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| First County Visit: | Saturday 14th September 1991 |
| Competition: | Barclays League Division 3 – (Tier 3) |
| Result: | West Bromwich Albion 1 – 0 Stockport County |
| Attendance: | 11,845 |
| Away Trip: | 52 |
| Away Day: | 215 |
| County Line-up | 1 David Redfern; 2 Darren Knowles; 3 Paul R Williams; 4 David Frain; 5 Tony Barras; 6 Andy Thorpe; 7 Jim Gannon; 8 Peter Ward (12 Neil Matthews); 9 Kevin Francis; 10 Paul Wheeler; 11 Andy Kilner (14 John Paskin) |
| Manager: | Danny Bergara |
| County Visits: | 7 |
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THIS IS A TRAGEDY..
Two months after the trip to Maidstone, and 10 wins later, promotion to the 3rd tier was gained for the first time in 21 years.
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That same day West Bromwich Albion fell to the same level for the very first time in their history.
So it was a trip to the Hawthorns, and County had made a flying start to the campaign at the higher level. An opening day 5 goal demolition of Swansea had been followed by three more wins in a draw. .
As a founding member of the Football League back in 1988, and having spent the majority of their time at the top level this was unquestionably a fall from grace. Clearly the panic signing of Paul A Williams, (see Away Trip 51), had made little impact as 7 draws in the last 8 games failed to lift them from the drop zone.
Setting off down the M6 we stood top of the table which encouraged a good away following in a crowd of 11,845, which happened to be the biggest crowd for a Hatters game since the heartbreaking trip to Anfield some 7 years previously. That was a Cup game – the record books show that you have to go back to 1979, and a visit to Portsmouth, to find a league crowd in excess of that at the Hawthorns on what was a dull but dry day
It wasn’t the first time that I’d been there. In Away Trip 1, (St James Park Exeter City), I made brief reference to a student trip to the Hawthorns. It was certainly an impromptu decision. Sitting in the Common Room on the afternoon of Halloween 1973, a brief glance at the Western Morning News brought to my attention that Exeter City were about to feature in a League Cup tie at WBA that evening. The Baggies were in Tier 2 and had an undistinguished start to the season, languishing in mid-table.
The Grecians on the other hand were pushing for the promotion places, (lying 6th), and had reached the 3rd round courtesy of wins over Swansea and Rotherham. Maybe the chance of an upset? A brief conversation over a post-lunch brew ended in the decision to head North. It was to prove a long day and put more than a fair few miles on Nigel Joyner’s venerable mini-van. Trips North from Exeter in those days were never easy with precious little of the M5 up to Bristol not yet operational. It involved a hike up through Bridgewater, and then the circumnavigation of Bristol, passing Filton, the birthplace of Concorde. At that time the ill-fated aeronautical miracle was not yet in commercial service, still in test, and it wasn’t too unusual to see it over the rooftops of Exeter in my university years.
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The Hawthorns – an aerial view largely as it was in 1991, although this was a later picture. The Smethwick End, (on the top right), was partially covered previously.
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Once north of Bristol things became easier, and the trusty mini-van deposited us at the Hawthorns in plenty of time. It was a 4 person trip, Nigel and myself, together with Geoff Noterman and Paul Sleeman, with whom we had established a bond the previous summer as stalwarts of the University cricket team. We stood in the Birmingham Road end, (left), and watched a shock unfold. Exeter won the game 3-1, with two of the goals coming from a St James Park legend, Fred Binney. He was a hero, not only on the night, but generally for Grecians fans. Plying his trade around the lower divisions he ended a 16 year career with 190 goals from under 400 games – a decent strike rate for any player in any era. 90 of those strikes came in 177 games for Exeter.
The game might have been finished but the trip certainly wasn’t. Impecunious students needed feeding. A local chippy maybe – the decision was not. Other fast food brands were few and far between in those days so we imposed on Geoff and decided that we would call in at his parents for a bit of late night sustenance. Trouble was that this meant an 80 mile diversion via Oxford, where they lived. No mobiles either then so quite what Mr & Mrs Noterman thought when 4 blokes turned up out of the blue just before midnight is anyone’s guess!! They made us feel welcome and the hospitality was great and saw us back on the road around 2.00am. We were still 160 miles from our base, and a fairly circuitous route at that, and furthermore there were lectures to attend 7 hours later!!
We finally pulled back into Mardon Hall at 7.30. I walked back into the same Common Room we had left some 17 hours and 400 miles previously to be greeted by a comment from someone reading a copy of the hot off the press Western Morning News. “Hey, you’re up early, did you see that Exeter went and beat West Brom last night”. My reply of “Just back from there and it was a cracking game as well”, probably caused a bit of surprise.
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The Hawthorns
Birmingham Road End – a great “behind the goal” terrace which provided my vantage point in October 1973
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Four years later there was a bigger crowd. I stood in the same spot as I had previously and watched the Baggies demolish Manchester United 4-0, and it could well have been far more.
Roll forward 15 years and I was back at the Hawthorns. The ground had barely changed. The Birmingham Road End was an impressive covered terrace and provided the home fans with the facility to create a good atmosphere. The away fans were located in one corner of the Smethwick End, (right) at the other end of the ground. A large terrace with cover for perhaps the back third, but certainly providing a decent view. Opposite the Main, (Halfords Lane), Stand was the Rainbow Stand, providing seating at the rear of a terrace. I used this a year later, and a grim visit it was as we went down 3-0.
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The Smethwick End – a change of vantage point for me. County fans were stationed in this corner in September 1991
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It’s fair to say that the Hawthorns has been a poor hunting ground on my visits. Seven times I have made the trip and still await any kind of return, other than a 1-1 draw in the Championship, (Tier 2), in 2001. And, given our current standing the chance of even visiting on County business, never mind getting a result is subterranean. There’s been six defeats, and the last one was the most salutary. The Hawthorns is the highest ground in England and on New Years Day 2002, it certainly showed this. Snow lay on the ground as Jeff Lawrenson and I made our way south, and by the time we got to the M6 / M5 junction it was a veritable festive scene. I had avoided any excess the previous night, knowing that a 200 mile return trip lay ahead. As events turned out Hogmanay should have been spent in a far more entertaining way.
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Looking down from the Smethwick End to the Birmingham Road End.
On the right the Rainbow Stand with seating at the rear and terracing in front.
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That day probably needs a bit of context. It was our 5th, (and ultimately proved to be the last) season in Tier 2. Fifteen games into the season we had garnered a paltry 8 points, (albeit that one of those was a fighting 2-2 draw at Maine Road). A 4-0 debacle at home to Millwall on 27th October saw Andy Kilner get his marching orders. Craig Madden took the reins temporarily for an even greater humiliation as we went down by 6 at Preston the following week. Within days Carlton Palmer had been appointed. I saw no good news in this whatsoever, and got no satisfaction from being proved right as his initial record brought 4 points in the first 10 games before the trip to the Hawthorns.
It was a singularly unpleasant experience. Missing out on my normal parking spot, not so far from the ground, Jeff and I were forced on a lengthy walk on treacherous pavements. Clearly Sandwell Council couldn’t stretch to salting the area, especially when it would have involved triple time on a bank holiday, which left the conditions underfoot precarious to say the least. We both slipped on the icy surface a couple of times and faced the game with far damper clothes than were comfortable.
The ground had changed significantly from my earlier visits. The Birmingham Road and Smethwick Ends had been completely rebuilt as all-seated, and in place of the Rainbow Stand was a new construction replete with the ubiquitous hospitality suites. (Some years later I was to sample this, though not in a football context, as I spoke at a conference held there in my alter-ego as a housing finance “expert”!).
Turning to the game the fine details escape me, (despite much research), but I do know that we were 2 down in the first 20 minutes and frankly it could have been more. It was a truly desperate performance and confirmed to me finally, (not that I took much self persuasion), that Palmer was absolutely clueless.
On the concourse at half-time, as we sought refuge from the icy blasts whipping around the stand, I vividly remember a conversation with a guy I saw at virtually every game. He said “I’ve only got 4 words – this is a tragedy”. It was hard to do anything other than fervently agree. But reflecting back over the years we were facing no more than relegation from the equivalent of the Championship. Never in anyone’s most vivid nightmares could a fall as far as Tier 6 ever have been envisaged – that’s the real tragedy in my 57 years of going to EP.
This was the 51st different ground I’d visited as a County fan. They had taken 17 years to accumulate. There were only 91 grounds, (in addition of course to EP), in the League so I was well over halfway to the “92”. Little was I to know that our calamitous fall would see me go to another 129 grounds in pursuit of the Hatters over the next quarter of a century!!
April 2020
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VISITS
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| Day | Date | Competition | Tier / Round | Opponents | Res | F | A | Crowd | Away Day |
| Sat | 14/09/91 | Barclays League Division 3 | Tier 3 | West Bromwich Albion | L | 0 | 1 | 11,845 | 215 |
| Wed | 02/09/92 | Barclays League Division 2 | Tier 3 | West Bromwich Albion | L | 0 | 3 | 12,305 | 240 |
| Sat | 06/12/97 (Highlights) | Nationwide Football League – Division 1 | Tier 2 | West Bromwich Albion | L | 2 | 3 | 13,957 | 372 |
| Tues | 02/03/99 (Highlights) | Nationwide Football League – Division 1 | Tier 2 | West Bromwich Albion | L | 1 | 3 | 11,801 | 402 |
| Tues | 23/11/99 | Nationwide Football League – Division 1 | Tier 2 | West Bromwich Albion | L | 0 | 2 | 9,201 | 414 |
| Sat | 10/02/01 | Nationwide Football League – Division 1 | Tier 2 | West Bromwich Albion | D | 1 | 1 | 16,385 | 441 |
| Tues | 01/01/02 (Highlights) | Nationwide Football League – Division 1 | Tier 2 | West Bromwich Albion | L | 0 | 4 | 20,541 | 458 |
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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS
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Previously – WATLING STREET Next stop – VICTORIA GROUND (STOKE)
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