Basket Case

Ilkeston Town  6  Wolverhampton Sporting Community  1

Midland Football League – Premier Division

I don’t know any Ilkeston Town fans personally, but if I did, I’d like to put my psychologists head on to see what I could find.

I suspect I would uncover a deep rooted sense of paranoia, a nervousness manifesting in a lack of control of bodily functions, a bipolar disposition, and finally a trigger reaction that would bring on bouts of tourettes.

You see, since I’ve been following football locally, in more recent years, this club is truly the ‘Eastenders’ club of the Midlands.

Let’s have a look at the history and pick out some landmark moments at both ends of the emotional spectrum. Bobbling along in the Seventies and early Eighties as a Midland League and then a Northern Counties East League club, they made the decision at the end of 1986 along with many other clubs in the East Midlands to jump ship and become inaugural members of the newly formed Central Midlands League Supreme Division.

They were then one of the clubs who quickly realised the CMFL wasn’t going to become what it wanted to be, and cast adrift from the football pyramid, in 1990 they made a slightly unusual step of applying to join the West Midlands Regional League.

They won the bottom tier at a canter, while around the same time they vacated the old Manor Ground and moved into the imaginatively titled New Manor Ground on Awsworth Road. They won promotion from the top flight of the WMRL in 1994 and took up a lofty position in the Southern League Midland Division.

The club looked to be on the way up, under the Chairmanship of the wealthy Paul Millership and the on field guidance of former Notts County player Bill Brindley, a superb side was built around players such as the Harbottle brothers, Dave Taylor, John Humphries and Dale Igoe, while after just one season they’d won promotion to the Premier Division.

It went wrong though, on the pitch it was a disaster, the team was virtually rebuilt over the course of the campaign and Leighton James was brought in as Manager. The lowest point came when ten goals were shipped at Merthyr Tydfil, the relegation inevitability soon followed.

But, they bounced back under the late Keith Alexander, and a year later and they’d got back to the Premier Division again, where they remained for six years, before relegation ultimately befell them. 

One year in the lower divisions of the Southern League was all they had though as restructuring saw them move into the Northern Premier League. After just one season Phil Stant got them promoted, and then after four years of trying they won the play-off’s against Nantwich Town and found themselves in the heady atmosphere of the Conference North.

Also a prolific side in the FA Cup, in the space of four years they’d held Scunthorpe United away from him, held Rushden & Diamonds at home and also more famously beaten Carlisle United at the NMG. On the face of it, things were looking up.

In 2011 the fans of Ilkeston Town were in shock, the club were liquidated over an unpaid tax bill of £50,000 and their results were expunged. Ownership and leadership came under severe scrutiny, just what had been going on, and why had it been allowed to happen?

But, like the proverbial phoenix from the flames, a new incarnation called Ilkeston FC were formed, and it was an educational body that was behind the new club. The emphasis was supposedly on youth, and to be fair, with a couple of players moving into the professional ranks, notably Che Adams, all looked to be going well. In the clubs first season in the NPL First Division (into which they were controversially admitted) they beat Leek Town in the play-off final to win promotion to the Premier Division.

Three years in and they came within a whisker of getting back into the Conference North, only to lose the play-off final to Curzon Ashton. Behind the scenes though you sensed problems, rumours abounded of financial and indeed ownership issues.  Two years later and the club had been wound up in Liverpool  Crown Court over a debt of less than £15,000. For a second incarnation to go belly up so soon after its predecessor is at best very careless indeed, at worst, its criminal. For the fans, what must they have been thinking?

Anyway, along comes Notts County owner Alan Hardy, and then we’ve got the newly formed Ilkeston Town Football Club, and this time they are admitted at Step 6 (which was again questionable), taking a place in the First Division of the Midland Football League. Hardy as Owner/Chairman set about creating new structures and rebuilding supporter confidence.

In the clubs first season, 2017-18, they finished runners up, which at the time wasn’t enough to gain promotion. But with superb crowds topping the 500 mark regularly, the World was looking a good place again. Somewhat surprisingly, the FA decided to catapult Ilkeston into the Premier Division to fill a vacancy, which upset Tividale in the West Midlands Regional League who arguably had a better case, but anyway, they weren’t going to argue.

Right now, they sit top of the league, crowds are averaging over the 500 mark, but, they are on their third Manager of the season, but more on that later!

So, from a fans perspective, bloody hell, no wonder they’re feeling it, but from an outsider looking in, what’s the perception? To be honest, many would argue that the club have been treated very leniently by the footballing authorities by letting them re-start so high up the pyramid, but, given the facilities and the support, I can see why that would be. But by the same token, the clubs image has been tarnished and you wouldn’t see too many tears shed from outside of Ilkeston if the project were to fail. Yes, the new regime will argue that the two previous incarnations were nothing to do with them, but people won’t see that, they just see the basket case that is 'Ilson'.

So, what about my own memories of Ilson? Well, one of my earliest memories was in the mid-Eighties when my Dad and is mate went to see an FA Trophy game against Enfield at the old Manor Ground. Having won at Alliance Premier League Barnet in the previous round, all eyes were on minnows Ilson against one of the biggest names in the Country in terms of non-league football. Ilson were 5-1 down when all hell broke loose, the notorious ‘Green Berets’, a hooligan element linked to Forest, decided to storm down the bank behind the top goal and force the crowd onto the pitch. The game was ultimately abandoned and the tie awarded to Enfield.

A few years later, along with my Junior Nailers Club chums, we did a sponsored walk to raise money for Belper Town Football Club to our game at Ilkeston. To qualify that though, we set off from Smalley to be fair, it wasn’t far, but we got in free so we were happy!

Beyond that, one of my earliest visits to the New Manor Ground came during the clubs first season in the Southern League. They drew Conference outfit Kidderminster Harriers in the FA Trophy, and having secured a ticket for the all ticket game, I watched a pulsating encounter which finished 2-2. A huge crowd assembled, and they took some handling. The army of security officials (they needed something a bit more robust than your typical steward), had fun and games trying to get a couple of fans to climb off the roof of the stand. 

I was also at the infamous game at the NMG on a Good Friday evening, the year Ilson won the NPL play-offs. They were at home to rivals Eastwood Town who were odds on to win the league, and with over 2,000 in the ground the atmosphere was positively crackling. It didn’t go especially well off the pitch, and at half time we had a Police helicopter circling above with a spotlight shining on the area behind the goal where scuffles had broken out in the first half. Outside the ground at the end, with riot Police and dogs lining the street, it wasn’t the most comfortable walk back to the car, not with a nine year old boy anyway!

To be honest though, in recent seasons visits have been few and far between. So I thought given things were looking up once again on the field, I’d go and have a look at the game against bottom of the table Wolverhampton Sporting Community.

The Robins started the season with Steve Chettle in charge, but he moved on to Notts County, while his replacement Martin McIntosh fell on his sword after a home defeat to Eastwood Community in the FA Vase. New incumbent is Lee Fowler, and after a couple of iffy results, he seems to have got things back on track again.

The NMG hasn’t changed an awful lot over recent years, it’s still a smart non-league football ground with cover at both ends, and two seated stands, one of which is the iconic Clock-Tower Stand which gives an excellent raised view of proceedings. The social club is a busy place, while the pitch was in excellent condition, considering the number of games that take place on it. Admission is just a fiver so it also offers very good value for money, and clearly doesn’t put people off attending.

The attendance for the game was just under 400, and they were treated to an entertaining spectacle. Wolves started the more positive of the two sides, but the hosts took the lead via Jamie Walker. 

Undeterred, Wolves came back and scored a deflected equaliser through Sufyan Zia. However, two more goals just before the break from Walker and the impressive Elliott Reeves took the game out of the strugglers reach.

Despite playing some decent passing football in the second period, the visitors conceded a further three goals, with Reeve completing his hat-trick and Ryan Wheatley getting the other goal.

It was the Robins biggest win of the season, and in a competitive league with Walsall Wood on their heels, it could be an interesting finish to the campaign. I wouldn’t bet against a second successive promotion for the latest version of ITFC, but I’ll bet that Ilkeston fans will be tempering any joy with a sense of nervousness, history tells them to have one eye on what could be around the corner.

Paranoia indeed…….