"Southport Til I Die"

My Life Story

I was born on 30 July 1958 in Hull and had to wait 8 years to the day to see England win the World Cup at Wembley!

It was 1965 before my dad took me to see my first live football match, Hull City v someone or other and I was hooked. Hull were really going well, they were getting crowds of around the 30,000 mark each game and the atmosphere was, to a 7 year old lad, out of this world. The crowd at Hull had a strange ritual of throwing oranges at the home goalkeeper (Ian McKechnie) when he came to the South Stand end and I thought this was great as he always made a point of picking them all up and I watched especially for him to pick mine up! You would get thrown out of the ground if you did this nowadays.

The 1965/66 season saw Hull win the League and I was a committed Hull City fan. Even in those early years football ruled my life, I had to cut all the match reports out of the paper, and I kept my notebook of all the teams, scorers, attendances etc. Not much has changed except I now have everything on a computer. Julia the missus still says football rules my life although she can't complain too much as we did meet at Haig Ave, yes, football has got a lot to answer for.

I was devastated when my dad told me in 1970 that we had to move away from Hull because of his work. Not for the thought of changing school or leaving my friends but I couldn't leave Hull City. He tried to reassure me, we would be moving to Southport and they have a football team!  "I am a Hull fan I'm not going to Southport"!

However my mum had died early in 1966 and my dad had met a "new mum" who had lived in Southport and we had made a few visits to the town and I actually went to see them in 1969 against Hartlepool which was my first ever home game. I had actually seen Hull beat Southport in an FA Cup tie in the 65/66 season so that classes as the first Southport game I ever saw. It was a chance for the family to all move to Southport and so off we went with me kicking and screaming all the way.

It took a while for me to face up to not being able to see Hull anymore and I just could not bear going to watch anyone else.

It took until 26 February 1971 for me to go to Haig Avenue, almost 8 months after moving. The game was against Crewe Alex and Southport won 4-2. I had to admit it wasn't bad, not as good as Hull but I might go again. Well, 35 years later, I might go again!

We won the next game 1-0 and the next was also won 1-0 and I was getting quite enthusiastic. By the end of the 1971/72 season I was hooked and Southport were my new team.

The 72/3 season saw us promoted as champions and I went to my first ever "proper" away game on the 7th April 1973 at Bury (another coincidence will be revealed later) which we won 1-0. I will never forget this game and the most unusual feeling when we scored. It was the days before segregation and in a gate of 4192 there were a good number of Southport fans scattered around the ground but the noise that went up when we scored was tremendous. I had thought that we were the only Southport people there and to hear so many people cheering the goal was a lovely feeling.

Promotion was gained at Crewe but I wasn't allowed to go to a midweek away game. My dad hadn't got into watching Southport and I was reliant on a friends dad to take me to the games and he couldn't go. I remember waiting anxiously by the radio for the news and the minute I heard we had won I let out an almighty scream that made my cat that was sat on my knee literally jump three feet in the air. Poor thing never did trust me ever again.

I really was hooked and the 1973/74 season saw me buy my first season ticket and I never missed a home game all season. I did come close however as I had a very upset stomach on the day of the night home match against Halifax but I had to go. This was a big mistake, as I spent a lot of the second half sat on the toilet, I remember someone saying, phew, someone's got it bad in there tonight and I felt so embarrassed I couldn't show my face until I knew no-one was around!!

I started work in September 1974 and this immediately made more money available for football although it wasn't until April 75 that I went to my first away game under my own steam, a train ride to Chester to see us lose 3-0.

The 75/76 season was when the bug really caught and I missed just three away games all season. The season started with an away trip to Exeter City and it was my first trip on the Southport Supporters coach, well I thought it was gong to be a coach but it was a mini bus which left at midnight on the Friday and arrived in Exeter at 6.00am. What do you do on your own in Exeter for 9 hours. It was a long day and we lost 2-0 but the players had given all eleven of us on the bus a match ticket which was much appreciated. We didn't win a game this season until an away match at Scunthorpe in December when we won 2-1 and "an over exuberant fan" as reported in the Southport Visiter, was responsible for leaping on the scorer of the winner on the pitch and cracking his finger at the final whistle. From that day on George Dewsnip was my hero although he never knew that fan was me!

The highlight of 75/76 was Boxing Day and seeing George Best play for Stockport against Southport in the morning before going on to watch Man City v Leeds in a very highly charged atmosphere in the afternoon. I remember some very threatening City fans just about to stone the coach thinking we were Leeds fans before I held my silk scarf, remember those, up at the window and the threatening looks turned to laughter.

Trips to Darlington by taxi, when the coach failed to turn up, taxis to Hartlepool when the car broke down, two trips in a week to Torquay following the postponement of a game were among some of the highlights of those early days of supporting the 'Port. I managed at one point to watch 206 consecutive games and was awarded two national newspaper fan of the year awards. I have to admit it took some doing to keep going as we were bad. I often laugh when I read some of the comments by today's fans after one bad result. I endured the 76/77 season when we won just three games all season but didn't miss one game. One funny moment in this season came in the Huddersfield home game when with the score at 2-2 in injury time Huddersfield had a shot that hit the bar and bounced down on the line. Nothing unusual about this you may say but that morning I had been helping prepare the ground with Charlie Powell following some snow and I had used some lime to mark out the lines but I had spilt a lot on the goal line when the bag burst. The goal line was about a foot wide and the poor linesman didn't know what to do. That's my confession out the way. Sorry Huddersfield!

I saw every game in the 1977/78 season too. The big test came when we were drawn against Hull City in the Football League Cup. Who to support, absolutely no question, Southport were my team and Hull a distant memory. The joy I felt when Gary Cooper unleashed his 35 yard thunderbolt, which I still rank as my best ever goal seen at Haig Avenue, was unbridled. I couldn't wait for the second leg. To lose 1-0, very unluckily, was a blow but I had seen Southport play at Hull. At that point I only ever wanted to see Southport play at Hull and Wembley. I never thought both ambitions would be achieved.

The 1977/78 season saw the end of our Football League life. I don't know why I did it but I actually went down to the Cafe Royal in London on June 2 1978 (a date etched in the memory) for the re-election vote as there used to be in those days. I think I thought that if the chairmen doing the voting could see a pitiful Southport fan who really cared so much about the club to stand outside a building and support his team they would vote for us. Unfortunately the train was late and we (Richard Griffiths was my constant travelling companion in those days) missed the start. It seemed an absolute age until the initially very snooty doorman who had at first refused us entry to the building but in the end allowed us to stand in the lobby came and told us that after a drawn first vote we were head to head with Wigan but they had won the re-vote. I cried!

The first person I saw connected with the club was Ken Watkins the Visiter reporter of the time, he had tears in his eyes, then came John Church, tears welled up in his eyes, then came Walter Giller who didn't seem to have a care in the world and that moment summed up the next chapter in Southport Football Club's history.

It was Non League Football for us and what a start, an away game at Holly Park, Allerton, South Liverpool in August 1978. You knew you were non-league the minute you arrived at that place I can assure you. We won 1-0 with a goal scored by Joe Turner and I went on to watch every single game, home and away all season which took an awful lot of doing. I remember standing on the pitch at Runcorn in our last away game of the season and singing with the 50 or so Southport fans, we were so pleased to have finished 5th, won a few games and had some decent displays, after 4 seasons of failure it was nice to win again. It wasn't as bad as I had thought and the prospect of joining the Alliance (now known as The Conference) had quite an appeal. However the directors at the time (that man Giller was involved again) thought it would never catch on, it would be too costly and no-one would be bothered. That decision immediately alienated a vast number of people, it demonstrated a total lack of ambition and fans deserted the club in droves. Even a die hard like me had my loyalties questioned but I stuck at it just as I had stuck with it when we decided to play the Newcastle League Cup tie away from Haig Avenue in 1975, another decision that did nothing to attract people to the club.

My run of attending successive games, 206, came to an end the next season when my girlfriend (now wife) decided that going to a friend of hers wedding was more important than football and I missed the game at Marine on 15 December 1979. It just shows how I have changed as nowadays after 24 years of marriage she knows that football comes before everything.

Those early Non League days were dreadful, crowds of 117 & 118 in successive games said it all we were at rock bottom but I kept going, just. Managers came and went as did directors and I was once offered money by the Liverpool Echo to walk around town with some friends carrying a coffin to symbolise the death of the club. I refused. On many occasions the club was dead but kept bouncing back as I did despite a pretty horrendous period when what we were watching was as bad as it could get.

My next dilemma came in 1983 when I had a chance of promotion at work but it meant moving to Bury. It was a move that would be paid for by the organisation so we decided to go for it. I lived in Bury for 12 years and rarely got back to Southport, neither of us could drive and funds were limited. Both my daughters, Michelle & Rachel were born in Bury. I did get into watching Bury for a while but it wasn't the same. I said before that nothing now comes before my football but it was close on the day Michelle was born. I had come home from work and Julia had said she had had back ache all day and felt a bit off. Bury were playing that night so after making sure she was ok (my kindness was overwhelming) off I went to Gigg Lane. Getting home at 9.45, Julia was already in bed and at 9.50 her waters broke and we were on our way to hospital. What impeccable timing that was. Michelle was destined to like football after that. 

Although Bury's trip to Wembley in the Play Off Final against Chesterfield (Billy Stewart in goal) was a bit special, the chance to move back to Southport in 1995 was too good to miss so return we did.

The years between 1983 and 1995 saw around 30 visits to Southport games which I greatly regret now as by the start of the 2004/05 season my total games watched was 750 I "lost" around 500 games in that period. The highlights in the missing years were undoubtedly the trip to Emley by train and bus to see us win the NPL title, the 4-0 win at Maine Road in the NPL Cup Final and a trip to Burnden Park to see us win the Lancs Cup 5-2 against Chorley.

In the lead up to us returning to Southport, Michelle got quite keen on coming to the matches and she was something of a lucky mascot for a while as every game she went to we won!

I soon got back in the swing again and it wasn't long before I had started going to away games again with Martin Bishop who had also been living away for some time. It was like the old days when we set off for our reunion away game at Spennymoor in 1996 and we have kept going ever since, missing just a handful of games each season.

On our return to the town Southport were an established Conference team and we were comfortable in the League, in fact we were doing rather well.

The 1997/98 season saw a dream realised, a trip to Wembley Stadium to see MY team play, even as I type this, the goosepimples are still there! What a Trophy run it was. Southport FC just don't do Wembley it was a dream. I have never in all my life been so nervous at a football match as the semi final second leg at home to Slough, what an occasion, MY team were just 90 minutes from Wembley. When Slough scored I honestly thought my dream was over but Kevin Formby's equaliser saw emotions in me that I never thought I had, I went absolutely wild, the last 20 minutes though seemed to last an hour but that final whistle was greeted with such relief that I again went mad and sang all the way from Haig Avenue to Peel Street were our car was parked up at the Mother In Laws. Totally out of character for me but it just meant so much to me to see MY team at Wembley. The build up in the town was excellent and there was no way I was allowing anything to get in the way. We travelled down the day before the game and stayed at a Travel Inn in Dunstable. Julia had been cajoled into driving down just in case the trains broke down or the coaches didn't turn up! We were the first car in the car park at Wembley all parked up at 9.30am. I had to be certain of getting there didn't I. We spent the hours walking around the place, several times. At one point we were allowed in the tunnel to take a photo of me in my SFC shirt outside the Southport FC changing room. That photo is still on the wall in front of me as I type. I'll confess now I had tears in my eyes when I saw Paul Futcher leading the team out on to the hallowed turf. MY team were playing at Wembley. We lost and it was a long journey home but in the cold light of day I had seen MY team play at Wembley and that is a memory I will never ever forget. I had the Monday off work to join in the open top bus tour around the town and that was it. Maybe we will go back one day when the Trophy gets back to where it belongs.

The highlight of the 98/99 season was the 2-1 win at Mansfield what a game that was and we were in the 3rd round of the FA Cup with the excitement of a possible draw against, Arsenal, Man U, Chelsea or Liverpool and we get, Leyton Orient at home, what an anti-climax that was.

I carried on going to as many games as possible in the Conference but limited finances stopped me going to the long distance games. Plenty of ups and downs along the way, The Mark Wright era whilst exciting was always destined to end in tears in my view and I never did like an ex Liverpool player managing my team (except Brian Kettle) Those that know me know my intense dislike of Liverpool Football Club!

The 2002/03 season saw the end of Conference Football at Haig Avenue (for now) It had all started so brightly. We were 4th at the beginning of November and in one of the best ever occasions known at the ground we had beaten Notts County 4-2 in the FA Cup, another one of those never to be forgotten days.

Things took a dramatic turn for the worse and the slump was on but by the beginning of April we were still 14th and looking safe, however, we lost the last 4 games of the season. The game at Northwich which we lost 2-1 was probably the worst ever display I have seen by Southport and a lot of frustration came out that day. I very rarely get on players backs as I just don't see the point as it is so counterproductive but that day was an absolute disgrace with a number of the team letting themselves down very badly indeed. I still thought we could escape but when Hereford scored with a freak goal in injury time the realisation that we could go down hit home.

The club laid on coaches for £5 to take the troops to Stevenage for the game that would see us fight like anything to stay in the League...... mmm,  maybe not, it was abject surrender in front of an excellent away following who deserved a lot better. Now that journey home was long. I was absolutely devastated as were the rest of the fans on the coach.

The 2003/04 season saw us start life in the NPL with 4 wins against poor teams. The minute we came up against a decent team we were found out. The final straw came in a cup match at Vauxhall Motors when the display that day was as bad as it could get, we lost 3-1 and the 1 was a penalty after a disgraceful dive by a Southport player (no names), we had resorted to cheating against a team of car mechanics! This match saw the end of Mike Walsh's reign as manager and whilst I am sure Mr Walsh was a lovely man he was very definitely not the man to take us forward in Non-League football.

The appointment of Liam Watson raised a few eyebrows at first, Liam who? A year on, I am enjoying watching the team as much as I have ever done, the lads seem to want to play for Southport, the fans are behind him and even the regular moaners are having to turn to the state of the catering to find something to pull down. The away support is as good as it has ever been and the whole atmosphere seems so much better than a year ago

I am now involved in helping with the programme, I have learnt how to build a website to put all my Southport stats on and can't wait for the games to come along.

At the start of the 04/05 season I said somewhat hopefully that I would be happy with a play off place, come January we had a realistic chance of winning the league, come the end of April we had won the league! I missed just one game, away at Gainsborough which we lost 1-0 so I managed to see every goal scored. I think it must go down as the most exciting season I have ever witnessed, the ups and downs along the way were just incredible. The 2-1 home defeat by Ashton, the 3-1 defeat at Bradford and the 3-2 defeat at Redditch were the lows but the 5-0 win at Kettering, the 3-1 at Droylsden, the 3-1 at Worcester, the 4-2 at Hucknall the 3-0 at home to Droylsden and the 1-0 at home to Hucknall(who will ever forget that moment when the ground erupted when we heard Droylsden were losing 3-1 at Worcester) were extra special but the icing on the cake was the championship winning performance at Harrogate. Going in to the game we knew a win would give us the title but Harrogate knew a win would put them in the Play Offs. Four days earlier I had made the journey to Hucknall to see them play Droylsden were a defeat for Droylsden would have given us the title, it was not to be so it all boiled down to the last game and in such a topsy-turvy season goodness knows how it would turn out. By half time we were 3-0 up and Droylsden were 1-0 down. After 65 minutes we were 5-0 up and Droylsden were losing 3-0, the title was ours. The gate of 1913 was made up of 1300 Sandgrounders and how they celebrated, it ranks alongside any of the best Southport occasions I have witnessed and one that will be etched in the memory for evermore.

I am really looking forward to the return to the Conference proper but I do have a few worries. It has changed so much with many teams now full time and the gulf between us and Hereford in the FA Cup tie was quite big and scared me a bit but having seen some of the Conference games on TV I am sure we can consolidate our position and give a good account of ourselves. We have a manager who knows what he is doing, we appear to have a great team spirit, we have a hardcore fanbase who are really behind the club and everything looks good. I wonder how many times we will hear the song, "1-0 to the part-timers" next season!

Well what a long season the 2005/06 one turned out to be, at times it was dire but the elation I felt at the end of the match at Grays when it was confirmed we had stayed up was on a par with that I felt when we won the league at Harrogate. I missed just one first class game, at Exeter which was a blow because I really wanted to get to every game.

The birth of Trust in Yellow has seen me get involved with the club again. I always vowed never to get drawn in to the internal wranglings and I remain determined not to do so this time but the independence of the Trust will ensure that doesn't need to happen. There are others prepared to deal directly with the club and I am happy to keep it that way. The support the Trust has received has been nothing short of remarkable, people want to be a part of it and it is great to see. It really can be something special.

On the field the home win against Accrington was my highlight whilst the win at Stevenage ran it a close second. We also won the Lancashire Junior Cup in what was arguably the most boring game of the season.

Amazingly, considering the fickle nature of Southport fans Liam Watson remained a hugely popular figure with all but the usual "manager out" brigade and it is with great optimism that I look forward to Liam leading us forward into our first season of full time football since we left the football league.

Then again....Liam leaves the Club to be replaced by Paul Cook. On the day I heard about Liam leaving it felt like a death in the family, I was absolutely gobsmacked. A great guy being allowed to leave like this was not on my agenda. It took a long time to find a replacement and Paul Cook is the man. I wish him well and hope he gets the full backing of the board and fans.

As I update this story on 15 October 2006, I have just got back from probably the longest journey in my Southport watching life, a 600 mile round trip to Weymouth by coach which saw me leave the house at 6.30am and return home at 12.34am (so I am reliably informed by Julia) It was a game that saw us go bottom of the table, a game were I questioned my sanity as the coach driver decided to add a couple of hours to the journey by going the long way round getting there and back and our beloved leader decided to ignore the fans. Paul Cook has quickly become SFC enemy Number 1. He fails to interact with the fans, he has dispensed with some good players with less than adequate replacements and he has failed to gain the trust of the supporters. Happy Days!

The end of season update sees us relegated to Conference North to be known as Blue Square Northern from the 07/08 season. It was a strange end to the season, seemingly dead and buried in February, I thought we would be relegated by the end of March. A sparkling run of four successive wins gave us hope and a record NL home league gate of 3206 turned up for our last home game against York City. Helped by free tickets and a 1000 from York but a good turn out none the less. Our final game was away to Exeter, it had been over 30 years since I had been to the "Real St James' Park" and as Exeter needed to win to confirm their Play Off place it made for a cracking atmosphere. Our record away crowd of 6670 saw this game and a narrow 2-1 defeat. The home and away crowd records going in a week wasn't on the cards in the depths of January.

Sadly we are down but in Peter Davenport we have a man who knows his own mind and there are high hopes that we can bounce back. We are staying full time, again, I would like to see a mix of good part timers in with the full timers but the ambition is there to get us back at the first attempt.

I missed two games at Dag & Red because there was no available transport and at Gravesend & Northfleet when I woke up with a rather unpleasant stomach problem which I didn't fancy taking on to a coach! Julia and Michelle still went and left me at home feeling sorry for myself. Thankfully I was able to listen in on the radio and I've since watched the DVD. It ended with a 4-0 win which was our best ever away win in Conference football.

For some strange reason I ended up running the TIY coaches for the season which was not in my plans but they went down well and we achieved our objective of running them at break even and exceeded our objective as we ran a coach to 18 of the 24 first class away games.

On to the new season and it's been a strange start. We haven't played particularly well but after 10 games we are third and have had some good wins. The fans have in the main stuck with it and a coach has run to every game so far (end Sept) with superb followings at Leigh when over 450 made the journey and Skem when a similar number turned out for the FA Cup qualifier. The noticeable thing to me is just how huge the gulf has become between Conference National and Conference North, it is quite astonishing and I'm not surprised Droylsden are struggling.

The 2007/08 season was one of mixed fortunes, we were always up there or thereabouts but you always had the feeling that we just were not quite good enough. The supporters were split in two over Peter Davenport some loved some didn't. I thought he was good for the club and would take us forward. I managed to go to all but one game, the away match at Boston as once again my balance problem kicked in. We were only top of the league after day one and by April even qualifying for the Play Offs looked in doubt. It was the match at Solihull when things came to a head. I commented before the game that things didn't seem the same, everyone seemed flat and the atmosphere was awful and things didn't look good. They weren't, we lost 4-1 and it looked as though Dav had lost the confidence of the players. The next day he was dismissed with Gary Brabin taking over. Brab's lead us into the Play Offs when after beating Stalybridge 1-0 in the first leg we went out on penalties. A few tears were shed but realistically I have my doubts as to whether we were actually ready for the move up. Brab's got the job on a permanent basis, went on holiday and ended up with the job at Cambridge. It was turmoil yet again at Haig Avenue. Next up wasn't scripted. Liam Watson returns to Haig Avenue as Burscough have off field problems following the unfortunate illness of their Chairman Chris Lloyd forces him to cut back on his financial input at The Linnett's. Liam will lead us forward into the 08/09 season with a complete change back to Part Time football.

On a personal level, the close season was probably one of the most "interesting" I have ever encountered. The goings on at the club, the decision by Jonathan O'Byrne to resign his position as TIY chair without any warning, the NL History book to write and another bout of serious balance problems made for a very difficult time. I've written already about the club issues. As for TIY it was a shame it happened the way it did. I was left as acting chair and accused of all sorts of things by the outgoing chairman. It seems he was harbouring a number of issues with me that had never been raised and of which I was totally unaware. Jon decided to make all these public on the Trust in Yellow forum which were then moved on to the more public forum of Port Chat. The good thing is that the majority of people who have contacted me have been hugely supportive and out of a rough patch TIY will move on with a lot more member interaction and the future looks bright. We have received some constructive feedback from the people who matter, the members and things will be better for it.

The book became a huge project. I only originally intended producing a programme like brochure basically updating the line-ups and all the NL stats. It took on a life of its own and we ended up with a 280 page book! Only 500 printed and released on 19 August it is destined to be a sell out very quickly and the reviews have been excellent. Geoff Wilde became involved and this ensured the line ups were fully updated and correct. A lot of time was spent on it but the final result was worthwhile.

As for the health...well it's another spell in hospital and on the sidelines as my Menieres Disease continues apace and I face another op on 16 September and yet again I will miss out on seeing every game in a season, that's the worst bit! The op went well and I ended up missing just one game, the 2-0 win at Redditch. It was three weeks signed off work which was better than the six weeks I had the first time I was operated on.

The football isn't pretty but as I update this story in February 09 we are in a strong position, games in hand on the leaders and well placed.

By the end of the 2008/09 season we had finished in fifth place and once again had to settle for the play offs. I didn't enjoy the season and felt we should have done much better than we did. We went into our penultimate game still with a chance of winning the league but a lacklustre display in a midweek game at Blyth meant we went down 1-0 and that was it. My emotions got the better of me at Farsley in the last game of the season when we fielded a team of youngsters who went down 5-1. I ended up having a "heated debate" with Liam about not trying to finish in the highest possible position. My view was that we should have tried for second place and the chance of a second leg home play off game. It all got a bit silly and I said things I shouldn't which needless to say my "friends" on Port Chat revelled in! I apologised to Liam almost immediately after the game, an apology that wasn't accepted as he continued the argument. We went on to lose the home play off against Gateshead 1-0 and drew the away leg 1-1 and the season was over. The argument was quickly forgotten and we both agreed to move on and put it behind us.

The close season was a lot quieter than last year with no book to contend with. Talking of the book, there are still a few copies available mainly from people who failed to collect an ordered copy. It sold well and was well received.

As for 2009/10. I will still be programme editor and hope to introduce a few improvements to it. The website will continue but some of the comments in News & Views will be a bit more circumspect as they were being reported to Liam!

I'm updating my story during a very cold spell in January 2010. We are top of the league by three points from Fleetwood having beaten them 5-0 at home but lost 4-0 away. We have played much better this season with great wins away at Blyth 2-0 and Telford also 2-0 being the best away displays. Excellent home showings against Fleetwood as already mentioned and the high flying Corby and Eastwood have been the highlights.

The 2009/10 season ended with us winning the league against all the odds after a head to head race with Fleetwood. It was a season to savour and that was the title of the fantastic celebration brochure that Trust In Yellow produced. We sealed the championship after a 3-0 last day win at Eastwood. The gate at that game was 1147 and contained around 700 Sandgrounders. It had been the most dramatic week I can ever remember and I described it in the brochure as below

"Nothing could however surpass the final week of the season, what a long, painful, nerve wracking but ultimately fantastic week it was.

The week started with a home match against Hyde United which we won comfortably 4-1, the drama started in the second minute of that game, when “Killer” scored, we then heard Blyth had gone 1-0 up against Fleetwood after 6 minutes. We were 3-0 up by half-time but Fleetwood were to go 2-1 up before once again we heard Blyth had scored to make it 2-2. The nerves were shattered! Unfortunately Fleetwood scored again and ran out 3-2 winners.

It was now a case of beat Alfreton Town and we would be champions (subject to appeal). Alfreton had not read the script! Matty’s fourth pen in four games had our statto’s reaching for the record books but it was the only bright spot on a subdued night when the off field goings on up the road at Fleetwood seemed to unsettle everyone and Alfreton who were easily the best side to visit Haig Avenue went away with a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win. I have no intention of dwelling on the appeal situation. Fleetwood exercised their right and some lucky lawyers took the case forward for them and earned a few quid in the process. The appeal was heard on the Wednesday after the Alfreton game. The tension was unbearable at times on the Wednesday as hour by hour passed by and there was no sign of any news. I then heard at around 5.45 that no decision would be announced that day. What a farce it was all becoming. I then heard that “they” were hopeful that a decision would be announced by Friday! Could we possibly face the possibility of going into our final game of the season not knowing how we stood?

Thursday came and went, no news. By Friday morning the butterflies were well and truly in the stomach but still no news. Then, in one of those, I’ll always remember where I was when that happened moments, it was 3.20 and the mobile rang, it was our secretary Ken Hilton informing me (very slowly) that the Fleetwood Town appeal……..had……been….dismissed. Now, I was in the office at the time and I am forever reminding my staff about being discreet if they have to use a mobile! My shriek was a bit of a giveaway but it was hard to contain the joy. Win at Eastwood and the championship would be ours. The rest as they say is history"

How will we do in the Conference National? It remains to be seen. Survival will be a success. There are some big teams in the league now and we will be the small fish in a big pool.

I have continued with the programme and will be doing so again in 2010/11. It achieved second place in the Blue Square North awards which I was very pleased about.