Thursday, December 29, 2005
Grounds I've been to
Here's a list of all the grounds I've been to ( that I can remember, anyway) other than Vale Park - to see the Vale play (unless I say different)
Wembley Stadium ( old one)
Premiership :
Anfield, Old Trafford, The Hawthorns( before it was tarted up), Ewood Park, St James Park, White Hart Lane ( not to see the Vale though), Craven Cottage, Fratton Park, Upton Park
Old Grounds : Roker Park, Ayresome Park, Burnden Park, Springfield Park (Wigan)
Championship :
Britannia Stadium ( not to see Vale or S****), Wolves (Molineux), Cardiff (Ninian Park) - not to see the Vale, Watford(Vicarage Road), Sheffield United, Burnley, Hull City, Plymouth
Old Grounds: Coventry City (Highfield Road - my 1st ever game), Leicester (Filbert Street), Reading, Brighton (Goldstone Ground), Hull City, Victoria Ground ( S****)
League One :
Huddersfield (old and new), Southend, Blackpool, Barnsley, Oldham, Walsall (old and new), Brentford, Swindon, Chesterfield, Bournemouth, Bradford, Bristol City, Gillingham, Rotherham, Tranmere
Old Grounds : Swansea,
League Two :
Torquay( not to see the Vale), Peterborough, Chester (old and new), Bury, Grimsby, Mansfield, Notts County, Stockport, Wrexham
Old Grounds : Bristol Rovers ( Twerton Park), Oxford United
Other Grounds :
Exeter, Southport, York City
So quite a few to collect still - and they keep opening new ones too!!
Wembley Stadium ( old one)
Premiership :
Anfield, Old Trafford, The Hawthorns( before it was tarted up), Ewood Park, St James Park, White Hart Lane ( not to see the Vale though), Craven Cottage, Fratton Park, Upton Park
Old Grounds : Roker Park, Ayresome Park, Burnden Park, Springfield Park (Wigan)
Championship :
Britannia Stadium ( not to see Vale or S****), Wolves (Molineux), Cardiff (Ninian Park) - not to see the Vale, Watford(Vicarage Road), Sheffield United, Burnley, Hull City, Plymouth
Old Grounds: Coventry City (Highfield Road - my 1st ever game), Leicester (Filbert Street), Reading, Brighton (Goldstone Ground), Hull City, Victoria Ground ( S****)
League One :
Huddersfield (old and new), Southend, Blackpool, Barnsley, Oldham, Walsall (old and new), Brentford, Swindon, Chesterfield, Bournemouth, Bradford, Bristol City, Gillingham, Rotherham, Tranmere
Old Grounds : Swansea,
League Two :
Torquay( not to see the Vale), Peterborough, Chester (old and new), Bury, Grimsby, Mansfield, Notts County, Stockport, Wrexham
Old Grounds : Bristol Rovers ( Twerton Park), Oxford United
Other Grounds :
Exeter, Southport, York City
So quite a few to collect still - and they keep opening new ones too!!
Blackpool again - this time with crocodiles
The second time I went to Bloomfield Road wasn't to watch the Vale at all. I was pretty involved in Trade Union stuff in the Civil Service and it was Annual Conference time, in Blackpool, and just for once, it happened before the season ended. This didn't happen very often., so it was an opportunity too good to miss. It was in the era of inflatables, and a mate had brought a couple of inflatable crocodiles along to the conference just to make things a bit more interesting.
It so happened that Blackpool were at home during the week to Southend and we felt the crocs needed to experience league football - as far as we knew they hadn't been before, so we asked their keeper if we could take them - with a promise that we'd make sure they got home safe afterwards. About half a dozen of us went in the end, including a young lady from Leicester that I rather fancied - wonder what she's doing now - plus another bloke from Leicester who was a good mate and a few others - including a Cambridge United fan (who they ?).
Seeing as how it was obvious that we weren't locals, we thought it would be safer to go in the away end with the Southend fans. After a while, a couple of them came to talk to us, having spotted that we weren't Sarfend fans either - they were really nice - Sarfend had played the Vale the weekend before, they'd lost 2-0 and they were well impressed with them ( well it was the season Vale finally got promoted to Division 2 ) and they were wishing us all the best for the end of the season. Nice time had by all in the true spirit of football supporters.
It was a cracking game - 4-3 the final score was, I think, can't remember who won, but all seven goals were scored in the goal at our end. Well different from when I went to Southend and found out it was 100 miles further away....and saw no goals at all.
Anyway, the crocs enjoyed the match, and they got home safely, and got a mention in one of the newsletters that got printed at conference, but I never got the girl ( seems like that always happens - maybe I was showing off a bit and she didn't like it) That was the only conference when there was a match on.
Used to do quite a bit of travelling as a Union rep, and spent nights away in cheap hotels in advance of meetings - nearly always on my own. On a couple of occasions, to relieve the serious boredom that went with staying in strange hotels in out-of-the-way places, I'd try and find a footy match to go to. This actually was over two consecutive nights, when I was stuck in Plymouth and in Newport ( South Wales) It was League Cup time and there were matches both nights, but Plymouth were away, and Newport didn't have a team any more. Torquay were at home though, against Hereford United, who were still a league club back then, so I drove from Plymouth to Torquay to watch the game. It was dire. I think it ended 0-0, but if it didn't, it should have. All you could say about it was that it beat the hell out of sitting in an empty hotel bar watching crap on the telly - or getting an early night....
The next night, in Newport, Cardiff were at home to Bournemouth, so I went to that one. Can't remember the score, but it wasn't a good game either. Once again, though, passed the time - better than doing nowt, as they say, and it added two grounds to my collection. Haven't been to either of them since.
It so happened that Blackpool were at home during the week to Southend and we felt the crocs needed to experience league football - as far as we knew they hadn't been before, so we asked their keeper if we could take them - with a promise that we'd make sure they got home safe afterwards. About half a dozen of us went in the end, including a young lady from Leicester that I rather fancied - wonder what she's doing now - plus another bloke from Leicester who was a good mate and a few others - including a Cambridge United fan (who they ?).
Seeing as how it was obvious that we weren't locals, we thought it would be safer to go in the away end with the Southend fans. After a while, a couple of them came to talk to us, having spotted that we weren't Sarfend fans either - they were really nice - Sarfend had played the Vale the weekend before, they'd lost 2-0 and they were well impressed with them ( well it was the season Vale finally got promoted to Division 2 ) and they were wishing us all the best for the end of the season. Nice time had by all in the true spirit of football supporters.
It was a cracking game - 4-3 the final score was, I think, can't remember who won, but all seven goals were scored in the goal at our end. Well different from when I went to Southend and found out it was 100 miles further away....and saw no goals at all.
Anyway, the crocs enjoyed the match, and they got home safely, and got a mention in one of the newsletters that got printed at conference, but I never got the girl ( seems like that always happens - maybe I was showing off a bit and she didn't like it) That was the only conference when there was a match on.
Used to do quite a bit of travelling as a Union rep, and spent nights away in cheap hotels in advance of meetings - nearly always on my own. On a couple of occasions, to relieve the serious boredom that went with staying in strange hotels in out-of-the-way places, I'd try and find a footy match to go to. This actually was over two consecutive nights, when I was stuck in Plymouth and in Newport ( South Wales) It was League Cup time and there were matches both nights, but Plymouth were away, and Newport didn't have a team any more. Torquay were at home though, against Hereford United, who were still a league club back then, so I drove from Plymouth to Torquay to watch the game. It was dire. I think it ended 0-0, but if it didn't, it should have. All you could say about it was that it beat the hell out of sitting in an empty hotel bar watching crap on the telly - or getting an early night....
The next night, in Newport, Cardiff were at home to Bournemouth, so I went to that one. Can't remember the score, but it wasn't a good game either. Once again, though, passed the time - better than doing nowt, as they say, and it added two grounds to my collection. Haven't been to either of them since.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Superstition again
Almost as if to prove the point I made earlier about me and Kieran not seeing a Vale away win, we decide not to go to Huddersfield tonight and they win 3-0. Biggest winning margin all season.
So what's all that about then - the team that's third in the league, who if they had won would have gone top, and we stuff them. The teams that are at the bottom, the ones we should walk all over and score a hatful, we lose 1-0 or 2-1 or scrape a draw. I know football is a funny old game, as the saying goes, but this isn't a joke any more - we'll end up not quite making the play-offs again, having beaten all the teams that finish above us and lost to all the ones that finish below us. On that basis, we should make it to the FA Cup Final - we'll beat Premiership sides- OK, so there I am joking, we've got no chance. Donny Rovers to come in the Cup. We've beaten them earlier in the season, so we'll probably lose this one, because it matters.
Just doesn't make sense, though.
So what's all that about then - the team that's third in the league, who if they had won would have gone top, and we stuff them. The teams that are at the bottom, the ones we should walk all over and score a hatful, we lose 1-0 or 2-1 or scrape a draw. I know football is a funny old game, as the saying goes, but this isn't a joke any more - we'll end up not quite making the play-offs again, having beaten all the teams that finish above us and lost to all the ones that finish below us. On that basis, we should make it to the FA Cup Final - we'll beat Premiership sides- OK, so there I am joking, we've got no chance. Donny Rovers to come in the Cup. We've beaten them earlier in the season, so we'll probably lose this one, because it matters.
Just doesn't make sense, though.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Bournemouth away - the art of car parking and tanks
So yet another experience of an away game, midweek, long-distance, must be mad type of thing - this was before the motorways went anywhere near the place, no M3 or nothing like that - so it was all cross-country stuff on "a" roads... on my own this time, no-one else stupid enough to go, not even BJ or my daughter.....so when I get there, park in the car park at the ground, well before kick off, loads of space everywhere.
Once again, Vale are not impressive - lose 1-0 ( Jamie Redknapp played for them) and feeling pissed off as usual.Go out to the car park after the game and find that at least four people have parked their cars - one in front, one behind, one to left and one to right, plus others close by that make it difficult . No way I can move - and it seems like they've all gone to the pub after the game - they're all Bournemouth fans....or at least so the window stickers say, so I could be in for a long wait, and it's nearly 10 already...and it's not going to take much less than 4 hours or so to get home - it took that long to get her, and I think I did well with the traffic and all, so it could be interesting....sit in the car for a while, waiting, looking at gaps, whether I could "bounce" cars out of the way or not....not, it seems, even with other people on the car park who sympathise with my plight...well, after about half an hour, someone turns up and moves one of the cars out of the way , and with a bit of manouevring I can get away !! Hooray- and it's only half past ten !
Once again, Vale are not impressive - lose 1-0 ( Jamie Redknapp played for them) and feeling pissed off as usual.Go out to the car park after the game and find that at least four people have parked their cars - one in front, one behind, one to left and one to right, plus others close by that make it difficult . No way I can move - and it seems like they've all gone to the pub after the game - they're all Bournemouth fans....or at least so the window stickers say, so I could be in for a long wait, and it's nearly 10 already...and it's not going to take much less than 4 hours or so to get home - it took that long to get her, and I think I did well with the traffic and all, so it could be interesting....sit in the car for a while, waiting, looking at gaps, whether I could "bounce" cars out of the way or not....not, it seems, even with other people on the car park who sympathise with my plight...well, after about half an hour, someone turns up and moves one of the cars out of the way , and with a bit of manouevring I can get away !! Hooray- and it's only half past ten !
Huddersfield Away - another breakdown....
So yet another away trip, yet another breakdown. One of the problems with owning a slightly flash Italian car is that it's expensive to fix, and service and keep on the road, and when you've not got a lot of dosh things go wrong. And this time they did big style, at the time, but it ended up not too bad in the end.
So it was another me and BJ trip. He actually enjoyed going to away games with me at the time - though you'd have thought he'd change his mind after some of the things that happened....
So it was another me and BJ trip. He actually enjoyed going to away games with me at the time - though you'd have thought he'd change his mind after some of the things that happened....
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Superstitions - they don't work - or do they ?
It is really odd how much football fans ( not just me) think that the things they do or don't do before or during a game influence the outcome. The chaos theory would make a lot of sense to a football fan - a butterfly flapping its wings in Honduras means that Vale will win 2-0 the next Saturday - or the game after that.
Mind you, you had to know that the wings had flapped, or it didn't work. I had the belief at one stage that eating anything during a game ( from any kiosk) meant they'd lose, and the same applied to buying programmes at one point, too. Buy a programme and they lose, that's it, game over, don't bother waiting for the result. Got very hungry at some away games, and missed out on some key programmes ( if I was sad enough to collect them)
This post is also connected to "Wembley and boing boing you bastards" - all season long, I'd been making a flask of "soup" - a mixture of Yeast Extract (like Marmite) and Vecon - those of you who are old-style veggies will know what I'm talking about. Sounds gross, tasted pretty gross, but it was hot, well, warm anyway, and it meant you didn't buy things from kiosks (see above) To start off with, I brought it because it was cold in the grounds and you needed something to warm you up - the ritual was to share it with BJ and have some myself.
But by April, the ritual was to make it, take it to the game, but not drink any of it, even if you wanted to - and they kept on winning...even on the hottest day, when you got a suntan out on the terracing, the magic flask was there, untouched, unopened but keeping things going.....so what went wrong ?
There we were, at Wembley for the play off final against those boing boing bastards, West Brom - who we'd stuffed twice in the league - and it was nil-nil. We were playing pretty well and looked on course for no worse than a draw. So BJ asks me if I've got the flask with me - he wants some "soup" - I can hardly say to him don't you dare touch it, they'll lose if you take a sip, so I give him the flask and he has a drink. Then Peter Swann gets sent off for something that might just about have been a booking ( referee was a Bristle Rovers fan, getting his own back, much later - personally I've never forgiven the bastard Milford for that ) and we lose 3-0. All down to drinking the undrinkable soup, I reckon - if he hadn't done that, we'd have won it, and I knew at the time it was doomed for that reason.
Even now, I still try not to read anything in a newspaper before the game on Saturday, well at least before kick off, and I always try to remember which T-shirt, socks, pants and jeans mean a win - especially if I'm going to watch the game - and even if they don't work once, I still try to find them, thinking I must have done something different, like played the wrong CD or parked in the wrong place ( by a few mms or so) or got out of the car with the wrong foot first....Kieran's never been to an away game that they've won yet - so maybe I should stop taking him ? Chances are, eventually, that we'll win one away that he goes to - but is it fair of me to doom them to defeat by taking him until it happens ? If they win and we're not there, which has happened a few times, is it because we weren't ?
If you look at it logically, it makes no sense at all , but luck seems to play so big a part in the game that looking for four-leafed clovers makes as much sense as buying a million pound player in the transfer window - someone who cost nothing and is lucky is a much better bet than an absolutely brilliant player who has no luck whatsoever. Problem is, you can't be certain when you get them, how lucky they are. For some players, they are lucky for one team but not for another - maybe it's the colour of the strip, or the badge or the nickname - so you end up going for skill in the end, and we can't afford too many of them! Don't get them often either, or lucky ones ( and the ones we do get we tend to sell - if we're lucky - or they go somewhere else and score against us)
Better stop talking about it before I anger the gods of promotion, relegation and the cups - signing off with all my fingers, toes and eyes crossed - and as the commentator once said, "( name forgotten- the keeper) is having real problems with high crossed balls" See what I mean ? Fingers, toes, eyes - and now this - is he taking superstition a step too far ?
Mind you, you had to know that the wings had flapped, or it didn't work. I had the belief at one stage that eating anything during a game ( from any kiosk) meant they'd lose, and the same applied to buying programmes at one point, too. Buy a programme and they lose, that's it, game over, don't bother waiting for the result. Got very hungry at some away games, and missed out on some key programmes ( if I was sad enough to collect them)
This post is also connected to "Wembley and boing boing you bastards" - all season long, I'd been making a flask of "soup" - a mixture of Yeast Extract (like Marmite) and Vecon - those of you who are old-style veggies will know what I'm talking about. Sounds gross, tasted pretty gross, but it was hot, well, warm anyway, and it meant you didn't buy things from kiosks (see above) To start off with, I brought it because it was cold in the grounds and you needed something to warm you up - the ritual was to share it with BJ and have some myself.
But by April, the ritual was to make it, take it to the game, but not drink any of it, even if you wanted to - and they kept on winning...even on the hottest day, when you got a suntan out on the terracing, the magic flask was there, untouched, unopened but keeping things going.....so what went wrong ?
There we were, at Wembley for the play off final against those boing boing bastards, West Brom - who we'd stuffed twice in the league - and it was nil-nil. We were playing pretty well and looked on course for no worse than a draw. So BJ asks me if I've got the flask with me - he wants some "soup" - I can hardly say to him don't you dare touch it, they'll lose if you take a sip, so I give him the flask and he has a drink. Then Peter Swann gets sent off for something that might just about have been a booking ( referee was a Bristle Rovers fan, getting his own back, much later - personally I've never forgiven the bastard Milford for that ) and we lose 3-0. All down to drinking the undrinkable soup, I reckon - if he hadn't done that, we'd have won it, and I knew at the time it was doomed for that reason.
Even now, I still try not to read anything in a newspaper before the game on Saturday, well at least before kick off, and I always try to remember which T-shirt, socks, pants and jeans mean a win - especially if I'm going to watch the game - and even if they don't work once, I still try to find them, thinking I must have done something different, like played the wrong CD or parked in the wrong place ( by a few mms or so) or got out of the car with the wrong foot first....Kieran's never been to an away game that they've won yet - so maybe I should stop taking him ? Chances are, eventually, that we'll win one away that he goes to - but is it fair of me to doom them to defeat by taking him until it happens ? If they win and we're not there, which has happened a few times, is it because we weren't ?
If you look at it logically, it makes no sense at all , but luck seems to play so big a part in the game that looking for four-leafed clovers makes as much sense as buying a million pound player in the transfer window - someone who cost nothing and is lucky is a much better bet than an absolutely brilliant player who has no luck whatsoever. Problem is, you can't be certain when you get them, how lucky they are. For some players, they are lucky for one team but not for another - maybe it's the colour of the strip, or the badge or the nickname - so you end up going for skill in the end, and we can't afford too many of them! Don't get them often either, or lucky ones ( and the ones we do get we tend to sell - if we're lucky - or they go somewhere else and score against us)
Better stop talking about it before I anger the gods of promotion, relegation and the cups - signing off with all my fingers, toes and eyes crossed - and as the commentator once said, "( name forgotten- the keeper) is having real problems with high crossed balls" See what I mean ? Fingers, toes, eyes - and now this - is he taking superstition a step too far ?
Watching Stars - as if
So this one's about when Vale played Man U in the League Cup. September 1994. They put out their youth team mostly, plus Roy Keane and Brian McClair in the leg at Vale Park and pretty much the same line up at Old Trafford. We were all fed up that most of the first team weren't playing, and were saying we'd kick their backsides for putting out an under strength team.
So who were the youth team ? Someone called Beckham was on the right, with someone called Scholes up front - plus a few others whose names kind of became familiar - Gillespie springs to mind, though he never made it with Man U, and there were others....we lost 2-1 at Vale Park - that little ginger git Scholes scored his first senior goal against us - and his second too- and we lost the second leg at Old Trafford. We went, it was depressing because it was hopeless and they'd played their kids. We wanted Cantona and Schmeichel - we got Beckham and Scholes, plus a few other names later to go down in history. In hindsight, it's OK, we got to see players before they were famous - but at the time it was crap that we couldn't even beat kids. The fact that those kids won the Premiership a couple of years later just about made it OK - we even signed one of the Man U squad from the game - Kevin Pilkington - and he was not anywhere near as good as the rest of the side, in fact he was pretty crap.....oh well.
So who were the youth team ? Someone called Beckham was on the right, with someone called Scholes up front - plus a few others whose names kind of became familiar - Gillespie springs to mind, though he never made it with Man U, and there were others....we lost 2-1 at Vale Park - that little ginger git Scholes scored his first senior goal against us - and his second too- and we lost the second leg at Old Trafford. We went, it was depressing because it was hopeless and they'd played their kids. We wanted Cantona and Schmeichel - we got Beckham and Scholes, plus a few other names later to go down in history. In hindsight, it's OK, we got to see players before they were famous - but at the time it was crap that we couldn't even beat kids. The fact that those kids won the Premiership a couple of years later just about made it OK - we even signed one of the Man U squad from the game - Kevin Pilkington - and he was not anywhere near as good as the rest of the side, in fact he was pretty crap.....oh well.
Child Cruelty and the Offside Law
Players who should never have played
Deano and the art of the Own Goal
Dead People
Wembley X 3 - boing boing you bastards
Been to watch vale at Wembley three times. One ended happily, one misery, the other a bit of an anti-climax.
Anti-climax first ?
Final of the Anglo-Italian Cup (Tournament) - it involved teams from Italy's Serie B and England's Division 1 - the one below the Premiership. Anyway, by some master fluke, the Vale made it to the final to play Genoa. Maybe they took it seriously and others didnt
Genoa - the season before they had played Liverpool in Europe and ( I think) beaten them or run them close plus they'd only just got relegated to Serie B that season. They'd got quite a few players who ended up playing for Italy - Montella, for one.
You could tell the difference during the warm-up. Vale did their usual running about and passing the balle to each other and shooting practice. Genoa did a proper fitness programmed work-out, with coaches and all. Got a bad feeling about it straight away.
Referee was some total stranger - looked very odd - shaved head and piercing eyes.....actually was Pierluigi Collina ( fairly confident of that) and we were not please - why an Italian ref? surelyt biased? didn't matter in the end - they played us off the park. Scored pretty much when they wanted to - we did get two consolation goals, but lost 5-2 and that was better than we could have hoped for at one point !!
The happy one was the Mickey Mouse trophy - the Autoglass Trophy. S**** had won it before us, and we'd taken the piss out of them for celebrating, so it was a bit difficult to be too enthusiastic, ut it was against Stockport - arch foes and physical bastards managed by an Argentinian to play it rough and long ball. Probably a good side, but we hated them. And we beat them by playing the sort of classy football that Wembley deserves - so proud of the team - a proper game, played by class players. 2-1 to us and Bernie scored 1 of them . This was symbolic for a number of reasons, now lost in the mists of time and sad memories. More later, maybe.
The sad one was against those boing-boing bastard baggies. Play off finals. We'd beaten them twice in the league, played them off the park, but they were the "big club" and everyone wanted them to win - especially on Midlands telly - probably hated them more than Stockport because of that. Anyway, that bastard Roger Milford sent Peter Swann off for breathing on Bob Taylor (cheating bastards - both of them) and we lost. We'd been playing them off the park up til then, but the conceded 3 goals and that was it. Milford hadn't forgiven us for stuffing his favourites Bristle Rovers in the playoffs a few seasons back, so was out for revenge. He got it. Let's hope he got his later, the posing arrogant bastard. Bitter ? Me? I Nearly twatted a couple of WBA fans at the tube station for going boing boing - far from being a happy bunny....and it cost us Ian Taylor in the end, which meant we missed out on the Premiership a season or two later....so definitely no forgiveness there. Hope you get relegated this season.
Anti-climax first ?
Final of the Anglo-Italian Cup (Tournament) - it involved teams from Italy's Serie B and England's Division 1 - the one below the Premiership. Anyway, by some master fluke, the Vale made it to the final to play Genoa. Maybe they took it seriously and others didnt
Genoa - the season before they had played Liverpool in Europe and ( I think) beaten them or run them close plus they'd only just got relegated to Serie B that season. They'd got quite a few players who ended up playing for Italy - Montella, for one.
You could tell the difference during the warm-up. Vale did their usual running about and passing the balle to each other and shooting practice. Genoa did a proper fitness programmed work-out, with coaches and all. Got a bad feeling about it straight away.
Referee was some total stranger - looked very odd - shaved head and piercing eyes.....actually was Pierluigi Collina ( fairly confident of that) and we were not please - why an Italian ref? surelyt biased? didn't matter in the end - they played us off the park. Scored pretty much when they wanted to - we did get two consolation goals, but lost 5-2 and that was better than we could have hoped for at one point !!
The happy one was the Mickey Mouse trophy - the Autoglass Trophy. S**** had won it before us, and we'd taken the piss out of them for celebrating, so it was a bit difficult to be too enthusiastic, ut it was against Stockport - arch foes and physical bastards managed by an Argentinian to play it rough and long ball. Probably a good side, but we hated them. And we beat them by playing the sort of classy football that Wembley deserves - so proud of the team - a proper game, played by class players. 2-1 to us and Bernie scored 1 of them . This was symbolic for a number of reasons, now lost in the mists of time and sad memories. More later, maybe.
The sad one was against those boing-boing bastard baggies. Play off finals. We'd beaten them twice in the league, played them off the park, but they were the "big club" and everyone wanted them to win - especially on Midlands telly - probably hated them more than Stockport because of that. Anyway, that bastard Roger Milford sent Peter Swann off for breathing on Bob Taylor (cheating bastards - both of them) and we lost. We'd been playing them off the park up til then, but the conceded 3 goals and that was it. Milford hadn't forgiven us for stuffing his favourites Bristle Rovers in the playoffs a few seasons back, so was out for revenge. He got it. Let's hope he got his later, the posing arrogant bastard. Bitter ? Me? I Nearly twatted a couple of WBA fans at the tube station for going boing boing - far from being a happy bunny....and it cost us Ian Taylor in the end, which meant we missed out on the Premiership a season or two later....so definitely no forgiveness there. Hope you get relegated this season.
That lot - spit, glory and gloom
How low can it get ?
Arsenal, Everton, Leeds, Liverpool and Man City
Mansfield Policeman 1st
So it's a boxing day match, early kickoff, away at Mansfield. Take my daughter to it . No-one else I know wants to go.
Before the game, Mansfield players kick signed footballs into the crowd - signed by the Mansfield squad. (Which at that time included Kevin Kent - no-one else important that I can think of)
Eventually they kick a couple into the away end and I snaffle one for Katy. It's black and white and it's free - and she wants a football for some reason. People near me tell me to kick it back onto the pitch, but no way. I'm keeping it. It's mine.
Anyway, the game's been going on for a while and it's a bit bad. Vale not playing well. Referee is Keith Hackett - then very well known, and now he's in charge of refs in the country or something - and he's not having a good game, well not from my point of view anyway.
Eventually Ray Walker does something daft and Hackett sends him off.
Trigger for loads of abuse from Vale fans and from me in particular.
If I recall correctly, I called him a wanker.
Then I corrected it and said that if he knew where it was he would be a wanker.
Said ? Called ? Bellowed / Shouted very loud, to be honest.
Copper standing ( as you did in those days) a few feet away suggested that I "moderate my language, sir " - he gave two reasons - one was that there were quite a few children in the crowd who might not appreciate it....and second ( the killer) he added, "And besides, sir, he knows what he is without you having to tell him"
I liked that. Liked it even more when Robbie Earle ( well before he was a pundit) scored the only goal of the game, against the run of play, against just about everything in the game, for a win we did in no way deserve. At the end of the game, the copper said to me " You see sir, justice was done in the end, wasn't it , just like I said ?" and I thanked him for his comments and went home.
There's another one about Mansfield and the police later on - must be something in the water round there....
Before the game, Mansfield players kick signed footballs into the crowd - signed by the Mansfield squad. (Which at that time included Kevin Kent - no-one else important that I can think of)
Eventually they kick a couple into the away end and I snaffle one for Katy. It's black and white and it's free - and she wants a football for some reason. People near me tell me to kick it back onto the pitch, but no way. I'm keeping it. It's mine.
Anyway, the game's been going on for a while and it's a bit bad. Vale not playing well. Referee is Keith Hackett - then very well known, and now he's in charge of refs in the country or something - and he's not having a good game, well not from my point of view anyway.
Eventually Ray Walker does something daft and Hackett sends him off.
Trigger for loads of abuse from Vale fans and from me in particular.
If I recall correctly, I called him a wanker.
Then I corrected it and said that if he knew where it was he would be a wanker.
Said ? Called ? Bellowed / Shouted very loud, to be honest.
Copper standing ( as you did in those days) a few feet away suggested that I "moderate my language, sir " - he gave two reasons - one was that there were quite a few children in the crowd who might not appreciate it....and second ( the killer) he added, "And besides, sir, he knows what he is without you having to tell him"
I liked that. Liked it even more when Robbie Earle ( well before he was a pundit) scored the only goal of the game, against the run of play, against just about everything in the game, for a win we did in no way deserve. At the end of the game, the copper said to me " You see sir, justice was done in the end, wasn't it , just like I said ?" and I thanked him for his comments and went home.
There's another one about Mansfield and the police later on - must be something in the water round there....
Mansfield Policeman 2 and the signs that say what they say
Bristol City Crossbar
Plymouth - sing when you're winning ?
Blackpool away - what girls and what headlights ?
Blackburn away - yet another breakdown
Southend Away - How far is it ?
The kids' nursery rhyme goes on about "How many miles to Babylon" and how long it will take to get there. This story is about an away trip to Southend and an error in a programme.
It was the sort of season where you try to get to as many games as you can - I'd got nothing better to do, or maybe it was before my first marriage broke up, I don't honestly remember. If it wasn't, I was living on my own, with my daughter, and so I asked BJ and Chris if they fancied the mid-week trip to Southend. I think that's who it was, but I could be wrong. Might have been Radish - or not. Anyway, the Vale programme for the game before gave a mileage from Burslem to Southend so I based the amount of time we'd need to get there on that. As it was about an hour from kickoff time, and we were still nowhere near London, never mind Southend, we started wondering about the mileage in the programme. When we found the road to Southend off the motorway, and it was still quite a few miles to go, and the match had kicked off already, it was patently obvious that the programme had got it wrong. By the time we got to the ground, it was very clear that the programme was 100 miles out. I know I drive a bit faster than is legal, but there was no way we'd ever have got there in time. But we are there now, and all we have to do is find a way to get in.
All the turnstiles have closed - probably more than half an hour ago, as it is pretty close to half time. We end up banging on some gates and eventually this steward comes to it and asks us what we're doing. We explain, and he decides to let us in for half price ( nice of him, really) and then he escorts us round the edge of the pitch to the away end. We get a few comments from friends, about timing, mising the match and so on, but we are there. We find out that the score is 1 -1 .
Within a few minutes of our arrival, Paul Atkinson ( who played for the Vale at the time) gets himself sent off - can't remember if it was second yellow or straight red, and then it's half time.
Vale are defending the end away from us second half, and 90% of the action is that end. Once in a while, they manage to break towards us, but no shots, nothing.
Final score ? 1-1. And we have to drive all the way back, late at night, having missed the key incidents of the match ( well the goals anyway) so nothing to talk about except the error in the programme about how far away Southend is.
The moral ? Always check on a road atlas first. So I do after that.
It was the sort of season where you try to get to as many games as you can - I'd got nothing better to do, or maybe it was before my first marriage broke up, I don't honestly remember. If it wasn't, I was living on my own, with my daughter, and so I asked BJ and Chris if they fancied the mid-week trip to Southend. I think that's who it was, but I could be wrong. Might have been Radish - or not. Anyway, the Vale programme for the game before gave a mileage from Burslem to Southend so I based the amount of time we'd need to get there on that. As it was about an hour from kickoff time, and we were still nowhere near London, never mind Southend, we started wondering about the mileage in the programme. When we found the road to Southend off the motorway, and it was still quite a few miles to go, and the match had kicked off already, it was patently obvious that the programme had got it wrong. By the time we got to the ground, it was very clear that the programme was 100 miles out. I know I drive a bit faster than is legal, but there was no way we'd ever have got there in time. But we are there now, and all we have to do is find a way to get in.
All the turnstiles have closed - probably more than half an hour ago, as it is pretty close to half time. We end up banging on some gates and eventually this steward comes to it and asks us what we're doing. We explain, and he decides to let us in for half price ( nice of him, really) and then he escorts us round the edge of the pitch to the away end. We get a few comments from friends, about timing, mising the match and so on, but we are there. We find out that the score is 1 -1 .
Within a few minutes of our arrival, Paul Atkinson ( who played for the Vale at the time) gets himself sent off - can't remember if it was second yellow or straight red, and then it's half time.
Vale are defending the end away from us second half, and 90% of the action is that end. Once in a while, they manage to break towards us, but no shots, nothing.
Final score ? 1-1. And we have to drive all the way back, late at night, having missed the key incidents of the match ( well the goals anyway) so nothing to talk about except the error in the programme about how far away Southend is.
The moral ? Always check on a road atlas first. So I do after that.
The Mighty Vale for the first time......
30th January 1988 - that was the second ever game I went to, and the first time I watched the Vale.
It had one thing in common with the first game I ever went to - Spurs were playing. It was the fourth round of the FA Cup, Vale had ( or so I'd been told) scraped past Macclesfield Town ( then a non-league club) 1-0 with a goal from someone called Kevin Finney who was a bit useless too much of the time to be a regular ( or so I was told) At the time, I was a regular visitor to a pub in Etruria ( part of Stoke, not the place in Italy) called The Rose and Crown. (It's now some offices, which is a bit sad) I used to go to play in the pub quiz team - they asked me to after I went there for a treasure hunt and met a whole load of people I knew from working in a night club ( Syd's Bar in Newcastle, if you're asking - I used to DJ on "punk/new wave nights" and play in a band - look at Day 5ve for more on that one)
Anyway, to cut a long story short, they were all regulars at the Vale - had been going there for a few years, and said that I ought to go, even if it was just to watch them play Spurs. So I did.
Still staning up, which was good - pretty much sold out, and didn't know who any of the Vale players were - had heard of Mark Grew but that was all. Railway paddock, by the half-way line, wondering what was going to happen next.
Then it kicked off, and I had a horrible feeling that Spurs were going to win - and easily - but then it all turned round - it was like an equal contest - and then Ray Walker hit one - I could have sworn it was somewhere near the half way line, but it was probably only 20 -25 yards out and it hit the net. I suppose the biggest shock was that there was no action replay to watch - you kind of expected it - but the game started again and Vale scored again ( a bit later, anyway, but at the same end - Phil Sproson this time) and the whole place exploded again - it was unreal - I'd never been there before, but it felt like it was me being there that made a difference- like a lucky charm. A friend said "you can come here again" - and said it again when the final whistle blew and they'd won - unexpected, surreal, amazing - I was there !! My first game and they beat the Cup holders...
We'd had a drink at the pub ( Rose & Crown) before the game and walked up to Burslem from there and we went back there for another( I think) it was just amazing - something to talk about maybe. And that's how I got hooked on the Vale. Glory Hunter ? maybe - but it was like nothing else I'd ever experienced - Wow !! I wanted more of it.
So then I started going to more games - I'll tell you about them later.
Vale 2 Spurs 1 - Walker, Sproson : Ruddock
That'll do for me !!
It had one thing in common with the first game I ever went to - Spurs were playing. It was the fourth round of the FA Cup, Vale had ( or so I'd been told) scraped past Macclesfield Town ( then a non-league club) 1-0 with a goal from someone called Kevin Finney who was a bit useless too much of the time to be a regular ( or so I was told) At the time, I was a regular visitor to a pub in Etruria ( part of Stoke, not the place in Italy) called The Rose and Crown. (It's now some offices, which is a bit sad) I used to go to play in the pub quiz team - they asked me to after I went there for a treasure hunt and met a whole load of people I knew from working in a night club ( Syd's Bar in Newcastle, if you're asking - I used to DJ on "punk/new wave nights" and play in a band - look at Day 5ve for more on that one)
Anyway, to cut a long story short, they were all regulars at the Vale - had been going there for a few years, and said that I ought to go, even if it was just to watch them play Spurs. So I did.
Still staning up, which was good - pretty much sold out, and didn't know who any of the Vale players were - had heard of Mark Grew but that was all. Railway paddock, by the half-way line, wondering what was going to happen next.
Then it kicked off, and I had a horrible feeling that Spurs were going to win - and easily - but then it all turned round - it was like an equal contest - and then Ray Walker hit one - I could have sworn it was somewhere near the half way line, but it was probably only 20 -25 yards out and it hit the net. I suppose the biggest shock was that there was no action replay to watch - you kind of expected it - but the game started again and Vale scored again ( a bit later, anyway, but at the same end - Phil Sproson this time) and the whole place exploded again - it was unreal - I'd never been there before, but it felt like it was me being there that made a difference- like a lucky charm. A friend said "you can come here again" - and said it again when the final whistle blew and they'd won - unexpected, surreal, amazing - I was there !! My first game and they beat the Cup holders...
We'd had a drink at the pub ( Rose & Crown) before the game and walked up to Burslem from there and we went back there for another( I think) it was just amazing - something to talk about maybe. And that's how I got hooked on the Vale. Glory Hunter ? maybe - but it was like nothing else I'd ever experienced - Wow !! I wanted more of it.
So then I started going to more games - I'll tell you about them later.
Vale 2 Spurs 1 - Walker, Sproson : Ruddock
That'll do for me !!
The first one ever
So I'm talking 60s here - I was at school then and a friend (at the time) used to go and watch Coventry City, who had just been promoted to Division One. I used to follow football on the telly and in the papers, but my Dad wasn't into that sort of thing so I never went to a match. Until this one. They were playing Spurs, which was the team I'd watched win the Cup Winners Cup against Dukla ( Prague, only I didn't know that bit) and I wanted to go. Just for once, I was allowed to, because it was with a friend from school. That didn't happen very often - so I made the most of it !!
It was weird - I can still remember some of the things that happened - like the Kinks "Autumn Almanac" being played on the sound system in the ground. It was in the days when fans weren't segregated, although they did tend to take over the ends of the ground behind the goals, and fight with rival fans who tried to get into that part of the ground, so we were near the half-way line with a mixture of Spurs and Coventry fans, where it was safer.
I can still remember all the Spurs team ( some of the Coventry players, too, but they weren't as memorable) Jennings, Kinnear, Knowles, Mullery, England, Mackay, Robertson, Greaves, Gilzean, Venables, Jones. No subs, they didn't have them yet. They played 4 4 2 I think, or maybe 4 2 4 they were good though.
Several things really amazed me - first off, the way Mike England (centre half) kind of hung in the air, bent from the waist and headed the ball away over and over again -then the level of physical contact, the crunching tackles, the pushing, shoving and all that - TV didn't give you that level of close up. Then there was the fact that you didn't get action replays when something happened - you didn't get them that much on the telly, but you got them once or twice. So when people scored, it was a "blink and you missed it" moment. Anyway, Spurs won 3-2 ( Greaves 2, Jones) : ( Tudor 2) and I was kind of surprised about how scrappy the goals seemed - no blistering drives, no amazing dribbles and shots, just a little scramble and kick really close in, that you couldn't really see. Saw Pat Jennings make a couple of stunning saves. So that was it. Didn't go again for 20 years or so.
I've just looked up a website - 14th October 1967 it was and there were 38,008 people in the ground - if I hadn't gone, there would only have been 38,007!!
Next time I'll tell you about the second match I ever went to ! 21 years, 3 months and 16 days later, to be precise - but who's counting ? I didn't at the time - I'd watched "my" team (Spurs, that is) and they'd won. That would do for me, I thought. No point in going to see Coventry, they weren't anything special.
It was weird - I can still remember some of the things that happened - like the Kinks "Autumn Almanac" being played on the sound system in the ground. It was in the days when fans weren't segregated, although they did tend to take over the ends of the ground behind the goals, and fight with rival fans who tried to get into that part of the ground, so we were near the half-way line with a mixture of Spurs and Coventry fans, where it was safer.
I can still remember all the Spurs team ( some of the Coventry players, too, but they weren't as memorable) Jennings, Kinnear, Knowles, Mullery, England, Mackay, Robertson, Greaves, Gilzean, Venables, Jones. No subs, they didn't have them yet. They played 4 4 2 I think, or maybe 4 2 4 they were good though.
Several things really amazed me - first off, the way Mike England (centre half) kind of hung in the air, bent from the waist and headed the ball away over and over again -then the level of physical contact, the crunching tackles, the pushing, shoving and all that - TV didn't give you that level of close up. Then there was the fact that you didn't get action replays when something happened - you didn't get them that much on the telly, but you got them once or twice. So when people scored, it was a "blink and you missed it" moment. Anyway, Spurs won 3-2 ( Greaves 2, Jones) : ( Tudor 2) and I was kind of surprised about how scrappy the goals seemed - no blistering drives, no amazing dribbles and shots, just a little scramble and kick really close in, that you couldn't really see. Saw Pat Jennings make a couple of stunning saves. So that was it. Didn't go again for 20 years or so.
I've just looked up a website - 14th October 1967 it was and there were 38,008 people in the ground - if I hadn't gone, there would only have been 38,007!!
Next time I'll tell you about the second match I ever went to ! 21 years, 3 months and 16 days later, to be precise - but who's counting ? I didn't at the time - I'd watched "my" team (Spurs, that is) and they'd won. That would do for me, I thought. No point in going to see Coventry, they weren't anything special.
Why ?
That's the question a lot of people ask when they find out which football team I follow - and when I say football I mean the proper game - soccer, that is, for those of you who might think it's about big people in padding and helmets running fast and throwing things - the beautiful game ( though not always played that way). Why ? Why Port Vale FC ?
Can't answer for sure, but it's just something I do. Go to all the home games, a few away games, own shares in the club ( not many, but still something) and get involved in some other stuff involving the club. And now this.
There's lots of stories to tell about things that have happened - and some of them were quite a long time ago - but it's all part of the big picture of supporting the underdog team (well they have been for most of the time) in one of the smaller cities that has two football clubs. Not everyone knows that, it sometimes comes up in sports trivia. We won't mention the other one - it's usually preceded by a clearing of the throat and a pretend spit.
So how did it all start for me ? The story actually begins back in the 60s - with the first match I ever went to, and that made the second match something I had to go to, and that was it, hooked after that - just that there was a very, very long gap between match one and match two. There's been another gap as well, but a lot shorter, and for different reasons. Now it's just a habit - as I said earlier, something I do. I'll do this a match at a time - or maybe a couple at a time if it fits, sometimes you might even get some commentary or match analysis - or even a bit of online fanzine blogging - depends on the mood I'm in and what's going on at the time.
That's all for now - back later.
Can't answer for sure, but it's just something I do. Go to all the home games, a few away games, own shares in the club ( not many, but still something) and get involved in some other stuff involving the club. And now this.
There's lots of stories to tell about things that have happened - and some of them were quite a long time ago - but it's all part of the big picture of supporting the underdog team (well they have been for most of the time) in one of the smaller cities that has two football clubs. Not everyone knows that, it sometimes comes up in sports trivia. We won't mention the other one - it's usually preceded by a clearing of the throat and a pretend spit.
So how did it all start for me ? The story actually begins back in the 60s - with the first match I ever went to, and that made the second match something I had to go to, and that was it, hooked after that - just that there was a very, very long gap between match one and match two. There's been another gap as well, but a lot shorter, and for different reasons. Now it's just a habit - as I said earlier, something I do. I'll do this a match at a time - or maybe a couple at a time if it fits, sometimes you might even get some commentary or match analysis - or even a bit of online fanzine blogging - depends on the mood I'm in and what's going on at the time.
That's all for now - back later.
