finest players in 1998-2000 to compete in the Midland Masters, and persuading 13 clubs to meet monthly at Walsall Wood for the Midlands Inter-Club League over a five year period will always stand as highlights of West Midlands Subbuteo history. Mike also pioneered club shirts in this country when he made them compulsory for that 1999 UK Clubs Championships, where South Staffs reached 3 finals, eclipsed when Wolves won twice in the 2020s to add to their oft-forgotten title in 1990, when they beat South Staffs in the final in Inkberrow village, Worcestershire. recent ill-health (mild stroke and Vertigo) means that Mike has to settle for enjoying his favourite pastime by playing only locally, often using just five outfield figures in training session where once a month at the Robin Hood pub, he continues to demonstrate and train up new players from members of the public.