Shaun Leckenby Design x OTS

 Shaun Leckenby's design work for this blog's cult favourite OneTrueSaxon. It's perhaps not as iconic as Ewen Brown's art (which I once posted about once upon a time here ) for said brand, however there's some cool bits and pieces here...

Exeter City (H)

First game back since January 2020 (Stockport County)

First EFL game since February 2017 (Plymouth).

The Vic was full and rocking, hopefully the good / safe times are returning. 

Up the fucking Football League bothering National League conquering Pools.

Chester-le-street Town Vs Boldon Colliery

 First live match I've been able to attend post lockdown - Hartlepool will have to wait. A lovely late summer afternoon and some good quality passing football at a tidy little ground. It's what Tuesday nights should be about...

Victoria Park

 

Football Toilets

Can you guess which ground these vintage cans are from?

Football Map

There's no place like home. Dorothy knew it. She must've known there's no place like your football clubs home either, as she (well, We Are Dorothy) has recreated the names of British football stadia into a quirky map. So she'll be able to find her way from Oz to Carrow Road.

Over 500 names are included, the majority famous football grounds but also 'map-tly' named training grounds (i.e Platt Lane), club names (Nottingham Forest) and players (David Rocastle). Hartlepool are represented twice with Victoria Park and Rink End making an appearance.

It's an inspired walkthrough famous names and places of British football. Available for £25 which given the match day prices for the majority of stadiums is a bargain.

Pick Gers

My pal Cam is a die hard Gers fan. Never had him down as a photographer but loved these pics he snapped at recent Rangers away games at QotS and Cowdenbeath. Sums up football from yesteryear, travelling hoardes, standing room only and crumbling stadia - football as it should be.

West Auckland Town vs. Hartlepool United

West Auckland. The home of the first World Cup winners. Twice. And they love to go on about it - the road sign as you arrive at the town proudly tells you. For any of you who don't know the tale, Thomas Lipton's dream was to create a international trophy and he did so in 1909 - inviting the best from Italy (Torino), Switzerland (Winterthur) Germany (Stuttgart) and, inventors of the sport, England - a club version forerunner of what would eventually become the World Cup. When it come to the choice of the finest team in England, legend has it, he couldn't remember the name of the best club but knew their initials were 'W' 'A' - thus a band of coal mining part timers from County Durham were invited along... First Division Woolwich Arsenal would have to wait a bit longer for European competition.

If that sounds ridiculous, what happened next sounds like myth. West Auckland turned up at the competition, having borrowed, begged and pawned to raise funds, and promptly won it - 2-0 in semis to Stuttgart and by the same scoreline in the final to Winterthur. They returned home heroes.

The myth then turns fairytale when the club were invited back in 1911 to defend their crown. And did so with aplomb. Winning the semis by a now familiar 2-0 score (vs FC Zurich), they then trounced Juventus 6-1 in the final. Mr Lipton said they could keep the trophy, but a few years later the financial implications of the traveling abroad hit home and the club sold anything it could to keep afloat - including the trophy. The eventually got it back in the 70s, only for it for be stolen in a burglary on the clubhouse in 1994. It's never been found.

The Town, and indeed the the club, seems stuck in a timezone well before 1994. A glorified pit village situated on the edge of the Pennines feels like the edge of humanity - if you go beyond it you've drop off the the world. Saying that I use the term 'humanity' quite loosely - my Durham City supporting pal was recounting tales of chew on with the West locals when visiting with the Citizens. And as we took up our place on the terrace with the West hardcore we noticed a few curious stares as kick off approached.

I always enjoy Durham Cup games (despite the fact it's usually youth/reserve level for Pools) as it's cheap, ensures a visit to a ramshackle Northern League ground and it's always under the lights. This time though excitement was at fever pitch as Marlon Harewood was starting (plus a few other first teamers) with a couple of trialists.

The game was fairly even, worryingly as this was supposedly a strong Pools line up, with United probably edging it on chances created. Dutch left winger trialist Sidney Schmeltz, formerly of Oldham, showed some good pace and low crossing, but big striker Harewood fluffed a handful of decent chances that he really should have put away. West broke away late in the half after a poor back pass and former Durham striker Stephen 'Speedie' Richardson coolly slotted home.

Half time and we walked behind the other goal, proving what a lonely existence being a Pools fan can be at these ties - we were the only ones at that end. Our blind loyalty (or stupidity) was rewarded three minutes after the restart when Harewood sprung the offside trap and converted a one on one right in front of us. A congratulatory message of 'Get the fuck in lad' was returned with a 'cheers mate' from the big man, which delighted me even further.

The game descended into a end to end type affair, but by end I mean the edge of the 18 yard area, with neither side really looking like taking the initiative. The pitch certainly didn't help, with upwardly rising slopes at either end - the only time I've seen a match played in a semi circle. As extra time approached a Pools defender was penalized for handball, Alex Francis stepped up from 30 yards and scored one of those free kicks that your side never seems to score -  a pile drived curler right into the upright. Unstoppable. It may have been only for the next round of the Durham Cup, but that free kick would have been worthy of winning the World Cup. Unfortunately for West Auckland, it's unlikely they'll get invited along again...

Football Grounds of Britain

Picked up the bible for ground hoppers the other day for a bin lid (quid) in a charity book sale. I love a bargain, love a book and used to love ticking off a new ground (before they all became vast soulless concrete bowls) so was delighted with this gem.

Simon Inglis had already visited every league ground in the country twice during the early and late eighties (for the 1st and 2nd edition), charting their design, history and issues, prior to this final edition from 1996. This edition highlighted the changes to stadia since the Taylor Report was brought in, and, rather impressively, instead of putting updated footnotes at the end of previous paragraphs, Inglis chose to rewrite the whole book from scratch. A truly massive feat given the 92 clubs down here (then Wembley and Cardiff Arms) plus the 'one man and his dog' leagues Scotland has.

Published less than twenty years ago, state of the art forerunning new stadiums like Huddersfield and Boro are lauded by the author. However I'm not sure how he'd have taken to the fact that since going to press a further 22 clubs have left their cherished charming old grounds for ten a penny plastic voids. Going on that rate of change every club could possibly have a new stadium by 2060. I hope not.

The author himself seems to prefer the ramshackle of old, when summing up York City, he retorically asks why do we love the dilapidated and anarcic stadia? - "We plan and we build them haphazardly. We fly in the face of logic. We even have a name for the consequences of all these failings... They are called The Shambles, and just like the football grounds of Britain, we delight in their quirkiness and would not wish them different for all the world..."

Let's assume then that if a fourth edition comes out, the text will now just read "once you've seen one, you've seen them all".