On my way up to Burnley I stopped at the City Ground for a tour of the ground. I was slightly confused when I booked for the tour; I must have been because I thought the game following day was at home. However, not a big problem. I toured the CG mainly because when I went round the ground in June after collecting my season ticket I forgot my video camera and so this visit was to take a few pictures inside the ground from a vantage point other than my seat in BC Upper.I enjoyed the tour, but not the journey to Burnley. I couldn't get on the earlier tour so had to book for 2pm. This put me on the road at about 4pm. The obvious route up to Burnley is via the M1 and, of course, the timing meant I had to join in the lemming-like race up the motorway on a Friday evening coupled with the rain and the road works. Not what a young lad from the country needs. Anyway, I made it in one piece to discover my hotel was much closer to Turf Moor than I thought. This meant that I could walk down in the morning, take a few pictures and nose about in peace before the hordes arrived to get in the way!
I was then accosted by the custodian of the cricket ground or, rather, the gentleman in charge of car parking there during the football match. We got to chatting and he had a host of amusing stories regarding celebrities and others who have tried various dodges to park on his bit of turf.
I made my excuses and left his green and pleasant ground to seek out the real reason for my visit. As I walked around the corner, I spied the Forest team coach unloading some stores required by the team and staff at the game. I passed by the coach (I've given up trying to chat up the driver for a tour of his bus, he just ignores me) and went on to the reception. Here I asked the charming lady on the desk if it was possible to have a look inside the ground before it started to fill up. She was so helpful. I was given a quick tour of the sponsors lounge (looking very impressive with all the shiny cutlery and glittering glasses) and a look around the ground from the Director's Box. 
A leisurely walk back to the hotel and preparations for the match, followed by another walk down the hill to Turf Moor, Burnley Football Club's home since 1883. They were founded in 1882 and were founder members of the Football League six years later. The club nickname is the Clarets because they now play in claret and blue, but that kit colouring was only adopted in 1910 as a nod to the success at the time of Aston Villa. Prior to that time the club had played in a variety of shirt colours.
Turf Moor is situated on Harry Potts Way, the name being changed from Brunshaw Road in honour of Burnley Football Club's long time player and manager. As befits such a historic ground, there are four separate stands; none of these bowl-type in-filled corners, this is a proper ground. It is not a large ground, holding only just over 22,000 spectators in stands of varying age. The two newest stands are together in on one side of the ground and are the James Hargreaves Stand, down the side of the pitch, and the Jimmy McIlroy Stand. These are just about 20 years old and have two tiers each with executive boxes running along the centre of each stand. In the corner between the stands is a large video screen.The other two stands are rather older and, quite honestly, look it. They have wooden seats (which I actually found quite comfortable) and, more annoyingly, large supporting pillars across the front of the stand. Away supporters are housed in the David Fishwick stand (also known as the Cricket End) which also houses the changing rooms. Thus the players and officials enter the ground pitch from the left hand end of this stand and meander diagonally across the pitch to the dugout area situated in front of the main stand known as the Bob Lord Stand in honour of the former chairman of the club. Bob Lord was associated with the club for 30 years, an association ending just before his death in 1981. Between this stand and the Jimmy McIlroy stand is the separate police control box. I've had a look in a few of these boxes now and they all have an impressive range of state of the art screens and camera controls. Many of the larger clubs also use these cameras for manned security surveillance 24/7 around their grounds as well as match day control.
The away stand has a small enclave of grey plastic seats just behind the goal and these remained empty. We wondered why. A few enterprising fans decided to move from behind the pillar into these seats. The stewards magically materialised and tried to move them. After a bit of a stand-off PC49 was summoned and the miscreants were ejected. It seemed that those seats were for the away team staff who did not have jobs in the dugout. So the small area was populated by three tracksuit clad individuals, who must have enjoyed the barbed comments aimed at the team during the first half.
Located in the Jimmy McIlroy stand are rooms for lectures and classes of the University College of Football Business, which was set up in 2011 by Burnley FC to educate students in the business side of football. On either side of the entrance to the UCFB are large commemorative plaques where gone but not forgotten Claret supporters are noted. Just around the corner, behind the James Hargreaves stand, is a neat modern building housing the club's Elite Training Centre.
Like many clubs, over the years Burnley have achieved success and suffered near collapse, but this season they are playing their best football for some time. When we played them earlier in the season at the CG I forecast that their promotion charge would tail off as they we very average on that day, despite achieving a draw (albeit by a disputed penalty). In fact, they have continued to make good progress and were lying second to Leicester City on Saturday.
I shall not dwell on the match. Sufficient to say that we were three goals down in 35 minutes, mainly due to poor Forest play and high-tempo Burnley football. It is easy to make the excuse that we are a team with multiple injuries disrupting our play, but we were just not at the races this afternoon. Talking of injuries, one of the changes forced on Billy Davies today was brought about by the absence of Andy Reid, who has a hernia problem which requires an operation in the next couple of days. Our midfield general out for six weeks. Even worse is the news that Jack Hobbs is out for the season with a stress fracture of the ankle. Other changes today are Cox and Majewski out and Moussi, Djebbour and Abdoun in. Majewski would have been selected but has had to return to Poland due to family reasons.
Second half was better, rockets fired in the dressing room at half time by Billy sparked a bit of life, but it was too little too late. We hit the woodwork a couple of times, had a header cleared off the line and, finally, scored from a penalty. Well, Abdoun took the penalty which Heaton saved, but Abdoun headed in the rebound. One of the more entertaining aspects of the game was a heated debate during the first half between a couple of spectators seated around me. One was continually berating our players and the other took a much more lenient view of our troubles. The one complaining throughout the first half spent the entire second half counting up our missed chances and concluded we should have won 4-3!!
I made my way back to the hotel and prepared for my visit next day to Accrington Stanley, Chesterfield and Mansfield. I duly left early in the morning for Accrington, which is but a short drive from Burnley.
Accrington Stanley neatly sidestep the fact that the present club were not the club from the town that were original members of the Football League. On the sign announcing your arrival at the ground they say "Accrington Stanley Football Club. Accrington was one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888." The original club were called just Accrington, but they resigned from the league after five years and folded. A team called Stanley Villa FC took over the name of the town and called themselves Accrington Stanley, but did not play in the Football League until 1921 and the expansion of the league with the formation of Third Division (North) and (South). Stanley never achieved promotion, remaining in the Third Division until 1962 when financial problems forced them to resign from the League in mid-season. Interestingly, Bob Lord, chairman of Burnley was closely involved with events leading up to this collapse of the club, though he was not at all involved in the debts revealed which led to the resignation. The club eventually finally folded in 1966.
Stanley rose again in 1968, largely due to the efforts of a few local businessmen. They moved across the town from Peel Park to the Crown Ground, situated down a leafy residential street. A rise through the football pyramid saw promotion from the Football Combination in 2006 into League Two.
The Crown Ground is now known as the Storefirst.com Stadium. It is a modest ground as befits a team who have had a struggle every year of their existence, but still proudly strive for success. It is a mixture of seating and terracing with these elements mixed in several areas of the ground. The two posher stands are the Main Stand and the Sophia Khan stand.The Main Stand is in fact now named the Jack Barratt Memorial Stand and looks to have been built in two sections. I'm informed that one section of this stand is called the John Smith Stand, but I could find no evidence of this. The division of the two is only evident if one looks up at the roof supports, strong beams which extend along the roof line of the stand, which dive down in the middle of the stand right above the dugout areas. The Sophia Khan stand also has these strong metal supports holding up the roof beams. This stand has seats at the front and terracing at the rear.
Opposite the Jack Barratt Memorial Stand is the Whinney Hill Terrace also known as the Cowshed, which is just what it looks like!
Actually I couldn't get into the ground, not surprising as it was only just after 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning, but I got a jolly good view of it from an earth bank just adjacent to the houses behind the Cowshed. I feel that many a small boy, saving up his pocket money, has viewed matches from this vantage point. The evidence of the struggle to stretch every pound of their income is so clear at Accrington Stanley and I left with a fond feeling towards the club.
Next on my journey was Chesterfield FC, a visit I should have made a few weeks back after the Huddersfield game, but I raced home on that day because of threatened poor weather. Actually, the storm on that day was every bit as violent as forecast. A lorry was blown over very near to the hotel at Ainley Top on the M62 and blocked the road for about 24 hours.
On their old club badge, Chesterfield used to claim it was established in 1866. There is doubt over this date. And, since the club has gone through several incarnations since that date, it is probably best to say that the present club took it's name, and at the same time cut it's ties to the local council, in 1920. What is certain is that football was played at the old ground, Saltergate, by various teams from 1871 until the Proact Stadium was built in 2010.
I entered Chesterfield on the A619 and had noted that I should cross the main A61 by the roundabout and turn right at the next roundabout. As I crossed the A61 I failed to see the Proact Stadium behind the whacking great Tesco which completely obscures it from the road. Consequently I took the wrong right turning at the next roundabout and finished miles up the road. Luckily I saw a police car parked at the side of the road. "If in doubt, ask a policeman" . So I did and was directed to the correct spot. Having arrived at the Proact I found it difficult to conceive that I had missed it, because it is a striking looking stadium. At first glance it looks like a bowl-type ground, but is in fact built on the classic four stand idea.
There was a great car boot sale going on and the car park, particularly at the Tesco end, was very busy. This, of course, made it difficult to take clean photos, but I tried. I also tried the doors of the main reception, but no joy. However, the club had made some of their loos available to the car booters and after a long journey, I made my way towards these. Inside the concourse going towards the loos, I noticed a chink in the armour. Some wheelie bins had been pushed to one side to block entrance to the ground proper. Ever the opportunist, I squeezed past the bins, not having to move any of them, and found an entrance to the ground, though no progress could be made onto the actual ground. No bother, I had my photos of the ground and was happy.
As I was walking around the ground after this, I noticed a couple of the club training staff chatting away outside a side door. I sidled up and asked if it would be possible to see inside the ground. One of them popped inside to check with higher authority; it was OK and I entered the ground, nosed around, took more photos and videos and exited by the main doors. Another kind person going that extra mile and helping a stranger.
It seems to me that the four stands are pretty much identical to each other, except the ones alongside the pitch are obviously longer and they also have a curved roof line. All stands are single tiers all-seated and only the main stand has executive boxes running along the back wall. It also has a control box built on the end of the stand with it's roof line following the curve of the stand. The players tunnel is in the centre of this stand flanked by the dugouts.The seats all around the ground are in solid blue blocks, no names or nicknames picked out in strategically placed white seats. There is also an almost complete lack of signage about the stadium. None of the stands bears a prominent name board and they have just a few advertising placards 
Chesterfield are called the Spireites, a nickname possibly too long to go on the seats, because the town boasts the famous church with the crooked spire, St Mary and All Saints. Not only have the club changed their badge to incorporate this spire, but there are two representations of the crooked spire on either side of the main entrance to the ground. A modern ground for a forward looking club.
My next port of call was just a hop and a skip down the road, Mansfield Town FC, The Stags, the third professional football league club in Nottinghamshire, at their home Field Mill, though nowadays entitled the One Call Stadium.I tried to find the origin of the nickname. The closest I can get is the use of stags heads on the original arms of the Borough of Mansfield which were those used on the arms of the Cavendish-Bentinck family. The stag incorporated in the present District Council arms is said to represent Sherwood Forest. So I think it goes back into the mists of time when the whole area was covered in forest and herds of deer roamed throughout.
The ground itself is situated down a quiet road and, although surrounded by retail parks and bustling industry, manages to seem quite tranquil. The team were formed as Mansfield Wesleyans in 1897 before becoming Mansfield Town FC in 1910 and have played at Field Mill since 1919, though the ground itself has hosted football matches since 1861 and lays claim to be the oldest ground in the Football League. Visiting the ground today it does not look to be the oldest ground, a great deal of work has been done during the last few years. However, more still remains to be done as the ground has a decidedly lop-sided look. Half the spectators can be accommodated in the Ian Greaves Stand which lies along one side of the pitch.
It is a handsome two-tiered stand built just over ten years ago. Opposite this fine stand is a shambles of an old stand which has been condemned and is permanently boarded up. Once again, as at Accrington Stanley, the media have to be quite brave to ascend to the media gantry which is on top of the roof of this stand.The dug outs are in front of this empty stand and I suppose it does have the benefit of putting the staff and substitutes some way from any critical spectators if things are not going well. It is difficult to see quite how the Bishop Street Stand could be improved or rebuilt as at this point the ground is hard up against residential and commercial premises.
There is what appears to be a training pitch running along behind the car park by the Ian Greaves Stand. At either end of the ground there are two similar single tier stands which are of a similar age to the main stand. The stand at the Quarry Lane End also houses the club reception and offices and the changing rooms. The players tunnel is situated at the Ian Greaves Stand end of the Quarry Lane End. Built in to the back of the Ian Greaves Stand is the Sandy Pate Sports Bar, named after a former Mansfield player who used to hold the club appearance record.. During my visit all the offices etc were closed up tight (it was a Sunday) and this bar represented my only hope of entry to the ground. And, once again, someone turned up trumps, finding enough time in their busy morning cooking Sunday lunch for the fans, to let me in to the ground for a wander round.
As with pretty much every ground I have been to this season, there are plans to further improve the stadium, but financial constraints mean that these plans are at present in abeyance.
That concluded this round of ground visits and I drove away happily towards home. I might mention again, for the benefit of anyone who has stumbled across these rambling jottings, that if you click on the pictures you get a slide show which, I think, presents the pictures in a much clearer way.
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