Malc

Hucknall Town Reserves  2  Southwell City Reserves  1

Nottinghamshire Senior League – First Division

Admission / Programme – No / No

I can’t exactly remember when or where I first met Malc Storer.

It was one of those situations whereby you start to see someone at games, on a reasonably regular basis, and then as you both kind of start to recognise each other as your paths cross, you start to greet each other with a nod or even a ‘hello’.

Then of course it gradually leads into the odd brief conversation before suddenly you find yourself on first name terms, spending long periods of the match chatting about all and sundry.

Before I knew it, I was mates with Malc, in fact we were all mates. Steve, myself, Malc, Kev Goodman (Malc’s next door neighbour, best buddy and soul mate), Pete, and many others who had the privilege over the years of getting to know Malc through a common love of local non-league football.

was another level though, a man totally dedicated to football in Nottinghamshire. He would easily attend 200 games a season, in fact one year I think he managed to get to over 300. He would have season tickets at local clubs, this season it was Basford United and Nottingham Forest Ladies, but it wasn’t uncommon for him on some days of the week to get to either two or three games.

He had a blog, it was called ‘On The Road’ and over the years it essentially did two things, it raised money for local charities of which it raised thousands through donations from fellow lovers of local football, but it also provided a simple yet brilliant service.

Malc would compile all of the fixtures and results for all of the local non-league teams, even down to the local Sunday leagues, and publish them on his blog. The best way to describe this would be on a Saturday night, at around 7pm you could go on and find every result locally, without having to trawl through various different websites, but then an hour later, he would publish all of the midweek fixtures.

The midweek results would be on by 10pm, and on a bad weather day, he would be updating postponements. His blog became so well known locally that clubs, and people involved with clubs would update him with information, so he could keep his readers up to date.

It was always easy to know where to find Malc, a little asterisk on the fixture list would highlight what matches he planned to attend, on the night of Wednesday 4^th January, he was going to the first ever competitive game at Hucknall Town’s Aerial Way ground, a reserve team fixture against Southwell City.

Malc never made the game, he passed away in the very early hours, after being admitted to hospital a few days earlier, but not before asking Kev to post an apology for his inability to update his blog.

Steve phoned me on the Wednesday morning to advise that Malc had gone, I was stunned, I’d been looking forward to the usual banter at Hucknall that night along with Steve, because we’d been ribbing Malc on a regular basis over the past couple of years about the delayed move his home town club were making to the other side of Watnall Road.

The tributes that followed were simply overwhelming, clubs, players, officials, leagues, friends and anyone that knew him took to social media to post their condolences and memories of a wonderful man. As I type this, Malc is the front page headline of this weeks Hucknall Dispatch newspaper, he would have been hugely embarrassed by it all, and not for one minute would he have ever comprehended just what everyone thought of him. A very humble and unassuming man, all he ever wanted to do was watch football, chat to like minded people, provide a service to local football followers and support his charities.

It almost felt that we simply had to go to the game at Hucknall that night, to pay tribute in our own way to Malc, and of course at the game, much of the talk in the bar and in the ground was about him, along with the minutes silence that was held. A minutes silence that pretty much extended to every game in Nottinghamshire the following Saturday.

Hucknall Town’s new ground is a very impressive place, one that Malc would have enjoyed visiting. Situated a stones throw from the old ground, it sits in what is a small industrial area, on what is effectively a cul-de-sac. The first thing you spot is that it’s got a couple of decent sized car parks, and a smart frontage to what is the clubhouse and changing room building.

The clubhouse is large and spacious, while in front of it is a stand that runs the full length of the pitch with two thirds of it taken up by yellow and black seating, with the rest being flat standing. Behind one goal and down the opposite side to the stand is an open area with a concrete walkway, but the goal at the West end of the ground has a large and deep area of cover, albeit with flat standing as opposed to terracing beneath it. Next to this as you move down to the North West corner where the exit gate sits, is a toilet block and an officials room with views of the pitch through large glass windows.

It’s excellent for Step 6 and would easily make Step 4, which is a level Hucknall will I’m sure be looking to get back to as a minimum over the next few years. The move has been worth the wait, this is a venue that will stand the club in good stead for years to come.

For the record, Hucknall won the game 2-1 and I would estimate around 100 or so came along to watch it. It is also worth noting the pitch, a superb playing surface that drains incredibly well so we were told, and evidence would back that up both on the night and at games since.

But it was all about Malc as far as many of us were concerned and it finally hit home the following Saturday how much we would miss him. Like clockwork, on a Saturday I would get in from a game, then it would be my duty to prepare the family meal, so I’d retire to the kitchen, open a can of beer, and start getting things ready. Once everything was underway I’d get the phone out and jump straight on Malc’s blog to check out the results of the day, and then look for games to go to the following midweek.

A couple of people had already posted on social media that Saturday nights will never be quite the same again, and I know exactly how they felt. We will miss the bearded wonder, more than he ever could have imagined. Rest well Malc, the football community of Nottinghamshire will never forget you, and all that you did…..

Wednesday 4^th January

*Heaven