Thursday, December 22, 2005
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 !!
