Southern League, South (Step 3)
Saturday 26 March 2022
Are you familiar with the life & times of Yasin Ben El-Mhanni? I can't claim to know the fella, but I'm going to refer to him as Yasin.
Yasin is a footballer. He "came up" through street ball, futsal, that sort of thing. Now, we all know that all those flicks n tricks n keepy n uppy don't necessarily transfer into proper 11 a side, everyone bang at it ball. But, obvs Yasin (and our very own Hassan Ayari) are keen & ambitious & they're gonna give it their best shot.
Yasin was with Barnet, Aldershot Town, Farnborough & Lewes. But, his ball skills were such that, in a neat parallel world, he also body & skill doubled for Cristiano Ronaldo & Neymar in various commercial capers.
Because of his North African heritage, he was dubbed the "non league Riyad Mahrez". He did trial with a number of Premier League outfits - Watford, Bournemouth, West Brom, Crystal Palace & Chelsea. But, in July 2016, Yasin signed for Championship side Newcastle United. Six months after signing, he played for the Mags in the FA Cup against Birmingham City. And he also played in the 4th round, where they got stuffed by Oxford United.
But. There's always a but. But, in January 2018 Yasin filed a complaint against Newcastle Academy Coach Peter Beardsley. Accusing him of bullying & discrimination. Beardsley was put on gardening leave and an independent body did uphold some of the complaints by Yasin against Beardsley. Yasin left Newcastle when his contract was not renewed.
Yeah. So. Are you familiar?
The non league Riyad Mahrez.
Cristiano's body double.
Two games for Newcastle.
Unfairly treated by Peter Beardsley.
Yeah. That Yasin Ben El-Mhanni.
He now plays for Harrow Borough. And I'm now his SHIRT SPONSOR. Oh yes. We had quite the day at Harrow Borough I can tell you!!!
It was Non-League Day. Where non-league clubs are encouraged to run various promotions as part of a national campaign to raise the profile of the game. With Harrow Borough's Earlsmead ground (not a tick) being close-ish to Wembley, and with England kicking off at half five, and with the cooperation of oppos Merthyr Town, Harrow switched to a two o'clock kick off & offered half price in to Wembley ticket holders. Lovely.
The Harrow clubhouse is deffo fraying at the edges. But, they have Cask Ale on. And, it turns out two on keg an' all in those sort of home keg machines that you can buy.
Rebellion Beer Co (Marlow), IPA on Cask at 3.7%
Rebellion Beer Co, Overthrow, Pale Ale on Keg thingy at 4.3%
Anyway, the Carrier Bag Firm are friends with one of the people who put the Borough in Harrow. He invited us into the Vice President's Lounge at HT. We sponsored Yasin's shirt. As I said, we had quite the day.
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