My average Hatters games a season went up from 41 in the 80’s to 51 in this decade. It was a reflection of the way in which the Club had moved into a more successful era. The appointment of Danny Bergara in the latter years of the 1980’s had proved the catalyst for the massive upwards movement. On January 1st 1990 the Club stood 3rd in Division 4, (Tier 4). Bergara had come in on 27th March 1989, arriving from Rochdale. It had been a surprise appointment by Chairman Brendan Elwood.
In 9 months at Spotland Bergara had hardly pulled up any trees. The perennial strugglers had shown little improvement in his spell there and stood 20th in Division 4 when he packed his bags and made the short trip to EP. He came in on the day we played Torquay at home, although Eric Webster took charge for that game. It ended in a 0-0 draw and he must have soon realised the task at hand. There remained 9 more games in the 1988/89 season and not a single one was won. The summer was spent building a new team.
The side that ran onto EP for the opening game of the following season, (also against Torquay), contained just 3 names who had turned out in his first game – Bill Williams; Nigel Hart and Andy Thorpe. The change had begun.
Throughout this site the work that Bergara did is catalogued. After all the success the manner of his departure on 31st March 1995 was a truly sad epitaph to his achievements. A promotion; 4 Wembley appearances, and the introduction of real heroes in the likes of Kevin Francis; Alun Armstrong; Jim Gannon and so many others had given County fans not only entertainment but the success long craved for. On 28th March 1995 we won 2-0 down at Plymouth which left us 14th in League Division 2, (Tier 3). Three days later he was fired after what was allegedly an altercation with Chairman Elwood.
Dave Jones, his assistant, took the hot-seat. It began an inexorable rise, also catalogued elsewhere. Promotion in 1996/97; a League Cup semi-final and yet another host of players we could only have dreamed of seeing a few years previously. Picking out my own favourites from that era is difficult, but I always go back to the magnificent midfield pairing of Tom Bennett and Chris Marsden. Jones left for the rarified atmosphere of the Premier League at Southampton.
Gary Megson took over and his two year spell, despite a lot of rumblings among the fanbase about the style of football, consolidated the Club in Division 1, (Tier 2). With six months of the decade remaining Megson was replaced by Andy Kilner. He started well and by the time the fireworks welcoming in the new Millenium were lighting up the sky we stood 6th in what is now the Championship. In simple terms we were the 26th best team in English football. The decade had seen a rise of 47 places in the football hierarchy – it was a truly remarkable time to be a Hatters fan.
During the decade the names of the various competitions were in a state of flux. In League games Tier 2, in which we played from 1997/98 until the end of the decade, was known as the Nationwide Division 1.
Tier 3 was the Barclays League Division 2 from 1991-92 – 1992/93, becoming the Endsleigh League from 1993/94 to 1995/96. The following season it became the Nationwide League which it remained until the turn of the decade. County were promoted to the Nationwide League Division 1, (Tier 2), in 1997/98.
The FA Cup was sponsored by Littlewoods for three seasons from 1994/95, and by Axa from 1998/99. The League Cup had three sponsors in the decade – Rumbelows, (1990/91 – 1991/92); Coca Cola (1992/93 – 1997/98); and then it became the Worthington Cup.
The Football League Trophy had three manifestations. The Leyland Daf Cup up until 1991; then the Autoglass Trophy for three seasons, and then the Auto Windscreens Shield for the remainder of the decade.
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HOME GAMES
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With 277 home games watched in the decade it averages out at around 28 a year. With a 23 game home league programme, (21 when we reached the heady heights of Tier 2 in 1997/98), it shows just how many cup games there were. Looking back at Leo’s stats I find that we played 277 home games in total. I hadn’t realised it until researching for this site that I didn’t miss a single home game. By the way it’s not a boast – I’m well aware that there are County fans who have far better records of the years. There’s one particular guy, who always prefers anonymity, who has seen the last 2,500 games and it continues to this day – a phenomenal performance.
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| COMPETITION | P | W | D | L | F | A | Ave Crowd |
| TIER 2 | 58 | 28 | 20 | 10 | 92 | 56 | 7,880 |
| TIER 3 | 138 | 76 | 36 | 26 | 245 | 122 | 5,391 |
| TIER 3 PLAY-OFFS | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7,379 |
| TIER 4 | 35 | 21 | 10 | 4 | 73 | 34 | 3,681 |
| TIER 4 PLAY-OFFS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7,339 |
| FA CUP | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 11 | 6,095 |
| LEAGUE CUP | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 31 | 4,803 |
| FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 6 | 3,754 |
| TOTAL | 277 | 152 | 77 | 48 | 497 | 263 | 5,616 |
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A 55% win record; an average of 44 league points a year; and a goal scoring record which bettered the opposition by almost 2:1 were the building blocks for our success. Interestingly the average crowd of 5.621 is not so many more than we have been picking up in the National League in 2019/20. I firmly believe that the support we picked up in the 90’s has stayed with us; and the kids who came then have started to bring their own children now.
For more information on the home games I saw in the 1990’s check HERE . There’s a page for each year, with a commentary about how the year went, together with any other County related stuff that I thought may be of interest.
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AWAY GAMES
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I managed 233 away games, (plus 4 at Wembley as well!!) in the 90’s. There were some real highs. The League Cup wins in 1996/97 but as the decade drew to a close came one of the very very best. 24 days before the Millenium we made the shortest of trips – to Maine Road. Just over 12 months previously one of the greatest of home games had seen us destroy them 3-1. That cold December night in 1999 we beat them on their own midden … and there’s plenty more about that in my account of Maine Road!!
| COMPETITION | P | W | D | L | F | A | Ave Crowd |
| TIER 2 | 49 | 12 | 12 | 25 | 53 | 84 | 13,224 |
| TIER 3 | 103 | 39 | 24 | 40 | 120 | 129 | 6,150 |
| TIER 3 PLAY-OFFS | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4,139 |
| TIER 4 | 24 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 30 | 37 | 3,821 |
| TIER 4 PLAY-OFFS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8,277 |
| FA CUP | 16 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 24 | 21 | 10,398 |
| LEAGUE CUP | 21 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 28 | 30 | 8,305 |
| FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY | 17 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 27 | 23 | 3,651 |
| TOTAL | 233 | 83 | 51 | 99 | 283 | 330 | 7,778 |
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I saw 218 points picked up on the road. Given it was a decade of success I’m fairly surprised at this. An average of 22 points from away games doesn’t seem to be the basis for the years we had – but those are the facts. Our success in the various versions of the FLT is witnessed by 9 wins from the 17 games away from home comforts. The FA Cup served us reasonably well on the road – wins at Bootham Crescent; Field Mill; Stoke; Deepdale; Moss Rose; Millmoor and Gigg Lane. Then add in the League Cup – those marvellous nights at Ewood Park; Upton park; The Dell and The Riverside!!
For more information on the away games I saw in the 1990’s check HERE. There’s a page for each year with a list of games that I went to. If I visited a new ground in that year there’s a link to an article which reflects my thoughts about the ground and any other memories it brings
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GAMES ON NEUTRAL GROUNDS
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Wembley – 4 games – 4 defeats. No further comment here. Check on the Wembley page for further sorry details!!
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| COMPETITION | P | W | D | L | F | A | Ave Crowd |
| TIER 3 PLAY-OFFS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 39,947 |
| FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 42,112 |
| TOTAL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 41,029 |
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To any County fans reading this I give you a list of names from which to recoil – Elleray; Stein; McMinn; Slavin; Charlery ….. dear oh dear, there’s some grim memories!!
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ALL GAMES
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| COMPETITION | P | W | D | L | F | A | Ave Crowd |
| TIER 2 | 107 | 40 | 32 | 35 | 145 | 140 | 10,327 |
| TIER 3 | 241 | 115 | 60 | 66 | 365 | 251 | 5,715 |
| TIER 3 PLAY-OFFS | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 15,758 |
| TIER 4 | 59 | 29 | 15 | 15 | 103 | 71 | 3,723 |
| TIER 4 PLAY-OFFS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7,808 |
| FA CUP | 24 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 45 | 32 | 8,964 |
| LEAGUE CUP | 40 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 63 | 61 | 6,642 |
| FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY | 34 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 56 | 32 | 5,959 |
| TOTAL | 514 | 235 | 128 | 151 | 783 | 600 | 6,871 |
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514 games in 10 years and with 237 away games a fair bit of mileage under the belt. All in all 139 players turned out in those games. Four of the mainstays of the team throughout the decade featured in more than 200 of these games – Jim Gannon led the way, (388 + 36 sub), Mike Flynn, (326 + 1); Sean Connelly, (290 + 9); Chris Beaumont, (263 + 20) and Lee Todd, (262 + 12).
But who really remembers Gavin Allen; Geoff Aunger; Mike Cecere; Stuart Fitzsimmons; Lea Jones; Sean Mannion; James Quinn; David Ritchie and Roy Young. Not too many I would wager. They featured in a single game only and even then just as a substitute!!. The goalscoring charts are led by Kevin Francis, (102); Brett Angell, (69); Alun Armstrong, (58) and Jim Gannon, (58). To check on who all the 139 were click on ‘Played in the County games I saw in the 1990’s‘.
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WHERE THE GAMES WERE
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I was on the road 236 times in the decade, (including of course the 4 fruitless and hearbreaking trips to Wembley. I managed 48 new grounds (at least new in terms of seeing the Hatters), making it a grand total of 93 arenas on which I had seen my team. Not all Football League but it was the equivalent!! My wings were spreading. Prior to the 1990’s most of my trips were the local kind of thing – no more than 2 hours from home but the decade, (with Jeff Lawrenson my regular travelling companion by this time), had a wide geographical spread. From Carlisle in the north west to the Goldstone Ground in the south east; and the opposite diagonal as well – Plymouth to Hartlepool. And on the east-west axis from Norwich to Cardiff.
This decade of away sojourns provided some real highs, especially during the annus mirabilis of 1996/97. Up until then the chance of seeing the Hatters dining at the Captain’s table of the great and good of English football was but a misty hope. That year we went to Ewood Park; Upton Park; the Dell and The Riverside.. All of these are described elsewhere on this site.
Click on the Ground name for my memories of the stadium when I first visited, together with any other thoughts which have come to mind as I have put this together. An asterisk, (*) next to the ground name indicates that it was my first visit on my County travels
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| Ground | Opponents | P | W | D | L | ||
| Abbey Stadium | Cambridge United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Adams Park | * | Wycombe Wanderers | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ashton Gate | Bristol City | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Baseball Ground | * | Derby County | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Belle Vue | Doncaster Rovers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Bescot Stadium | * | Walsall | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bloomfield Road | Blackpool | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | ||
| Blundell Park | * | Grimsby Town | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Bootham Crescent | York City | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Boothferry Park | Hull City | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Boundary Park | Oldham Athletic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Bramall Lane | Sheffield United | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Britannia Stadium | * | Stoke City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Brunton Park | * | Carlisle United | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| Burnden Park | Bolton Wanderers | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Carrow Road | * | Norwich City | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| County Ground | * | Swindon Town | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Craven Cottage | * | Fulham | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dean Court | * | AFC Bournemouth | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Deepdale | Preston North End | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Deva Stadium | * | Chester City | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Edgar Street | Hereford United | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Edgeley Park | 276 | 152 | 77 | 47 | |||
| Elm Park | Reading | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Ewood Park | * | Blackburn Rovers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Feethams | Darlington | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Field Mill | Mansfield Town | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Fratton Park | * | Portsmouth | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Gay Meadow | * | Shrewsbury Town | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Gigg Lane | Bury | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Glanford Park | * | Scunthorpe United | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Goldstone Ground | * | Brighton & Hove Albion | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Goodison Park | * | Everton | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Gresty Road | Crewe Alexandra | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Griffin Park | * | Brentford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Hillsborough | * | Sheffield Wednesday | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Home Park | * | Plymouth Argyle | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Kenilworth Road | * | Luton Town | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Leeds Road | Huddersfield Town | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Loftus Road | * | Queens Park Rangers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| London Road | Peterborough United | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Maine Road | Manchester City | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Manor Ground | * | Oxford United | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| McAlpine Stadium | * | Huddersfield Town | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Meadow Lane | * | Notts County | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Memorial Ground | * | Bristol Rovers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Millmoor | Rotherham United | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Molineux | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Moss Rose | * | } | Macclesfield Town | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| } | Chester City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Ninian Park | * | Cardiff City | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Oakwell | Barnsley | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Portman Road | * | Ipswich Town | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Prenton Park | Tranmere Rovers | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Priestfield | * | Gillingham | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Reebok Stadium | * | Bolton Wanderers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Riverside Stadium | * | Middlesbrough | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Saltergate | Chesterfield | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Selhurst Park | * | Crystal Palace | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Sincil Bank | Lincoln City | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Spotland | Rochdale | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Springfield Park | Wigan Athletic | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| St Andrews | * | Birmingham City | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| Stadium of Light | * | Sunderland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| The City Ground | * | Nottingham Forest | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| The County Ground | Northampton Town | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| The Dell | * | Southampton | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| The Hawthorns | * | West Bromwich Albion | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| The New Den | * | Millwall | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| The Racecourse | Wrexham | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | ||
| The Shay | Halifax Town | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| The Valley | * | Charlton Athletic | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Turf Moor | Burnley | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | ||
| Twerton Park | * | Bristol Rovers | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Underhill | * | Barnet | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Upton Park | * | West Ham United | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Vale Park | Port Vale | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Valley Parade | Bradford City | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Vicarage Road | * | Watford | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Victoria Ground Hartlepool | Hartlepool United | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| Victoria Ground Stoke | * | Stoke City | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Villa Park | * | Aston Villa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Watling Street | * | Maidstone United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wembley (old) | * | } | Stoke City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| } | Peterborough United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| } | Port Vale | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| } | Burnley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 514 | 235 | 128 | 151 |
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