Retro - Northwich Manchester Villa 2 Litherland Remyca 1 (North West Counties League - First Division - 2015-16)

19th December 2015

Northwich Manchester Villa  2  Litherland Remyca  1  (North West Counties League – First Division)

The story of football in Northwich is both a complex and controversial one.

At one time it was relatively straightforward, Northwich Victoria were the main team and played at the Drill Field just South of the town centre, whereas Witton Albion were arguably the slightly lesser team, and they played right in the town centre at the Central Ground.

The Central Ground was sold to Sainsburys so Albion had a purpose built ground developed for them in Wincham, and with the surplus funds they created a side that were suddenly on a par with their deadly rivals. It didn’t last of course and over the last few years they have yo-yo’d between the upper and lower divisions of the Northern Premier League.

Northwich Victoria on the other hand is a very different tale. To cut a long story short, they also moved to a purpose built stadium in Wincham, but that has now been demolished. They had a spell of being owned by various unfit individuals, entered administration twice, played for a season in Stafford, one in Flixton, and now sit in the lower division of the Northern Premier League, with their neighbours the Albion.

While all this was going on, the supporters became disillusioned and set up a club called 1874 Northwich who play in nearby Winsford, and that is where the hardcore of the Vics support now remains. The current Victoria side in the NPL is poorly supported, ironically ground shares at Witton Albion, but is doing pretty well due to being bankrolled by Jim Rushe, a Manchester based individual who’s business practices and reputation has been questioned by some.

Rushe also set up a feeder club a couple of years ago called Northwich Flixton Villa, playing at the old Flixton FC ground in Urmston, they entered the North West Counties League and with no history, identity or support base, quite frankly no one cared. It is also worth noting that Woodley Sports, a Stockport based club were involved in the equation somewhere, they ended up being swallowed up in the mess.

But, at the start of this season something happened whereby the NFV club were taken over by a gentleman called Bill Prendergast, Bill ran a soccer academy in Manchester called Diamonds, and he wanted an outlet for his young players to perform on a semi professional stage.

He took out the ‘Flixton’ name, added the ‘Manchester’ name, and in a surprise move, obtained the use of the Manchester Regional Arena, which is effectively an athletics stadium smack bang next door to the Etihad Stadium.

It was met with both curiosity and scepticism, how was it going to work? Many of the fixtures were scheduled on dates when Manchester City had home games, and very quickly they started playing certain games elsewhere. No midweek home games were scheduled, and as we moved into the wet weather, games started to get postponed with alarming regularity. I for one, felt this was a move that wasn’t going to last.

I’d planned to go on several occasions in recent weeks, but postponements put paid to that, and in all fairness as I stepped out of bed on the morning of this game, I fully expected to be making plans to go elsewhere. However, I was both surprised and a touch concerned when they tweeted to say the game was definitely on. I didn’t have a Plan B in the area, and with the heavier rain forecast for around kick off, it was pretty much a case of keeping my fingers crossed.

The journey was simple enough, Buxton, Glossop, Hyde and then via Gorton into the Etihad Complex, which I have to say is a superb set up thanks to the oil money that has poured into the club. I was early, so had a little wander around, only to meet Bill, and it was then that stuff started to become a bit clearer.

Firstly he took me on the pitch, it was fine, but the problem was in two areas, if it rained heavily and consistently the water sat as opposed to drained. It tended to be a problem if the rain came in the run up to the game, but if it came during, he felt it wouldn’t be an issue.

The midweek game issue was also quickly explained, the stadium is hired out virtually every night of the week for athletics, as it’s now a community facility and has no connection to Manchester City, so quite simply they could not get access to the stadium in an evening.

Finally, the Northwich connection is completely gone, he had to keep the majority of the name as it had to be seen by the league and the FA as a continuation of the club that previously existed, as opposed to a completely new entity. But now he has control and ownership, he plans to change the name to Manchester Diamonds next season, therefore totally cutting all connections with Northwich.

The stadium is very good, it is an all seater arena, with the stands curving round the track in an oval shape, it was access all areas, but the crowd tended to gather in the main stand area that backed onto the Etihad Stadium car parks.

Safely in situ, I had a wander into the nearby Bradford Estate and found a pub, it did remind me a little of the Chatsworth Estate from Shameless, not least because it was set nearby, but despite its appearances, it was absolutely fine inside the ‘Townley’.

The forecast pre-match rain never materialised, and a very sparse crowd were treated to a pretty good encounter between Villa and Litherland Remyca. Villa took the lead just before half time, and then scored a second early in the second period. The visitors pulled a goal back later on in the game but it was the hosts that held on for the points.

I spent the second half chatting to an old groundhopping friend, Mike Latham, who I had not seen for a few years. He is now the Chairman of Cumberland County Cricket Club, a Director of Leigh Centurians Rugby League Club and also runs his own accountancy business, talk about a busy man, it’s no surprise our paths very rarely cross these days. He is a lovely bloke though, and a real mine of information, especially about non-league football in the North and also in Wales and Scotland. It was great to chat to him, and I was able to give him a few pointers on possible future trips he’s got in mind for the Midlands area.

Midway through the second half the rain started to pour down, the pitch, as Bill said, was absolutely fine, the journey home was a simple one, and with this ground now ticked off, my original list from the start of the season of places to visit had finally been completed, something of a satisfying achievement!

I did think about the future of the football club though, they have no identity as such in the community, they pay rent of three hundred and fifty quid a game, but have virtually no match day income, and the chances of staying at this level and developing a ground in Manchester is probably years away. So it begs the question as to why? Well Bill obviously see’s it as a way of enhancing his Soccer Academy in Manchester, but not only that, by talking to Bill it became clear he has a passion for the game and a passion to develop players.

Sadly, as another Northwich footballing name is set to disappear from the map, albeit a pretty inconsequential one, the same can’t be said for many of the individuals who were allowed custody of one of the biggest names in Non League football.

Northwich Victoria have been destroyed by egotistical and unfit business men, but that is just one story from an ever increasing list of examples. Maybe though, as an ex-girlfriends Dad one said to me, and they lived in Northwich, the town simply isn’t big enough for two football clubs to prosper, one, or indeed both, will inevitably suffer. He was quite prophetic at the time as both clubs were then in the Conference, a place neither are likely to return to….

Retro - Thornton United 8 Lower Hopton Reserves 1 (West Riding County Amateur League - Division Two - 2015-16)

12th December 2015

Thornton United 8  Lower Hopton Reserves 1  (West Riding County Amateur League – Div. Two)

Some days you simply never forget, and not always for reasons you would expect.

Take today, I was expecting to have to wait until the New Year to take in Thornton United, my last remaining ground in the West Riding County Amateur League, only for a home game to be hastily re-arranged after last weekend, meaning a gap would be filled.

Not only that, with it being a plastic pitch (which I am now fast running out of), I had less concerns about the weather than I perhaps ordinarily would. To be fair though, on the day, pretty much the entire North of England was a complete wash out with the persistent torrential rain, including the Football League game at nearby Bradford City.

Mindful of the unexpected postponement of a few weeks ago, when I had to do a detour to Bradford FC, I made the prudent decision to text the secretary to confirm all was ok, and he was quickly back to me with positive news.

The journey was exactly the same as the one previously, fairly straightforward until the last two or three miles when it got a bit sticky, and at this time of year, it does get a touch worse on the roads. I arrived at the ground and saw the welcoming sight of cars in the car park, and players in the dressing rooms, something that was sadly lacking last time round!

One of the home players confirmed to me that the game was definitely on, so I made a few enquiries as to the proximity of a local hostelry, and was soon on my way to a place less than thirty seconds in the car. Upon entering the pub, I noticed it was somewhat quiet, and it looked as though I’d stumbled across the final stages of a kids party, in the sense that the place was being cleaned up while the DJ was packing his kit away.

Yes, I had indeed wandered into a club that had only been opened so a party could take place, however, after explaining that I had been sent by the nice chaps at the football, and working on the principal that the clean up operation looked as though it would be a lengthy one, they happily served me while the hoovers were working away around me. Little did I know though, all was not well back at the football ground.

When I got back to the ground I wandered down to the pitch side and noticed that Thornton were happily warming up, and a number of Lower Hopton officials were present, taking shelter from the now heavy rain under some cover at the front of the school buildings. The kick off was due to be 2.00pm, but by 2.05pm, no sign of an away team, and no sign of any match officials.

Eventually, the Thornton players left the pitch and wandered back up to the dressing rooms, uttering suggestions that the game was off due to the visitors not having a full team available. That was confirmed when I took a walk back up myself, but what was also clear was that the visitors had a plan in mind, they had eight players and could conceivably start the game, but were refusing to do so, obviously trying to get the game called off. However, a couple of players seemed to be hiding in parked cars, and when that became apparent, one or two people, including myself, had a word, and suddenly the eight became ten, and before you knew it, some more cars appeared and not only had we got a full team, we also had subs!

I have to say the referee was very good here, he could easily have accepted what Lower Hopton told him and just called the game off, but his experience told him to be firm, and not simply let them get away with the shenanigans they were trying to use to pull the wool over his eyes. Thornton were not overly impressed by this, and also in fairness, the Lower Hopton officials who had also wandered up, were equally unimpressed and made it clear to the Manager (who was a different chap to the one last week), that they were letting the club and the league down badly. A couple of the more experienced Lower Hopton players I spoke to were not happy at the events, one of them describing it as a shambles, and in fairness it was the younger players being difficult as opposed to the older ones, you would have thought they would have been keener to play?

So, with a potential blow out averted, we finally got underway just after 2.30pm, thankfully they had working floodlights as it was very gloomy in the now torrential rain. And that was the thing, without an umbrella, I was inevitably going to get soaked to the skin.

The game was reasonably tight in the early stages, but Lower Hopton lost heart completely as it wore on. They were 3-1 down at half time, but then in the second period they conceded five goals inside half an hour, and it came as no surprise that the referee called time with almost fifteen minutes remaining. The result stood of course, but it was getting to a stage where it had become a procession, and in the conditions, neither side was really enjoying it. Everyone wanted to go home, it was the right call to make.

This was where the real comedy started though, I was absolutely piss wet through and wasn’t at all looking forward to driving home. I have driven home from a game in just my pants before, but to be truthful, even they were wet by now, I was in a quandary. That quandary got significantly more troublesome though as I left the ground and tried to work my way down a muddy slope. I failed, and ended up flat on my back, so not only was I soaked, I also had mud from head to toe, I simply could not drive home like this!

A brainwave came to me, inside my car was the fancy dress costume that I’d worn to film a sketch for our work Christmas Party, if I could manage to remove the clothes that were now stuck to me, I could try and get dry and then put that on. It wasn’t easy, I threw my sodden and muddied coat in the back, and then put my cardigan down to try and protect the front seat. Once in the front I removed my shoes, socks, jeans and pants, I was now stark naked, but as it was dark, and the windows were steamed up, I didn’t seem to be putting myself in any great danger of being arrested!

Using the cardigan to dry myself as best I could, I put the top half of the costume on, slid the bottom half on, and managed to slide on my soaked shoes! In case you were wondering, I was one of the Village People, and to be specific, the soldier!

So, I had to drive through Bradford, the Muslim capital of England, on one of the busiest Saturday’s of the year, dressed as Norman Schwarzkopf, this was going to be fun! But drive I did, and get home I did, but not before Rachael in her infinite wisdom asked me to call at Tesco on the way back for some milk! I obliged, but not without kicking up something of a stink.

Like I said at the start, some days you just won’t forget, and I also think when I let this story slip out to some of my football friends, I can safely assume it’s a tale that will find its way into local groundhopping folklore!

The bath, when I walked in the house though, was a heavenly experience, and very welcome indeed!

Retro - Hull United 2 Bottesford Town 1 (Northern Counties East League - First Division - 2015-16)

10^th November 2015

Hull United   2  Bottesford Town 1  (Northern Counties East League – First Division)

It’s funny how things turn out isn’t it?

My first game of the season was at Hall Road Rangers, and it's worth remembering the story about how they were effectively booted out of their ground by Hull United, the young upstarts and moneybags club that had arrived late on the scene.

Well the Hull United story this season hasn’t been without it’s twists and turns. Some big crowds have been turning out to watch the club run by ex Hull City legend Ian Ashbee and pro-footballer turned pro-boxer, Curtis Woodhouse. However, two midweek games were abandoned due to floodlight failure, then all of a sudden about a month ago they postponed a game at short notice due to problems with the ground.

I won’t go into the somewhat tedious and predictable political background behind it, but they had basically been turfed out of the stadium, with lots of questions being asked about who actually owned the ground, and what the connection was with the former Hull United Chairman who had very recently been booted out of the club in controversial circumstances.

The cynics would say that justice was being served with what happened to Hall Road Rangers, but suddenly speculation arose about what the future held for Hull United Football Club. One thing you can’t accuse them of is not taking advantage of social media, very quickly messages were flying around suggesting that the future was still bright, and that very soon an exciting announcement would be taking place as to where they would be moving to following the demise of the Dene Park arrangement.

So, were they going to be grabbing the olive branch that Hall Road Rangers had very sportingly offered them? Would the Dene Park farce come to a sensible conclusion? Would they do a deal with North Ferriby United? No, of course not, that would be too obvious and by Hull United’s standards, a bit too tame.

Oh no, in a fanfare of publicity they announced that they were going to be playing at the KC Lightstream Stadium! Where the hell is that you may wonder? It’s more commonly known as Craven Park, the home of famous Rugby League club Hull Kingston Rovers! Talk about aiming high!

Would it last? Would it even get started? Who gives a flying to be honest, as soon as they announced the first game would be played on a Tuesday night in November, we were going, make no mistake about that one.

I drove, I took Steve and our old mate Paul Earnshaw, or Bury Paul as he is known by many due to his lifelong support of the club from Lancashire, but more about Paul later. We set off nice and early and as usual when Steve and I are in tandem, the banter flew from the opening minute. Other than a bit of a sticky section of traffic on Clive Sullivan Way, we were checking in at the pub nearest the ground around 6pm, it had been a very steady run. But then again you don’t get many traffic issues going to Hull, why would anyone be going to such a place without very good reason?

The pub was rough, we sat out of the way, but then I’ve never been to a pub in Hull that hasn’t been rough. We got back to the ground and soon realised that a gathering of groundhoppers had converged on the place. I recognised my mate Dave Garrow, but I also spotted the likes of Peter Ford, Colin Picken, Nigel Tasker, Andy Marnoch and groundhopping celebrity Tony Incenzo.

The ground was superb as you would imagine for a top flight professional club like Hull KR, the main stand and the terracing in front of it were the only parts open, but opposite was a huge terrace that spread the length of the pitch. Behind the goal to the left was a modern seated stand with executive boxes at the back, while the opposite end was just a small section of terrace that curved round what was the old speedway track (so Steve tells me). It was a very impressive arena, and in fairness to them they had opened the tea bar, and also the main bar in the stand, although the beer was almost twice the price as it was in the local pub, but then it didn’t come with the underlying threat of violence!

I’ve been to grounds like this before and two things often stand out, the rip off prices for food and drink, which we quickly spotted, although at four quid admission that tempered it somewhat. The other thing that can be annoying are over officious stewards, of which there were none tonight, and other than the restrictions about being on one side of the ground, the crowd of 431 were pretty much left to their own devices.

The game was very good, Hull won it 2-1 and looked a really good outfit, that weren’t playing for buttons every week. Bottesford came back into the game later on and could have snatched a point, which would have consolidated their second place in the table, but United held out. What impressed me about Hull was their attacking prowess and their intelligence in dealing with a high line that Bottesford were clearly well rehearsed in.

We escaped from the car park pretty easily, and by the time we had skated past The Deep and gone under the Humber Bridge, the roads were virtually empty along the M62 and the M18 until we reached the M1. I Dropped Steve off and then took Paul back to Kirkby in Ashfield. I said I would tell you about Paul, well Paul is a dying man. He was diagnosed with Brain Cancer in the Summer and after some pretty horrific spells of treatment he can no longer be helped, in fact he has managed to live longer than was initially expected, and the latest prognosis is that he may see Christmas, but not much more than that.

As I drove him home he was very candid with me, it will end in one of two ways, his brain will either just die, quite quickly, or he will suffer in pain. If a long protracted painful death is to be the outcome, it won’t be happening, he has already prepared for that by making his own plans.

It was probably the most sobering and indeed harrowing conversation I have ever had in my life, and as I dropped him off and watched him back into his house, I couldn’t help but think that there is a very real chance that I may never see him again. He is the bravest man I have ever known, it remains, and will always remain, a privilege to have known him.