The 100 Football Grounds Club

Welcome to my site - The 100 Football Grounds Club

2009-12-09T23:59:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my blog 'The 100 Football Grounds Club' the site dedicated to groundhoppers everywhere.
Please feel free to leave any comments if you wish.
Cheers!!!

site updated on post date

WSC 2009 Web Awards - 100FGC wins Bronze Award.

2009-12-09T13:25:00.008+01:00

I received news last night of my humble little blog winning a prestigious award.
The 100 Football Grounds Club website is honoured to have achieved a Bronze Award in the 2009 When Saturday Comes Web Awards.

I’m trying my best to be modest and nonchalant above the honour, so I won’t write a long drawn out speech filled with self gratification. What I will say though, is a huge thanks to those of you who regulary read my ramblings and have shown your support, which is very much appreciated.

So all that’s left to say is…thank you friends, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you!

Also amongst the medals was European Football Weekends which is writing by 100FGC squad#77 Danny Last and friend of 100FGC - Tom Dunmore, who achieved a Gold Award for the excellent Pitch Invasion. Well done lads!

click here for enlarged image with full details.

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My Matchday - 235 Genix Healthcare Stadium

2009-12-06T16:07:00.003+01:00

Garforth Town 2v4 Colwyn Bay

Unibond Division 1 North

Saturday 5th December 2009

Garforth is a town in West Yorkshire within the City of Leeds. Originally a coal mining area, the town expanded during the 17th and 18th centuries when local landowners the Gascoigne family ran several coalmines in the region.
Garforth is now more of a commuter town, with its close proximity to Leeds city centre with the A1, M1 and M62 motorways close by.

The club originated as a Sunday morning pub team when formed in 1964. The Miners Arms had to play home games on the Welfare Ground in nearby Swillington as there was no pitch available in Garforth.
The team switched to Saturday football in 1976, gaining a place in the West Yorkshire League and acquired a ground of their own in the town, on a former rubbish dump on Brierlands Lane. A small covered stand and changing rooms were build at a cost of £3,000, but further progress was held back because of the refusal of installing floodlights because of nearby houses. (lights were eventually erected in 1995 after a petition to the local council)
In 1978 they accepted a place in the 3rd Division of the Yorkshire League, although a name change to Garforth Miners was required as the league didn’t accept pub teams. The club continued to progress, becoming members of the newly formed Northern Counties East League in 1982 after the merger of the old Midlands and Yorkshire Leagues.
Another name change to the present Garforth Town came in 1985, which coincided with winning promotion from Division 2. The club remained in Division 1 until winning further promotion in 1998 to NCEL Premier Division.
Success in both the League Cup and West Riding Cup followed, as well as relegation and again promotion until finishing runners-up in the Premier Division in 2006-07 which gained entry to the Unibond League.
The Miners finished 10th then last season 16th in Unibond Division 1 North, and regained the West Riding County Cup beating Bradford Park Avenue 5-4 on penalties in the final.

Garforth Town have strong links with the Boys from Brazil, wearing both home and away copycat kits. Ambitious owner and now former team manager Simon Clifford bought the club in 2003, clearing the clubs debts. He introduced Brazilian training methods to the club, as part of his SOCATOTS chain of football academies at both home and worldwide.
Brazilian legend Socrates turned out for the side in 2004, while on a one month loan as a player-coach. His debut against Tadcaster Albion produced a record home crowd of 1,385, former international Careca also adorned the yellow shirt of Garforth in 2005-06.
　
Garforth moved to their current ground in 1998, originally named Wheatley Park after the ground’s building contactor Michael Wheatley. It has also been known as The Marston's Stadium, as part of a sponsorship deal with the brewery, then from 2006 local dentists Genix Healthcare took over the naming rights.
The ground is a good 15 minute walk from the train station in the middle of a housing estate on the edge of town. The houses were part of the same development as the stadium and are quite posh, some of the owners have giving their homes individual names with the likes of ‘The Ascot’ and ‘The Woburn.’ I can’t really criticise as I wanted to do the same thing with my own house, calling it ‘Gallowgate View’ but unfortunately the breadknife was having none of it and firmly put her foot down on the idea.
The stadium focuses itself around one stand with open hard standing around the other three sides. The main stand is a beauty, originally known as the 'Safer Roads Stand' then renamed ‘The Norman Hebbron Stand’ in honour of the long-serving club president.
The brick built stand has 238 seats, split into four blue sections with the club initials spelt out in yellow within each section. Access to the seats is via staircases at the back of the stand. Below is a standing paddock behind the team dugouts and the stand is topped off with a distinctive elevated roof.
The clubhouse is called the Mineiros Bar and is decorated with Brazilian football memorabilia including framed signed shirts from Ronaldo and Romario. In between the bar and stand is another room used by club officials for hospitality purposes which forms a bridge between both structures.

Colwyn Bay went joint top of Unibond Division 1 North with three goals in a four minutes burst in the opening quarter of an hour.
They took the lead in the 11th minute, a free kick from the edge of the box was slammed home by Eddie Jebb, his shot finding the postage stamp frame of the goal.
Minutes later Jebb’s corner kick was nodded home at the near post by Ian Sheridan, then the same two players linked up again, Jebb’s cross found the unmarked Sheridan, leaving him with an easy finish.
Sheridan completed his hat-trick before half time, managing to stay onside before racing through on goal and finishing like a natural striker. Sheridan usually plays in midfield for the Seasiders and was playing as a centre forward for the first time. After this outstanding first half performance I’m sure it won’t be his last in a number nine shirt.
Garforth produced a plucky second half performance. They had nothing to lose so they give it a good go with a spirited display with left winger Chris Ovington and top scorer Tom Greaves looking impressive for The Miners. They were rewarded with two late goals which made the score look more respectable. Greaves scored both, the first after latching on the a long ball from the keeper and in the final minute showed good skill to go past the defender and finished well.
This win put Colwyn Bay level on points with Curzon Ashton at the top, but the Welshmen have a game in hand and look good bet for the league title.

I took advantage of a special offer of £6 train tickets to York to pay a visit to the West Yorkshire Brazil. The train journey from York to Garforth is less than 15 minutes away, so after leaving Newcastle at 11.30 and stopping off for in York for a beer break, I arrived in Garforth by 1.15pm.
A quite enjoyable day out which was topped off with a very entertaining match. Whilst in town I naturally stopped off for a few drinks, visiting the pub where the club originated from; the Miners Arms as well as having a Speckled Hen in the Gaping Goose! Which is, in case you don’t know, a quality pint of beer served in one of Garforth’s best pubs and not as it sounds - some kind of poultry porn!

Matchday stats
GTFC 2(Greaves 84,89)CBFC 4(Jebb 10 Sheridan 12,13,35)

att.107

Admission £7

Programme £2

Ground no.235 Genix Healthcare Stadium - Matchday webalbum (14 pictures)

The Football Bog Blog

2009-12-01T12:36:00.002+01:00

What better way to commemorate the 100FGC blog reaching a six figure hit last weekend then to honour the occasion with a couple of football ground public conveniences.

The continuous and endless Football Bog Blog, numbers 20 and 21 in a series of…

No.20 The one at Stourbridge This bog picture was sent in by Squad#10 Tim Rigby on his recent visit to Stourbridge’s War Memorial Athletic Ground. He described this toilet as ‘an ornate effort’ I think he meant this as visual description of the bog and not a euphemism for what you may have to do once inside.

No.21 The pair at Station View.

This is yet another one of those portakabin-type bogs, but this is the first time I’ve seen a matching pair for both ladies and gents. The facilities are found in the corner of Station View, the home of Harrogate Railway. These bogs are surrounded with quite a bit of shrubbery and undergrowth, which is handy if the toilets are busy as the bushes could be used as an alternative resource.

If you would like to contribute to the Football Bog Blog then please send any ground bog pics to the usual contact address.

My Matchday - 234 Deepdale

2009-11-24T09:23:00.012+01:00

Preston North End 0v1 Newcastle United
Championship
Monday 23rd November 2009

Preston is a city in Lancashire on the north bank of the River Ribble, becoming England’s 50th city when granted city status in The Queen’s Golden Jubilee year in 2002 .
Preston was established by the Saxons, the name deriving from Old English; Presta and Tun meaning “Priest settlement” and appears as “Prestune” in the Doomsday Book.
Preston developed during the Industrial Revolution became a large populated industrial area with the expansion of textile manufacturing, although the town has produced textiles as far back as the mid 13th century weaving locally produced wool.

Preston North End formed in 1863, becoming founder members of the Football League and the very first League champions and ‘double’ winners in 1888-89.
The club originally played on Moor Park from 1867 until moving across the road to Deepdale Farm in 1875. In its formative years it staged cricket, athletics and rugby, with association football being the last in 1879, but within two years it hosted only football. By the end of the century Deepdale had two stands with a press box on the west side with banking and fences constructed around the rest of the pitch.
The first major work came in January 1906, with the construction of The Grand Stand on the west side which proudly stood for ninety years. The stand had a distinctive barrel shaped roof with a line of thin white iron support poles. The upper seating was made up of wooden benches with an open terrace, it also housed the dressing rooms and club offices.
It’s replacement the 8,000 capacity Main Stand was constructed in 1996 at a cost of £4m. What makes Deepdale so unique are the faces of North End legends portrayed within the seats, this stand is named after Sir Tom Finney with his image seen at the south side of the stand.

The Fulwood End was originally a large Kop when extended and covered at a cost of £19,000 in 1921. It’s curved terrace met the stands to the west and east with the roof at the rear of the stand. The stand was rebuilt in 1998, named after a legend who is also renowned on another Kop - Bill Shankly. The 6,000 capacity has the former Preston and Liverpool legend’s image situated centrally amongst the steep bank of dark blue seats.

The Town End terrace was first covered in the 1930’s with a plain pitched roof and was reconstructed in 2001. The Alan Kelly Stand has the former North End ‘keeper’s centrally position and is identical in design to the Shankly Stand.

The Pavilion Stand was made up of two separate stands. The first pavilion was built in 1934, the £9,000 capital raised through a share issue, it also had new offices and stylish boardroom. The South Pavilion was completed two years later which made the appearance of one long stand.
The new look Deepdale was completed on the eve of this season, the pavilions replaced by the Invincibles Stand, named after the famous double winning side. The stand has a smaller tier with PNE FC picked out in white. The stand also has a section of seating at the front as a replacement for team dugouts. There’s DEEPDALE and PRESTON in blue neon light at each side of a wall clock, with hospitality suites at the top which aren’t completed and are likely to remain so until the club ever reach the Premier League.

The new look Deepdale is modelled on the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa, the tall floodlights in each corner forming a link between each equally proportioned stand.
Deepdale is the longest continuously used ground, 134 years and counting, the biggest attendance is 42,684 for a Division One clash with Arsenal in April 1938. Also within this time was eight years with an unpopular plastic pitch, which was laid in 1986 before being ripped up in 1994.
Newcastle leapfrogged West Brom to regain top spot in the Championship, thanks to a second half strike from top scorer Kevin Nolan.
An even and uneventful opening period sprung into life with the home side finishing the first half strongly. Parry went close with a close range header, then Chaplow capitalised on a mistake by Guthrie but his shot sailed over the crossbar.
Just before the break a good interchange of passes left Mellor with a clear effort on goal, but he managed to scuff his shot which Harper dealt with easily.
Chances were limited in the second half. Mellor again wasted a good opportunity on 67 minutes then substitute Ranger had United’s first decent effort of the game, his shot going narrowly wide of the post.
The crucial goal came on 74 minutes, Guthrie found Nolan in the box and with his back to goal, he managed to turn and shoot, his left foot effort finding the far corner of the net.
Preston substitute Eddie Nolan almost snatched an equaliser on 79 minutes, but his ferocious shot was well saved by Harper, then with time running out Guiterrez could have wrapped things up but wasted a golden chance by typically lacking composure.
Not the greatest performance by Newcastle, but in this league it’s the result which matters. I’ll happily settle for this kind of display for the remainder of the season if this ends in United finishing within the top two in the Championship table.

At long last, me and Ian have finally got to Deepdale. We’ve only waited 29 years. In October 1980 Newcastle were away to Preston in a midweek Division Two fixture. At the time we were both 15 and in our last year at school. We decided we were going to ‘knock off’ in the afternoon and get the Supporters Club coach to the match. In the end we didn’t make it, deciding to pay the extra few quid and go to Bristol City the following Saturday instead, keeping Preston for next season, but next season never came.
North End were relegated at the end of the 1980-81 season, then dropped like a stone through the divisions, within four years finding themselves in League Division Four.
We’ve willed them on in the play-offs, they’ve reaching the knock out stage of the season four times and lost in the final twice, so finally it’s taking Newcastle’s relegation to get us our much anticipated visit to Deepdale.
We - that’s myself with Ian(squad#2)Lee(squad#79) and Tom, headed off at 12.30pm. The reason we left so early is because I wanted to arrive before it got too dark. I had contacted the club last week, asking if it was possible to gain access into the ground to take some pictures for 100FGC.
I would like to thank Treve Whitford, he promptly replied to my emailed, letting me know I was welcome to come and take photographs inside Deepdale. Once we arrived we headed to the club offices and Treve was waiting to give us our very own guided tour. We walked around the perimeter of the pitch and I managed to get some quality photos of an empty (apart from the men from SKY) Deepdale stadium.
We then took the short drive to the Sumners pub, taking advantage of the car park, stopping for bait and liquid refreshment before heading back to the ground to visit the National Football Museum.
Never mind the football it’s worth visiting Preston just for the museum, there’s a large collection of football memorabilia dating back to the 19th century, including an England shirt from the very first international, the 1966 World Cup ball and the substitute Jules Rimet trophy (and yes, it was still gleaming) We spent a good hour looking around, if your yet to visit the museum it’s a must see and it’s even free admission.
And so we’ve successfully ‘ticked off’ Deepdale. The fixture we missed out on in 1980 saw a 3-2 victory for United, with a rare brace from Bobby Shinton and the unique treat of a goal by Billy Rafferty. That would have been well worth seeing but I wouldn’t have got a personal view of the ground, visited the museum and on top of that we saw a Toon away win anyway, which means after being delayed for almost 30 years, our visit to Deepdale was very much worth the long wait.
　

Matchday stats

PNE 0 NUFC 1(Nolan 74)

att.16,924

Admission £20

Programme £3

Ground no.234 Deepdale - Matchday Webalbum (21 pictures)

(more ground pictures including some inside the museum can be found on Facebook page)

My Matchday - 233 Broadwood Stadium

2009-11-22T12:19:00.005+01:00

Clyde 1v3 East Fife
Scotttish 2nd Division
Saturday 21st November 2009

Clyde FC were founded in 1877 and hail from the Glasgow district of Rutherglen on the banks of the River Clyde .
After the club’s formation their first home was at Barrowfields Park on the edge of Bridgeton, before moving to Shawfield in 1898.
Shawfield also played host to athletics, boxing and from 1932 became a Greyhound Stadium, the Greyhound Racing Association Ltd later becoming landowners.
When the owners decided to sell the land for redevelopment in 1986 the club’s search for a new home proved difficult, the club having to settle on a controversial ground share with local rivals Partick Thistle, the first cohabits in Scottish football which lasted for five years.

In 1990 “The Bully Wee” accepted an approach by the Cumbernauld Development Corporation to relocated to one of Scotland’s five new towns, and one of the largest townships in the country without a senior football club.
Cumbernauld name derives from the Scots Gaelic Cumar-nan-Alt, meaning 'the Meeting of the Waters' due to the proximity of tributaries of the rivers Forth and Clyde which lead to the major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The new town was created in 1956 as a population overspill from Glasgow. Historically Cumbernauld originates from Roman times, with a settlement near the Antonine Wall, the wall being the most northerly boundary of the Roman Empire.Clyde ground shared again from 1991, this time with Hamilton Academicals while the new stadium was under construction, this nomadic period gave the Clyde supporters the self titled handle of the “Gypsy Army”
Broadwood Stadium opened in 1994 and is the highest ground above sea level in Scotland. Their first fixture on February 5th was coincidently against their most recent landlords, a 2-0 defeat against the Accies in front of a crowd of 5,356.
When originally constructed, Broadwood had only two stands designed by Percy-Johnson and built by the Walker Group at a cost of £6m.
The Main Stand and West Stand both have a single tie of red seats, the Main Stand slightly larger having hospitality suites, while the West Stand has an electric scoreboard and Clyde OKI picked out in white seats, although on first glance I thought it said CLYDE OK.
The open ends to the north and south made it one of the country’s coldest grounds giving it the nickname ‘Ice Station Broadwood, then in 1996 the South Stand was added at a cost of £1.7m, matching the other stands in design and size.
The vacant north end has a leisure centre, protected from wayward shots by a metal mesh wall and metal slats over the windows.
The current capacity stands at just over 8,000 with the biggest attendance being the sell out crowd which witnessed the Scottish Cup victory over Celtic in January 2006.

A great family day out in Glasgow, the Smudger’s making full use of our ’Friends & Family’ railcard, the four of us travelling direct to Glasgow for a total return price of only £28.80.
After heading straight to the pub for a few drinks (Just to get out of the rain..Eddy) I headed back to the train station to make the short journey to Croy.
Thanks to the Clyde supporters website Broadwood Ice Station, I managed to navigate the 20 minute walk from the station to the ground in the driving rain without any problems, arrived at Broadwood Stadium at 2.30pm.
I was looking forward to the prospect of a mouth watering encounter, hosts Clyde sitting at the foot of the Scottish 2nd Division again East Fife, one place above them in ninth.
In the space of the opening five minutes, I could tell the home supporters were in for a frustrating afternoon. East Fife looked sharper and dangerous going forward and it was no surprise when they took an early lead. Paul McManus picked up a good through ball, before turning the defender and although he was forced wide, he hit a fierce shot beyond the keepers far post.
With only ten minutes gone there were cries of “Brown must go” from the restless natives, as their team failed to make any impression on the game. East Fife continued to press forward with McManus almost doubled the lead just before half time, his half volley produced a good save from Clyde ’keeper Reidford.

In the interval I had a wander around the stand, taking a few pictures from different angles before settling down to watch the second half. As I headed back towards my seat at the top end of the stand, I was stopped by a jobs worth steward, looking a right dickhead wearing a furry Cossack hat which didn’t embellish his lime green hi-vis jacket.
“Can I have a word with you sir” he asked before coming up with the cracking follow up line of “Your behaviour has been erratic!” He mentioned that they’d been watching me and wanted to know why I was taking pictures of people! What a Tit! I obviously explain who, why and what I’m about, before he gave me permission to continue watching the match. I returned to my seat feeling like a naughty schoolboy being told off for running in the corridors. With all supporters making use of only one stand and a sparse crowd of 635, I suppose they needed something to do and someone to pick on to justify their wages.

Clyde started the second half much brighter and were giving an opportunity to get back into the game when winning a penalty on 54 minutes. A cross from the right saw a pull on Howarth’s arm, although there didn’t seem to be much of a challenge.
Sawyers dispatched the penalty, which was greeted with a blast of the Gorillaz ‘Dare’ on the PA which was quite a fitting song, considering the referee dared to award such a soft penalty.
The goal failed to revitalise Clyde instead it was the men from Methill who went on to take the three points. McManus looked dangerous cutting inside and tested the ‘keeper with a fierce shot, then within a minute a good cross from Cargill found the Fifers number nine getting in front of Reidford to stab the ball home.
East Fife wrapped up proceedings ten minutes from time with a great individual goal from substitute Bobby Linn, dancing his way through a static defence before placing his shot into the far corner.

This lead to more angry protests from the Clyde supporters, the chants of “Brown must go” now much louder, their outrage paid off, getting their wish with the announcement that manager John Brown had left his position as manager after the game.
From a neutral’s point of view I understand the fans vitriol, the performance was terrible and like I’ve already mentioned I knew within the opening minutes that Clyde weren’t good enough to beat a side only two points above them in the league.
The torrent of abusive the manager had to injure from the supporters gave him no option but go. The remarks hurled in his direction were quite abusive and obviously everyone sitting in the stand got to here every word. The language used was very strong so I don’t want to replicate those remarks within this post.
The funny thing is though, the stewards didn’t bother having a word with anyone, telling them to calm down and curb the language, if fact they probably didn’t notice. You see their attention was drawn towards someone else, a Geordie lad sitting quietly alone in the stand, all eyes on him throughout the game, ready to pounce on him if he dared to continue with his “erratic behaviour”

Matchday stats

CFC 1(Sawyers 55p) EFFC 3(McManus 9,68 Linn 80)

att.635

admission £12

programme £2.50

Ground no.233 Broadwood Stadium - Matchday Webalbum (20 pictures)

My Matchday - 232 Surrey Street

2009-11-15T01:24:00.008+01:00

Glossop North End 1v0 Dunston UTS
FA Vase 2nd Round
Saturday 14th November 2009

Glossop is a former mill town, situated in the north-west corner of Derbyshire in the Borough of High Peak. The gateway to the Peak District National Park.
The name derives from Glott’s Hop and thought to come from Saxon origin - Glott is believed to be a chieftains name, while ’Hop’ is a small valley.
The town has produced many famous and noteworthy people. The likes of Man U’s European Cup winner John Aston, Shaun Ryder and Bez from ’90’s drug fuelled popsta’s the Happy Mondays.
Those dolce tones of broadcasting legend Stuart Hall grew up in the town, while fashion (if that’s what you wanna called it!…Eddy) designer Vivienne Westwood was born nearby.
Glossop also gave the world novelist Hilary Mantel and let’s not forget publisher Paul Raymond, who was educated in the town and gave us our favourite read while coach travelling to away matches - the legendary Razzle.

Glossop North End formed in 1886, originally played four years in the North Cheshire League until joining the Combination in 1894, finishing second and third over consecutive seasons.
After turning professional they spent two seasons in the Midland League, again finishing league runners-up. The following season after a sixth place finish the club were elected to the Second Division of the Football League for season 1898-99.
Local businessman and politician Sir Stanley Hill-Wood was the club’s main patron. His financial backing saw them gain promotion to the First Division in their opening season, after finishing runners-up to Manchester City.
The following year a basic name change to Glossop FC ended with relegation, the club finishing bottom of the First Division, although that historic season gave the club the honour of being the smallest town to have a club in the English top flight.
Glossop played the following 15 years in the Second Division, until failing to gain re-election on the eve of the First World War.
After the war the club reappeared in the Lancashire Combination, then dropped into the Manchester League, winning the title in 1927-28, as well as the league’s Gilgryst Cup on four occasions.
In 1957 Glossop returned to the Lancashire Combination and reappeared in the Manc League in the mid sixties until becoming founder members of the Cheshire League Second Division in 1978-79.
The club won promotion in their third season, then finished sixth in the Cheshire League’s last season before merging with the Lancashire Combination. Glossop becoming founder members of the North West Counties League in 1982.
In 1992 the club reverted back to their original name, when the present board of directors saved the club from going out of business the previous year. A season which saw them win promotion back to the NWC Division One after a four year absence.
North End have enjoyed success in both the Derbyshire Senior Cup and the Manchester FA Premier Cup, however last season saw the club’s highest league finish of fifth and a visit to Wembley, losing 2-0 to Whitley Bay in the final of the FA Vase.
The Hillmen navigated nine rounds in the Vase, including a thrilling two legged semi final with Chalfont St Peter. The teams finishing 5-5 on aggregate over both games, with Glossop overcoming their opponents 6-5 on penalties in front of a Surrey Street attendance of 1,582.

In there formative years the club had a nomadic existence, played at a variety of ground in the town; Pyegrove, Silk Street, Water Lane and Cemetery Road, before settling at North Road.
The North Road ground was primarily a cricket ground and is still in use today by Glossop Cricket Club. The record gate was 10,736 for an FA Cup 2nd Round tie with Preston North End in January 1914.
The club moved to their present home in 1955 on land which had been used as a admiralty tip and stores depot during the war.
Although best known as Surrey Street, the grounds official name is the Arthur Goldthorpe Stadium, named after a local estate agent who covered half the grounds cost, donating £700 towards the construction of the stadium.
The ground is easy enough to find with the chimney from the neighbouring Ferro Alloys factory, dominating the town’s skyline.
All the grounds facilities are found towards one half of the pitch. Once entering the turnstiles, the Chris Ringland Lounge clubhouse with souvenir shop, toilets and refreshment bar (which serves a superb Chicken Balti Pie and big cup of gravy tea for £2) and two steps of covered terrace are all situated behind the goal.
The main stand replaced the original which was burnt down in the ‘70’s. The stand runs from the corner flag up towards the dugouts, with a blue frame and just over 200 red flip seats.
The Surrey Street end has standing cover in the middle third with a small PA box parallel with the half way line. The far end is open with another FC next door, not a football club, but KFC with Colonel Sanders smiling face looking in enjoying a free view of events on the pitch.
Twin lamp floodlight pylons on each side were added in 1992 thanks to the hard work of the local community, donating materials which brought the ground up to the required NWC First Division standard.

Glossop progressed into the 3rd round of the FA Vase but had to hang on to claim a narrow victory over Dunston UTS.
The home side started brightly and took an 11th minute lead through Danny Yates. A long free kick from the right saw Yates loose his marker, his initial shot was well saved but the rebound fell kindly for him to poke the ball past Connell.
Two minutes later North End had the chance to get a stranglehold on the tie after being awarded a penalty after a push inside the box. Dave Young stepped up only to see his effort brilliantly saved by Liam Connell, diving to his right hand side.
Dunston felt harshly done by when the referee failed to give a penalty after a similar incident on Steven Preen, his appeal to the ref falling on deaf ears or should that be blind eyes!
The second half saw The Fed dominate possession with North End having their backs to the wall for long periods of the half. However Dunston didn’t seriously trouble Glossop keeper Cooper, with most of their goal attempts failing to hit the target.
The home side could have wrapped up proceedings late on, Dave Hodges was clear through on goal with only the keeper to beat, but agonizingly saw his shot go wide.
So Glossop North End go into tomorrows 3rd round draw in their pursuit of a return to the final, however they’ll have to dramatically improve on this performance for their Wembley dream to become a reality.

I booked a seat on one of two coaches which headed down to Derbyshire for this FA Vase tie at a credit crunching price of only £12, thanks to work colleague and mate Lee Robbo.
We left Dunston’s UTC Stadium at 10.30am (no longer Federation Park, I promise to do a feature on this sometime this season) The journey via A1, M1 and the picturesque Pennine setting of the A628 took only two and a half hours, no pissing about for toilet stops or fag breaks, straight there, arriving at 1pm, Champion!
I headed straight to the GBG listed ‘Star Inn’ where, within five minutes, four likeminded Dunston fans arrived in pursuit of a decent pint.
We then headed to The Oakwood on the main High Street where the barman greeted us with the immortal line..“I’m afraid your going to be disappointed, we’ve got no beer!” there was only Guinness and lager to be had. A pub with no beer = Alcoholics sacrilege!
We then headed across the road to the splendidly named ‘Corner Cupboard’ where they did have beer and a room full of Dunston fans.
There was still time to call into the Robinsons ‘The Friendship’ where I finally met up with another Robinson - Lee, who was on the other coach with the players and had arrived later.
Apart from the result, I had a great day, making new friends and enjoying a good little pub crawl. It’s a shame The Fed’s (as far as I’m concerned it’ll always be The Fed) Vase run has came to a premature end as I was already looking forward before kick-off to another Vase trip away with Dunston, but as the old football cliché goes - There’s always next season!

Matchday stats

GNE 1(Yates 11) DUTS 0

Att.378

Admission £6

Programme £1

Ground no.232 Surrey Street - Matchday Web album

(15 pictures)

If you build it - they will come!

2009-10-29T14:14:00.004+01:00

At long last Gateshead FC have officially revealed plans for a new purpose built stadium in the heart of the town centre. This is also good news on a personal level as I’ve been pestered nonstop for the last 2-3 years from everyone wanting to know where and when the new ground will to be built.
The stadium will be constructed on land of the former North Durham Cricket and Rugby Club on Prince Consort Road.

The stadiums key features are;

· Fully covered 9,000 capacity including 2,000 seats

· TTH Architects – previous projects include Liberty Stadium, as well as the rebuild St James Park, Bloomfield Road and Vicarage Road.

· Facilities include Reception and club offices, executive suites and boxes for matchday hospitality.

· 600 car park spaces courtesy of the nearby Civic Centre

· Excellent transport links, close to Metro and bus interchange

· Hopeful completion date - start of 2011/12 season

The Heed Army can at last look forward to finally having our own home, leaving the unpopular International stadium where Gateshead have played since reforming in 1977. The club also have plans to go full time next season, so the future is looking bright with exciting times ahead for the Heed.

More details on the GFC website here

Wearside League Wanderings - part four

2009-10-24T21:20:00.007+02:00

220. Leyburn Grove
Houghton Town 0v3 Guisborough Town HC
Wearside League
Wednesday 12th August 2009

Ambitious club Houghton Town took the step up from the Durham Alliance and along with Scarborough Town are this season’s newcomers to the Wearside League.
The club formed as recently as 2006, originally as The Board Inn FC, playing in the Wearside Combination League for two seasons, before a successful season as the renamed Sunderland South FC last season.
The club is based in Houghton-le-Spring, a small town approximately 6 miles south-west of Sunderland town centre.
Home matches are played at Leyburn Grove which is part of the Houghton Sports Complex. The pitch is in the far corner of the cricket field, fenced off with eight sets of beanpole floodlights and a set of ‘site safe’ fold away dugouts.
The clubhouse is the Houghton CW pavilion with a separate changing room block, both found at the main entrance next to the car park, where access is gained at the bottom of the housing estate.

Houghton Town made their Wearside League debut the previous Saturday with a 2-0 home victory over Coxhoe Athletic, but unfortunately were unable to continue their winning start against Guisborough Town HC, their opponents enjoying a comfortable 3-0 success.
The visitors took an early lead when Sharkey got on the end of a free kick, finishing with a fine volley from close range, he then doubled their lead five minutes before the break, his shot taking a slight deflection giving the goalkeeper no chance.
Houghton’s best chances came in the second half, a couple of free kicks from the edge of the box going narrowly wide, then on 76 minutes they were awarded a penalty after a handball incident.
After a lengthy delay due to strong Guisborough protests which resulted in the referee dishing out a few yellow cards, Matthew Raine eventually stepped up only to see Guisborough’s keeper pull off a fantastic save to retain their two goal lead.
The match was finished as a contest five minutes from time, Sharkey got on the end of a left wing cross to complete his hat-trick and secure the away victory.

Houghton Town also have access to the FIFA approved 3G pitch at Houghton Keiper Sports College, which is floodlit and available during bad weather. So I may be revisiting Houghton Town again at another ground during the winter months.
Matchday stats
HTFC 0 GTHC 3(Sharkey 10,40,85)
Admission £2
Programme £1
Att. 33(H.C.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

224.Grayfields Enclosure
Hartlepool FC 1v2 Annfield Plain
Wearside League
Wednesday 2nd September 2009

Hartlepool origins began in the 1980’s playing in a local church league initially as the Fens Hotel and then under the name of Arriva FC.
The club moved on to the Teesside League, winning cup honours and the Second Division title under the new name of Teesside Arriva.
On the eve of the 2004-05 season the club became Hartlepool FC, going on to win the Teesside League and the Durham Trophy that season, the move to the Wearside League came in 2006-07.

Grayfields Enclosure is a large area of playing fields on the outskirts of the town, the complex has several pitches, including an all weather surface.
Access to the main pitch is via the pavilion, where you walk through the building’s reception, then along the corridor passing the changing rooms and like the players and staff you gain entry to the pitch through a set of double doors, where a couple of young lads are waiting to take your admission money.

The game with Annfield Plain was played in good spirit, with no nasty tackles and the referee not receive too much stick, a rarity indeed.
Annfield took the lead in the first half when a 25 yard shot from Gordon went in off the post. That lead was extended on 68 minutes when Henderson latched on to a through ball, the keeper saved the initial shot but the rebound fell kindly for him to knock the ball into an empty net.
Hartlepool halved the deficit a few minutes later with a well placed shot from Ross, shooting past the keeper into the far corner from a tight angle wide on the left.
Annfield finished the game more stronger, looking more likely to extend their lead than concede an equaliser.
Then on 80 minutes the referee blew the whistle and called both captains together. It had been raining for most of the day and dark rain clouds meant the visibility was getting worse.
As Grayfields has no floodlights facilities, the referee and both skippers decided to play five more minutes instead of the allotted ten. A desperate last five minutes saw no further goals but Annfield Plain deserving their victory on the number of chances created over the 85 minutes.
The match kicked off five minutes later than the scheduled 6.30pm start, due to the Annfield Plain team turning up late, so if they had of been on time there wouldn’t have been such a problem, so maybe in the end they may have benefited by their late show.
Matchday stats
HFC 1(Ross 70) APFC 2(Henderson 28, Gordon 68)
Admission £1.50
Programme:none
Att. 28(H.C.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
230. Gurney Street
New Marske 1v3 Ryhope CW
Wearside League
Saturday 24th October 2009

New Marske is a village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. The village was originally a miners settlement, having a cluster of miners terraced houses, with the old mine works found nearby in Errington Woods.
New Marske Sports Club became members of the Wearside League in 1998-99 season, finishing runners-up in the newly reformed Division Two in their debut season.
The clubs most successful season to date was in 2007-08, winning the league title with only two defeats in 36 games and scoring 120 goals. They also added the Monkwearmouth Cup and I was in attendance to see them completing the treble, when winning the Wearside League Cup at Wolviston.

The Gurney Street ground is found at the beginning(or end - depending which way you came) of the village. The New Marske Sports Club is situated in the car park, the spacious lounge bar looks out onto the pitch.
The players changing rooms annex the clubhouse next to a separate building for the match officials, which also has a refreshment bar. The home dugouts are also on the nearside with some partial hard standing. The other three sides are grass banks with the away dugout opposite, from here you can see panaramic views of the North Sea, covering the coastline from Redcar down to Marske.
The club have ambitions to eventually step up to the Northern League. Planning permission has been giving to develop the ground and install floodlights, but unfortunately the much needed grant from the FA is currently on hold.
New Marske’s opponents Ryhope CW have had a fantastic start to the season, winning 10 and drawing one of 12 games, however this still isn’t enough to claim top spot, leaders Scarborough Town have a two point lead winning 11 from 12.
Ryhope dominated the game but found themselves in the unfortunate position of trailing at half time. Looking at the New Marske players, I think you need to be at least six foot tall to get a game. The goal coming from the big number eleven Michael Mackin just before the interval, nodding the ball high into the top corner after a good cross from the overlapping right-back.

Ryhope took control early in the second half. Butler equalised chipping the goalkeeper with a nice finish and then Jordan rounded the keeper to make it 2-1 in the 54th minute.
New Marske were giving an opportunity to equalise. A free kick from the edge of the box was blocked and adjudged as a handball. Howe stepped up and young keeper Atkinson made a terrific save, diving low to his left to palm the ball out for a corner.
Ryhope were finally guaranteed the three points on 71 minutes, Butler beating the offside trap before nonchalantly knocked the ball past the keeper, his manager’s half time prediction of a 3-1 win proving to be correct.

Footnote; This win for Ryhope, coupled with Scarborough Town's suprising 3-5 home defeat to Kirbymoorside saw them leapfrog them into top spot.

Matchday stats

NMFC 1(M.Mackin 42) RCW 3(Butler 49,71 Jordan 54)
Admission £2 - which included programme and a raffle ticket for the half time meat draw.
Att. 46(H.C.)

My Matchday - 229 Edgar Street

2009-10-04T12:41:00.010+02:00

Hereford United 1v1 Dagenham & Redbridge

League Two

Saturday 3rd October 2009

Hereford is a cathedral city which lies on the River Wye, the county town of Herefordshire.

The town’s name derives from Anglo Saxon. “Here” meaning an army of soldiers and “Ford” the crossing point of a river, so the name suggests it was a place where foot soldiers crossed the River Wye.
The city is essentially a trading centre, manufacturing the likes of nickel alloys, chemicals, leather goods, also dealing in poultry and the cattle trade with the famous Hereford breed.
Most important of all is the production of a well known cider, as well as proper beer from the Spinning Dog and Wye Valley Breweries.

Edgar Street Athletic Stadium has been in use since the late 19th century, primarily for athletics, but also hosted cycling, tennis and of course football.
The ground had been home to Hereford Thistle and then Hereford City, who were playing on Edgar Street when two local sides; St Martins and Rotherwas merged in 1924 to form Hereford United.
A ground share with City was agreed and the following year saw the construction of a diminutive barrel roofed stand on the Edgar Street side nicknamed ‘Noah’s Ark’ and a tin roofed terrace opposite, known as the Coalshed.
The ground was originally owned by the Bulmer family, the brewers of the famous apple based alcoholic beverage, until the local council purchased the ground for £3,000 in 1931. United became sole tenants two years later when City vacated the ground and then ceased playing by the end of the decade.
At the turn of the fifties Hereford United became lease holders. They installing floodlights which were donated by local firm Painter Brothers, who specialise in constructing steel towers, their work includes the Skylon which was built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
The floodlights were switched on for a Birmingham League fixture with Walsall Reserves in March 1953, the club illuminating their ground before many of the country’s top clubs.
The same decade also witnessed a record gate of 18,114 for an FA Cup 3rd Round tie with Sheffield Wednesday in 1958.

The club sold land on the Edgar Street side in 1968 to make way for a road widening scheme. ‘Noah’s Ark’ set sail to nearby Risbury, being used as a barn on farmland and a new cantilever stand with 1200 seats was built on the opposite side.
The Merton Stand was then extended when the club progressed in the Football League, replacing the old Cowshed terraces on each side.
The stand has a mixture of red and blue seats which includes the family section.
The club offices, hospitality, boardroom and changing rooms are underneath the stand, which can be seen through a section of windows which look more like a row of Butlins chalets. The dugouts are brick frames with benches next to a narrow opening, which is the players tunnel.
　
The old wooden grandstand was replaced with The Len Weston Stand, which was named after former benefactor and club president. The stand was built in 1974, two years after the club progressed from the Southern League, winning election to the Football League at the expense of Barrow.
The stand runs pitch length, there’s a terrace below an upper tier of black seats which gives partial shelter to those standing underneath. The terrace has concrete supporting pillars meaning a restricted view in some areas, while access to the seats is via staircases at the side of the terrace. There’s also a section put by for away supporters at the south side.
The stand is now named the Cargill Stand and when originally constructed made Edgar Street the only non top flight ground to have two cantilever stands.

Meadow End has a capacity of around 3,500 and is the home fans singing section. You can see how the ground was once used for athletics as the terrace curves round with a flat section of terracing directly behind the goal.

Opposite is a smaller covered terrace at the Blackfriars Street End, which has shown it’s age over recent years, its capacity reduced to 1,000. The terrace is currently closed after failing a health and safety inspection in the summer, but there’s plans afoot to replace the terrace with a 1,500 seated stand. The closure has reduced the current capacity to 7,100.

The line “Now Tudor’s gone down for Newcastle” may not mean an awful lot to some, but it’s been the bane on the life of myself and fellow Toon fans for over thirty years.
That sentence was spoken by the legendary John Motson, in the lead up to the equalising goal by Ronnie Radford for Hereford United in the famous FA Cup 3rd Round Replay in 1972. Cue Motty and a pitch invasion from young'uns in parkas;
“Now Tudor’s gone down for Newcastle, Radford again (slight pause)Oh what a goal! What a goal! Radford the scorer, Ronnie Radford”

That piece of commentary is etched on my brain, as it’s shown again and again on Football Focus and MotD without fail on the first Saturday in January every year .
I’ll make an honest yet bold statement “I Hate Hereford!” But hang on, before a bus load of angry cider swilling Hereford fans make their way up to Tyneside baying for my blood, I’ll make myself clearer;
I’ve got nothing against your beautiful picturesque cathedral city or Hereford United FC, it’s just the word ‘Hereford’ that I despise, it’s like a swear word but with a silent F.
Malcolm MacDonald, blamed the horrible pong from the nearby cattle market for this legendary piece of giant killing, while I personally blame that awful all red strip, Newcastle wearing red! - it just wrong on so many levels.

A few weeks ago this game would have been a case of bottom v top, but The Bulls have shown improvement winning their last two home games including an impressive win over leaders Bournemouth in midweek.
The game with Dagenham & Redbridge looked to be heading for a dour goalless draw until springing into life with two goals in the final ten minutes.
The breakthrough came courtesy of James Walker and was well worth the wait. The striker picked up the ball 20 yards from goal, turned and shot first time past the surprised Roberts in goal, who managed to get a hand to the ball, but the shot proved to be too strong.
The goal spurred Dagenham into life, as if they had settled for a point then suddenly realised they were on the verge of defeat. Their next venture forward produced the equaliser. A good run and cross from Green found the incoming Wesley Thomas who headed home from close range.
There was still time for a winner and with three minutes remaining Hereford almost snatched it. A through ball found Gwynne who managed to stay onside, but was denied by the legs of Roberts.
A draw was a fair result in the end. I was just pleased to see a goal as for long periods of the game that looked highly unlikely.
My original plan for today was to watch Gateshead play away at Grays Athletic. I managed to book a lieu day from work, which is a feat in itself and about as rare as hens teeth!
However the ever reliable Torchy, who I had booked to travel with had a prior engagement meaning the trip to Grays was abandoned. I looked at the possibility of trains to Essex but they were far too expensive and out of my financial league.
Not wanting to waste the much valued day in lieu, I managed to get some decently priced train tickets direct to Birmingham New Street. From there I had the option of Walsall or Hereford, but plumped for the latter so I could tick off another far flung ground.
An early start, catching the 7.25 to Brum giving me plenty of time to make the connection to Hereford, arriving there around lunch time.
Hereford train station is nicely placed in the town centre, only ten minutes from the football ground with plenty of pubs on route to the match.
I predictably starting in the nearby Wetherspoons - The King Fee and then on to the recommended pubs; The Victory which is also the base of the Spinning Dog Brewery and the excellent Barrells, both pubs situated on the same road in St Owens Street.
I even made time to visit the Cathedral before the match, but unfortunately was unable to gain access, as it was pre-booked for another gig!
An enjoyable day out in Herefordshire, where I managed to avoid having to tell anyone of the League club I support, thus avoiding having to be reminded of that fateful day in F’Hereford in 1972.

HUFC 1(Walker 80) D&R (Thomas 83)

att.2253

admission £13

Programme £2.50

Bevvy Almanac - Decent Beer and No Bull

Ground no.229 - Matchday Web album

(19 pictures)

My Matchday - 228 Moss Lane

2009-09-30T11:49:00.010+02:00

Alrincham 3v2 Gateshead
Blue Square Premier
Tuesday 29th September 2009

Altrincham is a market town in Greater Manchester within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford. The town is quite posh, with a strong middle class populace which stems back to the 19th century. Today’s residents including the likes of Premier League footballers and the cast of Corrie. Nowadays it's became a commuter town, with the neighbouring Bowden and Hale make the area the stockbroker belt of Manc.

Altrincham formed as Broadheath FC in 1891, becoming founder members of the Manchester League, changing their name to Altrincham FC in 1903.
In 1910 the club moved from Pollitt‘s Field to Moss Lane, which was originally part an area of common land known as Hale Moss.
The following year the club joined the Lancashire Combination, a league they played in for eight years until becoming founder members of the Cheshire County League in 1919.
The Robins spent almost 50 years in the Cheshire League, but it wasn’t until the mid-sixties that they finally became champions. Back to back titles followed by and a runners-up spot saw the club join the newly formed Northern Premier League in 1968.
Altrincham must be one of the most unfortunate clubs in Non-League football. The club finished runners-up in the Northern Premier League in 1978-79, which made them one of the original clubs in the newly formed Alliance Premier League (Conference)
The Robins won the first two Alliance titles, twice narrowly missed out on election to the Football League. In 1980 a solitary vote denied them a place in League Division Four. They came so close to becoming a League club and since automatic promotion was established in 1987 they haven’t finished amongst the promotion pack.
The club were relegated back to the Northern Premier League in 1997, spending the following few years jumping between the leagues until the 2004 reconstruction placed them in the Conference North.
Alty returned to the Conference National winning the old North v South final in 2005 beating Eastbourne Borough at the Britannia Stadium. Since returning to the top division the club have been lucky to remain in the league, the financial misfortune of others clubs has seen them saved from the drop over three consecutive seasons.
Altrincham have enjoyed success in the FA Trophy with Alty fans taking the walk up Wembley Way on three occasions. Winning the trophy in 1978 against Leatherhead, in 1986 over Runcorn, and losing out to Enfield in 1982.
They are also the biggest giant killers in FA Cup history, knocking out Football League opposition a record 16 times. The biggest scalp of all was top flight Birmingham City in 1986.
Their most famous celebrity fan is old papier-mache nappa himself - The Bard of Timperley -Frank Sidebotton and earlier this season Aussie cricket captain Ricky Ponting became a shareholder in the club after becoming pals with Altrincham chairman Geoff Goodwin.

I again used the excellent Torchy Travel executive Heed tours for my trip to Altrincham.
The only change to the line up which travelled to Kettering three weeks ago was Old Goat came in to the central back seat position, replacing Kav, unavailable due to work commitments.

Moss Lane is a classic homely Non-League ground. The main facilities are all located at one side of the ground. The Carole Nash Insurance Stand is a tall single tier, decked out in red seats with glass windshields and a few narrow supporting pillars. At one side there’s the Goodwin Family Stand, which is a smaller separate stand. The club shop, refreshment bar and a block of terrace steps are at the other side, along with the entrance to the Noel White Suite which is situated under the stand.
The Popular Side is a long terrace which runs pitch length which is mostly covered, the middle section has a higher roof which accommodates the TV gantry.
The Golf Road End is a covered terrace with red crash barriers which runs at a slight angle at each side, making the section behind the goal much wider.
The Hale End is an open terrace which is allocated to away fans, but with the Heed Army masses making up only 13 of the 769 in attendance, then no segregation was in place leaving the Alty fans free to use the terrace when their team kicked towards that end in the second half.

Two goals in stoppage time denied Gateshead a much needed away victory with a hotly disputed penalty giving all three points to the Robins.
The game bust into life with a goal after only 80 seconds. A defensive clearance fell into the path of Anthony Danylyk, who struck a sweet half volley from the edge of the penalty area which flew past the keeper’s right hand post.
The lead lasted only four minutes, Gateshead’s first venture forward saw a well hit Turnbull shot parried by keeper Coburn into the path of Graeme Armstrong. who had the simple task of netting the rebound home from close range.
After such a positive start to the game, the remainder of the first half was a scrappy affair. Both teams failing to find any rhythm, giving possession away cheaply. The home side produced more goal attempts, although nowhere near the target.
Altrincham looked more likely to take the lead in second half. Good wing play from Doughty on the right, should have been rewarded with a goal and then Sheridan went close with a free kick which was deflective over the crossbar.
On 68 minutes Gateshead took to lead with their first effort of the second half. A good ball from Francis found the overlapping Baxter, his cross to the statuesque One was nodded away by a defender, the ball then fell kindly to Turnbull, who struck a well hit drive under the diving keeper’s body from the edge of the area.
After using all their substitutes Gateshead were reduced to ten men after an injury to Richardson with five minutes remaining. This seemed to cause mass panic and a backs to the wall rearguard as the Heed tried to hang on for the three points.
A head injury to Altrincham’s Aaron Burns in stoppage time meant further time to be added to the allotted four minutes. Play resumed with a corner kick which was nodded home by the unmarked Chris Denham at the near post, the Gateshead defence losing concentration after the long delay.
Just as it looked like a great away win had turned into a well earned draw for The Tynesiders, things got worse. A penalty in the 6th minute of stoppage time was awarded for.. well to be honest I’m still not quite sure. Gateshead keeper Farman came out to collect a loose ball and as he gathered the ball the oncoming striker appeared to catch him in the chest with his boot before falling over. A free kick to the keeper, no a penalty kick! Even the Altrincham fans were flabbergasted at the decision. Apparently there was a foul by Curtis on Senior prior to that incident and that's the reason for the spot kick, but again it was a case of - what foul?
Anyway Matt Doughty made no mistake with the penalty and proceeded to do a lap of honour of Moss Lane in celebration.
A good win for Alty which took them into the top half of the table and only a few points off the play-offs. While it’s six defeats out of seven on the road for The Tynesiders, a record which will have to be vastly improved or our stay in the Conference will be a brief one season guest appearance.

Matchday Facts

AAFC 3(Danylyk 2, Denham 90+3 Doughty(pen) 90+6

GFC 2(Armstrong 6, Turnbull 68)

att.769

Admission £13

Programme £2

Ground no.228 Moss Lane - Matchday Webalbum (14 pictures)

My Matchday - 227 stadium:mk

2009-09-27T12:19:00.003+02:00

Milton Keynes Dons 0v1 Leeds United
League One
Saturday 26th September 2009

Milton Keynes is a large town in Buckinghamshire, designated in 1967 as part of the Governments plans to regenerate a new town in the South East, to relieve the housing overspill in London.
The merger of the existing towns of Bletchley, Stony Stratford and Wolverton, along with a further fifteen villages in between made up a total area of 34 square miles. Amongst those was a small village situated east of the planned town centre, which gave the new town its name - Milton Keynes.
The fairytale of the birth of MK Dons is well known, it’s the classic tale which even now still seems a bit far fetched, as it’s never happened before and very unlikely to ever happen again.
It all started when local businessman Peter Winkelman had plans to develop a new stadium in the town, the problem was he didn’t have a professional club to play there.
He cast his eyes over a poor little club in South London, who had been homeless for 12 years, after unsuccessful attempts to move back to their true home in the London Borough of Merton.
He wanted the Dons of Wimbledon to ‘Come to Milton Keynes’ with promises of a home of their own which would be a financially sound and secure the club‘s future. The story reminds me of that song by the Style Council;

May I walk you home tonight
On this fine and lovely night tonight -
Well walk past the luscious houses,
Through rolling lawns and lovely flowers -
Our nice new town where the curtains are drawn
Where hope is started and dreams can be borne.

By 2002 the club was in financial ruin and more desperate to move to a new location to survive, after being approached by a consortium which including InterMK Ltd with a blueprint for a new stadium. The Dons agreed and The FA sanctioned the move in May 2002.

In our paradise lost we’ll be finding our sanity
In this paradise found we’ll be losing our way -
For a brave new day

The 62 mile move north was met with anger from the supporters of Wimbledon and all football fans alike. The club lost the majority of its loyal fan base shifting their alliance to the newly formed AFC Wimbledon, with the rest of the football fan family boycotting games featuring the Dons.
Mounting debts saw the club go into administration in 2004 and were also relegated to League One. Winkelman then purchasing the club, his promise of the move being financially rewarding having failed.
　
I was looking for a job so I came to town
I easily adopt when the chips are down -
I read the ad about the private schemes
I liked the idea but now I’m not so Keyne.
　
Once the club was sold Winkelman announced he was renaming the club to Milton Keynes Dons FC, as well as changing the club colours and crest.
The club was re-launched just nine months after they reallocated in June 2004. This move didn’t just bring the birth of a new club, it signified the death of another in Wimbledon FC.
A club which had fought its way through Non-League, before three consecutive Southern League titles saw them joining the Football League in 1977. The first club to win both FA amateur and professional cups, who gave the world the Crazy Gang, gone for good, but never to be forgotten.
　
Lyrics by Paul Weller.
Reached number 23 in the hit parade in July 1985
(C) 1984 Polydor Ltd. (UK)

The club played at their temporary home at the National Hockey Stadium for three seasons before moving to their purpose built stadium in the Denbigh district of town.
stadium:mk was designed by Populous, who had also designed Wembley and Emirates Stadiums and constructed by Buckingham Group Contracting at a cost of £50m.
The stadium currently holds 22,000 with the top tier still unused around three sides which would add an extra 10,000 to capacity. The ground is bowl shaped with a large gap in between the roof and the top tier which produces a lot more natural light.
The main West Stand differs, having an added shelf type tier with two rows of executive boxes at the top running the full length of the stand.
There’s a video scoreboard at the North Stand, which is also allocated to away supporters.
The East Stand is the only section with text picked out amongst the black seats, with MK (big red dot) DONS picked out in white.
The South Stand is known as The Cowshed, where the main Dons vocal support gather. I have to mention the excellent backing they gave their team throughout the game.

An injury time winner from Robert Snodgrass denied MK Dons a well earned point after playing the whole of the second half with 10-men.
The goal came in the second minute of stoppage time. A free kick wide left was swung in from Andy Robinson who found Snodgrass unmarked, making no mistake with a strong header past Gueret.
An even first half saw the Dons creating some good openings, striker Aaron Wilbraham failed to capitalise after good play from Chadwick and Lewington setting up the striker on three separate occasions.
Leeds had chances of their own, especially just before the interval with Snodgrass shooting wide after a Leeds counter attack and Kisnorbo sending a free header over
the crossbar.
An unnecessary challenge from Jason Puncheon on the stroke of half time, lunging in with a high footed tackle on Michael Doyle, gave referee Andy D’Urso no choice but to produce a red card.
Leeds failed to capitalise on the extra man advantage, the Dons battled well restricting the visitors to half chances from Beckford and Grella, while Leven went close for the home side with an ambitious volley from 25 yards.
Just as it looked like the Dons had earned a battling draw, they suffered the heartbreak of that last minute strike, which sent the 4,000 plus away following back to Yorkshire happy to see their side remain top of the pile in League One.

I travelled down to Lincolnshire on Friday where we were staying for a relaxing weekend break. I planned a leisurely drive down the A1 to Milton Keynes on Saturday morning, heading off at 1130am and expecting the 88 mile journey to be completed well before 1.30pm, well that WAS the plan.
The first obstacle I occurred was an accident on the motorway which diverted traffic off the A1. This meant an unwanted tour of the Rutland countryside which lead to bumper-to-bumperland aka Stamford.
At this point, if I had a newspaper with me, I would have checked if Stamford were playing at home, then parked up in the town to tick off the Vic Couzens Stadium instead, but I decided to keep going and hope I would make it. (as it turned out they were away)
After finally returning to the A1, I was again bullied off the motorway due to road works, forcing me on to the A14. I was really pushing it at this stage, with the ETA up to 2.50pm. Thankfully Margaret the Satnav was in fine form, guiding me on the A45 and eventually meeting the M1 which led me to the promised land of MK.
I finally arrived at 2.35pm, just managing to find a small parking space without double-yellow lines in the West Denbigh Industrial Estate.
I had enough time to visit the clubs shop, pick up my pass from the main reception and I finally took up my position in the stand just as the players were about to enter the arena.
The journey back to Lincs went smoothly, maybe because I avoided the nightmare A1, instead sticking to it‘s ‘M’ equivalent. Overall the stressful journey was worth it. I was really impressed with stadium:mk, the facilities are first class and as I’ve already mentioned the MK Army backed their team to the hilt. I got the impression of a well ran family club.
However after such an eventful day there was one big disappointment, after travelling all those miles I never spotted the one thing Milton Keynes is famous for - concrete cows! MOO!

Matchday Facts

MKD 0 LUFC 1(Snodgrass 90+2) Att. 16,713

Admission £22-£28

Programme £3

Ground no.227 stadium:mk - Matchday Webalbum
(17 pictures)

My Matchday - 226 Cardiff City Stadium

2009-09-14T23:31:00.010+02:00

Cardiff City 0v1 Newcastle United
Championship
Sunday 13th September 2009

Riverside Cricket Club formed in 1899, playing at Sophia Gardens on a ground roughly next to where Glamorgan Cricket Club now stands.

The club applied to become Cardiff City FC after the Welsh town was giving city status in 1905. Their request was initially rejected, but were eventually allowed to take the name in 1908 once they became a professional club.

Within two years the club moved to a new ground on the site of a former rubbish tip, naming the ground after a British member of parliament, who was killed during the First World War - Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart.

After 99 years at Ninian Park, Cardiff City moved a short distance to their new purpose built 26,828 capacity - Stadiwn Dinas Caerdydd.

The stadium was built on the site of the former Cardiff Athletics Stadium by contractors Laing O’Rourke and forms part of the £100m Leckwith development.

The 60 acre project includes the 5,000 capacity Cardiff International Sports Stadium, which is used by Welsh League Two side Cardiff Bay Harlequins, as well as a retail park, new housing and hotel with bar and restaurant.

Cardiff City Stadium was designed by Arup Sport, constructed at a cost of £48m. Work commenced in early 2007 with the completion date set at December 2008, however the not so great British summer of 2007 caused a delay, so work was finally completed in May 2009.

The new stadium is very nice with all the facilities and comfort you’d expect from a spanking new stadium. However the one thing it lacks compared with the old ground over the road is the intimidating atmosphere, which was worth a goal head start when Ninian Park was jumping and filled to capacity.

The ground is identical on three sides, a single tier of shiny blue seats in the Ninian Stand, Grange Stand and Canton End. Away supporters are allocated the corner of the Grange Stand which also has a large video screen.

The Grandstand is different, having an extra shelved tier with a row of executive boxes behind and corporate hospitality suites in each corner.

There’s a large walkway which runs at the back of the stands which is used as a TV gantry. There’s plenty of scope to enlarge capacity if City ever reach the promised land and achieve Premier League status.

With all the backroom shenanigans and lack of cohesion behind the scenes it’s a surprise to report that Newcastle United have made a great start to 2009/10.

Prior to this game United had 13 points out of 15 including four clean sheets in a row ( Straights up! Check the stats) which earned caretaker gaffer Chris Houghton the Manager of the Month award for August.

The defence again held firm against Cardiff and old boy Michael Chopra, never looking in danger once they’d taking a 18th minute lead with a Fabricio Coloccini header.

The big hairy Argentinean probably had his finest game in a black and white..sorry! Solero coloured shirt. He started and ended the move laying the ball out wide to Ryan Taylor, his right wing cross was met with a towering header.

As well as a strong defensive display, Newcastle played some good passing football but lacked punch up front. Due to injuries problems, it was left to Nile ‘lone’ Ranger to lead the line himself, the youngster produced another impressive performance.

For City’s endeavour they never created any clear cut chances, efforts at goal were blocked by the Toon defence or comfortably collected by Harper.

City had a good penalty shout when Steven Taylor appeared to handle a Chopra shot and then in the last minute an opportunity to clinch a point. Alan Smith brought down Bothroyd on the edge of the penalty area, receiving a second yellow card and his marching orders. The resulting free kick by Chopra was fired into the Newcastle brick wall, assuring a professionals away performance and a fifth clean sheet on the bounce (Honest - take a look)

As is always the case when watching Newcastle away I travelled with Ian and Lee Patrick (100FGC squad nos. 2 & 79) Ian gave me the option of setting off at midnight or 4am, I told him that 5am would be ok, but Ian always has the impression that pending disaster awaits, so 4am it was.

A great driving performance by Ian, at total of 13 hours on the road, which is even more astonishing when you consider that when he picked me up, he announced that his attempt of an early night ended up as a sleepless night. So we could have easily ended up deserted in a ditch somewhere off the M6!

We arrived in Cardiff at 10am, taking advantage of free parking on Hadfield Road which is a short walk from the stadium and handy for junction 33 off the M4.

I wanted to take a proper look around Cardiff, so I left the lads and headed off alone into the city centre. On my stroll around the city I just happened to bump into three Wetherspoons pubs (which was nice!)

We arrived back home at 11pm and so that completes number one in a series of three, in our long Championship journeys of 2009/10 and I'm afraid to say that this trip into Europe is the shortest of the three.

Matchday Facts

Bluebirds 0 Magpies 1(Coloccini 18)

Att.25,630

Admission £26

Programme £3

Ground no.226 - Cardiff City Stadium - Matchday webalbum (20 pictures)

My Matchday - 225 Rockingham Road

2009-09-10T11:26:00.002+02:00

Kettering Town 4v0 Gateshead

Blue Sq. Premier

Tuesday 8th September 2009

Kettering in a town on the River Ise in the East Midlands. The town grew as part of the Northamptonshire boot and shoe industry, which became an integral part in Kettering’s economy in the 19th century. The town was built up with new homes in Newlands and Rockingham Road for the factories owners, with terraced streets built to accommodate the workers.

Kettering FC formed in 1872, originally playing in the Midland League, winning two league titles before progressing to the Southern League at the turn of the 20th century.

Town was adding to the club name in 1924 and over the next five years finished runners-up and twice winners of the leagues East section, and overall champions in 1927-28.

Over the next two decades the Poppies played in the East Midlands League and the Birmingham & District League, adding more league honours in both competitions before returning to the Southern League in 1950.

Tommy Lawton guided Kettering to another league title in 1957, then a third success, this time under the leadership of Big Ron (jingle-jangle)Atkinson in 1973.

A Wembley appearance in the FA Trophy in 1979, losing 2-0 to Stafford Rangers in the final, was then followed by the club becoming founder members of the Football Alliance in the same year.

The club established themselves as one of the leading clubs in Non-League’s top league, although top position has eluded them four times, finishing runners up on two occasions twice in both the eighties and nineties.

The new millennium started well with another trip to Wembley, but a narrow defeat to Kingstonian denied the Poppies a chance to get their hands on the FA Trophy.

The following season the club were relegated from the Conference for the first time in over 30 years of top flight Non-League football.

Over the following seasons the club were promoted and again relegated, playing in the Southern League then the Ryman League, where a ninth place finish was enough the ensure a spot in the newly formed Conference North.

After previously missing out via the play-offs, they returned to the Conference when winning the North title in 2007-08 with a record 97 points tally.

The club originally played on George Eldred’s Field until 1894 when they moved to North Park until residing at Rockingham Road from 1897.

Built in 1972, the Main Stand is a large cantilever structure with a capacity of 1,747 red seats, as well as a model owl sitting in the roof to frighten off the pigeons. The stand is nearer the Rockingham Road end, the space at the other side is taking up by the Tin Hat Social Club, sponsors lounge and disabled area. The press area is in the corner of the stand but gives a central view due to the stands position.

The Britannia Road Terrace has cover running almost pitch length, the roof is set back giving shelter to those standing at the rear. There’s also a TV gantry which would be hard to spot if it wasn’t for the TV screen lit up inside and the big McDonalds logo on its wall.

There is open terraces behind each goal. Away supporters are allocated the Rockingham Road End which is smaller terrace with no steps, this replaced the old popular covered Tin Hat end. Large away followings are also allocated a section of the Main Stand.

The Cowper Street End is a larger terrace, with a large walkway at the top and steps below.

A feature of Rockingham Road is the four floodlights pylons which each form the letter K within the bulbs. The first club to do such a thing, way before di Villa with their A and V.

The ground was named the A-Line Arena, but recently became the Elgoods Brewery Arena(quality ales) and now has an overall capacity of 6,264.

Kettering have made a good start to the season, while Gateshead have struggled to adapt to life in the Blue Sq. Premier.

Of all the steps which run up the football pyramid ladder, the step between Conference North/South and Conference National must be the steepest step of all.

It’s a massive gap to overcome and we now realise the huge task ahead, so we could be in for a very long hard winter.

Kettering started the game brightly, going close through Spencer and Roper before opened the scoring after only ten minutes. A corner kick from the right eventually fell to Danny Thomas lurking on the edge of the box, he drilled his left foot volley into the ground, which bounced directly above Provett and into the roof of the net.

Provett made amends for his error minutes later, making a superb double save to deny Green who looked odds on to score.

Gateshead then enjoyed a good spell of pressure but lacked that cutting edge up front, with new signing Armando One having their best effort with a close range header.

Kettering’s pacey forward three of Thomas, Green and Ashikodi led the Heed defence a merry dance all evening and it was Moses Ashikodi who doubled the lead on 32 minutes. A fine through ball from Boucaud allowed the striker a free run and shot on goal after Robinson’s misjudgement had played him onside.

It was a case of how many more would the Poppies add to their goal tally in the second half. Thankfully for a Geordie sitting in a stand full of goal hungry Kettering fans, there was just two more to report.

Kettering’s third goal was of similar fashion to their second. This time it was Francis Green who took advantage of a square Gateshead defence, latching on to a through ball before producing a low hard shot past Provett.

The rout was completed ten minutes from time. A free kick wide on the edge of the penalty area was nodded home unchallenged by Damian Spencer. A goal which summed up the game perfectly - so easy for Kettering.

Gateshead just weren’t at the races at all, but let's not take anything away from Kettering. They look a very good side with a lot of pace in attack and two classy defenders in Roper and the coolly named Exodus Geohaghon.

The win took them into second place in the Blue Sq. Premier and if they continue with good performances like this, we may see them in a play-off spot come the end of April.

The long midweek journey to Kettering was made with 100FGC squad#51 John Young aka ‘Torchy Travel’ along with Kav, Simon Heed Groundsman(who also does a spot of gravedigger and has a hatred of red traffic lights) and 100FGC squad#26 Alan Price, all making our debuts at Rockingham Road.

On arrival we headed to the Tin Hat Social Club which has a

good selection of beer on offer, including five hand pumps, with a selection from the stadium sponsors Elgood Brewery. along with quality German beer Warsteiner (if that‘s what wets your whistle)

Midweek fixtures in this league are supposed to be reserved for matches with clubs who are located closest, to minimise travel, but arriving back home at 2.15am somewhat dispels that theory.

Feeling disappointed in the performance and result, I was still glad to have visited an old non league ground like Rockingham Road. It’s also gained me some valuable Torchy credit miles, which gives me a good chance of again booking a seat in John’s car on future away trips.

The Groundhog’s visit v AFC Wimbeldon last month.

Matchday Facts

KTFC 4(Thomas 10, Ashikodi 32, Green 73, Spencer 82) GFC 0

Att. 1230

Admission £9-£10

Programme £3

Ground no.225 Rockingham Road - Matchday webalbum(15 pictures)

My Matchday - 223 Spotland

2009-08-30T00:14:00.013+02:00

Rochdale 3v0 Bury

League Two

Saturday 29th August 2009

Rochdale is a large market and former mill town in Greater Manchester. The town lies in the valley of the River Roch, amongst the foothills of the Pennines to the east and Rossendale Hills to the north.

Rochdale came to prominence as a centre of the north’s woollen trade. Then in the late 19th century became one of the first industrialised towns, a major textile manufacturer during the industrial revolution. The Rochdale Canal was one of the country’s major broad canals, used to haulage the importing and exporting of coal, wool and cotton.

The town has a few influential musicians in its time. Gracie Fields to Lisa Stansfield, The Chameleons to The Mock Turtles. However the greatest musical link must surely be comedian Mike Harding with his Top 30 hit the ‘Rochdale Cowboy’

It's hard being a cowboy in Rochdale,

Spurs don't fit right on me clogs,

Yee-haa

It's hard being a cowboy in Rochdale,

'Cause people laugh when I ride past on our Alsatian dog.

[lyrics - M Harding -peaked at #22 in the Hit Parade in August 1975]

The ground was originally named St.Clements playing fields after the nearby church, initially used for cricket and then from 1878 by the local rugby club.

Football was first played at the ground in 1900. The original Rochdale AFC and Rochdale Town both played there for one season, but with little success until Rochdale’s current football club were especially formed to take over St. Clements in 1907.

Once established Rochdale AFC were accepted into the Manchester League, then the Lancashire League the following year. In 1910 they became a limited company, which enabled the club to purchase the ground’s tenure for £1,700 in 1914.

The ground was known as Spotland by the time Rochdale became members of the Football League in 1921. A wooden main stand was then erected at the south side, followed by terraces on Willbutts Lane and the Pearl Street end.

An early feature of the ground was the infamous five foot slope which ran down towards Sandy Lane. This was finally levelled in 1948, with the surplus earth pushed towards the Pearl Street End to make a miniature ‘Spion Kop’. Crash barriers were added to the terrace and the following year the ground witnessed its record attendance of 24,231 for an FA Cup tie against Notts. County.

The original Main Stand took a bit of a hiding in its time. In 1921 gale force winds blew the roof down, in 1953 it was partly destroyed by fire, then in 1966 the roof caved in again after a heavy snow storm.

Spotland was lit up for the first time in February 1954 for a friendly against St. Mirren. This was the grounds first set of floodlights, being replaced in 1971 and then again in 1992.

Rochdale Hornets (one of the original 22 Rugby League clubs formed in 1895) returned to there previous home after an 88 year absence to ground share with The Dale, after selling the Athletics Ground to developers for £2.6 million. Both clubs linked up with the local council in a joint ownership, which helped finance much needed work after the Taylor Report.

After the joint co-operative the ground was re-branded as Denehurst Park Stadium, named after the public park which is found on Sandy Lane, the new name never caught the locals imagination and so the Spotland name remained.

The first major work which gives us the Spotland stadium that we know today, was replacing the tattered and torn old Main stand. It was replaced in 1992 at a total cost of £1.2 million. The stand has a capacity of 1774, made up of alternated sections of red and blue seats. There’s 12 executive boxes situated in the centre and a small press area.

The only standing section is on Sandy Lane. The terrace has a capacity of 1900 and is now known as the Thwaites Stand. Apart from the odd supporting pillar the view is excellent and great value for money, priced at only £14.

The T.D.S. Stand on Pearl Street was officially opened in September 1997 by Sir Nat Lofthouse. It has a capacity of 2,584 blue seats with Dale picked out in white. It also has the Studds Bar in the stand where you can get a drink at half time and during the game.

Wilbutt Lane Stand completed the new look Spotland Stadium in 2001. It’s now known as the Westrose Leisure Stand and is similar in appearance to the Pearl Street end, it holds 3,560 blue seats with Rochdale picked in white. The stand is set aside for away supporters and also houses the TV gantry .

I arrived into town at 12.15pm, calling for a few pints in the Regal Moon and the Cemetery Hotel before reaching Spotland at 2.15pm. After walking the perimeter of the ground, securing a programme and pin badge, I had time for another pint in the Radcliffe Arms which is located in the car park at the stadium’s main entrance.

I stood on the Sandy Lane terrace with Dan(100FGC#93) and Sam(100FGC#139) who unfortunately arrived late, getting to Rochdale just prior to kick-off due to heavy bank holiday traffic.

The PA sound system in the stand was at full blast, turned right up to the maximum 11. They only played music from Manchester bands, like Oasis and in particular Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, it was like being transported back to 1990 with the sound of Madchester.

Matches against Bury are ‘a bit of a do’ around these parts. Local hostilities were prominent throughout, especially in the first half with both sets of fans swapping the usual insults, then the police had the intervene after 25 minutes when things got a little bit out of hand.

We had the misfortune to be standing next to the local headcase. When I saw him standing in front of us, I thought he was about 18-19 years old, judging by his size, physique and the charva clobber he was wearing. When he eventually stopped hurling abuse and flicking the v’s towards the Bury fans and turned around, I couldn’t believe he was actually a 50 year old (at least) gadgey!

The first half of this derby was a non event. No clear cut chance carved out by either side, the match dominated by fouls. It was like a playground schoolboy game, everyone running around like headless chickens wanting the ball ,then doing nowt once they received it.
Rochdale took a foothold on the game in the second half, taking the game to their opponents and finally applying some pressure on the Bury defence.
The breakthrough arrived just before the hour mark. A decent cross from the left by Buckley found the unmarked Thompson, his shot taking a slight deflection on its way to goal.
Man of the Match Chris Dagnall had missed a great chance early in the second half to open the scoring when one-on -one with the goalkeeper. In the 72nd minute a similar opportunity arose and this time he took his chance well with a confident finish.
The victory was rubber stamped with ten minutes remaining, when Buckley was barged over by Sodje in the penalty area. Kennedy despatched the spot kick then proceeded to ‘milk it’ in front of the away end which really winded up the Bury fans. One irate supporter then ran on the pitch, looking like he wanted to lynch him, the goalscorer ending up having to leg it from the incensed fan.
The traditional main rivals for these two sides are respectively Oldham and Bolton, but with both clubs not playing their most hated over recent years, then this fixture has taking over as their local derby. In the end it was a convincing win for The Dale, their first over Bury at Spotland for 16 years, so the local bragging rights well earned until the clubs meet again in the new year.

After the game I did my own version of penalty taker Tom Kennedy, legging it back to the train station to catch the 1720 to Leeds. Catching the earlier train gave me a good half an hour before my connection train to Newcastle, thus giving me time for my first visit to the Wetherspoons situated inside Leeds Station.
It was 2030 as my train crossed the King Edward bridge, arriving back home after a pleasant day out in Lancashire where I saw and met some interesting people, but unfortunately I failed to witness anyone in a cowboy hat riding around on an Alsatian dog!

Matchday facts

RAFC 3(Thompson 59 Dagnall 73 Kennedy 81p) BFC 0

att.4534

Admission £14

Programme £3

Ground no.223 Spotland - Matchday Webalbum

(17 pictures)

My Matchday - 222 Station View

2009-08-22T20:53:00.010+02:00

Harrogate Railway Athletic 2v1 AFC Fylde

Unibond 1st Division North

Saturday 22nd August 2009

Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, originating in the 17th century from two small villages; High Harrogate and Low Harrogate in the Nidd Valley.

The towns first mineral spring was discovered in 1571 by William Slingsby, water from the Tewitt well containing iron, sulphur and common salt.

The chalybeate properties in the water were a popular health remedy, encouraging wealthy ailing visitors to the town, a major contribution towards the town‘s wealth.

Harrogate hosts the Great Yorkshire Show every year and once hosted the not so great show. In 1982 the town’s conference centre staged the Eurovision Song Contest, which was won, as you may expect when England are at home, by the Germans!

(That’s ‘A Little Piece’ by Nicole…Eddy)

As the name suggests, Harrogate Railway Athletics were formed in 1935 by rail workers from the Starbeck LNER depot.

After winning the British Railways National Cup in 1946, the club borrowed £1,500 from the LNER to buy their Station View home. A weekly payment of 1d a week from 300 rail workers was more than enough to secure the loan.

Competitive league football began in 1955, joining the Second Division of the Yorkshire League. They won promotion in their third season but yo-yo’d between the two leagues during the fifties and sixties.

Athletic struggled through the 1970’s. Relegation to the newly formed Yorkshire League 3rd Division was followed by dropping into the Harrogate League in 1973.

In 1980 with the club financially stable they returned to the Yorkshire League, then became founder members of the Northern East Counties League two years later.

By 1987 they reached its Premier league for the first time, playing for six seasons before relegation, but they returned as Division One champions in 1998-99.

Station View hosted its biggest match in 2002, Sky TV screened their second round FA Cup tie with Bristol City, as they became the lowest ranked side to ever reach this stage of the competition.

Three temporary stands were erected with the club determined to host the biggest game in their history. A sell out crowd of 3,500 witnessed a brave effort from Railway, eventually losing out 3-1 to the League One side.

A third place finish in the 2005-06 season was enough to clinch promotion to the Unibond, The club adapted well to life at a highest level, which coincided with another fine FA cup run. They overcame local rivals Harrogate Town on the way to again battling their way to the second round proper.

The home tie with League Two side Mansfield Town was broadcast live, this time on the Beeb. Unfortunately the Railway narrowly missing out on a place in the third round, going down 3-2 on a very clarty Station View pitch.

I travelled down the A1 to North Yorkshire with Alan Price(100FGCsquad#26) the 75 mile journey taking around an hour and twenty minutes.

Station View is found 2 miles west of Harrogate in Starbeck, on the main Knaresborough Road which leads into the town.

The village has an array of shops and takeaways, amongst them is a Butcher - who must be the greatest sausage maker on the planet! He’s won more honours than Ryan Giggs, with his list of titles shown on the shop window and walls. Alan gave into temptation, purchasing some of his casings of spicy meat goods, so he’ll be able to judge for himself.(Good bangers Alan?…Eddy)

That old phrase ‘red and green should never be seen except upon an Irish queen’ is disregarded at Harrogate Railway. Not only is it the club colours but the ground is decorated throughout with a clash of these two primary shades.

Once you’ve entered the turnstile and gave the young lass a quid for a golden goal ticket, you’ll find all the amenities at the station end of the ground.

Pitch side there’s portakabins used for club shop and media room with the changing rooms and ‘The Railway Buffet’ canteen set further back across the staff car park. There’s also a separate cabin used as offices for directors and club officials and in the far corner of the car park, amongst the weeds and debris are male and female toilets.

The main stand is behind the far goal, which is split between seats and standing. There’s approximately 300 red flip seats which includes a separate section for club directors. The terrace has five steps which tapers off to a point at its edge with conregated iron roof and back walls in those loud club colours.

There’s a small stand at the far side, parallel with the half way line in between the dugouts. This stand is in named in honour of ex player, junior coach and committee man Shaun Glennon. The stand has dark green flip seats and matching facia, adorning the stand and club name.

The rest of the ground is open half standing which includes a raised section of terracing next to the Shaun Glennon Stand.

Floodlights were installed in 1991, four pylons with twin lamps on either side of the pitch. They were first switched on for a friendly with Sheffield United in March of that year.

After being treated to the pre-match sound of Beaver FM on the PA, it was time for the main attraction; The Rail taking on Vodak Premier Division Champions AFC Fylde for the very first time in the Unibond 1st Division North.

The game started scrappy, with the match unable to flow. There were too many cheap free kicks conceded, with the players more concerned with winding each other up and questioning every decision made by the referee.

The match was desperately in need of a goal and when it came what a cracker it was.

Liam Richardson received the ball on the left, then from the edge of the box unleashed a fierce shot which swerved around the keepers left hand and crept into the far corner of the net.

This gave the Rail a lift and they doubled their advantage just before half time. The ball falling kindly to Ben Jones in the penalty area, then with his back to goal turned and volleyed past the helpless keeper. He smacked the ball so hard that the ball bounced back off the advertising board behind the goal, then back into play, so maybe if this was Crystal Palace it mightn’t have counted.

Fylde improved in the second half, getting back into the game on 54 minutes after a clear cut penalty was converted confidently by Joe Booth.

The match was finely balanced in the last half hour, with the visitors looking more likely to go back over the Pennines with a draw, with the Rail trying to secure the three points by catching them on the break.
In the 67th minute Fylde substitute Walwyn beat the offside trap before running to the edge of the box and squaring the ball to Watt, who agonisingly saw his shot bounce off the foot of the post before being cleared.

Harrogate added to the away sides frustrations by defending well and time wasting at every opportunity. Then in stoppage time a great chance to equalise. Walwyn was clear through on goal with only the keeper to beat, but the big goalie made himself even bigger, blocking the strikers attempted lob, which proved to be the moment which gave the hosts all three points.

Overall an enjoyable day in sunny Harrogate, the match was competitive and quite entertaining. Station View is well worth a visit, handly placed in between Harrogate town centre and picturesque Knaresborough. Plus if your planning to travel by train then you can't get a much closer ground to the station.

I mustn't forget to mention the score updates I received via text message throughout the day, which also contributed to a great football afternoon. (two away wins 4-1 and 2-0)

Matchday Facts

HRAFC 2(Richardson 29, Ben Jones 43)AFCF 1(Booth 54pen)

Att.128

Admission £6

Programme £1.50

Ground no.222 Station View - Matchday Webalbum(15 pictures)

My Matchday - 221 Moorland Sports Ground

2009-08-19T00:38:00.013+02:00

Lincoln Moorlands Railway 2v3 St. Andrews
FA Cup Extra Prelim Round
Saturday 15th August 2009

Lincoln Moorlands FC were formed in 1989, beginning in the Central Midland League Premier Division followed by a season in the North section when the league was regionalised in 1991.

The following year the club were forced to leave the league when minimum ground grading was brought into the CML. The Moors received financial backing of £1,500 to complete the required work and submitted plans to the league, but the club were still booted out and left without a league to play in.

Thankfully they were accepted into the Lincoln & District Football League, where they played for one season before joining the Lincolnshire League in 1993.

The 1998-99 season was a successful one, they rejoined the CML Premier Division and won the title at the first attempt, winning 26 and drawing 2 out of the 28 games.

Success continued the following season winning the CML Supreme Division, then after missing out on the title on goal difference the following year, the club were still able to gain acceptance into the Northern Counties East League.

The merger with Lincoln Railway coincided with their first season in the NECL Premier Division in 2007, where they’ve remained since, although they have flirted with relegation over the last two seasons.

Over the last 30 years the Moors have won honours in county cup competitions. Having the distinction of playing in six consecutive finals between 1996-97 and 2001-02.

Moorland Sports Ground is located on Newark Road, one of the main roads which leads into Lincoln city centre, just over 2 miles from the High Street.

The welcome sign is easy to spot, at the top of a narrow lane off the busy road. The impressive social club is found at the bottom of a spacious car park and the ground entrance is gained through a single turnstile block on the left hand side.

The ground is quite roomy, with lawns on all sides behind the stands and goals. You enter the ground behind the left corner of the goal. There is three separate buildings to your right, changing rooms, toilets and Carol’s cabin; which serves a good selection of hot drinks and sandwiches.

On the nearside is a small wooden stand with green and white frames and supports, it houses 50 seats and accommodates a disabled area.

The far side has two stands to each side of the dugouts. There’s one of those Meccano ready kit stands, which has 100 blue seats and at the other side is a standing shelter with ‘Welcome to Lincoln Moorlands Railway FC’ across its fascia.

There’s hard standing behind each goal and the ground is fully enclosed with a line of trees in between the neighbouring houses.

Moorland Railway could have had this FA Cup tie with Eastern Counties League outfit St Andrews put to bed within the first 20 minutes. Good opportunities were wasted, players looking to go for glory themselves, wasting good chances instead of using the option of an unmarked team mate.

They did eventually take the lead after half an hour through Ben Garrick, but were pegged bag almost immediately when a cross was touched home by Aaron Preston.

Moors looked a good bet to progress into the next round, regained their advantage on the stroke of half time. Garrick adding his second goal of the afternoon, shooting past the keeper from close range as St. Andrews appealed in vain for offside.

The second half was a different tale altogether. St Andrews dominated proceedings. Equalising in the 56th minutes with a brutal left foot shot from Preston. Ten minutes later he completing his hat trick, St Andrews broke up a Moors attack, catching them on the break before Preston made room for himself to shoot inside the penalty area with a good finish.

As the game progressed Moors looked more unlikely to force a replay with St Andrews seeing the game out comfortably to book a place in the Preliminary Round away to Winterton Rangers in a fortnights time.

I called into Lincoln on my way to a very enjoyable weekend in Skegness. The Smudgers having a well earned break on the Lincolnshire coast. I watched the game with Lincoln based Man Citeh fan Jim Morris (100FGC squad#86) who last week attended the first competitive match at the new Cardiff City Stadium and he had kindly purchasing a programme for me from that day.

We were both impressed with The Moors cosy set up and pleasant surroundings. I was surprised to learn that Jim hadn’t visited Moors before, even though it’s the closest ground to his home, although he’s vowed to return in the future. As for myself I was pleased to tick off Moorland Sports Ground, as previous visits to the city at both United and The Imps meant The Moors have now completed a Lincoln hat-trick.

Matchday stats.

LMRFC 2(Garrick 31,45) St.AFC 3(Preston 33,56,65)

Att. 72

Admission £4

Programme £1.

Ground no.221 Moorland Sports Centre - Matchday Webalbum(17 pictures)

My Matchday - 218 Dens Park

2009-08-05T21:53:00.002+02:00

Dundee 5v0 Stranraer

CIS CUP 1st Round

Saturday 1st August 2009

Dundee is the fourth largest city in Scotland, situated on the north bank of the Firth of Tay by the North Sea.

Dundee isn’t just renowned for giving its name to an almond covered fruit cake, it was giving the nickname of the city of “jam, jute and journalism”

Dundee’s major industry was in the wool trade, the city port thrived as weavers turned there hand to weaving imported jute with many of the city’s workers employed in the jute mills and associated industries.

The city is also the home of the publishing firm DC Thompson, who produce a selection of newspapers including the home of Oor Wullie and The Broons - The Sunday Post as well as more serious publications; The Beano and Dandy.

The jam link is in recognition of Janet Keiller’s first commercial brand of marmalade. Her 1797 recipe was mass produced and exported worldwide, with jars of Keillers marmalade still widely available today.

However a more important fact for my reader is the city is one of only three in Britain to have two clubs reach the Semi Final of the European Cup.

Dundee FC formed in 1893 with the marriage of two clubs; Dundee Our Boys and Dundee East End, joining the Scottish Football League in the same year.

They originally playing at Carolina Park for five years until moving into the neighbourhood of the city’s other football club Dundee Wanderers, who played at nearby Clepington Park.

The ground was redeveloped when in 1919 when the club purchased the site for £5,000. A two-tier main stand with terracing on three sides was completed in two years, at a cost of £60,000.

In 1959 a roof was erected on the south side with floodlights added the following year. More cover was added on the west side after the club enjoyed their first venture into Europe in the early 1960’s.

The Safety of Sports Ground Act in 1975 saw the ground capacity halved to 22,000 by 1980. Replacing the terracing with bench seats installed on the south and west terraces.

The South Stand still has blue bench seats with DFC picked out in white. There is also old terracing still visible on the open sections on either side of the cover.

The ground stagnated over the years until 1994 when the Main Stand was refurbished as Dens Park began staging greyhound racing, for the first time since the 1930’s.

To a football ground connoisseur like myself, this stand is a classic. The interior roof with it’s metal beams and supports has the look of a Victorian train station The shiny red beams with a mixture of red and blue seats make it pleasing on the eye. After the game I photographed the stand from the Bobby Cox stand where the stand looks even better with its blue roof and red frames. At the front are sections of paddock seating with a paved area where the oval track would have once encroached the stand.

The press area was at the back row with the middle of the stand giving the furthest viewpoint due to its oval shape.

The ground was redeveloped as part of the SPL all seated ground criteria after promotion in 1999. The East and West Stand’s were constructed by Barr Stadium Construction in only 82 days. Both single tier stands hold 3,000 customers, named after Dens legends Bobby Cox and Bob Shankly, the latter is the away end both have Dundee picked out in white amongst dark blue seats. The players enter the pitch via the Main Stand/Bob Shankly corner.

Throughout the years there’s been talk of ground sharing with United, a new purpose built stadium has been proposed on a few occasions with both clubs non plussed on leaving their individual homes. The last drawn up plan was part of Scotland’s failed bid to host Euro 2008 with construction of a new site at Caird Park.

The record attendance at Dens Park is 42,024 when Dundee played Rangers in a Scottish League Cup in 1943. The current capacity is 12,085 all seated.

This visit to Dens Park was part of our Dundee double weekend, my companions for a weekend of fitba and bevvy was my bessy mate Zippy and Mr. Michael Brass.

We left Newcastle at 9.36, catching our connection at Edinburgh for the scenic journey through the Kingdom of Fife before crossing the Tay into Dundee.

We stayed at the Travelodge (those swipe keys are useless…Eddy) in the city centre. After dropping off our bags we headed to the nearby Wetherspoons - The Counting House for our first of many, many pints over the next two days.

There was a gentleman standing at the bar, a Dundee supporter who advised me on which pint to select. He introduced himself as Gearaidh and we conversed on my specialist subjects of football and real ale.

When we left to head to the bookies I told him I was backing Dundee to win 4-0. His reply was “Nah, 6-0, Stranraer are rubbish” so I told him I’d compromise and go down the middle - 5-0 to the Dark Blues.

So between the two of us we got the score correct. Stranraer got off lightly only conceding five and as my Dundonian friend so rightly said; Stranraer were rubbish, they didn’t produce a single shot on target or win a corner kick, although in their defence they’ve signed eleven new players this summer, so maybe this new team needs time to gel.

Dundee produced some good openings in the early stages with new £100,000 signing from Partick Thistle Gary Harkins looking impressive on the left flank.

A quarter of the game had passed before Dundee finally took the lead. A corner kick was nodded back into the path of Sean Higgins, who’s shot went through the keepers body before staggering over the line.

Harkins added a second after half an hour before the goal of the day. A long range effort from Higgins was superbly tipped onto the bar by Mitchell ,the keeper quickly got up and caught the rebound before dropping the ball into the path of McMenamin, who graciously knocked the ball into an empty net.

McMenamin headed in his second goal early in the second half before the cross bar denied the striker of a hat-trick. He was replaced on 54 minutes by another new signing Leigh Griffiths, who marked his competitive debut by converting a spot kick, the penalty rewarded rather harshly for a soft challenge on Harkins.

Stranraer were reduced to ten men on 78 minutes when keeper Mitchell hacked down Harkins outside the area. Outfield player Danny Mitchell (meaning D. Mitchell was still in goal) was the replacement between the sticks and he managed to keep a clean sheet for the last ten minutes, the home sides late efforts going each side of the post .

An easy but convincing passage into the 2nd Round of the League Cup for Dundee. They look a good bet for promotion this season, they’ve added some quality signings and their supporters are confident they’ll be celebrating a return to the SPL come May.

We backed Dundee to win 4,5 and 6-0. The latter score produced odds of 50-1. The fact Dundee didn’t test the stand in keeper denied us some valuable beer tokens, although our little win did pay for our mixed grills at Wetherspoons after the match.

Saturday night was, as you would expect, spent on the lash! Special thanks to Dundee based Toon supporter Ross Magoo (user name) on the Newcastleonline forum, who gave me some excellent advice on the city’s best pubs.

We opted for the Perth Road pub crawl, starting in the GBG listed ‘Speedwell’ and working our way back towards the city centre. We managed to clock up nine bars on our crawl before staggering to the nearest take away for a much needed ‘kebab compass’ to find our way back to our digs.

We crashed out in the hotel at around 2am, a long and enjoyable day one in our Dundee double weekend, with another match on the other side of Sanderman Street to look forward to the following day.

Matchday facts

DFC 5(Higgins 23, McMenamin 37,47 Harkins 29, Griffiths 67p) SFC 0

Att. 2345

Admission £12

Programme £1.50

Ground no.218 Dens Park - Matchday webalbum(16 pictures)

My Matchday - 219 Tannadice Park

2009-08-05T21:51:00.002+02:00

Dundee United 1v1 Newcastle United
Pre-season friendly
Sunday 2nd August 2009

Dundee United mark their 100th anniversary this year. Part of the Tangerines birthday celebrations is a match against the once mighty Newcastle United, the second part of my Dundee double weekend.

Dundee Hibernian formed in 1909 by the city’s Irish catholic community, taking over the lease at Clepington Park, which at the time was held by current tenants Dundee Wanderers.

You could say that Dundee Wanderers weren’t too happy at being evicted by the ground’s landlord in favour of a more generous offer from the Hibs club. The angry former occupiers stripped the ground bare, taking down the grandstand, fences, changing rooms and the goalposts, leaving an empty field instead of a ready made football ground to play in.

The ground was then renamed Tannadice Park after the street where the ground’s main entrance is situated. £3,000 was spent on new facilities which included a pavilion with a 1200 seat stand.

A crowd of 7,000 witnessed the first match at the rebuilt and renamed ground, against their Hibernian counterparts from Edinburgh on 18th August 1909.

Major changes during the 1920’s saw the club renamed Dundee United after the club were saved from going out of business by a consortium of businessmen. The club then bought the ground for £2,500, raising finances through a share issue to make necessary ground improvements. Terraces were built, turnstiles and the Grandstand was enhanced, but the main renovation was to the pitch. Dynamite was needed to blast the solid rock under the surface to rid the steep slope and level the pitch.

It was 1957 before Tannadice saw any new major changes. The Shed end was built when a roof was erected over the West End and concreting at the opposite side on Arklay Street.

The record attendance was set in on 23rd February 1952 for a Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen and floodlights were first switched on in November 1962 for a League fixture against Rangers.

The new main stand; The Jerry Kerr Stand was built in 1961 and took over a year to complete, the first in Scotland to have a cantilever roof and later in 1971, the first to have a glass fronted lounge for sponsors. The stand was extended in 1997, the newer part can be identified by the extended roof and the dark coloured seats.

The large terrace on the North side was first covered in 1979 and replaced in 1992. The stand is now named after former chairman George Fox. The stand has two tiers, a smaller tier of about half a dozen rows with a larger section below.

The Shed was installed with seats in 1994, there are still sections of the original terrace at either side. The Shed seats along with the rest of the stadium are decked out in tangerine which certainly gives Tannadice a vibrant vibe.

It’s a well known fact that the two senior Dundee clubs are the nearest neighbours in Britain and the second closest in Europe.(there’s two closer in Budapest) It’s not till you actually see it for yourself that you realise the proximity of the grounds, approximately 100 yards on either side of Tannadice Street.

When I booked trains and accommodation for this weekend back in early June, little did I know what a significant match this would become. The game was to mark the Tangerines 100th birthday, but the passing away of a true football legend this week overshadowed their special day, although I suppose that fact wouldn’t have been an inconvenience to the hosts.

I was glad to be at the first Newcastle United game since Sir Bobby Robson’s death. Around 2,500 Toon supporters travelled north just to be here, to sing the great man’s name and be part of a celebration of his life. The Dundee folk I spoke to over the weekend all mentioned Sir Bobby, saying how they liked him and relaying famous comedy quotes from his life.

The previous 24 hours I witnessed Dens Park honour his memory by holding a minutes silence, but the players and supporters decided that a minutes applause would be more fitting tribute. This was greatly acknowledged around Tannadice, with a rendition of “Robson Wonderland” ringing out from the Toon Army contingent.

With the current state of affairs at NUFC, the Bobby Robson era seem a lifetime ago. My everlasting memory of the Robson years is that I couldn’t wait for the next game to come around. I hated things like International breaks or blank Saturdays. Going to the match at the weekend was like it was when I was a kid, exciting and guaranteed entertainment, win lose or draw. I’ve never had that feeling since, over the last few years going to the match has been with a feeling of apathy, with last season’s campaign being one of dread.

Of course we didn’t win anything, but we came close and enjoyed matching ourselves against the cream of Europe. There was consecutive finishes of 4th, 3rd and 5th with the last of those positions looked upon as failure.

That just shows how the mighty have fallen. 5th top in the Premier League not good enough? At the moment I’d settle for 5th top in the Championship next season and a crack at the play-offs.

RIP Sir Bobby Robson - I thank you for giving us such treasured memories and making us smile.

This weekend was great. Bagged a couple of new grounds, cracking night out, canny drink, good crack and a laugh, then it gets spoilt by having to watch Newcastle United for 90 minutes!

It may be a new football season but nothing’s changed both on and off the pitch. With this being a match day I’ll comment on what I witnessed on the park, which wasn’t too pretty. The only pleasant sight being Newcastle’s new attractive looking new away strip, similar in style to Inter Milan, however the team were more Matalan than Milan.

The only positive was the team defended well, with youngster Tamas Kadar having a steady game at the back. However it’s in the last third where it all goes wrong, there’s not much of a threat going forward. During the game I made a few brief notes about some of our ‘star’ players; Gutierrez - ponytail on legs and not much else, Smith - A passenger with a nice haircut, Duff - unproductive loves running into cul-de-sacs, Barton - Thug Sunday pub player, Nolan - (got a)Big Fat arse!

There wasn’t much action during the first forty-five minutes. A Swanson shot was easily dealt with by Harper, likewise Banks had no problems gathering a weak header by Carroll.

The game improved as a spectacle in the second half. Newcastle took the lead on the hour when a Duff cross was parried by Banks, Carroll taking advantage with a good finish.

Five minutes later referee Chris Boyle awarded a penalty after a handball from Nolan. Swanson’s spot kick was brilliantly saved by Harper diving to his left, with the rebound going wide of the post.

Barton missed a good opportunity on 70 minutes, when running through on goal, Banks’ save fell to Carroll, who was unable to find the target which would have clinched the game.

Then on 84 minutes Dundee United were rewarded a second penalty when Ryan Taylor pulled back Ryan Conway by his shirt. This time David Goodwillie (sounds like a porn star...Eddy) made no mistake from the spot sending Harper the wrong way.

Overall a fair result, but both teams were unconvincing, especially the ‘stars’ in stripes who’s Championship campaign gets underway in less than a week, still manager less, clueless and with no sense of direction.

The morning after the night before, myself, Zippy and Mickey felt a bit rough, A couple of paracetamols, coffee and a bit fresh air did the trick, meaning we were ready for a pre-match drink before heading back up to Hilltown.

After a Sunday Club dinner at Wetherspoons and having to wait until 12.30pm for a drink (Scottish Law) we jumped a taxi to the Frews pub, which was a 5-10 minute walk from the stadium.

The Frews is a Dundee United bar which is adorned with Arabs memorabilia. There was also a wee shrine on the wall to Sir Bobby, with a Newcastle shirt and press cuttings from the last week.

The only problems we encountered over the weekend was what to do with our travel bags through Sunday afternoon. The Travelodge wouldn’t keep them and the Train station doesn’t have a luggage hold, this meant having to lump our bags around with us at the match. Luckily when the landlord of the Frews bar saw we had luggage, he kindly offered to let us leave them behind the bar when we went to the match.

The landlord looked familiar to me and Zippy. I thought he was an ex-footballer, he was strong in stature and had the respect of his customers. A big local laddy said the f-word a bit too loud and was abruptly told to button it, which he immediately did without argument.

After the game we went back for a drink and to collect our bags. As we said our farewells Zippy asked his breadknife who her husband played for, apparently he wasn’t who we thought he was, but she said we weren’t the first to mistake her hubby for an ex-fitballa.

We then hitched a taxi back to the train station, stopping off for one last drink before catching the 1819 back home. The trains again ran like clockwork, we arriving back on Tyneside at 2130.

As my reader may have gathered, I had a great weekend. I found Dundee a quite charming city with the Dundonian public very hospitable.

Apart from the big two clubs in the city there are seven Junior clubs knocking about close by, so maybe Dundee hasn’t seen the last of me, so a return to the former city of “jam, jude and journalism” may be a possibility sometime in the future.

Matchday facts

DUFC 1(Goodwillie 85p) NUFC 1(Carroll 60)

Att. 8876

Admission £12

Programme: sold out by 2.15pm (£2.50)

Ground no.219 - Tannadice Park Matchday Webalbum
(20 pictures)

217 Moore Lane Park

2009-07-25T19:23:00.007+02:00

Newton Aycliffe 8v0 Wigan Robin Park
Pre-season friendly
25th July 2009

Newton Aycliffe have achieved their ambition of reaching the Northern League. The club stepped into the Wearside League last season from the Durham Alliance and took the title at the first time of asking. The championship was won by three points over nearest rivals New Marske SC, scoring 121 goals over 36 games with healthy crowds of over 250 for the title run in.
I visited Newton Aycliffe last season at their temporary home at Shildon Sunnydale Stadium, as development work commenced at Moore Lane.

A grant of 300,000 from Sedgefield District Council as well as funding from the Football Foundation meant the required facilities and floodlights were in place by the end of last season.The ground has a new changing room block, admission hut and a building with incorporates a committee room, refreshment bar and toilets. The pitch is fully fenced off with hard standing on all sides. All that remains to complete the project is a main stand. This should be in place before the deadline to meet the step 6 criteria in March 2010. The stand is already marked out at the far side opposite the team dugouts.

Aycliffe’s opponents for this pre season warm up were North West Counties club Wigan Robin Park.
I don’t know if it was the fact that Newton Aycliffe were a far superior football side or that it was a case of the Robins being bobbins. I think maybe it was the former as the home side played some great passing football and carved their opponents up with ease and flair.

The opening goal came on 13 minutes when full back Wood exchanged passes in the box before picking his spot from a tight angle. The home side missed several good chances, mainly thanks to the Robins keeper, who, as you may not have guessed by the score line, actually played a blinder.

A three goal burst in the last quarter of an hour before half time gave the score a more realistic look. Two goals from the impressive Cairns with a well timed run and cool finish and then a strong header meeting a good right wing cross. In between he set up his strike partner Gardiner for an easy tap in to make it 4-0 at the break.

The goal scoring continued in less than two minutes from the restart. Subsitute Caley scored his first of two goals with another sub Broom also grabbing a second half brace. The score could have been much more if it wasn’t for the three goals which were marginally chalked off for offside, as well as the referee blowing the whistle early to stop the onslaught . And so after double checking my notebook, consulting calculator and abacus, then consulting with the linesman it all added up to a full time score of - Newton Aycliffe 8 Wigan Robins Park 0.

I’ll make the effort to revisit Moore Lane again, to see them in competitive Northern League action and to also check out the main stand once it’s up and running.

Their league programme get underway on August 8th with the historic first Northern League fixture hosted by Moore Lane Park against Hebburn Town.

During the game I chatted with a lady photographer who; when noticing my notebook and pen in my hand asked the question “Are you somebody then?” I replied with “Well…not quite”

With today being my 44th birthday, I still have a little bit more time on my side and hopefully… when I grow up…this may one day be the case

Matchday facts
NAFC 8 (Wood 13, Cairns 35,44 Gardiner 41, Caley 47,82 Broom 55,62) WRP 0

Att. 107(HC)

Admission £2

Programme:none

Dawn of a new season

2009-07-04T18:35:00.011+02:00

After the briefest of mid season breaks, the 100FGC returns for which will be the blog’s fourth season

There’s a lot to look forward to over the coming season. My main priority this season will be in the Conference. Gateshead make their return to the Premier of Non-League football, where I’ll be trying to take in as many games on the road with the Heed Army as possible. However after studying the fixtures, this could prove to be a difficult task. There’s some great towns and grounds that I’m looking forward to visiting, as we hope to establish ourselves in the Blue Square Premier (I’ll start using the sponsored name from now on)

I can always turn a negative into a positive, and personally the one positive thing to come out of the Toon’s relegation is I can now get to the grounds that were too far out of reach. Which I couldn’t travel to independently, but now easier to access by cadging a lift or through an organised coach party.

So there are two prolonged trips to South Wales as well as the longest journey in League football – Newcastle to Plymouth to navigate.

This will give me a chance to see United sporting their new two-tone banana kit in the company of the newly named Toongerine Army.

My lifetime work of trying to finish the 92, is a continuous crawl. A case of two steps forward, three steps back. I’ll continue to chip away at the League grounds to at least give myself a respectable running total and of course my favourable trips north of the border will again feature this season.

Local interest sees two new clubs enter the Northern League; Gillford Park and Newton Aycliffe. A new ground for Penrith and I still have to travel further west to visit Whitehaven, so I can again complete the ‘set’ of “the second oldest league in the world”.

Serial favourites ‘Around the Alliance’ and Wearside League Wanderings will again be making a reappearance during the year as well as the odd toilet block for the world renowned ’Football Bog Blog.

I’ll be taking advantage of the Appreciation Society Facebook group, which was set up with much thanks and applause by Mr. Steven Clifton. I’ll be posting more pictures as well as listing my forthcoming fixture lists, so you know where to see/avoid (delete where appropriate) me over the campaign.

So hopefully with good health and work commitments not causing too many problems, I’ve a lot to get through, so without further ado it's now oficially the 2009-10 season, a new dawn fades at..

216 - Farnacres, Beggarswood Park

(Home of Rutherford AFC)

Whickham 3v0 Ashton Town

Pre-season Friendly

4th July 2009

Whickham FC share the Glebe with the cricket club. So with the sound of leather on willow in full swing, they started their pre-season programme at Beggarswood the home of Northern Alliance club Rutherford AFC.

Rutherford are actually the oldest club in Tyneside. Formed in 1878, originally as Science and Art FC, becoming founder members of the Northumberland FA in 1883.

The club change it’s name in recognition of its founder Dr.John Hunter Rutherford, originally playing their home games on the Town Moor in Newcastle.

Now based in the Lobley Hill area of Gateshead, the ground is situated west of the Team Valley, just off the A1 motorway.

The ground is found off a country lane which runs parallel to the motorway, the entrance is at the bottom of a bank, with the clubhouse and changing rooms found at the top of the hill. The pitch is opposite, enclosed with grassbanks, fully fenced off with a set of brick dugouts.

Whickham’s opponents were North West Counties League Division One side Ashton Town. The reason they travelled all the way from Ashton-in-Makerfield for a friendly was a simple one; so they could have a night out in the Toon.

Thoughts of a night in in the big city must have been playing their minds, as Whickham won the game at ease 3-0. A penalty by Pitt, a hilarious own goal and a cracking strike from Kerr (My goal of the season so far) gave the Whickham lads a good work out and it wasn't too bad a game to start off my season

Matchday facts

WFC 3(Pitt 4pen, Crompton OG 30, Kerr 75) ATFC 0

Admission and programme:none

Att. 80est.

My original visit to Whickham’s Glebe Ground.

My Back Pages - 6 Roker Park

2009-06-13T23:57:00.014+02:00

Sunderland 2v2 Newcastle United

League Cup 2nd Round - 1st Leg

29th August 1979

My first away match by myself, that is without my Dad to hold my hand, happened almost 30 years ago. Newcastle and Sunderland were both in the old Second Division at the time and the old enemies were paired together for this midweek League Cup tie. This was a time when I used to enjoy the Tyne -Wear derby experience, although back then I was an angelic 14 year old who wasn’t old enough to know any better and had yet to experience the derby horrors to come.

The journey to Roker Park was usually made by train, from Central Station to Seaburn, although for this first venture into enemy territory we departed from Gateshead. This was back in the day when the town had its own train station, which was located at the end of the High Level Bridge, the platform basically sitting on the bridge itself.

I travelled down to Roker with Ian (100FGC squad#2) This was our first away match together and we’ve remained travelling companion ever since, spanning over four decades following the team that has giving us a few ups and plenty of downs. Also with us was another one of my old Toon comrades, a lad named “Windy” so called because of his intestinal gas problems. I went to home games in the old Leazers End with Windy, mostly during our relegation season in 1977/78 (My first relegation in a current series of three…Eddy)

The train journey took about half an hour. I can’t remember where the train stopped at, but it most likely would have called at Heworth and Boldon, before arriving at Seaburn in the shadow of that big windmill next to the station.

The walk to the ground was about a mile and a half away from the station, a good half an hour crawl in the company of a heavy police presence. Among those was quite a big quota of mounted coppers, as we tried our best to keep out of their way, fearing getting trampled, as well as dodging the large amounts of turd dropping scattered along our path. (what the hell do they feed them on?) Each time I made this journey the walk always seemed to take much longer than previously. The march to Roker Park was spent chanting songs which were mostly taking from the Anti-makem songbook. The usual favourites like ‘White cliffs of Dover’ ‘There is a makem-takem’ and my old favourite ‘Tiptoe through the Fulwell’

There wasn’t any major problems or too much trouble along this route, the appearance of red and white didn’t come into view until approaching Roker Park, where their fans used to gather in the back alleys which ran through the surrounding neighbouring streets, singing there own repertoire of Anti-Mag songs and hurling the odd object in our general direction, which in turn was returned to where it once came.

Supporters did manage to break through the police escort and there was the odd scrap , but I never witnessed any mass brawls. I always felt quite safe when visiting Roker, although I don’t want to paint a picture of it being all sweetness and light, all hell may would have broke lose somewhere nearby, but I was lucky enough not to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sunderland AFC (make sure you don’t forget that ‘A’) played at Roker Park between 1898 - 1997. The club was formed in 1879, playing on grounds south of the River Wear before moving north, going on to play at Horatio Road in Roker, Abbs Field in Fulwell and then three years on which was the best ground in the area on Newcastle Road.

The need for a bigger ground saw the club negotiating the use of farmland in the Roker area. Part of the deal was the club’s presence would not affect houses being built on the remaining land on the site, the club having to pay rent on all the land until the houses were built.

After the site was purchased the ground was up and running within a year. The first clock stand was built, this along with turf imported from Ireland saw the ground open in September 1898. Their first opponents (and also their last) was a friendly against Liverpool, a 1-0 win for the Rokerites.

Away supporters were housed in the Roker End, an open terrace at the south side of the ground. This was concreted in 1913, built up with large concrete supports with a long staircase where access was gained at the top of the terrace. I always thought on subsequent visits that the stairways looked at bit dangerous and the terrace was deteriorating. In 1982 safety measures saw the capacity almost halved from 17,5000 to 8,000, which cut the overall capacity at that time to under 38,000.

The Main Stand replaced the old wooden ’President Stand’ in 1929. Legendary football ground architect Archibald Leitch designed the stand, which had his signature of a steel criss-cross balcony. The shelf was added between the top seats and the paddock standing in 1950 given it a three tie look. The last change came in 1973 when a row of fourteen executive boxes were added on the middle tier.

The Clock Stand was rebuilt in 1936 which originally held 15,500. The clock itself sits on the centre of the TV gantry which is perched on top of the grey pitched roof with a standing paddock at the front.

The Fulwell End terrace was expanded in 1925 with the roof added when the ground was chosen as a venue for the 1966 World Cup. Temporary seating was also added to the stand and both paddocks, as Roker hosted three matches in Group 4 as well as the quarter final between USSR and Hungary.

The record attendance was 75,118 for a Wednesday afternoon fixture against Derby County in the 6th Round of the FA Cup in March 1933, even though the official capacity was 60,000 at the time.

They became the second club to install floodlights, following on from Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium. These were first used in 1952 in a friendly against Dundee.

After the Taylor Report, options were limited as far as upgraded to an all-seated stadium. The ground location meant expansion was limited, so this would mean a big drop in capacity, leaving the only viable option to move on and build a brand new stadium.

After the club moved to the Stadium of Light, the land was redeveloped into a housing estate . In commemoration of the old ground the streets were named Clockstand Close, Midfield Drive, Goalmouth Close, Roker Park Close and Promotion Close (where’s Relegation Road? Sorry! couldn’t resist it…Eddy)

The first leg of this League Cup tie produced a cracking game, although a poor turn out of nearly 28,000 were present that evening. Newcastle were the better side on the night but it was Sunderland who took their chances. Wilf Rostron gave the Wearsiders a half time lead and when Pop Robson doubled the advantage from the penalty spot, they looked on their way to gaining the local bragging rights as well as booking a place in the 3rd Round.

All was not lost though, as immediately from the restart Welsh International full-back Ian Davies halved the deficit with a fine effort. United then pushed for an equaliser and the unlikely hero was local lad Peter Cartwright, a recent signing from North Shields, who was making only his second substitute appearance for the club. The youngster’s shot from the edge of the box at the Roker End sent to Geordie hordes into raptures, as the team produced great character and fighting spirit to set up an exciting second leg back on Tyneside the following week.*

After the game me and Windy had a leisurely stroll back to Seaburn train station. I don’t know what happened to Ian though. I remember him going missing during the first half then reappearing looking somewhat distressed, saying something along the lines of “we’re ganna get wi heeds kicked in after the match” That was the last I saw of him that evening. I think he just left, although I’ve never ever asked him about his disappearance to this very day. If he did nick off then he missed out on a thrilling game played in a red hot atmosphere. So Ian - if you ever read this; you can leave a comment which will clear up the mysterious vanishing act, which has remained unanswered for the last 30 years.

I attend all the Tyne-Wear derbies after this game up until the away fan ban in 1996-97, which turned out to be the last derby at Roker Park. I only visited Roker eight times in total over the next 13 years, due to the fact that both clubs weren’t competing in the same league too often. The last of those was in September 1992, not via train but courtesy of my mate Zippy’s car. That game lives happily in the memory after finally seeing a United victory courtesy of a fantastic free kick from Liam O’Brien.

To be honest these games were usually dismal affairs, my first and last matches at the ground, without doubt the best out of a poor series of matches.

When rivalries recommenced in 1999, Sunderland were settled in there new home in Monkwearmouth. The train journeys now a thing of the past, transport to Wearside was provided free in a convey of coaches, on the advice of the local constabulary. I hated the trips to SoL, maybe it’s because I’m getting on a bit or I’m getting too soft, or because I just can’t be bothered with all the hassle, all that hate and bitterness directed towards us, is not something that I can say I really enjoy, even though I never seen a defeat on my four visits into the light.

After the match in 2006, I officially “retired” from the Wear-Tyne derby. Seeing Newcastle win 4-1 was a good one to finish on, I reckon that would take some beating, so I decided on the way home from that game that I won’t be going back. Since then I’ve never went back on my word, I don’t think I ever will, I’m quite happy to look back in nostalgia to those halcyon days when it was a match to be savoured and not as it eventually became - the one I always dreaded.

Teams as per programme(click pic to enlarge) except Wayne Entwistle replaced Rowell

Matchday Stats

SAFC 2 (Rostron, Robson) NUFC 2 (Davies, Cartwright)

Attendance; 27,747

Admission 70p concession (Full price £1.30)

Programme 25p

* The second leg didn’t fail to live up to the expectations of the previous week. After a goalless first half Sunderland took the lead through Alan Brown, but United hit back with goals from Boam and Shoulder which looked to have settled the tie, but a second from Brown deep into injury time took the game into extra time.

After no further goals in the allotted 30 minutes, the tie was settled on penalties. After 13 consecutive successful spot kicks, the unfortunate culprit to finally miss was Jim Pearson, who saw his weak effort saved by Fatty Siddle. That penalty miss spelt the end of his United career, a lack of confidence and nagging injuries meant this was his 13th and last appearances for the club. The Scot retired from the professional game in February 1980 before having a successful time in Non-League football.

Pictures courtesy of http://www.sunderland-saga.de/index.html

Simple Pieman’s first visit in 1981

The Football Bog Blog

2009-06-06T19:04:00.004+02:00

Great Stadia toilets - No.19 in a series of...

The big wall at Burscough

This bog is found in the far corner of Victoria Park, the home of Merseyside outfit Burscough FC.

This peeing wall is unlike the one I experienced at Ashton United, where you could peep over the wall and still watch the game. Here you need to be well over six foot and on your tippy toes if you don’t want to miss out on any of the match action.

2008-09 Season Compendious

2009-05-27T23:32:00.004+02:00

An eventful season, one of both joy and despair, but overall one I’ve enjoyed immensely
I managed to get to 83 matches this season, half of those at new grounds. As I mentioned in this article last season, that not many compared to some, but I’ll be happy enough to continue with that sort of matches/grounds ratio every season until I go to that great football stadium in the sky, or hang up the woolen scarf, put away the notebook and camera for good.

As I had expected, although it was hard to comprehend when it was finally confirmed; Newcastle United FC have been relegated. (cue large cheer and schoolboy giggle from the majority of your readers…Eddy) There’s been much talk in the media about where the blame lies and I’ve heard tales from close sources about what’s been going on behind the scenes, stuff which I obviously can’t relate on here for legal reasons.
I had originally wrote a long piece about my feelings on the state of NUFC, but I’ve pulled the plug on it and decided not to post it within this years review. I feel my thought on the subject are best suited for a different publication and not drag down this blog with a depressing “man on the window ledge” rant.
However what I’ll briefly say is I feel the blame not only lies with the club hierarchy, but also long term with the clubs supporters, not all mind; just some…well not me anyway! If the Toon Army truly think things are really bad now, then all I can say is - “You’ve seen nowt yet!”
I’ll leave the final word on this subject with a video from our supporters’ branch on mainland Europe. It’s a savage but honest assessment and I warn you it’s not to be viewed by young’uns eyes.

The very last sentence says it all for me and is the moment before everything spoilt again.

And now the good news, it hasn’t been all football doom and gloom on Tyneside; Gateshead Football Club are back in the Conference after an 11 year absence. During that time away the club dropped two divisions and almost went out of business, but back-to-back promotions will see the Heed return to the top of the Non-League pyramid.
If I’m honest I didn’t think we were going to go up, even though Gateshead were in the top two from the turn of the new year. It’s not that I questioned the teams credentials, we continued from where we left off the previous season, playing great football and scoring lots of goals, it’s just I couldn’t imagine Gateshead playing in the Conference in 2009-10. It’s all seemed too good to be true, so maybe my negativity with NUFC spread to my love of GFC, my football psyche telling me it’s all going to go wrong.
You may have read how the promotion race progressed as I had some brilliant away trips visiting some of the grounds in the Conference North. Tamworth piped us to the title and so for the second successive season it was left to the do or die of the play-offs. Southport were comfortably despatched over the two legged semi-finals which set up the final against AFC Telford United at the International Stadium.

(Picture courtesy of Petty Officer Percival)
A crowd of over 4200, including over 1000 from Shropshire witnessed a tense game played in an electric atmosphere. A game of very few chances was settled by a Wayne Phillips goal eight minutes from time, which signaled wild celebrations from the Heed Army and Champaign flowing after the full time whistle.
The fact promotion was achieved took a few days to sink in. I spoke to a few people who attended the game who never go to the Stadium, all in agreement that they enjoyed the occasion and will be returning next season. The club has a reputation for not having a big support but attendances have continued to rise over the last few seasons, this as well as acquiring some of the disillusioned Toon support means things are looking up both on and off the pitch.

I didn’t have any plans concerning bagging new grounds for this season. It‘s basically been if I’m in any particular vicinity I’ll try my best to get to a game. As the season progressed I decided to try and make headway with my missing League grounds, a list which never seems to go down over the years and remain at the 50-60 mark, due to clubs getting relegated or moving elsewhere.
Again I enjoyed meeting up with some of the 100FGC squad during the season, I’ve made some great friends who I’ll hopefully catch up with again, as well as some of the rest of the squad next season. (As long as they buy you a pint! …Eddy)
Until then
Cheers!
Thee Shaun Smith (venerable journalist and webmaster and not him off ‘Britain’s Got Talent‘)

My Matchday - 215 Fir Park

2009-05-24T10:50:00.005+02:00

Motherwell 1v2 Kilmarnock

Scottish Premier League

23rd May 2009 Motherwell is a large town, south-east of Glasgow in North Lanarkshire. The town was known as the steel production capital of Scotland, with its Ravenscraig steelworks one of the longest working plants in the world, earning the town the nickname “Steelopolis” until the facilities closed in 1992.
The town’s football club formed in 1886, the amalgamation of two local amateur works teams; Glencairn and Alpha. Their formative years played on Alpha’s pitch on Roman Road, then from 1889 at Dalzell Park, which opened with a 3-3 draw against Rangers.
Fir Park opened in 1895, when the club purchased a stretch of wooden park land off Lord Hamilton at the north edge of his Dalzell estate. A crowd of over 6,000 witnessed its first game, an 8-1 trouncing off Celtic at the start of the 1895-96 season. In the early years the ground had a pavilion on the east side, then banks of terracing were added which raised the capacity to 15,000 after Fir Park staged its first international fixture.
A two-tier Main stand was built on the west side after further work in improvements to terracing, the playing surface and after purchasing more land; new turnstiles at the Knowetop end.
Success on the park saw the League Championship in 1932, breaking the Old Firm’s monopoly, winning the title for the only time five points clear of Rangers, including a record 52 goal maul from Willie McFadyen .
The Scottish Cup was won for the first time in 1952, a cup run which witnessed Fir Park’s record gate of 35,632 for the 4th round replay - a 2-1 victory over Rangers. That decade saw more ground improvements, with cover added to the enclosure and lamps mounded on the stand roofs, until wind damage to the enclosure roof resulted in four corner pylons being built in 1959.
In 1962 a new Main Stand was constructed at a cost of £92,000 financed by the sale of two players; Pat Quinn and another lad[*] who both signed for Liverpool. Motherwell supporters were naturally upset with this club policy; many shunned the stand making it the least populated side of the ground. The stand remains incomplete to this day, after one of the residents of the neighbouring houses complained, refusing to sell and questioned the property‘s valuation. The annoyed neighbour won his dispute, so by the time the house owner moved on, the club weren’t in a financial position to finish off the stand, although they did purchase the house themselves to use as offices.

[*]The lad in question had the same nickname as a TV character played by Roger Moore and later Ian Ogilvy. This man later had a career in the media, spending Saturday lunch times on our TV screens, hanging on his co-host’s every word and hysterically laughing at his un-witty remarks. I also remember he had an undying love and uncontrollable infatuation for the then England skipper, which he made no effort to hide, or was it only me that noticed this?
I’ve always despised this man, reason being is his unhindered dislike to a football club close to my heart. Earlier in his career he had a trial at this club, but was rejected and always remained bitter thereafter, even though his career path took an upward turn.

The Main Stand is now called The Phil O’Donnell Stand, in honour of the club captain who died on the Fir Park pitch during a game against Dundee United in December 2007. The stand has 3,385 seats in a mixture of claret wooden flip seats, with amber bucket seats added at each side. The stand comes to a stop with the iron girder still visible from the incomplete construction 37 years ago.
Following the Taylor Report work started on the other three sides of Fir Park. In 1991 the East Stand was covered and seats added for 3,128 after ‘Well won the Scottish Cup for a second time and enjoyed their first venture into European football. The stand is known for its KEEP CIGARETTES AWAY FROM THE MATCH façade, since the introduction of the smoking ban in 2006.
The ground is dominated by the South Stand which was constructed in 1993 at a cost of £2.2M, the two tiers of claret seats are split by a row of large windowed executive boxes. The capacity is 4,856 which is reserved for away fans. There’s an amber section of seats directly behind the goal, with FIR PARK picked out in claret.
At the north end the Knowetop Terrace was seated and renamed after one of my personal favourite Scottish footballers Davie Cooper, who served both Rangers and Motherwell and later Clydebank with distinction. He died in 1995 aged only 39 and played a major part in Motherwell lifting the Cup in ’91. The stand was built in 1995 and is divided into five sections, again in the club colors with more executive boxes at the back of the stand. The roof has a large façade but is naked unlike the South Stand which has large advertising space.
An eye catching feature of Fir Park is the floodlight pylons, which lean onto the sides of the stands, looking like a couple of bodyguards shielding both goal side stands. The pitch has caused major trouble for the club over the last few years. The problem is being resolved this summer with remedial work and repairing the under soil heating system. The current capacity of Fir Park stands at 13,742.

The match against Kilmarnock was a clash at the top end of the bottom part of the split, in other words; a mid table clash. Before the teams arrived the PA played a canny little ditty called ‘Up The ‘Well which sounded like it was sung by an Andy Stewart tribute act, this was followed by that awful Russian funeral march they play at sunderland and then a saving grace; a burst of Local Hero when the players ran onto the pitch.
The game was a poor affair with nothing happening of worthy note in the first 25 minutes. The highlights in that opening period were a rather attractive young lady looking for her seat in the stand which caused heads to turn in the press box. Then police and stewards went to great trouble to confiscate an inflatable alligator from the Killy end, which was a bit over the top, as the away supporters were just enjoying themselves and not being any bother.
The first shot on target produced the opening goal on 27 minutes, a fine through ball found Invincible unmarked, who had a simple task of hitting the target from 12 yards past the helpless Krysiak.
The second half continued in similar fashion, although the Steelmen did go close with two headed efforts both from corner kicks, the first of those from Brian McClean bounced back off the crossbar.
Motherwell struggled as the clock ticked towards full time, I could already predict the football manager clichés that Mark McGhee would say after the game, quotes like ‘we weren’t at the races today’ or ‘we struggled to get out of the stalls’ but then when all seem lost ’Well equalized with ten minutes remaining.
A brief spell of pressure ended with Clarkson getting the ball near the bye line, who did well to get in a cross for McClean who side footed the ball first time into the far corner of the net. That looked like that was it, honours even, but in the last minute of the game and for me personally, the last seconds of my season, a cracking goal to finish off my groundhopping campaign. A great piece of skill from Fernandez with a cheeky back heel and flick, played in Mehdi Taouil who himself showed great skill, slipping past a defender then selling a couple of lollipops before slamming the ball home at the near post. Overall maybe Killy just about shaded it, but the performance from Motherwell wasn’t the best way to leave your supporters for the summer holidays.

It’s become an end of season tradition now that my last match of the season is a journey into Northern Britain. There’s a regular train direct from Newcastle to Glasgow which passes through Motherwell, the journey takes about two and a half hours. I caught the 0752 arriving in the town with plenty of time for breakfast and a drink, so regular readers can probably guess where I went? Aye you guessed it, well done! - Wetherspoons. The Brandon Works pub is just around the corner from the station and I enjoyed an excellent big plate of Scottish breakfast washed down with a pint from the local Strathaven brewery.
I really liked Fir Park, a good mix of old and new and with the club colours being amber and claret, (which originated from Lord Hamilton by the way….Eddy) the ground is more attractive than banks of red or blue seats which are commonplace elsewhere.
I’d like to thank the club for their hospitality, I was well looked after from the moment I arrived. At half time the scotch pie and chocolate bar that complemented my cuppa were splendid (apparently you only get a tray of biscuits at Wembley…Eddy)
After the match I had a good hour and a half to kill before the 1604 train, so I planned to check out a few more pubs. I popped my head in a few bars next to the station but I walked back out again, didn’t like the vibes I was getting and the clientele didn‘t look over friendly, so I returned to the safe haven and £1.49 a pint of The Brandon Works. (I must give a special mention to the excellent bar staff at this ‘Spoons, brilliant service both before and after the game, ta!)
So that’s me done for another football season, I’ve traveled some miles this term and as always I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing my groundhopping adventures with you. When the season’s over I usually welcome a rest from football, but within a fortnight I’m trawling the papers and internet looking for news of pre-season friendlies and needing a footy fix. For the time being though, I’m happy to go into football hibernation for the summer, which sounds like a long break doesn’t it? But it’s only six weeks until I take in my first game of the brand new football season.

Matchday stats
MFC 1 (McClean 80) KFC 2 (Invincible 27, Taouil 90)
Att. 4186
Admission £18-£22
Programme £2.50

Ground no.215 Fir Park – Matchday Webalbum(20 pictures)