What would I want to do were I not a town planner? Every now and then I imagine myself as the Chief Football Writer at a broadsheet newspaper and to indulge that fantasy a little I have got into the habit of writing a match report on Instagram (@samuel__stafford) after every game that I have been to. This is a collation of reports that tell the story of my 2024/25 season.
Cordoba 2 Burgos 2
27 August 2024
When we arrived at the ground and parked up this afternoon it was quiet. There was little sign of a game being on.
After visiting the Mesquita we wandered around looking for tapas and, having found somewhere, sat and watched at first a couple, and then a few, and then plenty of fans start making their way towards from whence we had come.
Once back and once in, having navigated the queues now snaking away from every entrance, the first half very much did not respond to the anticipation built up over the preceding five hours. It was hot enough, even at 10pm, for the players to take a drinks break, but the football on offer was tepid at best.
The second half though was a very different story.
Not long after the break and just after it was remarked how Burgos were becoming more likely to nick it, one of their centre-backs gifted a goal by way of a sloppy back pass.
Then, not long after Cordoba missed a gilt-edge chance that would have rounded off one of the best moves of the match, one of their centre-backs mistimed a bouncing ball, got turned, and professionally pulled down he who had turned him. Into the top corner went the resultant free kick.
Then, not long after that, a sensational pass betwixt at least two Cordoba midfielders and behind a dozing left back afforded the marauding Burgos winger the chance to lash the ball across the ‘keeper and into the far corner.
Then, deep into 12 minutes of additional time, ten-man Cordoba fashioned an opportunity for a ball into the box that for all the world was too deep but the chap at the far post not only got to it, but got enough on it to send it looping back over the ‘keeper and the despairing defender into their far corner.
From tonight, or rather since I am finishing this at 02:44 with a splash of Spanish supermarket whisky, from yesterday, I will take the visceral roar that you only get from Mediterranean or South American crowds when big goals go in (accompanied by a full on ‘GOL! GOL! GOL!’ from the exuberant stadium announcer).
Then having parked so advantageously we were away in time to see from the motorway the crowds swarming back into town.
It was not quiet then. We got a game.
Stevenage Borough 0 Lincoln City 1
31 August 2024
I did not see the whole game today. I did not leave early because I never, ever do (ask me some time about what we missed when my Pa wanted to beat the traffic a couple of times a long, long time ago), but because, for two reasons, I was ten minutes late.
The 90s Revival reason is that we were still in a queue for Oasis tickets when Eldest needed picking up from training and so, with that being all he wanted for his birthday and Christmas presents, I waited until they were back before setting off.
The town planning reason is that whilst I was waiting I was invited to speak to Times Radio at lunchtime about the Green Belt. That, I calculated, was best achieved by heading down via Ma and Pa’s, which represented a bit of a diversion.
Were I to develop the town planning theme I would contrast Roman ‘Lindum Colonia’ with Stevenage’s designation as the first New Town in 1946, but I won’t. I will develop instead the 90s Revival theme for two reasons.
Firstly, I was sat three rows behind Danny Cadamarteri who (whilst born in Cleakheaton incidentally) burst into Everton’s first team in 1997. He was there to watch his lad Bailey come on as substitute having joined on loan this week. I do not know if he will be as effective as Joe Taylor, who we had on loan from Luton for the second half of last year, but if if can be we will be up there again because we will not concede many.
Second, as we streamed out Unbelievable by EMF was played (I had Schubert Dip on tape). Despite what the stadium DJ may have been implying, there was nothing unbelievable about this result. It was the archetypal away performance. We kept them at arms length, won a penalty (the penalty above) when the opportunity presented itself, and controlled proceedings throughout (except for the inevitable mad few minutes in stoppage time when a kerfuffle resulted in a second yellow for our skipper).
A routine away win in a division we graced for a single season in the 90s?
Be here now. Not then.
Oldham Athletic 4 Halifax Town 2
12 October 2024
I remember little of my schooling, but for some reason recall from a GCSE English lesson that Shakespeare’s use of thunder and lightning to set a foreboding tone at the start of Macbeth was an example of pathetic fallacy.
Such was the changeable nature of the weather today that this cup tie kicked off in bright sunshine, but, as the players ran off at halftime, rain was bouncing off of the rickety roof.
Such is the changeable nature of Halifax’s form that at halftime last week they were 0-2 down at home to Tamworth, but ran out 3-2 winners, and the 800-odd boisterous away fans clearly expected that the euphoria of last week’s win would have been bottled ready for drinking on the coach trip down the motorway today.
Instead today at halftime Halifax were 4-1 down after putting on a show that can only be described as abject.
The goalkeeper’s head was elsewhere, the back four resembled statues in a National Trust garden and the midfield played as though they had met for the first time in the car park. Halifax scored after conceding a comical third goal, and then almost immediately put through their own net. It never rains…
The Shaymen might claim that they won the second half (and did have chances to make it closer), but Oldham had done what they needed to do. For me, the second half was more about enjoying (on my lonesome at the very back corner of the stand) watching Eldest and his mates getting older before my very eyes, which was a bright personal end to an otherwise tumultuous professional week.
As we drove back up the motorway, under a darkening and foreboding sky, I couldn’t help but wonder how many more pathetic performances the Halifax manager will be able to get away with.
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Manchester City 1
31 October 2024
Once upon a time I worked for a chap, a very nice chap, who went to University with Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy and whose company did all of the club’s planning work. I was only involved in the stadium when it was all hands to the pump getting the application in, but I did lead on the new training ground, which meant the occasional project team meeting in the boardroom at White Hart Lane.
I never saw a match there, but obviously, by reputation, that was a proper old football ground. This, the starkest possible contrast perhaps until Everton move of a place to watch football then and a twenty four seven revenue generating facility now, is a proper new football ground and it warrants its reputation as the best in the country.
The Emirates is great, but could be said to stray beyond big into cavernous territory. There is also a sense, certainly after tonight, that the odd penny was pinched here and there on the fixtures and fittings. This place is by no means intimate, but it has the proportions of a football ground, and one for which no expense has been spared.
The game, alas, was not as magnificent as the customer experience. A sleepy City were punished twice early on and, whilst I am very much not a tactical genius, a team with no strikers, as talented and technically proficient as they are, was probably always going to struggle to score goals. That it was so close was testament more to Tottenham’s profligacy, not least the man limping off in this photo, who, despite what those around us sang after the first goal, does very much not score when he wants.
A good night though nonetheless and a ground hitherto towards the top of the list that I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to tick off.
Chesham United 0 Lincoln City 4
4 November 2024
It is not just something that broadcasters with the TV rights are contractually obliged to say, there really is something special about the FA Cup and the first round proper in particular.
For as long as I have been following Lincoln I have tried to get to wherever we have been drawn and, up until the Cowley’s Annus Mirabilis, looked on with envy once knocked out at the clubs able to enjoy a good run.
I was disappointed about the game being moved for TV initially because it would have made for a good day out, but then realised that I am at a conference in Surrey tomorrow so was able to look forward to a good night out.
Chesham (& Amersham) was only known to me hitherto for the by-election in 2021 that some say put pay to the last Government’s proposed 2020 planning reforms. I now know it a little better, specifically the Queen’s Head, where I spent an enjoyable couple of pre-match hours with an old pal who lives down here and with whom I enjoyed the game in the home end.
He, along with around 4,000 or so other locals, sensed some magic in the crisp autumnal air as we queued to get in. I did not. I sensed a routine away win, which, after some huffing and puffing from them early doors, this was.
Chesham are playing their first season in the Conference South and Lincoln keep knocking on the Championship door. Halcyon days for both and so tonight, Clive, football was definitely the winner.
Harrogate Town 0 AFC Wimbledon 3
7 December 2024
This afternoon was a boys afternoon and up until the middle of this week I was anticipating taking them to Nottingham to watch Halifax at Basford United in the FA Trophy. Then, Friends, something wonderful happened.
I get emails when the boys download new apps, but I never pay much attention because they always seem to be the kind of faddish games that are popular one day and deleted the next. I did take notice though of Eldest’s addition of ‘My Grounds’. Yes, apparently ‘Doing The 92’ is now a thing amongst his gang of mates and I could not be more pleased.
As a result he was less interested in the Shaymen today and more interested in a league ground.
This is a very well appointed one in a very well to do town. It is small, but spick and span. No faded old advertising hoardings and nothing in need of a lick of paint. Off the pitch, the club’s priorities are clearly right. The halftime announcer gave a nice summary of recent youth and ladies team news before getting to the excitement of the first team’s forthcoming trip to Elland Road.
On the pitch, well, all is clearly not well. Even though they had the considerable wind in their backs, the home team were two down in twenty odd minutes, both from corners (I managed to capture the second goal in this photo). The gallows humour that put upon fans take comfort in soon surfaced. Their headless chicken up front clattered a defender shepherding the ball out of play and his own supporters invited the referee to send him off.
Despite some observations to the contrary, Simon Weaver, a former Imp, clearly knows what he is doing. Harrogate were a sixth tier side when he took over and the 2,000 fans watching league football on a stormy afternoon with new roofs over their heads would do well to maintain some perspective.
Youngest and I are at the Home of Football in a fortnight and Eldest and his pals are off to watch Burnley and Watford. Turf Moor was his first Premier League game, but his mates have not been there. Whether the ‘92 is a fad or a lifelong commitment I will not mind. I have always enjoyed ticking off new grounds, but it will be even more pleasurable doing so with him.
Huddersfield Town 2 Lincoln City 2
14 December 2024
Jingle bells. Jingle bells. Jingle all the way. Oh what fun it was to see Lincoln nearly win away…
The dust has settled, but I remain in two minds. Did we lose points or gain a point?
On the one hand, having won five of the first ten games, we have won two of the last nine, and needed a positive result from match day 20 in order to take some cheer into the festive period.
On the other hand, the first half was a masterclass. Clued-up men against clueless boys. That was as good as it gets and possibly as good as I have ever seen from a Lincoln side. Arguably then, and still in retrospect now, the Terriers were there for the taking and we could and should have gone in more than two goals up. Two very well-worked goals, by the way.
Further, the platitudinous ‘well we would have taken a point’ crowd serve to absolve all involved of both their responsibility and their obligation to learn lessons. We switched off just before half time and gave them a sniff, and did not switch back on after the break and gave them a goal. Then we sat back to the extent that everybody in the ground just knew that an equaliser was inevitable.
Back on the other hand though, the first hand, we withstood some serious pressure from a team that will be there or thereabouts and it is likely to be looked back on as a good result.
All of that is not the real point though. For the second week in a row I watched a game of football, and a good game of football at that, with my boys, and I got to think about nothing else for two hours. That is the point.
Lincoln City 2 Reading 0
21 December 2024
Royalists heading home this afternoon would have legitimate cause to bemoan the fickle finger of footballing fate.
When John Madejski sold his controlling share of Premier League side Reading in 2012 few would feared that little over a decade later HMRC would be issuing winding-up petitions and that the Chinese Government would be preventing a further sale.
When Clive Nates joined the board of National League Lincoln in 2016 few would have dreamed that less than a decade later the club would be established in the third tier and training at a facility paid for by a historic cup run.
Perhaps a Football Governance Act will help sort the malevolent from the benevolent…
On the pitch, the Royalists will say that today’s game hung on two big calls barely a few minutes apart. First they were denied what looked like a stick-on penalty (though I do think that in delaying his shot and awaiting contact the striker gave the referee a reason not to give it) and then, when somewhat less controversially one of theirs hauled down one of ours, they went down to ten men.
Before the big decisions though we were bright and busy and fully deserving of an early lead. That we scored a lovely second goal as well as hitting the post twice in the second half, and that their first shot came in the last minute, tells the tale of the rest of the game.
The big decisions aside today’s test was whether we want to be first-half team at Huddersfield last week or the second-half team at Huddersfield last week because the answer will likely define the festive period and then the rest of the season. We passed.
Two decisions affecting two clubs on two different trajectories. The fickle finger of fate indeed.
Bolton Wanderers 3 Lincoln City 0
29 December 2024
Slowly but surely Lincoln established first a foothold and then superiority over the hosts. Bolton lost at home to Barnsley on Boxing Day and as more and more of their passes went astray there was a palpable sense of frustration in the air. Not only did we let them back in though, but we gave them a goal. The look of exasperation on our skipper’s face left the ‘keeper in no doubt as to where responsibility for conceding from outside of the box lay.
At only one down we were at least still in it as the referee brought the half to an end, but, seconds later and before the referee had left the pitch, we were effectively out of it. In the moments in between, unbeknown to most, he had shown our star turn a second yellow card, both of which were for dissent. This would be an inauspicious end to his stay with us, but perhaps an appropriate one because as his reputation has grown so too has his ego and I would be minded to cash in if offers come when the window opens.
Mitigating circumstances today then, but the result does raise some interesting questions. Is this a slump? Are we out of form? One win in ten suggests that we must be, but then, whilst poor at Shrewsbury on Boxing Day by all accounts, performances during that time have been at least reasonable and often excellent. We are where we are though, which is now slap, bang in the middle of mid-table. Is that where we deserve to be? An existential crisis may be brewing.
During the final five minutes, Youngest drew a comparison between the heaviness of the rain and the heaviness of Lincoln’s defeat. I told him that I would use that in tonight’s match report and I have. Storm clouds gather so quickly nowadays. I hope that they aren’t.
Middlesbrough 1 Cardiff City 1
5 January 2025
Picture your perfect day. Ice Cube, for example, enjoyed his Mama cookin’ breakfast with no hog, callin’ up his homies and playin’ basketball, and then, after catching up with an old school friend, enjoying a fat burger at 2am in the morning.
Similarly, but also very different, I started the day in a hot tub, had a short stroll in a Narnia-like, woodland winter wonderland, and then drove over the North Yorkshire Moors to tick off another ground, soundtracked by Eldest’s Oasis-heavy playlist (my tunes sent him to sleep on the way back).
Picture, in a similar but different vein, a typical Championship game of football. This was it. One side, the home side, formerly of the upper tier, have ambitions to be there again. Liverpool loanee Ben Doak aside though, they evidently lack players to match the manager’s Man City-like, possession-heavy pretensions. The other side, the visitors, also formerly of the upper tier, with ambitions now of just staying up, evidently have the wherewithal to do so. Stalemate ensued.
‘Boro were busy and bright initially and deserved an early lead, which could have killed things off had they kicked on, but instead gave away a goal soon after. Cardiff again had what they came for. The interest thereafter was twofold. First, whether the visitors would nick it because for all their laboured approach play the hosts never looked likely to. Second, the extent to which the mercurial referee could wind up those around us, his pantomime villainy helping to sustain the festive spirit.
Eldest and I got back, I lit the wood burner, we all watched a movie* and had a dip in the hot tub, and then three of us watched Match of the Day. One of us is still up.
I gotta to say it was a good day.
*I recommend Next Goal Wins to both football and non-football fans alike.
Birmingham City 2 Lincoln City 1
Manchester City 8 Salford City 0
12 January 2024
‘Right. Come on. Let’s be nice and tight for the first five minutes, then ten minutes, then fifteen minutes. We’ll build a platform and take it from there.’
That may or may not have been the Lincoln and Salford plan as they left their respective changing rooms, but, as Mike Tyson once said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
Lincoln were a goal down after thirty seconds and the question in the immediate aftermath was how the presently shot-shy Imps would manage to secure at least parity over the following 89 and a half minutes.
The first half was even stevens, both sides missing a presentable chance apiece, but Lincoln were in the tie. We were more than in it after the break though and your correspondent would go as far as to say that Lincoln were bossing it, but then conceded a goal that will look great to viewers on Match of the Day tonight, but not to the defensive coaches picking over the DVD on Monday morning. We had two attempts on target and one of those was a late penalty. There’s the problem, Clive...
Salford were a goal down after eight minutes and the question in the immediate aftermath was how many City would get. They should have got double figures and very well may have done were it not for a clear and obvious proclivity for eschewing clear and obvious routes to goal in favour of pre-programmed, computer-says-yes routines. Your corespondent finds them very frustrating to watch.
Watching Salford did though afford some perspective. They are a hum drum side of the type that I watched for many, many years at Sincil Bank up and until the Cowleys arrived. For all Lincoln’s current huffing and puffing, there is welcome daylight between us and the bottom tier.
‘Magic of the Cup?’ Perhaps not narrowly, but today I got to take my boys to watch first my team and then their team. That was magic enough for me.
Wigan Athletic 1 Lincoln City 1
1 February 2025
The Imps this season are a little bit like a box of chocolates. You never quite know what you are going to get.
For the first twenty minutes or so, until an extended injury stoppage dampened our head of steam, we were the side that finished last season. We were in complete control. Our destiny in our own hands. A win would be inevitable, and it may well have been had Tom Bayliss found the same top corner from a free kick that he had last week rather than, today, hitting the angle instead.
After that extended stoppage we were less purposeful all of a sudden. A shot was not on, but was taken anyway and the inevitable block inadvertently sent them on the way and we could not recover in time. A goal down instead of a goal up.
In the second half we huffed and we puffed and we were more direct than I have seen us this season, but for all our possession and pressure the hosts still carved out the better chances.
The equaliser, when it came, was a real bonus. When the mercurial referee blew for a foul with the ball making its way from the corner spot everybody in the ground assumed that it was for a free kick, but no, it was a penalty. A penalty that went in on the rebound.
What on earth to make of it? A point gained? Two lost? Do you make your own luck in this game and, if so, which we were today?
I do not know if we have a destiny, or if we are all just floating around accidentally, as if on a breeze, but maybe it is both.
Is this side good enough to reach the playoffs? Sometimes.
That is all I have to say about that.
Halifax Town 1 Fylde 2
4 February 2025
On the train back from the Big Smoke this afternoon I read an article about the closure of pubs down there that included this line in the concluding paragraph.
‘Architecture critic Ian Nairn once said being in the best pubs can feel like watching a play in a theatre; they’re spaces where lives play out.’
In between Eldest at the back of the stand with his pals and Youngest at the front happy on is own, I shared this with an ol’ pal of mine as we enjoyed watching both the game and the world go by in a football ground the future of which remains uncertain.
The enjoyment derived less from the former, albeit there was a pleasing narrative arc to it (the home side that starts well against inferior opposition, goes behind, gets gifted a chance to get back in it, but still contrives to lose), and more from the latter.
Crowds at the top of game are, well, crowds. Faceless. Homogeneous. You might shout something absolutely hilarious, but, even if well-timed, only a handful of people will hear it and certainly not your intended target. Crowds lower down are, well, a few people standing a short distance apart from each other. They have faces and you can fashion a reasonable guess based upon what they shout, and when, and how, as to whether the person behind that face has had a good day or a bad day.
The narrative arc tonight was as pleasing for the neutral as it was frustrating for the partisan. The Fylde goalkeeper, for example, delivered a shithousing masterclass right in front of us during the second half. A phoney recurring hip injury, the faux jog to retrieve the ball, deliberately placing free kicks in the wrong place, the Full-yellow-card-for time wasting-Monty. He made saves as well though, and two very good ones at that, and all the while the howls of derision became either funnier or angrier.
‘When you have lost your Inns drown your empty selves, for you will lost the last of England’, said Hilaire Belloc. The same could be said of football grounds.
York City 2 Halifax Town 2
22 February 2025
Historic England’s Instagram account shared a video this morning of The Blue Bell in York, a Grade II* Listed pub the interior of which is as it was in 1903.
A firm favourite of mine, it is charming, it is characterful and it was a shortish walk from Bootham Crescent. Some Halifax fans, most likely those taking the train across, might have called in at The Blue Bell for a pint before tackling the onward journey to the LNER Community Stadium, but anybody else in need of a pre-match pint at the ground had to choose between a Prezzo and the Hollywood Bowl.
Charm and character the LNER Community Stadium does not have. Were I a York fan I would probably sit in the South Stand so as to not be subjected to the back of the Cineworld, from the blank expanse of which the roof of the South Stand protrudes. Once in that stand, to be fair, the ground probably looks just like any other new one at this level, though that, one suspects, is not the vision sold to season ticket holders.
This afternoon’s wow factor, thankfully, was provided by the game itself, and specifically the first three minutes, during which Halifax scored two goals. There was pyro, there was a party.
The Shaymen then conceded a penalty after a quarter of an hour or so that afforded The Minstermen a foothold. From that point it was everything that a football match should be. Both sides were enterprising and both sides were not shy about putting a foot in. The idiosyncratic referee was never quite able to keep a lid on it and so it simmered along quite nicely. There were double saves, there were cards aplenty, and there was a 99th minute equaliser.
Some ground moves, I suggested to the boys as we queued for half an hour to get out of the car park, look like tough, but ultimately obvious decisions. Everton, for example. York may have moved for what their Chief Executive at the time persuaded the supporters were all of the right reasons, but, whilst Bramley Moor Dock seems like a reason for Everton fans to look to the future, the LNER Community Stadium seems like a reason for York fans to look to the past.
Halifax Town 2 Forest Green Rovers 1
4 March 2025
Some games live long in the memory and some games do not. Were it not for my commitment to writing these match reports I would have forgotten this one before we got back to the car.
The two most striking elements were Forest Green’s pink kit and, for a side third in the table, how poor they were. It was as if, for 88 minutes or so, they were like a drunk, stumbling and bubbling around, misplacing or not controlling passes, but then, from nowhere, for two minutes or so, were lucid enough to remember how to play football and how to score a goal.
Had Halifax been more ruthless in the first half their opponents could have been put to bed, but, credit to the Shaymen, whilst they were as poor as I have seen them this season, upon conceding and with the game momentarily in the balance, they did raise themselves enough to snuff out any chance of a revival from their visitors.
I shall not remember the game then, but I shall remember the occasion because for the first time there were four Stafford boys at a game together tonight. Eldest with his pal at the back, Youngest with a pal of his down the front, and my O’d Man and I keeping an eye on them both from somewhere in the middle.
Whitby Town 1 Warrington Rylands 0
12 April 2025
It must seldom be the case that supporters of all stripes (or indeed chevrons..) leave the ground with a spring in their step.
This division is the highest that the hosts have ever flown, but seemingly this season is turning into a struggle and the friendly folks that your correspondent spoke to before kick off were going to treat any points today as a bonus. Their luck was in. The eventual finish, a tidy lob from 30 yards was a good one, but some dilly dallying had gifted the chance to them. Combined with the home custodian making two very smart saves one would be hard pressed to say that they merited anything more than a single point.
The away lot did not appear to mind too much though. Their ‘Whitby Weekender’ t-shirts were an early indication that, with a mid-table finish assured, win or lose they were on their booze. £4 pints, an afternoon in the sunshine, and the chance to sing derogatory songs about Warrington Town for a couple of hours. Who could ask for more.
This neutral supporter got to enjoy a non-league adventure with both Stafford boys, who were happy to occupy each other whilst I sidled off a couple of times for a couple of £4 pints. The only minor disappointment for me was that there were no home shirts in the club shop. Whitby’s is a nod to that sported by Sampdoria and so one of the most distinctive you will see (and hence the clever chevron reference earlier…). I did though get to meet Scampi Skipper the Whitby mascot so swings and roundabouts.
AFC Fylde 0 FC Halifax Town 1
18 April 2025
‘Listen, you don’t have a soul, I don’t have a soul. There’s no such thing as a soul!’. So said Bart to Milhouse before selling his for five bucks.
What about football? Does football have a soul?
I listened to a podcast this week about the post-Glazer decline of Manchester United that referenced the animosity between the fans who left to form their own club and those that did not. Both sets can and no doubt do lay claim to the ‘heart and soul’ of United, which the former group have imbued within Broadhurst Park, the new home that they themselves own.
When I told one of the lads at cricket nets on Tuesday that I was taking Eldest to watch the Shaymen today he described Mill Farm as ‘soulless’.
The motives of the FC Utd owners are beyond reproach. Can the same be said for David Haythornthwaite, the Fylde owner? I heard once that he resolved to turn Kirkham & Wesham FC into a league club to spite Owen Oyston, who would not sell Blackpool to him. Somebody also made a few quid from the adjacent supermarket, drive-thrus and distribution centre that Fylde Council might not otherwise have granted planning permission for were it not for a ‘community sports facility’.
Is there not a haughty double standard at play though? Two football clubs have been created that were not there before for people in the local vicinity to go and watch should they be so minded. Were (and are) football clubs not mostly play things for local businessmen (or latterly global businessmen sovereign wealth funds)? Did not most clubs start out playing on soulless fields in the middle of nowhere until development caught up and surrounded them? Can one not laud fan-owned clubs without being sniffy about sugar daddies?
In actual football news, Halifax did what they needed to do to stay in the play-offs, playing very good football at times, albeit against a poor team heading downwards this season.
That may assist the Fylde project in the longer term though because, as Lisa says to Bart, ‘some philosophers believe that nobody is born with a soul… that you have to earn one through suffering and thought and prayer.’
Perhaps the same can be said for a football club.
Stockport County 3 Lincoln City 2
26 April 2025
Footballers are judged to a different standard. I do not mean in so far as being role models is concerned and their behaviour off of the pitch. I mean on the pitch.
Today we watched two teams, but only one had something to play for. The result should never have been in doubt so why then does it smart?
Well for one, because the first half was competitive and because like cool, calculating clinicians, Lincoln seized upon two counter-attacking opportunities to score two brilliant counter-attacking goals.
For two, because of that double standard. Of course they should have been prepared for a second half onslaught (Stockport were out five minutes early, which is always the tell tale sign of a ten minute rollicking). Of course they should have withstood it, because there was a grim inevitability about the final result as soon as their 48th minute goal went in, but they needed to be at their maximum and why would they be at their maximum? Why would those under contract not be thinking about where to go on holiday? Why would those about to be free agents not be thinking about where to go holiday, which of their suitors to entertain talks with, and whether that 50:50 is really worth winning?
For three, I absolutely love the fancy dress tradition on the last away day of the season (I never have or would, but Youngest is keen…), but the supporter / player relationship is symbiotic and if the fans (the quietest I have heard us this term) are just there for a big day out (I heard as much in the gents after their third went in) then there should be no quibbling if that attitude pervades from the stands.
Off of the pitch, between train and tram rides, Youngest and I had a drink with an ol’, work-related, Lincoln pal after the game and an ol’, work-related, Stockport pal before the game. The latter chap I will soon be working with directly actually, but I continue to give 100% for my current employer in the meantime obviously…
Oldham Athletic 4 FC Halifax Town 0
14 May 2025
The phrase ‘hostile environment’ has been in the news this week, which came to mind during a long second half that afforded plenty of time to think about a clever introduction to a match report because the narrative arc of the game itself had long been established.
‘I just hope that we don’t concede early’, said one of Eldest’s pals as we drove to the next motorway junction down the hill. The Latics scored in the 3rd, 10th and 12th minutes.
That, Clive, was very much that.
The atmosphere itself was not actually hostile. It was barely febrile, but it was lively. It was raucous. It was just what you want a grand old football ground to be on a night like this, with both sets of fans, at the outset at least…, fully playing their part.
No the hostility was on the pitch. One team turned up to play a game of football. One team turned up to win a game of football. The Oldham players spat and snarled and won the ball when they could and won fouls when they couldn’t. The Halifax players likely turned up and thought that the immaculate surface and the lovely sunny evening would suit their patient style of play. They turned up to a knife fight without a knife.
‘I’ll see you next season’, I said to Eldest’s pals as we dropped them off (though they will all soon enough want to be on a coach with a carrier bag of cans…), which speaks to something else that came to mind as I watched these two former league sides trying to navigate their interminable way back to the promised land.
As the curtain closes on my 24/25 season the Mighty Imps become another year closer to being settled in the third tier, which is a status no Lincoln supporter should take for granted.
Comments
Post a Comment