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First County Visit:	Friday 1st November 1991
Competition:	Barclays League Division 3 – (Tier 3)
Result:	AFC Bournemouth 1 – 0 Stockport County
Attendance:	4,649
Away Trip:	55
Away Day:	219
County Line-up	1 Neil Edwards; 2 Andy Thorpe; 3 Lee Todd; 4 David Frain; 5 Tony Barras; 6 Bill Williams; 7 Jim Gannon; 8 Chris Beaumont; 9 Mark Lillis (12 Paul R Williams); 10 Peter Ward; 11 Paul Wheeler
Manager:	Danny Bergara
County Visits:	2

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A 19 HOUR DAY; A DEFEAT AND A DRENCHING

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According to Google Maps it weighs in at a 526 mile round trip, with a best timing of over 8 and half hours.  And when the fixture list leaves us with that prospect on a Friday night, (as it was on the two occasions I went down there), you can add plenty more time than given the state of the M6 at the start of the weekend.

I’d spent a week on holiday there in mid August 1977.  I can tie that down quite specifically because that’s when the news came through of Presley’s death.  Shocking certainly, and an event which brought a bit of conversation to the town that night. It definitely needed some life, having struck me as a place in which to spend one’s dotage and then quietly slip off the mortal coil.  I’d never been back, nor had any inclination to do so until it appeared on County fixture lists and even then a visit would be fleeting – get there; see the game and then get out. So it’s been two football visits, 13 years apart, but essentially to two different stadia, albeit on the same piece of real estate.

 Back in 1991 it was a quintessentially traditional stadium.  A Main Stand, covered terracing behind one goal, (the South Stand) and along the other touchline, (the New Stand), added to which was a small open terrace behind the other goal.  Sadly on my first visit, (done in the company of Arthur Brotherton), it was the latter to which we were directed.  It had a unique epithet, “The Brighton Beach End”, apparently because it used to be a stony bank.  For those who haven’t been to Brighton there is little opportunity for the kids to build sandcastles – the whole beach is just stones, so I imagine that is where the name comes from …. or maybe not!

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It had been a dreadful trip down.  For some reason we went on the Club organised coach – probably down to the fact that I wouldn’t have fancied the drive.  Leaving EP at noon, Julie had dropped us off there as Arthur had come up with the idea that the Maynes Coach could drop us off near his house on the return journey.  Maynes were based in Clayton, around 10 miles from EP, (and as it turns out about 400 yards from the site that eventually became Eastlands).  So it sounded a decent idea to leave my car at Arthur’s house rather than around the streets of Edgeley.  It wasn’t a good idea as time eventually told.

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After leaving at noon, and with but a single short stop on the way the floodlights of Dean Court hoved into view some seven and half hours later, just 15 minutes before kick-off. It had rained incessantly on the trip South, and there was no abatement either when we got there, nor for the 90 minutes that followed.  It was a singularly uncomfortable and depressing experience, and the fact that we went down 1-0 was only a slight contribution to that feeling.

In all of the trips I’ve made over the years I can only recall two other instances of being isolated in constant rain and not being able to get some kind of shelter from the elements.  The soaking at Brunton Park is catalogued in Away Trip 47 and I’ve little doubt that by the time we get to Priestfield, (which was Away Trip 83), I will make passing reference to the other. 

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I’ve just noticed that the two grounds mentioned must involve one of the furthest trips in English football.  I’ve always been full of admiration for the Carlisle faithful.  When your nearest away game is more than likely Morecambe, (72 miles), it must take some fortitude to follow them.  But they are followed, and in decent numbers as well.  But the thought of a trip to Gillingham, (332 miles as a minimum), is one that I’m sure would test the hardiest of followers whichever Club they support. 

A few months ago they got drawn at Dulwich Hamlet in the FA Cup, and, as usual, the TV cameras turned up in the guise of ambulance chasers as they sought out an upset.  They didn’t get it as Carlisle won easily, but an interesting feature of the coverage was a camera and reporter stationed on the supporters coach.  It must have been the thick end of a 20 hour round trip but just reinforced to me once again that following a lower league club is a labour of love; a pastime in which hope more often than not trumps expectation with more lows than highs, but one which most wouldn’t change for the world.  In essence my last 40+ years encapsulated in a handful of words.

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Anyway back to Dean Court in November 1991, the final whistle was far from the end of the trip.  With 263 miles back home it promised to be a long night.  The coach refilled with 40 odd characters soaked to the skin.   The local constabulary deemed it appropriate for the coach to head for the town limits, without a stop, and provided an outrider to ensure that this was accomplished.  It proved to be an unpleasant experience as the driver turned the heater with a combination of wet denim; body odour; steaming clothes and the omnipresent cigarette fumes, (in the pre-ban days), turning it into a vision of Hades. 

The charabanc stank but with insistent demands from a vocal gathering towards the back for some alcoholic refreshment the driver headed for Ringwood some 12 miles north.  It pulled into the town centre at around 10.30, and the coach decanted and the local hostelries got an added late Friday night bonus.  It certainly allowed for the clothes to dry out, but, after a couple of pints, and  what had already been a long day, the idea of heading north became increasingly attractive.  It wasn’t to be until long after chucking out time that my fervent wish was accorded with.  Eventually the transport creaked into action at 12.30am and 251 miles to go. 

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Taken from the South Stand, it shows the New Stand (on the left) and the Main Stand on the opposite touchline

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We eventually pitched up at Edgeley at around 4.30 am.  Arthur and I stayed on the bus, awaiting a drop off in Droylsden.  Then  it was to be a 5 minute walk, pick my car up and get home.  There’s something about the best laid plans….  The route back to Droylsden was straight forward enough, but only in day time.  The driver told us that he had to go a long way round as a coach wasn’t allowed on Chapman Street in Gorton at that early hour.  Something about noise. 

To cut a long story short we didn’t even make Maynes depot.  He went straight to the parking lot, which if truth’s known was probably where one of the Eastlands car parks is now located.  It was 2 miles from Arthur’s house.  It was also freezing cold with rain in the air.  Walking up Ashton New Road at that time in a morning is something I don’t particularly ever want to repeat.  The meeting with my bed came around 6.00am – it had been a 19 hour day, and all for 90 minutes of football, and not particularly good ones at that.  Still Dean Court had been ticked off!!

I made a return trip 13 years later and 292 away games later. (Sadly I missed the game on April Fools Day 1997. It was a goalless draw and one of only 3 matches I missed in that marathon 67 game season). It was another Friday night game.  This time it was with Jeff Lawrenson and the car was used.  Same old traffic snarl ups getting down.  On arrival it was a completely new Dean Court.  The old stadium had disappeared, the pitch turned 90 degrees, and there were three breeze block edifices.  One end was completely vacant requiring a squadron of ball boys to recover errant shots as they sailed into the far distance. One thing hadn’t changed and that was the result.  Another loss.

I reflect, writing this in April 2020, that Bournemouth and County were fellow travellers in the nether regions of English football for much of my County following days.  Our current positions show just how the quality of Club management, off the field, is a direct function of status.  Bournemouth has clearly been an effective operation.  They stand, at the point of the coronavirus break, in 18^th place in the Premier League.  Before the virus hit a drop back into the Championship was a real possibility.  But, and it’s a huge but, they have spent 5 years in the Premier League.  It would be easy to forget the intervening years between my last visit in 2004, and their ascent into the highest echelon in 2015.  Their tale is one that can bring hope to any Club.

In February 2008, Bournemouth were forced into administration, (a fate suffered by County 14 months later) suffering a ten-point deduction which put them in relegation trouble. They had huge debts and almost went out of business completely. The club ended the season being relegated to League Two.

Ahead of the 2008–09 season, the team’s future in the Football League was put into doubt when the league threatened to block Bournemouth’s participation in League Two, and ordered them to demonstrate that they could fulfil all of their fixtures and find a way out of administration. Eventually they were allowed to compete with a 17-point penalty for failing to follow the Football League insolvency rules.

Two key things then happened.  Early in the season there was a change of manager.  Eddie Howe took over with the club still ten points adrift at the bottom of the league.  He was the youngest manager in the League, aged 31. Howe is still in charge, (albeit having spent a short time at Burnley), and is widely recognised, and quite rightly too, as an outstanding manager.  He masterminded an escape from demotion to the Conference at the end of the 2008/09 season.  From there, in playing terms it has been a meteoric rise.

Secondly, shortly after the escape, there was a change of ownership.  Whatever views there may be of this, the new owners have provided the infrastructure for AFCB to become an established Premier League club, and done it at a ground which holds less than 12,000.  It’s been remarkable.

And that’s where I draw some heart.  Good management both on and off the field is crucial.  I firmly believe that right now, (April 2020), County have both. The return of Jim Gannon 4 years ago has turned around our fortunes on the field.  The long awaited take over of the Club in January 2020 by Mark Stott looks on the face of things to have out the club on a decent footing off the field.  Only time will tell whether, or not, this is the case.  One thing is for certain, is that Bournemouth’s achievements are something to aspire to and to be emulated.

April 2020

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Fri	01/11/91	Barclays League Division 3	Tier 3	AFC Bournemouth	L	0	1	4,649	219
Fri	08/10/04	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1	Tier 3	AFC Bournemouth	L	1	2	6,925	511

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – ST ANDREWS Next stop – CRAVEN COTTAGE