Post by gazz on Dec 1, 2013 23:15:26 GMT
Unlucky Against United!!!
Sir Roger
It's more than 30 years since our infamous League Cup clash against the team from Stretford that rarely gets a mention.
In 1978 County looked to be heading out of the competition at the first hurdle when they lost 1-0 at Gay Meadow but, in a pulsating second leg at EP, the Hatters beat a Shrewsbury Town outfit, that would end the season as Third Division champions, 3-1 to ease through to round two.
Their reward? A home tie with Manchester United, the FA Cup holders. And there the controversy starts. County decided to 'cash in' by switching the game to Old Trafford.
Chairman Freddie Pye argued that it wasn't just monetary considerations that influenced the decision. (yeah…., right Freddie, of course it wasn‘t)
He said. "We had a gate of 15,000 against Everton two years ago and there were more than 5,000 locked out.
"The police have reduced our capacity for the United game to 10,000 which could leave 30,000 locked out.
"There was a lot of trouble against Everton and the bill for damage was £2,000 - there would be greater problems for a game against United." ( I had my scarf nicked from round my neck, almost bloody strangled).
Pye did acknowledge, though, that the extra revenue from staging the game in Trafford was considerable.
He added: "County fans have got to remember that three years ago we were on the verge of bankruptcy. (nothing much changes does it) They can see we are turning things around but we are still in debt.
"We will earn around £24,000 from playing at Old Trafford as opposed to £4,000 if we kept the game in Stockport."
County's preparations for the eagerly awaited clash were dealt a sever blow when key defender Ken Fogarty (still my favourite County player, Chris Adamson came close though). picked up an injury at Halifax just 8 days before the big game.
Player-boss Mike Summerbee wasted no time in finding a replacement with Paul Edwards, ironically, a former United player arriving from Oldham Athletic for £10,000.(It was Paul Edwards’ distorted photo on “Kick Off“ that won me a “Kick Off” T-Shirt)
It was the Hatters second major signing in a matter of weeks after Summerbee and Pye had beaten off a number of clubs to sign Les Bradd, Notts County's all-time leading scorer for £15,000 - a County record.
The Express reminded fans that programme voucher holders had two more days to secure their Old Trafford tickets before they went open sale. The prices, incidentally, were £2.30, £2.10 (OAPs) and £1.80 (juniors).
The teams on that controversial night were:
United: Roche; B Greenoff, Albiston, McIlroy, McQueen, Buchan, Coppell, J Greenoff, Jordan, Macari, Grimes (Patterson).
County: Rogan; Thorpe, Rutter, Thompson, Park, Edwards, Summerbee, Halford, Bradd, Loadwick, Lee.
The First Division side dominated the early exchanges and took the lead after 10 minutes when Joe Jordan headed Ashley Grimes' cross past Mike Rogan.
But, if Dave Sexton's side expected County to roll over they were in for a rude awakening.
That United were still in front at half time was due entirely to Paddy Roche. So often the brunt of terrace jokes, the Irishman had an inspired evening; his best-ever game in the Reds' goal.
Two saves to deny powerful Bradd headers were right out of the top drawer.
Big Les, in fact, was causing all sorts of problems for the home defence and Gordon McQueen, their Scottish international defender, could rarely have been beaten so often in the air.
The pressure finally paid off 14 minutes after the break. Arthur Albiston's backpass was intercepted by Stuart Lee who was brought down in the box by Roche. Alan Thompson kept his cool to score from the spot.
With Terry Park, Carl Halford and Derek Loadwick dominating midfield County continued to push forward.
And, 20 minutes later, they were rewarded with a wonderful goal. Park picked the ball up on the left wing and cut inside past Brian Greenoff before nonchalantly beating Roche.
The Blue & White Army, estimated at around 10,000, celebrated one of the great, great County goals & "Man. United, Man United, what's it like to be outclassed?" echoed around Old Trafford.
United hit back and John Rutter, and then Edwards cleared goalbound shots off the line.
These efforts apart, though, County continued to dominate. After winning another corner Summerbee delighted the travelling hordes when he wiped his nose on the corner flag right in front of the Stretford End!
And things got even better when McQueen, clearly rattled by Bradd's total dominance, scythed down Loadwick as he bore down on goal. Off he went.
Five minutes to go, 2-1 up, United down to 10 men and County anthems ringing around Old Trafford - it couldn't get any better.
It didn't. Enter Peter Willis, the match referee from Meadowfield, County Durham.
Twice in those final minutes he overruled his linesman flagging for offside, and on both occasions allowed United to continue attacking.
Then he awarded United a free kick on the edge of the box. What for? That's a question that still rankles County followers to this day.
Three newspapers had three different theories; Rogan handled the ball outside the box, Rogan took more than four steps, Rogan was time-wasting.
If he was guilty of the latter two offences the free kick should have been taken inside the penalty area. It wasn't. So he must have handled the ball outside the area? He didn't.
There were no TV cameras present that night but the game was filmed, privately, on the instructions of chairman Pye.
The footage is poor but that controversial moment is clearly recorded. Rogan didn't handle the ball outside the area, take more than four steps, and wasn't time-wasting.
Sammy McIlroy - he's just about been forgiven - blasted the ball through the wall and under Rogan's despairing dive; 2-2.
Privately, watching County officials would have settled for that result, as an Old Trafford replay would have given them another huge payday.
The 42,384 attendance, incidentally, was a record for a second round tie at Old Trafford and the biggest ever to watch a Fourth Division side.
Willis wasn't finished, though. With less than 60 seconds remaining he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. There had been no appeals from any United player and, significantly, no appeals either from the Stretford Enders behind the goal.
Jimmy Greenoff made no mistake to give United the most undeserved of victories.
The Stockport Advertiser reported: "The alleged foul by Alan Thompson on Joe Jordan to give United a penalty was a staggering decision as the Reds had got away with far worse in their despairing attempt to find an equaliser."
The inimitable Len Noad (Stockport Express) wrote: "Andy Thorpe was magnificent. Carl Halford ran his heart, and lungs, out and Mike Summerbee blotted out Lou Macari. This was floodlight robbery."
Tom German, for The Times, reported: On a night of surprises the surprise at Old Trafford was that United got the chance to redeem themselves so comprehensively and spiritedly had County taken the game to them."
Even Matt Busby admitted his side had been lucky. He said: "Stockport County were simply marvellous tonight. We were very, very, very fortunate indeed to get through."
County officials, though, were furious at the manner of their defeat. Pye said: There were one or two decisions we could say plenty about but it's not going to gain us anything."
Summerbee added, angrily: "I've nothing to say. You saw the game. It speaks for itself."
What about Willis? He qualified his outrageous decisions by commenting: "I'm an honest man. I give what I see."
Eddie Prudham, County's unused sub at Old Trafford, had a different theory. "We were cheated. It's as simple as that, and everyone in the ground knows it."
And Summerbee agrees. When the topic of conversation turned to that night at Old Trafford, he revealed: "That was the only time in my professional career that I was cheated out of a result."
Despite the travesty of the result, it’s a memory that will live with me for the rest of my life and even though it‘s in the distant past, I still hate those red b*stards. Remembering Sumerbee wipe his enormous proboscis on one of the corner flags still makes me smile. They say time is a great healer, but whoever thought that little gem up, clearly must have been a United fan.
Unlucky Against United?, Absolutely!
Upton Park
archie
Home of West Ham United, a previously respected football club currently having salad days or 'sallardyce' as they say down there.
As I may have mentioned previously, I started gainful employment in London in 1970 with very few contacts in the area and I made it my business to watch as much football as possible. In the 1970/71 season I got to over 60 matches despite playing myself on most Saturdays. The first of these games was on my first evening in London at Upton Park on 31st August 1970 and, while in itself an unremarkable 1-1 draw between West Ham and Southampton, it contained what I still consider to be the best goal I've ever seen live. Scorer - Tommy Jenkins. As far as I know there's no film evidence but the following extract from Wikipedia sums it up pretty well except that it was much, much better than that.
'At his best, Jenkins was a high-class winger with great speed, dazzling trickery and the ability to beat several defenders in one run, but unfortunately he would exasperate his fans by dribbling himself into trouble rather than release the ball to a team-mate. He was never a prolific goal-scorer, but his best goal came on 31 August 1970 at Upton Park, where he left half the West Ham team (including Bobby Moore) on their bottoms in a mazy run which culminated with a fine shot into the Hammers' net.'
Happy days.
Unicorn Brewery
siriusiron
The Unicorn Brewery is a traditional tower type and is one of the few such buildings still being used in its original capacity. This is where Robinsons is brewed and a good day, the hops on brewing day can be smelt from where I live.
Robinsons (Frederic Robinson Ltd) is a family run regional brewery founded in 1838 by William Robinson at the Unicorn Inn, Stockport, England. The company's brewery is called the Unicorn Brewery.
The company owns over 400 public houses, mostly in north west England. The main brands are Old Tom and Unicorn (previously known as Best Bitter).
Uruguayan Football
bigfudge
Uruguay has a long and proud history of football, winning the World Cup twice, reaching the semi-finals in 2010 and hosting the first ever World Cup tournament, the country also boasts 15 Copa America titles and two olympic titles....however in Stockport, Uruguay is associated with one thing football-wise, Danny Bergara.
A legend at County respected, loved and thanked by County fans of all ages, Danny took over at Edgeley Park in March 1989 and saved us from the drop to the conference that had been threatening the club for many years and in 1990, achieved what seemed impossible 12 months earlier and took us to the brink of promotion, unfortunately crashing out of the play-offs to Chesterfield, however a year later, Danny took us up to Division 3, just 2 years after keeping us in the Football League full stop!
Despite being predicted by many people to struggle in Division 3, County flourished and reached Wembley, not once but twice in 1992, losing both times, not that anyone really cared, the idea of Stockport County even being at Wembley was laughable enough just two years earlier, was Danny done? Not by a long shot.
The following season Danny took us back to Wembley for the Autoglass Trophy final which again unfortunately we lost as we did the following year in the play-off final against Burnley, Danny only lasted one more season after that, following a very public spat with Brendan Elwood, it is sad that Danny never got to complete the plan he had for the club but can certainly take some credit for the foundations laid down for Dave Jones' unbelievable promotion season of 1996/97
In Summer 2007, Danny passed away but his memory certainly never will, young and old continue to sing his name at games, fans who remember him, fans who's parents or elder siblings were around during the Bergara era understanding just what a legend this man was.
Every person from every generation of the County family will have their own legends and favourite players, however Danny Bergara is a timeless legend, loved by all.
Danny to me, is Uruguay's greatest achievement in football.
Gracias Uruguay!
Ugh! Upset at Upton Park
hatter in macc
The upset in question was not directly about the unlikely, but thrilling and entirely-deserved, draw that County secured at West Ham in the League Cup - setting themselves up in the process for a replay which was to provide EP with one of its greatest nights in (relatively!) recent times.
Rather, the match in London E13 was best (if that's the right word) remembered by me for having foolishly subjected my insides to the local delicacy, beloved of pearly kings and queens...jellied eels.
I was probably being pretty damned brave merely setting foot in Nathan's Eel, Pie and Mash Shop, adjacent to the ground, for a pre-match bite to eat. But the place looked well populated by home fans - always a good sign that the food should be ok - so, thinking "when in Rome, and all that...", I joined the queue that waited to be served by two white-haired cockney dinner-lady types. The menu was less than extensive, featuring nothing much more than the three items in the eaterie's title, and, playing it safe, I decided just to go for two of them: the pie and mash...mountains of the latter, in fact, drizzled with a peculiar green liquor sauce, which turned out to be made from the water that eels had been boiled in.
And, strangely enough, this all went down a delicious treat. A matter for regret, as it turned out, given that I was now sufficiently keen on the East End fare to chance my arm with the final part of the menu. The eels, served cooled and in jelly, did not, it has to be said, look very appetising once they were before me - but there was no backing out now...not least because I feared that I might cause some kind of incident by turning my nose up at what was, after all, a signature dish and a proud part of the heritage. Poking around tentatively with my fork, I tried a small morsel - hmm, a bit bland, really - and then added a dash of chilli vinegar to spice it up, before getting stuck in.
But the more I ate, the more disgusting the cold, gelatinous offering was to taste - and polishing it off quickly became an imperative of some urgency, so that I could pop across the road to The Boleyn Arms and wash it down with a hurried pint ahead of taking my place in the away-end.
And that might very well have been that...had hatter_in_macc's fave player of the - nay, possibly, of all - time, Luis Cavaco, not taken it upon himself to produce one of his wonderful dribble-and-strike efforts to equalise. Then, I am sorry to recount, exhilaration got the better of me - or, to be precise, my stomach. At the very moment that I jumped up, whooping in celebration, those jellied eels repeated on me, and my leap was quickly stopped in its tracks as I had to focus all concentration on stopping myself from gagging. I don't remember the rest of the match after that...just a feeling of increasing nausea and a need to be alone, curled up in the foetal position. Thankfully, I hung on until the final whistle...although, not for the first or the last time, a game involving County had left me with a nasty after-taste.
A culinary dare that I probably could have done without, then. Mind you - to borrow a line from Ripping Yarns - not as bad as the night Archie Pettigrew ate some sheep's testicles for a bet...God, that bl**dy sheep kicked him.
Sir Roger
It's more than 30 years since our infamous League Cup clash against the team from Stretford that rarely gets a mention.
In 1978 County looked to be heading out of the competition at the first hurdle when they lost 1-0 at Gay Meadow but, in a pulsating second leg at EP, the Hatters beat a Shrewsbury Town outfit, that would end the season as Third Division champions, 3-1 to ease through to round two.
Their reward? A home tie with Manchester United, the FA Cup holders. And there the controversy starts. County decided to 'cash in' by switching the game to Old Trafford.
Chairman Freddie Pye argued that it wasn't just monetary considerations that influenced the decision. (yeah…., right Freddie, of course it wasn‘t)
He said. "We had a gate of 15,000 against Everton two years ago and there were more than 5,000 locked out.
"The police have reduced our capacity for the United game to 10,000 which could leave 30,000 locked out.
"There was a lot of trouble against Everton and the bill for damage was £2,000 - there would be greater problems for a game against United." ( I had my scarf nicked from round my neck, almost bloody strangled).
Pye did acknowledge, though, that the extra revenue from staging the game in Trafford was considerable.
He added: "County fans have got to remember that three years ago we were on the verge of bankruptcy. (nothing much changes does it) They can see we are turning things around but we are still in debt.
"We will earn around £24,000 from playing at Old Trafford as opposed to £4,000 if we kept the game in Stockport."
County's preparations for the eagerly awaited clash were dealt a sever blow when key defender Ken Fogarty (still my favourite County player, Chris Adamson came close though). picked up an injury at Halifax just 8 days before the big game.
Player-boss Mike Summerbee wasted no time in finding a replacement with Paul Edwards, ironically, a former United player arriving from Oldham Athletic for £10,000.(It was Paul Edwards’ distorted photo on “Kick Off“ that won me a “Kick Off” T-Shirt)
It was the Hatters second major signing in a matter of weeks after Summerbee and Pye had beaten off a number of clubs to sign Les Bradd, Notts County's all-time leading scorer for £15,000 - a County record.
The Express reminded fans that programme voucher holders had two more days to secure their Old Trafford tickets before they went open sale. The prices, incidentally, were £2.30, £2.10 (OAPs) and £1.80 (juniors).
The teams on that controversial night were:
United: Roche; B Greenoff, Albiston, McIlroy, McQueen, Buchan, Coppell, J Greenoff, Jordan, Macari, Grimes (Patterson).
County: Rogan; Thorpe, Rutter, Thompson, Park, Edwards, Summerbee, Halford, Bradd, Loadwick, Lee.
The First Division side dominated the early exchanges and took the lead after 10 minutes when Joe Jordan headed Ashley Grimes' cross past Mike Rogan.
But, if Dave Sexton's side expected County to roll over they were in for a rude awakening.
That United were still in front at half time was due entirely to Paddy Roche. So often the brunt of terrace jokes, the Irishman had an inspired evening; his best-ever game in the Reds' goal.
Two saves to deny powerful Bradd headers were right out of the top drawer.
Big Les, in fact, was causing all sorts of problems for the home defence and Gordon McQueen, their Scottish international defender, could rarely have been beaten so often in the air.
The pressure finally paid off 14 minutes after the break. Arthur Albiston's backpass was intercepted by Stuart Lee who was brought down in the box by Roche. Alan Thompson kept his cool to score from the spot.
With Terry Park, Carl Halford and Derek Loadwick dominating midfield County continued to push forward.
And, 20 minutes later, they were rewarded with a wonderful goal. Park picked the ball up on the left wing and cut inside past Brian Greenoff before nonchalantly beating Roche.
The Blue & White Army, estimated at around 10,000, celebrated one of the great, great County goals & "Man. United, Man United, what's it like to be outclassed?" echoed around Old Trafford.
United hit back and John Rutter, and then Edwards cleared goalbound shots off the line.
These efforts apart, though, County continued to dominate. After winning another corner Summerbee delighted the travelling hordes when he wiped his nose on the corner flag right in front of the Stretford End!
And things got even better when McQueen, clearly rattled by Bradd's total dominance, scythed down Loadwick as he bore down on goal. Off he went.
Five minutes to go, 2-1 up, United down to 10 men and County anthems ringing around Old Trafford - it couldn't get any better.
It didn't. Enter Peter Willis, the match referee from Meadowfield, County Durham.
Twice in those final minutes he overruled his linesman flagging for offside, and on both occasions allowed United to continue attacking.
Then he awarded United a free kick on the edge of the box. What for? That's a question that still rankles County followers to this day.
Three newspapers had three different theories; Rogan handled the ball outside the box, Rogan took more than four steps, Rogan was time-wasting.
If he was guilty of the latter two offences the free kick should have been taken inside the penalty area. It wasn't. So he must have handled the ball outside the area? He didn't.
There were no TV cameras present that night but the game was filmed, privately, on the instructions of chairman Pye.
The footage is poor but that controversial moment is clearly recorded. Rogan didn't handle the ball outside the area, take more than four steps, and wasn't time-wasting.
Sammy McIlroy - he's just about been forgiven - blasted the ball through the wall and under Rogan's despairing dive; 2-2.
Privately, watching County officials would have settled for that result, as an Old Trafford replay would have given them another huge payday.
The 42,384 attendance, incidentally, was a record for a second round tie at Old Trafford and the biggest ever to watch a Fourth Division side.
Willis wasn't finished, though. With less than 60 seconds remaining he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. There had been no appeals from any United player and, significantly, no appeals either from the Stretford Enders behind the goal.
Jimmy Greenoff made no mistake to give United the most undeserved of victories.
The Stockport Advertiser reported: "The alleged foul by Alan Thompson on Joe Jordan to give United a penalty was a staggering decision as the Reds had got away with far worse in their despairing attempt to find an equaliser."
The inimitable Len Noad (Stockport Express) wrote: "Andy Thorpe was magnificent. Carl Halford ran his heart, and lungs, out and Mike Summerbee blotted out Lou Macari. This was floodlight robbery."
Tom German, for The Times, reported: On a night of surprises the surprise at Old Trafford was that United got the chance to redeem themselves so comprehensively and spiritedly had County taken the game to them."
Even Matt Busby admitted his side had been lucky. He said: "Stockport County were simply marvellous tonight. We were very, very, very fortunate indeed to get through."
County officials, though, were furious at the manner of their defeat. Pye said: There were one or two decisions we could say plenty about but it's not going to gain us anything."
Summerbee added, angrily: "I've nothing to say. You saw the game. It speaks for itself."
What about Willis? He qualified his outrageous decisions by commenting: "I'm an honest man. I give what I see."
Eddie Prudham, County's unused sub at Old Trafford, had a different theory. "We were cheated. It's as simple as that, and everyone in the ground knows it."
And Summerbee agrees. When the topic of conversation turned to that night at Old Trafford, he revealed: "That was the only time in my professional career that I was cheated out of a result."
Despite the travesty of the result, it’s a memory that will live with me for the rest of my life and even though it‘s in the distant past, I still hate those red b*stards. Remembering Sumerbee wipe his enormous proboscis on one of the corner flags still makes me smile. They say time is a great healer, but whoever thought that little gem up, clearly must have been a United fan.
Unlucky Against United?, Absolutely!
Upton Park
archie
Home of West Ham United, a previously respected football club currently having salad days or 'sallardyce' as they say down there.
As I may have mentioned previously, I started gainful employment in London in 1970 with very few contacts in the area and I made it my business to watch as much football as possible. In the 1970/71 season I got to over 60 matches despite playing myself on most Saturdays. The first of these games was on my first evening in London at Upton Park on 31st August 1970 and, while in itself an unremarkable 1-1 draw between West Ham and Southampton, it contained what I still consider to be the best goal I've ever seen live. Scorer - Tommy Jenkins. As far as I know there's no film evidence but the following extract from Wikipedia sums it up pretty well except that it was much, much better than that.
'At his best, Jenkins was a high-class winger with great speed, dazzling trickery and the ability to beat several defenders in one run, but unfortunately he would exasperate his fans by dribbling himself into trouble rather than release the ball to a team-mate. He was never a prolific goal-scorer, but his best goal came on 31 August 1970 at Upton Park, where he left half the West Ham team (including Bobby Moore) on their bottoms in a mazy run which culminated with a fine shot into the Hammers' net.'
Happy days.
Unicorn Brewery
siriusiron
The Unicorn Brewery is a traditional tower type and is one of the few such buildings still being used in its original capacity. This is where Robinsons is brewed and a good day, the hops on brewing day can be smelt from where I live.
Robinsons (Frederic Robinson Ltd) is a family run regional brewery founded in 1838 by William Robinson at the Unicorn Inn, Stockport, England. The company's brewery is called the Unicorn Brewery.
The company owns over 400 public houses, mostly in north west England. The main brands are Old Tom and Unicorn (previously known as Best Bitter).
Uruguayan Football
bigfudge
Uruguay has a long and proud history of football, winning the World Cup twice, reaching the semi-finals in 2010 and hosting the first ever World Cup tournament, the country also boasts 15 Copa America titles and two olympic titles....however in Stockport, Uruguay is associated with one thing football-wise, Danny Bergara.
A legend at County respected, loved and thanked by County fans of all ages, Danny took over at Edgeley Park in March 1989 and saved us from the drop to the conference that had been threatening the club for many years and in 1990, achieved what seemed impossible 12 months earlier and took us to the brink of promotion, unfortunately crashing out of the play-offs to Chesterfield, however a year later, Danny took us up to Division 3, just 2 years after keeping us in the Football League full stop!
Despite being predicted by many people to struggle in Division 3, County flourished and reached Wembley, not once but twice in 1992, losing both times, not that anyone really cared, the idea of Stockport County even being at Wembley was laughable enough just two years earlier, was Danny done? Not by a long shot.
The following season Danny took us back to Wembley for the Autoglass Trophy final which again unfortunately we lost as we did the following year in the play-off final against Burnley, Danny only lasted one more season after that, following a very public spat with Brendan Elwood, it is sad that Danny never got to complete the plan he had for the club but can certainly take some credit for the foundations laid down for Dave Jones' unbelievable promotion season of 1996/97
In Summer 2007, Danny passed away but his memory certainly never will, young and old continue to sing his name at games, fans who remember him, fans who's parents or elder siblings were around during the Bergara era understanding just what a legend this man was.
Every person from every generation of the County family will have their own legends and favourite players, however Danny Bergara is a timeless legend, loved by all.
Danny to me, is Uruguay's greatest achievement in football.
Gracias Uruguay!
Ugh! Upset at Upton Park
hatter in macc
The upset in question was not directly about the unlikely, but thrilling and entirely-deserved, draw that County secured at West Ham in the League Cup - setting themselves up in the process for a replay which was to provide EP with one of its greatest nights in (relatively!) recent times.
Rather, the match in London E13 was best (if that's the right word) remembered by me for having foolishly subjected my insides to the local delicacy, beloved of pearly kings and queens...jellied eels.
I was probably being pretty damned brave merely setting foot in Nathan's Eel, Pie and Mash Shop, adjacent to the ground, for a pre-match bite to eat. But the place looked well populated by home fans - always a good sign that the food should be ok - so, thinking "when in Rome, and all that...", I joined the queue that waited to be served by two white-haired cockney dinner-lady types. The menu was less than extensive, featuring nothing much more than the three items in the eaterie's title, and, playing it safe, I decided just to go for two of them: the pie and mash...mountains of the latter, in fact, drizzled with a peculiar green liquor sauce, which turned out to be made from the water that eels had been boiled in.
And, strangely enough, this all went down a delicious treat. A matter for regret, as it turned out, given that I was now sufficiently keen on the East End fare to chance my arm with the final part of the menu. The eels, served cooled and in jelly, did not, it has to be said, look very appetising once they were before me - but there was no backing out now...not least because I feared that I might cause some kind of incident by turning my nose up at what was, after all, a signature dish and a proud part of the heritage. Poking around tentatively with my fork, I tried a small morsel - hmm, a bit bland, really - and then added a dash of chilli vinegar to spice it up, before getting stuck in.
But the more I ate, the more disgusting the cold, gelatinous offering was to taste - and polishing it off quickly became an imperative of some urgency, so that I could pop across the road to The Boleyn Arms and wash it down with a hurried pint ahead of taking my place in the away-end.
And that might very well have been that...had hatter_in_macc's fave player of the - nay, possibly, of all - time, Luis Cavaco, not taken it upon himself to produce one of his wonderful dribble-and-strike efforts to equalise. Then, I am sorry to recount, exhilaration got the better of me - or, to be precise, my stomach. At the very moment that I jumped up, whooping in celebration, those jellied eels repeated on me, and my leap was quickly stopped in its tracks as I had to focus all concentration on stopping myself from gagging. I don't remember the rest of the match after that...just a feeling of increasing nausea and a need to be alone, curled up in the foetal position. Thankfully, I hung on until the final whistle...although, not for the first or the last time, a game involving County had left me with a nasty after-taste.
A culinary dare that I probably could have done without, then. Mind you - to borrow a line from Ripping Yarns - not as bad as the night Archie Pettigrew ate some sheep's testicles for a bet...God, that bl**dy sheep kicked him.