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First County Visit:	Wednesday 27th September 1978
Competition:	Football League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Crewe Alexandra 2 – 2 Stockport County
Attendance:	2,777
Away Trip:	5
Away Day:	5
County Line-up	1 Mike Rogan; 2 Andy Thorpe; 3 John Rutter; 4 Alan Thompson; 5 Terry Park; 6 Paul Edwards; 7 Phil Henson; 8 George Armstrong; 9 Eddie Prudham; 10 Derek Loadwick; 11 Stuart Lee
Scorers:	Eddie Prudham; Stuart Lee
Manager:	Mike Summerbee
County Visits:	28

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MY 677th TRIP ……. FAREWELL TO FOOTBALL LEAGUE FORAYS

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All of that means that Gresty Road is my most visited stadium in pursuit of County.

Millions a year passing by on the Virgin West Coast line must see the Alexandra Stadium as it now rejoices under its new name but at least it’s not some advertising slogan, masquerading as sponsorship.  They’ll give it little more than a passing thought, even if they manage as much as that before turning back to papers or phones to keep them entertained. 

What they see in 2016 is somewhat different from what would, being kind, have been called a ramshackle old ground back in 1978.  A main stand which eventually appeared in 1999 is totally out of proportion to the rest of the ground.  This edifice accommodates 70% of the total capacity.  Rather smaller covered accommodation surrounds the remainder of the ground – all seated naturally in these times, maybe 10 rows in each, with a row of hospitality boxes, backing onto the railway track, which are strangely positioned behind the goal. 

It’s a neat little place now, and probably testimony to the remarkable job that Dario Gradi did in spotting, developing and then selling on a whole busload of players who made it at the highest level. (None of which should, of course, be taken without putting into the context of the scandal which has enveloped the Club as events from many years ago have appeared in the public domain).

Wind back to 1978, and to say things were different is a mountain of an understatement. In the days before the HSE and the like got involved, there seemed to be no real limit on how many could be accommodated, other than the sheer physical effort of squeezing as many people into the smallest possible space.   At Gresty Road that can’t have been many more than 5,000. 

Visitors in the late 1970’s were afforded space at the Gresty Road end in one of the most bizarre configurations possible.  The illustration shows clearly that the stand ran not parallel to the deadball line but at some acute angle.  Other than four rows of wooden planks at the back terracing was missing, leaving the view of the action more than limited and the travelling faithful perched on tip toe on a bed of shale.  The far end goal was just about visible, but determining in detail what was going on far more problematical.

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The first trip saw a 2-2 draw.  In the days when getting a point away from home was regarded as a triumph, to be savoured for many weeks after, it must have felt good.  Pity is I can’t remember too much about the encounter.  4 weeks after a trip to the hallowed portals of Old Trafford, it must have been a return to reality.  Stuart Lee and Eddie Prudham got the goals, but there’s little point dwelling on what seems to have been a less than memorable Away Day.

But one night in September 1983 does come readily to mind.  Watching from that Gresty Road end we saw the Mighty Quinn come to town. 

When the County statisticians gave up counting after the Club’s relegation to the Skrill North, (Tier 6) in 2013, presumably because that level of competition wasn’t deemed worthy of including in the records, I had seen well over 600 players representing the Club.  (Three years in Tier 6 must have added around another 80, maybe more. Neil “revolving door” Young did honourable service in this regard.  In 2015 he turned over 36 players in his 4 months in charge).  So let’s call that nigh on 700. 

And there is still no-one who is more of a legend to me than Micky Quinn.  More famous these days as a radio pundit, or maybe a racehorse trainer, for a brief period of 18 months he was more than a hero to the EP faithful … he was more akin to a god. 

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Quinn arrived at EP in perhaps the best piece of business ever done.  Having made his league debut for Wigan, scoring 19 goals in 69 appearances, Latics boss Larry Lloyd deemed him not good enough.  Rumour and legend has it that Lloyd was so desperate to get rid that Wigan actually paid County to take him off their hands.  Only at Edgeley for 18 months he plundered 39 goals in 63 appearances before moving to Oldham for £52,000.  A prime piece of business indeed. 

But it wasn’t only the goals it was the manner of their execution.  Brave as a lion; no respecter of reputation and ready to run through a wall he was the focus that County fans desperately yearned for. The fact that he was also a “jack the lad” simply added to the connection.  Only later did it emerge that whilst at County he moonlighted, under a pseudonym, for a Sunday League team back on his native Merseyside on the days when Eric Webster didn’t come calling. 

That night in September 1983 County went into the game lying in 20^th spot, with their hosts occupying a more lofty position than was their wont back then.  Their regular status was a position in what would now be known as the relegation zone, but back then invited Clubs to go cap in hand to their peers desperately hoping for re-election. The Hatters had got off to a grim start – a single win from 7 games whilst the Alex were 7 places and 4 points better off.  The short hop onto the Cheshire plain brought little hope and zero expectation.  After all previous visits to Gresty Road had been rewarded with but a single win, and a draw.  Little were we to know what would unfold.

The bare facts are that County won 3-0, with Quinny picking up a hat-trick.  He must have liked playing against Crewe.  12 months previously he also notched a treble against them in a game at EP.  Gresty Road that evening witnessed a performance of an all-conquering hero, capping his third with a gladiatorial pose atop the fence dividing spectators and players.  In his entertaining autobiography, (Who Ate all the Pies), he picks up on this, far better described by himself…..

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“Against Crewe Alexandra away at Gresty Road, a big local derby for County, I fired in a hat-trick.  When the third went in I sprinted over to our supporters and leapt on the rusty old fence that in those days hemmed in the crowd.  As 200 ecstatic County fans surged forward to mob me, there was a huge screech of twisting metal.  The supporters turned tail and ran back up the terraces as the fence threatened to crush them.  I leapt off just in time to prevent taking out all of our away support”.

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A great night … a fond memory … and three points as well!!

Gresty Road also holds a personal record aside from the most Away Days.  It is, without a scintilla of doubt, the coldest I have ever been at a game (†).  It was, towards the end of the “Season Mirabilis”.  A campaign which saw 67 games, a League Cup semi-final appearance and promotion.  By March 1997 catching up on games postponed because of cup progress we faced a minimum of 2 games a week. One of which was an Auto Windscreens Shield Northern Semi Final.  With County desperate for the fixture to go ahead, and avoid a three game programme the following week, the officials fortunately saw fit to give the go-ahead on a pitch which may mercifully have been frost free, but had the consistency of a road surface.  What it was like to play was anyone’s guess, but watching was more than a trial. 

(†) – This piece was written back in 2016. It took 22 years for conditions to be matched. A night at Leamington in January 2019 was equally as cold. A photo on the post reflecting on trips to the New Windmill Ground shows just how cold it was in Warwickshire that evening.

Met Office records seem fairly sparse, but it must have been several degrees below freezing.  Sitting behind the goal, the sensation was akin to being welded to the seat.  And there was no respite as proceedings saw no winner in normal time.  The only warmth to be gained was a 5-3 penalty shoot-out triumph with the coup-de-grace administered by Hatters keeper Paul Jones, with a strike which would have ended back up in Stockport had the net not intervened.  Relief at the victory was completely overtaken by the succour afforded as the car heater kicked into life as the lights of Crewe disappeared in the rear view mirror.

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Alexandra also provided a poignant, indeed more than sad moment.  On 30^th April 2011, County’s, and therefore my, travels around the highways and byways of the Football League came to an end.  By that point there had been 677 Away Days, and 128 different grounds, but more significantly the epic mismanagement of the Club off the pitch was about to reap what it had sowed.  A 2-2 draw at home to Northampton on Easter Monday had effectively consigned County to relegation.  Some may have clung to a mathematical chance of avoiding the drop.  Realism should have been the order of the day, simply because the Hatters 110 year residence in the Football League was all but done.  All that remained was a trip to Crewe followed by a wake in a home encounter with Cheltenham Town. 

The atmosphere was surreal and looking round many of the supporters I saw regularly at stadia far flung and nearer to home there was a truly weary air of resignation.  Some tried to inject some optimism, by looking forward, (rather misguidedly as things transpired), to a swift return from what was perceived to be the underworld of football.  Others, acting the realist, probably knew that a Club on a downward trajectory and presided over by Boardroom ineptitude on a biblical scale, would really struggle to make an impact. 

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The game just about summed up it.  Lost 2-0, with barely a whimper.  Walking down Gresty Road towards the station car park was a sorry experience.  No more would we look forward to trips to the Stadium of Light; the City Ground or even Spotland or Boundary Park.  Nor could we any longer anticipate famous victories at Maine Road; Molineux or the New Den.  From dining at the Captain’s table it would be the thin gruel of using a satnav to locate Braintree and Alfreton; Forest Green and Ebbsfleet. But it was to be a new era ….. how little did we know what was to transpire.

October 2016

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Archive footage of Gresty Road in 1979 – the ground as I first remember it

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Wednesday	27/09/78	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	D	2	2	2,777	5
Saturday	19/04/80	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	1	2,789	26
Saturday	21/02/81	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	2	2,598	38
Saturday	06/03/82	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	W	2	0	1,827	54
Monday	03/01/83	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	3	2,508	69
Friday	30/09/83	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	W	3	0	2,965	82
Saturday	09/03/85	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	1	2	2,313	108
Friday	06/09/85	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	W	1	0	2,148	119
Tuesday	14/01/86	Freight Rover Trophy	Group Round	Crewe Alexandra	L	1	4	994	127
Friday	17/04/87	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	5	2,413	143
Tuesday	20/10/87	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	1	3	2,251	150
Friday	23/09/88	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	D	1	1	2,975	160
Tuesday	27/11/90	Leyland Daf Cup	Group Round	Crewe Alexandra	D	1	1	1,927	199
Tuesday	17/03/92	Autoglass Trophy	Northern Semi-final	Crewe Alexandra	W	2	1	5,594	228
Tuesday	30/08/94	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Crewe Alexandra	L	1	2	5,050	283
Tuesday	20/02/96 (Highlights)	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Crewe Alexandra	W	1	0	4,241	318
Saturday	17/08/96 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	1	4,310	326
Tuesday	04/03/97 (Highlights)	Auto Windscreens Trophy	Northern Semi-final	Crewe Alexandra	D	1	1	3,529	350
Saturday	22/11/97	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	W	1	0	5,231	371
Saturday	20/02/99	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	W	2	0	5,473	401
Saturday	22/04/00	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	L	2	3	5,813	425
Saturday	18/11/00 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	W	2	1	6,099	434
Saturday	27/01/01 (Highlights)	FA Cup	Round 4	Crewe Alexandra	W	1	0	7,318	440
Wednesday	24/10/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	D	0	0	6,679	454
Saturday	29/03/03	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	1	7,336	482
Saturday	22/11/08 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	Crewe Alexandra	W	3	0	5,337	618
Tuesday	01/09/09	Johnstones Paints Trophy	Northern Round 1	Crewe Alexandra	W	4	1	2,331	636
Saturday	30/04/11	npower Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	2	4,799	677

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – OLD TRAFFORD Next stop – BELLE VUE