If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, Why am I so Sad?

Saturday, 26 April, just two games to go this season and I'm heading off to the South coast for our last away game. AFC Bournemouth, nicknamed the Cherries, play at Dean Court in Boscombe which is currently known as The Goldsands Stadium under a sponsorship deal, though I'll bet you don't know or care what Goldsands do when they are not sponsoring football clubs.

I have long wondered if sponsors of sports events really get their money's worth or if it's a vanity project. Though it doesn't matter either way to me if it pays to keep my favourite sport going. The club was formed when a local lads club was dissolved and adopted the name Boscombe FC. This was in 1899, but the club, in a similar way to other clubs, claim establishment from the date of the lads club formation. The club played their matches in those days on King's Park, which is the large park, still there, next door to the present ground. In 1910, their president, Mr Cooper-Dean granted the club a piece of spare ground next to the park on a long lease on which to play their home games, hence Dean Court.

The first football game I ever went to was at Dean Court about 65 years ago. I have family in the area and my mother (who hated football) offered to take me to a match. I loved it!

The Dean Court of my youth and today is vastly different. Not only has the stadium been completely rebuilt, but it has also been realigned, with the pitch rotated 90 degrees from the original position. The redevelopment of the ground took place in 2001, moving it away from nearby housing and with three brand new stands.

The South End of the ground was left open (as at Oxford United), but the new South Stand (named after Ted McDougall, a free-scoring centre forward) was built following promotion to the championship in 2013. Opposite this stand is the Steve Fletcher Stand, named after another favourite of the club, the player who scored the goal in the last 10 minutes of the last home match of the  2008/2009 season which retained Football League status for Bournemouth after they had faced almost certain relegation to the Conference.

I like the Goldsands Stadium. It is a neat and tidy ground with no frills, but the views from the stands are good, there is plenty of space to move around the ground and car parking if you want it. However, as usual, I parked away from the ground adjacent to the A338 for a quick getaway as I was driving over to Taunton straight after the match in preparation for my next visits. There are now four stands round the pitch, three of them pretty much identical with the newer South Stand as the smaller, odd one out. They are all single tier. On the windshields at each end of each stand are giant photographs of events in the club 's recent history, though I have no idea what story they are trying to tell.

The players tunnel and dugouts are in the centre of the Main Stand (The C4L Main Stand) with a small video screen at the South end of it.



I wandered around outside the ground. The car park opposite the Main Stand is for players and executives of the club, the spectators car park is further down behind the South Stand, both areas are well surfaced and neatly laid out. Continuing round outside the ground I came upon the club training ground just behind the East Stand. Beyond that is an athletics track and grandstand which has no connection to the club, but adds to the sporty open feel of the area.

Behind the East Stand there is a decorated wall bearing pictures of teams, events and players notable in the history of the club. In the East stand there is a gymnasium and facilities for Young Players.

Continuing round I came upon the Jubilee Gates and the Cherries wall of remembrance.
The Jubilee Gates are, on one side, commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic FC in 1960, and on the other,  "DCFSC Founded 1957". Something to do with Dean Court I presumed, but I forgot to ask, so maybe I'll never know now. Also on the side of the Main Stand in this area is the Corporate Brick Wall; not a brick wall at all, but a representation of one on the aluminium siding of the stand. I presume this is a very new venture because it is embarrassingly empty at the moment.

The club was renamed in 1923 as Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic FC and this name remained until shortened in 1972 to the present AFC Bournemouth, completely removing the Boscombe element, though my Uncle John (in his 90s and with all his marbles) still refers to them simply as "Boscombe". I believe, though, that the club are still registered as Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic, using AFC Bournemouth as a trading name.

Bournemouth have had some success over the years, most notably in the FA Cup, (in fact beating Manchester United in 1984 when Utd were holders of the trophy), but in 2008 they nearly went out of business. The young manager Eddie Howe, a former player, was appointed and managed to avoid relegation from the League. Since then he has, in two periods with the club, lifted them to Championship status and, this season, so nearly to the playoffs, only failing to do so with a couple of games left in the season. Technically they could still have qualified for the playoffs at the start of our game with them, but the circumstances required to make that happen were so unlikely that they had accepted failure. We also still needed others to fail, but at least, there was a good chance of success, but only if we won our remaining matches.

The game at the CG earlier in the season ended in a 1-1 draw. Forest led for much of that game thanks to a superb Lansbury goal, but Bournemouth managed to equalise in the first minute of added time at the end of the match. Not the first time and it wasn't to be the last time that we dropped points from a winning position during the season.

The team for this game was similar to that at Leeds, though Jamie Paterson was absent, so Lee Peltier came in to replace him (he had been unable to play against his parent club due to the terms of his loan) as the only change.   The match saw us completely outplayed by a skilful and nippy team. They carved out quite a number of chances, but as half time approached the game was still scoreless. However, in the last few minutes of the half Derbyshire spurned a fine one-on-one chance to put us ahead and Bournemouth came straight back to score from a cross from the right. The ball went over to the back post and was nodded in leaving de Vries and Lascelles sprawling in the back of the net. 1-0.

Didn't stay that way for long, though. Straight from the kick off the Cherries mounted attacks and scored their second after only three minutes, the ball breaking to their leading scorer Grabban and he fired across the goalie for number two. However, we came back and from an Osborn free kick on the left, Halford headed beyond Camp, our former player in goal for Bournemouth. Not long after, from a corner, Halford had another golden chance, this time the ball dropping to his feet, but from six yards out he ballooned a sharp chance over the bar. Our hopes went with that effort as Bournemouth scored two more goals in the closing minutes of the match. The first from a penalty and the second in injury time as we pressed at the other end. As at QPR, I felt the score was not a fair reflection of our players efforts, but Bournemouth were decidedly the better team on the day.

The Bournemouth fans were in buoyant mood and invaded the pitch at the final whistle, many of them laying siege to our section of the East Stand. The local police and stewards adopted the age-old tactic for dealing with trouble; do nothing and hope it goes away, merely forming a wall of police in front of us with the stewards a few yards away on the pitch. One policeman was standing in front of his colleagues with a video camera glued to his eye filming the away fans. I thought this somewhat provocative tactic had gone out years ago with sophisticated camera techniques now available in the police control room. After a few spirited choruses of our MOK and some other chants (not all complimentary to Bournemouth and surrounding area) most of our fans slunk away and the situation was defused.

I wandered back to the car, brushing past Jamaal Lascelles who was talking animatedly to a family who had been sitting in front of me at the match, and left for Taunton and my next hotel. I suppose the fact that so many Bournemouth fans had remained in the ground meant that traffic was not as dense as it might have been because I was on the main dual carriageway out of town within about fifteen minutes. My Taunton hotel was by the M5 motorway and I arrived in good time. The attached restaurant boasted a carvery and I had a couple of cuts off the joint to enjoy a good meal to console myself for the virtual end of our season and to set myself up for climbing Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons the next day.

On Sunday I set off for the mountain. I wanted to take a photograph of myself in celebration of completing my selection on the mountain nearly 50 years ago. My first attempt earlier in the season (after the Swansea and Cardiff visits at the end of October) had been foiled because of the approach of one of those many violent storms we had during the winter. This time was to be no better, though I actually did climb the mountain. But the low cloud, pouring rain and quite strong wind foiled my efforts again. I carried the tripod up and down in my arms, much as we used to carry our rifles in  those far off days, (we weren't allowed slings, that would have been too easy) with the camera in a waterproof bag slung around my neck, but the weather was so bad I did not dare to take the camera out of it's protection. Ah, well, I suppose I had the exercise and the exhilaration of actually going up again, though I couldn't see anything.

So back to the hotel and a good rest prior to leaving for Exeter, Plymouth and Torquay to visit my last three grounds on the Monday. I had high hopes that visiting on a working day would mean three more visits inside the grounds. Off down the M5 to Exeter first. I got a bit lost, as usual, but the route I eventually chose was probably a better route and as I came off the roundabout onto the Old Tiverton Road, I saw St James' Road. I thought this was sure to be correct, but in fact I was on the wrong side of the ground. Stadium Way, the correct address, is a tiny little alleyway leading to the ground and is just up the road. Two policemen happened to be loitering near the back of the ground so I took directions from them.

Exeter City FC was formed in 1904 through a union between Exeter United and St Sidwell's United. Exeter United played at St James' Park in Exeter and the new club continued to use the ground and still do. Like many other clubs Exeter have had financial problems in recent times and the club is nowadays run by a Supporters Trust. The Trust were greatly helped when Exeter came out of the draw with a windfall FA Cup match against Manchester United in the early days of their stewardship which enabled debts to be cleared. The club nickname is the Grecians, though the fans I spoke to at the ground had no idea why. One thought it had something to do with St Sidwell's being beyond the City walls and the nickname Grecians being attached to them and thus transferred to the new club.

The ground is three stands and an open terracing (for the away fans). One of the stands, the Grandstand (which appears to be officially the Stagecoach South West Family Stand), is single tiered and is the only stand that has not been redeveloped and only stretches for part of the way down the far side of the ground. During my early drive around the ground trying to find the main reception, I had driven behind this stand and noticed that the railway line, which has a station right behind the ground called "St James' Park(Exeter)", cuts across the back of the ground forcing the cut-off of the Grandstand and the the Big Bank Stand.

There are turnstiles at the rear of  Grandstand which take you pretty much from the station into the side of the ground. The Big Bank Stand is, in fact, a terrace rebuilt at the turn of this century and clearly shows, at the Grandstand end of the terracing, the cut-off effect of the railway line as the stand slopes inwards.

The other new stand is the Flybe Stand, also single tier, with some executive boxes in the middle at the back. Above these boxes, attached to the underside of the roof, is the TV and Media gantry accessed by a  ladder which stands amongst the seating.
The players tunnel and dugouts are in the centre of the stand and "ECFC" is picked out on the seats. The main reception is at the rear of the Flybe Stand as are the main matchday corporate facilities, changing rooms and  club shop. At the end of this stand is a wall of bricks which doesn't look like the usual "In Memorian" wall, but more of a monument highlighting the people whose efforts (financial or voluntary)  have enabled the club to keep going as a Supporters Trust.

Also hard by the Flybe Stand, but with a separate entrance on St James' Road, is The Park, a venue for business or private events from weddings to conferences. Adjacent to the ground is the former St James' School buildings which have been taken over by the club and converted for use in the football in the community programme.

There are no floodlight pylons, all the lighting required being provided by the lights along the side of the pitch and on the roof of the Grandstand and Flybe Stand. Immediately beside the dugouts and also at the front of the Big Bank Stand are places for disabled supporters and painted on the upper terracing of the Big Bank stand is a heart in the club colours.
In the corner of the ground between the Grandstand and the St James' Terracing is a building constructed of two containers, one atop the other, which I presume is the police control post.

I stuck my head into the reception and asked the young lady there if it was possible to pop my into the ground for a couple of minutes. Possible and with no delay. She marched off to the end of the Flybe Stand, let us both in and patiently stood by whilst I took my photos. All this with a smile. Again, as with so many of the grounds I have visited, I was taken by the charm and grace of the people there, who took time to help me, even though I just turn up with no prior appointment. As I left her I stopped to chat with a couple of fans of the Grecians who were happy to answer my questions and just chat about our respective teams  and football in general.

I like the smaller St James' Park. A real football ground run by supporters who care.

Off now to Home Park, Plymouth. The weather was, by now, beautiful, sunny and warm. Quite unlike the atrocious weather of Sunday which had foiled my photographic mission up Pen y Fan. I arrived in Plymouth, found the ground easily, but again could not find a way in. The ground seems cut off from the main road running past it, by a very large car park which is beside the Plymouth Life Centre (a large aquatic and sporting venue), and the very complicated one way system in the area.

However, the car park is free, so rather than try to find my way out onto the road running up to the football ground, I left the car and walked the short distance to the main office buildings of Home Park, home of Plymouth Argyle FC.

The club was founded in 1886, but went out of existence for a brief period before reforming in 1897 and turning professional in 1903. They entered the Football League when the league was expanded by adding a Division 3 in 1920/1. The reason for adoption of the name "Argyle" by the first club is not now known, but the use of the name has continued through the various incarnations of the club. The club nickname is the 'Pilgrims' for obvious reasons and the club crest features the Mayflower ship.

I wandered into the car park area, found the reception and asked if it was possible to pop into the ground. After a short consultation with her superiors, the young lady said it was no problem. Just go through the gate across the road and there you are. I was overjoyed, a beautiful sunny day and a chance to look around unhindered. The team were out playing head tennis or something and took no notice of me as I looked around and took my pictures.

Home Park has been the home of the football club since 1901 and was substantially damaged by bombing in WWII. The present Grandstand dates from the 1952 rebuild after the war, but the rest of the ground was completely rebuild in phases during 2001 and 2002.
The Grandstand originally had a lower terrace and an upper seating area. At present the terrace has been cleaned off and looks disused, which leaves a lower seating area in the Grandstand in front of a bar and restaurant area and a line of boxes which in turn are surmounted by an upper tier of seating.

At one end of the Grandstand is a police control post and at the other end is a very small corner stand set at an angle to the main stand. The players tunnel rises out of the disused terrace pretty much on the halfway line and the dugouts are situated on either side of it.

The rest of the ground is in stark contrast to the ramshackle Main Stand. The three rebuilt stands, looking very smart, are joined at the corners and form a dominant U-shape, wrapping around the pitch.
They are single tier seating in green with "PAFC" picked out in white seats opposite the Grandstand and white seats picking out a single white line edged with black extending round the rest of the stands. I couldn't see any names on the stands except one end was marked as the "Vision Away Stand".

At the back of the Grandstand are a collection of temporary buildings, Argyle Retail Village, housing the main reception and administrative offices of the club as well as the club superstore and the Pyramid Suite, a small entertainment venue.

I understand that the club has plans to redevelop this area as well as the Grandstand. At the corner of the car park just to the rear of the Grandstand is a turnstile block which appears to be the only part of Home Park to survive the bombing, as the block displays a plaque noting that it was "Erected by the Plymouth Argyle Supporters Club during the presidency of A C Ballard Esq. 1936".

I walked back down beside the impressive new stands to the car, found my way out (much easier than getting in) and headed to Torquay. This was going to be quite a difficult journey for this route-challenged person as the ground of Torquay United FC  is situated close by the coast in an area of residential housing with no clear main road running by. However, when again I took the wrong route, I set the sat nav and found that I had accidentally put myself on the most direct road to the ground. Which is in the Plainmoor area of Torquay so is, quite logically, called Plainmoor. I had parked in Plainmoor Road and thought that road had given the name to the ground, but found out otherwise later. I had so nearly parked in the small car park at the side of the ground, but discovered that this car park is actually for members of Torquay United Indoor Bowls Club, whose rink is attached to the West Stand of Plainmoor, with an entrance adjacent to the bar and restaurant of Torquay United, 'Boots & Laces' which is open daily throughout the year and not just on match days.

Plainmoor is the 92nd and last ground to visit this season and, ironically, on the day I visited, was the 92nd and last club in the Football League, with their relegation to the Combination confirmed.
So it was with a sort of sad and slightly embarrassed feeling that I entered the reception area and explained that I was visiting every football league ground and would they mind if I wandered around and took some photos. It was not a problem, a young and keen supporter was detailed to guide me round and off we went. The first thing I saw on entering the ground was an interview in progress between the chairman of the club and the local TV station taking place on a corner of the pitch.

Torquay United FC were originally formed in 1899, then later, in 1910, merged with another local club to form Torquay Town. After years of local rivalry, a final merger took place in 1921 and the name of the club so formed reverted to Torquay United. This sequence of mergers was mainly due to the desire of United to enter the Football League and finally achieve parity with their Devon rivals, Exeter and Plymouth. Finally, the Gulls achieved their objective and gained admittance to Division 3(S) in 1927/8 season, though they finished dead last in that first season, but survived re-election and stayed in the League for the next 80 years until 2007. They had had their share of financial troubles throughout that time, however, and that final season summed up their problems. A chaotic post-season with sackings and changes of chairmen resulted in Leroy Rosenior reportedly being removed from the manager's position after just 10 minutes in the job!Torquay bounced back to the Football League after just two years out, in 2009, but again dropped down at the end of this season.

The 1910 merger with Ellacombe resulted in Torquay Town playing at Plainmoor, which was Ellacombe's ground, and the club has been there ever since. The ground was used by the local rugby club for some years before the football clubs started to use it. The Main Reception and club offices are situated in the Sondico Family Stand which is at the Southern end of the ground. Thus the Directors Box and other executive boxes are situated behind the goal at Plainmoor instead of at the side of the ground as is usual at most clubs. The Sondico Stand is single tier and all seated, with a rather nice clock complete with the club crest above the Director's Box.

All sides of the ground have been rebuilt since the 1990s.

Bristow's Bench is the name given to the all-seater stand running down the East side of the ground which was built in time for the 2012/13 season. This is so-called because of the generous support given to the club by the late Paul Bristow after a lottery win. The changing rooms are in this stand, with the dugouts straddling the half way line, but with the player's entry to the field off-set towards the Sondico Stand end. I say player's entry rather than tunnel because the players arrive on the ground through a rather anonymous grey door set into the raised section of the stand.


The other corner of the ground consists of two covered terraces, again rather neat and modern. Down the side of the ground is the Popular Terrace (where my amiable guide proudly showed me exactly where he stood to watch games, underneath a flag proclaiming him and his fellow fans "Fanatics") which has a neat TV gantry built into the roof. At the end of the ground is another covered terrace (I didn't discover the official name for this stand) which houses the police control box and also a large video screen between it and the Popular Stand.

There are four floodlight pylons at each corner of the ground with one bearing the almost inevitable mobile phone aerials. It was a beautiful sunny day with the sea shimmering in the distance as I drove away; the setting seemed just too relaxed and genteel for a football club. Torquay have fought back before, I hope they do it again, because I had a good feeling about the club.

It was an odd feeling to have completed my task, to visit all 92 league clubs in one season whilst following my own club home and away. Just one game to go, against Brighton at the CG. Earlier in the season we were wondering if this game would decide which one of us would get into the playoffs. Well, it has sort of worked out that way; we stand no chance, but if results fall right, Brighton could still make it into the top 6, so our lads can't get out their buckets and spades just yet.