Issue 8 - SOME SUNNY DAY

£1
The unofficial fanzine of Exeter City
Issue 8, May 2015
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Contents
About us
Editorial
How Was It for You?
Away Days: York
“Pull Your Socks Up”
Tisdale in the Media
Ground Down
The Emergence of Exeter City
The Roller-Coaster Season
Tw@tter P@tter
Keeping Your Eye on the Ball
Fanzine Review
Tisdale – Exeweb Gives its Verdict
The Perils of Being a Football Fan
Meanwhile the Names Keep Changing
Ten Shades Darker
Kirton’s Postbag
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4
6
8
9
10
12
14
15
16
18
20
21
22
24
26
Some Sunny Day is the
unofficial fanzine of Exeter City. We aim to provide a balanced view but
the opinions expressed
within this, and on the
associated websites
shown below, represent
those of the authors and
are not necessarily those
of other contributors, the
editors, the football club
or Supporters’ Trust.
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Editorial
So, here we are on the final day of the season
and City have not made the play-offs. Congratulations to Burton and Shrewsbury who
are already promoted. City’s results were unpredictable as usual. Argyle looking likely to
get a play-off spot by virtue of their superior
goal difference rubs salt in the wounds. Commiserations to Cheltenham and Tranmere
who are relegated to the Conference, the latter for the first time in 94 years. Even ditching
Sir Rob and changing owners couldn't save
them. Hartlepool stayed up by beating us.
ship with our esteemed manager, along with
all the usual suspects and even a cartoon and
a poem to keep you happy.
We welcome Dagenham and Redbridge to the
Park today and hope that their bark is worse
than their bite, well Joss Labadie’s anyway.
Playing in the retirement catchment area that
is Torbay is enough to send anyone barking
mad but it seems he’s been at it again. Still, it
earned Luis Suarez a multi-million pound
move to Barcelona so that’s not a bad precedent.
Since the last issue we have welcomed winger
Lee Holmes on loan from Preston North End.
Holmes has already commented on how he’d
like to stay at City if not offered a new PNE
contract and also how Paul Tisdale’s ethos
persuaded him to sign for City. Tisdale has
been in the media recently, featuring in another interview, this time in The Times. On p.9
one supporter looks at
whether that representation of the club is a fair one
from fan’s point of view.
The article in question talks
about our manager’s attitude to fair play/time-wasting and spending what we
don’t have among other
things. By accident or design this time of year also sees the club’s accounts and on p.16 we take a look at the
club’s balance sheet and the implications of
this. Also featured in this issue is the first instalment of a series of articles following City’s
fortunes in the FA Trophy, as well as a look at
the most extreme exeweb moaners’ relation-
It’s hard to believe that SSD is
coming to the end of its second season in print. Thanks to
everyone who has contributed,
bought, sold and fed back to
us! It’s been a roller-coaster
but then we’re used to that following City. Enjoy the last game of the season, hopefully in
the sunshine, and see you next season.
Elsewhere in football, today sees protests at
Blackpool against owners the Oystons, who
have been in the news for taking legal action
against fans for making alleged defamatory
comments on fans’ forum websites. It certainly puts ECFC’s situation in perspective.
#Oystonout
UTC
The Editors
PS If you have missed any back issues, see our
end-of-season sale promotion below.
SUMMER MADNESS SALE!
Missed any issues of your favourite fanzine? Please save them from the moths and give
them a good home! Buy any back issue online (except issue 4 SOLD OUT) over the close
season for just £1 including UK P&P while stocks last! See www.somesunnyday.org.uk for
further information.
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How Was It for You? by Steven Chudley
Seeing as we’re here today for the final game
of 2014/15, it’s only right that we include
some sort of season review. There is a problem though in that various deadlines and holidays mean that I’m writing this just after our
back-to-back defeats at promotion-chasing
Shrewsbury and Wycombe so there are still
three games to play, but I’ll do my best and
you’ll know whether it was a happy ending by
the time you read this so can draw your own
conclusions.
beginning of a mini-revival as players came
back from injury and the lifting of the embargo had allowed new signing Christian Ribeiro
to open his legs and show his class. Three further wins on the trot quickly followed before
we came crashing back to earth, beaten at
home to then bottom of the table Hartlepool
on 11 October. But there was to be no Monkey Hang-over as we went on another unbeaten league run of nine games (I’m not
counting the FA Cup because I’m sure that
was all just a bad dream), eventually ended by
Stevenage on 20 December. It had to be Stevenage, didn’t it? Despite that and the awful
start, the period of positive form in between
meant that we were riding unexpectedly high
at eighth in the table and somehow only outside of the play-offs on goal difference.
The start of any new season always brings a
certain level of expectation or trepidation and
this one was no different except, perhaps,
that more fans than normal were feeling
slightly worried about the year ahead as we
kicked off with a squad ravaged by Brazilrelated injuries and illnesses, two 18-year-old
goalkeepers to choose from and the shadow
of a transfer embargo ruling out the prospect
of squad strengthening for the foreseeable
future. Our first opponents were Portsmouth
who, given their size and often regardless of
the facts, are regularly one of the earlyseason promotion favourites so this could be
seen as a test of what may lay ahead, particularly as we were one of the favourites to leave
League Two by the other exit. A battling performance and 1-1 draw later and I, for one,
left the ground feeling mildly enthused but
little did I know that Pompey, who at the time
of writing, sit fourteenth and manager-less,
were not quite the force that the bookies had
reckoned. As false dawns go, this one turned
out to be right up there as immediately after
began a miserable run that lasted until 16
September, a run which yielded not a single
win and only a further two points.
Unlike Hartlepool, however, the Stevenage
defeat didn’t lead to bouncebackability and
instead saw us revert back to something only
marginally better than our start-of-season
form, a period that lasted over two months,
all the way through to the end of February
with only the occasional win or draw to keep
the points total ticking over. Notably, this period included the abject 3-1 home defeat to
our Argyle chums in a match where, unlike
the boys in blue, the boys in red and white
failed to turn up. In our defence though, it’s
only fair to say
that this period of
form, much like
the start of the
season, had some
significant mitigating circumstances: The
talismanic Matt Grimes had left for Premier
League stardom; Ryan Harley, who’d barely
kicked a ball in three years, was still struggling
to scrape the rust from his boots; and the
That elusive first win finally materialised on a
Tuesday night in Cambridge and marked the
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makeshift centre-back pairing of Matt Oakley
and Danny Butterfield, although good whilst it
lasted, had begun
to creak. Despite
this period of
meagre points
return, the thankful fact that most
League Two sides
were as inconsistent as we were meant that our league position didn’t suffer perhaps as much as it should
as we fell from eighth to fifteenth.
resent an improvement on 2013/14 but also
given the start we had. That statement must,
however, come with a rather large caveat because it was the start that scuppered the season before it had really got going and was
something that could possibly have been
avoided.
Football isn’t, of course, an exact science but
two events can easily be identified as contributing to this: Firstly, the trip to Brazil represented the marking of a significant moment in
our history, which it was right to commemorate but the timing was terrible and almost
certainly disrupted pre-season preparations.
Obviously you can only celebrate a centenary
once, but was taking the squad across the
world so soon before the season proper
kicked off the right thing to do? Our bread
and butter is league football, not playing
friendly football matches against a team cobbled together from members of a Brazilian
cricket club.
The inconsistency bug then bit again but, inconsistently, now in a good way and we were
back on the horse with an away win at distant
Carlisle on 7 March, the first win in a sevenmatch unbeaten run which moved us back up
to tenth and only a point outside of the playoffs. This was ended by the aforementioned
4-0 hiding at Shrewsbury, who had lost only
once at home all season, and then away to
Wycombe who scored a
winning penalty approximately three days after
the match had actually
started. Thankfully, results didn’t go entirely
against us and we remain
tenth as I write this, albeit now four points out of the play-offs but,
more crucially, still with two sides between us
and seventh place and now with only three
games to go.
Secondly, the transfer embargo. The club
have given various reasons or excuses for this
but, in my opinion, it could have been avoided had the club management recognised just
how close to the wind we were sailing much
sooner and at least attempted to dress the
wound with something more substantial than
a sticking plaster. Indeed, the Finance Director openly admitted at the 2015 Trust AGM
that they’d “taken their eye off the ball”,
which is almost unforgiveable when you consider the potential implications both off and
on the pitch.
As we begin our final, final run-in we have, on
paper, a tricky set of fixtures and finishing in
the top seven looks increasingly unlikely although still not impossible, or so the sub-conscious and little heard of optimist in me keeps
pointing out anyway. Regardless of our final
position, which barring total capitulation will
be top half, I think that on balance and on the
pitch at least the season has been reasonably
successful, not least because this would rep-
So what’s my conclusion then? You’ll have the
benefit of knowing more accurately than me
seeing as you probably know the final outcome by now but, whilst I can only speculate,
more than ever this season has left me not
looking back on what we may have achieved
against all odds but wondering about what
might have been. I hope I’m wrong.
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Away Days: York by Martin Watts
York: so crap they named it once. So the joke
goes, yet in truth the town of York is possibly
the most pleasant of current Division 4 destinations to visit, and so on St David’s Day
weekend 2015 it became the focus of our
small band of ageing Grecians’ seasonal pilgrimage to the grim North. The decision was
made knowingly and on the back of last season’s trip to the awfulness that is Rochdale, a
town so full of northern grimness that (aside
from the Pioneers’ Museum and the Baum
pub on 40 yards of Toad Lane) it barely continues to exist.
get an early lunchtime pint at “The Maltings”,
so packed it made Cross Country look positively spacious, was soon forgotten once the
glorious Ouse was crossed and the town centre reached.
York can be a confusing place to the unwary
visitor – the streets are called gates and the
gates are called bars,
but the bars are mostly
proper pubs and there
is plenty of quality to
choose from. Other
places of interest inThe first port of call on arrival was the staclude the magnificent
tion’s “York Tap”, which, despite its fine selec- York Minster, the medition of dozens of
eval streets around the
beers and ciders,
Shambles, and the Jorstill felt like we
vik Centre’s replica Viwere drinking in a
king village (authentic Micklegate Bar. Not a pub.
railway waiting
smells included). We settled for a quick amble
room, welcome
around the City Wall walk to clear our heads,
though the ale was and then headed toward Bootham Crescent.
after hours of
crowded Cross Country chaos. Then on for an The match was largely forgettable, a predictaexcellent Thai at “The Old Siam” on Mickleble 0-0 draw between the two sides that were
gate, and into the nearby “Brigantes” to
then 23rd and 24th in the League Two form
round off the Friday evening we had hoped
table. Despite the absence of Oakley and
for.
Woodman, we were still painfully slow to
build from the back, the pitch was poor and
Saturday morning was shamelessly spent at
and we lacked creativity. Mistakes abounded
York’s National Railway Museum, home to
on both sides but no-one had the confidence
some of the finest locomotives ever built, into take advantage. The introduction of
cluding the A4 “Mallard” that once held the
Wheeler at 4.30pm sharp did little to lift
steam-powered
things and we had to ride some late York
record top speed
pressure to earn the point. And once again we
of 126mph. The
had forgotten our socks.
opportunity to
experience the
luxurious dimensi
ons of a Japanese “Bullet” carriage was not
spurned, which puts our Cross Country sardine tins to shame. An abortive attempt to
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That said, there were positives, including an
all-too-rare clean sheet and Hamon looking
comfortable. Harley showed flashes of his
former passing genius, Morrison finally got a
shot on target, and there were about ten seconds in the first half when we might even
have scored, with Nicholls having one cleared
off the line. York never really looked likely to
get past the impressive pairing of JMT and
Ribeiro at centre back. The York fans appeared to give the 227 travelling fans a nice
round of applause when the attendance figures were announced, though I suspect that
they were actually just clapping themselves
for persevering with what must have been a
more frustrating season of home ineptness
than even our home crowd has had to endure
(two wins from 17 at the time, compared to
our five).
You may already know “Grecian Greg” Hill
from either seeing him selling matchday programmes at SJP or on the road supporting the
side at away games.
Congratulations must also go to Cameron Gill,
Joe Charles, Alex Byrne and Josh Read, all second-year members
of the club’s academy who have been
offered professional contracts. We
hope to see you
pulling on the red
and white of ECFC
in front of the SJP faithful in the not-too-distant future and, if all goes well, it’s only a
matter of time before the lambasting from
the terraces starts!
After-match libations of Yorkshire Terrier
were found at “The Three-Legged Mule”. Little did we realise, but this was the end of our
woeful winter and the beginning of our magnificent March, the end of which saw us within touching distance of the play-offs and
hoping for the most unlikely of extended seasons. Hope, as we know, that has since been
dashed by subsequent defeats to the Shrews,
the Chairboys and the Shrimpers. Ah well. At
least York have pulled themselves clear of relegation, and a trip back to Bootham beckons.
Greg was recently nominated for the Capital
One Supporter of the Year award and invited
along to the gala ceremony in London. Although Greg didn’t scoop the main prize, he
was named as League Two Supporter of the
Year, a well-deserved accolade and recognition for his dedication to the cause. Congratulations to Greg and, as a fellow fan said, he’s a
credit to the club and football in general.
Sadly though, as this is the time of year that
such news in announced, we must say goodbye to Dean Billingsley, Dan Hayfield and
Charlie Madden who have not been offered
professional terms. We wish each of them
well for the future and hope to see their careers progress elsewhere, so long as it’s not at
our expense, obviously!
7
“Pull Your Socks Up” by Sarah Willis
The link between cricket and mental health
has been much written about, with high-profile cases such as Jonathan Trott, Marcus
Trescothick and Steve Harmison. Levels of suicide in cricketers have also been touched upon but in football, apart from perhaps the
well-publicised troubles of Justin Fashanu in
the 1990s, there have been
very few high-profile cases
until recently. In fact, many
footballers have committed
suicide (Justin Fashanu, Dave
Clement, Alan Davies, Robert
Enke, Tim Carter, Dale Roberts) but only
Fashanu received the level of press coverage
that makes his case stick in the memory, perhaps because of his homosexuality and the
allegations against him at the time of his
death.
a lot. It was only after I retired that I was free
to speak.”
These stories put the spotlight back on an
earlier case: that of former Villa player Lee
Hendrie, who admitted to two suicide attempts. His troubles were related to divorce,
recession and bankruptcy, the latter of which
is a worrying trend among those earning so
much albeit for a limited period.
There had been previous cases of course: Stan
Collymore, Tony Adams, but more often than
not the issues of depression were bound up
with drug and alcohol abuse or gambling to
blot out thoughts. In appreciation of the culture of not seeking help or talking to others,
Adams famously set up the Sporting Chance
clinic in 2000, an organisation where “sportsmen and women could receive support and
counselling for … destructive behaviour patterns”. Other former footballers appeared in
a BBC documentary fronted by Carlisle on the
subject.
The tragic case of former Wales international
Gary Speed in 2011 seems to have changed
the way such cases are reported, and how, to
some extent, they are received. As Wales’
manager at the time of his death, as well as a
TV pundit, Speed’s death was national and
However, football is not unique. Nor, likely, is
international news, front as well as back page. cricket for that matter. The triggers might be
different: dealing with serious injury is a flashThis year alone there was the mystery of
point for many sports stars when it coincides
former PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle hospital- with a sense of worthlessness. There is also
ised the year before in what had previously
the fame, the being looked at/watched/
been thought to be an RTA. He publically adidolised, the monotony of training, the isolamitted in January 2015 that he’d tried to kill
tion. People often say multimillion-pound
himself. The relapse followed previous battles footballers “shouldn’t” be depressed but then
with depression that
many “normal” people have heard that too.
had led to him helping
Wealth might give you access to better and
to set up helpline for
quicker treatments for some illnesses but deother footballers.
pression is often something people, especially
men, feel too ashamed to admit (termed a
Next came the story of Leon McKenzie, the
“cultural barrier”), rendering their “advanformer Premier League Norwich City football- tage” useless. Sport just happens to be a higher turned boxer, who spoke openly of his deprofile employer of young men and, sadly,
pression and a failed suicide attempt saying:
suicide is the biggest killer of young men at
“When I was playing, naturally you hide quite this time.
8
Tisdale in the Media by N. de Plume
The Times recently published an article that
arguably encapsulated what divides so many
fans over Paul Tisdale. The author, George
Caulkin, waxed lyrical about Tisdale, his ethics
and the gratitude
that City should perhaps feel about the
fact that our manager has stayed put.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing for some
City fans though is the impression given that
Tisdale is some sort of deity to be worshipped. Did the journalist question him
enough or merely take his words at face value? We apparently don’t spend what we
don’t have and yet we required both Trust
and PFA loans last summer – just about dragging ourselves back from the precipice of financial disaster. Have City fans, or Trust
members, voted for the culture and style that
Tisdale is regimentally imposing? Should we
embrace idealistic fair play at all costs or
question if there is a more sensible middle
ground?
The piece highlighted the considered and methodical nature of his management of the
club, emphasised his loyalty – “bigger is not
always better” – and reminded us how successful Tisdale’s first five seasons at ECFC
were as we climbed to the joint highest finish
in our 111-year history. He was presented as
a hard-working and very different football
manager. His approach and his honesty are
refreshing and his desire to do things in a
“proper” way is laudable.
Nobody can doubt that Paul Tisdale has
brought great times to ECFC and he may well
bring more great times in the future. However, no person should be bigger than the club
and the implication put forward in the article
that fans should be grateful Tisdale is still with
us presents a dangerous position. Alongside
success and stability we have also endured
three seasons of terrible form, declining attendances and slow-tempo football that has
lacked the entertainment
Tisdale might hope to
provide. It cannot be
healthy for any organisation to rely on one man,
or see one man alone as
integral to its future prosperity and direction.
However, City fans might have been forgiven
for raising a smile at his criticism of timewasting – “people pay to watch 90 minutes,
not 80” – given the often predictable and arguably negative approach we have often seen
deployed at St James’ Park in recent seasons.
Is a side that gives the impression of being
set-up to hold a 0-0 for 60 minutes any more
entertaining than one that attacks for 80 and
wastes time for 10?
Additionally Tisdale spoke about “knowing
what we stand for” in relation to fair play –
insisting that things must be done in a proper
way – but is this an attitude supported by City
fans? Is it sensible or logical for us to be so
dismissive of the bending of rules? Should
David Wheeler or Graham Cummins be condemned for going down easily to win a free
kick or wasting a few seconds at the corner
flag?
Although Tisdale undoubtedly provides an element of positive publicity, City fans will remain divided. He should be judged on his
success, or otherwise, on the field and not on
the way he dresses, or any culture he might
have created regarding our approach to the
game or referees.
9
Ground Down by Sexton A. Blake
28 Feb. Torquay vs Wrexham FA Trophy Semi
Final 2nd Leg. There was no City angle to this
– Aaron Dawson was not in the 16, and as it
turned out Jamie Reid was an unused substitute. Torquay never looked like overturning a
first-leg deficit and poor defending meant
that it got worse. Expectations at Plainmoor
were such that there was some booing at the
apparent lack of effort, particularly towards
Gulls’ captain Luke Young.
broad Jamaican accent with a lot of echo that
gave the impression that it would end with
“’ear me
now!” and
some dub
reggae. At
the ground I
was sent
from an entrance at the Bristol City end to one at the
Walsall end, where my ticket did not scan in
7 Mar. Cardiff City vs Charlton Athletic. I was the turnstile. I found a besuited chap outside
talked into this by a friend, but frankly there
who was helping direct people and, initially,
wasn’t much else interesting on. It’s always
he sent me back to the original entrance besurprising to find out what a pleasant city Car- fore calling me back and taking me to a side
diff is without the threat of casual violence.
door. My ticket was scanned by a steward and
I’ve visited quite a few places where, if City
I was escorted through the Walsall fans and
were the visiting side, certainly in the Eighties, told that once I got up the escalator “all my
a visit was “get in, watch the game, get out as troubles would be over.” Not strictly true, but
swiftly as possible”, but to visit on other occa- in the sense of finding my seat they were, as I
sions is entirely different. The City of Cardiff
was able to get through to the Bristol City end
Stadium is in what was the car park for Ninian via a “gap” protected by stewards. ApparentPark (now a
ly, there were too many Robins fans for the
housing estate)
usual entrance to cope; how does this work
and not far
for major cup finals then? Bristol City won relfrom the athletatively
ics stadium. On
comfortathe day, Cardiff
bly with
contrived to
Walsall
lose to a Charlonly muston side that didn’t look interested in the first tering a
half. On the way back to the station we
handful of
passed a souvenir stall selling, amongst other shots. It’s
things, “We are Premier League” scarves. The unlikely the better players at Bristol City curstall holder was told: “You might have a long
rently will end up at the Park, but some of
wait to sell those.”
their younger players might. My talent identification skills are such that I once told a Rob22 Mar. Bristol City vs Walsall, JPT Final at
ins fan, who thought he should be shot after
Wembley. Any trip to watch Bristol City is a
missing two one-on-ones, that Andy Cole
potential scouting trip for future City players. would be a good player if he became a calmer
On the tube at Baker Street, the announcefinisher. I have to add, however, that I also
ment that “This train calls at Finchley Road,
once said that Joe Auguste would be a good
Wembley Park, Preston Road …” was in a
player when he got used to League football.
10
29 Mar. England U20 vs USA U20 at Home
Park, aka Grimeswatch. This looked initially
like being an utter disaster as the train I’d intended to catch was delayed by an obstruction on the line from Taunton, but the next
train was advertised as on time – how could
that be if it was coming from up country, it
would be stuck behind the other one? The
simple answer: it was a rattler that came up
from Penzance and was going back there. Phew. I think this was probably the first game I’d
ever attended where the programme was
more expensive than the entrance fee – £4
for the proggy covering several England agegroup games, £3 to get in. The £1.50 charge
for children meant a low average age for the
crowd and frequent comings and goings during the game for toilet breaks, to buy food
etc. Matt Grimes was the England captain for
the day, playing in a deep-lying midfield role,
his distribution was good, but his corners
were crap. All the England team looked comfortable on the ball and they passed it round
effectively. England always looked in control
and took the lead through Chelsea’s John
Swift almost on half time. Gale-force winds
made things difficult for the players throughout the game. Grimes and Southampton’s
Harrison Reed – the new Paul Scholes, being a
close-enough resemblance to be his son –
dominated the midfield. England scored a second through Derby’s Kwame Thomas and
with around ten minutes to go Maki Tall (a
player, not something from the Starbucks coffee range) pulled one back. Tall was almost
immediately replaced by a substitute apparently announced as Foxy Knobber – the sound
system was poor and the announcer had
rushed through the sides, most of the USA
side didn’t seem to be in the programme – so
imagine my disappointment to find out via
the FA website that he was, ahem, much
more reasonably named, erm, Boxi Yomba.
Former Argyle trainee Jack Stephens was
booked for a rugby tackle (what do they teach
them?) and from the resulting free-kick USA
“equalised” but it was punched in, presuma-
bly by someone of Argentinian descent. It finished 2-1.
4 Apr. Taunton Town vs Bridgwater Town.
The previous time I had been to Wordsworth
Drive had been a mad dash from the cricket
ground after a game finished early. That was
for a game that ended 0-0, although both
sides hit the woodwork (that thing made up
of three bits of metal). On this occasion, having bought cheap jazz CDs in HMV, I was
crapped on by a seagull who clearly didn’t like
jazz. I upped the “McPiss” factor by washing it
off in the toilets in Debenhams without buying anything in the shop. But it’s supposed to
be lucky, isn’t it? Taunton were two up in 20
minutes, Bridgwater’s lack-lustre performance possibly being linked to the announcement that
their reserve side
was being
withdrawn
from their
league
and the ladies team being “re-branded” as
Middlezoy Rovers, a sign that they may be
suffering money troubles. I had come to see a
good, old-fashioned local derby and, apart
from the odd crunching challenge, this wasn’t
really doing it. I could’ve gone to that Bank
Holiday weekend classic Torquay versus “local
rivals” from a mere 220 miles away, Dartford.
Then came the daftest sending off I’ve seen in
a long time – yes, dafter than Tom Nichols’. A
free-kick to Bridgwater into the area saw two
players wrestle each other to the ground, the
referee pointed at them to show that he’d
seen it was 50-50, the Bridgwater player got
up first and the Taunton player stood up and
kicked him. The ball was still in play and the
referee was looking straight at them. Penalty
and sending off. The penalty was converted
but Bridgwater couldn’t push on and get the
equaliser.
11
The Emergence of Exeter City
by the Son of Richard Young
Confession time, last night I stumbled across
Star Trek: The Next Generation on CBS Action
(the home of action-packed dramas) on
Freeview. “Emergence” was about the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) developing a
consciousness and emerging as a life form in
its own right. Obviously a fascinating idea and
one that kept me
amused and away
from Exeweb for a
good 45 minutes or so.
The Old Grandstand
Personality: bigoted old codger
Clothes: tweed/wax jacket
Features: pock-marked red and purpled veined
nose, white sideburns
Politics: UKIP/pro-hunting, capital punishment
Tipple of choice: whisky
Behaviour: If you find
yourself sat in the Old
Grandstand you will be suddenly compelled to
But what, I pondered, if this concept could be shout “bleddy rubbish Tisdale” if the team’s
applied to our dear old St James (without the not scored by half-time.
apostrophe) Park? [Ed. This makes me very
nervous: the lack of apostrophe not Star Trek. Big Bank
Well, Star Trek too.] The revered old girl has
had several generations of City fans pour or
Personality: enthusiastic but naive spotty
(let’s be realistic) trickle through the turnstiles
teenager, studying sports science at Exeter
for approaching a century now. It’s reasonable
College
to suggest that some of the spirt and personalClothes: casual Exeter City-related sportswear
ity of its supporters have permeated all four
(used to love Carbrini)
corners of the ground. No doubt the extreme
Features: tall, gangly with acne
passions of ecstasy, despair, the hopes and
Politics: politics is boring, but if could be bothfears (of all the years), will have rubbed off and
ered or old enough to vote would probably
in turn formed its own zeitgeist.
vote Green
Tipple of choice: Coke or Tango
However, it would be fair to say that the reBehaviour: If you’re in the Big Bank, you will
spective four corners of SJP clearly have their
have a more positive demeanour and can
own separate identities, reflecting the differbathe in a more communal generous spirit
ent clientele past and present who have frethan is found in some other areas of the
quented these very different areas. Therefore
ground. But just to clarify this is not the same
the area in which you as a City or away fan
as bathing in the same “communal generous
stand or sit on matchdays in turn influences
spirit” of urine and chlorine that features in
your experience and behaviour as a supporter.
the Pyramids swimming pool.
I will now bravely
attempt to follow
this theme, and for
ease of reference
have separated out
the various four
components of SJP:
12
The Flybe (or is it WTS?)
The Away End
Personality: middle-aged family man, runs a
successful business; soft spot for the Exeter
Chiefs but staying loyal (for the time being) to
his working-class roots
Clothes: smart casual, golfing or labelled jumper, smart shirt and jeans, used to wear a
sleeveless bodywarmer, insisted on calling it a
Gillet.
Features: smug; middle-aged spread currently
kept under control by occasional visits to the
gym, golf/squash and having affairs
Politics: Conservative (but did vote Blair in the
90s)
Tipple of choice: red wine (but used to drink
Mexican beer in a bottle with a piece of lime in
it in the 90s)
Personality: trainspotter/anorak
Clothes: anorak (natch), faded jeans bought
from Tesco value range
Features: beer belly, BO, haircut only every 4
months so varies from extreme of crew-cut to
1970s footballer, depending on which stage of
the life-cycle of coiffeur-age
Politics: Old Labour
Tipple of choice: real ale
Behaviour: The most difficult of part of the
ground to quantity possibly due to the different nature of fans who have stood in the
away end over the decades from Manchester
United to Leigh RMI, from Leeds to Torquay
United. But whatever team or part of the
world you come from you cannot fail to be
impressed with the basic charm, simplicity
and economy of the away end. You will pause
to consider buying a programme and admire
the casual audacity of the Grecian seller, mixing freely and easily with your (opposition)
fans. Five minutes into the game you will inexplicably take offence at the motley procession of gate-staff suddenly navigating the
perimeter of the
pitch walking in
your direction
and you will feel
the urge to
mock/undermine
/verbally abuse
these people
who were happily letting you
through the turnstile minutes earlier.
Behaviour: If you’re in the Flybe you will remain silent at all times, with only certain exceptions:
1) A minor infraction occurs on the pitch within
your vicinity and you and all those around will
be compelled to scream and holler and be as
outraged as much as humanly possible, whilst
the rest of the ground look on with a mixture
of bemusement and respect. NB further infractions add cumulatively to the intensity of point
1 and can ultimately climax in a “you don’t
know what you’re doing” chant directed at the
“Argyle in the black”, the referee. Or
2) You are a member of Crediton/Sidmouth/
Exwick Under 11s sat in the top-left extreme of
the Flybe. You will be hearty of spirt and loud
(and high pitched) of voice for up to the first 30
minutes of the game before realising that no- Well, there you have it: a unique and informaone else is joining in and becoming increasing- tive guide for you to cut out and keep. To all
ly bored and so start pestering your parents for those City fans and Some Sunny Day readers
throughout the galaxy: Live Long and Prosper!
Haribo.TM
13
The Roller-Coaster Season
by Pete Martin
What a roller coaster season
We’ve witnessed up to date!
By the time you get to read this
We’ll likely know our fate.
Just as we were thinking
That all would now be lost
The lads began to turn it around
And began to count the cost.
Will it be the play-offs?
Automatics? Just NO chance
City, as is usual,
Have led us such a dance.
After another green debacle
The tide began to turn
With a win over lowly Carlisle
The boys began to learn
September saw us languish
Down the bottom of League Two,
But losing to Argyle in August
Was the biggest pile of poo.
That life goes on when a star departs
And you have to fight to win.
A win over high-flying Wimbledon
Made us all shout loud “Get in!”
Then began the upsurge
From Cambridge away and on
And then for several further months
We could barely do anything wrong.
Flirting with the playoffs
Has been our lot since then
But a 4-0 stuffing at Shrewsbury
And we thought “here we go again”.
Christmas came and Christmas went
And we won on Boxing Day
But a 4-1 loss at Wimbledon
Sent us spinning the other way.
Can we, will we, will we, won’t we
Get into that top seven
And grab a place in the playoffs
With that “other team” from Devon?
Then a fair spell of bad results
Made our form collapse
Could we yet be struggling?
Well, many thought, perhaps …
By the time you all read my rhyme
Will it be sighs or high elation?
Whatever it is, be sure of this –
It’ll be better than relegation!
Was it down to losing Grimes
Or some other unknown reason
That had caused the sudden dip in form
And threatened the entire season?
14
Tisdale’s interview in The Times causes some confusion in the ranks…
Steve Perryman @spurslegend
5h
@thegaffer What’s this I hear about you calling me the director with a small d?!
#girth
Expand
Garth Crooks
@toppundit
4h
@spurslegend Haha! You were always first out of the showers! #walnutwhip
Expand
Steve Perryman @spurslegend
4h
@toppundit Oi, you keep out of this! I was big in Japan!
Expand
Garth Crooks
@toppundit
3h
@spurslegend Hahaha! Yeah, course you were! #wiener
Expand
Paul Tisdale
@thegaffer
2h
Anyone for a game of cricket at the C&F? #leatheronwillow #smalld
Expand
Maurice Wright @lollipopmaurice
1h
Bleddy toffs #rubbish #toffs
Expand
Meanwhile, Guy Branston is busy researching his next WMN article…
Guy Branston
@cueball
3h
@thegaffer Paul, I’ve got the editor on my back. Can you send me some material?
#artisticlicence #staypositive
Expand
Paul Tisdale
@thegaffer
2h
@cueball You actually write it yourself?! Just do what you normally do. Big me up
and remember who pays the bills. #ghostwriter #toetheline
Expand
Guy Branston
@cueball
1h
@thegaffer Ok, it’s just it’s all getting a bit repetitive, City keep on losing and I
didn’t have any credibility to start with. #believe #youretheboss
Expand
15
Keeping Your Eye on the Ball
With ECFC’s accounts to 31 May 2014 recently published, we had SSD’s financial correspondent run the rule over the figures…
This brief synopsis of the accounts is intended to provide a broad overview only. A detailed
analysis with explanations would run to many more pages.
The Club accounts were approved by the Board of Directors on 13 March 2015. This was the
second consecutive year that the accounts were finalised later than the deadline for filing at
Companies House, therefore incurring a late-filing penalty and damaging the Club’s compliance record.
We had been pre-warned at the Trust AGM in October that the figures would be bad. A presentation was made by Mr S. Williams the Financial Director who had to admit that “we [sic]
had taken our eye off the ball”. He projected a loss before depreciation of around £85,000 as a
result of lower gate income, and increased costs: administration, pitch work and football budgets.
The accounts reveal a number of irritating and avoidable errors. For example:
● The investment in Pride of Devon Limited is still shown as carrying a value of £1,000 when
the corresponding note says that POD has no net assets.
● The figures written off for depreciation do not agree with the stated depreciation policy in
the accounts.
These errors may not be overly significant but they set the wrong tone for the reader of the
accounts. One instinctively wonders what else might be wrong. It is disappointing that these
matters were not picked up and corrected before the accounts were signed off.
The Profit & Loss account deficit is broadly in line with the figures presented at the Trust AGM.
The salient points are:
● An operating loss of £271,196 arose of which £194,464 is depreciation – a non-cash item.
Ignoring deprecation, the loss was £76,732. The depreciation policy adopted is very stringent but we should keep in mind that if the business runs short of cash (the main reason for
financial failure) such assets as the pitch and stands are not readily saleable.
● We were told at the Trust AGM that transfer income of £104,000 was received so without
this the trading loss would have been greater than £180,000. As we are also told the Club
sets a budget to break even each year and seeks not to rely on windfall income, this is a disturbing figure.
● Turnover reduced by approximately 7% from £3,351,362 to £3,118,186.
16
● The accounts do not include a detailed breakdown of turnover and costs so it is difficult to
draw too many conclusions on which areas of the business are under-performing most.
● The related-party transactions tell us that £53,333 was payable to Mr Tagg’s partnership
Laser Rentals (shown in earlier accounts as “sports advice”) and £42,000 rent was payable
to OTR (Exeter) Limited, a company of which Mr Tagg is a director.
The Balance Sheet presents a gruesome picture:
● There are net liabilities of £880,469.
● Bank balances fell from £145,095 to £85,124 and short-term creditors (payable with a year)
rose from £814,489 to £955,133. Within this latter figure amounts owed to trade creditors
had increased from £128,526 to £200,082. Liability for social security and tax rose from
£53,687 to £80,393 which can suggest an organisation might be behind with payments to
HMRC.
These figures bear out what became clear from subsequent events including emergency loans
from the Trust, an expensive PFA loan and a loan from Trustee and Board Member Mr R. Conway in acrimonious circumstances that led to his departure from both Boards. The Balance
Sheet shows a business that is desperately short of cash, with the pressure of short-term liabilities that have to be paid, and therefore vulnerable to hostile or impatient creditors. It should
not be forgotten that the bank balance includes season-ticket income received in advance,
which is intended to cover costs of the following season.
The Club and Trust Boards were fortunate with the windfall in the shape of the Warrington TV
income. It seems this may have been received just in time to avoid a second expensive PFA
loan. More important, the Matt Grimes transfer to Swansea for a reported fee of £1.75 million
was the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card that will keep the show on the road for a bit longer.
These accounts repeat a long trend showing a business that fails to achieve its budget and loses money as a result of which serious cash-flow shortages arise. Without the Matt Grimes and
Warrington windfalls it is highly probable that the Club would have been facing administration
unless some new funding could have been found at very short notice.
The accounts are a record of what has happened and provide warning signs. The importance
of the accounts is to heed those warning signs and to avoid the previous errors.
The Grimes money should be used sensibly to put the Club on a sound financial footing for the
foreseeable future. The danger is that the money will be seen as a convenient cushion to cover
the continuing failure to trade at a profit and the problems of those parts of the business that
are under-performing, including properly controlling costs, particularly off-pitch costs.
Will this unique opportunity be grasped? Based on history, one should perhaps not be overly
optimistic. The Financial Director who presided over the serious business of under-performance during the year of the accounts remains in office. Let us not forget that windfalls by their
very nature cannot be relied on in a prudently run business.
17
Fanzine Review by Sarah Willis
The final instalment
in the fanzine series
for this season
takes in something
of a cult institution.
When Some Sunny
Day was but a pipedream in 2013 I researched the
fanzine “industry”
to see what else
was around/
whether a printed
fanzine was viable and The City Gent is the
one that comes up at the top of pile being the
longest-running fanzine in the country, hence
setting the benchmark in many ways.
The copy I’m looking at is an impressive 58
pages. They say size isn’t everything but
knowing what a struggle it can be to get out
32 pages, this fanzine obviously benefits from
a large contributor pool, easily justifying its £2
price tag, something rarely seen outside of
Premier League fanzines. A fair few pages in
this issue are written by the editor but there
is a good mix of other articles and artwork. It
also features advertising, something of a rarity, with this issue featuring ten of them. I
know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but they
didn’t, for me, distract from the varied and
well-written content.
SSD caught up with editor Mike Harrison to
find out more …
Your club: Bradford City
Fanzine name: The City Gent
Website address: www.thecitygent.co.uk
Established: October 1984 (the longest-running print fanzine in the UK)
Does your club have any other fanzines? No
Editor: Mike Harrison
What’s the story behind your
involvement? The City Gent started during
Bradford City’s promotion season that tragically ended with the fire in which 56 football
fans died and over 200 were badly injured.
For the following season and a half, Bradford
played “home” games in Leeds, Huddersfield
and also at the city’s rugby league ground
Odsal. On the club’s return to a rebuilt Valley
Parade, I found it quite difficult to buy a copy
of The City Gent and I thought others might
be in the same situation so I approached the
team behind the fanzine and offered to help
sell copies. That was way back in January
1987 and I’m still selling as well as editing
now, having taking over as editor in July
2004.
How many contributors do you have at
present? We have a good
dozen writers who can always be relied upon to
contribute some good articles. Some write for every
issue, many contribute as
and when they are inspired
to do so. It is always a thrill
when a new writer gets in
touch and asks the silly question: “Would you
like an article from me?” Duurrr, yes of course
I would!
Where/when can it be bought? At Valley Parade on match days or copies can be ordered
via the website. There are a couple of local
pubs that advertise in the fanzine and they
sell copies from behind the bar and recently
the club shop has started selling copies for us
again.
Selling price? £2
Online price (inc. UK postage)? £3
Colour or black and white? Four-page colour
cover and 60 pages of black/white inside pages.
18
Average number of pages? 64
How many issues a season? 7
How many copies do you usually sell (average estimate)? 800 (including subscribers).
How many subscribers to do have? 225 last
season and I would expect 95% will renew
again and we’ll pick up a few new ones,
though the yearly Royal Mail postage increases are not helping, especially for my subscribers overseas. £4.25 to post a 130g copy to
Australia or New Zealand is ridiculous!
Ever get any grief from the club? Rarely, but
there have been occasions when a board
member has taken us to task about something we have printed. We never set out to
upset anyone, so if it happens it is usually inadvertently.
What’s your matchday programme called? Is
it any good? How much is it? The Parader
and it is full of colour adverts but very little
original content that hasn’t already been seen
on the club website or the local paper already. So the answer is no!
Are you linked to any supporters’
club/group? The fanzine has an open-door
policy for accepting contributions and all four
(Supporters’ Trust, Supporters’ Board, friends
of BCFC and the BCFC Disability Team) of the
club’s main supporter groups are contributing
articles on what they are up to.
Does your fanzine
make any profit?
Where do your profits
go i.e. back into
fanzine/to the
club? On the sales
that we have at
present we just about
break even, but any surplus is used to spend
on club sponsorship where possible.
Do you think printed fanzines have a future?
Sadly not, as we’re a dying breed. With the
internet and various forms of social media
available for instant postings and instant response, a printed fanzine is a dying art. But
there is still something special about seeing
something you have written appear in print,
plus if fanzines are stored well, they can be
accessible for ages, whereas can you find out
what someone wrote about on a website way
back in say 1995? No. And whilst most football fans live in the moment when watching
their team play, the vast majority are quite
nostalgic about previous periods in their
club’s history. I hope that this doesn’t sound
too full of myself but I do believe that each
issue we produce is a little bit of history that
fans will enjoy reading now, and I’d also love
to think that future fans of the club that I support would find fascinating to read in many
years to come.
LARRY LOUD – AT THE TRUST MEETING
19
Tisdale – Exeweb Gives its Verdict!
By Sue Donym
Paul Tisdale’s reign has seen its ups and downs and this season has had some strange twists
and turns, but one thing has remained consistent – the view of the hardcore posters on
Exeweb about the manager:
● I said I’d give him until Xmas and at the moment I’m far from convinced – too negative, too
predictable, far too cautious, & his media skills are poor.
● How much longer must we put up with this 2nd rate crap? Tisdale out!
● Tisdale deserves an OBE … out before Easter. They promised us an experienced manger. We
got a PE teacher.
● I think Tis has taken us as far as he can. Good time for him to move on at the end of the season I think.
Hang on, wait a minute, sorry, my mistake, these quotes are actually from Exeweb in 2006!
With the benefit of hindsight, some of the “humble opinions” about Tisdale’s tactics made
then are bit laughable:
● The thing about Tisdale that annoys me the most is his subs – Dean Moxey for Challinor –
our top scorer off to be replaced by a bloke who IMO shouldn’t be in the squad.
What is astonishing is that the same posters (joined by a few like-minded
friends, or are they actually the same people using another name?) have
been repeating this sort of tosh week in, week out, virtually without a
break for the past nine years. This season has been no exception. During
one of our sticky patches earlier in the season, the predictions came in
thick and fast:
● We have no chance of promotion as we are not good enough. Enjoy the rest of the season
because it’s all about getting the points needed to not be in relegation danger come April.
● Of course survival is possible … but is it probable? That’s the question. Our current plan will
see us in Conf South in a few years. With, presumably, the highest-paid ever non-league
manager.
The amount of bile in some of them is pretty jaw-dropping:
● Total and utter hypocritical to$$er, the sooner he fooks off the better.
● I hate him. Most definitely. He has ruined football for me which is/was my greatest passion
in life.
● What a pr*ck!!!
Of course like all internet forums, Exeweb fulfils a social function and perhaps the men in
white coats should come to the assistance of people who’ve made in excess of 30,000 posts,
but still, what on earth can possess such hatred?
20
Some of the most vocal freely admit that they rarely, if ever, attend City games, but others obviously do. Saturday afternoons have always been a good excuse to shout off a few of the frustrations of life, but how can you watch a team for nine or ten years whilst harbouring such a
grudge? I have no idea.
Exeweb claims to have over 3,000 members, but “debates” are all too frequently dominated
by a small group of naysayers, provoked by a couple of posters who seem to find pleasure in
winding them up. One thing’s for sure, it’s all pretty depressing stuff and sad to find fans of a
Trust-owned club unable to get fully behind the team and its manager, and its main message
board making such tedious reading.
Occasionally a post reveals that the success of the team is not part of the equation:
● Tisdale has over run IMO for about 3 seasons now in terms of how long he should of [sic]
been in the job – so to me regardless of the league position I find it difficult to warm to him
especially given some of the stuff he comes out with interviews after defeats sometimes.
It seems that this long history of animosity is not going to end anytime soon.
The Perils of Being a Football Fan
by A Moody Teenager
Being a football fan means constant realignment of goals. At the start of every season, morale
is high and the fans are confident that this season will be the one where we are (virtually) undefeated, we smash Plymouth to pieces, and we generally do so well we don’t even play in the
playoffs, we bypass them entirely, going for automatic promotion instead. Of course, this idea
slowly loses all its traces of reality as we progress through the season: by November, the playoffs look entirely unattainable, yet alone automatic promotion: just avoiding relegation and
landing mid-table at the end of the season would be greeted with a sense of relief. However,
by January we’re starting to pick up our form again and the optimism creeps back in, the playoffs once again becoming more than a distant dream. We climb the table again, stopping just
outside of the playoffs, and then we lose. It’s still possible to get to the playoffs, but hugely unlikely. We make up excuses, suggest maybe staying in a lower league is for the best, but nobody’s fooled. The hope is still there. This rollercoaster of emotions is either the best or worst
part of being a football fan, depending on how you look at it: yes, it raises your hopes and then
sends them crashing back down again, but at least it’s exciting, some argue. Others say it’s just
depressing. But is it worth it? However you think of it, the answer will always be yes.
Next season
With a fair wind, your favourite ECFC fanzine will be back again for the 2015/16
season so please keep an eye on our website: www.somesunnyday.org.uk
If you’d like to get in touch to praise, deride, or even send an article then we’d love
to hear from you: [email protected]
21
Meanwhile the Names Keep Changing
by Dr David Treharne
A constant theme of postings on Exeweb during this season has been one that has mainly
been written about the question “Will Exeter
City be the last Club in the Football League to
have a modern stadium?” Just as it appears
that everybody has exhausted their thoughts
on the topic it keeps getting resurrected (often by former Trustee Adrian Hitchcox). It’s a
topic on which the Club is damned if it does
and damned if it doesn’t, and in any case it
raises sub-issues such as ownership of the
ground and the extent to which the City
Council does, or doesn’t, support the Club. I’d
have to say that quite often those charged
with running Club have been extremely
coy/misguided/ mealy-mouthed/ambiguous
about answering any questions that have
been raised about the topic, and so it rumbles
on, and will probably continue to do so. I suppose, having been party to the grandiose
schemes over the last five years that have
been proffered, consulted upon and snatched
away, it’s not really a great surprise.
Strangely it’s also tied up with a decision by
Exeter City Council that proposes to make all
the wards in
Exeter threeCouncillor
wards, except
the area to be
known as “Duryard”, which will have one Councillor, and “St
James”, which retains not only its existing
boundaries, but will have two Councillors. In
part this anomaly (if that’s what it is) has
been caused by the fact that the current St
James Ward has a Neighbourhood Plan put
together under the terms of the Localism Bill,
which has specific aims, and included in this
are plans for re-development of land within
its boundaries. St James Park and the area
surrounding it happen to be part of it.
In theory, therefore, “the locals” will have a
say in any planning development. Depending
on which official figures you read, the ward
already has over 50% of its housing stock in
multiple-occupancy, so clearly there’s some
tension about the possibility of further developments that might further dilute the housing
stock, and also some concern that further developments such as the one currently being
undertaken at the Cricket Club on Prince of
Wales Road will cause another influx of student accommodation that’s only in use for
seven months of the year, and leaves great
swathes of the ward a ghost town for long periods of the year.
It therefore will not stop Adrian from posting
again when I forecast that the next (calendar)
year will see a start of reinvigorating part of
the ground. Not the full-blown rebuild that
was dreamed of, but a re-modelling of the
away end and some cosmetic changes to the
Old Grandstand, and that those in charge of
the Club will continue to be guarded in what
they reveal lest events overtake again.
Love writing? Love fanzines?
We are on the lookout for new writers (happy clappers or cynics or anywhere in
between) for next season. Please get in touch over the summer:
[email protected]
22
23
Ten Shades Darker by Sexton A. Blake
As I believe I’ve stated before, I’ve been writing for fanzines since before over half of the
world’s current population were born – and I
still haven’t managed to make that sentence
flow properly – and in that time things have
changed. I used to stare at a blank piece of
paper, now I stare at a computer simulation
of a blank sheet of
paper. I used to use a
typewriter where the
last line would sometimes slide off the
page because the machine could not grip
the bottom of the paper to the roller. Now
I use a computer that corrects my spelling and
doesn’t like my grammar. I don’t have to worry about running out of typewriter ribbons,
but I do spend a lot on ink cartridges – I find
printing out an article makes it easier to spot
errors. I used to post articles to the fanzine
editor making sure that I did so with time to
spare before the deadline. Now I e-mail the
editor stuff at the last minute in the hope that
the copy will not be changed or cut.
away games, which was seen by many as a
poor total for a divisional winner, but in terms
of City’s usual away form was a vast improvement.
During the 80s and 90s away fans would be
regularly kept in after the game until the
home crowd had dispersed in order to avoid
trouble. I was fortunate never to undergo the
experience a friend once had of being locked
in and forgotten about at Bolton; in those
days City’s away following would often be
very small. And until Steve Darke and the supporters’ club started running regular transport, the club would attempt to run a coach
but usually cancel it on the Thursday before
the game, meaning a short-notice checking of
the train times, with
games in the north
leading to a return
via London on the
sleeper.
I have seen some, as Danny Baker termed
them, “right hammerings”; Chesterfield,
where Graeme Kirkup’s family made up most
of the City away following, a 5-1 defeat in OcDespite the fact that City currently have the
tober 84 where City matched them apart
New Messiah, David Wheeler, there are still
from 20 minutes either side of half time when
those who are not con- City conceded all five; the 8-1 at Aston Villa in
tent. It is my contenthe League Cup, where City were one goal
tion that in previous
away from equalling their heaviest defeat; the
decades following City 7-1 home defeat to Brentford in April 83 in
was a far more masopissing rain that equalled the record home
chistic experience than defeat, and the following week City conceding
it is now, particularly
their 100th goal of the season at Orient in a
travelling away, as you 5-1 defeat; losing 6-1 at Cardiff again in perwould go hundreds of
sistent rain on New Year’s Day 2001. There
miles hoping City
were also some long winless – sometimes
might, just might, score, with barely a thought goal-less – runs, such as the end of the 94/95
that they could possibly win, although this
season where the last win was on 21st Februwas such a rare occasion as to be deemed al- ary. Many seasons in the 90s started promismost negligible. In the 1990 Fourth Division
ingly but fizzled out.
Championship-winning season, City won eight
24
But there are worse things than right hammerings (as a female colleague said after one
of them: “At least you saw some goals”): Travelling to Rochdale to see a nil-nil draw, in a
run of four scoreless draws, and returning via
London on the sleeper service.
But at least I saw Jon Shaw save a penalty.
Staying overnight in Burnley
after a 0-0 draw in a snow
storm, watching the highlights
of the Manchester derby in a
TV room with three strangers
and then taking nine hours the
following day to get home on
Sunday (but I didn’t, as others
did, end up spending the night
in Reading Police Station after
missing the sleeper from London). Staying in a B&B in Burslem after losing
2-0 (I think) to Port Vale where the room was
heated by an electric fire on a timer, consequently I woke up every hour shivering, hit
the switch to put the fire back on and went
back to sleep.
On one trip to Wigan the coach started belching blue smoke and broke down in a contraflow. Miraculously they (I think this was in the
Dartline era) managed to get a mechanic out
and then drove like hell in the night to only
miss 20 uneventful minutes at Springfield
Park. If I remember correctly City then lost
4-1, but it was nice of them to wait until we
got there. Breakdowns on the way home
were more tolerable, although I remember a
coach driving a mile down the hard shoulder
by torch light after the electrics packed up. I
think this may be the same trip where Gary
Nelson persuaded the coach passengers to fill
in cards to enter a competition to win a
mountain bike whilst we were waiting at a
service station for another coach to come and
pick us up.
And then, of course, there’s getting to the
ground and finding the game is off. Thankfully
this is relatively rare; my first experience was
when walking from the rail station to Northampton’s ground just after one Christmas and
bumping into a City fan coming the other way
who told me the game was off. I managed to
make it to the re-arranged game, my friend
did not. This was the season that comedian
Alan Carr’s father, Graham, led Northampton
to the title,
so my
friend’s only
experience
of the old
County
Ground was
walking
across a snow-covered pitch to the club shop.
It was recently suggested on an away trip on
the supporters’ club coach that when any
overly negative talk is made, a noose should
drop down above the speaker, like an airplane
oxygen mask, so that they can hang themselves if they wish. The only time I might have
used this was during the season that the club
took back organisation of away travel and
used Alvajoan. On the way to Lincoln, the
coach broke down near Chesterfield (look it
up on a road map, not even close), which
meant we missed Kevin Francis’s only City
goal.
I was having a casual chat with a female
friend when I happened to mention
that in 1966 I had
been dressed as
the tournament
mascot World Cup
Willie (no, it’s not
a disease), and
she replied that
maybe that was
the thing that had brought England luck and
that I should do it again. Well, at least I know
how I’ll be spending summer in 2018.
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Gud afternoon and wellcome to the fans who have travelld all the way
from the northern hellhole of the formerrushin repuplick of Daggerstan to be the first to reed my collum. ROLF. I have fans alover the
country. I havhad a lotof post. I even got a leter from the wilds of
northdevun from a town called Brawnton, wich ses Waddedo naddams? I undrstand this to be the
locul chatup lien, but I take it as an inquirey into how I genneraly spend my eevnings in the fine
town of Crediton. Well, letme telyou most eevnings I get tanked up on a coktail of biker crank
cooked in a shed in blakdog and cheap Morisons cider from morisons not Cinton. LOL. Hes’ not
aloud to sel scrumpy. On a good day they put the dented cans in theskip roundtheback. Little tip
for you in these osteritty times, LOL.
Another leter I got was from Paul who often rites to me. He ses he dusnt’ know which city keeper
is beter. I havto say I like both the lads. Christy from Pymhoe is short and plays for ingerland. Local
boy james Le hamon is tall and he plays for his adopted chanel iland of Grimsby, so its dificalt to
choos betweenthem. Just dont’ pick both at the sametime, is my advise. ROLF. Unles youwant toplay one out of posishun. You dont’ needme to telyou, but I did becos I know that the best posishun at a football club is to be insidethe tent pissing in, manely becos outside the tent pissing in the
creedy can get you a fine from the Nvironment agensy. As Iknow to my cost. 27 pownds and 50
pence. OWCH!
Enyway it ses on the back of that leter what do youthink my old mucker paulbuckel wilbe up to
next? Thees are exiting times for Paul, it is tru. He exitd Bristulrover and resently has exitd Cheltnumtown. I cud say that there is always a job as assistunt manajer avaleabel at JSP, but there isnt’.
Cris Vinnycum may need sum help at witherij. Sumebuddy to drive there teem mini bus furinstunce. Maybe Crhis Hargreeves wilbe looking over his showlder. Croseyed fool LOL.
Sumone from swansee called grimesy has sent me a postcard. That is nice. Peepel who leev the
area mite forget me but grimesy is stil thinking of me evry day in his nitemares. He ses the vuew
from the bench at the libetty is geting on hisnerves and hewud like a runout tostop his cerkylation
from going tosleap. Intresting.
Igot anuther leter aksing me hoowas my faverit foren cityboy. Their has been lots of them over
the years, Glen Crownin the wisky, Janine off eestenders, Spanish bowzer, FrenchBerti with his
pankakes and Arthur from poletax, Interpol, or wosit liverpol, frinstins, but my faverit of altime is
Bootross Bootross Belotti the mijit golekepper. 3 foot 3. I think he was fromexminister. So good
theynamed him Bootross, initt. ROLF.
The editer wants me to look into a sumsunyday mistry and solv it by next seesun. Why is it that the
cuvver of sumsunyDay chanjes culler with evry edishun? Nuffin todo with me but I am on the case.
Have a gudsumer and see you next seesun.
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COMING TO A CINEMA NEAR YOU
BORN A FREE MAN, HE LIVED WITH HIS
FAMILY IN THE COTSWOLDS TO THE DAY
HE WAS DECEIVED, KIDNAPPED, AND
SOLD INTO FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT.
GEDDON TIS!
KEN FROM FENITON
BLEDDY RUBBISH
MAURICE WRIGHT
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