Post by gazz on Dec 5, 2013 0:20:35 GMT
CANS
gazza007
Back in the early 90s we were playing Bolton away at the old Burnden Park ground on a freezing cold Tuesday night. The trip over there was a bit of a farce with the 'coach' being a clapped-out old double decker bus! My brother and I were at the back of the top deck, and we had taken a few cold 'uns with us to get us in the mood. We'd just finished them off when my brother, who was being his usual accident-prone self decided to crush one of his empty CANS, and then proceeded to rip it in half.
He ended up cutting his hand pretty badly, and with him not being one for showing he was hurt in front of some of the well-known County 'faces', he took off his County scarf and made himself a makeshift bandage out of it. The game itself was crap, a boring 0-0 draw, but with half the bloody pitch being obscured from view by that bloody awful Normid supermarket that backed onto the away terrace we were spared from watching a fair chunk of it!
The 'highlight' of my evening being trying to guess when my brother would actually pass out from the loss of blood, and as his scarf became redder and redder I really did think we'd end up having to get him to a hospital in Bolton. Luckily he was ok, but to this day I have no idea how!
Incidentally, one of the 'faces' sat with us on the way there was the guy who ended up becoming famous for jumping in the Railway End to take on the entire Burnley away support a couple of seasons later, which culminated in him having his head caved in before the police could get him out (Edgey?).
Our kid was always a show-off, and although I miss the stupid get sometimes, thank god he moved to Scotland!
Can on a Bus
bringbacklenwhite
45 children and 8 members of staff on a coach from Coventry (where I used to teach) to Wembley for an evening England match.
A stupid child at the back decided to open his can of coke as we hurtled down the M1 at 60mph. As the coke hit the ceiling and decended over the dozen or so surrounding pupils the driver hit the brakes, veered across 2 lanes of traffic and stopped on the hard shoulder propelling everyone out of their seats at speed (non seat belt regs in those days).
The hand brake was barely applied before he rose to a full height of 6ft 7 inches and proceded to run down the bus and lift the 15 year old miscreant, by the throat, out of his seat.
It took 4 adults to prise the culprit from his grasp and we only calmed him down by promising that the guilty party would attend the garage first thing in the morning to clean the whole bus.
Scary moment which resulted in me banning cans on any subsequent trip - ever !!
The driver explained that he lost his rag because he once had a coke can roll forward under the seats and become trapped under his accelerator pedal. Not to be encouraged.
Can't remember who England were playing or the score, hardly surprisingly.
Jack Connor
Sir Roger
Jack Connor was, quite simply, a goal machine. Judge for yourself.
He scored 140 County goals in just 217 appearances.
He claimed a club record 17 hat-tricks, which included four goals against Bradford Park Avenue and Tranmere Rovers, plus five goals against Workington and Carlisle United.
And in 1953 he joined an elite band of players, which included Alf Lythgoe, another County goal-scoring legend by scoring a hat-trick of hat-tricks in consecutive games: Chester, Crewe and Chester.
The Hatters had tried to sign Connor from Rochdale in April 1951 but he decided to join Bradford City.
Six months later, however, they finally got their man, albeit in very unusual circumstances.
Connor and his wife, Sue, were sat in a Bradford cinema when a message flashed across the screen: 'Would Jack Connor, Bradford City's centre-forward, please go the foyer'. He followed the instructions and was met by County chairman Ernest Barlow and manager Andy Beattie. He signed on the spot for a fee of £2,500!
Following a dispute with player-manager Willie Moir, Connor left Edgeley Park for Crewe in September 1956, but he was unable to repeat his goal-scoring exploits at Gresty Road and, after a season in non-league football with Runcorn, announced his retirement in 1958.
John (Jack) Thomas Connor sadly passed away, seven days before his 79th birthday, in December 1998, but his name will never be forgotten.
To celebrate County's 100th anniversary of the club's election to the Football League in 1900, Stockport County's Ex-Players Association organised a poll to find the 'Hatters' Player of the Century'.
Jack Connor won the vote by some considerable distance. There can be no greater tribute.
Canadian County Supporters Club
bigfudge
I happened recently to learn about a group of supporters across Canada who followed the exploits of our very own Stockport County and in 2010 took a group trip to watch us play Bradford City in the 1-1 draw with George Donnelly scoring.
From what I have been told by a County friend living in Toronto, they have 3 members in Toronto, 1 in Montreal, 2 in Winnipeg, 5 in Vancouver and 2 in Calgary (working on their closest major city) with only 3 of them (himself included) having ever actually lived in and around Stockport.
Not an anecdote as such but certainly something I found interesting!
County Heaven!
Sir Roger
Consisting of:-
Conversations, Conflicting, or Combined & Clarity Clear
Colourful Characters Contributing & Collating Countless County Chat
CHAOS (of course).
Canadian (Substitutes of the Random kind)
County_fan’s Continued Campaign of Canoodling, Courtship & Chase
Cheerful, Clever & Challenging Competitions, Contributed Carefully, Constantly & Cheekily.
Catch the Chant of “……….Chesterfield & Crewe”
Community Communications
Correct & Careful Censorship
Counselling Considered, Concerning County ‘s Countless Catastrophes
“C” Class Celebrities !?! (Pete Liggins anyway)
Crikey!, Can’t Continue, Cock-a-leekie Calls!
Cheerio
Cunis - Robert Smith
bringbacklenwhite
New Zealand fast bowler (born 1941) played 20 times for his country.
Only famous because of the following description by Alan Gibson during a Test Match Special commentary.
"Cunis bowling from the Vauxhall End. A funny sort of name that. Neither one thing or the other".
Coaching should be about providing football for children, not children for football !
Carlton Palmer
County Fan
IDIOT!! Enough said.
Cup Final Day Countdown
bringbacklenwhite
Always used to be the most exciting day of the year (as it was the only live football match on TV in our early days).
My first final that I remember was 1960 when Wolves beat Blackburn Rovers - the day David Whelan broke his leg (Blackburn had to play with 10 men as no subs were allowed then). How that changed his (and many others) life forever.
Grandad would appear at 1pm to babysit my brother and I whilst mum and Grandma "went out shopping". Dad would be working all day Saturdays. The curtains would be drawn to keep out the sunlight and the magic of black and white televised live football would spring from the screen. Community singing led by a celebrity such as Ken Dodd or Roy Castle would include "Abide with Me" (what has that to do with football ?).
Kick-Off - black and white shirts would play against white and black shirts (with various shades of grey thrown in for highlighting). The queen looking bored to tears with stuffed shirts dignitaries shuffling in the background. The winners parading the trophy around the ground as the losers scuttled back to the dressing room.
The best countdown happened at college though. 1974 Cup Final Liverpool vs Newcastle. Our Hall of Residence had a huge TV lounge and a large colour cabinet TV. The seats were arranged in terracing style with sofas on tables as the back row. At 6.30am (yes 6.30am) Micky Dagnell - professional scouser - arrived and took up pole position 5 feet from the box on the front row. Full cans on one side and an ever increasing pile of empties on the other. Breakfast and lunch was taken in the same place. An unwritten rule applied that seats could be reserved by tilting up the cushion (5 minutes maximum) for toileting relief purposes. We were slightly civilized.
At 2.50pm with "Abide with Me" ringing round the room full of 70 PE students the shout went up "Phone Call for Micky Dagnell - it's yer Mum - it's important".
Severe, matriarchal, verbal abuse ensued but he relented and headed to the phone booth. As he left the room 6 of us leaped on him and fought him into a laundry basket and locked him in it. Even better, we then wheeled him back into the TV lounge and placed him in earshot of the match but behind the screen.
He set the world record for escapology from a basket (23 minutes) performed by kicking his way through the sides and threatening death to anyone involved. If only Houndini had thought of that one. He did calm down eventually - about 3 weeks later.
It cost us £45 for a new laudry basket, though probably worth every penny looking back. Thank goodness Liverpool won !
Classic Cloughie
Sir Roger
"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." Reviewing his illustrious career.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right." Dealing with disruptive players the Cloughie way.
"Manchester Utd in Brazil? I hope they all get bloody diarrhoea." After Man Utd chose to compete in the World Club Championships instead of the FA Cup.
"I bet their dressing room will smell of garlic rather than liniment over the next few months" Cloughie was not too impressed with the amount of French players signed by Arsenal.
"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's too much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win a game of dominoes." On England's dismal failure at Euro 2000.
"He's a handsome young man but he spends too much time looking in the mirror rather than looking at the ball. You can't keep goal with hair like that." Cloughie ponders the qualities of the ravishing David Seaman and his lovely ponytail.
"Anybody who can do anything in Leicester but make a jumper, has got to be a genius." When asked about his views on his former player Martin O'Neill.
"I only ever hit Roy the once. He got up so I couldn't have hit him very hard" Referring to the time Roy Keane under-hit a back-pass in 1991.
"I can't even spell spaghetti never mind talk Italian. How could I tell an Italian to get the ball - he might grab mine." Cloughie talks about the number of foreign players in the league.
August 30th 1994: Away -v- Crewe
hatter in macc
I had not long started in a job when the 1994/95 season began, with the fixtures-computer having given us a late Summer's evening trip to Gresty Road.
On chatting with my new colleagues over coffee, and mentioning that I was planning to go to the game with a couple of mates, the office secretary - a diminutive five-foot-nothing in her work-heels - piped up that she and her boyfriend liked to watch County from time to time, and, if the weather turned out to be nice that evening, they might join us. At this point, I sarcastically quipped something along the lines of it being handy to have her around if things kicked off on the night...office banter never has been my strong point - although someone, somewhere did end up adapting the joke to much better effect as an 'Inbetweeners' line a good few years later.
The evening of the match arrived, and five of us - including my two new County-supporting buddies through work - took the train to Crewe. On the way down, I remembered from previous visits that the away-end was, in those days, a very short, shallow terrace which offered very poor views of the play - not to mention non-existent ones for anybody without the use of stilts! So, I suggested, and the others agreed, that, as none of us could claim to be particularly tall, and one was positively bordering on the midget-esque, we might break with convention and stand with the home supporters. And so it came that we found ourselves standing in line with the middle of the pitch, on a terrace which ran the length of the ground (and which, incidentally, is the side on which visiting fans sit nowadays).
Anyone who has stood alongside the locals away from home will know just how difficult it can be: no cheering the visiting side (would mean probable eviction...and if the stewards didn't get you, the home 'firm' would); and talking between ourselves had to be in very hushed tones, lest we gave away our allegiance. What was quite amusing, mind you, was being 'a fly on the wall' to hear what another club's fans thought of County...which, in truth, was not much - but did include remarks about comparing Big Kev to 'Bambi on ice' (which we knew) and bellowing "F**k off, Billy Idol!" to Alun Armstrong (wonder if Fudge has had that one thrown his way since the hair-job...?)!
Worst of all, with 90 minutes up, and County trailing 2-1, we got a penalty. The small huddle of secret Hatters fans on the home-terrace could only watch in stifled silence, and then horror, as Kev went on to blast it high and wide.
The excessively-crowded train home was halted at Wilmslow due to a problem further up the line, and everyone on board was turfed off onto a waiting replacement bus service. As we snaked out of the station as part of a heaving, disorderly mass of other County fans, my little, and seemingly sweet-natured colleague, tired of being pushed around, squared up to the last stranger of twice her size who had been doing a bit of jostling and yelled "GET OUT OF MY F**KING WAY!!". Cue a momentary silence, a particularly mortified-looking tall man, and a procession which completed the rest of its walk to the buses without a push or a shove to be seen. My earlier attempt at a workplace joke had turned into a prophecy fulfilled...
Cringle Fields
archie
Playing fields in Burnage/Levenshulme where I polished my nascent genius as a goal poacher supreme. Played a few primary school matches there but it was more often the kickabouts with anything from 3 to 13 a side, rush goalies etc etc. We could usually be found there on Sundays watching the local pub or wannabe (Real Madrid United comes to mind) sides kicking lumps out of each other and acting as unpaid ballboys.
The fields later achieved a certain amount of backdated fame as the place where the Gallagher brothers kicked any convenient ball while waiting for their mother to come home from the adjacent McVities factory.
Crewe - 27/1/2001
archie
Jarkko Wiss scores 5 minutes from time to put County through to the 5th round of the FA Cup for the first time in 51 years and only the second time in my lifetime. I was there! I don't really expect to see it happen again to be honest.
Citeh (Away)
Unknown (feel free to claim this one if it's yours)
So many talking points about this game, but what sticks in my mind about it most?
Wilbraham scoring against the team he supported as a kid? No.
Wallwork having an absolute ‘mare when you expect him to go the extra mile against his main rivals? No.
Nixon leaving the pitch for stitches in his mouth? No.
Angell donning the goalie shirt and gloves for a stint in nets? No.
Bradbury almost looking like a footballer? No.
Getting tonked 4-1? No.
County fans fighting amongst themselves? Correct.
That tall copper with goatee who used to drink in the Royal Oak getting dragged out by 5 Manchester coppers is what I remember most. I bumped into him a couple of years later on the beach in Bramhall-on-sea (Abersoch). I asked him what happened after that game. “We don’t talk about that day,” was his reply. So we didn’t.
County
archie
Simply the best....at something....surely?
COWS
archie
Sometimes up to date.
Cheltenham
archie
Not much to write about football there but home to the most perfect natural amphitheatre in British sport - the racecourse - and, as National Hunt racing is my other passion, a worthy topic for my 600th post. The Cheltenham Festival week in March has been the first period blocked off in my diary for many years now although consideration for my legs, back and liver now limits my actual attendance to the first 2 days. So many special racing memories. The Gold Cup wins of Desert Orchid and Dawn Run. Michael Dickinson training the first 5 home in Bregawn's Gold Cup. Badsworth Boy, Istabraq, Moscow Flyer, Burrough Hill Lad, Kauto Star, Denman and many many more.
I've been lucky enough to have shares in several horses who have run at the Festival and even scraped into the winner's enclosure a few years ago when a horse called Lord Noelie ran 4th in the cross-country race. My avatar is a photo of us in the Cheltenham winner's enclosure after the same horse had won on New Years Eve 2003 ridden by a certain AP McCoy. Happy days!
Citeh (Away) - Part 2
hatter in macc
I was at Maine Road on that Tuesday night in December 1999, when Messrs Bailey and Dinning had both put the ball in City's net to see off our then-supposedly more illustrious neighbours. Happy days.
Trouble was, those were also the days when I worked just down the Oxford Road - and, having left clocking-off until the last minute that evening, I walked to the ground in a suit. On emerging from Maine Road as part of the delirious travelling contingent - one of whom, once out on the streets, actually fell to his knees and cried up to the heavens, "Thank you so much...I'm happy to die now!" (wonder if he's still around?) - I soon realised that the maze of Rusholme streets had confounded me, and that, in the inky gloom of the night, I had followed the wrong crowd of departing supporters and, rather than finding myself back under the bright lights of Oxford Road for a train home, had wandered by mistake, and conspicuously well dressed, into Moss Side !
Oh, sh*t.
More by luck than by judgement, I made it to the Princess Road and worked my way back into town - via Hulme, which itself messed with my head...and almost with my trousers...somewhat - with seconds to spare before the last train set off. First stop the next morning, a dry-cleaners for my suit...no, not for THAT - it's just that dressing rather formally in a crowd, and then having to walk for miles around the houses afterwards, does tend to make one sweat just a tad, don't you know?!
Cheltenham
Little Miss Sirius Jnr
As I got out of the car I could feel the atmosphere close in on me. It felt cold, almost as if it was a ghost town. I shivered; it seemed like the sun was hiding from the events that were about to happen. We walked through the streets; the same colours standing out. Scarf’s hung limply around our necks; we all walked to the same place as we thought; this is it.
The wind blowing in our faces, people mumbling ‘Hello’ to each other as they passed in the street for it wasn’t a joyous occasion. Men in black suits walked towards the door. We tried to smile at them, we tried to lighten their mood but they kept their heads down not smiling at all. This was it
There were no smiles on anyone’s faces as we walked, just grief. People we didn’t know stood in the streets trying to cheer us up but it didn’t work. Everyone held this piece of flimsy paper in their hand, a bit of hope slipped away with every step we took, this is it.
We handed the piece of paper to a lady; she smiled at us, she felt the same grief as we did. We went and took our seats; they were as cold as ice. Others came and sat near us the seating area filled up within half an hour all looking at one thing, a bit of worn grass. It started at exactly 3pm. Drums beating, people singing. At about 4:45pm, some people left saying goodbye as they went. Whilst others stayed to pay their respects to the family. As this family walked out we knew what was on their minds, “This is it”.
We walked out of the gates saying goodbye, we knew we wouldn’t see most of this family again. It was saddening. I thought to my self. This is the last home game in a professional league, but I will run behind that open-top bus supporting my team, Stockport County as we return to the professional league it may be next year it may be in 10 years time but I will be their supporting mu team, through thick and thin until that very day when it is announced “Stockport County is returning to the Professional League”.
Away-trips to Carlisle: Don'tcha Just Love 'Em?!?! (With apologies to 'Private Eye'...)
hatter in macc
1. Early '90s: Having a mate who lived on Warwick Road, just a Flynny throw-in away from Brunton Park. Saved me a good few late-night drives home in the days when we constantly seemed to get landed with midweek trips there.
2. January 1992: Having, strangely but gratefully, a second bite of the cherry at Carlisle, once we scraped into the knockout-stage, in the Autoglass - after the group matches, which had included a woeful 4-0 spanking there. No mistake by the boys second time around, winning 3-1 en route to 'Wembley - the first time'.
3. March 1996: Paul Ware's belting curler, at the away-end, that won that season's League encounter there. Still one of the top ten County goals I've ever seen.
4. January 2010: Enjoying my fifteen seconds of fame, when interviewed - and broadcast on 'The Football League Show' - by the BBC for a fan's take on the Club's plummeting fortunes. Not that the camera got my best side, mind...
5. January 2010: Arriving for the match early enough to drive that little bit further up the M6, just so's Macc Junior and I could go home afterwards and brag that we'd been to Scotland!
Away-trips to Carlisle: Aren'tcha Just Sick of 'Em?!?!
hatter in macc
1. Early '90s: On the one Tuesday night that my Warwick Road-dwelling mate wasn't at home, having to drive back after a match in the worst Cumbrian winter conditions, and coming within a hair's breadth of being taken off the M6 by another swerving car.
2. November 1991: The group-stage Autoglass match. Lost 4-0, and played atrociously with a full-strength side. 'Little' Paul Williams broke his leg, and was never the same player again. And there were just 36 of us there from Stockport to witness the whole ghastly business.
3. March 1996: Leaping with joy to a ludicrous height on the away-terrace when Ware scored, before taking a tumble on the steps and spraining my ankle.
4. Winter 2002/03: Returning home very late from a romantic, and another very cold, evening watching County bow out of the Autoglass-successor-thingy after extra time, only to find that Mrs Macc and I had locked ourselves out of the house.
5. January 2010: Ian Harte's play-acting directly in front of the away-fans, which ended up getting Jabo Ibehre a second yellow card and his marching orders. Macc Junior took the injustice of it all so much to heart that he never wants to visit Carlisle again...all things considered, I'm probably not going to argue with him !
Carlisle Quote
bringbacklenwhite
Famously once described by ex-QPR's Stan Bowles as "freezing cold and sheepsh*t in the gardens - that's Carlisle".
He played for them for a little while.
Carlisle at home
dudleyhatter
That fateful day when we thought that league football was going to disappear. God I still feel sick thinking back. At that stage I do not think we would have survived the drop. At least this time we have had two years of plummeting as a club to prepare our selves for the fall from grace.
The game itself was a bit of a blur, constant updates from absent family and friends as to how the notts county game was going. I remember the fantastic atmosphere, even during those few minutes when we were in the drop zone. The Carlisle fans were superb and it was of course a wonderful ending.
Colemanballs
offertonhatter
“Dimitar Berbatov doubles his goal tally in the league this season from one to three” GUY MOWBRAY
“I’ve just watched the replay and there is absolutely no doubt – it’s inconclusive” GARTH CROOKS
"They didn't change positions, they just moved the players around." Terry Venables
"What disappointed me was that we didn't play with any passion. I'm not disappointed, you know, I'm just disappointed." Kevin Keegan
"The new season will be all about scoring more goals than the opposition." Alvin Martin
"If Glenn Hoddle said one word to his team at half-time, it was concentration and focus." Ron Atkinson
"They (Swindon) are still finding that they are much happier when they have the ball than when the other side has it." Ron Jones
"He's caused the Chelsea defence no amount of problems." Jimmy Armfield
"We deserved to win this game after hammering them 0-0 in the first half." Kevin Keegan
"Without being too harsh on David, he cost us the match." Ian Wright
"You can see the ball go past them, or the man, but you'll never see both man and ball go past at the same time. So if the ball goes past, the man won't, or if the man goes past, they'll take the ball." Ron Atkinson - and you will be tested on what he said later!
"The important thing is that he shook hands with us over the phone." Alan Ball
"Eighty per cent of teams who score first in matches go on to win them. But they may draw some – or occasionally lose.” A thoughtful David Pleat
"Chile have three options - they could win or they could lose." Kevin Keegan
"The problem at Wimbledon seems to be that the club has suffered a loss of complacency." Joe Kinnear
"He has got his tactics wrong tactically." Mick Quinn
"He reminds me of a completely different version of Robbie Earle." Mark Lawrenson
Special mention must go to this one:-
"Unless the chairman decides to sack me, I won’t be quitting." Carlton Palmer
etc etc etc
Colemanballs pt 2
gazza007
"He's a player you only miss when he's not playing" - Graham Taylor
"We are not as good we think we are. We need to go out and prove that" - Steve McClaren
"Fourth spot is what we are aiming for. We don't want to be second best" - Phil Neville
"Gary Neville was the captain and now Ryan Giggs has taken on the mantelpiece" - Rio Ferdinand
"Football is like a roundabout. Sometimes you are up and sometimes you're down" - Radio 5 Live reporter
"Hodge scored for Forest after 22 seconds - totally against the run of play" - Peter Lorenz
"I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat." - Ron Atkinson
"The Germans only have one player under 22, and he's 23." - Kevin Keegan
"That's football, Mike, Northern Ireland have had several chances and haven't scored but England have had no chances and scored twice." - Trevor Brooking
"I would also think that the action replay showed it to be worse than it actually was." - Ron Atkinson
"What will you do when you leave football, Jack -- will you stay in football?" - Stuart Hall
And you can't have a Colemanballs tribute without including one from the man himself:
Don't tell those coming in the final result of that fantastic match, but let's just have another look at Italy's winning goal." - David Coleman
Colemanballs pt 3
dudleyhatter
"For those watching in black and white spurs are in yellow" - Motty
"For those watching in black and white the pink is just behind the green." - Ted Lowe
Coleman David
bringbacklenwhite
Life time supporter of Stockport County. I do believe he played for the reserve team in the long distant past. Born Alderley Edge, member of Stockport Harriers and worked for the Stockport Express for a while. Quite remarkable.
"As he comes off the last bend - he opens his legs and shows us his class". Describing a cuban athlete Alberto Juantorenaas he wins a gold medal at the Olympic Games(400 and 800 metres - Montreal 1976).
Also once described a tiring athlete coming down the final striaght as "swimming in a sea of lactic acid". Brilliant.
hatter in macc added:
Certainly, his playing connection with County is true. Whilst a young Editor of The Wilmslow Alderley Express, Coleman attended a reserves match to report on it but, due to lack of numbers, ended up turning out for us!
I've a feeling, Lennie, that the Juantorena quote may actually have been Ron Pickering's. It's one of those attributed to DC all the time, though, for being classically 'Colemanball'-esque
bringbacklenwhite added:
Apparently it's true that Coleman was a closet Hatter.
I remembering him nearly bursting when he announced on Grandstand that bottom of the 4th Division County had taken the lead at 1st Division leaders Liverpool in the FA Cup (scored by Len White of course, who else) 1963-64. Finished 1-1. Liverpool won the replay 2-0 and went on to beat Leeds in the Final. It was the first time Stockport's name had appeared in the Cup Final Programme.
Think you might be right about the Juantorena quote Macc. I think DC would claim it. CHOAS is a bit like Wikipeadia at times. Only as accurate as the memory of the guys writing it.
Captain
downunderhatter
Now I would like to assure everyone that I'm a lovely placid guy off the pitch. On the pitch is different. Even in my old age I still see every game as a battle, every opponent as an enemy.
Last year, against one of the better teams that we play, I came up against a tricky South American centre-forward who was a bit of a diver. I had to mark him really tightly and in the first half he tried some tricky stuff but I got the ball fair and square without touching him from behind. Unfortunately as he turned his hand slapped my stomach (which everybody could hear) and he threw himself theatrically onto the ground screaming for a free-kick. Which he got. They scored from it and off we go again.
At 2-0 down in the second half and with us down to ten men, he knocked a ball out wide and ran behind me to get on the end of the cross. Knowing I'd never catch him in a month of Sundays, I stuck my left leg out behind me sending him to the ground (what? I'm a nasty centre-back). As they were still attacking he picked himself up and ran towards the edge of the box. So a swift, off-the-ball shoulder-charge sent him sprawling again. Groans from their players got me a lecture and yellow card from the ref who asked me what game I was playing as it certainly wasn't football. I thanked him for my booking and carried on with the game.
(I found out the next bit having a drink after the game).
As I was getting booked their centre-back said to our centre-forward, "He's out of control, the captain should have a word with him."
To which our centre-forward replied, "He is the captain."
gazza007
Back in the early 90s we were playing Bolton away at the old Burnden Park ground on a freezing cold Tuesday night. The trip over there was a bit of a farce with the 'coach' being a clapped-out old double decker bus! My brother and I were at the back of the top deck, and we had taken a few cold 'uns with us to get us in the mood. We'd just finished them off when my brother, who was being his usual accident-prone self decided to crush one of his empty CANS, and then proceeded to rip it in half.
He ended up cutting his hand pretty badly, and with him not being one for showing he was hurt in front of some of the well-known County 'faces', he took off his County scarf and made himself a makeshift bandage out of it. The game itself was crap, a boring 0-0 draw, but with half the bloody pitch being obscured from view by that bloody awful Normid supermarket that backed onto the away terrace we were spared from watching a fair chunk of it!
The 'highlight' of my evening being trying to guess when my brother would actually pass out from the loss of blood, and as his scarf became redder and redder I really did think we'd end up having to get him to a hospital in Bolton. Luckily he was ok, but to this day I have no idea how!
Incidentally, one of the 'faces' sat with us on the way there was the guy who ended up becoming famous for jumping in the Railway End to take on the entire Burnley away support a couple of seasons later, which culminated in him having his head caved in before the police could get him out (Edgey?).
Our kid was always a show-off, and although I miss the stupid get sometimes, thank god he moved to Scotland!
Can on a Bus
bringbacklenwhite
45 children and 8 members of staff on a coach from Coventry (where I used to teach) to Wembley for an evening England match.
A stupid child at the back decided to open his can of coke as we hurtled down the M1 at 60mph. As the coke hit the ceiling and decended over the dozen or so surrounding pupils the driver hit the brakes, veered across 2 lanes of traffic and stopped on the hard shoulder propelling everyone out of their seats at speed (non seat belt regs in those days).
The hand brake was barely applied before he rose to a full height of 6ft 7 inches and proceded to run down the bus and lift the 15 year old miscreant, by the throat, out of his seat.
It took 4 adults to prise the culprit from his grasp and we only calmed him down by promising that the guilty party would attend the garage first thing in the morning to clean the whole bus.
Scary moment which resulted in me banning cans on any subsequent trip - ever !!
The driver explained that he lost his rag because he once had a coke can roll forward under the seats and become trapped under his accelerator pedal. Not to be encouraged.
Can't remember who England were playing or the score, hardly surprisingly.
Jack Connor
Sir Roger
Jack Connor was, quite simply, a goal machine. Judge for yourself.
He scored 140 County goals in just 217 appearances.
He claimed a club record 17 hat-tricks, which included four goals against Bradford Park Avenue and Tranmere Rovers, plus five goals against Workington and Carlisle United.
And in 1953 he joined an elite band of players, which included Alf Lythgoe, another County goal-scoring legend by scoring a hat-trick of hat-tricks in consecutive games: Chester, Crewe and Chester.
The Hatters had tried to sign Connor from Rochdale in April 1951 but he decided to join Bradford City.
Six months later, however, they finally got their man, albeit in very unusual circumstances.
Connor and his wife, Sue, were sat in a Bradford cinema when a message flashed across the screen: 'Would Jack Connor, Bradford City's centre-forward, please go the foyer'. He followed the instructions and was met by County chairman Ernest Barlow and manager Andy Beattie. He signed on the spot for a fee of £2,500!
Following a dispute with player-manager Willie Moir, Connor left Edgeley Park for Crewe in September 1956, but he was unable to repeat his goal-scoring exploits at Gresty Road and, after a season in non-league football with Runcorn, announced his retirement in 1958.
John (Jack) Thomas Connor sadly passed away, seven days before his 79th birthday, in December 1998, but his name will never be forgotten.
To celebrate County's 100th anniversary of the club's election to the Football League in 1900, Stockport County's Ex-Players Association organised a poll to find the 'Hatters' Player of the Century'.
Jack Connor won the vote by some considerable distance. There can be no greater tribute.
Canadian County Supporters Club
bigfudge
I happened recently to learn about a group of supporters across Canada who followed the exploits of our very own Stockport County and in 2010 took a group trip to watch us play Bradford City in the 1-1 draw with George Donnelly scoring.
From what I have been told by a County friend living in Toronto, they have 3 members in Toronto, 1 in Montreal, 2 in Winnipeg, 5 in Vancouver and 2 in Calgary (working on their closest major city) with only 3 of them (himself included) having ever actually lived in and around Stockport.
Not an anecdote as such but certainly something I found interesting!
County Heaven!
Sir Roger
Consisting of:-
Conversations, Conflicting, or Combined & Clarity Clear
Colourful Characters Contributing & Collating Countless County Chat
CHAOS (of course).
Canadian (Substitutes of the Random kind)
County_fan’s Continued Campaign of Canoodling, Courtship & Chase
Cheerful, Clever & Challenging Competitions, Contributed Carefully, Constantly & Cheekily.
Catch the Chant of “……….Chesterfield & Crewe”
Community Communications
Correct & Careful Censorship
Counselling Considered, Concerning County ‘s Countless Catastrophes
“C” Class Celebrities !?! (Pete Liggins anyway)
Crikey!, Can’t Continue, Cock-a-leekie Calls!
Cheerio
Cunis - Robert Smith
bringbacklenwhite
New Zealand fast bowler (born 1941) played 20 times for his country.
Only famous because of the following description by Alan Gibson during a Test Match Special commentary.
"Cunis bowling from the Vauxhall End. A funny sort of name that. Neither one thing or the other".
Coaching should be about providing football for children, not children for football !
Carlton Palmer
County Fan
IDIOT!! Enough said.
Cup Final Day Countdown
bringbacklenwhite
Always used to be the most exciting day of the year (as it was the only live football match on TV in our early days).
My first final that I remember was 1960 when Wolves beat Blackburn Rovers - the day David Whelan broke his leg (Blackburn had to play with 10 men as no subs were allowed then). How that changed his (and many others) life forever.
Grandad would appear at 1pm to babysit my brother and I whilst mum and Grandma "went out shopping". Dad would be working all day Saturdays. The curtains would be drawn to keep out the sunlight and the magic of black and white televised live football would spring from the screen. Community singing led by a celebrity such as Ken Dodd or Roy Castle would include "Abide with Me" (what has that to do with football ?).
Kick-Off - black and white shirts would play against white and black shirts (with various shades of grey thrown in for highlighting). The queen looking bored to tears with stuffed shirts dignitaries shuffling in the background. The winners parading the trophy around the ground as the losers scuttled back to the dressing room.
The best countdown happened at college though. 1974 Cup Final Liverpool vs Newcastle. Our Hall of Residence had a huge TV lounge and a large colour cabinet TV. The seats were arranged in terracing style with sofas on tables as the back row. At 6.30am (yes 6.30am) Micky Dagnell - professional scouser - arrived and took up pole position 5 feet from the box on the front row. Full cans on one side and an ever increasing pile of empties on the other. Breakfast and lunch was taken in the same place. An unwritten rule applied that seats could be reserved by tilting up the cushion (5 minutes maximum) for toileting relief purposes. We were slightly civilized.
At 2.50pm with "Abide with Me" ringing round the room full of 70 PE students the shout went up "Phone Call for Micky Dagnell - it's yer Mum - it's important".
Severe, matriarchal, verbal abuse ensued but he relented and headed to the phone booth. As he left the room 6 of us leaped on him and fought him into a laundry basket and locked him in it. Even better, we then wheeled him back into the TV lounge and placed him in earshot of the match but behind the screen.
He set the world record for escapology from a basket (23 minutes) performed by kicking his way through the sides and threatening death to anyone involved. If only Houndini had thought of that one. He did calm down eventually - about 3 weeks later.
It cost us £45 for a new laudry basket, though probably worth every penny looking back. Thank goodness Liverpool won !
Classic Cloughie
Sir Roger
"I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one." Reviewing his illustrious career.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right." Dealing with disruptive players the Cloughie way.
"Manchester Utd in Brazil? I hope they all get bloody diarrhoea." After Man Utd chose to compete in the World Club Championships instead of the FA Cup.
"I bet their dressing room will smell of garlic rather than liniment over the next few months" Cloughie was not too impressed with the amount of French players signed by Arsenal.
"Players lose you games, not tactics. There's too much crap talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win a game of dominoes." On England's dismal failure at Euro 2000.
"He's a handsome young man but he spends too much time looking in the mirror rather than looking at the ball. You can't keep goal with hair like that." Cloughie ponders the qualities of the ravishing David Seaman and his lovely ponytail.
"Anybody who can do anything in Leicester but make a jumper, has got to be a genius." When asked about his views on his former player Martin O'Neill.
"I only ever hit Roy the once. He got up so I couldn't have hit him very hard" Referring to the time Roy Keane under-hit a back-pass in 1991.
"I can't even spell spaghetti never mind talk Italian. How could I tell an Italian to get the ball - he might grab mine." Cloughie talks about the number of foreign players in the league.
August 30th 1994: Away -v- Crewe
hatter in macc
I had not long started in a job when the 1994/95 season began, with the fixtures-computer having given us a late Summer's evening trip to Gresty Road.
On chatting with my new colleagues over coffee, and mentioning that I was planning to go to the game with a couple of mates, the office secretary - a diminutive five-foot-nothing in her work-heels - piped up that she and her boyfriend liked to watch County from time to time, and, if the weather turned out to be nice that evening, they might join us. At this point, I sarcastically quipped something along the lines of it being handy to have her around if things kicked off on the night...office banter never has been my strong point - although someone, somewhere did end up adapting the joke to much better effect as an 'Inbetweeners' line a good few years later.
The evening of the match arrived, and five of us - including my two new County-supporting buddies through work - took the train to Crewe. On the way down, I remembered from previous visits that the away-end was, in those days, a very short, shallow terrace which offered very poor views of the play - not to mention non-existent ones for anybody without the use of stilts! So, I suggested, and the others agreed, that, as none of us could claim to be particularly tall, and one was positively bordering on the midget-esque, we might break with convention and stand with the home supporters. And so it came that we found ourselves standing in line with the middle of the pitch, on a terrace which ran the length of the ground (and which, incidentally, is the side on which visiting fans sit nowadays).
Anyone who has stood alongside the locals away from home will know just how difficult it can be: no cheering the visiting side (would mean probable eviction...and if the stewards didn't get you, the home 'firm' would); and talking between ourselves had to be in very hushed tones, lest we gave away our allegiance. What was quite amusing, mind you, was being 'a fly on the wall' to hear what another club's fans thought of County...which, in truth, was not much - but did include remarks about comparing Big Kev to 'Bambi on ice' (which we knew) and bellowing "F**k off, Billy Idol!" to Alun Armstrong (wonder if Fudge has had that one thrown his way since the hair-job...?)!
Worst of all, with 90 minutes up, and County trailing 2-1, we got a penalty. The small huddle of secret Hatters fans on the home-terrace could only watch in stifled silence, and then horror, as Kev went on to blast it high and wide.
The excessively-crowded train home was halted at Wilmslow due to a problem further up the line, and everyone on board was turfed off onto a waiting replacement bus service. As we snaked out of the station as part of a heaving, disorderly mass of other County fans, my little, and seemingly sweet-natured colleague, tired of being pushed around, squared up to the last stranger of twice her size who had been doing a bit of jostling and yelled "GET OUT OF MY F**KING WAY!!". Cue a momentary silence, a particularly mortified-looking tall man, and a procession which completed the rest of its walk to the buses without a push or a shove to be seen. My earlier attempt at a workplace joke had turned into a prophecy fulfilled...
Cringle Fields
archie
Playing fields in Burnage/Levenshulme where I polished my nascent genius as a goal poacher supreme. Played a few primary school matches there but it was more often the kickabouts with anything from 3 to 13 a side, rush goalies etc etc. We could usually be found there on Sundays watching the local pub or wannabe (Real Madrid United comes to mind) sides kicking lumps out of each other and acting as unpaid ballboys.
The fields later achieved a certain amount of backdated fame as the place where the Gallagher brothers kicked any convenient ball while waiting for their mother to come home from the adjacent McVities factory.
Crewe - 27/1/2001
archie
Jarkko Wiss scores 5 minutes from time to put County through to the 5th round of the FA Cup for the first time in 51 years and only the second time in my lifetime. I was there! I don't really expect to see it happen again to be honest.
Citeh (Away)
Unknown (feel free to claim this one if it's yours)
So many talking points about this game, but what sticks in my mind about it most?
Wilbraham scoring against the team he supported as a kid? No.
Wallwork having an absolute ‘mare when you expect him to go the extra mile against his main rivals? No.
Nixon leaving the pitch for stitches in his mouth? No.
Angell donning the goalie shirt and gloves for a stint in nets? No.
Bradbury almost looking like a footballer? No.
Getting tonked 4-1? No.
County fans fighting amongst themselves? Correct.
That tall copper with goatee who used to drink in the Royal Oak getting dragged out by 5 Manchester coppers is what I remember most. I bumped into him a couple of years later on the beach in Bramhall-on-sea (Abersoch). I asked him what happened after that game. “We don’t talk about that day,” was his reply. So we didn’t.
County
archie
Simply the best....at something....surely?
COWS
archie
Sometimes up to date.
Cheltenham
archie
Not much to write about football there but home to the most perfect natural amphitheatre in British sport - the racecourse - and, as National Hunt racing is my other passion, a worthy topic for my 600th post. The Cheltenham Festival week in March has been the first period blocked off in my diary for many years now although consideration for my legs, back and liver now limits my actual attendance to the first 2 days. So many special racing memories. The Gold Cup wins of Desert Orchid and Dawn Run. Michael Dickinson training the first 5 home in Bregawn's Gold Cup. Badsworth Boy, Istabraq, Moscow Flyer, Burrough Hill Lad, Kauto Star, Denman and many many more.
I've been lucky enough to have shares in several horses who have run at the Festival and even scraped into the winner's enclosure a few years ago when a horse called Lord Noelie ran 4th in the cross-country race. My avatar is a photo of us in the Cheltenham winner's enclosure after the same horse had won on New Years Eve 2003 ridden by a certain AP McCoy. Happy days!
Citeh (Away) - Part 2
hatter in macc
I was at Maine Road on that Tuesday night in December 1999, when Messrs Bailey and Dinning had both put the ball in City's net to see off our then-supposedly more illustrious neighbours. Happy days.
Trouble was, those were also the days when I worked just down the Oxford Road - and, having left clocking-off until the last minute that evening, I walked to the ground in a suit. On emerging from Maine Road as part of the delirious travelling contingent - one of whom, once out on the streets, actually fell to his knees and cried up to the heavens, "Thank you so much...I'm happy to die now!" (wonder if he's still around?) - I soon realised that the maze of Rusholme streets had confounded me, and that, in the inky gloom of the night, I had followed the wrong crowd of departing supporters and, rather than finding myself back under the bright lights of Oxford Road for a train home, had wandered by mistake, and conspicuously well dressed, into Moss Side !
Oh, sh*t.
More by luck than by judgement, I made it to the Princess Road and worked my way back into town - via Hulme, which itself messed with my head...and almost with my trousers...somewhat - with seconds to spare before the last train set off. First stop the next morning, a dry-cleaners for my suit...no, not for THAT - it's just that dressing rather formally in a crowd, and then having to walk for miles around the houses afterwards, does tend to make one sweat just a tad, don't you know?!
Cheltenham
Little Miss Sirius Jnr
As I got out of the car I could feel the atmosphere close in on me. It felt cold, almost as if it was a ghost town. I shivered; it seemed like the sun was hiding from the events that were about to happen. We walked through the streets; the same colours standing out. Scarf’s hung limply around our necks; we all walked to the same place as we thought; this is it.
The wind blowing in our faces, people mumbling ‘Hello’ to each other as they passed in the street for it wasn’t a joyous occasion. Men in black suits walked towards the door. We tried to smile at them, we tried to lighten their mood but they kept their heads down not smiling at all. This was it
There were no smiles on anyone’s faces as we walked, just grief. People we didn’t know stood in the streets trying to cheer us up but it didn’t work. Everyone held this piece of flimsy paper in their hand, a bit of hope slipped away with every step we took, this is it.
We handed the piece of paper to a lady; she smiled at us, she felt the same grief as we did. We went and took our seats; they were as cold as ice. Others came and sat near us the seating area filled up within half an hour all looking at one thing, a bit of worn grass. It started at exactly 3pm. Drums beating, people singing. At about 4:45pm, some people left saying goodbye as they went. Whilst others stayed to pay their respects to the family. As this family walked out we knew what was on their minds, “This is it”.
We walked out of the gates saying goodbye, we knew we wouldn’t see most of this family again. It was saddening. I thought to my self. This is the last home game in a professional league, but I will run behind that open-top bus supporting my team, Stockport County as we return to the professional league it may be next year it may be in 10 years time but I will be their supporting mu team, through thick and thin until that very day when it is announced “Stockport County is returning to the Professional League”.
Away-trips to Carlisle: Don'tcha Just Love 'Em?!?! (With apologies to 'Private Eye'...)
hatter in macc
1. Early '90s: Having a mate who lived on Warwick Road, just a Flynny throw-in away from Brunton Park. Saved me a good few late-night drives home in the days when we constantly seemed to get landed with midweek trips there.
2. January 1992: Having, strangely but gratefully, a second bite of the cherry at Carlisle, once we scraped into the knockout-stage, in the Autoglass - after the group matches, which had included a woeful 4-0 spanking there. No mistake by the boys second time around, winning 3-1 en route to 'Wembley - the first time'.
3. March 1996: Paul Ware's belting curler, at the away-end, that won that season's League encounter there. Still one of the top ten County goals I've ever seen.
4. January 2010: Enjoying my fifteen seconds of fame, when interviewed - and broadcast on 'The Football League Show' - by the BBC for a fan's take on the Club's plummeting fortunes. Not that the camera got my best side, mind...
5. January 2010: Arriving for the match early enough to drive that little bit further up the M6, just so's Macc Junior and I could go home afterwards and brag that we'd been to Scotland!
Away-trips to Carlisle: Aren'tcha Just Sick of 'Em?!?!
hatter in macc
1. Early '90s: On the one Tuesday night that my Warwick Road-dwelling mate wasn't at home, having to drive back after a match in the worst Cumbrian winter conditions, and coming within a hair's breadth of being taken off the M6 by another swerving car.
2. November 1991: The group-stage Autoglass match. Lost 4-0, and played atrociously with a full-strength side. 'Little' Paul Williams broke his leg, and was never the same player again. And there were just 36 of us there from Stockport to witness the whole ghastly business.
3. March 1996: Leaping with joy to a ludicrous height on the away-terrace when Ware scored, before taking a tumble on the steps and spraining my ankle.
4. Winter 2002/03: Returning home very late from a romantic, and another very cold, evening watching County bow out of the Autoglass-successor-thingy after extra time, only to find that Mrs Macc and I had locked ourselves out of the house.
5. January 2010: Ian Harte's play-acting directly in front of the away-fans, which ended up getting Jabo Ibehre a second yellow card and his marching orders. Macc Junior took the injustice of it all so much to heart that he never wants to visit Carlisle again...all things considered, I'm probably not going to argue with him !
Carlisle Quote
bringbacklenwhite
Famously once described by ex-QPR's Stan Bowles as "freezing cold and sheepsh*t in the gardens - that's Carlisle".
He played for them for a little while.
Carlisle at home
dudleyhatter
That fateful day when we thought that league football was going to disappear. God I still feel sick thinking back. At that stage I do not think we would have survived the drop. At least this time we have had two years of plummeting as a club to prepare our selves for the fall from grace.
The game itself was a bit of a blur, constant updates from absent family and friends as to how the notts county game was going. I remember the fantastic atmosphere, even during those few minutes when we were in the drop zone. The Carlisle fans were superb and it was of course a wonderful ending.
Colemanballs
offertonhatter
“Dimitar Berbatov doubles his goal tally in the league this season from one to three” GUY MOWBRAY
“I’ve just watched the replay and there is absolutely no doubt – it’s inconclusive” GARTH CROOKS
"They didn't change positions, they just moved the players around." Terry Venables
"What disappointed me was that we didn't play with any passion. I'm not disappointed, you know, I'm just disappointed." Kevin Keegan
"The new season will be all about scoring more goals than the opposition." Alvin Martin
"If Glenn Hoddle said one word to his team at half-time, it was concentration and focus." Ron Atkinson
"They (Swindon) are still finding that they are much happier when they have the ball than when the other side has it." Ron Jones
"He's caused the Chelsea defence no amount of problems." Jimmy Armfield
"We deserved to win this game after hammering them 0-0 in the first half." Kevin Keegan
"Without being too harsh on David, he cost us the match." Ian Wright
"You can see the ball go past them, or the man, but you'll never see both man and ball go past at the same time. So if the ball goes past, the man won't, or if the man goes past, they'll take the ball." Ron Atkinson - and you will be tested on what he said later!
"The important thing is that he shook hands with us over the phone." Alan Ball
"Eighty per cent of teams who score first in matches go on to win them. But they may draw some – or occasionally lose.” A thoughtful David Pleat
"Chile have three options - they could win or they could lose." Kevin Keegan
"The problem at Wimbledon seems to be that the club has suffered a loss of complacency." Joe Kinnear
"He has got his tactics wrong tactically." Mick Quinn
"He reminds me of a completely different version of Robbie Earle." Mark Lawrenson
Special mention must go to this one:-
"Unless the chairman decides to sack me, I won’t be quitting." Carlton Palmer
etc etc etc
Colemanballs pt 2
gazza007
"He's a player you only miss when he's not playing" - Graham Taylor
"We are not as good we think we are. We need to go out and prove that" - Steve McClaren
"Fourth spot is what we are aiming for. We don't want to be second best" - Phil Neville
"Gary Neville was the captain and now Ryan Giggs has taken on the mantelpiece" - Rio Ferdinand
"Football is like a roundabout. Sometimes you are up and sometimes you're down" - Radio 5 Live reporter
"Hodge scored for Forest after 22 seconds - totally against the run of play" - Peter Lorenz
"I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat." - Ron Atkinson
"The Germans only have one player under 22, and he's 23." - Kevin Keegan
"That's football, Mike, Northern Ireland have had several chances and haven't scored but England have had no chances and scored twice." - Trevor Brooking
"I would also think that the action replay showed it to be worse than it actually was." - Ron Atkinson
"What will you do when you leave football, Jack -- will you stay in football?" - Stuart Hall
And you can't have a Colemanballs tribute without including one from the man himself:
Don't tell those coming in the final result of that fantastic match, but let's just have another look at Italy's winning goal." - David Coleman
Colemanballs pt 3
dudleyhatter
"For those watching in black and white spurs are in yellow" - Motty
"For those watching in black and white the pink is just behind the green." - Ted Lowe
Coleman David
bringbacklenwhite
Life time supporter of Stockport County. I do believe he played for the reserve team in the long distant past. Born Alderley Edge, member of Stockport Harriers and worked for the Stockport Express for a while. Quite remarkable.
"As he comes off the last bend - he opens his legs and shows us his class". Describing a cuban athlete Alberto Juantorenaas he wins a gold medal at the Olympic Games(400 and 800 metres - Montreal 1976).
Also once described a tiring athlete coming down the final striaght as "swimming in a sea of lactic acid". Brilliant.
hatter in macc added:
Certainly, his playing connection with County is true. Whilst a young Editor of The Wilmslow Alderley Express, Coleman attended a reserves match to report on it but, due to lack of numbers, ended up turning out for us!
I've a feeling, Lennie, that the Juantorena quote may actually have been Ron Pickering's. It's one of those attributed to DC all the time, though, for being classically 'Colemanball'-esque
bringbacklenwhite added:
Apparently it's true that Coleman was a closet Hatter.
I remembering him nearly bursting when he announced on Grandstand that bottom of the 4th Division County had taken the lead at 1st Division leaders Liverpool in the FA Cup (scored by Len White of course, who else) 1963-64. Finished 1-1. Liverpool won the replay 2-0 and went on to beat Leeds in the Final. It was the first time Stockport's name had appeared in the Cup Final Programme.
Think you might be right about the Juantorena quote Macc. I think DC would claim it. CHOAS is a bit like Wikipeadia at times. Only as accurate as the memory of the guys writing it.
Captain
downunderhatter
Now I would like to assure everyone that I'm a lovely placid guy off the pitch. On the pitch is different. Even in my old age I still see every game as a battle, every opponent as an enemy.
Last year, against one of the better teams that we play, I came up against a tricky South American centre-forward who was a bit of a diver. I had to mark him really tightly and in the first half he tried some tricky stuff but I got the ball fair and square without touching him from behind. Unfortunately as he turned his hand slapped my stomach (which everybody could hear) and he threw himself theatrically onto the ground screaming for a free-kick. Which he got. They scored from it and off we go again.
At 2-0 down in the second half and with us down to ten men, he knocked a ball out wide and ran behind me to get on the end of the cross. Knowing I'd never catch him in a month of Sundays, I stuck my left leg out behind me sending him to the ground (what? I'm a nasty centre-back). As they were still attacking he picked himself up and ran towards the edge of the box. So a swift, off-the-ball shoulder-charge sent him sprawling again. Groans from their players got me a lecture and yellow card from the ref who asked me what game I was playing as it certainly wasn't football. I thanked him for my booking and carried on with the game.
(I found out the next bit having a drink after the game).
As I was getting booked their centre-back said to our centre-forward, "He's out of control, the captain should have a word with him."
To which our centre-forward replied, "He is the captain."