THE NIGHT BEFORE LOCKDOWN EVE

Printed in the National League South game v Hungerford Town Tuesday 17^th November 2020  We lost 3-1 

It was the night before Lockdown Eve - the crap sequel where everything that was fun, was grinding to a halt again. There was only one thing to do. Binge-watch live football before the turnstile gates were shut. And at least I could still watch elite teams like Slough on stream.

Monday night and I’m having a quick pint in the Sportsman, a pub overlooking the Withdean Stadium and home to AFC Varndeanians. The pub was originally the clubhouse of the Sussex County Lawn Tennis Association which boasted a centre-court modelled on the one at Wimbledon. It’s also been a zoo, a mortuary during the War and a boxing venue; but is most famous for being the home of Brighton and Hove Albion.

Dubbed the Theatre of Trees, it was known as the worst ground in the English Football League where away fans were so far from the pitch they were 'in a different postcode.' I heard tales of a time when the mist descended and supporters had to listen to the radio to find out what was happening. Where one Brighton supporter, so scarred by the experience, told me he wouldn’t come along tonight even if it was free. But after ground-sharing in Gillingham the place was a life-line for a club in free-fall.

It’s once again an athletics stadium and most of the old Albion chairs have gone to places like Newhaven and Whitehawk leaving just a bank of them running alongside the pub end where you can watch the game. And for Varndeanians, whose origins are from a local school, playing here means they could once again join the County League and senior football.

Tonight was a Sussex Senior Cup tie second round tie, and the ultimate prize of the final was stepping out at Brightons slightly more salubrious surroundings a few miles across the City. While the home side were flying high in Southern Combination Division One their opponents Langney Wanderers – who play at Eastbourne Borough – were near the bottom of the Southern Combination Premier. The home side got off to a flying start but slowly the visitors got back in the game and it became a real slug-fest finishing goalless and onto penalties which the Wanderers deservedly won 4-3.

I decided the following night to become part of the Shoreham Ultras and head to Eastbourne, seeing as that’s where most of the football clubs in Sussex seem to come from. This time my destination was Eastbourne Town, the oldest club in the county and a team Slough used to play regularly in the old Athenian League. This was also a Sussex Senior Cup tie and Shoreham were in the league below taking on arguably one of strongest teams in the league above. There’d been a mix up and the beer was served by a side door rather than the clubhouses which had been deep cleaned ready for the nursery the next day.

The Eastbourne Ultras were on a sponsored silence but the old Eastbourne Borough fans had some great tales to tell of living in Brighton, of people remortgaging their homes so Eastbourne Borough (who were originally Langney Sports) could build their clubhouse. Maybe that’s why I missed the Shoreham sending off with the Musselmen eventually losing 5-1.

The last night before Covid Eve I just had to spend at the Bevy, our community pub that during lock-down has delivered over 6,000 meals on wheels. As the last bell sounded it felt like a subdued Christmas Eve as we bid everyone farewell with a mournful ‘See you in a month – maybe.’ Mind you, my old mate Jonathan wanted one last dance. At 88 and 3 major operations this year, he was entitled to it - before we once again hunkered down in our covid secure bunkers, unless of course, we had to go to work or school.

FOOTBALL FAIRYTALES

Published in the National League South game v Maidstone United Saturday 7^th November 2020. Lucky we are elite and can keep on playing!  We lost 3-2

Amidst all the covid chaos there is still one certainty when it comes to football – when the shit hits the fan, supporters will always be there to pick up the pieces.

To warm the cockles I watched the BBC documentary ‘Bury: Bringing Football Home’ about a group of supporters who got together and formed Bury AFC after the demise of their old club.

It’s the usual tale of the useless FA doing nothing, while a serial assist stripper bought the club for a pound. Within a year they had been expelled from the Football League. Now he’s all dressed up but with nowhere to go; owning the ground, but with no team and no league to play in. Meanwhile supporters rallied round to form a phoenix club, sort funding, a ground, deal with splits in support and a pandemic for good measure. As their new chairman said ‘one minute you’re on the terraces commenting on how you would run the football club, to actually running one!’ So its minor miracle they started this season in the North West Counties League playing at Radcliffe with ever growing support.

Macclesfield Town had been teetering on the brink for a few years until they were relegated from the Football League after a points deduction, wound up at the High Court, then expelled from the National League. Things looked even bleaker a couple of weeks later when their Moss Rose ground was put up for sale on Rightmove. But then a miracle happened. A local businessman, bought the club including the leasehold and all its assets. Former player and occasional caretaker-manager Danny Whitaker, who signed for Town again as a player the day before they folded, is their new manager, while Robbie Savage is on the new club’s board and Head of Football Operations. Hopefully next season they will be joining Bury AFC in the North West Counties. 

London is littered with clubs losing their grounds to property vultures and the oldest senior football ground in the City the Old Spotted Dog, dilapidated with miniscule crowds and an owner who didn’t care, looked certain to be added to the list. Then a few years back, fans from various league clubs, fed up of being ripped off and mucked around, starting turning up to support Clapton. Crowds soared but the new fans were not happy how Clapton were being run and eventually set up a breakaway club. They have now gained ownership of the ground and are slowly knocking the place back into shape ready to return.

MK Doughnuts have always been the football plague ship, a franchised club stealing a place in the league that was never there's. So when the football authorities told Wimbledon fans that a new club was ‘not in the wider interests of football’ the Wombles dug deep.  Starting at the bottom of the pyramid it took six promotions but now they are in the same league as their nemesis. Even more astonishing is that thirty years after having to leave Plough Lane they are back in Wimbledon, a few feet from their old ground. Graham Stacey from the Dons Trust said "It hasn't been an easy thing, building a stadium, let alone in Wimbledon which isn't a cheap area. We could have stayed in Kingston or wherever after we were pretty much sentenced to death by the FA, but we were always about representing Wimbledon and being Wimbledon's football club."  

At one point the Trust considered selling shares to private investors, but a hugely successful bond set up by fans raised over £5 million since January, ensuring that the club’s supporter-led structure has remained intact. Stacey added: “I can’t wait to see my dad’s face when he gets to walk in for the first time; he’s been a fan for 50 years and he hasn’t seen us truly play at home for 30 of those. There are thousands of people like him. Sometimes you have to wait for the best things in life but 30 years is quite an ask.” 

In such dark times we need these people-powered football fairytales to keep our spirits up.