Another double? This time taming the Terriers

My hotel was right in the centre of Bury and I had an afternoon free so I decided to wander around. Many of these Northern towns have taken a hit during the current recession, but that is nothing to the economic ravages they have suffered since the decline of the textile industry or the closing of the collieries. The evidence is plain to see of the economic importance of the area in the past and the energy being expended to overcome the problems of the present. It is to be hoped that these efforts are successful. Bury is notable for having a terrific market in the centre of town. It was a Sunday and a great proportion of the stalls and shops were closed for the day, but it was fun looking at the tremendous variety of goods and services on offer. I had a delicious meal of fish and chips and returned to the hotel to plan my next adventure.



The hotel was literally a few hundred yards from Gigg Lane home of Bury FC, surely the club with the shortest name in the league. The ground has been home to Bury since 1885, but has recently changed it's name, due to sponsorship, to the JD Stadium. One of the stands has the club's nickname picked out on the seats, "Shakers". I thought this had religious connotations or, at least, some connection to a charitable society or friendly society. But, in fact, it goes all the way back to 1892, when the chairman of the time was asked about the outcome of a match and it is related he replied "We shall shake 'em, in fact, we are the Shakers!"

The club might have been at the ground for some years, but the stadium looks very modern and well-cared for, having been rebuilt since the 1990s. Bury FC own the stadium , but it is shared with FC of Manchester, though the latter hope soon to have their own ground. I arrived and parked my car in the large car park in front of the Main Stand. I walked around trying to get the best angle for my photographs of this part of the ground when I was nearly run down by a motor cycle! It turned out, on this particular day, the major part of the car park had been set aside as a motor cycle training area. I had been so engrossed in my snaps and plans that I had just walked through all the bollards without noticing them. I apologised to the cyclist, who turned out to be a charming and attractive young lady, instead of the tattooed giant I had been expecting.

I popped my head into reception and enquired about the possibility of a stadium visit. The young receptionist could not have been more charming, instructing me to walk round the corner into the ground and to let her know when I had finished my business. So I wandered round the corner and found two chaps tending to the upkeep of the stadium. A short chat ensued and then I went in to see the ground. Bury might be seen as a lower league club, but have been FA Cup winners twice and have been as high as fourth in the old First Division. However, these achievements are in the distant past and these days they are in League Two. The ground holds over 11,000 fans in four stands, all seated. The Les Hart Stand and the Cemetery End are linked at the corner and the Manchester Road End and Main Stand are separate and occupy the other corner of the ground. Les Hart was associated with Bury for 44 years, as player and trainer/physiotherapist; he was one of those players whose career was truncated by WWII.

In front of three of the stands (and not the Main Stand) are wide walkways setting the stands just a bit back from the pitch. High in the corner of the Les Hart Stand and the Cemetery End Stand is the police control box. Another interesting feature of the ground is in front of the Main Stand at pitch level. What looks at first glance to be a large potting shed, causing the tunnel and dugouts to be set slightly to one side of the centre line, turns out to be rooms used by the directors and sponsors. At least, so I was informed and apparently those windows have never yet been broken by an errant clearance!

I reported back to reception and left to visit Rochdale. I had no idea when I started my visits to all 92 FL clubs, just how close to each other are many of the clubs in the Lancashire area. For instance, Bury and Rochdale are only about 7 miles apart with my third club of the day, Oldham Athletic, a further five miles down the road.

Rochdale AFC have played at Spotland Stadium, normally just known as Spotland, since 1920, though they were formed in 1907.  It is in the Spotland area of Rochdale. The ground used to be owned exclusively by the club, but ownership is now between the club, Rochdale Council and Rochdale Hornets, a rugby league club playing in the second tier of Rugby League just below the Super League. Hornets moved to Spotland in 1988 after a period of financial problems culminating in the sale of their own ground to Morrisons Supermarkets.

Rochdale hold a record of sorts in the Football League. Accepted into the league in 1921 they have spent the most number of seasons in the very lowest division of the league; 77 seasons out of the 85 they have been in the competition. They have never been in the top two divisions.  Despite this record, like every other club I have visited, Rochdale's ground is neat and tidy and looks loved. People care about their clubs whatever level of football is played there.




There are four stands, three of them built in the last 20 years and all-seater with the final terracing remaining in the Sandy Lane Stand. The seated stands are all single tier with the Main Stand having some executive boxes behind the top row of seats. I was shown round the ground by the groundsman and on that day the rugby goal posts were in place. I mentioned to him that his pitch was in top class order despite all the rain we have had this winter. The rugby league season had just started and I asked if he was worried that the rugby players would spoil his lovely greensward. He told me that he had strongly advocated that the rugby game scheduled for the previous Saturday did not take place. It didn't.

There is a police control building at the end of the main stand. And, as is becoming the custom at clubs these days, a floodlight pylon brings extra revenue in to the club by also supporting a mobile phone aerial. I left Spotland to travel the short distance to Oldham having, once again, seen a fine old ground and having met the nicest and most helpful people.

Spotland is set in leafy suburbs, Boundary Park, home of Oldham Athletic FC is set in much sterner landscape, tending towards moorland. The name of the ground stems from the fact that the area is on the boundary between Chadderton and Royton and it is the third highest ground in the Football League, lying just behind (or below) West Brom and Port Vale. It's open position coupled with it's height lends many to think it the coldest ground in the league; certainly previous manager Joe Royle thought so, calling it Ice Station Zebra.

Originally called the Athletic Ground, the stadium was first used in 1896 by Oldham County FC. They ceased to exist in 1899, Pine Villa FC took over and immediately changed their name to Oldham Athletic FC. Recently several plans have been made for improvements to the ground but these have had to be deferred for a variety of reasons. The current ground has three stands all with seats. The fourth side of the ground, at the moment open, is currently being developed as the North Stand or Broadway Stand (named after the major road running behind it) with completion about 12 months away. The old Broadway Stand was demolished in 2008.

The club owns a considerable parcel of land, with a large area behind the redevelopment of the North Stand currently bringing in revenue by being used as a car park for staff at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, just across Sheepfold Lane. Also, just to one side of this car park area is a training pitch mainly used for junior members of the club's various teams. There is not a lot of car parking space in front of the Main Stand, so I drove around to this car parking area, unaware that it was for permit holders only. I found a member of staff and asked if there was a problem parking my car there, thinking more about the building work
going on. He explained the situation, but we got chatting and he graciously allowed me to leave the car there for the time it took to take a few pictures. In fact, it turned out that he had been a Latics fan for 50 odd years, had seen them play at over 150 grounds and was only too happy to talk football. He took me into the top of the Rochdale Road Stand and we stood nattering. After I while I realised I was taking no pictures and I was keeping him from his job, so I made my apologies and wandered off to take my pictures.

We went into the top of the stand because Boundary Park is built into the side of a hill in order to obtain enough level ground to fit in a football pitch. Currently the newest stand, the Rochdale Road Stand, sponsored as the Verlin Stand, is built into this hill. It is single tiered and houses the section used for away fans. The Chadderton Road End, at the other end of the ground, is where the true Latics fans sit. The elderly Main Stand is two tier, with the remains of some terracing at one end below an administration building and a control box. There are no executive boxes in the Main Stand so, situated between the Main Stand and the Chadderton Road Stand is a sort of box on stilts which I presume is a sort of executive club area.

Boundary Park has seen better days, but there is no doubt that there is a will to effect terrific change, which, in this economic climate, can only come slowly.

My tour of the area now led me to part two of the footballing engagements, our re-arranged game against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith's Stadium, originally the Kirklees Stadium then alternatively the Alfred McAlpine Stadium or the Galpharm Stadium. Such are the vagaries of modern stadium naming. The stadium is of the Reebok Stadium style, having four separate stands each with a graceful arching roof line and the

steel support structures used as architectural statements. This seems to be the better of the two modern stadium basic designs, which seem to be either this style or the rather more boring bowls. Well, to my eyes, at least. These two main styles are for the bigger clubs, those clubs needing to house fewer spectators, when moving to a new ground, still stick to the usual four stands, which always looks right and proper.

Again set into a hillside, the stadium proved to be tricky to actually enter. I could see it from miles away, but as I got closer and it was still clearly visible, I couldn't find the road that would actually let me into the car park. Finally, trying to drive directly, I ended up in a cul de sac by a health club. Directions were given and the old duffer finally discovered he had been going in precisely the wrong direction. I finally found the stadium and stood there smiling to myself. For there, above the car park entrance, amidst a plethora of signs advertising beer, was a great big arch above the road "Nearly There. Please don't drink and drive". This led me to a car park which was just about level with the top of the South Stand, steps led down to the turnstiles which again were well above pitch level; about half way up the stand, so you enter at the top of the seating area and walk down to your seat.

The four stands are all sponsored and the names are so long that I refuse to keep typing them out. The Main Stand and the North Stand are two tier and have executive boxes running across between the tiers. The stands forming the other corner of the ground, The South Stand and the East Stand are single tier, with the away fans being housed in the South Stand ( or it's current proper title, The Chadwick Lawrence Stand). I had a good view from my seat.

I had booked a room at an inn up the hill out of Huddersfield by the M62 motorway. My thinking was that I would descend into Huddersfield on the Halifax Old Road, park up in a quiet road and walk the 10 minutes or so to the ground. As I prepared to start down to the game, it started snowing quite hard. Of course, I panicked, thinking that this steep road was going to turn into a death trap. Not to worry, my fears were groundless. The game was played in very cold, but dry weather. And my parking planning was perfect.

I have been a bit worried about games since the turn of the year. The powers-that-be at the Football League only allowed one free weekend for the FA Cup, the third round. All other Cup weekends already have rostered fixtures, so if your team goes on an extended run with a replay or two, your team are going to have a bit of a fixture pile up. And this is what has happened to us. Not only have we games coming thick and fast on odd days of the week, to cope with TV and, in the case of the Sheffield game, clashes with the matches of other local teams, but our injury list is reaching alarming proportions. Not only are key players, regular first-teamers, out, but they are going to be missing for long periods. Lansbury, Cohen and Vaughan are out for most of the rest of the season, Wilson has been away for months and is only now starting to run on grass, and Lichaj has disappeared with a mystery ailment with an unpsecified return date. I'm typing this a week or so after the game and Jack Hobbs, our rock in central defence has now gone for a lengthy absence with an ankle problem.

The spine of our team has been decimated with the back four badly disrupted virtually every game. Yet the players have responded valiantly putting in performances which we have no right to expect. They are playing out of position and have new opponents about every three or four days.

Billy Davies made two changes for this game. Jara and Mackie gave way to Majewski and Paterson. Forest started well, but the nippy Terriers soon came into it and the game swung to and fro during the first 45 minutes, but no one could break the deadlock. At half time Moussi gave way to Jara. The end-to-end game carried on with chances to both sides. Then, just after the hour, Fox sent over a neat cross which young Paterson nodded into the corner of the goal right in front of the travelling trickies. Twenty minutes later our nerves were given a bit of a rest when a beautiful through ball put Paterson in front of the goal and he put the ball past the Huddersfield keeper for, I reckon, the decisive goal. But our cup runneth over. Mackie, on as a sub, harried a defender over by the corner flag, he attempted a back pass which went woefully short and Henderson nipped in to slot home the third just before the final whistle.

Given our injury problems and the fine Huddersfield team, I had thought this a bit of a banana skin, but the lads gave a fine display in an open entertaining game. At least, it was open and entertaining for the neutral, for me it was a nervous eighty minutes until that second goal went in.

I made my way back to the hotel through slushy, but easily passable roads.

I was due to visit Chesterfield and Mansfield Town the next day, but I rose to be greeted by a hair-raising weather forecast as yet another storm of this extraordinary winter raced towards us. I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and set off for home, promising to reschedule the Chesterfield and Mansfield visits. I arrived home to find one of the fence panels ripped out of the fence down the drive (though I have to admit it had been weakened by previous storms and my repairs were rather rudimentary). All in all a satisfactory weekend both in respect of results and my visits.