Sunday 30 November 2014

No. 74: St. Mary's Stadium [Southampton]

Sunday, 30th November 2014
Southampton v. Manchester City [Premier League] 0-3
That's three games in a row the home team I've visited have lost. Bad omen coming soon to a ground near you!!!

I only decided to go to Southampton on Friday. I didn't think I had a spare Sunday but I suddenly did - and managed to side-step Saints' ticketing policy on Category A games (where they only sell tickets to people already on their database) by ringing them up and pleading with them.

"PLEASE can you sell me a ticket to your not-sold-out game at £42 plus £2.50 booking fee?"
"Yes sir, no problem."

Money talks in the Premier League.

Not only is Southampton the closest ground to home left on my 92 list, it's also a city close to me personally - having been my home between the ages of 2-6. My parents ran a pub called The Fighting Cocks in a rough 'n' ready part of town - Millbrook - in the early 80's, so I decided to stop off there on the way to St. Mary's and have a walk down memory lane.
McDonalds Millbrook: Built upon my childhood memories.

Sadly, what I found was the home that framed my earliest memories of life has been razed to the ground to make way for a McDonalds and a KFC.

This was quite a depressing state of affairs. I felt I had to go inside for some reason, although Christ knows what I thought I'd find.

Yep, it was a standard McDonalds, and I ate the loneliest Quarter-Pounder of my life in there as I remembered frolicking in the pub's back yard with my pet dog 30 years ago, just yards away from where I was sat now.

Right opposite where the Fighting Cocks used to be was another pub, The Royal Oak. The original building of this estate pub was still there, but it was now a Tesco's.

I stopped an elderly gentleman named Dennis outside and asking him how long ago the Fighting Cocks had been knocked down. He wasn't sure, but it was at least 15-20 years ago now. We chatted a bit about what else had changed (a lot), and I found out that Dennis had lived in Millbrook since 1950 and was a Season Ticket holder at St Mary's, and off to the game this afternoon too.
The Cranes of Southampton Docks: Big.
I wished him well and set off onto the Millbrook flyover, having a quick look at my old primary school on the way, which looked like it had shrunk somewhat since I was 5. This part of Southampton is very close to the docks, and the cranes tower over the tower blocks and residential streets. I remembered how I used to look out of my bedroom windows and be mesmerised by their scale as a kid.

They are probably even bigger now, and serve to remind that Southampton has it's roots very much as a working man's city, every bit as much as the chimneys of Northern industrial towns do the same. It's not all Howard's Way down here you know.
River Itchen, Southampton City: It's all about boats.
That said, I parked my car about 15mins walk from the ground on the North Bank of the River Itchen and the walk across the bridge afforded some gorgeous views of the fishing boats and barges marooned in the mud-flats at low tide. This city is surrounded by water and it's heart has saltwater pumping through it.

I knew a few Saints fans through England away games, and arranged to meet up for a few beers with them in the City Centre pre-match, which was a pleasant stroll through leafy Palmerston Park to Above Bar Street, which rather aptly had a number of bars on it (albeit at the side of the street rather than above it).
Palmerston Park, Southampton City Centre.
Southampton are having a pretty good year, having had a pretty good one last year too. Finishing an unexpected 8th last year, this year they have pushed on despite losing their manager and most of last season's starring cast. It's still early days of course, but going into today's game still 2nd in the Premier League is certainly going great guns - especially when you remember that just over 3 years ago Southampton were still a League One side.

Southampton's rapid fall and even more rapid rise back through the leagues is reasonably unprecedented. Going from the Premier League to League One and back again in 7 seasons means that their fans have had the chance to knock off an awful lot of the 92. I don't know many who have done as many as I now have, but all of the guys I met with today are in the high 80s and will be pushing me to join the club first I think.

It's a shame you can't include ex-League grounds in your 92 Club list - or I'd have passed it long before now, and in fact the 1st ground I ever visited was Southampton's old place, The Dell. Well, St. Mary's is certainly a far cry from their former home.

Opened in 2001, like an awful lot of grounds I have visited and will be visiting, this is one of your classic late 90s-early 2000's new builds - an identikit wrap-around bowl all-seater, with filled in corners and cantilever stands.

I mean, yes - it isn't really anything all that different anymore. When it was built, as one of the first in this style, it probably was something to behold.

13 years later, and all 4 top divisions of English football now littered with variations on this  meme, it doesn't really feel special to a neutral I'm afraid. Give me The Dell back any day.

But as this is a club steeped in top-league tradition (their 2005 relegation being their first in 27 years), you can understand why remaining at The Dell, reduced to a 15,000 capacity when all-seater stadiums were forced on English football, was untenable.

St. Mary's today holds over double that, is just as accessible on foot from the city centre as The Dell was, and they are filling it out ever week playing attractive, attacking Premier League football - and I think most fans are happy enough with that.
Looking towards the Northam Stand behind the goal.
Sadly today's game didn't quite go as planned for the team that started the day in 2nd place, as they finished it in 3rd, overtaken by the visitors. Southampton had some good spells but weren't clinical enough with the handful of chances they did have, and were put in their place a little by the Champions come the 2nd half, being caught twice on the break late in the last 10 mins despite City only having 10 men for the final 16 mins following Mangala's sending-off.

The League's top scorer Sergio Aguero didn't add to his tally but did provide all 3 assists, and all this after being wrongfully booked in the 1st half for diving.

The Chapel (South) Stand.
There was even time for 56 year old Frank Lampard to bang in a very Frank Lampard-Esque low hard drive into the bottom corner in the 80th minute. For a neutral, despite it looking a bit lop-sided by the end, it was an entertaining game.

I half-expected a few boos from home fans at the final whistle - they'd lost 3-0 after all and had shown a lack of invention in much of the 2nd half when unable to break down a sturdy City back line. But nothing of the sort - Saints fans are a realistic bunch and losing at home by any scoreline to the League champions is no disgrace, even with their own current vaulted position in the table.
Saints have a free kick attempt on goal in the 1st half.
After all - Southampton are still on track for a great season, even if they don't finish as high as they are now. They are in the Quarter-Finals of the League Cup with a good chance of winning it, and all the fans I spoke to would rather win that than finish 2nd.

After all - no-one remembers who finishes 2nd, do they? Saints did themselves in 1984 to Liverpool. I didn't know that, so that proves this point!

I'm not sure if I asked fans of clubs that represent the "Big Four" of the last 15 years they would feel similarly. I think for Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea & Arsenal fans, league-placing is everything.

Perhaps most Southampton fans have a bit more realism and humbleness about them thanks to their recent stint of yo-yoing through the Divisions. It serves them well.
Is the sun setting on Southampton's Indian Summer? No fear.
With thanks to Dan Armstrong (@danarm91), Matt Marchant, Tom Menzies & of course, Dennis from Millbrook!

NEXT UP: Weekend Double-Header!
Preston North End, Dec 6th
Barnsley, Dec 7th

Monday 24 November 2014

No. 73: KC Stadium [Hull City]

Sunday, 23rd November 2014
Hull City AFC v. Tottenham Hotspur [Premiership] 1-2

I have to admit, I really didn't feel like the 400-mile round trip to Hull at 9am on Sunday morning. I'd gotten a little drunk at Watford the day before, was still recovering from a slight cold, and having not had a lie-in all week, I was pretty knackered.

But I'd already gotten myself a ticket for the game. And more than that - I was on a mission to complete the 92, wasn't I? I couldn't not go! Besides which, this is one of the furthest journeys left to do (according to Google Maps only Sunderland's Stadium of Light will be a longer trip of the grounds remaining), so I may as well bite the bullet and get it over with.
1st View of The KC from the Park.
And so - I did. Setting off at 11am, despite about 30 miles of pigging roadworks limiting me to 50mph for a lot of the M1, I still arrived in good time just before 2.30pm for the 4pm kick off at The KC Stadium.

The stadium was finished in 2002 at a cost of £44m, and was built and funded by...Hull City Council. Yes, that's right - the council paid for it in order to provide a top quality sports venue for the football and rugby league teams of the City, free of private ownership so that it is always held in trust for the people of the city.

Hull may not be unique in having a council that helps its community's football club, but it might amaze many football fans up and down the country to hear a council nearly 100% funding an expensive, state-of-the-art new stadium in such a manner, especially as at the time they were a mid-table side in the basement Third Division of English League Football.

But it happened. And the fact that Hull City now play in said state-of-the-art stadium in the Premier League says a lot about what the backing of a council can achieve. But how the hell did the council afford to stick £40m aside to allow Hull to have such a landmark stadium?

The short answer is through funds from selling off some of their stake in Kingston Communications - the local telecoms & IT services provider.

Hull City Council historically owned & operated the telephone systems within the city and uniquely, managed to remain independent when what became British Telecom took over all the other private or municipally owned telephone services in Britain at the early years of the 20th Century.
One of Hull's Distinctive
Cream Telephone Boxes.
Interesting.

As such, Hull was the only place in the UK not served by BT and the council made an absolute bloody fortune out of the monopoly that KC had in the provision of communications in the city.

I'm sorry if you are now dreadfully bored and wondering why this blog about visiting football grounds is talking about the 1899 Telegraph Act, but as this quirk of UK telecommunications history helped build the stadium that this entry is all about you can bloody well just sit there and read it, ok?

Plus - because of all this Hull have their own unique cream-coloured Telephone Boxes. As in the picture here. See, I told you it was interesting.


I had a little bit of time to spare so decided I'd take a walk to Hull Old Town to grab a bite and see what this important former trading hub and designated 2017 UK City of Culture has to offer.
A nice big Civic Building in Hull's Old Town. And Queen Victoria too.
Well like many places, it quite surprised me - Hull's old town quarter, a reasonably easy 20 minute stroll from the KC Stadium, is actually a pretty beautiful collection of old civic buildings, cobbled streets and converted dock warehouses that made it look a pretty impressive slice of the City centre.
Hull Old Town: Looking down Posterngate to Holy Trinity

Sadly - it being Sunday afternoon, not much was opened and the streets were a little deserted.

But it was certainly more than I expected to find here - and I genuinely think that Hull could make a pretty decent base to explore the East Yorkshire countryside and coastline around here.

There were certainly a lovely-looking bunch of pubs I would have loved to jump into to get out of the crisp winter's afternoon chill - but sadly, my time was pressing, plus I had another 4hours in the car home yet to come, so drinking ales wasn't really on the cards this time.

What was on the cards though, was a visit to a traditional Yorkshire Chippy for my Sunday afternoon sustenance as I wondered back to the stadium from the City Centre.

Upon entering the Chippy in question, familiar territory in itself, I spied a couple of very unfamiliar looking items in the greasy display cabinet of deep-fried delights.

One was a battered, dense-looking rectangle. It's stable-mate was a perfect, thickly-set circle of crisp golden batter.

Fish Pattie & Chips: A Hull Favourite!
"Hello! What's this oblong thing here?" I asked the friendly serving lady.

"Fish Pâté." she replied, clearly perplexed as to why someone would not recognise a Fish Pâté when they saw one.

"Fish Pâté? What's in that then?"

She was really confused now. She'd told me the ignorant Southerner who should have known better it was a Fish Pâté, and now I didn't know what one even was even when it was pointed out to me? Thankfully, she humoured me.

"It's fish mashed up with potato."

"Oh ok." I was clearly going to try this local fishy delicacy (basically an oblong fishcake in batter rather than breadcrumbs). But first, I had to at least ask..."What's the circular one behind it?"

"Pâté."

"Pâté?! Actual Pâté?" Hold on I thought - a perfect thick dollop of deep-fried, battered Pâté? I thought the battered bacon in Watford was decadent yesterday - but this was something else. "What's actually in it?"

She by now should have been exasperated by my ignorance, but was amazingly patient, and explained - "Fish Pâté - Fish and Potato. Pâté - just Potato!"

I glanced up at the menu. Ahh, she was saying "Pattie", Not Pâté. I felt a fool, having completely failed to translate the local accent to my ignorant ears. And assumed that someone would actually be serving deep-fried Pâté, which was clearly bonkers. I bought the Fish Pattie and trudged off to the ground.
A November Hull Sunset: Quite Nice.
As the sun set across the Humber as I walked back to the Stadium, it struck a lovely sunset to the side of the ground. From the City centre, you skirt the edge of a council estate and past a hospital before reaching a bridge over railway tracks and onto a well-trodden path at the side of marshy fields that surround the KC Stadium.

I was accompanied on the final five minutes of the walk past the fields by hundreds of city-folk, all off to watch their team play a game of Premiership football, competing as league division equals against Spurs, an established member of English Football's elite clubs.

Something that must have felt like a very distant dream back in 2002 when the first competitive game took place here - a League Three contest against Hartlepool United.

By 2008, Hull had reached the Premiership for their first ever time - a remarkable five seasons from bottom of the football league to competing at the pinnacle. What an amazing ascent and yet again, a wonderful example of what makes the pyramid structure of English League football so amazing and something worth keeping and celebrating.

I hope you are reading this, Greg Dyke. And just as I hope Dyke's bonkers plan to screw up this marvellous pyramid with his League 3 proposals doesn't happen, I similarly hope that Hull's chairman Assam Allam doesn't get his way in the rebranding of the club to "Hull Tigers".
Tiger Rebranding: Leave it in the Toilet, Allam!

Some things have to change - I guess the move to purpose-built stadiums is one of those necessary evils for a club to progress some of us traditionalists don't like to admit too freely. But some things don't need to change for the sake of progress. Wholesale rebranding of the club badge and colours, like Cardiff did. Moving the club away from it's traditional home, like Wimbledon did. These things shouldn't happen if you in any way respect the history and traditions of Football in this country.

Similarly changing the name of a club, removing the "City" from the name of "Hull City AFC", is a step too far, in my opinion.
KC Stadium, Hull: Looking Towards the North Stand.
The game itself was also a great spectacle, and I'm sure even most Spurs fans would agree that Hull were the dominant team in the 1st half, playing some amazing, free flowing football, chasing Spurs down and very much taking the game to them - they deserved their 1-0 lead.

But then, Hull's Ramirez was sent off in the 50th minute - a dubious decision it must be said and it totally changed the game. 10-men Hull sat back as might be expected, and invited the visitors onto them. Sure enough, the pressure told and Spurs equalised shortly after. And yes, almost as if it was scripted, Spurs got their winner, a rasping shot from 20 yards out to the bottom left corner from Christian Erikson, in the 90th minute, just when the 20,000+ Hull fans had thought they may have got away with it.
The Cranswick West Stand, and a Lovely Sunset.
For a neutral - it was a pulsating game to watch, if a little lopsided in that red-card affected 2nd half. For the 2,500 travelling Spurs fans, it had the ecstatic fairytale ending, fans jumping around and almost spilling onto the pitch moment we all want to be a part of.
The East Stand. You Are Being Watched, Son.
For the Home fans, bitter disappointment and a feeling of being cheated out of a game they could have gone on to win by a questionable sending-off. Still - cheer up you Tigers, you are in the ruddy Premiership, for god's sake.

It could be worse, you know.

With thanks to Tom Johnson (@TomHCAFC13)


Next Up - Preston North End! (Sat 6th Dec)

Sunday 23 November 2014

No. 72: Vicarage Road [Watford]

Saturday, 22nd November 2014
Watford v. Derby County [Championship] 1-2

Another ground knocked off today, and another milestone also as the last League ground within the M25 is now done.

I was going to say the last "London" ground, but most Hornet fans I spoke to were quite clear that it wasn't a London club in their eyes. As one of them pointed out to me "We're the pride of Hertfordshire. The animal on the club badge is a Hart, as in Hertfordshire (or it would be if the designer hadn't drawn a moose by mistake)."
Watford Junction: Gateway to Hertfordshire.
Even if it isn't part of London, it's still pretty close - only 15mins from Euston by train, and I was at Watford Junction to meet my host for the day, a work colleague who lives nearby and watches Watford now and again, so was going to show me the sights of Watford.

He wasn't sure what sights there really were to see, as by the time I got there there wasn't the time (or indeed, the inclination) to take a side-trip to nearby Harry Potter World, despite the free shuttle buses from the train station. So we decided before we changed our mind to just get down the pub for a few pre-match brews and some grub.
Estcourt Tavern, Watford.
Burger w/Battered Bacon: Good God.
The boozer he took me in was a good one - The Estcourt Tavern, which slowly filled up with home fans as the afternoon moved on towards kick-off. Like many Greene King pubs, The Estcourt did seem to serve it's cask ales about 10 degrees too cold, clearly confusing it with that lager stuff, but to be honest I doubt many of the drinkers in here on matchday were paid of CAMRA members who gave a toss.

And in fairness it was still very drinkable stuff and washed down the extraordinarily decadent "Gourmet Burger" (with deep-fried, battered streaky bacon!) adequately well. Yep that's right, deep-fried, battered bacon. And I have to say, that despite my heart's reservations, it was actually pretty damn good.

Vicarage Road is only a short 10-15 minute walk from Watford Junction station, walking through the centre of the town. Watford town centre is a pretty non-descript place, like most towns in England it's got a high street now full of poundsavers and charity shops as all the swanky/popular shopping moves indoors to a purpose built shopping mall.

The only nod that would tell you this was Watford is probably the metal Hornet statue on the high street, just beside McDonalds.

A reference of course, to the football club's nickname, which of itself comes from their yellow & black club colours adopted in the 50's. And it sounds a bit better than the "MooseHeads", if you were wondering why the club's love of the Canadian animal from their badge wasn't reflected in their nickname.

Eitherway, I wouldn't fancy this metal bastard buzzing around my coke can.


So, onto the ground, via streets aligned with chippies, kebab shops and burger vans and their eager consumers, to Vicarage Road, home of Watford FC.
Vicarage Road Approach.

First View of the Pitch from the Corner.
The stadium is a compact one, up against residential streets and a hospital, very much in the heart of the town like many older grounds still are. Three of the stands have been modernised in the late 20th Century, but are starting to look a bit weathered and dated now, including the "Graham Taylor" stand that I was in.
Graham's cheeky chops were visible on a giant billboard at the side of our seats in this stand - newly renamed to honour their greatest manager, and being officially opened as such by the man himself next weekend.

Under Taylor, Watford had a meteoric rise from the old 4th Division to the dizzy heights of a 2nd place finish in the 1st division in the 1982-83 season - their first ever in the top flight. So It's hardly a surprise that the man so maligned during his four-year stint as England manager in the 90s is still held in such high esteem here.

Sure enough, he may have had players like the young John Barnes, bound for legendary status at Liverpool, and Luther Blissett (bound himself for AC Milan after being England's top scorer in the 82-83 season). But Taylor was clearly a great manager of great players - who in my opinion had the misfortune to have got the England job at a time when the likes of Carlton Palmer and Geoff Thomas genuinely WERE the best available talents from a poor pool of players he had to pick from.
The Rookery: Home of the "1881 Movement".
But I digress.

To our right was the main home end The Rookery - home in the top left corner to a new singing section of "ultras" called The 1881 Movement. Not exactly unique these days but still to be commended nonetheless, The 1881 is a fan-led initiative with official club backing with the intention of making the atmosphere at Vicarage Road a bit more lively. And sure enough, all the home noise did emanate from this tucked away corner of the ground.
Looking towards the Vicarage Rd Stand & Away Fans.
Sadly, it didn't seem to spread very much to the rest of the ground, and the main noise did really come from the travelling Derby fans - who arrived in numbers and in good voice, as you might expect for a side currently top of the Football League.

It was a cracking game though, and I did enjoy it.
"Keep it down mate, we're 
trying to watch the game!"
Harry The Hornet bangs his drum.

Although I did get told off by a couple of the 'Orns regulars around me for chatting to my match day host a bit too much in the first half. "Cor Blimey, Have you come up for air yet?!" said one cheeky beggar.

Now, I know I can be something of a chatterbox after a few beers, but I didn't realise I was at the theatre or a tennis match, so I was surprised that talking to my companion had ruined their enjoyment so much. Apparently some moody sods prefer all to sit in near-silence around these parts during games - so I think the 1881 Movement really does have it's work cut out to improve the atmosphere!

Chastised and a little embarrassed, I kept the chatter to a minimum in the 2nd half lest I incur the wrath of the silence police. In fairness this did allow me to concentrate on the game a little more, so perhaps they had a point. I didn't tell them that though, as my lips were zipped tight.

The 2nd half really came alive when Watford equalised with a  very well-worked goal, and spent the next 15 minutes very much on top of the league-leaders as they pressed for a winner which sadly never came.

Opposite our stand along the other side of the pitch, behind the team dug-outs, is the newly opened East Stand, which until very recently was a building site, the original stand having been knocked down to pave the way for the one there today, still only partially opened on today's visit.
Newly Opened East Stand.
Watford are clearly paving the way for a return to Premiership football, and I think they are probably ready for it - The Hornets are another team very much on the up at the moment.

Mr E. John: Hornet till he dies.
Currently owners the Pozzo Family have gained nothing but praise from every Watford fan I spoke to this week. I think it would be difficult for the Pozzo's ever to take Elton John's place as "Best Owner Ever" at Watford FC.

But after a couple of ownerships since the glory days of Elton & Graham that have left 'Orns fans with a very bitter taste in the mouth - they couldn't really have asked for much more than owners like the Pozzos.

The Pozzos also own Italian Serie A side Udinese, and Spanish side Granada, and the secret of the success of all 3 clubs since their ownership is the loaning out of players between the clubs and pooling of resources.

Giampaolo Pozzo: Popular in Hertfordshre.
And it seems to be working. A quick scan of today's programme and 12 of the current Watford squad came from Udinese or Granada. And the bulk of the rest are local boys who have come up from their successful academy.

They lost this afternoon to a Derby side that are taking the Championship by the scruff of the neck at the moment and driving on towards the Premiership - but I wouldn't be surprised to see Watford there with them come next season. And if not, they'll almost certainly be challenging for a good few years to come. As I said - this is a club on the up.

With thanks to Colin Howe, Rory Howe, Andy McIvor & Colm Quinn (@colmuacuinn)

Next up: Hull City's KC Stadium - Tomorrow!

Sunday 9 November 2014

No. 71: Bescot Stadium [Walsall]

Saturday, 8th November 2014
Walsall v. Shrewsbury Town [FA Cup 1st Round] 2-2

For the second Saturday in a row I managed to scrape myself out of bed and set off with a hangover to visit a random League 1 ground.

This time, a 2-hour drive for me up the M40 & M6 to the urban conurbation that is the West Midlands, and to the Industrial town of Walsall, 8 miles north of Birmingham. This time - it was the magic of the FA Cup 1st Round that had enticed me for a 2nd visit this season to the Black Country.

The journey up, almost entirely by motorway, was fucking atrocious - both in terms of the weather (it absolutely thraped it down the whole way) and also in terms of my head & stomach, feeling the affects of the night before.
The M6 on a wet, miserable Saturday.
But I was on a mission to complete the 92 - and I wasn't going to be put off by a silly hangover. It was touch and go though.

Walsall is one of those clubs I sometimes forget about, despite often seeing the ground at the side of the M6 as you skirt round the edge of Birmingham. Indeed, I bet that Walsall's Bescot (Or "Bank's Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is one of the most viewed football grounds in the country, so visible is the over-sized home stand as it looms over the motorway.

But I'm sure if you hadn't heard of the football team, you'd probably not have heard of the town of Walsall, either. Without wishing to upset the residents of this proud metropolitan borough - it doesn't strike me as the sort of place you'd visit without having the excuse of a football game to go to.

But I'm probably being unfair to Walsall - because in truth I never actually saw the town - just the immediate vicinity of the Stadium, at the dusty end of an Industrial & retail estate underneath the M6.

Like many modern football grounds in the country, Walsall's isn't in the heart of the community any more. The Bescot was one of the "first wave" of new grounds built away from the residential heartlands of football's urban & Industrial Victorian origins, replacing the old Fellows Park in time for the 1990-91 season.

As such, it's now 25 years old, yet but for a few spots of fading paint & the obsolete LCD scoreboard, you wouldn't think this out of place with grounds built within the last 5-10 years.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking from a visit to Bescot that Walsall must be a depressing place to live.

But like most fans, especially those arriving by car on a miserable wet day just an hour before kick off, I only really had the empty estate around the ground to explore - the town centre itself, 3 miles away, may be a right hoot.
It's 2 degrees & pissing it down. Good luck with sales!
So next time - I must make more effort to get here early and perhaps see what Walsall really has to offer. The Leather Museum being first on the list.

As it was, wet & tired, I just wanted to get some food and sit down somewhere warm before kick off.

Sadly, no wonderful West Midlands Balti House was at hand - the only option around the ground was McDonalds, and Ice Cream van, and Walsall FC's own Supporters Bar - the Saddlers Club.

Burger, Pint & Programme: Matchday Classics.
No contest really, it had to be the Saddlers Club. The £2 entrance fee was a bit excessive, especially as the drinks didn't seem particularly discounted, and although a nice warm space I wasn't overly impressed with the food selection on offer, having little choice but to plump for a grot-burger which didn't stave the hunger.

Nonetheless, I was just glad of somewhere to dry off & enjoyed experiencing the home fans' delight in watching their local rivals Wolves getting tonked by Derby on the TV.
The Saddlers Club, Bescot Stadium: Functional.
Burger consumed, pint tolerated, there was little else to do than take my place in the ground. I'd bought a ticket for the main stand along the side of the pitch, but I was free all game to walk around and take any spare seat in either this stand or the large double-tiered home end behind the goal.
Looking towards the Tile Choice Stand.
The larger stand behind the goal really does feel a bit like it's been taken from another ground and put their by mistake, so much does it dwarf the rest of the ground. There had been plans 10 years ago to develop the opposite stand, that currently houses the away fans, to a similar template.

It was hoped that money raised by the sale of advertising on the giant boards that now stand behind the away end would help fund this. These giant boards, designed deliberately to be visible to cars on the adjacent M6, are the largest by the side of any motorway in Europe.

And quite an eyesore they are too, rising strikingly above the far end, their backs visible from inside most of the ground. A shame they didn't raise the required funds to develop the stand behind them, as then the stand would cover the sight of them from inside the ground!

View towards KIA Stand & Homeserve Main Stand.
The ground's proximity to the M6 really struck home when the crowd fell silent for the Remembrance Day minute's silence. IT was the noisiest silence I've ever observed, with the streaming drone of heavy traffic rolling by from the motorway, just out of eyesight. How on earth the residents of Walsall ever get any peace with that background noise continuously in their ears I don't know!

After a brief look at the view from behind the goal, including those lovely advertising boards, I decided to take my place in the Main Stand, where my hangover would be more at home without having to stare directly into the sun nor bounce around with the more raucous home fans.

I sat very close to the home dug-out and so could hear every word that came off the bench from the Walsall Manager Dean Smith to his players on the pitch. This is always one of my favourite places to sit in the ground because of that.
Can't you read, mate?

In saying that, Mr Smith wasn't half as vocal as the moaning Saddlers sat around me! True enough, Walsall started by far the poorer side, and the linesman in front of us did seem to get a few too many decisions wrong.

But it did feel very much like the long-suffering home fans couldn't wait to find a scapegoat to have a go at, and in the end I think the vitriol was tied between the linesman and Walsall's No. 11, James Baxendale, who was apparently "too much like a girl" to be a footballer, and needed to "fucking man up a bit".

And this was all from a mother sat behind me with two young children, by the way! They breed them tough in Walsall!

All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed being in amongst it, and there were some real characters sat in the stand along with me.
Proper Football. Proper Fan.

One of the joys of travelling up and down the country this season sitting amongst home fans rather than an away end is to hear all the local accents in full swing.

And none of them are more distinctive nor evocative of their region than the Black Country accent in evidence at Walsall, with it's elongated vowels and archaic twangs of Middle English (the use of "thou" and "thee" still common in these parts).

I spoke about it earlier this year from my visit to West Bromwich, but the Black Country really is a very unusual construct. It strikes me more of an idea in people's hearts and minds rather than something actually exists in the real world as either an administrative or political concept.

It also strikes me that it feels very much these days as taken as a matter of identity to people of this proud post-industrial region as a way of making it clear they are distinct from the rather large City on their doorstep.

Saying you are "from the Black Country", is also to say "I'm not from Birmingham, yow know!" So often is their accent confused and they would be called Brummies to ignorant outsiders like myself.
Walsall's Management looks on during a corner for the home side.
Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation that surrounds it is quite unique in that respect - Ask someone who lives 8 miles north of central London (say, Walthamstow, for instance) where they are from, and they'd probably happily identify as a "Londoner".

But don't call someone from Walsall a Brummie, even if there isn't any clear daylight of green between the two places. Thankfully, I knew that already so didn't get into any trouble. I know the difference between a Brum-a-Jum & a Yam-Yam.

The game itself was very much one of two-halves. 1st half - a bit dull. 2nd half - sprang into life & turned into a rip-snorter at the death.

Trailing 1-0 at half-time, Walsall didn't really look in it, and you had the feeling that Shrewsbury's taunts of former striker Tom Bradshaw, who left them in the summer following the Shrews' relegation, had hit their mark.

But on 56 minutes, a through-ball to Bradshaw looked like it had got trapped under his feet as a defender loomed over him, but somehow Walsall's No 9 managed to dig it free and find space to unleash a low thunderbolt into the bottom corner, right in front of the away fans. Given their chants of "Shrewsbury Reject", I think he enjoyed running past them with his tongue out.

Frankly, after hearing the travelling fans singing about French prostitutes for much of the game, that's the least they deserved. Salop indeed.

Walsall's delight was short-lived though, as within 5 minutes a wicked deflection from a free-kick at the other end had found itself in the back of the net, and Shrewsbury were on top again.
A late goalmouth scramble for Walsall in front of the Shrewsbury fans.
The Saddlers never seemed to give up though and the last 15 mins or so were all Walsall. The pressure paid off bang on 90 mins when another wicked deflection flew past the Shrewsbury keeper, and apparently, given his team-mates surrounding him, it hit Bradshaw again. I have to say I couldn't tell you if it did or not, even having watched the highlights back on TV this morning. But he's certainly claimed it!

5 mins of added time wasn't enough for the Saddlers to press home their psychological advantage and get a winner, but it made it a very entertaining game in the end and certainly well worth the visit.

And so, these two teams will replay back at the New Meadow for a place in the 2nd Round. I won't be making that trip (I'm not mental, you know), but I can't wait to see which of these teams makes the 2nd Round draw - you never know, I could be watching them again in a few weeks.

All in all then, another one of those trips that ended up being well worthwhile, despite how hard it was to motivate myself in the morning. My only regret was setting off too late to see anything more than the ground itself. I'm sure I'll be back though, and next time, I'll be making a beeline to that leather museum.

Yow can be sure of it.

Next Up: Weekend Double-Header! 
Watford's Vicarage Road [22nd November]
Hull City's KC Stadium [23rd November]