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First County Visit:	Friday 6th December 1985
Competition:	Canon League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Cambridge United 1 – 2 Stockport County
Attendance:	1,235
Away Trip:	39
Away Day:	125
County Line-up	1 Mike Salmon; 2 Clive Evans; 3 Trevor Matthewson; 4 Les Chapman; 5 Tommy Sword; 6 Bill Williams; 7 Andy Hodkinson; 8 Paul Hendrie; 9 Mark Leonard; 10 Tony Coyle; 11 Mark Wroe
Scorers:	Tony Coyle; Mark Wroe
Manager:	Les Chapman
County Visits:	4

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THE ABBEY VIA AN AIRFIELD

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When the Sunday papers fall on the mat each Sabbath morning I’m sure that I’m not alone in getting hold of the things by the spine and emptying out the varying types of junk advertising for stair-lifts and the like.  They always come with magazines as well, and I really do wonder how many of these are opened before being consigned to the blue bin, (or whatever colour receptacle your local Council has deemed to be the destination for newspapers and magazines).

I confess that I have occasionally turned to these things during some particularly boring encounter on what Sky insist on calling “Super Sunday”.  The content seems to range from cooking, through book and record reviews to a guide to the tourist spots.

And with regard to the latter it’s far from unusual to see the image of Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, as one of the must-see sights in England.  More than once occasion has taken me to the University town for a browse around these kind of tourist spots and there’s something to be said for the touristy stuff.

There’s something for everyone when it comes to entertainment in Cambridge. A choice of galleries; theatres; the famous Folk Festival; a wander around the various colleges and punting on the River Cam.  A good day can certainly be had.  But move away a mile or so from the tourist spots and it’s a different sort of place …. by a distance.  And it’s the latter where the Abbey Stadium is found.  Far removed from the camera laden tourists. Heading out of the city on the Newmarket Road, the magnificence of the college buildings in the rear view mirror, the approach to the Abbey Stadium was like that on a myriad of grounds elsewhere. Factories, warehouses and the like.

But I made the first trip a combination of tourism and (the more important) football.  Julie and I made an early start and had a decent perusal of places like the aforementioned Kings College Chapel and the Backs but a damp, and cold Friday afternoon, just 3 weeks or so before Christmas, had me looking at the clock moving slowly towards 7.45. We sat in the Main Stand, on bench seating not a million miles removed from the same sort of (lack of) spectator comfort found at Saltergate.  To the left was a small, uncovered, terrace rejoicing in the name of the Allotment End.

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The homesters were stationed in the Corona End – a covered terrace which always seemed to me to generate a fair amount of atmosphere, and on the far side was another covered terrace, the Habbin Stand.  A fairly unprepossessing arena, but one not without a degree of quirkiness. 

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The game ended in a 2-1 win, which was the 3^rd in a row, and was to be followed by another against Wrexham a week later.  It turned out to be the highspot of the campaign, because after that there were only another 7 victories from the remaining 25 matches.  Not a particularly memorable trip, and it was a late arrival back home, but not sufficiently energy sapping to stop me going over the Pennines the following day for what turned out to be a first trip to Millmoor where, very satisfyingly, I saw Rotherham put Burnley to the sword to the tune of 4-1 in an FA Cup game.

But there were a couple of future trips to the Abbey which have some memories. Four and a half years later the trip to Cambridge saw a re-arranged game following an earlier postponement.  Arthur Brotherton was the travelling companion that Monday.  Now Arthur wasn’t only a long-suffering County aficionado, but was heavily into all things aeronautical.  He worked in the airline industry, but also spent a fair amount of time, and cash, travelling round “plane-spotting”.  We set off early that day as he wanted to see some old aerodromes in the Fens.  Whilst I hadn’t the slightest interest in any of this I went along with it, and ended up frankly none the wiser about the mysteries that were unfolded before me.

The tour done we set the controls for Cambridge.  No tourism this time as we found ourselves parked up outside the ground some 4 hours before kick-off.  What to do?

Before the decision was made we were interrupted by a disturbing sound.  Coming up the road was something that looked as though it was on its final journey to one of the scrapyards that stood on Newmarket Road. It sounded as though it was breathing its last.  Shrouded in exhaust fumes it limped its way towards us.  As we managed to peer through the noxious emissions we espied within it a group of County fans, with the chariot being piloted by Jon Hall.  Jon was, and remains, a legend amongst the Edgeley faithful.  Known better as Captain Beefheart he was an ever present at games far and wide.  I knew him as well as one of the stalwarts of the Stockport Sports Quiz League, (sponsored by Gradwell for those in the SK postcode area who remember that name). 

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I did suggest to Arthur that the vehicle must have been procured specifically for the trip and might well have to be abandoned after reaching its destination.  It certainly looked and sounded far from roadworthy. Jon sadly passed away at far too young an age, but researching this tome I came across “OneUpManship Journal”, a blog post, and it certainly appears that travel in vehicles with far from adequate provenance was “de rigeur” for him. You can find it at http://one-up-manship.blogspot.com/2010/03/from-stockport-to-spain-in-battered.html – it tells the tale of a trip in a battered Mark 3 Cortina, the travellers including “Beefheart”. (The picture above is from that site). The description of him is worth re-producing here – it has him down to a “T”

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Dressed in typical teacher attire, tweed coat, shirt, trousers, specs and shoes, and huge sideburns not unlike oddball racing pundit John McCririck. The captain travelled everywhere with club and country, in a time when there was no real segregation, everyone was lumbered in together, and it was mostly young men, and most with a penchant for hooliganism. Not your stereotypical England fanatic, and certainly not one to delve into seat throwing territory, obviously, but there is an old chant at our place about him ‘kicking a copper’ at Barnsley. So who knows? an unlikely rebel if ever there was one.

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A good memory of a more than steadfast follower.  And as to the game it ended up with another win, courtesy of a brace from Brett Angell which left us well placed for a title push.  The three games after this were also won, but a couple of weeks after this the season ended in tears with that play-off exit at the hands of Chesterfield.

Fast forward 21 years.  The first season after the plunge into non-league.  In those days the “Blue Square Bet Premier” was televised by Premier Sports, and the powers that be there had obviously decided that County were the team to follow for their broadcasts.  When the schedule for TV games was announced before the season the Hatters were pencilled in for 4 appearances in the first 10 weeks or so of the season.  By the time September had ended the nation, (or more to the point, the minimal number of subscribers to Premier), had seen us twice – on the opening day at Forest Green, (more of which anon), and at home to Luton, both of which ended in draws.  The third time on-air was at Cambridge at the beginning of October, and on a Thursday night at that, purely to fit in with the schedules.  Now Premier was very much a shoestring operation, seemingly run as a training ground for aspirational broadcasters and production teams, but at least it did cover football beyond the hallowed portals of the top echelons, so for that we should be grateful.  As I write BT have picked up this torch and their coverage of the National League is a primary reason for my subscription, and certainly not seeing Lineker pontificating about European games.

The game saw Mark; Jeff and myself stationed in the replacement for the Allotment End – a decent stand behind the goal, and certainly affording far more comfort than its predecessor!!  Set up behind the goal was some rudimentary scaffolding, put there by Premier to get the goal-line action. 

The game saw early goals, (eventually ending up 2-2).  But we kept an eye on the guy on the scaffolding.  It looked more than precarious to start with, but early in the second half the wind and rain picked up and the structure started swaying alarmingly.  Those in the stand looked on aghast as the cameraman was clearly in danger of taking a fair quicker trip back to ground level than he would have welcomed.  As the wind-speed reached greater than gale-force levels, discretion triumphed over valour as a trio of stewards urged him to come down, and this he did with some alacrity, beating the platform to the ground … but not by much. 

But give him his due the show went on, and camera perched on his shoulder he ensured that the watching public still got some coverage, but from the shelter and succour of the Habbin Stand.  Well done that man!!

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There remained just one further trip.  4 months from what turned out to be the descent to regional football.  It was a sign of what was to come in the remainder of the season.  Cambridge won 4-1 and to be brutally honest it flattered us.  The next time we went to the University City was to be Histon….

November 2018

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Fri	06/12/85	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Cambridge United	W	2	1	1,235	125
Mon	23/04/90 (Highlights)	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Cambridge United	W	2	0	4,850	189
Thurs	06/10/11	Blue Square Bet Premier	Tier 5	Cambridge United	D	2	2	2,047	684
Sat	05/01/13	Blue Square Bet Premier	Tier 5	Cambridge United	L	1	4	2,305	717

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – BRISBANE ROAD Next stop – MAINE ROAD