Tag Archives: Blue Square Premier

Unsung Heroes part 3 – Press Pass(age)

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Every day we pick up a newspaper or scan the internet for reports of games that have just taken place.  Do you ever stop to wonder who the dedicated few are that file these reports?  At the top of the tree these journalists get paid fortunes, have huge expense accounts and can get away with writing any old crap just to fill some column inches.  But at the lower levels of football people take on the roles of press officer and programme editor for the love of the game and their club.

Let me introduce you to one such saint.  Dave Clayton is the Press Officer and Programme Editor for Tamworth FC, last season promoted to the Blue Square Premier, and recipient of the prestigous TBIR “Nicest person in football” award, joining the likes of Mick Harford, Ryan Storrie and Kenny Pavey.  We caught up with Dave recently on the ski slopes of the world famous Snow Dome which overlooks the best named ground in England – The Lamb, home to Tamworth FC. Continue reading →

Has anyone seen Grays?

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Last weekend was a busy one for the FA. Not only did we have the whole Lord Treason affair but in one of the backrooms at Wembley Stadium sat a man who decided the fate of literally hundreds of non-league clubs as he worked out the league allocations for the coming season.

Last season saw three high profile clubs go to the wall mid-season in Chester City, Farsley Celtic and Kings Lynn. Add to this a number of clubs who had breached league rules and some relegation/promotion enforced geographical anomalies and you can see what a difficult job was on the cards. So what was decided?
Last weekend was a busy one for the FA. Not only did we have the whole Lord Treason affair but in one of the backrooms at Wembley Stadium sat a man who decided the fate of literally hundreds of non-league clubs as he worked out the league allocations for the coming season. Continue reading →

No York my old Dutch

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One year ago to the day we traversed London in the name of T’entertainment on a day since know as the Perfect Storm.  So successful was that day that we have renamed the day New Balls Day – the moment when one sport finishes for the season and another really begins – well certainly in viewing terms.

The agenda was similar.  1pm start at Lords for a Clydesdale Bank game then up the Jubilee line to Wembley for the richest game in Non-League football – the Blue Square Premier Play Off final.  The only change this year was that we wouldn’t be heading back to the o2 Arena as we did last year – Michael Buble is not really my cup of tea.

Our home for the afternoon

What makes the day better is that we get to experience the media facilities at both the home of cricket and the home of football.  Thanks to our friends at the MCC and The Football Conference we were in for a great day of sport.  I was meeting Danny Last, our Brighton correspondent and official TAT librarian of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, although of course TFL had decided to muck our plans up as much as possible by suspending the Jubilee line to Wembley – it’s OK chaps the 35,000 fans going to the play off game will just in a cab or something! Continue reading →

Stand up if you love Dicks

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As you will know if you are a regular follower of the blog, we have a soft spot at TBIR Towers for Grays Athletic.  This is due to a number of reasons.  I once trained for a full three weeks with the club “back in the day” when I could still run; Lolly went to one of her first football matches here and managed to procure a shirt for just £5 that was then signed by none other than Paolo Vernazza no less and then at the start of this season we came to a friendly here and I managed to capture a picture that today is hung in a gallery in New York no less (OK – a kitchen of a mate then).  Judge for yourself below what you think.

That would be reason enough but then low and behold they go and announce a management team of John Moncur as Chairman and Julian Dicks as Manager.  What a double act.  Between them they were responsible for more yellow cards than most other double acts, but none were as committed to the Hammers cause in the past twenty years I would say.  Legends both of them.  But such characters off the pitch do not always translate to great managers.  Hoddle nearly did it, but then went off on another planet and ended up at Southampton, Dalglish could still get another chance at Liverpool and Billy Bonds himself had buckled under the pressure of his reputation.

All has not gone according to plan though at the New Rec.  Despite bringing in a host of new players, such as ex-Arsenal-and-brother-of-ex-Arsenal Hoyte (Gavin) and Anton Zola, one Gianfranco Zola’s son, Grays came into this game still second from bottom and some nine points from safety.  They came into the game after a couple of heavy defeats, as well as the fact they had failed to win at all on the road in 2009/10.

But could the home team fair any better?  Well in terms of points on the board, yes.  Thirty two of them in fact from thirty games, some six above the drop zone but the concern at Church Road was for the amount of goals they are shipping in.  A 6-1 home defeat to Rushden & Diamonds had come only a few weeks after a 5-0 reverse to AFC Wimbledon.  Watching Hayes and Yeading certainly meant goals.  Fifty of them in fact at Church Road in just fifteen games this season.  And goals is what we pay our money to watch.  Although there hadn’t been alot of money coming through the turnstiles.  After promotion last season from the Blue Square South, where they surprised many by sneaking into the end of season play offs and then upsetting the form book by beating Alan Devonshire’s Hampton & Richmond Borough at the Beveree to boot, the crowds had been conspicuous by their absence at Church Road.  Just 291 had been present for the recent game with Forest Green Rovers, which surely meant the club was losing money?  It is hard to fathom why the locals were staying away, but perhaps the birth of the “super club” had not gone down too well?

Hayes and Yeading FC were the new entity created by the merger of Hayes FC and Yeading FC, announced in April 2007.  The two sides, both members of the 2006/07 Conference South and both located within the West Middlesex town of Hayes decided to” join forces, integrate resources and bring together a community, creating a new super-club on the non-league scene.” according to the official statement.

“The combined forces of Middlesex and West London’s senior semi-professional football clubs will further raise the profile of non-league football in an area that traditionally struggles for crowds against local Premiership and Football League sides.” Former Hayes FC Chairman Derek Goodall said “It is well known that for years our clubs have struggled to attract the big gates needed to survive at this level. By combining efforts, know-how and strategy we can secure the future of high-level football in the area and provide facilities that the local community need and desire”

Some of the locals were not impressed judging by the message boards at the time:-

“Surely two set’s of fans merging is going to be rather difficult, however it’s no secret that there is a lot of neutrals who watch both teams home games and for that they must be delighted they now have every other saturday available.  Personally I don’t see how this new club will function, there’s just not a fanbase, at all 50 loyals from each and then 100 neutrals in total these days, the average attendance is likely to be 300 if you account for away fans.” Very Prophetic if you look at the situation now…

“If this merger is supposed to encourage bigger crowds in the future, the new club will have to find one new supporter immediately.. to replace me! There is no way on Earth that I will give my support to the new “Hayes”. Here is my suggestion for the new club motto; ”Stick it up your arse”. Goodbye.”

So all was not well in the garden of West London.  It would be rude not to spend a paragraph on the clubs though. Hayes FC started off life as Botwell Mission in 1908 and stayed that way to 1924.  They moved to Church Road in the following year, renaming the ground Townfield.  They progressed through the Middlesex leagues, before election into the Isthmian Leagues in 1972 where they stayed there or there abouts for the next thirty years.  A few cup runs were all the club really had to show to put themselves on the map during that period.

Yeading started off as recently as 1960, by brothers Ray and Carl Gritt, who were both involved in the club until recently.  The Ding, as they were known reached the Isthmian Leagues in 1987, and a few years later they won the FA Vase by beating Bridlington Town at Elland Road.  In the early 1990′s both clubs made the Isthmian Premier League and eventually the Conference South when the changes were made in 2003.  A decision was made at the time of the merger to move into Hayes’s Church Road as it had more chance of making the next league grading should it be needed.

Let the show commence

The main stand, which was the oldest part of the ground had received a direct hit from a German bomb in the war, which also destroyed the club’s historic records and wasn’t upgraded until the 1990′s.  In fact  many of the improvements you see today are down to the £600,000 odd the club received as part of a sell on clause for old boy Sir Les Ferdinand when he joined Newcastle United from QPR in 1995.  But this is not the only old boy who has made it good.  What about Cyrille Regis and Jason Roberts?  Or Andy Impey who once played for Yeading and who could forget DJ Campbell’s exploits in the FA Cup some years ago when Yeading reached the 3rd round and played Newcastle United at Loftus Road.  In theory, all consigned to the history books now…

So here I was – Conference ground number 23 on the list after the expedition to Barrow at the weekend, which had gone much better than expected.  I picked up Dagenham Dan from McDonalds at 6pm (he is keen to stress that he never goes in there, he just knows where it is) and we were off – traversing from one side of London to another in the rush hour.  In a few years time (yeah, right) we could have made this journey in minutes on the Crossrail link from Stratford to Hayes & Harlington, but instead we had to make do with Zafira-power.

Hayes and Yeading United 4 Grays Athletic 0 – Church Road, Hayes – Tuesday 9th February 2010

Surely the best club shop in the world?

First off let me tell you about the highlight of the evening.  If you have never been to Hayes’s ground before, you have missed possibly the best treat known to a football fan.  If you have then you will know exactly what I mean.  No, its not the food, the comfort of the ground, the perfect views or the entertaining football – all of which are spot on.  Nor is it that little upstairs bar on the main road where for £20 you get to do….sorry – family audience and all that…I am talking about THE Portakabin.  Pay your £12 to get in and almost straight in front of you is a little hidden gem. It is a crime that it is only open on matchdays.  Officially it is the club shop, but it is the Aladdin’s cave of football shops.  Rows upon rows of old football books, programmes, videos, DVD’s and shirts from every club known to man.  Lee Hermitage is the man behind the idea and he has been promoted to a Danny Last FIFA 5 stars for his efforts.  Need an old Rothman’s yearbook?  Lee is your man….A video of the 1991 FA Cup semi-final – the Keith Hackett show?  Lee is your man.  So good was the shop that we almost forgot there was a game on outside.  Such a visit is worth the admission money alone.

Anyway back to the game…I’d had a little wager with Dagenham that the crowd would be less than 250, and judging by the numbers I could see on the terraces I was sure I was on a winner.  I do not know what the footballing public in West London want.  Here was a game that was sure to produce goals but they obviously choose QPR and Fulham down the road.  What a treat they missed.

Pick that one out of the onion bag...1-0 Hayes & Yeading

The opening few minutes saw both teams passing the ball well.  My impressions were that both teams would hoof it long, but that was not the case and some slick passing created chances for both teams in the opening ten minutes.  The first real goal scoring opportunity fell to Hayes striker Scott Fitzgerald in the 11th minute when he charged down an attempted clearance by Wayne Gray before trying to lob keeper Preston Edwards from 40 yards when he should have continued to run on goal.  Never mind as just 60 seconds later he had the ball in the net, albeit from what appeared to be an offide position when he moved onto a Justin Cochrane throughball before sliding the ball past Edwards to open the scoring.

One became two in the twenty sixth minute when a free kick was powerfully met by Matt Ruby at the far post and easily beat Edwards in the Grays goal.  To give the visitors credit they did not give up and a brief spell of pressure saw Wilson feed the ball to Gray who with his back to goal neatly set up Guy but his drive from the edge of the area was wide of the target.

Scott Fitzgerald almost had a second goal just before the half time as Green and Binns combined on the left to create an opening that beat Edwards only to see the shot come back off the post.  Grays task became mountainous in injury time as Wilson tackled Cochrane heavily and the referee produced a second yellow card for the Grays man and sent him off.

Kenny "Remember the goal I scored against Man Utd that cost them the title" Brown

After our visit to the club shop we reconvened on the terraces in front of the main stand.  I had wanted to get a shot of Dicks in venomous mood but I was disappointed.  The Grays manager did not say one word to anyone during the second half.  Assistant Kenny Brown did his fair share of swearing but nothing from the manager.

17 year old Daniel Wishart came on for Scott Fitzgerald at the start of the second half and he had a major hand in the third on 54 minutes when he played it to Allen-Page who hit a powerful drive across Edwards to make it 3-0. Six minutes later it was four as Binns crossed to the far post where Allen-Page arrived to fire home his second in just a few minutes.

Grays should have pulled one back ten minutes later as Hayes and Yeading’s keeper Masters could only get his fingertips to a cross and it fell to Alex Rhodes who somehow managed to hit the outside of the post with the goal gaping. At this stage I felt confident it could be at least six and made another sure fire winning bet with Dagenham Dan. But there was to be no more. Binns nearly made it five with a late header that came off the underside of the bar and with that I lost my bet. Seconds later the official attendance of 251 ruined my evening of gambling, and Dan went home 50p richer.

So a freezing cold evening had not turned out exactly how I thought. Both teams tried to play football but as with most things in life you need a bit of luck. Hayes & Yeading got that in the first half and the contest was over by half time. The future does not look too rosy for Grays, with only the helpless and hapless Chester below them. Haye and Yeading on the other hand can look forward to a run of home games against the divisions big boys confident in their ability to score goals. The question is can they stop leaking them.

A good evening? Absolutely – thanks to Lee Hermitage and his Tardis. Go there on Saturday – give the man on the door a wink and say Stuart sent you…you will not be disappointed.

About Church Road
Church Road is a classic looking old ground that has banks of terracing that sweep around it. On one side is the Main Stand, which was originally built in 1925. The stand which straddles the half way line, is covered and all seated and is raised above pitch level. It has a number of supporting pillars that run across the front of it, which is to be expected with a stand of this age. The team dugouts are located in front of the stand, with areas of open terrace to either side. Opposite is a fair sized mostly covered terrace, known affectionately as ‘the Shed’. This covered terrace, does not provide cover for the whole of its length, but at least does cover the terrace down to pitch side. There are also a number of supporting pillars running across the front of it. Both ends are open terraces that are quite steep and continue around the corners of the ground. The stadium has a set of eight floodlight pylons, four of which run down each side.

The club are unique in the fact that they actually own two grounds, and it is hoped that at some point the Club will re-develop Yeading’s old ground ‘The Warren into a stadium that would meet Football League standards. The Club would then move from Church Road to the Warren.

How to get to Church Road
If you are driving then leave M25 at Junction 16 and take the A40(M) towards London. Pass over one large junction (Denham Roundabout) and under another (Swakeleys Roundabout). Take next slip road (Hillingdon). At traffic lights turn right into Long Lane (A437). At the traffic lights at the end of Long Lane turn left onto the Uxbridge Road (A4020). After about two miles, turn right into Church Road opposite the Adam & Eve public house and the ground is down on your right. There is a car park at the ground which holds 300 cars and costs £1. Otherwise street parking.

Hayes & Hartlington station is the nearest to the ground and is situated just over a mile away from the ground. It is served by trains from London Paddington & Reading. Exit the station and turn right and follow Station Road. At the T-junction take the left hand fork into Bolwell Lane, and then straight on into Church Road at the mini roundabout. The ground is further up this road on the left hand side.

How to get a ticket for Church Road
Average attendances over the past few seasons haven’t exactly been stellar. Last season in their play off winning season it was just over 340. This season some teams will bring sizeable support, such as Luton, Oxford and Cambridge so these games may sell out. Otherwise it will be pay on the door. Prices are:-

Seating (enter through the terrace turnstiles and pay a transfer fee inside) – Adults £14, Concessions £9

Terrace: Adults £12, Concessions £7, Under 7′s Free

Many thanks to Duncan Adams and his fantastic site http://www.conferencegrounds.co.uk for the above information.

Monster Muncher

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The Monster Muncher

One of the classic adverts of the 1980′s was surely the Monster Muncher who was not satisfied by the Taj Mahal, The Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Empire State Building before he came across a packet of Chewits.  As the credits rolled, the ad stated that “Chewits were chewier that Barrow-in-Furness bus depot”.  (for a view of the ad click here).  The Ad put Barrow on the map, just like Lorraine Chase did for Luton Airport, or Ian Rush did for Accrington Stanley.  Ironically enough Barrow didn’t have a Bus Depot (it does now apparently)…but it does have a football team, which can claim to be one of the most northerly in English football.

Shadow encroachment

Barrow AFC have made a nice little home for themselves in the Blue Square Premier.  They have actually quite a heritage in the Football League, gracing the old Third Division North in 1921 and then continuing in the leagues for a further fifty one years.  In 1970 the club finished in 8th place in the third tier of English football, but the two following seasons saw the club slip down the leagues until they finished in third from last place in May 1972.  This was the time of the Football League closed shop so there wasn’t any automatic promotion or relegation to the non-leagues.  Barrow applied for re-election, and were pitted against Hereford United from the Southern League.  Perhaps a few clubs were fed up with the long trawl up to Cumbria and that may be the reason why after a second ballot, Hereford were elected into the league at Barrow’s expense.

The club continued to play at the highest levels of the non-league game, and were one of the founder members of the Alliance Conference in 1979.  In 1990 they went to Wembley for the first time, winning the FA Trophy against Leek Town.  After a brief spell in the Unibond League, the club returned to the Blue Square Premier in 2008.  Last season they made waves in the FA Cup, beating Brentford at home in front of the TV cameras and then narrowly losing to Middlesborough at The Riverside where their 7,000 travelling fans almost doubled the fickle Boro fans.

This season it has been more of the same really.  At the end of January the club were in the lower reaches of the Conference, but with games in hand on all those around them.  Another run to the FA Cup third round saw them again travel to the North East, this time at the Stadium of Light where Sunderland beat them 3-0.

The club have a large catchment area with only really Carlisle United and Workington (another old league club now in Blue Square North) to compete with.  The club’s average attendance of 1,290 was slightly above average in the league, but they had started a campaign to raise this to 2,010 for the final ten games of the season…And first up was Luton Town, a club who would certainly bring a few hundred fans.

So why, you may ask was the TBIR extended team out for this game in Cumbria?  Well, at the start of this season I vowed to CMF that I would do “all Blue Square Premier and South clubs this season”.  The only one I didn’t get to last year was in fact Barrow in the top league.  This season they have been joined by Hayes & Yeading (less than 20 miles from TBIR Towers and Gateshead) so it was always one I wanted to visit.  Of course, Football Jo has a few “links” with Luton Town (see Taking The Mike), so we planned to use that as an excuse for a visit “up north”.  Not fancying doing this one in a day (only a 645 mile round trip), I came up with the cunning idea of selling it as a “family” weekend away, and booked Centerparcs some 70 miles away in Whinfell.  This would mean taking the girls out of school for a day (so teachers close your eyes now) but I figured that the school will close for the elections in May as its a Polling Day and so they would owe us a day.

Big Mick and part of the TBIR team

Now Luton Town.  Hmmm.  I was quite outspoken back in October about Mick Harford’s removal (see here), based on the club’s position and the high expectations set by fans and the owners alike.  so when he left the team sat in 6th place, a point outside the play off zone.  Coming into this game the club were in 7th place, a point outside the play off zone.  New boss Richard Money had delivered some improvements, but I think the club, and the fans under estimated how difficult this league would be.  Oxford appeared to be running away with it initially, but Stevenage had now almost matched them result for result, and York with one man goal machine Richard Brodie had opened up a big gap in the top three so in order to stay within touching distance of the Playoffs they would need a result “up north”.

Saturday morning dawned with beautiful sunshine.  Bloody freezing, but a crisp sunny winter’s day.   After a game of Adventure Golf (what happened to the words “Crazy Golf”?  I assume they felt that  it discriminated against those with mental problems.  There is no adventure in slotting a ball  between the legs of a concrete Roman soldier anyway) where Littlest Fuller had a huge tantrum,  resulting in a slamming-down-of-her-golf-club sort of action after she took 3 shots at the third  hole we headed off towards Barrow-in-Furness.  Now we had the “fast” route (69 miles and around 70  minutes down the M6) or the “scenic” route (65 miles or 125 minutes).  On the advice of Stuey  Nichols, one of Barrow’s top chaps, we plumpted for the latter, not having been in this area of  the world before.  So after a brief stop at the most scenic ground in England, Penrith FC’s new  Frenchfields stadium (what other grounds can claim to be bordered by a stream, a 11th century  castle, hills full of sheep and snow capped hills) we headed west past mountain, fell,glen, lake  and all.

Grasmere

After two hours of driving up hill, down dale and along the lakes of Thirlmere, Gramere, Coniston  and Windermere, we decamped next to Barrow AFC’s Holker Street ground and not a moment too soon.   The countryside is beautiful up here but after avoiding walkers, sheep and dry stone walls for the  hundreth time you get a bit bored and long for some litter, grafetti and traffic lights, so the  run down council estates was a welcome site as we entered Barrow.  After a mile or so the huge  floodlights towered over the landscape – Welcome to Holker Street!

And what a proper ground it was too….ancient toilets, turnstile operators willing to give you  ”the wink” on Lolly’s age, decent terraces and lovely big floodlights.  Luton’s originally  expected 700+ fans had somehow shrank in the wash and around 300 had made the 283 mile trip  northwards in time for Kevin Nichols to lead the Hatters out.  Many Luton fans I knew who had made  the trip, including Football Jo still had the memories of Wembley still fresh in their minds from  last April.  Opponents on that day, Scunthorpe United were entertaining Crystal Palace today.  Football can be a cruel game.

Barrow 0 Luton Town 1 – Holker Street – Saturday 6th February 2010
Barrow have quite a passionate following.  They have their own Ultras group – Ultras Barrovia, who  more recently had run into problems with the police and stewarding at the ground as it appeared  that the local authorities did not want to see football fans acting like, well, football fans  supporting their team.  Now this is not a story for today (although it we have a deeper look into  it soon) but it was interesting to see the fans holding up a banner before the game highlighting  that passionately supporting your team is not a crime.  Luton, on the other hand had left any  vocal element of their support back down the A590, M6 (Toll) and M1 by the sound of it.  They did  start the brighter team though with Newton making use of some space on the right, but time and  time again his final ball into Craddock and Hatch was poor.

Hatch got himself in the home team’s bad books in the tenth minute when his aerial challenge on  Barrow’s Phil Bolland left the defender with a head wound that ended his game.  Tempers were fraid  for awhile, not helped by Mr Curry in the middle failing to show any consistency, Tikka’ing off  players who should be booked and giving plenty of Korma’s when they should have been goal kicks  (OK that’s my limit – I’m not as creative as Mr Last).

Sponsor my arse.com

Football Jo, our “nanny” for our trip away, has a bit of inside knowledge into the Luton team due  to her “contacts” in the game (which I would say have “allegedly” proved right in the case of Mr  Grant at Portsmouth in the case of his relaxation methods most recently) and spent the first half  analysing the play, complete with one of the most shocking handbags ever seen at a football match.   Barrow’s keeper, Tim Deasy provided the most amusement in the half, dribbling the ball around the  on rushing Liam Hatch and essentially taking the piss whenever he had the ball.  At one point he  bent down in front of us to expose his “PremiumSolutions.co.uk” advertising on his bum.  Surely a  missed opportunity for a company such as “Peachy Cabs”, “The Bottom Line” or even “Talk Sport”.

If truth be told, as Nessa would say, it was a poor half and when the referee finally blew the  whistle for the break, we headed upstairs to the Cross Bar for a swift pint and a chat to the  locals.  Jo had to admit defeat in her search for husband material, with none of the locals up to  her high standards (Does he have two eyes – check, is he breathing – check, does he own his own  gimp mask – check). Now earlier in the day we had been listening to Liverpool v Everton from  Anfield where a “Sea Fret” had been causing problems for the watching millions on TV.  I had never  head of such a thing, but apparently in the North West of England such fast moving and enveloping  fog was common.

And lo and behold fifteen minutes later when we returned to the terraces we could  hardly see a thing.  The fog had rolled in and for all intense and purposes the Luton fans could  have buggered off home as they couldn’t be seen as well as heard, and quite frankly a draw would  have been a fair result with Carlos Logan and  Nick Chadwick going close for Barrow, and Liam Hatch missing a good chance for Luton.

Neither team would have been too sad if the game would have been abandoned as soon as it hit the  magic game deciding 76th minute (why is this the cut off?  Surely it would make sense for it to be  the 3/4rds mark at 67.5 minutes?) but the referee didn’t see a problem, although for all he could  see either goalkeeper could have walked off and we wouldn’t have noticed.

Luton take the lead....apparently

And where was the  yellow ball?  A white ball is hardly sensible in such conditions but Mr Curry didn’t feel it was  an issue but then again he did not see most of the other contentious decisions all day so at least  in that way he was consistent.  With seven minutes to go the deadlock was broken, we believe.   Apparently Liam Hatch headed in from a Kevin Nichols corner to give the visitors the lead when we  head a muffled cheer and saw the players regroup for a kick off again after a minute or so.

The  temperature had dropped to almost freezing point and we took our leave with injury time being  played out, and after a final experience in the toilets of Calcutta for the girls (I laughed later  when one of the Directors, Neil Chalker wrote in the programme that “we do understand that some of  the toilet facilities are out of date” having seen them with my own eyes) we headed back to the  car and up the road to the biosphere (Centerparcs) where CMF and Littlest Fuller were blissfully  unaware of the Fretting we had experienced.

So another win on the road for Luton, which put the pressure back on the Play off teams, but more  worryingly for Barrow extended their winless home record into a fourth month (the last league home  win was on the 17th October versus Ebbsfleet).  It is a shame that such a proper non-league club  were being dragged into the relegation zone.  The crowd was just over 1,500 which was some 600  short of their 2,010 that they had publically declared as their required average for the final ten  games of the season.  The worrying aspect here is that Luton would have been seen as one of a few  teams who should have boosted the attendance to close to the required level. I cannot see the  likes of Kettering, Crawley Town, Salisbury City or Histon bringing more than a couple of dozen  all of the way here, so the focus must be on incentives to get more locals to attend.  On a day  that Mansfield Town annouced their “pay what you want” incentive for their home game with  Gateshead and got more than 7,000 surely clubs have to wise up to some fresh ideas about how to  engage with the locals.

So in summary…Barrow-in-Furness.  No bus depot, sitting in the middle of some of Europe’s most  unspoilt countryside, a bloody long way from home but decent fans, a decent non-league ground and  its own weather system that can fool the best adventurer in the world.  We salute you.

About Holker Street
Holker Street, whilst being home to the club since 1909 has also played host to Speedway and Rugby League.  The ground has remained unchanged since the redevelopment of the main stand in the mid 1990s. Described as having “a traditional, old fashioned feel”, the ground has three sides of terracing and one all-seater Main Stand, the latter with a capacity of around 1,000.

The Main Stand, backing onto Ray Wilkie Road is raised above the central portion of the pitch, with flat standing on either side. The Popular Side now has the only covered terracing, opposite the Main Stand. The Holker Street end is the traditional base of the home support, though it is now uncovered and thus open to the weather which comes in off Walney Channel; this end is now sometimes given to away fans. Otherwise, away fans are usually accommodated at the steelworks end, which has the smallest and least used terracing. The only seating in this area is a small wooden bench. This end is dominated by the CrossBar which houses the club’s offices.

Holker Street’s facilities are rather spartan, and the ground would probably not be suitable for Football League Two, the level above which Barrow AFC currently play. Stadium share proposals with Barrow Raiders rugby league club are often mooted. The most recent plan was for the two clubs to share a stadium in Barrow’s redeveloped dockland, though no significant plans have ever been made and the Barrow AFC board currently appears to favour further improvement and development of Holker Street.

A little known fact is that after bomb damage in the Second World War, the main stand was repaired using reclaimed wood from unseaworthy ships found in the Irish Sea!

How to find Holker Street
By road: M6 Junction to junction 36, then onto A590 signposted Barrow. Follow A590 all the way to the outskirts of Barrow, entering via industrial route towards the Town Centre. Passing the fire station on the right, take the next left into Wilkie Road. The ground is on the right hand side. Post code for Sat-Nav is LA14 5UW.

The nearest Station is Barrow-in-Furness. On leaving the station, exit onto Holker Street. Turn right and ground is approximately ½ mile on the left.

How to get a ticket for Holker Street
Despite the club’s desire to double attendances to over 2,000, there are still plenty of tickets available on a matchday.  Tickets can be bought in advance from the club in person or by phone – 01229 823061.  Ticket prices for this season are Terracing £13 (concessions £10 – £3), Stand £14 (concessions £11 – £3).