27. CNG Stadium-Harrogate Town

Harrogate Town 3-1 Gainsborough Trinity

Conference North

12.3.2011

Admission: Adults: £9.00 Children: £2.00

Programme: £2.00

Attendance: 266

Capacity: 2,500

Seated: 300

Covered: 1,300

Town: Woodlands, Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Shop: Yes

Floodlights: Yes

Step: 6

Having been thwarted at my last two attempts to visit Harrogate Town, I finally got my chance to visit on the 12th of March for the Conference North game against Gainsborough Trinity.

As I have previously commented on my trip to HRA, Harrogate is a spa town with the Turkish Baths featuring as the real tourist magnet. Walking from the station takes you past the long stretch of grass that is the Stray. Many Harrogate & District League games are played here. The ground is tucked away on the road to Knaresborough. You don't realise you've arrived until you're right outside the turnstile.

Only one turnstile is used and it makes a real grating sound as it rotates. A very nostalgic sound to the times when turnstiles weren't electrical. You come out in the West corner. The programme table and club shop are immediately to your right. There is open hard standing behind the Northwest goal and it is pretty much the same behind the Southeast goal, except there is one narrow step of terracing down half of the end. The Southwest terrace is where most of the home supporters gather. There are 5 steps and it could probably hold 1,000, with a tin roof propped up on thin poles. The only seating is on the Northeast side with 300 yellow seats with HT picked out twice. The clubhouse is behind the Southeast goal.

Gainsborough brought a hardcore following of a dozen (they came in a minibus). The Lincolnshire hopefuls opened the scoring in the first half. However Town hit back, scoring three, including one from the penalty spot. It's just a shame that there is hardly anyone there to care. In the whole season, Town didn't get one league attendance above 500, with only two above 400. They average at around 250 with another 100 or so at Railway. So where is everyone. A town with over 70,000 inhabitants and they don't even get an aggregate of 400 every fortnight. A Conference North side like Harrogate Town should not go unnoticed. Personally I think more match advertising is needed. When I visited Bewdley and Whitley Bay, there was advertising in pubs on roundabouts on railings. This is why Whitley Bay get big attendances. They need to find a way to stop people going to Leeds or York City.

The programme is very average for this level and should probably be priced at £1.50 instead. There is a player image on the front along with match details. Inside it features: Manager and boardroom notes, match reports, player views, match pictures, away team, results, statistics, league round up, sponsorship, rewind, next match, past programme, BBC York view and team lineups on the back. There are 40 pages overall with 15 taken up by ads.

I recommend a visit to the CNG Stadium but quite how it survives in this state at this level I don't know, when you compare it to Telford, Worcester or Hinckley.

Harrogate Town matchday pictures

25. Lye Meadow-Alvechurch

Alvechurch 1-2 Coventry Sphinx
Midland Alliance
12.2.11

Admission: Adults: £5 Children: £3
Programme: £1
Attendance: 63
Capacity: 1,700
Seated: 150
Covered: 150
Town: Alvechurch, Worcestershire
Shop: No
Floodlights: Yes
Step: 9

A 3 hour trip down to the West Midlands was undertaken with the hope of attending either a game at Kidderminster or Stourport. However to no prevail. We arrived in Redditch (our drop off point) just before 14:00 with no hope of getting to said destanations before 15:00. Instead we went into Redditch rail station and got tickets to Alvechurch. The train journey is a short ten minutes and continues up to Birmingham. Alvechurch is a very quiet town compared top the loud traffic in Redditch. We only got lost once on the way to the ground. I had decided to taken written directions rather than maps. We arrived with 20 minutes until kick off.

The turnstile, unusually has no roof yet is still of the classic design (no pay boxes here). The side you come out on is open hard standing as is the North side. The West End has 3 steps of unusual terracing over half of the width. It is unusual because as you move along this end. The terracing steps up both in depth and length. This stand was covered in the 1990s as a picture in the clubhouse depicts. The steel girders that held the stand in place are still in position. The main stand is on the south side of the ground. It contains 150 red plastic tip up seats. With a tin roof covering them. The clubouse and changing rooms are on the north side of the ground. The clubhouse has many pictures dotted around and sky sports on a projector screen!

Coventry Sphinx took the lead in the first half when a corner 'apparently'hit Williams' back and went in. Alvechurch equalised in the second half when Dempster scored just 30 seconds in.
However Coventry needed the 3 points to climb above Alvechurch and Cudworth headed home with 22 minutes to go to make sure of that.

We got the bus back into Redditch before getting another bus to Webheath. The bus that went from Alvechurch cost £2.10 for a child single for a 10 minute journey!
Alvechurch went on to finish 20th which could which was just 9 points clear of a potential relegation place.

The programme is 44 pages and is very stat heavy, yet there is no league table. But, to be fair to Alvechurch there are only 3 pages of ads. Some examples of the stats are: an all time record of teams performance in the Alliance, Stats from Alvechurch's season so far and recent league histories. Obviously a good programme for those who like stats.

My first dip into the Midland Alliance wasn't as good as I'd hoped but hopefully things will get better.

24. Station Road-Norton & Stockton Ancients

Norton & Stockton Ancients 0-1 King's Lynn Town
FA Vase Fourth Round
22.1.11

Admission: Adults: £5 Children: £3
Programme: £1 (20 pp)
Attendance: 249
Capacity: 1,400
Seated: 120
Covered: 180
Town: Norton, Stockton-on-Tees
Shop: No
Floodlights: Yes
Step: 9

With the Thursday being someone's birthday I was able to choose which match I went to with the added luxury of a car. My intial plan was to go to Barnoldswick Town v Atherton LR, but a helpful message on the NLM forum cleared that one off the board. Believe me there don't seem to be any positives with having your birthday in January apart from the fact it is definitely in the football season. I then heard that Billingham Synthonia v Tadcaster Albion was on. This would be a backup if all else failed. However a call to Norton & Stockton confirmed that their match was on. We made the 75 minute drive to Norton with little signage that the game was on apart from a small sign at the end of Station Road proclaiming 'Norton & Stockton Ancients v King's Lynn Town Saturday'. That was it. We parked on Station Road and walked up beside the railway tracks to the ground. I caught a glimpse of the impressive stand at Stockton RFC who play in the Durham/Northumberland Division One. It was two minutes into the match when we arrived at the gate. I was surprised to see a small queue to get in. I had expected this game to be quite popular. Thwere is a small pay hut where admission is payed and the programme can be bought.

You come in at the Northeast corner of the ground. Going down the East side there is hard standing with two dugouts in the middle. The South End is the same, just hardstanding. The West side features a 120 seat stand. Not arena, but very similar. The seats are a mixture of orange and black in four rows. The North End has a small covered standing area holding about 60. Right beside this is the new clubhouse being built. It was covered in sheets on this occasion but looks like it will be a joy to behold once finally built. On the other side of this are the portacabin club buildings and refreshment hatch with the changing rooms set behind.

N & S started the better side with threatening chances troubling the KLT keeper. However King's Lynn soon hit N&S on the counter with Robbie Harris putting the ball into the back of the net. After half time it was KLT putting on the pressure with several chances almost makling the score 2-0. However N&S avoided conceding more, shame they couldn't convert some at the other end. Despite the few dozen KLT supporters, there was very little atmosphere and I think the small attendance sums that up.

We left the ground and made the 15 minute drive to Teesside Park where we were hoping to visit TGI Fridays. But we were met with a 45 minute wait. However after lots of driving round we finally found an Indian, in Darlington, 40 minutes from where we had started.

The programme was quite poor considering the occasion. A bright cover proclaims the match details. There is then a word from the chairman and club details and honours. There are then player profiles and a number of result and fixture pages. Team lists are on the centre pages with an advertisement for their next match against Penrith including a form table. There are 4 pages of ads, all kept to the back.

To be honest Station Road seems very much like a flat pack venue, so one visit and you'll never want to visit again.


Norton & Stockton Ancients matchday pictures

23. Nethermoor Park-Guiseley

Guiseley 1-0 Harrogate Town
Conference North
1.1.11

Admission: Adults: £9.00 Children: £5.00
Programme: £1.50 (36 pp)
Attendance: 624
Capacity: 2,300
Seated: 340
Covered: 850
Town: Guiseley, West Yorkshire
Shop: Yes
Step: 6

Well another year has come and gone with 2011 bringing yet more cold weather to the New Year's day fixture schedule. On the Thursday I checked the Guiseley website to find pipes had burst with the water seeping onto the pitch and freezing deeming the pitch unplayable. However by the next evening, the problem had been fixed and the pitch had been cleared up. The game was on.
The next morning, as there were no buses running, I had to be dropped off at Northallerton station from where I got a train to Leeds and a connection to Guiseley. It was then a 10 minute walk through the derelict streets of Guiseley to Nethermoor Park. I know it was New Year's Day, but the streets were completely empty with the football ground being the only area of any activity. There are a couple of turnstiles in the North West corner and the North East corner. The programme can also be purchased here.
Guiseley have had plenty of success in recent years. In 2004 the club won the Northern Premier League Division 1 giving them promotion to the Premier Division. In 2008/2009, they reached the play offs, but were knocked out by Nantwich Town. However last season they won the league by 1 point and were promoted to the Conference North.
This season they look to challenge for promotion as a win would see them go top.

Once inside the ground from the North West going clockwise, there is flat standing behind the North Goal. At the end there are more turnstiles and a tea bar. Once you've turned the corner you will also see the hospitality suite on the left. You will then see the seated stand. This is a modern steel design (not an srena stand, but similar) and contains 340 blue seats with GAFC picked out in white. The flat standing continues to the corner. Behind this goal is 1 step of terracing that looks like it used to be a pavement. It continues all the way down. On the East side is a small covered terrace with about 5 steps of terracing and could probably hold between 100 & 150. The dugouts are on this side, as is the club shop. At the far end of this side is the clubhouse which is shared with the cricket club. In front of this is a 7/8 step terrace that cazn hold around 350.

Neither side really deserved to win the game. Guiseley scored the only goal through O'Neil with 20 minuites to go, therefore taking them top of the table.
Harrogate's away support of 4 was louder than the 620 Guiseley supporters put together. Theonly noise they made was a 5 second roar when they scored.

After the match I made my way back to Guiseley station where I got a train back to Leeds from where I went back to Northallerton along with several dozen Middlesbrough supporters who had been at Leeds that day.

The programme is done on glossy paper with a couple of player pictures adorning the cover with match details in the bottom left corner. There are 14 pages of ads ikn the 36 page production.
There is a view from the board, manager's viewpoint, Conference North news, tables, results and scorers, news on the reserves and ladies teams, Harrogate Town history, club results (including attendances), a team sheet, supporters' club page, a plan of the ground, Harrogate Town player profiles, Guiseley news and sponsorship.
A fairly good effort with plenty on both teams. 8/10

If you're going to visit Nethermoor Park, dop it now. With the club rising through the leagues, the ground will be modernised with the terraces probably first to go.

Guiseley matchday pictures

22. Elland Road-Leeds United

Leeds United 2-1 Crystal Palace
Football League Championship
4.12.10



Admission: Adults: £19-£35 Children: £11-£16
Programme: £3
Attendance: 25,476
Capacity: 39,460
Seated: 39,460
Covered: 39,460
Town: Leeds
Club Shop: Yes
Floodlights: Yes
Step: 2


Leeds United's glory days have certainly been and gone. The side saw a drop from the Premier League to League One in a matter of seasons.
With all non league games called off I was grateful that we had planned to go and see Palace away. It had been nearly 4 years since my last visit to Elland Road when Leeds beat Palace 2-1 in the Football League Championship. Leeds is the biggest city in West Yorkshire with a rich sporting history. It is of course home to United, Yorkshire CCC, Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Carnegie along with many amateur sides. The City is the second biggest district in England after Birmingham. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds was big in wool industry. In 1880 Louis le Prince recorded the first moving images with a Leeds back garden as his subject.
Leeds has existed since the 5th century when it was several settlements in the kingdom of
Elmet. Charles Dickens described the town as 'the beastliest place, one of the noisiest I know.'
Leeds United were founded in 1919. Their predecessors were Leeds City. The club has won 18 titles in its history including 3 First Division titles, 1 FA Cup and 2 UEFA Cups. Between 1920 and 1960 the clunb rose through the Football League. 1961-1975 were referred to as the glory years for the club. In 1964 the club were promoted to the First Division. They won two League Championships, the FA Cup, the League Cup and two Inter City Fairs Cups. In 1974 Brian Clough was made manager and 44 days later he was sacked and replaced by Jimmy Armfield.
In 2001 Leeds made it to the UEFA Champions League Semi final where they were knocked out by Valencia. In 2006 Leeds were in the Championship. They reached the Play offs final where they lost 3-0 to Watford. In 2007 the club were relegated to League One for the first time in their history. However in 2010 the club were promoted back to the Football League Championship. The club are now pushing for promotion back to the Premier League.
Elland Road is a 39,460 capacity ground. It is all two tiered especially in the Main Stand which partly overhangs the lower tier. The North Stand holds 7,000 seats. The East stand has 17,000. The South Stand has 5,000 while the West Stand has 10,000. The away supporters are located in the Southeast corner with 1,710 seats. The away seats are yellow, while the rest are blue. There are spacious concourses beneath the stands. We arrived late as usual and had to run to the North Stand to buy our tickets, then back to the Souith Stand where the turnstiles are automatic. We ran through the concourse and up a flight of steps. It was then that we noticed we were the only ones in the stand. We looked up to see the rest of the Palace fans in the upper tier. We had seven stewards watching 5 people overall. However this meant we had a bit more space.
Neil Danns gave Palace the lead just before half time. With 9 minutes to go Becchio equalised and scored a winner just 2 minutes later.
Leeds is certainly one of the charesmatic grounds in the Football League but only if you can afford it.
8/10

21. Bramall Lane-Sheffield United

Sheffield United 3-2 Crystal Palace
Football League Championship
20.11.10

Admission: Adults: £10-£34 Children: £5-£12
Programme: £3 (68 pp)
Attendance: 20,240
Capacity: 32,702
Seated: 32,702
Covered: 32,702
Town: Heeley, Sheffield
Club Shop: Yes
Floodlights: Yes
Step: 2

Heeley is a suburb of the city Sheffield. It has existed since 1343 at the earliest. Sheffield itself holds the main attractions in the city, particularly the Millenium Galleries. The Tropical Butterfly house, The Peace Gardens, Kelham Island Museum and City Museum are all recommended by Trip Advisor. Sheffield's industry is, of course, in Steel. However the 21st century has seen the city change and most factories are now nothing but tourist attractions. The city currently has a population of 534,500.
Sheffield is home to several football clubs. They include Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United and Hallam. It is also home to several ECB Yorkshire Premier sides, Sheffield Eagles RLFC, Sheffield RUFC and Sheffield Tigers RUFC.

Sheffield United were founded in 1889 as a Football/Bandy club. Unioted were champions of England in 1898. They have one 4 FA Cup titles, however the last one was in 1925. However in 1976, during one of the clubs worst ever spells, they were relegated to the Second Division. Three years later they were relegated again to the Third Division. Then 2 years later they were relegated to the Fourth Division. However three years later they were back in the Second Division. In 1988 they were back in ther Third Division, but manager David Bassett masterminded a plan that saw them return to the First Division in 1990. In 1994 they were relegated from the new FA Premier League. In 1999 Neil Warnock was appointed manager and in 2006 Sheffield United were back in the Premier League. They were relegated after one season. United have had a poor season in 2010-11 with relegation looking more likely than promotion.

Bramall Lane is 156 years old, being built in 1855. It is the oldest major stadium in the world still to be holding professional football. The ground has held an Ashes Test, England internationals and a FA Cup final replay. The record attendance is 68, 287. This was a FA Cup tie between United and Leeds United in 1936. The first floodlit game was played in 1878 between a 'blue' team and a 'red' team. The first stand was built in 1896. It held 6,000.

Today's match was a 17:20 kick off due to its coverage from Sky. After doing some Christmas shopping in Sheffield city centre, we headed down to Bramall Lane. You have to buy tickets before the game from the ticket office behind the South Stand. This was fairly quick and we walked back round to the West stand turnstiles. Once inside you are in a cramped concourse with a couple of food stalls and toilets. There are a few entrances to the stand however some had police tape over them. We went in and took some seats nearby. I instantly began to take photos, but was stopped by a steward who claimed that the flash 'can damage the electrical equipment around the ground. For God's sake. Why can't clubs just come out and admit they don't want people to use pictures for commercial use. Frustrated that I couldn't take photos, I began to watch the game. Palace scored a penalty not long into the second half, but this was cancelled out by a Cresswell goal. The sides went off at half time with the scores level. Palace then took the lead again through a Vaughan goal. However with 5 minutes to go Evans scored for United, and two minutes later Bogdanovic scored a penalty to seal the points for United. Overall both sides were pretty awful and a goalless draw might have reflected the football on show better. The stand I was in was two tiered with away fans in the lower.
The Bramall Lane stand holds 5,680 seats with BLADES picked out in the top tier. The South Stand holds 7,500 stands. The opposite end is the Kop. It holds over 10,000 with SUFC picked out. The North Stand holds 7,000. The ground is very well kept and certainly doesn't look its age. Unlike some grounds its attendances fit its cazpacity, so that not everyone is cramped together, but the majority of seats are filled.

The programme, titled 'The Blade', is 68 pages long. It has 16 pages of ads which is pretty good compared to some programmes. There are player interviews, opposition low down, match reports, stats, a league table and line ups. One thing I particularly liked was the then and now section for the visitors which compared their ground in the past and now. It includes some good pictures. Everything you could need in a programme really. 9/10

Bramall Lane is a must visit for all Football League hoppers. However I recommend getting a visitors pass that allows you to take pictures. 9/10

20. St George's Lane, Evesham United (Worcester City)

Evesham United 0-1 Swindon Supermarine
Southern League Premier Division
13.11.10

Ground: St. George's Lane (Worcester City FC)
Admission: Adult: £11 Children: £3 (£1 stand transfer at Worcester home games)
Programme: £1.50 (includes team sheet)
Attendance: 94
Capacity: 4,000
Seated: Approx.: 1,000
Covered: 1,300
Town: Worcester, Worcestershire
Club shop: yes (Worcester have their own while Evesham set their own up in the clubhouse)
Floodlights: yes
Step: 7

Worcester is a city in Worcestershire. It is 30 miles south west of Birmingham and 29 miles north of Gloucester. The River Severn runs through the city and is overlooked by the 12th century Worcester cathedral. This site held the last battle of the Civil war. Worcester is the home of composer Sir Edward Elgar and Worcestershire sauce. The cathedral is 927 years old with its crypts thought to be even older. The Chapter house is the only circular one in the country. The cathedral is the burial place of King John.
Worcester is a town with a big sporting community. The town is home to Worcester City FC, Worcester Warriors RFC and Worcestershire CCC. Worcester can be accessed from: Hereford, Birmingham, Kidderminster, Oxford and Bristol directly.

Evesham United were founded in 1945. They started in the Worcester League before switching to the Worcestershire Combination in 1951. They won the competition twice before moving into the Birmingham & District League. In the 1960-61 season they were coached by former Coventry City captain Charlie Timmins. Not long afterwards the club were back in the Worcestershire Combination. Which then became the current Midland Combination. The club won three titles in the division before snatching promotion to the Southern League. Coached by former Coventry City player David Busst in 2004-05, they won promotion to the Southern League Premier, but were relegated after one season. In 2008 the club made it to the FA Cup 1st round where they lost 2-0 at Torquay, but not before they knocked Rushden & Diamonds out 2-0. The 2008-09 season was the club's best finish when they ended the season in 9th place. They have made it to the FA Trophy 4th round and the FA Vase Quater finals.

St George's Lane is regarded by some hoppers as one of the best in the country with its wooden main stand running along one side and the old terrace opposite. The record attendance is 17,042 which was for an FA Cup game against Sheffield United. The club are soon to leave St. George's Lane and build a new 6,000 capacity ground in Nunnery Way.

I had had a busy day visiting 8 grounds already with the Southern League game between Evesham and Supermarine. You enter the ground in the South West corner where you pay £11 (or in my case £3). Once inside you are met by two friendly people selling programmes and raffle tickets. I bought a programme which included a team sheet. If you look immediately to your right, there is City's club shop, toilets and the entrance to the clubhouse. This runs right underneath the main stand, with 3 TV's showing the scores. There is a bar selling drinks and a few tables set out to form a club shop. Back outside the dressing rooms are right in front of you with the ground entrance to your right. Behind the goal straight ahead of you is the west goal with 4 steps of terracing and long crush barriers running along. Going round the corner there is 8 steps of terracing and a TV gantry in the centre, this is presumably for WCTV or FA Cup games. There is then the large covered terrace taking up the other half of the side. This contains a dozen steps of terracing with some friendly (really!) graffiti on the back wall. Behind the next goal is raised flat standing with the canal behind. This proved to be a bit of a problem with high shots. The other side ios taken up completely by the main stand. This is a mixture of wooden, plastic and bench seats in 4 blocks. The roof is quite low so the stand is quite poorly lit in November. At the back there is a radio booth, however this was not in use for todays game. Some of the seats in the stand had stickers on them to indicate which season ticket holders owned them for the season. In front of the stand is a small paddock with 2 steps of terracing.
The game started extremely slowly with very few chances created. It stayed at 0-0 at the interval so we left the main stand to gety a bite to eat. Whilst at the refreshment van, which was selling chips, burgers, hot dogs, soft drinks, coffee and tea, we saw that an Evesham United player had been sent out to collect tea and coffee's for the players. A few people were a bit disgruntled by the fact the chips would take another 10 minutes to cook, however the people were working extremely hard to satisfy their customers so I congratulate them for that.
The second half showed no sign of improvement until the last few minutes when Evesham came close on a couple of occasions. However 3 minutes into stoppage time Hopper headed in a corner to the joy of the dozen travelling supporters.
I visited the ground with my brother, uncle and cousin. All of whom rarely went to non league football and really enjoyed it. The particularly liked the fact you could hear what the players, ref and managers were shouting.

The programme is certainly plaudible seeming as Evesham are tennants at the ground and receive low gates. It is 48 pages with only the 12 of ads glossy. The front cover displays the club badge and match details. There is info on the opposition and fixtuires and results. There are a few match pictures and the latest news from the club and league.

Ground: 9/10
Programme: 7/10