Monthly Archives: October 2008

Welcome to Europe’s home of Pig Iron

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The German region of Nord Rhine Westphalia may not be known to many people outside of the country, but it is one of the most important in the whole of Europe for a number of reasons. It was famous during the Second World War as the most important industrial conurbation in Germany, and was consequently heavily targeted by Allied bombers. The reason for this was the presence of coal, and thus steel foundries in the area on the Ruhr river. Towns in this area basically merge into one for around 40 miles, following the course of the river westwards until it meets the Rhine near Dusseldorf. Whilst the towns of Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Essen and Duisburg hardly roll off the tongue of those into culture, talk to any football fan who knows his salt about German football and they will wax lyrical about the history of the beautiful game in this region.

In the relatively short distance from Cologne to Dortmund you will pass through the homes to five current Bundesliga 1 clubs as well as a host of lower division teams. This almost guarantees that on a typical matchday you will have three or four clubs at home and a great opportunity to see a couple of games. There are few areas in Europe that can boast the attendance levels of Borussia Dortmund (average 74,800), Schalke 04, (61,350) and FC Koln (50,000), and add into the mix the more intimate Bayer Arena where every home game for over 5 years has sold out and you can start building the picture that the region is football mad.

Two of the smaller top clubs are VfL Bochum and MSV Duisburg. Separated by a 25 minute train ride, the recent fortunes of the clubs has been very similar. Both have been seen as yoyo clubs, spending between them nine years in the second division – in fact in the past ten years they have only been in the same division on three occasions. MSV Duisburg have been relegated on each of their three last seasons in the top league so fans have got used to season after season of “boom and bust”. Bochum on the other hand have managed to stabilise their position and last season’s 12th place finish was seen as quite a good result for the club.

I love German football. West Ham apart, I would happily spent most of my weekends watching games over there. It is well organised (TV revenues are important, but do not dictate the fixtures), very well supported with an average attendance of over 33,000 (vying in top position with the English Premier League) and more importantly with a stadium utilisation rate of close to 85% (i.e 85% of all seats in the Bundesliga are filled each week), cheap to watch (a ticket for Werder Bremen can cost as little as €10), and passionately followed. Every season I will come over for a day or so to take in a game. Thanks to a scheduling of a mid week set of fixtures, and West Ham due to lose heavily away to Manchester United, I took advantage of a €20 tax included flight with Ryanair to Dusseldorf Weeze to take in a couple of games.

Dusseldorf Weeze. Now there is an interesting place. Originally a RAF base known as Laarbruch, it is actually closer to Nijmegen in the Netherlands than it is to Dusseldorf. Yet Ryanair still get away with calling it after the major German city, despite the fact that three other airports (including Cologne-Bonn) are actually nearer to Dusseldorf than Weeze is! My plan was after landing here on my 40 minute flight from Stansted (Weeze is actually nearer to Stansted than Torquay is) to head to Duisburg and then onto Bochum. Things looked like they would go wrong when the night before I travelled, blizzard-like conditions took a grip on parts of the home counties. Football League games at Northampton, Wycombe and Luton were either postponed or abandoned yet in our pocket of tropical sunshine in SE9 we stayed clear. At 4am when I left for Stansted the temperature was hovering just above freezing. After all what do you expect from the weather in October?

The short flight was a bit hairy to say the least. As we were only at cuising altitude for no more than 10 minutes the ride was bumpy all the way, especially when we descended through the clouds to suddenly hit the tarmac of the runway – it was impossible to see the ground out of the window, let alone anything else, the fog was so bad.

After waiting over an hour for my bus I was told, on approaching the information desk inside the airport that they had had to close the runway and so they had cancelled the buses as “there would be no passengers arriving”. Great idea – but what about the dozen or so who had already arrived and wanted to be transfered out of the back of beyond! Finally a small mini-bus was summoned from the stores and the driver rattled down the autobahn to the home of pig-iron.

I had been to Duisburg once before, on a short overnight stop during the World Cup in 2006. It had the feeling of Woolwich – a long high street populated by pound (sorry, Euro) shops, fast food joints and lots of common people. But it had been given a make over that Kerry Katona would have been proud of. Two huge shopping centres had been built, full of bars and restaurants and this had attracted the beautiful people out of their hiding places. I enjoyed a good hearty meat-filled German lunch before heading back to the hotel for a short afternoon siesta.

For some reason, the Bundesliga 2 games were due to kick off at 5.30pm which made it perfect for catching a second game at 8pm and on this particular Wednesday Bochum were also at home, to surprise Bundesliga leaders 1899 Hoffenheim. MSV Duisburg were actually one of the sixteen original clubs that were invited to play in the first professional Bundesliga in 1964. That first season was actually the club’s high point as they finished runners up to FC Koln. Since then they have reached the German Cup final three times, losing on each occasion. Their finest moments in Europe came in a run to the UEFA Cup semi-final in 1979 where they lost to local rivals Borussia Monchengladbach. The “zebras” as they are known were back in the 2nd level of German football after finishing in 18th place last season. The MSV Stadion was opened in 2004 after the old stadium the Wedaustadion was demolished.

A short train ride away from Duisburg is the industrial city of Bochum. This is really in the heart of industrial Germany and you can hardly see where Bochum ends and Gelsenkirchen and Essen start. The club have fought their way up the hard way. They are still awaiting their first Bundesliga title, or German Cup but at least seem to have stablised a position in the top flight.

So it was going to be an interesting double bill of football, made all the more pleasurable by the fact I could escape the hiding that the Hammers were due to receive at Old Trafford.

I can never get my head around the supporters matchday rituals in Germany. Whilst us English like a beer, the Germans go at it hammer and tongue from as soon as the bars open. As the first game of the day was due to kick off at 5.30pm this meant 10am was when I first saw some of the fans drinking in the centre of Duisburg. All dressed in their denim jackets with hundreds of patches on like some reject from a Monsters of Rock festival, and sporting not only the requisite mullet but also a fair few scarves tied around the wrist. They also all drink strong half litre lager from the bottle, and are very careful about recycling it when they have finished.

Of course if you drink this much all day, the need to urinate becomes a necessity. So it is not unusual to see lines of men on the side of the road having a quick “slash”, irrespective of the traffic passing by, or the housewife whose roses they are watering. And of course as soon as they reach the stadium entrance they have to get rid of any undrunk beer, so that they can pass through the turnstiles and go to the bar inside!

The stadium in Duisburg is certainly fit for top level football. In fact I have to say that the “public” areas were some of the smartest I have seen anywhere. I visited the stadium in the summer of 2006 when Italy used the facilities for their training ground, and if you are to believe the staff at the MSV Arena, it was the help they received that powered them to the World Cup, and not the dubious last minute penalty they got versus Australia, or Zidane’s attack on Matterazzi.

The stadium is two tiers, very similar in design to the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg, or a modern up to date Loftus Road for those not so continental. In the north stand lower tier (The Nord Tribune to those fluent in Deutsch), is the home end, with the fans packed on the only terraced area of the ground (that is apart from the away fans in the south east corner). Views from all seats are excellent, and it does take some getting used to to see drinking and smoking still allowed in the stadium.

After my five minute walk from the rude sounding Schlenk station, I was in the ground, and enjoying some of the media facilities. The game promised to be an interesting one. Duisburg hadn’t set the league alight yet, but with fifteen points from nine games they were within spitting distance of the top. St Pauli were only a few positions below the home side, enjoying life again in the second tier after a spell in the regional leagues. Despite the three hour journey from Hamburg, and the early kick off, they completely filled their allocation in the corner of the stadium and didn’t let up in their vocal support of the team.

MSV Duisburg v FC St. Pauli – MSV Arena – Wednesday 29th October 2008 5.30pm

Rockin'

Rockin

The first game of the day threw up two of the more unusual kits in German football. St Pauli must lay claim to be the biggest named club in Europe who play in an all brown kit, whilst from the front Duisburg’s blue and white hoops look like Reading or QPR, but when they turn around the kit is all white, meaning confusion when you look up and see three different kits on the pitch.

The upper tiers of the stadium were sparsely filled, but your eyes kept being drawn to the huge video screens that hung down from the roof at either end. Every time there was a corner a klaxon would sound and the number of corners would be displayed, ditto cautions, meaning someone entering the arena late, and forgetting how to read German may need to rub their eyes that after 17 minutes Duibsurg did indeed lead St Pauli 5-4.

The first half was pretty poor considering the scoring records of both teams. MSV Duisburg used the flanks well and tried a few shots from distance, but apart from an early slip, Mathias Hain in the St Pauli goal was hardly troubled. Duisburg could also boast the man with the worst hair in the league – and coming from a country that still reveres David Hasselhoff for his locks that is saying something. Step forward full back Serge Branco who had a blonde mohican – perfect on his african skin colouring. They could also boast a real Messiah in midfield with Gregory Christ no less. The son of God could do nothing though to enliven the first half which ended goal less in sub zero temperatures.

Fortunately the second half lived up to the billing. Duisburg took the lead in the 55th minute when a defensive mistake allowed Kouemeha to open the scoring. Instead of kicking on and trying to build their lead, Duisburg sat back and invited the visitors to attack, and they were soon level when Bruns scored for St Pauli. Seconds after the restart our friend Branco got his second yellow for crimes against hair fashion and the game was all but over for Duisburg. Hennings scored a deserved winner with fifteen minutes left on the clock and it was in the end a deserved 3 points from the brown shirted team from the capital of German sin.

VfL Bochum v 1899 Hoffenheim – Rewirpower Stadion – Wednesday 29th October 2008 8pm

Welcome to the pleasuredome

Welcome to the pleasuredome

So after a swift change from S-Bahn to U-Bahn at Bochum Hauptbahnhof I was back in the press tribune in time for the emergence of the teams at the strange sounding Rewirpower (apparently it has nothing to do with dodgy electricians). This game promised to be a completely different affair, as the relatively unknown visitors (well at least from outside Germany) 1899 Hoffenheim arrived top of the Bundesliga.

Whilst you would think that many neutrals would support the plucky little team who were obviously punching above their weight, such as Hull City in the Premier League, not so here in Germany. 1899 Hoffenheim were becoming as hated as Bayern Munich in some quarters, simply because of the vast amounts of money that had been poured into the club by their owner, and former player, Dietmar Hopp

Hopp had overseen a lightening charge up the table, with hardly a season passing without another title captured until they won the Bundesliga 2 last season and took their place in the top flight. Not bad considering they hail from the village of Hoffenheim which is between Mannheim and Stuttgart in south west Germany, and only has a population of 3,000 people.

The quality of the football from the first minute was so different here and it is obvious why the Zebras of Duisburg have struggled in the top league in the past. The noise was also turned up a notch as the Bochum fans in the East stand whistled, drummed, boo’d, cheered and sang their way through 90 minutes of action.

Bochum certainly started as if they were top of the Bundesliga and after going close in the opening 45 seconds, took the lead on two minutes when midfielder Dennis Grote fired home from just inside the penalty area. The home fans thought they had a penalty on thirteen minutes when centre forward Kaloglu went down in the area, but he was judged by the referee to have dived and was booked for his sins. Worse should have befallen Hoffenheim’s Carlos Eduardo who aimed a headbutt at a Bochum player after he had gone in with his foot high on a defender. To make matters worse, from the resulting throw in (after Bochum had put the ball out to get their player treated) Hoffenheim carried on going forward and had a shot on goal.

Chances went begging at either end in the first half as the game was played out with a certain level of animosity between the teams, yet this was their first meeting ever. A touch of envy creeping in from Bochum maybe? It was with some surprise that the score remained one-nil at the break.

With the temperature falling at the interval what better way to heat things up with some AC/DC and dancing girls. As the chimes from Hells Bells rang out in the stadium, past my shoulder ran twenty four (In the words of the famous Falklands War correspondent Brian Hanrahan “I counted them all out and I counted them all back”) dancing girls, all dressed completely inappropriately for a very cold October night. They gyrated their way through the classic song, cheering everyone up in the stadium. If only CMF was here – she would have loved it as she is a big AC/DC fan as she will tell you to her hearts content (and she is not exactly impartial to a dancing girl or two either!

So the second half had a lot to live up to in terms of action. Bochum started off where they left off by clattering into any Hoffenheim player they could catch, and the referee continued to take little action to protect them. But everything changed on the hour mark as Hoffenheim showed the reason why they are top of the pile. First centre forward Demba Ba turned in a low cross from a free kick after they had a great shout for a penalty turned down. Four minutes later they got their spot kick as Obasi out paced the defence and was sent sprawling and the kick was duly converted. And to rub salt into the wounds a third was scored on seventy minutes by Salihovic as he raced onto a great through ball.

Bochum immediately went on the offensive but their cause was hardly helped by Christoph Dabrowski getting two yellow cards in the space of as many minutes reducing the home team down to ten men and basically killed the game as neither team was interested in going forward, and they all seemed to just want to be back inside in the warm – a fact not lost on me as the finall whistle blew.

About the Rewirpower Stadium
The previously named Ruhr Stadium was originally opened 1919, although the current ground was redeveloped in 1979 with a capacity of over 50,000. Through the years this has been reduced due to changes to seating has seen this number reduce over the years. This season the capacity has been set at just over 32,600 by the local authorities. The stadium is very British in design with four stands close to the pitch and excellent views from all areas. The atmosphere on a match day is excellent – especially if the visitors are local.

How to get to the Rewirpower Stadium
The Rewirpower stadium is located on the eastside of the town centre. Opposite the stadium is the S-Bahn stop of Ruhrstadion which is just 4 minutes journey time from the Hauptbahnhof on line 308 or 318. Alternatively you can walk from the town centre – simply following the signs towards the Planetarium and then carrying on for around 150 yards.

How to get a ticket for the Rewirpower Stadium
The club have a loyal following of around 20,000 fans which means that most games are not sold out at the stadium. The exception to this are the games versus Dortmund, Schalke and Bayern Munich. Tickets can be bought from the online shop around 10 days before a game. The cheapest tickets are for the standing sections behind the goal which are €10, whilst €30 will get you a decent seat in the main stand. You can also ring in advance to secure a ticket on +49 18 05 95 18 48.

About The MSV Arena
The original Wedau stadium was built for the 1922 German Athletics championships, and at the time was the second largest stadium in Germany. However, facilities were very basic for spectators, with very little cover and bench like seating. In fact it wasn’t until the start of the 1960′s that any serious investment was made available for the stadium.

The finance allowed the club to build a new main stand and a new roof was constructed to cover all of the stands. A few more changes were made to the stadium during the next two decades, but the promise of a new stadium from the regional government never materialised.

At last in November 2002 the club gained the commitment from the North Rhine Westphalia government of the required funding, and building redevelopment began after the end of the 2002/03 season. The team continued to play in the stadium as it was rebuilt, stand by stand.

How to get a ticket for the MSV Arena
The club sells tickets online, at the ground or over the telephone. Tickets are available for most matches, although games against teams from the surrounding areas such as Bayer Leverkusen, Köln, Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 will sell out in advance. Ticket prices range from €8 in the North and South terracing areas, to €33 for the most expensive seats in the East and West upper tiers. You can purchase tickets from the Zebra club shops in Margaretenstrasse 5 or Wesender Strasse 36 close to the stadium, by telephone on +49 1805 678007 or via the internet at http://www.sportfivetixx.com.

How to get to the MSV Arena
The stadium is located between the A59 and A3 Autobahn’s, just to the south of the town centre. he easiest way to reach the stadium from the town centre is to catch either Bus number 934 from the Hauptbahnhof to Stadion Wacholdestrasse or Bus 923 from the Hauptbahnhof to Stadion Kruppstrasse. The nearest S-Bahn station is at Schlenk which is a 10 minute walk away.

More Woes for West Ham

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I have been very specific in the past about not writing about my beloved West Ham. This is not due to the fact that nothing happens regarding the Hammers, or that I am less passionate about my 10 mile round trips across the Thames to The Boleyn Ground. It is more to do with the fact that it is hard to report impartially on the events at the club. You see, like most West Ham fans at the moment, we love the team but are embarrassed at what is going on behind the scenes so far. If you have been on a far away planet for the past 10 weeks, let me bring you up to speed with Europe’s most incident prone club.

After supposedly rescuing us from relegation in 2007 after a remarkable last ten games of the season when West Ham won 7 and drew 2, the knives were out for manager Alan Curbishley from day one of the 2007/08 season. Performances at home were as dire as any fan had seen in living memory, and some of our manager’s purchases were bizarre to say the least (Nigel Quashie, Calum Davenport, Luis Boa Morte all spring to mind here). However, due to the weakness of the Premier League we stayed almost fixed in 10th place from January onwards, above the so called top 4 challengers, Newcastle United and Tottenham.

Towards the end of the season the board moved to undermine manager Alan Curbishley even further by appointing a Director of Football who would oversee the “Transfer Policy” of the lub. Curbishley came out with the right political lines at the time that this appointment would allow him to concentrate on team matters, but the writing was on the wall. The club had no faith in him, but didn’t want to be seen to be pushing him over the cliff. After all, name one situation in English football when the Manager / Director of Football arrangement had actually worked? It failed with Dalgish and Harford at Blackburn Rovers, It failed in Harry Redknapp’s first spell at Portsmouth and it failed with Frank Arnesen and Jacques Santini at Spurs and then on the eve of this game it failed spectacularly at Spurs again as not only manager Ramos and coach Poyet being sacked but also the Director of Football Damian Comolli.  Oh how we laughed at Spurs!

Just two weeks into the season the severe economic conditions led to the collapse of the club’s sponsor and travel company XL. The club reacted immediately by removing all signs of XL from the club website and the ground. However, they were unable to to get new shirts organised in time for the game versus West Bromwich Albion so the club officials stayed up all night sewing patches over the XL logo in some Mickey Mouse idea of suitability. Worse was to come the following week as the club declined to put a short term fix in place (the fans put forward the logo for the Bobby Moore Cancer Trust on the front) but instead turned the patch into a number. Classy.

A few days later it was announced that the West Ham Chairman had been a guarentor for a number of loans made from his Icelandic Bank to XL, putting serious financial pressure on him. But the worse was to come in early August.

Fed up with the actions of the board in deciding to sell George McCartney and Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland despite being told he did not need to trim his squad, Curbishley was amazed to see four new foreign players report for duty at Chadwell Heath on the day after deadline day. At the end of his tether, Curbishley walked out of the club. The ironic thing was that the one thing the fans had been crying out to see was some old fashion West Ham attacking play, especially at home, and Curbishley had delivered that with 10 goals in the first three games at Upton Park.

So the search went on for a new manager. The main names in the frame were Croatian manager and ex-West Ham centre back Slavan Bilic, ex-Inter manager Roberto Mancini, ex-Italian National team coach Roberto Donadoni, Brian Laudrup and Gianfranco Zola, one of the “nicest men in football”. Bilic’s stock fell dramatically after Croatia’s 4-1 defeat to England in Zagreb, Mancini was discounted after it appeared the club would have to pay compenstation to Inter Milan, and Laudrup chose the “greatest job in European club football” at CSKA Moscow. With Donadoni wanting some exorbatent wage demands the board chose inexprienced Zola, and he was in place for our home game against Newcastle United at the end of September.

Just days before the game the Griffiths Tribunal Panel announced their ruling on the Tevez affair. So despite being fined a record £5.5m by the Premier League in April 2007, a second panel was asked by Sheffield United to sit in judgement. Their finding was that Tevez had materially contributed at least 3 points to West Ham’s relegation fight, and as such they would have been relegated instead of Sheffield United if Tevez was not playing. This ruling led to calls of compensation talk of £30m to £50m in lost revenue from Sheffield United, and then in a move that sums up our litigious society perfectly, the Sheffield United players threatened to sue West Ham for “loss of earnings and potential transfer fees”. Pathetic. The case seemed to hinge on the fact that in April 2007 when the original decision was passed, West Ham were told they needed to tear up the 3rd party ownership contract they had with MIS and register the player as a 100% West Ham player. The club, or specifically, CEO Scott Duxbury said this had happened, but in reality he did a secret deal with MIS to leave the registration in place. So what was Duxbury’s penalty for his actions? The sack? Prosecution? Demotion? Not at West Ham. Duxbury was given a raise!

So, with Zola’s first home game a resounding success against Newcastle United the club were all smiles on the pitch. However, off the pitch things were not very rosey. The chairman’s Icelandic bank was declared insolvent, leading to a take over from the government in an unprecedent move in the financial markets. So, we became a club with no sponsor, a manager with no experience, a club with a £30m fine hanging over our head, a Chairman with half of a country’s savers after his blood, oh and a centre forward who was out for the season again- yes the curse of Dean Ashton had struck again and after just 3 starts he was ruled out for the remainder of the season with an ankle injury.

The team went into the game at home versus Bolton Wanderers knowing that a win would take them to the top of the Premier League – a feat never before achieved by the club. Of course trust West Ham to deny logic and a 3-1 defeat, followed by a 1-0 loss away to Premier League surprise package Hull City was enough to restore mid-table mediocrity.

So next up was Arsenal. Wenger’s young team had been purring so far this season. His selection of a starting XI of an average age of 22 in Istanbul during the week for the Champions League game versus Fenerbahce was seen as madness by some, but they romped to a 5-2 win. However, we have a good recent record against the Gunners, including the infamous double in 2006/07 when we became the first team to win at the Emirates in March 2006. The good news was that the club had managed to bring in a couple of new loan signings, including Tristan who was one of the leading scorers in La Liga for a number of seasons when he spearheaded the Deportivo La Coruna attack.

I had missed the game against Bolton Wanderers as I was in Alton Towers with the Little Fullers, and the previous game versus Newcastle United had been Lolly’s first game at Upton Park so we sat in the Family Stand. Therefore I was returning to my proper seat for the first time in over 6 weeks. Football Jo had joined us for Sunday lunch to give us an update on her spectacular failures in trying to snare a husband. We often remind her of the pressure on her to at some point marry so that the Little Fullers can be bridesmaids. However, she is getting so picky about men in her old age, and still believes that a young athletic David James lookalike with a fetish for clothes pegs is out there somewhere for her.

West Ham United v Arsenal – The Boleyn Ground – Sunday 26th October 2008 4pm
So Zola surprised us all by putting out a very attacking side with Di Michele, Cole and a fit at last Craig Bellamy forming the front 3 in a 4-3-3.  Oh how times have changed sinced Curbishley left.  Arsenal on the other hand took the chance to rest Toure and Adebayor after their win in midweek and one eye on the derby versus Spurs in midweek.

Arsenal certainly dominated the early exchanges with Van Persie and Walcott looking impressive.  At the heart of West Ham’s defence was the Ginger Monster, James Collins who at last was fit after over a year out.  He is one of the most underrated players in the Premier League, and anyone who saw his performance for Wales recently in Germany will understand what an awesome player he is.  West Ham’s game plan seemed to be to sit back and soak up pressure, before breaking quickly.  Walcott was a real thorn in the side of the defence and he came the closest in the early exchanges when he struck the bar.

It was a good job that Robert Green had re-discovered his form as he was called into action on a number of occasions in the first thirty minutes, making brilliant saves from Bendtner and Van Persie.  Both Scott Parker and Fabregas went into the referees book for strong challenges in the first half.

So after a goal less first half, which was about even it was a surprise to see West Ham come out and sit deep again.  Arsenal continued to push and probe and Van Persie came close with a free kick which hit the post and rebounded into play.  It was good to see the Respect campaign working so well, with both Song and Clichy booked for fouls by the referee yet refusing to go and talk to him despite him asking.  So what is the point of the campaign?  Why don’t referees simply send players off for this?  Simple reason as my mate Goff says – it only applies to teams outside the big 4 clubs!

The breakthrough came in the 75th minute when Upson was left stranded with an injury on the floor and Arsenal played on, Adebayor shot and Julian Faubert diverted the ball into his own net.  West Ham players fell to the floor knowing the game was up and Zola made his first mistake of the day by introducing the idiot Boa Morte.

We threw everyone forward and with 90 minutes up Gallas appeared to handle the ball in the area.  A number of players stopped to protest and took their eye off the ball as Bendtner fired a ball over the stranded defence, and Adebayor beat the onrushing Green, took his time and slotted home.  There was still time for Carlton Cole to get himself sent off for a late tackle on Song, although it was harsh to say the least.

The result was hardly a surprise.  The performance though was encouraging.  Still at least we aren’t Tottenham!!!

The Magic of the FA Cup in deepest Essex

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The FA Cup returns to Essex

The FA Cup returns to Essex

Every year, like quite a few football fans I vow to start a “road to Wembley” and follow a team all the way from the opening qualifying rounds up until the final.  And of course like most other people I find better things to do with my weekends.  However, with West Ham not playing until Sunday I had a free Saturday, and with CMF wanting to start from Christmas shopping I scanned the fixtures looking for a local game.  And there it was in all of its perfection.  Just 3 miles from the retail cathedral of Lakeside was the Blue Square Premier club Grays Athletic, at home in the FA Cup final qualifying tie against FC Totton.

The New Recreation Ground is another one of those grounds like Aldershot Town where I had never seen a game, yet had played there on a number of occasions in my years at East Thurrock United.  It is a real old fashioned ground, almost hidden from the streets outside.  It has been developed over the past few years to comply with Football League standards, and now boasts a small covered stand with 5 rows of seating, running the whole length of the pitch and the glories of the VIP Seating stand which was basically a cover over 2 rows of seats on the far side of the pitch.  Overlooking the stadium were some executive flats with balconies where a few people had taken a plastic picnic chairs out for a perfect view of the action.  As part of the deal to develop the land for the flats, the builders had to construct some new dressing rooms and so the teams now emerge from a converted living room directly onto the pitch – no fancy tunnels here.

Grays had not had the best start to the season.  Their league form had seem them fall into the bottom three of the Conference as they simply lost the ability to score goals.  The past few seasons had been the stuff that dreams had been made of.  They had played in the lower Southern Leagues (The Isthmian League) until 2004 when the Non-League Pyramid was re-structured and they became founder members of the Conference South.

In that first season they stormed the league and were crowned Champions long before the end of the campaign.  They also made it through to the final of the FA Trophy in May 2005 where they beat Hucknall Town at Villa Park on penalties.  Just to show that this was no fluke they carried on the form under Mark Stimson in the Conference Premier where they remained unbeaten for the first fifteen games in the season, topping the table well into November.  Unfortunately they were competing against local rivals Dagenham and Redbridge who always stayed on step ahead and eventually the club finished in third place and then surprisingly lost the play off semi final to Halifax Town.

However, they did have some cheer as they qualified again for the FA Trophy final, this time played locally at West Ham’s home at Upton Park.  Again they showed their metal for the big games by beating Woking 2-0 in front of a crowd of 13,800. 

The last few seasons have seen a number of managers coming and going at the club as the team’s performance on the pitch deteriorated and they set an unwanted record of fielding over 50 players in the 2006/07 season under 4 managers as they avoided relegation by just a few points.  Last season wasn’t much better for the club and so it is no surprise on the form this season under Wayne Burnett.

Visitors FC Totton had also had a good few years.  Only formed in 1975 they were founding members of the Wessex League and were promoted up to the Southern League as champions last season.  They also won the FA Vase in 2007 when they beat Truro City at Wembley in front of 36,232.

So after negotiating the very confusing one way system, and avoiding the temptations of signs of Grays Beach (sounds as good as it looks – make your own mind up at http://wikimapia.org/#lat=51.4682316&lon=0.3311884&z=16&l=0&m=a&v=2&search=grays).  We went into the club shop and whilst it wasn’t exactly well stocked it was really good to see that they were trying to provide value for fans.  Many clubs continue to charge top prices for last season’s kit but Grays sensibly charged £5 for shirts and with a little persuasion Lolly soon had her first ever Grays Athletic shirt – a momentus moment in any person’s life.  At £13 for me, and £4 for Lolly is was also good value and sensible pricing.

Grays Athletic 2 FC Totton 0 – The New Recreation Ground – Saturday 25th October 2008
We wandered around the terrace at the south end of the ground and took a seat in the shallow stand.  The teams soon emerged from the living room opposite, and I would suggest that this is the only ground in the top five divisions that does not have a tunnel.  FC Totton looked very smart in their salmon pink shirts and started the more purposeful, making a mockery of their relative position.

After ten minutes we were joined in the seats behind by a non-league WAG and her mother.  For the next thirty minutes we were subject to a dialogue of so much tripe it was unbelievable.  “My Barry” could do no wrong.  Every missed pass or lost ball would be blamed on a team mate, and every attack that did not see the ball head off to him would be deemed as stupid.  The classic moment came just before the drab goal less half came to an end when she said “I know I am not manager but if I was I’d make my Barry captain so he could take all of the free kicks”.  Stick to the shopping darling and stop embarrassing your boyfriend / husband.

The second half didn’t fair much better until Grays took the lead thanks to an excellent strike from just inside the penalty area from Elliott after Totton had failed to clear a corner.  We headed off with a few minutes to go, and unfortunately missed what would have been the high point of the day as Grays 2nd goal was scored from the penalty spot by none other than “Our Barry” in the 88th minute.  It would have been pure comedy to see the reaction from WAG and co.

So Grays go into the 1st Round Draw and the hope of a big gun such as Leeds United, Leicester City or even a chance to renew acquaintance with local rivals Dagenham and Redbridge or Southend United. 

POSTSCRIPT – SUNDAY 26th OCTOBER 1.17PM
So after the 1st round draw my idea of following a club all the way comes to a crushing end as Grays could not have been drawn further away – Carlisle United AWAY!  At least Bazza might get 90 minutes peace and quite!  I think I’ll turn my attentions to local neighbours Hornchurch at home to Peterborough United!

About the New Recreation Ground
The New Recreation Ground is not new at all.  It has actually been home to Grays for over a hundred years, although it has been redeveloped a number of times since.  Whilst the capacity today is 4,500, the record attendance is over 9,500 for an FA Cup tie with Chelmsford City.  It is a miss mash of different stands with one relatively new 5 row covered stand that runs along the west side of the stadium.  Behind the south goal is the covered indoor pitch and in front of that is five or so rows of terrace.  The away end is an open terrace that covers 50% of the north end, and along the east side is a couple of shallow terraces and the infamous VIP stand. 

Recent residential developments overlook the ground, with balconies providing flat owners the chance to watch the game for free.

How to Get There?
If you can negotiate the very confusing one way system in Grays town centre then follow signs for “The Beach” around the Morrisons roundabout and take a left into Clarence Road.  At the roundabout at the end turn right into Bridge Road.  You can then park anywhere in this area.  If you are coming by train then Grays station is a 5 minute walk away.  Simply turn right out of the station and follow Crown Road under the bridge and around the corner.  Then take a right into Clarence Road.

How to Get A Ticket?
With a capacity of 4,500 and average attendances hardly ever breaking the four figure mark, tickets for all games are available on the day from the ticket portakabin on Bridge Road.  Ticket prices are £13 for Adults and £3 for Children.  This allows you to either stand on the open terrace at the south end of the stadium, or take a seat in the covered west stand.