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First County Visit:	Saturday 8th October 1983
Competition:	Canon League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Chesterfield 2 – 0 Stockport County
Attendance:	3,846
Away Trip:	29
Away Day:	83
County Line-up	1 Mike Salmon; 2 Graham Jones; 3 John Rutter; 4 Dean Emerson; 5 Paul Bowles; 6 Andy Thorpe; 7 Oshor Williams; 8 Nigel Smith; 9 Micky Quinn; 10 Tommy Sword; 11 Tony Coyle
Manager:	Eric Webster
County Visits:	13

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THE LOWEST LOW … AND … THE HIGHEST HIGH

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My working life is all but over these days but over the years I’ve undergone a fair few job interviews, and also conducted far more.  One of the questions beloved of interviewers is that hoary old chestnut, “Describe yourself in less than ten words”. Well prepared interviewees should have a pithy, but reasonably accurate, response ready at all times.  Asked at the end of an interview it can either confirm or negate the previous conversation and lead to the decision being made. Turning it slightly on its head I’ll give you ten words which reflect my Saltergate experience.

“A proper ground providing the lowest low and the highest high“

OK – it’s 11 words but afford me some licence! I defy any County fan of 25 years standing or more to disagree!

A proper ground indeed.  It’s official name was the Recreation Ground, but to football fans the length and breadth of the country it was always known as Saltergate, which is the thoroughfare on which it stood.  Cast and created in the mists of time it had been the home of the Spireites since 1884.  For a lower Division ground the Main Stand was reasonably imposing.  A wooden structure, with dark passages underneath, and less then comfortable seating, it provided a decent view.  Originally with a small terrace in front this was not utilised in its latter years.  It had stood there for 47 years when I made my first call. 

Opposite was a low stand on Compton Street home to the more moderate home support.  The vociferous element always gathered in the Kop.  Its external appearance belied what lay behind.  Climbing up a set of steps from Saltergate itself the expectation was of a decent size terracing.  The reality was a little different.  Not the steepness envisaged, but more of a gradual slope, but nothwithstanding that definitely a home from home for Spireites.  To the right of the Main Stand was the Cross Street End, providing a decent terrace for away fans, but sadly open to the elements.

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It was that terracing which provided dismay and joy almost in equal measures a mere seven years apart.  It also shared the honours with Spotland of providing “Gentleman’s WC facilities” , the use of which did not preclude missing a single kick. Whilst business was being transacted in there the surrounding wall may have been sufficient to protect whatever modesty its patrons wished but not a cost of potentially missing the match winning goal. 

Nowadays at some of these posh, pristine Premier League grounds I understand that the “bogs”, to give them their much more familiar name, have a TV screen.  The outcome may well be the same, but it feels a bit sanitised, if that isn’t too big a pun when talking about this kind of thing.  Without a scintilla of doubt sanitisation never seemed the top of the agenda in those creations at both Saltergate and Spotland.  But they were clearly ground breakers … the Premier League following on from the more earthy Division 4.  All in all a really attractive ground.  It’s disappearance leading to yet another breeze block and girder construction just down the road was a grievous loss, but sadly also an inevitable outcome of the march of time; health and safety; the Taylor Report et al

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Aside from my thoughts about the ground the sole memory of my first vist, in October 1983, was not only the defeat, (2-0), but also that only the scoresheet for the Spireites was keeper Jim Brown.  It wasn’t a Jimmy Glass moment, with the keeper emerging to head home in the last minute but rather a long clearance from the Kop End, (above), which bounced mid-way in the County half, picked up pace off the turf, sodden on a dismal autumn day, and flew past a despairing Mike Salmon, the Hatters custodian that day.  The Chesterfield Football History Resource, (Sky is Blue, Clouds are White), records it as being a 97 yard strike. Very precise, and from my memory, pretty accurate!

This small clip of Saltergate shows how it was on my 13 visits. Its taken from the Vale Tarci You Tube Channel from “Demolished Football Stadiums”

It’s now approaching 2,000 County games under my belt and it would take an inordinate time to think of the ten lowest points.  Relegation from the Football League and a further fall into Conference North would unquestionably feature; play-off defeats would come to mind; and without doubt some individual games, a classic being the FA Cup replay defeat against Everton in 1996 when a famous comeback was snatched away in the dying seconds.  But Sunday 13^th May 1990 would be very near if not at the top of the tree.

The cause of our arrival at Saltergate that Sabbath Day is catalogued in Away Trip 17 to the Shay.  A play-off semi final first leg.  In truth the teams were, on paper, reasonably well matched.  County had finished fourth, but only three points in front of Chesterfield.  The teams had met at EP only 15 days previously, with a 3-1 home victory being capped off by a thunderbolt free kick from left back Dave Logan.  The form book favoured County who had finished the campaign with four straight victories.  Chesterfield on the other hand had only managed a single win over the same period and had climbed into the play-offs with a last day win over Grimsby.

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But that was all on paper.  Taking up a spot in the Main Stand, on that less than executive seating, Arthur Brotherton and I took a look round; then turned to each other and almost said in the same breath – “What kind of team is Bergara putting out today”.  Beside us in the Stand were Bill Williams; Mark Payne and Keith Edwards.  On the pitch were Gary Leonard, with six appearances all season, and Gary Brabin, with but a single outing.  Arthur was never backward at coming forward, and knowing Payne he asked the direct question of them all, “Not fit then?”. The shrug of the shoulders told all. 

Edwards non-selection in particular for me, if he was fit, as the shrug of shoulders indicated, was a mystery.  He had come to County earlier in the campaign, and as a proven scorer throughout a long career, (256 in 553 games), and had carried this on at Edgeley with 10 in 26 starts.  He’d had some kind of falling out with Bergara a few weeks before, which led to a short loan spell with Huddersfield, but with the league programme completed had returned to Edgeley.  To my way of thinking that day a pedigree such as his surely worth a chance on the bench. 

Similarly Payne, described by some, (but not by me who preferred his other qualities), as a “silky midfielder” also knew the way to goal.  It all seemed strange, and was probably the only time in his glorious managerial stint at EP that I found myself at odds with Bergara.

The game was a debacle, with the outcome so bleak that any future mention was preceded by the term “Black Sunday”.  A bright start for the Hatters quickly dissipated as Calvin Plummer showed his speed on the wing and a definite eye for goal as he picked up a hat-trick, as the Spireites ran out winners 4-0.  It was a truly sorry trip back over the High Peak.  Not a chance of pulling that deficit back in the return leg at Edgeley three days later, and all the expectation and hope of climbing out of the basement division having drained away at Saltergate.  Lowest of the low? It definitely felt like it.

Roll forward precisely 2,542 days and that same location provided the “highest of the high”.  The penultimate fixture of “Annus Mirabilis”.  Monday 28^th April 1997.  With County standing a point more than third placed Luton, but with a game in hand the equation was simple. A win would lead to promotion, with the possibility of the title to be settled the following Saturday – strangely enough at Kenilworth Road. 

It was the 66^th game of a season which had seen a determined promotion push; semi-finalists in the League Cup and a decent run in both the FA Cup and Autoglass Trophy. A damp evening to say the least.  With well over 8,000 shoehorned into Saltergate, the County following was stationed in the pouring rain at the Cross Street End. 

Not that everybody was there for the start.  The exodus from SK3 didn’t help with the journey across the High Peak, and a fallen tree near Whaley Bridge added further delays.  Parking up, as ever, with the car pointing in the right direction on Chatsworth Road, ready for the return trip, the hike up Foljambe Road brought Saltergate within view.  Shrouded in mist, with the lights primed to break through the gloom, this was the centre of the earth for any County fan that evening.

The tension was palpable, and the expectancy high.  Nerves were settled, but only partially, in the first few minutes.  An inch perfect cross from Armstrong, out on the left, found Angell stooping to head home in front of the Kop.  1-0 … only 80 plus minutes to hold out.  It stayed that way until the break, as indeed it did as 90 minutes passed.  Surely we were there now, the promised land of the Championship was within reach.  But the board was held up showing six minutes of “time allowed” as Kenny Boxshall, County’s long term PA man always terms it, even to this day.  ‘Added or injury time’ to the rest of us it made no difference what it was called.  It was still six minutes. 

All I can recall about those minutes was the sight of Ken Charlery, brought in by Dave Jones towards the end of the campaign, putting on a masterful display of ball retention down by the corner flag.  Charlery had deprived us of promotion at Wembley 5 years previously, but that night he made amends, in my eyes.  Six minutes elapsed, the referee sounded the end and there it was!  Promotion to the second tier.  Something I never expected when starting this journey, and a 3 year period to come when we held our own at that level…. and held an absolute hex over Manchester City.

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Highlights from the match and the scenes thereafter are available on this You Tube link Chesterfield 0-1 County

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“Saltergate – A proper ground providing the lowest low and the highest high”.  No argument invited.  It’s fact.

January 2017

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	08/10/83	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Chesterfield	L	0	2	3,846	83
Sat	01/12/84	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Chesterfield	L	0	3	3,943	104
Sat	11/11/89	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Chesterfield	D	1	1	4,585	177
Sun	13/05/90 (Highlights)	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4 Play-off semi final	Chesterfield	L	0	4	8,277	191
Sat	29/12/90	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Chesterfield	D	1	1	4,307	200
Tues	08/12/92	Autoglass Trophy	Group Round	Chesterfield	W	3	0	1,956	249
Sat	06/04/96	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Chesterfield	W	2	1	6,090	323
Tues	03/09/96 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Cup	Round 1 – 2nd Leg	Chesterfield	W	2	1	3,439	328
Mon	28/04/97 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Chesterfield	W	1	0	8,690	358
Tues	17/09/02	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Chesterfield	L	0	1	4,088	468
Sat	10/04/04 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Chesterfield	W	3	0	5,901	506
Wed	20/10/04 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	Chesterfield	L	0	4	4,567	512
Sat	18/08/07 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Chesterfield	D	1	1	4,600	581

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – ELM PARK Next stop – BOUNDARY PARK