Tuesday 28 April 2015

Glasgow Groundhopping

The other weekend I decided to hop up to Glasgow on an early train to watch Queen's Park at home to Annan Athletic in Scottish League 2. The main reason being, of course, that Queen's Park own and play at Hampden Park, which is a ground I've always wanted to go to and this seemed a good way of doing it. I always wanted to have a nosey at Lesser Hampden next door and the site of the two original Hampdens, including the rather wonderful Cathkin Park.

When the first Hampden was knocked down (which I'll touch on later), a second site was bought and developed by Queen's Park and opened in 1884. In 1903, Queen's Park had moved to their third site, which is the ground currently known as Hampden Park. Third Lanark A.C. took the ground over and renamed it Cathkin Park. They played there until 1967, when the club went under. Over the years, the decaying body of the ground was removed, however a large part of the terracing still remains in what has now been made into a public park. The pitch itself is still in use, a reformed amateur Third Lanark side used the pitch for a couple of seasons but seemed to have disappeared and a side called Hampden AFC play some home games in the Glasgow Colleges FA League there.

Cathkin Park

It's also become home for the Jimmy Johnstone Academy, who have use of a clubhouse on site. It was one of their teams who were playing when I headed up the steps and onto the back of the terracing around the ground.

Cathkin Park

It was a surreal experience wandering around the place, looking around at the old terraces and being able to perch on a crash barrier with all the trees and wildlife around you. It was strange to think that you were once surrounded by large stands and structures that were no longer in place.

Cathkin Park

Cathkin Park

Once the game going on had finished, I wandered down onto the pitch to have a walk across and take in the view pitch-side. The large empty gap along one side where the main stand used to be added to the strangeness of the view. It was a bit spooky wandering around, but also a great thrill to see such a huge piece of football history still in place. Even bits of the track around the edge of the pitch were still visible underneath your feet.

Cathkin Park

Whilst I was wandering around the terracing, I was beckoned by one of the fellas who'd been organising the game. Both sides had vacated the clubhouse and dressing rooms, so, noticing that I was wandering around looking at the history of the place, he took me into the clubhouse to have a look around. There was another bloke from the academy in there as well and the two of them took the time to show me various things and have a chat about the club and football in general.

Jimmy Johnstone Academy

Once that was done, it was a quick hop up the road to the site of the first Hampden Park. Queen's Park vacated the ground in 1883 as the Glasgow City Corporation decided that the new Cathcart railway line should pass through the site. What is left of the site is marked by Hampden Bowling Club, which is handily placed for you to nosey at from the bridge over the railway line.

Lesser Hampden

Lesser Hampden

Once I'd been there I headed for the next stop, Lesser Hampden, a small ground in the shadow of Hampden Park. Recently done up for the Commonwealth Games, the ground is used by Queen's Park for training and youth/academy games. Their clubhouse (branded a bistro...) is in there overlooking the pitch, so I wandered up there, had a pint and watched two of their youth teams playing Dundee FC on the pitch.

DSC00519

Lesser Hampden

Lesser Hampden

Once that was done, I walked over for the main game of the day - Queen's Park v Annan Athletic at Hampden Park in Scottish League 2.

Hampden Park

It's strange to think that Queen's Park themselves own the ground and lease it out to the Scottish FA for Finals and Internationals, as well as leasing office space and so on. It was the first time I'd been to the ground and it was hard to imagine the chaos there may be on large match days when there's less than a thousand people knocking around.

Hampden Park

The match itself wasn't the best, with Queen's Park 2-0 up at halftime the game was over as a contest and the second half was a tad pedestrian. The crowd was 462, spread across 5 blocks, 4 of which were open, one of them separated from the rest by the unused press area in the centre of the main stand. A few people were in a directors' section at the back, but most were out in the open, leaving three quarters of a 52,000 seater stadium completely unused. Some of the taping off of blocks seemed a bit draconian,but then again it was G4S providing the security, which seemed very OTT for me, but I suppose it's a drawback to playing in a ground such as Hampden.

Hampden Park

Hampden Park

Hampden Park

Hampden Park

Queen's Park are completely amateur and staffed, in the main at least, by volunteers. A small club shop on the concourse did a decent trade and the home supporters were a decent, knowledgeable lot who did quite a bit to encourage the team in front of them. Annan didn't bring that many with them, but there was a group of meddlesome kids at the back acting like you'd expect young teenagers on an away trip to act. Pity about the drum, mind, lads.

By the time the final whistle came around I'd retreated to the back of the stand to avoid the rain and wind that was blowing into the front of the stand. A quick dart to the nearby Mount Florida railway station and I was soon back at Glasgow Central and jumping on a train back home. It was a good day out and I'm glad I did it. I'd be tempted to go back to Hampden for a big game, just to be able to fully compare the two. I'll also be eyeing up another League 2 fixture to compare and contrast the difference. And I'll certainly have another wander around Cathkin Park if I get the chance, something which I'd highly recommend to anyone who finds themselves around there with time on their hands.

Full set of photos can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8580799@N06/sets/72157651869063136/

Thursday 23 April 2015

FC United of Manchester - Northern Premier League Champions 2014/2015

On Tuesday night FC United beat Stourbridge Town FC 1-0 at the Tameside Stadium, earning the points needed to seal the league title and promotion to the Conference after seven years in the division.

Three playoff final defeats in a row. A playoff semi-final defeat immediately following them. Each one followed with an increased sense of doom and gloom. Now, finally, all of that can be forgotten as we start next season in a new ground and a new league.

It's been a hell of a ten years. We've had our detractors and we still do. From "it won't last until Christmas" to "you're just a bunch of Judas bastards" we've heard it all. But we're still here and proving that there is a better way for football.

FC United of Manchester, Northern Premier League Champions 2014/2015.

FC United of Manchester, Northern Premier League Champions 2014/2015.

FC United of Manchester, Northern Premier League Champions 2014/2015.

Thursday 2 April 2015

She Makes War at The Wonder Inn, Manchester

I had intended to do a blog a month this year, so the second of April to do the first one since November is a bit of a failure. I'm intending to kick my arse into gear from here on in and also try to do a few smaller updates to plug the gaps...
Last Friday (27th March) I went to watch She Makes War (Laura Kidd) at the newly opened Wonder Inn in Shudehill, Manchester. I stumbled across Laura's music on Bandcamp last year and fallen in love with it straight away. This gig was the first chance I had to watch her perform live. I bought the ticket in advance as part of a pledge for her self-funded new album (http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/smwdot/). After finding my way into the venue (the door was at the back, rather than the front) and buying a bottle of ale, I got a spot by the front wall in readiness for the evening's entertainment.
Support came first from Forgery Lit, a three piece from Bristol, who started things off with a bang. A cracking set with some superb, rhythmic sounds driven by lead vocalist and drummer (yes, that's right) Ami. There was a good interaction between the band, both during and between songs, that just added nicely to their performance. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.
Next up was a spoken word set from Steph Pike, with a good old left-wing, equality for all theme that stuck a chord with everyone in there, including yours truly. Her poem about David Cameron had everyone laughing for probably both the right and wrong reasons - I'll not spoil the surprise and just say, if you get the chance, go and see her perform.
Then it was Louis Barabbas' turn. He usually performs with his band, Bedlam Six, but was on his own tonight, first performing songs that he'd written for a musical and then some of his older stuff, taking requests from the crowd. It's an energetic, manic performance full of leg twitching, stomping and leaps into the audience. The performance of The Tell Tale Hound at the end is superb, as Louis performs a song as three characters - including a dog. Impersonation included. It's a hell of a sight.
There was a further spoken word interlude, this time from Rebecca Audra Smith, in much the same vein as the previous one and equally well received. Again, well worth a listen if you get the chance and agree with angry, lefty, feminist type poetry. It certainly works for me!
Finally, it was Laura's turn and, unusually for her, she was joined by Ami from Forgery Lit on drums and a lad called Simon playing guitar and violin. This is unusual for SMW as she usually does everything herself using loop pedals and effects. As it was, this still worked well and she did do some songs on her own as well. It was a wonderful performance and her chattiness between songs, opening up about the influences of each song (boiled down, at one point, to "how shit my love life is") endeared her to everyone even more and added a much more personal touch to the songs and performance. Even a rather loud talker at the back of the room, banging on about his own self-importance and some piece of art or other, didn't affect her pleasantness as she dismissed it with a glib sarcastic comment. It went straight over his head, but the rest of us appreciated it.
Laura's live work is as much about the visual as the audio, something which came to life when she performed Delete, walking around the audience with a megaphone. It's a sight that brings an extra level to the performance and captivates everyone in the room.
The gig closes with an invite to hang around for a drink and a chat. As I had to bail for a train, I had a quick chat with Laura to thank her for the evening and got thanked back for coming out, before heading off home. She'll be playing again around September and I'll definitely be making the effort for it. Look up Laura's music and, if you get the chance, go and see her.
Finally, The Wonder Inn looks set to be a cracking little venue for Manchester and will be well worth supporting.
The Wonder in are on Facebook here and also on Twitter here.
Forgery Lit's Bandcamp can be found here.
Louis Barabbas' Bandcamp can be found here and his Bedlam Six stuff can be found here.
She Makes War's website can be found here and her Bandcamp can be found here.



Full set of photos here:- https://www.flickr.com/photos/8580799@N06/sets/72157651291041349/