SUMMARY

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Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Ave Att:
26	6	6	14	6,535

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This issue is from the game against West Brom in September 2000. The game saw the only full appearance in a County shirt for Glynn Hancock, a centre back. He was a product of the County youth system, which had at the same time also produced Aaron Wilbraham and Rob Clare, and within a few months would also see the emergence of Andy Welsh.

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LATE SEASON RECOVERY PAPERS OVER CRACKS

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The previous months had been desperate, but it looked as though things might be turning for the better as the first 6 days of the year saw two wins. Heaven along knows why the fixture compilers had sent Fulham up to us on New Years Day, but as recounted in the pieces on Plainmoor and the Goldstone Ground common sense has never been at the forefront of their endeavours.

The Cottagers arrived at EP as runaway league leaders. They were 10 points ahead of and 2 games in hand on 2nd placed Bolton. We had beaten the Wanderers a couple of months before, but given our form another victory looked unlikely.

Fulham had lost only a single game up to then. But we were superb, and a stunning goal from Peter Clark, (check the highlights of the game in the list below), saw us to a 2 goal win. Fulham lost only 3 more games all season and won the league by a distance. It was unquestionably the performance of the 2001/02 season and given what happened from August to December 2001 of the year as well. Twenty fours after the game Chris Coleman, who had played in it for Fulham, broke his leg in a car crash. It finished his playing career – the game at EP was his last.

Five days later we won at Preston in the FA Cup, courtesy of a long range strike from Karim Fradin. Maybe things were changing for the better? Or maybe not.

Despite progress in the FA Cup, with a Jarko Wiss goal at Crewe rewarding us with a trip to White Hart Lane in the 5th Round, the furthest we had reached since losing to Liverpool at the same stage in 1950, the League form was appalling. 7 points from 10 games left us 4th bottom, and facing a real fight to avoid the drop. We met Birmingham in mid March, and a newcomer made his first real impact.

Shefki Kuqi had been brought in from FC Jokerit at the beginning of February. It was one of Kilner’s Scandinavian connections again, but he made a greater impact than any of the others. Purportedly 24 at the time of his signing he looked far older, or else, using that classic line, “his paper round must have been hard”. After getting off the mark the previous week at Portsmouth the EP faithful first saw his trademark goal-scoring celebration, a belly flop, as he notched a double against Birmingham.

It was a short lived association as he moved on to Sheffield Wednesday by the end of the year. A dozen goals and less than 40 games. His departure allegedly came about after a row with Carlton Palmer, who was to be brought in as manager in November. The details of the episode are without my knowledge, but when Kuqi left Palmer had been in charge for 46 days – hardly long enough for things to go wrong. But there again Brian Clough only lasted 44 days at Leeds…..

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Off the field Kilner parted company with his assistant, Dave Moss. Irreconcilable differences were cited, whatever that might have meant. It came a couple of days before the tie at Spurs, Fred Eyre, more noted for his radio commentaries, and the author of a couple of amusing books about his career around the non-league scene, took the role for the cup-tie, with Des Bulpin, reserve team coach at QPR coming into replace Moss the following week.

Eyre was Chief Scout and more than likely had a role in the signing of a whole raft of players who would hopefully turn the season round. Glyn Hurst came from Ayr United for £150,000; loan players Simon Grayson and keeper Alan Kelly, (both from Blackburn), and Leo Roget, (from Southend in a move which was later made permanent). Grayson and Roget helped to shore up a defence which had conceded 17 in 9 games. The 9 game run-in to the end of the season saw us concede only 4. Hurst, (despite having a record of a goal every two games in Scotland), made little impact, and it took him until mid September, (13 games), to hit the target. He had moved on to Chesterfield by the end of the year and was far more prolific there and also later at Notts County.

There was an improvement in form. The win against Birmingham saw a run which brought 17 points in 9 games and a finish in 19th place. There was more joy on the terraces from the visiting Palace fans, than from the County faithful, as their win on the last day gave them an escape which looked extremely unlikely at kick-off. But it had been a close call, beating the drop by only 3 points. The fall from grace since the Millenium had dawned was very striking. We had played 72 games, which had seen only 15 wins. Voices were being raised against both Kilner and Elwood, The summer was going to be crucial. There had to be changes if what looked like an inevitable relegation in 2001/02 was to be averted.

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THE CHINESE CONNECTION

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But the summer provided something entirely different. 24 hours after the last game the team flew out to China. It was a tour to the west of the country, and involved not only football but a cultural aspect. It had been brokered by Steve Bellis, the Marketing Manager, who had developed connections in that country. The party was initially based in Wuhan, (much in the news over the last few months as I sit writing this in June 2020!).

There’s a really interesting video about the trip – “The Hope Tour – Stockport County Tour of China 2001 Documentary”. Taking aside the purpose of the trip, there was an amazing claim made by Elwood on camera in the first few minutes of the video. He stated that County were now stronger than at any time in his 12 years at the Club. Quite bizarre given what we had just witnessed, and some kind of short term amnesia must have beset him. It was only 4 years since promotion had been won.

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“I WON’T BE SACKING ANDY” … OR MAYBE I WILL

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The only new faces that appeared in time for the new season were striker Scott Taylor, Petri Helin, (yet another Scandinavian), and Neil Hardy from Radcliffe Borough. It hardly inspired confidence.

Coventry were the visitors to EP on the opening day, and Lee Hughes, (later to serve time after a causing death by dangerous driving after which he was always afforded a vitriolic welcome), gave them the win. It was Coventry’s first visit to EP in 63 years, and there hadn’t been another one since. It got no better, and after 15 games we had 8 points, and were rock bottom.

We had seen a range of players come and go. Lee Sandford; Jason van Blerk and Richard Sneekes. None made any kind of impact. After a 4 goal home defeat at the hands of Millwall on 27th October, Chairman Elwood left the ground saying “I won’t be sacking Andy. Chairmen are too quick to make changes these days. The buck stops with me, and I am not panicking even though we are bottom of the league. This club needs stability. There are some clubs who have had six managers in six years but we are not going to be like that.”.

By the Monday morning things had changed. Elwood, and his wife, had by all accounts been on the receiving end of abuse as they made their way to the car-park. It might have influenced him, but Kilner, (together with Buplin), parted company with the Club.

Interviewed on TV after his sacking Kilner summed up what many people were thinking about the time. “In two years we sold £3.5m worth of players. He (Elwood) has probably had more money out of me than any other previous manager. If you sell your best players and replace them at a fraction of the cost, then it’s not going to be the same“.

Craig Madden was put in temporary charge, and made it quite clear that he had no interest in a permanent appointment. It was a short lived and grim spell – 2 games; 2 defeats; no goals scored and 8 conceded. Tim Flowers had been brought in on loan – the fourth keeper in a season which was still only 15 games old. For an international keeper it must have been a salutary experience – he conceded 13 goals in his four games, although it has been suggested that he was far from fit at the time.

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A DECENT PLAYER DOES NOT A GOOD MANAGER MAKE

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A new manager was announced. Carlton Palmer was appointed as player-manager. There seemed to be some kind of intent in the announcement, as Elwood also revealed that Kevin Richardson would be his assistant, and Colin Murphy returned for a third spell as Director of Football. I had reservations from the start about Palmer, but with a decent back room team thought that it could work.

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We drew at Watford in his first game and then beat Norwich in a TV game on a Thursday evening in which Palmer hit the target.

And that was it for the year. Another 8 league games, not a single point, 4 goals scored and 21 conceded. Palmer brought in Aaron Lescott, Kevin Ellison and Luke Beckett on permanent deals and took Gary McSheffrey and Damian Delaney on loan arrangements. The last game of the year was a 3-0 home thumping by Birmingham, and marked the point where 36 players had already been used in half a season. Shades of what was to come 14 years later under Neil Young!!

With 19 games left we were bottom by a distance, 12 points adrift of 23rd placed Sheffield Wednesday, and 14 from safety. Everybody watching the Hatters at the time knew what the outcome would be, and the thinning band of travelling fans made the trips in a state of despair. Since the Millennium had dawned we had played 94 league games, (I had seen 84 of them), with a return of 15 wins, and 32 draws. We had gained 77 points in 2 years, with 282 on offer.

The bald statistics tell all. The Club had lost direction; the Chairman was looking to exit; the manager had precious little experience in the role; the dressing room door was more like a turnstile as players came and went with alarming regularity and the fans were becoming increasingly disenchanted. The (lack of) building blocks were in place – the Club was on the slide, and we were about to bid farewell to Division 1.

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Back to 2000 Forward to 2002 Home Games Summary Page Away Games 2001

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THE HOME GAMES I SAW THIS YEAR

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Home Game
Mon	01/01/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Fulham	W	2	0	6,100	631
Sat	20/01/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Grimsby Town	D	1	1	6,165	632
Sat	03/02/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Tranmere Rovers	D	1	1	7,804	633
Tue	13/02/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Preston North End	L	0	1	7,590	634
Sat	03/03/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wimbledon	D	2	2	5,519	635
Tue	06/03/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Burnley	D	0	0	7,087	636
Sat	17/03/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Birmingham City	W	2	0	7,176	637
Sat	07/04/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Sheffield Wednesday	W	2	1	9,666	638
Sat	14/04/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Blackburn Rovers	D	0	0	9,705	639
Sat	21/04/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	W	3	0	7,163	640
Sun	06/05/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crystal Palace	L	0	1	9,782	641
Sat	11/08/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Coventry City	L	0	2	9,329	642
Tue	21/08/01	Worthington Cup	Round 1	Carlisle United	W	3	0	2,075	643
Sat	25/08/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Portsmouth	L	0	1	5,090	644
Tue	18/09/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Sheffield United	L	1	2	5,137	645
Sat	22/09/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Grimsby Town	D	3	3	7,834	646
Tue	16/10/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	West Bromwich Albion	L	1	2	6,052	647
Sat	20/10/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Rotherham United	L	0	1	6,616	648
Sat	27/10/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Millwall	L	0	4	5,371	649
Tue	30/10/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Walsall	L	0	2	4,553	650
Thurs	15/11/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Norwich City	W	2	1	6,551	651
Tue	27/11/01 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Gillingham	L	0	2	4,854	652
Sat	01/12/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Crewe Alexandra	L	0	1	5,308	653
Sat	08/12/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Wimbledon	L	1	2	4,673	654
Wed	26/12/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Barnsley	L	1	3	6,885	655
Sat	29/12/01	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Birmingham City	L	0	3	5,827	656