Savaged by the Sheep

Well, here we are at last, the second of the fixtures every Forest fan looks for when the fixture list comes out in June. And, at the ripe old age of 71, my first time in Derby. So, of course, my first visit to Pride Park or the iPro as it's now called. There is no doubt it is the iPro Stadium as virtually every flat surface has the name stuck on it.

Also my first drive along Brian Clough Way as the road (the A52) linking the two cities is now called. The club moved from their old ground , the Baseball Ground which had been their home since 1895, to Pride Park in 1997. The Baseball Ground had in fact been used for baseball for a short period before football took over. The club nickname is the Rams, which stems from an association with the local Militia many years ago, who had a ram as their regimental mascot. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888, only four years after it's formation in 1884.

First impressions of Pride Park; very similar to the Riverside and the Stadium of Light, a plain 'bowl'. One large main stand and the rest just wrapping around the pitch. The only slight variation with those two is the executive boxes squeezed in the corner between the Main Stand (Toyota West Stand) and the North Stand. As with so many other grounds the stands bear impossibly long sponsorship titles which just exhaust my typing skills. The ground does give the impression of being very business-like and well run, with everything sponsored from the West Stand car park (VW) to the time added on at the end of each half. The Main Stand has two tiers with further executive boxes along the mid-line, a media centre at the top of the stand behind the top row of seats, the players tunnel and dugouts.
Alongside the home dugout is a bust of Steve Bloomer, at least that's what I'm told. I wasn't allowed to walk round to photograph it and my efforts to do so at long range were mostly thwarted by a steward in a bright high vis jacket who stood in front of it the whole game. Seems odd to have a bust of a hero where practically nobody can see it.

For me the main interest on my walk around the ground was the statue of BC and Peter Taylor, who were together the whole time that BC was manager at Derby.

 Peter Taylor nominally being his assistant but in reality his equal, one organising the playing side and the other the transfers in and out. In fact one of the reasons Brian cites for their bust up with the Derby board is one of the directors questioning Peter Taylor's role at the club. Anyway they left eventually and after a time moved to the City Ground, to complete a remarkable career together. For the pair were both volatile characters and had always had violent disagreements, which would finally cripple their partnership in 1982 when Taylor, after breaking their partnership because he was tired and unwell, returned to football as manager of Derby County!! The crowning insult was the signing of John Robertson by Taylor without telling Brian Clough, which led to BC resolving never to talk to him again.

At the back of the East Stand is the police control box, which has on odd sort of garden shed appearance when viewed from the outside.

The ground is situated in a retail park/industrial estate which does mean there are plenty of places to eat and park around the ground. Plus hotels,  mine was within easy walking distance making parking easy and giving me a good jumping off spot for my ground visits the next day.

A modern functional ground with little to distinguish it from others of it's ilk. And, with the club colours being black and white, nothing colourful about it. However, my reservations about the ground have not stopped Derby and their manager, a chap who left a few clubs and the National team under a cloud, from being right at the pointy end of this season's Championship. At the time of the game they were in third position, remote from the top two but securely in the playoffs, despite not scoring for, apparently, 365 minutes going back to 22 February. Forest are also on a pretty poor run, winless in seven games and playing poorly into the bargain.

The game itself started fairly evenly, but after just six minutes went downhill for the Reds. 3-0 at half time and 5-0 at the end. Just about everything went right for them and nothing for us, though, in truth, we didn't deserve anything. Billy Davies disappeared sharpish down the tunnel at the end and, though we didn't know it then, out of our lives. For he was sacked by Fawaz on the Sunday, though nothing appeared until the Monday morning when it was first noted that Billy's staff had not arrived at the training ground.

This was all in the future. I went back to the hotel trying to pretend that I was just an ordinary tourist totally bemused by the antics of the grinning and happy home fans. I slept well and went out into the bright Sunday morning sunshine with renewed vigour. It didn't last, the sunshine I mean. By the time I had made the short journey down to Burton Albion's ground, the Pirelli Stadium, it was raining. And the weather was to stay like that all day, classic sunshine and showers, which meant timing my visits to coincide with the brighter periods if possible.

I found the Pirelli Stadium quite easily because I was alerted as I passed a gigantic building impressed with the name "Pirelli National Distribution Centre".
 I have had trouble finding the way in to the car park at a lot of grounds and here was no different. I drove down the main road, not seeing an entrance to the ground, to a roundabout and, as the stadium is nestled neatly in the junction of the roads, I went right round the roundabout and drove slowly up the road until I saw a sign welcoming me to the Pirelli Stadium.  In I went and round to the front of the stadium, which reminded me of Morecambe's ground, the Globe Arena. Which is not really surprising because I have since read that the Pirelli was a model for that stadium.

It is my habit to check doors as I walk around the grounds I visit and, blow me, I found the front door (to the main reception) open. In I go. No one about. I wander upstairs and find a gentleman diligently vacuuming a carpet in a function room on the first floor. I ask him if it is possible to see around the ground. He told me he had no authority, but directed me to the players tunnel when there was a member of the ground staff working, so I walked down to make my request to a very startled kit man. He explained that not that long ago there had been an unauthorised entry by some ruffians which had necessitated a call to the police and it had rather shaken him up. So he is now keen on security. However, he soon recovered his composure and very kindly allowed me to take my photos and wander round, a very nice man.

The Pirelli Stadium is relatively new, being first used in 2005. It is built on the former site of the tyre company's sports club which was donated to the club in exchange for naming rights. At the time the Brewers, an obvious nickname for a club situated in a town world renowned for brewing, were in the Football Combination, but achieved league status in 2009. Strangely, they were not the first club from Burton to play in the Football League. In the late nineteenth century two teams from Burton played in Football League division 2; indeed for three seasons (1894-1897) Burton Swifts and Burton Wanderers played in that league at the same time. Shortly thereafter they amalgamated as Burton United and stayed in the league only until 1907. They folded soon after leaving yet another club, Burton All Saints, as the town team. But they went out of business as well in 1940 and it wasn't until Burton Albion were formed in 1950 that the town had another team.

The stadium is simple in design. There is a large all-seated main stand housing the club offices, changing rooms etc which dominates the ground. The other three stands are almost identically designed shallow  terraces (although, of course, the one opposite the main stand is longer than the others) which each have a small cafe/snack bar or function room situated at the back of the stand. The East Terrace (Coors Stand) just advertises a snack bar menu, but the other stands invite you to "The Vera Goode Suite" and "The Tom Eccleshall Suite". It is worth mentioning that the groundsman regularly receives awards and praise for the quality of the pitch. There is one score board/video screen, fixed to the fascia of the Coors Stand, which effectively prevents the away fans from seeing whatever is on there.

It was a cold, damp day and the wind was getting up, so I decided to make tracks to my next ground, the Britannia Stadium, home of Stoke City.

The journey to the Britannia was an easy one even for this "route challenged" person. As it was I was merrily bowling along when I suddenly realised the stadium was there on my left. A hasty, but smooth turn off and past a myriad of car sales showrooms to the large main car park. Stoke City FC were formed as Stoke Ramblers in 1863 making them the second oldest league club and just two years older than Forest. They became Stoke City in 1925 after the town of Stoke-on-Trent was elevated to city status. The club moved to their present ground in 1997 after playing at the Victoria Ground since 1878. They were founder members of the Football League in 1888, though they dropped out in 1890 after failing to gain re-election, their place going to Sunderland, but in the following year, 1891-2, the league was expanded to two leagues and Stoke were re-admitted. The nickname of the club is the Potters, a nod to the dominant industry of the area.

On the day I visited Stoke were playing away so the ground was locked up and deserted. I wandered around. The ground was built on the site of Stafford No2 Colliery, which closed in 1969, and is on a plateau high above the city so is very windy if the weather is the least bit inclement, but it also, because of the elevated position, appears in splendid isolation.

The Main Stand is on it's own as is the stand next to it, the South or Marston Pedigree Stand. The other corner of the ground is two stands (The Boothen End and the Novus Stand) joined at the corner forming a continuous whole. In between the South Stand and the Novus Stand is a large video screen which effectively prevents anyone standing on the earth bank behind it from seeing into the stadium. I took up position on this bank trying to take photos into the ground and found the screen perfectly positioned to prevent a decent view of the playing surface.

Stanley Matthews was a great hero of my youth (I once sent him a birthday card whilst he was at Blackpool and received a nice handwritten reply) and his presence at Stoke is noted in several ways. He was born in one of the six towns of Stoke (Hanley) and supported Port Vale as a lad, but eventually signed for Stoke City where he spent, in total, nineteen years, playing over 300 games for them. On the front of the Main Stand are two large posters of players, one of whom is Stan. I thought this to be a bit poorly printed, but when I got close-up I noted his picture is superimposed over many hundreds of pictures of Stoke fans, a sort of mosaic. This gives the printing on the poster, "Proud to be a Potter", a double meaning.
Also, in a small garden area behind the Boothen End is a statue to Stanley Matthews consisting of three statues (a sort of sculptural triptych) demonstrating his amazing body swerve. The address of the club is Stanley Matthews Way and, finally, his ashes were buried under the centre spot.

Behind the Boothen End is Delilah's Bar, a reference to one of the songs that the Potters fans sing. The players tunnel comes out at the Marston Pedigree Stand end of the Main Stand though the dug outs are in the middle of the stand. A fine ground in which the Stoke fans create a great atmosphere, which would be even louder if the proposed closing of the gap between the Novus and South Stand ever takes place. There is a "Wall of Fame" in one corner of the Main Stand for remembering Potters fans who have passed on.

It was cold and windy and more rain was approaching. I was unlikely to see more (I had already nearly fallen off a wall trying to photograph the Main Stand) so I set off to find Port Vale FC at their ground, Vale Park, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, noting that they are one of the few clubs whose name gives no idea of their geographical location. Just a short hop and a skip up the road.

This again proved quite easy to find and I dived into the first gateway I found, which proved not to be the correct one, but which, nevertheless, gave me a parking spot right next to Tommy Cheadle's Pub,
a reference to an ex Vale player who came into football late (another whose career was broken or delayed by WWII). A hard defender he suffered so many head injuries it is reported his team mates nicknamed him "wooden head".

The real entrance to the ground was up some stairs by the pub and a winding road round to the back of the main stand where there are offices, changing rooms and, as I was to find out, the physio's room. The ground appeared to be shut up tight, so I took a few photos of the stand and the statue representing the Sproson family, particularly Roy Sproson who played well over 800 games for the Valiants. Other members of the family also played many times for Port Vale.

The club origins, both formation and naming, are lost in the mists of time, but are recorded as being in the 1870s. They have played at Vale Park since 1950.

I hung about outside the ground working out my tactics, as the ground is pressed in by housing on one side, a small industrial area on the other and Hamil Road running along the front, none of the areas giving very atmospheric photographic opportunities. However, just at that moment, a very nice car drew up in front of the Lorne Street Stand. Thinking an executive of the club had arrived to audit the books or whatever, I approached the surprisingly young man who emerged. It turned out he was an injured player come for a bit of physiotherapy prior to their next match on Tuesday (actually, I didn't bring them much luck because they lost that match to Bristol City 5-0 and the manager was so irritated he had a bit of a heated exchange with a section of the travelling support) and I was invited in whilst permission was sought for me to see inside the ground.

The groundsman duly arrived and allowed me a brief tour of the ground. There are four stands of varying ages. The newest, the Lorne Street Stand, is still not completed having only had half the seats installed,

with a large lower tier, a row of executive boxes and a much smaller upper tier. The Betbright Stand opposite is much smaller with two tiers of seats.
This stand is joined to the GMB Union Stand by a sort of cricket pavilion type stand which apparently is the oldest part of the ground. The GMB Union Stand is similar in appearance to the Betbright Stand and is also connected to the Main Stand so achieving a coherent whole.

At the other end of the pitch is the single tiered Signal1 Stand which houses the away supporters and the scoreboard which dangles from the roof, at such a height that it looks as if it might impact on the sight-line of the spectators in the top row of seats.

Thus, as at the Pirelli, the away supporters are denied a sight of the scoreboard. Between this stand and the Betbright Stand is the police control box. The floodlight poles have, on some of them, the mobile phone antennae so familiar around the country these days.

After a long and very wet season, the pitch looked in excellent condition and I note that the groundsman has been commended on numerous occasions on the quality of his pitch. I thanked him, said goodbye to the players in the treatment room (wishing them success in their upcoming match against Notts County) and left to go to Crewe. I got into the car just in time as another cloudburst descended on the area.

It's strange, but true that many football league clubs (and, for the purposes of my trips, all clubs whether belonging to the FL or Premier League are football league clubs) are grouped in small pockets around the country. The Staffordshire group are no exception, so I only had a short drive to my next club, Crewe Alexandra FC, one of those clubs with a unique suffix to their name, though the origins of the name are uncertain, opinion being divided between the Princess Alexandra or the Princess pub! They were formed in 1877 and first played at the Alexandra Recreation Ground before leaving there on a peripatetic journey around Crewe to finally settle at the current Gresty Road site (still officially the Alexandra Stadium) in 1906, which is pretty much in the same location as the original Alexandra ground. The ground is hard by one of the most important railway sites and junctions in the country so it's no surprise that one of the nicknames of the club is the Railwaymen, though I spoke to a couple of supporters and a steward and they all referred to their club as The Alex.

I arrived in the vicinity of the ground, passed over the railway bridge which was my main ID point and had noted Gresty Road was first turn left. I was surprised to find that the road was like a byroad, very narrow and rather insignificant, but discovered that it is only like this at the top end, it broadens out on it's junction with South Street. I turned into the car park entrance to be met by a steward who refused me entry because this was the start/finish point of a cycle race. So I drove down Gresty Road and parked in a side street, no hardship. Actually I was glad that there was an event taking place because that usually means that there are club officials about somewhere. And so it turned out. After a couple of false starts, I met a charming young man who escorted me into the ground after checking that I really did only want a few minutes of his time. We got into the ground and undercover only just in time. The rain started sheeting down again, so much so that I thought it might actually affect some of my photographs, but as happened throughout the day, the rain was soon over and I could venture out.

The Main Stand (the Air Products Stand) built in 1999 dominates the ground and after looking at the various satellite images available it is easy to see why the club had to develop in this way, because the ground is hemmed in on all the other sides, growing out into the large car park was the only way to go. The other stands in the ground were also built in the 1990s to make the ground all-seater.

Opposite the main stand is the quaintly named Ice Cream Van Stand ( originally the Popular Side) with CAFC picked out in black on the red seats. At first glance the two ends of the ground look identical, but the Railway End (I couldn't see a sponsor name on it anywhere) has executive boxes running along the back whilst the Absolute Recruitment Stand (the Gresty Road End) has slightly more seats and no executive boxes.

The Pop side has a media box on the mid line of the roof and, at the Gresty Road end, a police control box partly built into the stand. The floodlight pylons here are just, as at Vale Park,  floodlight poles with those adjacent to the Main Stand having additional lights halfway up the pole.

I left Gresty Road to their cycle race, the retail stalls and booming music to make my way home. Well, not quite. Earlier in the season I had not quite completed my visits to West Bromwich Albion or Walsall so, as I was on the M6 and they are just a stone's throw off that road, I thought I would try them again. A total waste of time!! The Banks's Stadium, better known to most as the  Bescot Stadium, home of Walsall, was still submerged in the usual Sunday market which I had hoped would be packing up at this time of the day. No chance, the stalls were still hard up to the stadium walls, the stall holders doing a roaring trade and, as far as I could ascertain, the stadium itself shut up tight.

So I moved on to the Hawthorns, home of West Brom, after extricating myself from the retail traffic around Walsall. I had, on my last visit, been promised access to the stadium if there was no match the previous day. I had checked, there was no match the previous day to cause me a problem, so I felt in buoyant mood. This was soon dashed.  A dapper individual, rather a smart aleck (anyone who opens the conversation calling me 'young man' when he's at least twenty years younger than me deserves no respect) was just checking in a stadium tour and flatly denied me access for even five minutes. Actually he wanted me to pay £10 and join his tour, which lasted two hours. Not wishing to spend that time in his company, I told him it was his ground and he could do what he liked with it. I left, a bit miffed. Actually, a lot miffed

So I drove home. I had met so many people really enthusiastic about their ground and club and ready to spare five minutes of their time to help me, that it was disappointing at the last stop to meet such a person. Still it takes all sorts.