Rookery Park
Rookery Park - February & March Review
Written 2 April 2024, 21:43
Rookery Park February & March Review:
VM News previously announced Rookery Park's return to VM on the 17th February. Since their return, the club has enjoyed a plethora of promotions between the senior team and youth outfit Rookery Academy totalling 9 promotion seasons between the two. They have also however found themselves in the relegation spots on 2 occasions, 1 relegation for each team.
The 2024-07 season marked the club's first return to football following their departure from the German top flight at the end of the 2023-02 season. For both the senior and youth team who both replaced bot teams in their respected divisions it was a title winning season from Division 5 in Scotland.
The 2024-08 season was more of the same for each side with back to back promotions from division 4. The senior team finished on 78 points from a possible 90 where as the academy finished on a maximum 66 points making it a perfect season of 22 wins from 22 games.
2024-09 was a different feeling for the senior team who now found themselves in Division 3 of Scotland, the team finished 7th with 51 points. Owner/Manager Matt Colley commented following the final game of the season stating this was the level he expected his team to find itself at, however was hopeful they could make a push for second tier football in the next few seasons. However for the youth team, the 2024-09 season was another perfect 66 point season sending Rookery Academy into the second tier of Scottish youth football.
Following the club's 7th placed finish, Colley was hopeful to improve the club's standings in the 2024-10 season and hinted at the fact he hoped the club could fight for a promotion spot. The club did in fact improve on 7th and won the league with 65 points to find themselves back in second tier football. Rookery Academy's first season back in the second tier was a successful consolidation season finishing 5th of 12.
2024-11 saw both Rookery teams in the second tier, however both sides would fair very different outcomes at the conclusion of the season. The senior team struggled to find their feet and never really get going and unfortunately finished rock bottom in 16th with 25 points. Colley had mentioned before the season had begun he saw this season as being a real challenge just to survive, but he had hopes the team could hold their own. Though the Rooks picked up a few decent results, it wasn't enough and the club found their way back to third tier football. The youth team however were fighting at the top of their respected league and finished a very close fought league table as title winners meaning Rookery Academy were a top division youth team for the first time since the 2022-40 season.
The penultimate season of this monthly review was the 2024-12 season which saw the senior Rooks find their way back into the second tier with a 2nd placed finish in division 3 with 55 points, this tally was only 4 points more than their 7th placed finish three seasons prior however on this occasion was enough for promotion. The youth outfit struggled in their return to top flight football and finished 12th of 12 with just 11 points from 22 games.
Finally, there was the 2024-13 season which saw Rookery Park survive the trials of division 2 on this occasion finishing 11th with a late flurry of wins against fellow relegation threatened teams. They finished on 36 points which left them 6 points above the drop ready for another season in the second tier. Rookery Academy brushed off the top tier relegation by bouncing straight back with a title win on 52 points, 4 points stronger than their previous promotion to the top flight.
Overall February and March has been a mainly successful re-settling period for Rookery Park & Rookery Academy, it was always going to be difficult building a new squad from scratch, though now it is clear to see with the current crop of players the senior team is fighting at low division 2/high division 3 level where as the youth team find themsleves at low top tier/high division 2 level.
Just 2 players of the current 36 players contracted to the club remain from the rebuild on February 14th, English centre back and vice captain Halward Nolan and Norwegian forward John Andreas Alvik are both the Rooks' current longest serving players with just over 200 appearances each. Chinese full back Pao-tzu Chiu leads the way with 150 appearances for the youth team, he joined on the 15th February.
Manager/Owner Matt Colley is hopeful for the club's future saying he's pleased they're in a situation where he's aware of what needs to be done to improve the club's league position. He emphasised however the fans would need to be patient as he wants the clubs rise to be a sustainable effort financially and not to jeopardise the club in any way by putting financial risk and strain by throwing money at big name players. The club has started recording attendances exceeding 30,000 thousand at their Fox Valley Arena and the youth team is selling out the 5,500 Fox Valley Youth Complex which would suggest they're enjoying the club's football and direction as they're attending in their numbers.
Until the April review... Up the Rooks! #COYR
VM News previously announced Rookery Park's return to VM on the 17th February. Since their return, the club has enjoyed a plethora of promotions between the senior team and youth outfit Rookery Academy totalling 9 promotion seasons between the two. They have also however found themselves in the relegation spots on 2 occasions, 1 relegation for each team.
The 2024-07 season marked the club's first return to football following their departure from the German top flight at the end of the 2023-02 season. For both the senior and youth team who both replaced bot teams in their respected divisions it was a title winning season from Division 5 in Scotland.
The 2024-08 season was more of the same for each side with back to back promotions from division 4. The senior team finished on 78 points from a possible 90 where as the academy finished on a maximum 66 points making it a perfect season of 22 wins from 22 games.
2024-09 was a different feeling for the senior team who now found themselves in Division 3 of Scotland, the team finished 7th with 51 points. Owner/Manager Matt Colley commented following the final game of the season stating this was the level he expected his team to find itself at, however was hopeful they could make a push for second tier football in the next few seasons. However for the youth team, the 2024-09 season was another perfect 66 point season sending Rookery Academy into the second tier of Scottish youth football.
Following the club's 7th placed finish, Colley was hopeful to improve the club's standings in the 2024-10 season and hinted at the fact he hoped the club could fight for a promotion spot. The club did in fact improve on 7th and won the league with 65 points to find themselves back in second tier football. Rookery Academy's first season back in the second tier was a successful consolidation season finishing 5th of 12.
2024-11 saw both Rookery teams in the second tier, however both sides would fair very different outcomes at the conclusion of the season. The senior team struggled to find their feet and never really get going and unfortunately finished rock bottom in 16th with 25 points. Colley had mentioned before the season had begun he saw this season as being a real challenge just to survive, but he had hopes the team could hold their own. Though the Rooks picked up a few decent results, it wasn't enough and the club found their way back to third tier football. The youth team however were fighting at the top of their respected league and finished a very close fought league table as title winners meaning Rookery Academy were a top division youth team for the first time since the 2022-40 season.
The penultimate season of this monthly review was the 2024-12 season which saw the senior Rooks find their way back into the second tier with a 2nd placed finish in division 3 with 55 points, this tally was only 4 points more than their 7th placed finish three seasons prior however on this occasion was enough for promotion. The youth outfit struggled in their return to top flight football and finished 12th of 12 with just 11 points from 22 games.
Finally, there was the 2024-13 season which saw Rookery Park survive the trials of division 2 on this occasion finishing 11th with a late flurry of wins against fellow relegation threatened teams. They finished on 36 points which left them 6 points above the drop ready for another season in the second tier. Rookery Academy brushed off the top tier relegation by bouncing straight back with a title win on 52 points, 4 points stronger than their previous promotion to the top flight.
Overall February and March has been a mainly successful re-settling period for Rookery Park & Rookery Academy, it was always going to be difficult building a new squad from scratch, though now it is clear to see with the current crop of players the senior team is fighting at low division 2/high division 3 level where as the youth team find themsleves at low top tier/high division 2 level.
Just 2 players of the current 36 players contracted to the club remain from the rebuild on February 14th, English centre back and vice captain Halward Nolan and Norwegian forward John Andreas Alvik are both the Rooks' current longest serving players with just over 200 appearances each. Chinese full back Pao-tzu Chiu leads the way with 150 appearances for the youth team, he joined on the 15th February.
Manager/Owner Matt Colley is hopeful for the club's future saying he's pleased they're in a situation where he's aware of what needs to be done to improve the club's league position. He emphasised however the fans would need to be patient as he wants the clubs rise to be a sustainable effort financially and not to jeopardise the club in any way by putting financial risk and strain by throwing money at big name players. The club has started recording attendances exceeding 30,000 thousand at their Fox Valley Arena and the youth team is selling out the 5,500 Fox Valley Youth Complex which would suggest they're enjoying the club's football and direction as they're attending in their numbers.
Until the April review... Up the Rooks! #COYR
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