Blackpool tends to act as a magnet for visiting fans of clubs who are playing away games in the North West of England. I have based myself in the town when the Imps have had away games in places such as Rochdale (lost 1-3) and Wrexham (lost 1-0 in one of the worst away days i have ever had). There were a few Chelsea fans in the town ahead of there FA Cup tie at Preston for example.
The first thing i always do when i go to Blackpool is head straight for the Counting House pub(pictured below) a pub that i have had some many great times in over the years
The first time i ever went to Blackpool was a boys trip to watch the Imps play Blackpool away in league one back in the 1998/99 season when we were all about 19/20 years old. As i remember we spent a fair amount of time in the pub. Indeed one of our number, a follower of Blue square premier club Mansfied Town had a bet with the chairman of the English Cameroon supporters club that he would drink 16 pints that very night. Sadly after about 6 or 7 he was rolfing his guts up and trying to hide it from the uncle fester look alike bouncer on the door. We all made fools of ourselves that weekend and it was all great fun, even better as the Imps won 1-0 but were ultimately relegated on the last day of the season. To this day i am not sure what was worse from the weekend all thoses years ago; Me not being able to find the hotel one night, the 16 pint bet, one of our number fooling the door staff with his baby face but not his footwear or the tenpin bowling scores after a night of linikers hatricks (back when a triple cost about £2 or something stupid!) Great days my friends, great days.
I got a tad drunk on the Friday night, it was fairly quiet by Blackpool standards. The high points was having a curry at the end of the night in the Thamasha Indian restaurant on dickson road(very very nice). i did my normal drunken trick talking total shit to the waiter. I told him i was from "near" Nottingham well 30 miles is near-isnt it? He replied "oh you mean Shottingham!" nice to see Nottingham has such a fine reputation throughout the country.
The other high point was a Shaggy master mix in Brannigans the beer was way way too pricey but the Shaggy tunes made up for it. pity the pub was dead with about 5 in, but lets have a few words from the great man...
I wasn't hungover in the morning, just groggy and rough, the fry up breakfast in the morning helped but it took me till about 1.30pm to feel "with it"
Fleetwood Town have had quite a journey over the past few seasons. They have slowly climbed up through the leagues and are now playing at the highest level that they have ever played at. Not only that but thay are top of that very league(the blue square north) and the target is very much promotion to the blue square premier division(the one below league two).
The chairman has pumped a considerable amount of cash into the club; investing on a new club house, new stands and most impressively, a pitch protection system which has been invaluable to the club over the past few weeks.
The old stand build in 1939 behind the new Highbury stand
The bus ride from Blackpool takes about 30 mins and was quite uneventful apart from an old couple at the front giving a running commentary on the journey. For FTFC you need to alight by the stop next to the "Highbury Chippy". It may suprise all reading this that i didnt go in and stuff myself, I was still full from the full english breakfast i had at the hotel. The chips smelt fantastic though, as do most seaside fish and chip shops. Plus with the VIP tickets we had bought you got a pre-match and half time meal thrown in.
Fleetwooods club house(jim's bar) is inside the ground and is very impressive and has clearly had alot of cash spent on it and was alot smarter than some of the pubs and bars in Blackpool. There is one large screen at one end with lots of plasma screens dotted about the club some of which were showing the Preston v Chelsea cup tie and others showing soccer Saturday. To the right of where you come in was a cabinet showing various memorabilia from the clubs high points in its history and the club shop which was well stocked with a nice Nike range of goods. A nice young lady sold me a couple of Badges for £2.50 each. I had a pint of Coors to try and wake up from the previous night but it didnt go down to well. The clubhouse must hold about 300 and was full of "cod army" head lines from recent FA cup adventues.
One very nice touch was the TV screens in the toilets, something i have never come across in non league football.
During the game the match is screened live into the bar so you can sit inside and watch it in the warmth with a few pints should so you choose, another non league first for me. Elsewhere in the clubhouse the plans for the rest of the redevelopment of the stadium are on show for all to see. At about 1.30 we left the club and made our way over to the VIP Bar for the food.
This was abit of a letdown compared to the Sports bar.It was nice and cosy, it just suffered abit in comparison to the much newer bar. We were welcomed and shown to our table which had the Programmes and menu laid out.
On the menu for today was soup for starters followed by either Lasagne, Beef and potato pie or oriental noodles, i went for the Lasagne which was accompanied with french stick garlic bread with cheese on(very nice 9/10). The bar only served bottles so it was bud for me. About 2.20pm the teamsheets came out. One detail highlighted on the teamsheet was a well done to Fleetwood under 18's, who had beaten Celtic fc under 19's 2-1. A great result indeed, given the size difference between the two clubs.
Fleetwood's nickname is the fishermen so their mascot, unsuprisingly, is a cod. Behind the end over the club house proudly fly the flags of the "ultra de cod" and the "cod army"
The mascot walks around the pitch before and during the game, getting up to the normal mascot antics high fiving fans etc he seemed a top bloke and it will be fun if Fleetwood do welcome Grimsby in the conferance next season the battle between the cod and grimsby's mighty mariner could be fun to watch!
The cod army's heroes wear the same kit design as Arsenal, the stadium shares the same name as there former home (highbury) and they do try and play the ball around on the deck like Arsenal. For the first 20 minutes or so Blyth were chasing shadows as Fleetwood played the ball out to the wings alot to try and stretch the game out. It was a case of not if, but when they would score and they duly took the lead on 19 mins through Adam Warlow. Blyth rarely threatened the cod's goal and a second was added on 42 mins by Nick Rogan. This was my cue to head back for more beer and food at the halftime break
The sandwiches on offer were served on a tray on each table, cheese, egg and cress, tuna, and ham were on offer (and as the fat bastard i am, i ate them all bar the ham) a small selection of mixed flavour crisps and nuts were also served along with tea and coffee. I was a happy bunny as the halftime scores came in with Lincoln up 2-0 against Bradford and Grimsby losing 2-0 at Rotherham united.
As with most non league grounds most of the fans swapped ends for the second half, with most of the cod army crammed behind the clubhouse end of the ground and the 20 or so Blyth fans behind the other goal. The only seated side of the ground was to our right and was about half full.
the cod army watch on
The game was as good as over on 58 minutes when a long range shot was spilled by the Blyth keeper and Rogan followed in the rebound for his second of the game. Blyth came more out of their shell after that and they won a corner on 68 minutes which brought cheers from their supporters behind the goal. Even more celebrations followed as the Fleetwood keeper flapped at the corner allowing Paul Brayson to score. Fleetwood killed the come back off in the 85th minute when Nathen Pond scored following a goal mouth scramble. As we made our way back into Jims bar Blyth added a second goal again from Brayson.(I didnt see it so i can't describe it) so 4-2 the final score but that flattered Blyth, such was Fleetwoods dominance.
Two of the most amusing points were the blyth player's tracksuits were sponsored by "viz" magazine, and that after every home goal the club played the first few bars of the captain Pugwash theme tune.
I really enjoyed myself at Fleetwood Town. I am normally sceptical about clubs who have had a lot of cash pumped in, but here i can see that firstly it has been well spent and secondly the club has a growing and solid fan base (helped in a small way by the fact that now Blackpool are in the championship alot of fans are priced out of going there) I can really see this club being in the football league in 5 years time!
All the best Fleetwood Town fc!
Addmission £20 (V.I.P) £10 normal
Programme (Free) £2 average 6/10
Clubhouse 9/10 on a par with Northwich
Badge £2.50
Food 9/10
Ground 7/10
Match quality 8/10
A big thank you to my hopping compaion on this trip! two games in a month! i will make a hopper of you yet!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment