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First County Visit:	Saturday 22nd October 1988
Competition:	Barclays League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Scarborough 1 – 1 Stockport County
Attendance:	2,449
Away Trip:	45
Away Day:	162
County Line-up	1 Andy Gorton; 2 Brian Butler; 3 Nigel Hart; 4 David Logan; 5 Andy Thorpe; 6 Ian Scott; 7 Rodger Wylde; 8 Tony Caldwell; 9 Brett Angell; 10 Asa Hartford (12 Ian McKenzie); 11 John Cooke
Scorer:	Nigel Hart
Manager:	Asa Hartford
County Visits:	3

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DEATH OF A CLUB AND DEMISE OF A GROUND

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It’s not only for the deeds that may have happened, but also that they have now been consigned to alternative uses, and their original occupants are now housed for the greater part of the soulless breeze block constructions so beloved of the architects who put in minimal effort for what I imagine to be great reward.  But Seamer Road, Scarborough, was a little different.  It certainly disappeared, but the Club went with it.  It’s a salutary tale.

Scarborough were one of the oldest clubs, being formed in 1879, and one of their early grounds was at North Marine Road.  It was a cricket ground then, and remains so with Yorkshire playing there regularly. Being an aficionado of the summer game as well I can heartily endorse it for a good day out.  Plenty of seating, great views, and the way that I believe that the 4 day game should be held.  The demise of the traditional longer form, sacrificed on the alter of the quick fix of T20 means that crowds in the County Championship are on the small side. 

Locally Old Trafford is a dreadful place to watch the 4 day game.  Maybe 1,500 – 2,000 dotted around a ground which holds 20,000.  Like the breeze block arenas springing up for football fans it’s a soulless experience.  But go to Aigburth in Liverpool; Trafalgar Road at Southport or Stanley Park at Blackpool and the same size of crowd produces a good atmosphere.  And I imagine that much the same can be said of North Marine Road as opposed to Headingley.

You might say what relevance does that have.  Well, in the summer of 2016 Julie and I went to Scarborough to watch Yorkshire take on Middlesex.  On the way back I thought that a detour to what had been Seamer Road would be in order, purely to see what the area in which I had stood nearly 28 years previously had turned into. 

Scarborough had been a power-house of the non-league game in the early 1980’s and were rewarded with promotion to the Football League – the very first beneficiaries of automatic promotion from the Conference.  It was a short-lived league career, lasting only 12 years, before they returned from whence they came. Six years later it was another relegation, to Conference North, a journey uncannily similar to that which County were to make not much more than half a decade later.  Hindsight shows that it spelt the end for the Seadogs. 

Despite their diminished status they wanted to capitalise on the site, and move to a new ground. The club had been hoping to move to a new stadium on the outskirts of town by the start of the 2009–10 season, with the proceeds from the sale of the McCain Stadium to a housing developer wiping out the club’s historic debts in addition to providing the finance to build the new ground. However, a covenant existed on what by now had been renamed the McCain Stadium that restricted its use only to sporting activities. Scarborough failed to convince the local Council  of the viability of this and by June 2007 they were wound up with  debts of £2.5 million.  It was the end of a 128 year history. 

Despite Scarborough Athletic being formed from the ashes it was to be another 10 years before they returned to the town, having ground-shared for a decade at Bridlington.  It is a salutary tale indeed, and one to which plenty of other clubs in the depth of the football hierarchy could well pay attention.  So the trip back down Seamer Road on that July afternoon in 2016 saw no evidence whatsoever that football had occupied that site for 109 years.

After Scarborough’s demise the stadium remained empty and derelict; subject to vandalism and suffered severe damage after a fire.  The Council decided to invest in a new stadium rather than develop the old site and in 2011 the bulldozers moved in, but not before Featherstone Rovers RLFC acquired the East and West Stands. The site stood unused for 6 years until, 6 months before Athletic moved back in to the town, a new Lidl store threw open its doors to the retail public.  My return visit saw the new use in the very early stages of its construction.

Even though it had been nearly 18 years since I saw football there it was, to me, a sad loss.  A typical lower league ground but with enough individuality to make it a decent place to visit.  And, despite being the thick end of a 240 mile round trip, it was made for easy access.  Get on the M62 at Oldham; head beyond Leeds, then up the A1 for a few miles before turning right and picking up the A64, waving fondly as York passed by on the left, and then a pleasant drive over the North Yorks Moors.

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The ground itself was basic to say the least on that first visit, (which was quickly followed by a second, three weeks or so later in the FA Cup).   A decent enough Main Stand, (holding no more than 800), a covered terrace on the far side which rejoiced in the name “The Shed” but later falling victim to a sponsors name, and two open ends.  The two ends were to be covered, with decent seating areas, well after the time of what was the third and last visit, only just over a year later.  Bur even in the condition it was when I last saw action there it was a decent lower league enclosure.

That first trip, in late October 1988, marked a significant milestone in my County watching “career”.  It came just a few days after the 25^th anniversary of my first ever game, on October 12^th 1963 – a 2-2 draw with Aldershot at Edgeley Park.

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But it also marked the very first appearance in County colours of one Brett Angell.  It was also his first Football League appearance.  He had started at Portsmouth but failed to trouble the teamsheet.  A spell at Cheltenham, (then a Conference club), gave him the opportunity and it was at Whaddon Road that he was converted to a striker.  That conversion certainly benefitted the Hatters in the years to come.  His record of 24 goals in 37 games got him a £45,000 move to Derby but eight months later, still without a Football League appearance Derby took a £12,000 hit as Asa Hartford paid £33,000 for him. 

That afternoon at Seamer Road was his unveiling.  He hardly made a big hit initially, taking 6 games to get off the mark, and finishing his first season with only 5 from nigh on 30 games. It was the following year that he came into his own, under the tutelage of Danny Bergara, and ended up with 23 goals.  The season ended with the play-off heartache against Chesterfield, subsequent to which he handed in a transfer request.  There followed a most unsavoury episode.

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Two spells at EP; a crucial part of the 1996/97 team and finishing in 2000 with a County carrer of 228 (+18) appearances and a superb strike rate delivering 95 goals.

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Southend United fancied him but put in what can only be termed as a “derisory” offer.  County wanted £250,000, not unreasonable even getting on for 30 years ago for someone who had averaged a goal every two games.  Their offer came in £235,000 lower!  It led to a Tribunal view which favoured the Shrimpers to more than a small degree.  The Hatters picked up around £80,000 after Derby had taken their cut from the sell-on clause.  But it wasn’t the last we saw of him – he was to play a huge role in what is arguably the greatest season the Club has ever known.  

His record at Southend persuaded Everton to stump up half a million for him.  At least the Tribunal decision paid some dividends as County picked up £160,000 of this as part of a sell-on deal.  Not much happened for him at Goodison, and after a move to Sunderland, and loan spells at Bramall Lane and the Hawthorns he returned to EP shortly after the start of the 1996/97 season. 

He was to be a revelation in a season which saw County promoted; reach the League Cup semi-final and capture the imagination of the football watching public nationwide.  In partnership with Alun Armstrong the two plundered well over 30 goals, and for Angell, and the gathered masses on the Cross Street End it was the winner he got in the penultimate game of the season at Saltergate which was to be the most memorable. 

Knowing that a win would secure promotion, with a tilt at the title on the cards at Luton 5 days later, County made the perfect start.  Five minutes into the game a cross from the left by Armstrong saw Angell stoop and head into the net in front of the Kop.  Away Trip 29 has catalogued that night in fuller detail but suffice it to say, Angell’s strike that evening was to be one of the biggest highlights of the 55 years I’ve been watching them.  His second spell at Edgeley ended in 2000, and he left with 95 goals in total over the two spells.

By the way that first trip to Seamer Road yielded a decent point.  County had come into the game with 11 points from 10 games, (which in total had seen a mere 18 goals).  Scarborough were riding relatively high, 2^nd in the table, some 17 places better off and were challenging leaders Burnley.  The Seadogs kept things going, only missing out on promotion courtesy of a play-off defeat at the hands of Leyton.  County ended up 20^th but more importantly 10 games from the end of the campaign welcomed Danny Bergara to the managerial hotseat.  It was a move which led to riches untold……

Here’s a short video of Seamer Road – it’s taken from the Vale Tarci You Tube Channel from “Demolished Football Stadiums”

April 2020

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Postscript – May 2020

Seamer Road is of course no more for the reasons outlined above. In this short video extract there’s some pretty stark images of the ground after it had been abandoned, (plus a shot or two of the new ground after the return to Scarborough. Click Here. It’s from the NYLT You Tube Channel – “Top 10 Abandoned Non-League Stadiums)

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	22/10/88	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Scarborough	D	1	1	2,449	162
Sat	19/11/88	FA Cup	Tier 4	Scarborough	L	1	2	2,939	164
Sat	09/12/89	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Scarborough	L	0	2	1,780	181

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – CANAL STREET Next stop – MILLMOOR