You're Supposed To Be At Home

Sheffield United – 3

Torquay United – 2

FA Cup 2nd Round – 3rd December 2011

Like any football fan, I was devastated with the sudden and tragic death of Gary Speed. Although until recently with his transformation of Wales he never managed or played for a team I supported, he always seemed like one of the nicer men in football. On news of his death, I did discover a different side to him – that him and his father were not a unseen presence at Llanelian Road, sometimes seen and sharing words and friendly chats with the Colwyn Bay faithful, joking with fans that if he had remembered his boots, he “may have been lucky to make the subs bench for the Seagulls”. Speed made everybody seem welcome and almost important in his presence, which is precisely why his was so well revered. Thoughts that made his untimely passing so much more shocking.

Upon news of his death, I scoured my fixture list for a game that I could attend to pay my respects. One game that stood out was the second round FA Cup clash involving Sheffield United. So rearranging christmas shopping trips and other less important events, I headed to Sheffield for an FA Cup clash and to pay my respect.

Truth be told I’d have been wanting to go to Bramall Lane for a while, more specifically Sheffield. It’s a city I’ve never been to so I’ve been meaning to go. With my planned trip to Newcastle using my complimentary travel voucher (due to the problems in me getting to Bradford for the Bay/Park Avenue clash last year) rapidly expiring, Sheffield seemed like a viable alternative.

Bramall Lane - Signposted.

I headed to Sheffield mid afternoon to take in the delights of the city, and was greeted with a city of contrasts. The steelworks dominated one side of the station, whereas the other side was dominated with a modern urban development – we’re talking water features, people. With time being an issue, plus the fact it was absolutely freezing, I headed straight for the ground.

The ground itself is tricky to find, hidden within a terraced estate, but it’s well signposted. After walking around the ground, I found the way in, with the shrine to Gary Speed.

R.I.P. Speed

Inbetween two statues of Blades heroes, were flags, shirts, scarves and messages for Gary Speed. As well as Sheffield United and Wales shirts, there were ones from various other teams, including a Sheffield Wednesday shirt and one brought by the visitors today, Torquay United. Sheffield United have been accomodating for people paying their respects, changing the flags outside the ground to Gary Speed (which will remain for the rest of the season), and you can write a condolence message in the club house).

After paying my respects, I headed into the ground. Inside the ground I looked to try something new – a “Steak and Stones Pie”. Thinking that “Stones” was a local delicacy, or stones were a local term for kidney beans or something, I tried it – only to be told that Stones is the ale used in the pie. Gutted. Nevertheless, the pie was lovely and the pint went down well.

I took my seat for the game – which was a bit of a mistake, as the seat was low down meaning I had a fair amount of the rain hitting me, I’ll know next time – when there was pre match entertainment, and introduced to another tragedy to befall Sheffield United – the tragic death of Bethany Adcock, a 14 year old footballer who played for Sheffield United Community Ladies FC’s under-15s team. Team mates of Bethany were at the game waving flags, something that I thought was incredibly brave.

15 minutes before the game, we were introduced to the tribute video that Sheffield United produced. It gave me a lump in the throat and I fought back tears – the song “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd now has a whole new meaning, it was a wonderful package. People arround me were less able, with the girl sat next to me was in floods of tears. A minute’s applause observed impeccably by both sets of fans – Torquay unfolding a banner for Gary Speed during the moment’s of respects. With chants ringing out, the game kicked off.

Torquay pressed early on

Almost immediately, Torquay pressed for an early goal, and got one on the second minute when a flick on wasn’t dealt with the Sheffield United defense (which was poor all game) and Rene Howe finished from close range to put the underdogs in front. This resulted in audible disquiet from the home faithful, who began to get on the players backs. Sheffield United slowly began to assert their dominance, with two great chances (Ched Evans hitting the woodwork, and a free kick saved by the Torquay keeper), but you just felt that Torquay could get another, hitting on the counter attack multiple times. Despite chances at both end, the first half ended up one nil to the visitors. A “cupset” was on the cards.

The second half began in almost the same way that the first began, Torquay having the first chance of the half which was shot just wide. However two minutes changed the game on it’s head.

Firstly, a Matthew Lowton cross was diverted into the Torquay net by Mark Ellis and then almost immediately from the restart Ched Evans pounced on a loose ball and shot passed the keeper. Evans, a Welshman, ran towards the dugout to unveil a t-shirt saying “Rest in Peace Speedo”. The referee however, along with advice from Torquay’s manager Martin Ling, kept his cards in his pocket.

Ched Evans celebrating two goals

Ched was to get a second later in the game to put it beyond Torquay, when he capitalised on an error from an otherwise superb Robert Olejnik. Torquay were to get a late goal through Danny Stevens to send the Gulls faithful home fairly happy, but Sheffield United were through to the third round of the FA Cup once again.

After the game, I left to find a delayed train, so went to find a pub. Along the way, I got speaking to a Liverpool fan who attended a Justice Tonight gig, and a couple of Steampunks (Google it) in a local boozer, where I reflected on the day. The day was absolutely brilliant, everybody I spoke to was warm and friendly, and Sheffield seems like a nice city.

Flags: Half Mast

Just wish I didn’t attend in such tragic circumstances. Rest in Peace Gary Speed.

Macclesfield Town – 2

Swindon Town – 0

Football League 2 – 30^th October 2011

It was during a remarkable Indian summer that I attended my first league game of the season. I was out with a friend the Tuesday before the League Two encounter described in this blog post when he said that he was off with his friend – a staunch Swindon Town fan – to watch them play Macclesfield, a not-to-tricky journey from Manchester. He invited me, or rather I invited myself, but shared a warning that we were in the away end at Moss Lane.

Moss Lane’s away end – the Silkman Stand – is old school terracing with crash barriers and no roof. My Chester supporting mate warned me about the game, saying that as an away day Moss Lane is depressing. With that said, he went during February. I had the pleasure of going in the middle of an epic heatwave, which meant that the uncharacteristic shorts and a t-shirt were the order of the day in Macclesfield.

Macclesfield Town's Mascot

I met my comrades (a die hard Swindon Town fan and a die-even-harder Northern Ireland fan) in the bar above Manchester Picadilly where we shared our hopes for the game. Of course, one third of us was hoping for a Swindon win, but we (stupidly) put money on improbable results, my friend bet on a Swindon Town win, and I did my Groundhoppers Insurance bet of £3 on a 0-0 draw. We also were keen to try out the “new and improved” menu that was heralded on The Silkmen’s website to make a debut at the upcoming fixture.

Just before 7 we arrived at Macclesfield Station. We asked which way it was to Moss Rose, where a copper told us it was quite a walk of a mile or so. This was made into quite more of a walk due to me foolishly misreading Google Maps and sending us not only the wrong way, but up an annoyingly steep hill. After being redirected the right way, we arrived still 10 minutes before kick off.

Macclesfield Town – in a bid to increase attendance, moved a number of home fixtures to Friday night. This, along with the fact that the ground is rather small – holding no more than 8,000 people -  lead to a cauldron of noise from The Silkmen fans. We rocked up to the now famous food stand for some of the new found food to be told that there was no hot food until half time. Dejected, we took our place on the stand with Swindon Town fans, who unlike their rivals for the game sat in silence.

Swindon Town's Mascot - Paulo Di Canio (maybe)

Swindon are famous for a couple of things. Firstly, they were one of the first teams in the Premier League, lasting one season before being relegated rather unceremoniously (although they hold the honour of taking the most points off Champions Manchester United that season), the second is that they are managed by controversial figure Paolo Di Canio. Having such a high profile manager hasn’t really helped the Robins, as they’ve been distinctly average, finding themselves in 10^th place in the league.

The teams were lead out and I saw an odd occurrence. The Macclesfield Town Mascot – took part in the team handshake, shaking hands with all the officials and opposition players, before resuming his usual duties of geeing up the crowd. It worked, as the game got even more noisy when it kicked off. Though not admittedly from Swindon’s point of view.

The game kicked off and the first half was a bit dull. Few chances were had by both sides and much of the game was played in the middle third. In fact I can’t remember much of what went on, so we’ll just leave the match report at that. Now to try the new food menu.

Unfortunately, the food wasn’t particularly great. I don’t know whether the new food menu was for the home end or there were issues but the burger I received was decidedly stodgy and unappetising. Still, it filled me up for what hopefully should be a better second half.

It was, the game screamed into life when George Donnelly collected a 40 yard cross, beat a defender and then scored into the bottom left hand corner on the 70^th minute. It was no more than Macclesfield deserved after a strong start, but with 20 minutes left the game the reserved Swindon fans became a cauldron of activity following a flashpoint which should’ve lead to a chance for an equaliser.

Macclesfield Pressed for much of the game.

Matt Ritchie of the Swindon Town midfield danced his way into the box, taking the ball around the keeper only for Jose Veiga (Macclesfield’s keeper) to clip Ritchie’s ankles. Ritchie kept his footing, but let a weak shot go. This was deemed to be an advantage and as such there was no comeback for the earlier foul. The Swindon fans were incensed, storming the pitch, and almost storming onto the pitch. It didn’t help that a few minutes later, Ross Draper scored an amazing strike from just outside the box to put the game beyond Swindon.

Me and my neutral mate were cursing the fact we were in the Swindon end, which was dull and lifeless for most of the game, compared with the Macclesfield end, which was full of life. One reason can probably be attributed to it.

Macclesfield struggled with attendances for many years, often scraping above 1,000 a few times, and one such initiative that Macclesfield have employed (I wouldn’t say lead, I think Accrington Stanley did it first) was to play on a Friday night. This saw attendances go up by at least a thousand. With less competition for games, Macclesfield now get the crowds in. I’m unsure how it’d work in lower leagues such as Colwyn Bay when players could miss games due to work commitments, but it may be worthwhile testing.

Oldham Athletic – 2

Blackpool – 1

Pre-season Friendly – 23rd July 2011

Question: Which League One Club can afford to sell their rights of match day photography for such a large amount they can afford a helipad, yet not justify making enamel badges of their new crest?

If you answered “Oldham Athletic”, then you’d be correct (and smart, because this post is about Boundary Park).

The game arose because I was desperate for some football. I saw Colwyn Bay play against Connah’s Quay Nomads over two weeks before, so was due a game. Seeing Blackpool had been a small ambition of mine since their amazing first season in the Premier League, so finding out they were playing Oldham – a bus ride from my front door – I thought it was a good way to spend an afternoon.

Yeah, try telling Abrhamovic a Tuesday Night League Cup Replay Tie isn't an "Emergency"

I arrived in Oldham relatively early, and had a look around the vicinity of the ground. It’s hard to believe that Oldham used to be a Premier League side. Located in the north east of the town, it’s not the greatest ground in terms of access, but that’s what makes it beautiful. One thing that does has great access is the helipad next to the ground. I say helipad, it is instead a field behind one of the stands which is a field. But it was a designated area for landing a helicopter. One can hope that should Chelsea play against Oldham, that his helicopter will land on that field, in the style of the old ITV Game Show Interceptor.

After a couple of drinks in the Brewers Fayre pub near the ground, I headed up to purchase my usual purchase at a new ground – a badge. Unfortunately, the club has decided not to release badges with the new crest, registering the new logo (a terrifying looking owl) for use “only on hats, scarves and shirts”. A plucky fan has picked up on this loophole, and is getting unofficial crest badges made. With an exchange of an email address, I headed to the ground.

I liked Boundary Park. I was sat in the main stand (which was £10 – bargain!), and the ground had character. The newest stands appeared to be the home and away stands, with the more traditional fold down seats you see at football matches. The home stand seats looked a lot older, and and was a little cramped. However, as it was a glorious day, I didn’t mind, as opposite was some makeshift terracing that was empty bar a corporate box and a rickety camera tower. Above that you got a glorious view over some suburban Oldham and countryside.

Oldham's crossing was deadly in this game.

Blackpool got the game kicked off on the hour, and dominated the early posession, however when Oldham finally got a touch of the ball on the third minute, they pressed forward in numbers and took an early (if slightly surprising) lead on the third minute when Matt Smith headed in from within the six yard box from a brilliant cross from the left wing by Paul Black. Oldham pressured for most of the half, with Blackpool resulting in a switch ball to the right wing (which never worked) as their main focus of the attack. They also did some decidedly unfriendly tackling, which incensed Paul Dickov who made Blackpool’s manager Ian Holloway seem as threatening as Mort Greenwald from Family Guy. At the half time break, it was 1-0 to the League 1 side.

Blackpool were quite hard in the tackle.

I moved seats in the second half to where Blackpool were attacking, but moved again on the 70th minute (more on that later) when Oldham made wholesale changes to their side. It worked, as 4 minutes later Carl Winchester broke free from the midfield and was fouled on the edge of the box. David Mellor took the free kick and it rifled past the Blackpool keeper. Blackpool pulled back a goal seven minutes from time when Billy Clarke scored from inside the area to give the travelling contingent of 300 or so Blackpool Fans something to cheer about. After minimum injury time, Oldham run out the deserved winners, winning 2 – 1.

The last photo I took before "The Almighty Bollocking"

The game was soured on the aforementioned 70 minute mark. A steward came over and shouted “Oi! You can’t take photos, it’s illegal!”. I wasn’t in the mood for fighting, but did stand by ground briefly. “Illegal?” I answered back. “Yes!”, he replied, “Illegal! Football Rights Society have the rights and have sold it to all the people taking photos here except yourself! You have stolen from them and you have stolen from the club!”.

I may have paraphrased the last sentence, but it was something like that. Either way, I wasn’t particularly in the mood for fighting, so I put my camera away, and then moved seat when the wholesale changes took place. I wasn’t happy, because I didn’t know it was illegal. There’s something in the ground regulations which does state it though:-

16 No person (other than a person who holds an appropriate licence) may bring into the Ground or use within the Ground any equipment, which is capable of recording or transmitting (by digital or other means) any audio, visual or audio-visual material or any information or data in relation to the Match or the Ground. Copyright in any unauthorised recording or transmission is assigned (by way of present assignment of future copyright pursuant to section 91 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) to the Club.

I imagine most football clubs have this, but as somebody who has seen nearly 200 football matches, from International & Champions League Matches down to North West Counties Leagues, I’ve never ever been asked to stop taking photos. I didn’t expect it at Oldham. Not Oldham, and not in a friendly.

It’s crap, because it strikes me as counter-productive for many football clubs, who struggle to get people in through the door, to give a fan a reason not to go back is foolish. Also, for such a silly reason too! It was a small camera, not a massive SLR.

Anyway, I will put it down to a plain jobsworth steward, not the policy of the whole club (I had snapped plenty of photos in the first half with the steward a row behind me). The rest of the staff of the club as well as the fans were great. Just the day was soured by somebody who was a completely over-reactive to what I was doing.

Crewe Alexandra – 2

Stockport County – 0

Football League 2 – 30th April 2011

Towards the end of last season, when offer comes to watch a football match, you jump at it with two hands. So when the boss organises as trip to Gresty Road, for Stockport’s last away game of the season, and probably in league football, I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, as well as the game, there was a small matter of the Evostik Playoff Final tickets to buy, meaning that I had to sacrifice pre-match drinks to queue for the two tickets I needed for the game. I arrived at the ground an hour and a half before the tickets went on sale (there was some unofficial news that the tickets would go on sale earlier). I’m glad I did, as when they finally went on sale (at 10:30am), the line was bigger than if the iPad launch gets you a copy of the latest Harry Potter book.

Christ, we're popular.

After getting the tickets, I ran to Colwyn Bay station (I lie, I got the bus) to meet my work colleagues in Crewe. After a pint or two in Sandbach, we headed to the game.

We were in the away stand (opposite the main stand), for a must-win game for Stockport to mathematically stay a football league side for another week (in reality, they needed to win by a huge margain to stay up). If you were unfamiliar with Stockport’s troubles, you wouldn’t know it on the walk to the ground. County fans came out in force and in full voice to this game. After a bag check, queuing forever to get into the ground with stringent ticket checks, we entered the ground a few minutes before kick off.

The noise from the county fans were deafening. It wasn’t a sell out, but it was close. Taking a seat with the away fans, but surrounding my mates, we welcomed the teams onto the pitch with a level of reserve not shared by the County’s barmy army.

Stockport started brightly......

County started brightly, realising that today is the last chance to mount an escape from the entertaining doldrums of non-league football, and threatened early. Anthony Elding volleying just wide after a couple of minutes, and a number of Stockport County players coming close to scoring in the first half hour. Therein ended Stockport’s pressure, and they showed why they were struggling at the bottom of the league.

Crewe pressured for the last quarter of the first half, and Shaun Miller had three chances to take the lead, all three chances missing the target. This was in the space of 2 minutes. The half time whistle blowed and the score was 0-0.

The back seat of football stadiums are reserved for hard men.

For the half time break, no alcohol was served. Instead we made do with watching an under 11′s game that was a thousand times more exciting than the game we (by we, I mean my boss, work’s day out). Nervous trepidation was present in County’s end, compared to safe and sound Crewe Alexandra’s contingent who were loud and boisterous with singing and drums.

They had a lot more to sing about after 61 minutes when Alan Goodall headed a cross behind County’s keeper, giving Crewe the lead. Stockport fans capitulated, as the goal seemed to sum up County’s season. Crewe fans capitalised on it by unveiling banners informing the Stockport fans on their predicament. This worsened 4 minutes later when Clayton Donaldson slotted a through ball beautifully into the bottom corner. It was then that things turned ugly.

Crewe Alexandra fans were amazingly sympathetic with Stockport's flight.

I’ve never really experienced relegation close to the end of the season. The only relegation Colwyn Bay have suffered since I’ve been a fan occurred when I was in University. Furthermore, Stockport’s releagtion came in on a season where they were expected to challenge. Fans turned against other fans, and  generally the away end became an ugly place to be. Between us we made a decision that I’ve yet to do at non-league level: leave the ground early.

He was like this for 30 minutes.

We dashed for the train back to North Wales, which we got on okay, and headed home. Whilst promotion is a great thing, I sympathise with Stockport – relegation sucks.