View from the Mendip Suite Exec Box in the Ian Botham Stand.

Yes I am in here legitimately.

View from the Ian Botham Stand

County Ground, Taunton, Somerset.

Saying goodbye to the old girl..

Building up to the Willow's last hurrah, Salford.

Lancashire County Cricket Club 1934

Lancashire County Cricket Club 1934, originally uploaded by MichaelGT.

The last Lancashire side to win the County Championship outright, all those years ago. And such a pity it is that it no longer seems likely that this year's side will end the long wait. Still, perchance to dream and all that...

A proper update to appear on here shortly. I've been slacking, I know.

On Top of the Hill - – Colwyn Bay v FC United, Evo Stick Premier Division Playoff Final

This was written with the intention of it appearing elsewhere, but as it never did, it's making a belated appearance on here.

In the years I spent watching Manchester United home, away and abroad I never thought I’d be looking forward to a trip to Wales, let alone Colwyn Bay. But I’d never considered the thought that I’d be giving up grounds such as the San Siro to go to grounds such as Llanelian Road, either, so there I was on Monday morning bounding out of bed and headed for a train to the Welsh town.

Although the journey itself was less than easy. I was travelling from Preston, which required changing at Warrington and meeting the train from Manchester headed down to the Bay. Only the points somewhere north of Warrington had failed meaning we were crawling into Warrington with the Manchester train still scheduled to get in before us. Plans were being made to kill an hour in Warrington until we pulled up alongside another train just before the two lines merged. A quick phone call and a wave through the window confirmed it was the train I was meant to be meeting and, thankfully, we set off first and pulled into Warrington before it.

The rest of the journey was a lot more pleasant with a lot of expectant FCers enjoying the scenery and the glorious sunshine. The mood was good and that continued in the pub before the match and in the streets around the ground. Eventually the 2,000 people with tickets drifted inside with a few hundred people without plotting up on the overlooking hill. Eventually 3pm rolled around and the biggest game of FC United’s existence was off and running.

There was a strange feeling around once inside the ground, though, mainly amongst the FC supporters. The atmosphere, whilst still loud and continuous, felt a bit nervous and more flat than usual. The match itself didn’t help as it was a scrappy affair which had ‘one goal win’ written all over it from the start. Sam Ashton sliced an attempted clearance early on with a Colwyn Bay player closing him down and David Chadwick almost headed the ball into his own goal instead of directing it straight back to Sam. Thankfully, for us, the ball went past the post.

FC had their own chances, Roca having the best of them, failing to connect properly with a Wolfenden cross, but just couldn’t apply that finishing touch. When moving the ball around on the deck and attacking down the right wing, United looked dangerous. However, the final ball and other long balls towards Deegan were invariably dealt with comfortably by the two imposing Colwyn Bay centre-halves. As the game went on, you began to get the feeling whoever scored first would just nick it.

On 69 minutes, Colwyn Bay broke forward with a ball over the top of the defence. Jon Newby calmly put the ball past Sam Ashton into the goal leaving people with a resigned feeling of “that’s that.” Aside from one shot into the side netting, I struggle to recall any real chance being created. Colwyn Bay went close to adding a second on a couple of occasions but the game ended 1-0 and Bay were promoted to the Conference North. There’s no complaints on my behalf, they deserved to go up and I feel it would have been too early for FC United as a club anyway. I just hope we’re not looking back in ten years’ time thinking “that was our moment.”

The pub was a bit more subdued after the match, as was our part of the train home. However, people were not too disheartened as there’s much more to this club than the football. Hopefully before too long we will have our own ground built whilst continuing to build greater links with Manchester’s communities. As long as we carry on as we are, we’ll still be upbeat about the club regardless of results like today’s.

Playoff Bound

I typed this out as a post on a United forum I go on, decided it'd also do as a blog post - save me re-typing things!

Well, this season just continues to get more and more surreal as each week goes on.

A 1-0 win to Northwich at Gigg Lane followed by a 4-1 thumping of Frickley at Stalybridge saw FC creeping into the playoff positions. The win against Northwich deserves a special mention as Sam Ashton was sent off at 0-0 for an 'elbow' on the opposition striker. Centre forward Ben Deegan came off the bench, went in goal... and saved the penalty. Fifteen minutes later Mike Norton scored the only goal of the game to push FC up to third in the table.

McManus also received marching orders in the game against Frickley. The record continued in a shocking 2-0 defeat away at Chasetown which saw Mike Norton and Jerome Wright sent off. Just to add further misery onto the result later in the day down at Wembley. A day to forget all round.

The lads then came back from a goal down against Marine at Stalybridge to win 2-1 before one of the strangest football matches anyone had ever seen.

Away at Matlock, Sam Ashton's ban had started and reserve keeper Grant Shenton was at a wedding. Both Youth Team keepers are registered with other Evo-Stick clubs, so... Ben Deegan was in goal from the start. The defence was magnificent, leaving him very little to do and when the final whistle went we'd somehow managed to win 2-1. A win which guaranteed a play-off place for FC United. From second bottom in January, we'd crept up into second place and just needed to win two games to get promotion. Crazy.

Kendal came to Gigg Lane and won 2-1 in the final league game of the season, meaning we finished in 4th. Colwyn Bay finished 2nd behind Champions Halifax, Bradford Park Avenue were 3rd and North Ferriby in 5th. So came a cold Thursday night in Bradford where optimism wasn't exactly in abundance. Still, 2,758 people saw FC United win at the Horsfall Stadium for the first time and book a place in the playoff final on Monday May 2nd. Unbelievable. From a season that was written off a few months ago to being 90 minutes away from the Conference North.

The opponents will be Colwyn Bay, who won 2-0 against North Ferriby United. The game will take place at Bay's Llanelian Road ground, kick off 3pm. It's all ticket, with FC receiving 1,000 tickets which will go on sale tomorrow from the office at 10.30am to Members who also have Season Tickets before being opened up to both Members and ST holders.

Whatever happens, it's been one hell of a season.

Site of the Royal Hotel, Manchester, where the Football League was founded.

Site of the Royal Hotel, Manchester, where the Football League was founded., originally uploaded by MichaelGT.

This plaque is situated in Manchester City Centre, directly across from Piccadilly Gardens on the corner of Mosley Street and Market Street. Yet you can guarantee most people will walk past it without even realising that it is there.

The League was founded at a meeting at the Royal Hotel on the 17th April 1888. The hotel is long since gone and a Santander branch now stands in it's place. This plaque stands as a reminder that, even then, Manchester was at the heart of football.