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With 16 previous visits to The Shay I was surprised to find that prior to our visit in late January 2017 that this would be the first time for 27 years since that famous day back in 1990 when promotion hopes were dashed and raised in the space of no more than a minute. More of that on the post on The Shay. Those 27 years had seen so much – promotions, Championship football and then the cataclysmic fall into regional football. My records tell me that in the intervening period I had seen County 1,285 times….

It had also been a time of huge change at the Shay. The original Halifax Town had disappeared and been replaced by the phoenix club, FC Halifax Town. The Shay itself had changed out of all recognition too. Long gone was the ramshackle ‘Main’ stand, and the banking behind both goals. Replacing them were modern structures, rendering it more akin to a football ground. Still standing, however, was the Skircoat Stand, nearly 100 years after arriving from Manchester City’s old ground at Hyde Road, the site of which was now a bus depot, and within a mile or so of where I had been brought up.

That game in 2017 has been included here as it was a particularly poignant one for me. Not for the football, albeit that it was an important game towards the top of NLN; not for the memories on the pitch either. Two days earlier, after a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, I had been told that chemotherapy treatment would start on the Monday. Not knowing how this would impact I travelled over the Pennines with Jeff, wondering whether or not this would be the last game I would be able to go to for a while … or frankly at all.

I met Tony Ranells inside the ground. Tony hails from South London, is a teacher there, and had become a firm friend over the previous few years. Despite County’s lowly status he made the trip to virtually every game and I valued our chats. There were a group of us who sat together at EP. We have never socialised outside of the County experience but the banter at games was certainly one of the plusses. I took Tony aside, told him that I might be missing for a while, and asked him to let the other guys know. Over lockdown and all the Covid crisis, Tony has called me a number of times to find out how things are going, and these chats have been important for me. So many thanks, Tony!! It just reinforces to me how football can be a catalyst which brings people together.

The game ended goalless – a nervy and fraught affair, but if truth’s known much of it passed me by – my thoughts lay on the following week. I knew there would be no trip to Brackley on the Tuesday, but was hopeful of seeing the Stalybridge game the following Saturday. Sadly, that wasn’t to be – I just about managed to listen to the radio, lay in bed, with more than regular bouts of sickness! Fortunately, the initial impact of the chemo fell away, and I was back for the FC United game a fortnight later.

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Memories of visits to The Shay

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Tue	16/08/16	h	Edgeley Park	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	D	1	1	3,086
Sat	28/01/17	a	The Shay	Vanarama National League North (Tier 6)	D	0	0	2,925

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