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First County Visit:	Tuesday 3rd October 1995
Competition:	Coca-Cola Cup – (Round 2 – 2nd Leg)
Result:	Ipswich Town 1 – 2 Stockport County (aet)
Attendance:	9,262
Away Trip:	71
Away Day:	308
County Line-up	1 Neil Edwards; 2 Sean Connelly; 3 Lee Todd; 4 Tom Bennett (12 Michael Oliver); 5 Mike Flynn (13 Tony Dinning); 6 Jim Gannon; 7 Chris Beaumont; 8 Paul Ware; 9 Ian Helliwell (14 Martyn Chalk); 10 Alun Armstrong; 11 Jeff Eckhardt
Scorers:	Alun Armstrong; Jim Gannon
Manager:	Dave Jones
County Visits:	2

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OJ SIMPSON FOLLOWED BY A FINE WIN

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Then there are the two other Devon, (Exeter and Torquay), and three South coast clubs, (Portsmouth; Bournemouth and Southampton).  There are a fair few which are more than 200 miles, (Gillingham and the Kent clubs in the Conference).  The common theme about these is that despite the distance, the motorway network affords decent access.  The same cannot be said about Suffolk, (and if truth’s known Norfolk as well).  Ipswich weighs in at 209 miles from my house, but no motorways after leaving the A1(M) west of Cambridge. 

And it was the prospect of a wearisome drive that caused Jeff and myself to avail ourselves of the Fingerpost Flyer on our two trips to Portman Road.  Many years later, the nonsense of Lowestoft’s placing in the National league North led us to do much the same trip by car.  A dreadful journey on both occasions, but more of that when I get to scribble about Crown Meadow.

Trips on “The Finger” generally involved the video being put on and a highlights tape, from a recent game, occupied the outbound journey.  Return trips, especially for night games, (and there were many long distance drives back north in the 1996/97 season), saw a mixture of some fellow travellers getting their head down if work called in the morning, and for those who wanted entertainment a film would be showed.  I’m no great film buff but vividly recall watching ‘Pulp Fiction’ as we returned from a debacle at the Manor Ground.  On another occasion a vote was held as to whether one of Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown’s more excessive performances would be acceptable – the vote was in the affirmative, providing much entertainment for the assembled throng. Whatever the fare on offer it helped to pass the miles.

I’ve no idea what was shown in the first part of the outbound trip to Portman Road early in October 1995.  But the latter part, as we wended our way down the Suffolk roads, was occupied by the radio.  The trial of OJ Simpson was coming to a conclusion.  It was the denouement of a bizarre, and tragic episode. 

Simpson was the archetypal all-American hero, the number 1 draft pick in the NFL, and a career as an outstanding running back for the Bills and 49ers. It all turned sour in 1994 when he was charged with murder.  He failed to present himself at the appointed time and there followed a completely unbelievable low-speed pursuit.  It was televised live, and purportedly watched by over 95 million viewers – I recall seeing it on one of the 24-hour news channels which were then in their infancy.

He eventually came to a trial which went on for nine months.  As we approached Portman Road the verdict was announced. There had been much discussion about the way it would go, with many believing that the verdict would be a political rather than evidence-based decision. He was acquitted – I offer no view on the decision but do know that it was the conclusion of something which had generated significant interest.  Put it this way – Radio 4 wasn’t a staple listen on the Finger – but on that afternoon the travellers demanded to tune-in. As the verdict was announced the lights at Portman Road came into view and attention turned to the more pressing matter at hand.

The cause of the trip was the 2^nd leg of a Coca-Cola Cup 2^nd round tie.  The first leg at EP had ended all-square, 1-1, Martyn Chalk on the scoresheet.  The game had also seen a substitute appearance from Gavin Allen, the only and only time we saw him.  So, there was much to play for, and at the same time, for me, the chance of a ‘new’ ground.  The coach was directed to park up a short walk from the ground, somewhere near the station.  Policing at football comes in for criticism, and there’s been many times when I have despaired at how it is conducted.  But I’ll give the Suffolk constabulary their due that evening.  No herding of us straight into the ground, but rather a direction to a pub near to the ground, where we mingled quite happily with the locals.  Their brethren up and down the land could well learn from the way it was done.

After refreshment we entered the ground.  For those whose knowledge of Portman Road is limited to TV, we were stationed on the opposite side of the ground from the cameras, on the top tier of the Portman Stand.  The accommodation could well have been described as ‘snug’, with little legroom, but to be fair a capacity of 1,700 for visitors was hardly tested that evening. 

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I liked the ground.  Opposite us, the Pioneer Stand provided three tiers, and the conversion of the stands at both ends, ( titled ‘North’ and ‘Churchmans’), from terracing to seating three years earlier provided an all-seated arena. (Since then bigger constructions have replaced these). The presence of cover on all 4 sides delivered a feeling of enclosure, leading to a concentration on the action on the pitch.  Pretty atmospheric, I thought, even though the game had hardly drawn the locals out in great numbers, with only just over 9,000 bothering.  A few weeks earlier I had been to Meadow Lane for the first time – it was a similar feeling there as well.

On the pitch, goals from Armstrong and Gannon gave us a welcome, and perhaps an unexpected, 2-1 victory against a side who had been playing in the Premier League, (as it had been retitled in 1992), a year earlier. 

I made another trip down there a couple of years later.  It was another midweek game, involving a half day off work, an early morning arrival at home, and a less than productive workday to follow. Again, the Finger provided the conveyance.  Same route, same parking place, same pub and same area of the ground.  To cap it all it was the same result, albeit that we kept a clean sheet.  The team was much changed, but the core of that great side played in both matches – Connelly; Flynn; Gannon; Bennett and Armstrong.  Brett Angell scored twice in a 2-0 victory.  It was of course our first season in Division 1 – the win, (our 6^th in 9 games after a slow start to the season), pushed us up to 9^th.

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The Club’s four visits to Ipswich all occurred within the space of 4 years.  I made it to the first two but couldn’t manage the latter pair.  The first of them was a Tuesday night, (yet again).  I always tried to make a point of watching my lads football matches.  Rob was 10 and had an important game for his team that night.  The choice was watching his game or making a 450-mile round trip for a game of little consequence, with us standing mid-table having 4 games left.  the season was effectively over. 

The choice wasn’t a choice, and the fact that it was on Sky, (no doubt to fulfil the contractual requirements to show us a set number of times a season) meant I could see both games.  I remember Rob’s team won which is more than County did.  A 1-0 defeat and from what I recall from the TV screen, as the classic statement goes, “We were lucky to get nil!”.

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8 months later there was a milestone game. The final whistle blew, around 55 hours before the new Millennium dawned.  A family festive gathering had precluded travelling so it was a case of keeping an ear on the radio.  We had beaten Wolves 3-2 in an epic Boxing Day encounter.  We were 6^th in the second tier of English football the highest place in our history, (aside from one of those early season table which have little meaning).  We lost at Portman Road, but stayed 6^th.  The chance of Premier League football was on the horizon.  That horizon disappeared – in the next 13 years and 4 months we played 619 league games; won 162; drew 170 and lost 287.  A haul, if that’s the word of 656 points out of the 1,857 on offer.  It averages out at 48 points a season – which explains how we fell 90 places in the football hierarchy to end up in regional football.  No fall from grace has been as stark.

However, I can still regale my grandchildren, (one already and another due in a couple of months), that my club competed at a pretty high level – and for that I’m grateful!! It’s worth having a look, (if only for a fond memory) at the table on New Years Eve 1999.

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June 2020

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Tues	03/10/95 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Cup	Round 2 – 2nd Leg	Ipswich Town	W	2	1	9,262	308
Tues	04/11/97	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Ipswich Town	W	2	0	8,938	369

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – MEADOW LANE Next stop – VILLA PARK