Editorial - February 2009

Welcome to the latest edition of North West Side Stories. Apologies for the fact it is a bit later than usual for the after Christmas edition, but I'm blaming it on the weather.

With so many games being postponed after Christmas, it has been a bit of struggle getting news together for the website in recent weeks. When teams are not playing games, they don’t have much or any news to report, and it also means that I haven’t had as many games to go to myself, and pick up news first hand.

That in turn means time to research and write articles for NWSS is at a premium. However, grateful thanks to all the contributors to this issue, who have ensured that we’ve got something out, albeit belated. A special thanks to Alan Farnworth, who despite being out of action for health reasons since just after Christmas, has still managed to send me his usual “Farny at the far post” contribution. Devotion above and beyond the call of duty

Since the last issue was published, the weather has taken a decided turn for the worse. I must admit to having severe withdrawal symptoms on Saturday 10th January when every game in the league was wiped out, first team games, reserves, the lot. Unlike being associated with a club, being with the league means you can pick and choose your games, and there’s usually always something on.

We haven’t got sufficiently detailed league records to answer questions like “when was the last time the entire league programme was wiped out?”, and I consulted league “gurus” like Andrew Moffat and John Reid, but they weren’t sure. The general consensus was that it would have been a good few years ago since that happened, and I reckon myself it would have been in the early 2000s.

I’m sure I remember it happening when I was at Daisy Hill, and it was caused by a snowfall across the North and Midlands on a Friday, which meant previously playable pitches were covered in snow and games were wiped out at a stroke. If there’s anyone out there who knows for sure, share it with the rest of us.

As it is, the postponements since the turn of the year mean we have a feast of football to look forward to over the next couple of months, with plenty of midweek games to choose from, indeed full programmes in the Premier Division on some midweek nights.

Good news for those of us who aim to take advantage of the action, and to those programme editors who are bracing themselves to crash out two issues in a week, you have my sympathies. The memory of having to produce eight issues in April (2005 I think) when I was at Ashton Town will linger with me for a while yet.

Looking back at what has happened in the month or two since the last issue, one of the main stories from a league point of view is the exit of FA Vase holders AFC Fylde from the competition. Needham Market got revenge for being dumped out of the competition at the semi stage last season, and I was able to see both games. I travelled down with League Chairman Dave Tomlinson to Suffolk for the first game, and then was at Squires Gate for the replay which Needham Market won with a late goal.

It was interesting talking to the Needham Market officials before the game, and they freely admitted that the semi final defeat last season did knock the stuffing out of them a bit as far as their promotion hopes were concerned. They took it down the wire but lost out right at the death, and the feeling was that the disappointment of the Vase had a significant impact. Not wishing to sound churlish, but I felt there was a distinct air of over confidence down there before the semi final second leg, and I well remember the air of angst at the final whistle.

 

But this season, their delight at winning the replay was undisguised, and I think was also tempered with an element of surprise, as a couple of them admitted to me afterwards they had travelled up more in hope than in expectation after drawing in the first game. If it can’t be Glossop who win the Vase this season, then I’d like it to be Needham Market. A nice club run by your typical down to earth non-league football people, and with a home draw in the quarter final, they are in with a shout.

If there’s one club that didn’t deserve to progress in the Vase it’s Stratford Town. Sorry if that sounds rather unsporting but I’m afraid anyone with a sense of fair play will agree. For those not aware, Stratford knocked out Stone Dominoes in the Fourth Round in what can be politely described as dubious circumstances.

With the score at 2-2 in the second period of extra-time, Dominoes' James Shufflebotham beat the keeper from 30 yards with a chip shot, but, instead of hitting the back of the net, the ball hit a centre stanchion, rolled back out, and the referee waved play on. From there, the goalkeeper cleared the ball upfield after taking what appeared to be a back pass and Stratford scored what proved to be the winner.

 

At various points during the week after, Stone secretary Pauline Matthews and Chairman Phil Bath kept me updated with their appeal to the FA to have the game replayed, but as we know their efforts were in vain. League Chairman Dave Tomlinson issued a statement urging the FA to look again at altering the rules to try and come up with something that prevents this sort of thing happening again.

I remember Phil saying that on the Sunday after the game he was almost in a daze, and had difficulty getting his head round the massive injustice that his club had suffered. Stratford’s defeat at the hands of Whitley Bay in the next round at least ensured that they did not benefit further from the incident.

In the previous round of the Vase in early December, AFC Fylde had beaten Runcorn Linnets, and after that game Geoff Wilkinson asked me if I could do the honours as the official League bod to present the November Manager of the Month award to Fylde manager Mick Fuller.

Geoff tends to keep the sponsors boards that we have in the pictures of the presentations, but he had to dash off to a function straight after full time in the game. So as well as handing over the bottle of Vodkat and having my mugshot taken with Mick, I was left with the presentation board which I left in the hall when I got home, with the intention of putting it away later.

Within minutes, my three year old daughter had moved the board into the living room, placed it down on the carpet, got one of her jigsaws out and completed it on top of the board. It’s good to know that the younger generation still use their initiative occasionally.

In January, I made an appearance on BBC Radio Lancashire’s Non-League Hour one Friday night. That was in fact my second visit to the Blackburn studios in just over a week, and it’s unlikely that many people will be aware of the first one.

The previous week I had gone there to take part in a programme broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland from Glasgow, which all came about in slightly unusual circumstances. I’d like to say that I was asked to go on the show because of my reputation as an accomplished and interesting speaker, but the reality is of course totally different.

The show I appeared on was called “Chick Young’s World of Football” which goes out every Thursday night on BBC Radio Scotland. It’s a magazine show made up of studio guests, reports, discussion and interviews.

Chick Young is BBC Scotland’s football correspondent, and although not known down in England, he is a well known face and voice on radio and telly in Scotland, and has been for many years. He is also a lifelong friend of my cousin’s husband and when I was up in Scotland at Christmas, I went out for a few pints with him and his mates, Chick among them.

Conversation naturally turned to football, and after a few pints had been sunk I half heartedly suggested that Chick’s audience would be fascinated to hear about the pyramid structure in England. Chick said no problem, we’ll get you on the show, we cover all sorts of topics so give me your number and we’ll sort it.

After two weeks in January had passed, I had forgotten about the conversation until the phone rang at work one Thursday morning. Chick was on the phone, asking if I could go on his show that night. He also asked if I could make it to a local BBC studio, as they didn’t like phone interviews and avoided them whenever possible.

I passed him contact details for BBC Radio Lancashire, and the studio was duly booked for me. Chick briefly chatted through what he intended talking about, which was basically how the pyramid worked in England, where our league fitted in, and how clubs had progressed over the years.

Turning up in Blackburn just before seven that night, I was escorted upstairs to a small enclosed studio with a desk and mike. After being linked up with Glasgow, with no one in the studio for company I settled down in the chair and began listening to what was being broadcast.

The feature that had just begun was on Iain Munro, the former Scottish international who had spells at Stoke City and Sunderland in the 70s and 80s, and he was being interviewed about his coaching experiences in the States, and the various high profile people he had met when out there.

As the interview went on, it became obvious by about ten past seven that this was going to be the forerunner to me appearing. Following a former international footballer with a long track record in playing and coaching, and trying to sound at least as interesting as him, was a rather challenging and slightly disconcerting prospect, and my discomfort was cranked up a few notches when the feature finished.

Chick revealed that his studio guest on the show was Stephen Craigan, the current Northern Ireland centre half who plays his club football at Motherwell, and the two chatted for a minute or two about what they had just heard. It was obvious that Stephen was there to add his professional insight on each feature of the programme.

I consoled myself with the thought that while Stephen was well out of my league when talking with authority about the game, I knew something that he probably didn’t – the next topic was going to test his broadcasting abilities and football knowledge to the full.

Chick wrapped up the conversation, gave a quick headliner into the pyramid system, introduced me and I was on. He bowled me an easy question as an opener – explain quickly how the pyramid system works. As easy an opener as I could have hoped for, and off I went, and the discussion tootled along nicely after that, encompassing tales of Accrington Stanley’s progress from our league into the Football League and Fleetwood’s recent rise to Blue Square North among other things.

Poor Stephen was largely eliminated from the discussion, apart from confirming that Northern Ireland doesn’t have a pyramid system either, and before I knew it, 7.30 had arrived and the stint was over. I have spent the odd quiet moment since wondering what on earth football fans in Inverness, Stirling, Edinburgh and the like made of it all, but at least my mum was chuffed to be able to tune in and hear me on the radio.

Finally, some good news. In the last issue before Christmas we did a feature on Norton United’s number one fan Mark Tilsley, who when I spoke to him was about to go into hospital to have a kidney removed. I’m delighted to be able to say that the operation was a complete success, Mark has been given the all clear, and he is back watching Norton once more.

I caught up with him at Blackpool, when Norton clinched a semi final place in the Division One Trophy with a quarter final win at the Mechanics, where I spent a few minutes before kick off with watching a DVD of Norton’s win at Daisy Hill the week before, which a groundhopper who attended the game with a camcorder had sent him.

Mark along with AFC Blackpool’s secretary Billy Singleton helped me make the draw for the semis, and appropriately it was Mark who pulled out his own club out of the hat (or to be more accurate plastic wallet). We could do with a few more like him supporting our league.

The final issue of North West Side Stories for this season will be out in May, including pictures and match reports from the various finals. Thanks once again to those who have contributed articles, and if anyone has any points they would like to make on anything they read, feel free to e-mail me at ian@nwsidestories.co.uk.  Enjoy the feast of football that awaits us between and the end of the season.

Ian Templeman

Editor

North West Side Stories

27th February 2009

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