Watford and Some Other Delights of the East

As explained earlier, this trip was amended, after the original planning, by the belated decision of Sky to televise our game, shifting it to Sunday, 25 August. As I had booked hotel already, I was unable to change that without incurring a financial loss, so just switched days. It meant that I had to arrange to be at Northampton Town's ground, Sixfields, and MK Dons Stadium, rather originally called Stadium MK,  during their games or be embroiled in the pre-match traffic and policing arrangements. Stevenage were away to Notts County, so it didn't matter when I arrived there; as it happened I didn't get to the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage until Sunday morning.

The weather was rather dodgy on this Saturday, with heavy rain and possible thunderstorms forecast for the Eastern Counties. In fact, as I set off, it started raining and didn't stop until I got into the vicinity of Northampton. Sixfields was easy to find and I got there just after kick-off. I found it easy to park right outside the stadium. I had a chat to two very friendly stewards, one of whom allowed me to enter the stadium, stand in one corner and take a couple of photos of the interior of the ground. Trying not to impose too much on his kindness and being a pretty rotten photographer I managed to take two poor photos. I propped my companion Brian on a rubbish bin for one shot and now have a picture of a red-faced cuddly toy and a wheelie bin with a strip of grass just visible. Anyway, I thanked him, left the ground and started climbing. The ground is partly cut into the side of a hill, so it is possible to see inside the ground, without seeing too much of the pitch, by standing atop the hill. I only climbed half way up because time was marching on and I still had to get to Milton Keynes before their game ended.

I liked Sixfields Stadium, a proper football ground.

I got off to a bad start in MK. All the roads look alike and every road is interrupted by roundabouts every few hundred yards. I followed the signs to Stadium MK. Although this took me off the route I had planned, I thought I was fireproof. Not so, in a very British way, the signs ceased when I was in the middle of nowhere. Eventually by driving in what I thought was the general direction of the ground, I located it, as had thousands of other people, none of whom had any interest in football. Stadium MK is rather like a giant prison dropped into the middle of a retail park. It has high walls, covered in black, shiny tiles, with few relieving characteristics save a few windows. There are no signs visible that this is in fact the home of a football team. What I took to be the main entrance is in fact a hotel. The main MK Dons reception area is a rather anonymous door set into the gloomy walls in the shadow of the hotel. The steward I spoke to was very stern and unfriendly. Not interested in my quest in any way. I took a few photos and left. An uninspiring ground in an uninspiring town.

The weather was still gloomy but dryish. As I took my pictures of Stadium MK a large black cloud loomed up. Just as I left, the heavens opened. I made my way to Stevenage, but it was much too wet to try to visit their ground that evening. The forecast for Sunday was better, so I left that visit for later.

After a very comfortable night and sustained by a full English breakfast, I visited Stevenage's ground before going to Watford for our game. Another proper football ground, obviously the pride and joy of the football club, evidenced by the fact that someone has recently planted a border of small shrubs by the executive car park. OK, it's the car park for the posh people, but still a nice little touch. Stevenage have recently removed the "Borough" from their name, but the little brick frieze at the entrance to the ground still bears the initials SBFC.

Like so many of the smaller clubs, the ground is constructed of four stands rather than the boring "bowls" preferred by many of the so-called "bigger" clubs. Although it is right on a roundabout, the ground gives the impression of being in a much more rural setting and is surrounded on three sides by trees. It also seems much cosier than many other clubs, not being surrounded by acres of asphalt, as their main car park is situated across the road.

I managed to photograph a small section of the interior of the ground by pointing my camera through two of the bolt holes in the doors to the ground. Not very inspiring photos, but the best I could do in the circumstances. Clubs nowadays have taken to spelling out the name of the club or putting other messages by using different coloured seats in the stands. Stevenage obviously decided that leaving 'BORO' spelled out in the stands was preferable to buying new seating.

Then on to Watford's Vicarage Road ground for the main business of the weekend, the game between the top two in the Championship, at least, it would have been if we had played on Saturday. It was a fine game, played between two teams who wanted to win. Having said that, it finished 1-1, though, probably being slightly biased, I thought that we deserved to win if only for having more and better chances. I was particularly impressed by Watford's desire to entertain Sky TV, to such an extent that they demolished half the old Main Stand to accommodate the broadcaster's equipment.

However, I managed to take a couple of photos of the stand occupied by away fans by entering the ground through the press doorway onto this old terracing, thanks to the help of an amiable steward. I was allowed a few steps into the hallowed area and then asked politely to leave after the pictures were taken. Two other noteworthy aspects of the day  were that I managed (by being rather dim) to jam the electronic turnstile and there were no programmes.  I inserted my ticket into the bar code reader, caught my knee in the turnstile and clicked it through without actually entering the ground. I had to go round to a side door and be admitted by the chief steward, who turned out to be a very nice man who spent a few minutes with me discussing the modern electronic age versus the old ways. The programmes mysteriously failed to appear, apparently because of inappropriate content, but no one was prepared to elaborate.

A thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

Bolton Wanderers at the CG

Not much to say, really. This promised to be our first really tough game of the season.  Against a team who finished last season strongly and, using parachute payments, had strengthened in the summer. Their manager Dougie Freedman was on our books between 1998-2001 playing, in all, 83 times and scoring 23 goals.

Before the game he made some pointless comments regarding the way we had strengthened our team during this transfer window, completely ignoring his own spending. As it turned out, on the evidence of this game, Billy Davies had spent more wisely!

To me, we scored with one of the first kicks of the game, but apparently it was after 2 minutes. Jamie Mackie completely demolishing the back four of Bolton and their offside trap to run through and score a delightful goal at the Bridgford End.

After this, we dominated the first half, but never ran away with it. However, Bolton were feeling the pressure because a few niggly fouls crept into their game. Fouls, sadly which were not officially countenanced by Mr Haywood, who either missed them or was intent on letting nothing get in the way of a flowing game. Things got really heated towards half time. Reidy seemed to have been targeted and two bad fouls on him led to two yellow cards for Kamara and Spearing. Then Guedioura was smashed around the face by Pratley, a stupid foul which was to have more repercussions later. Just moments later Pratley again pulled Reid back and the Forest man, annoyed at once again being denied a foul by Mr Haywood, rushed over to Kamara and kicked him from behind, earning a booking, which could have been so much worse. The referee was heartily booed off the field at half time shortly after this for a rather pathetic display of refereeing, which resulted in him almost losing control of the game during the last part of the half.

Both teams appeared to have calmed down during the half time interval. Forest soon scored a second and, apart from a couple of odd forays down field, Bolton were given the run around. Eventually Pratley upended Cohen and was given his marching orders. It was then just one way traffic, Forest scored a third, could have had more and came out with a convincing 3-0 win. The game was also noteworthy for the appearance of the mysterious Abdoun. Signed from Olympiacos during the transfer window, he had not been given a squad number nor been mentioned in the squad list on the first programme of the season and fans were beginning to doubt his existence.

This game was sandwiched in between helping with preparations for our village Country Fayre on the Friday and running the coconut shy on the Sunday. The weather was fine, the visitors many and fun was has by all. A typical country occasion, except we couldn't have the ploughing match this year because the spuds hadn't been lifted.

Back to the football. I find it hard to restrain my enthusiasm, the season has begun so well and we are all looking forward to a successful campaign, but this is football and, more especially, Nottingham Forest, so anything could be around the corner. Watford and Wigan, both away, are coming up next in our very tough opening set of fixtures. These two games are potentially among our toughest of the season, so it will be interesting to see how Billy and the team set about the task.

In my quest for My 92, I shall be visiting Northampton, M K Dons and Stevenage on my way to Watford. My routine needed a bit of rejigging when Sky belatedly decided to televise the Watford game, setting it back to the Sunday. Not too much of a problem, however, I just reversed the schedule I had planned.

The Wigan game includes visits to Liverpool, Everton, Tranmere and Shrewsbury. Sky have again intervened, not with our game, but have put Liverpool back to Sunday. So my nice quiet Sunday stroll through Liverpool has been disrupted, but if I go early enough I should miss the crowds. Also I believe the Liverpool fans, besides being very knowledgeable are also all locally based, unlike Man U, so most will probably arrive on foot or by bike making it easy to navigate my way through in my motor car.

Blackburn Rovers

This game represented my first foray into the real purpose of the season, doing all the away games as well and visiting the other league clubs not in the Championship.

Living in East Suffolk greatly complicates travelling to football matches, for the heartbeat of the game is still in the North West.(For the purposes of this blog, East Yorkshire is in the NW). Plus, apart from Ipswich, every other club seems to be quite a drive from my front door. Not to worry this odyssey is something I have been looking forward to for some time now and a few miles on the open road is not going to deter me.

It would have been possible to do the whole visit to Blackburn in one day, but, after driving up on Friday, I felt so knackered that it would have been no fun to try it in one day and, probably, positively dangerous. Instead, I drove up and visited the Rovers ground the day before our match. This enabled me to park at the stadium and have a good nose around.

I last went to Ewood Park on 13 January 1986 for a replay of the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. They had forced a 1-1 draw at the CG and we lost the Replay 3-2 (scorers Birtles and Walsh). This was before the ground was rebuilt and the away end was a cowshed. It was an evening game, of course, and I went up by train from Manchester Victoria. I remember it as being wet and cold and the walk from the station in town to the ground was very dreary. The walk back was worse.

So to see the ground now is a revelation. Three new, tiered stands towering above the older Riverside Stand. (As you walk around the ground, blink and you'll miss the river. Let's just say, it's not on the scale of the Trent). On my way I noticed a plaque of great age on the wall of the Jack Walker Stand. It is placed in a glass case and remembers brave men of that Parish who perished in the Great War. Alongside it are two new granite plaques repeating those names. Simple acts like this make the club that much closer to the local area and the fans.

I wandered round the ground to the statue of Jack Walker, the great benefactor of the club.

If I remember rightly made his money in steel, anyway a fan who had the chance to change his club. And change it he did. They became one of the few clubs outside the Big 4 to win the Premier League. After a few photos I went into the Blues Bar for a well earned pint. I had hoped to chat to a Rovers fan. Disappointed! First two I spoke to were Man U fans and, moving on, I bumped in to a Man City fan!! I gave up then and left.

 Away fans are housed in the Brian Douglas Darwen End Stand alongside the noisiest Rovers fans. (To aid them they have one of those ghastly thumping drums.)And they don't have to be very noisy to out shout the rest of the ground, which was the quietest I have visited for a long time. And you wouldn't have much trouble getting a ticket, because there were great empty spaces all around, tribute to the drawing power of the Venkys, the unpopular owners of the club.

The match was a somewhat defensive affair, but we won by virtue of a very late goal, cue for a burst of enthusiastic singing and chanting. Events like that make it all worthwhile.

In the great scheme of things, I was also due to visit Preston's ground at Deepdale. Apparently the oldest ground still staging league football (we have been drip-fed these facts from the FL because they are celebrating 125 Years of League Football this season). It has, of course, been rebuilt over the years and now boasts four stands, separate and not joined at the corners. Two sides of the ground have been shoe horned into the local houses, one of the houses was festooned with PNE scarves etc and the owner must surely have the shortest walk of any supporter in the country. I reckon he had all of 20 yards to walk to the stand by his house. The ground shares accommodation with a strange bedfellow, the NHS. There is a Walk In clinic built into one of the stands.

Preston also used to house the National Football Museum, but this has now moved to the middle of Manchester. Rather sadly, the old museum building is still at Preston's ground, the building empty and anonymous save for the ghostly lettering visible on the walls.

This ground also boasts a statue, this one based on the great photo of Tom Finney (Mr Preston, also known as the 'Preston plumber' for obvious reasons. It was not unknown for one of the greatest footballers  of his generation to turn up on local doorsteps to mend the kitchen sink) sliding through  puddles of water during an England match.

As well as the Tom Finney Stand there is the Bill Shankly Stand reminding us that Preston has had some great managers, like Billy Davies, for instance.

By the statue is a  feature also found at Blackburn's ground. A commemorative walk, where you can buy a brick to remember a loved one or fan, putting any inscription on it so long as it fits. This is a great idea and one that I hope, in time, finds it's way to a redeveloped CG.

At Last

Phew! At long last the season started and we got a win! Great fun. Not the most fluent, flowing game, but every point counts. I thought we improved in the second half and I was so confident of victory that I even laughed at some of the mistakes we made.

I went early to the ground, the club having warned about possible queues before the game. Partly because they were expecting a large number buying tickets on the day, partly because many season tickets still not collected and, slightly worryingly, because some season ticket books not even printed. Anyway, I got there early, was given my book and was out of the Ticket Office in about 5 minutes, even asking the young man who served me if that was all there was to it! He seemed to think it quite amusing when I asked him if there were full instructions inside the book.

As it's in the same building, I visited the Megastore (actually a small shop attached to the Ticket Office. Our bookshop was bigger than the Forest store, but that's another story), but not to buy, just to check out the new season home shirt. I like it and can't make up my mind if I prefer it plain and sponsor-free. Have to wait until the sponsor logo goes on, I suppose. Bit disappointed that the away shirt is not ready yet (stop press: just announced and it's a sort of grey), but, unlike most seasons, I can have a look next week.

Having got there early had a bit of a downside, I had a few hours to wait for the start of the match. No problems for this man. First a visit to a local supermarket for petrol and some food. Then a considerable time spent texting the family telling them of my safe arrival. Now, younger members of my family seem to be able to compose a text message and send it in nano seconds. For me, it is a nightmare. All that button pressing, then going back to clear the letters and start again and trying to find the correct phone number is no way to spend a morning. Finally jobs done, I headed back to the CG.

The Riverside Festival was on, oh joy. Organised just for me to spend a couple of hours whilst waiting for a football match. It was great fun to be amongst the people out there determined to enjoy themselves and the time passed quickly. Then off to the Boat Club to get my new Supporters Club pack and hand in my season predictions, can't remember what they are, but I'm sure I'll be the winner come May. Supporters Club pack not ready, something to do with the diary not being printed, but that didn't matter, just pleasant to have a pint in convivial company.

Finally a snooze in the sunshine on the banks of the Trent and it was game time. As I'm doing all 46 games this season and visiting the other 91 clubs, I am closely watching the pennies and had a big decision to make. Do I buy a programme? I had been thinking of mementos to collect during the season and , despite several ideas, decided I really didn't want 90 odd key rings or lapel badges, particularly of clubs I didn't care about. So, in the end I have decided to buy a programme of each of Forest's games and leave it at that. Photos and videos of other clubs not in our league will have to suffice.

One last note on my first season ticket. I had naively supposed that the vouchers would be taken in numerical order (see, I really do need instructions), so I checked that Number 1 was readily available and approached the turnstile. There to be told by a charming young lady that it was actually voucher Number 10 that was required and that others throughout the season would be similarly random.

So we're off and running. Now I'm getting excited about my visit to Blackburn (and not many do get excited about a visit to Blackburn) on Friday, the game on Saturday and my extra visit to Deepdale to see Preston's historic ground. Sorry, people of Blackburn, it was just a joke about your town. I hope you don't take revenge on Saturday by taking all three points..