Crawley – Page 2 – onetruekev

Black And White Town

A number six hit for The Doves in 2005, as today’s opponents are famous for their black and white kit, even if they are a ‘county’ and they play in a ‘city’, but I suppose we make up the ‘town’ part of the title.

Quiz answer(s), besides Coventry City which are the only other five sides to have played seasons in both the old Division Three (North) and Division Three (South)? Grimsby Town, Mansfield Town, Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town, and Walsall. Yet teams further south than Grimsby, and further north than Coventry never changed despite many years in Division Three, such as Notts County, Lincoln City, Crewe Alexandra, Wrexham.

It’s now three wins on the spin, after a 2-0 win in the league against Cheltenham Town last weekend, and the 4-2 win in the Vertu Trophy against Aston Villa U21s on Tuesday night, and four unbeaten in total now, let’s keep that little run going and continue a climb up the table.

A game against Notts County was the first I attended and sat in the east marquee for. It was late April 2019, and they were desperately trying to win to stay in the league, they drew 1-1 and their relegation to the National League was confirmed the following week. Their manager was Harry Kewell, who had jumped ship to them from us as they were a bigger club, and the home crowd did a lot of barracking of Robert Milsom who had followed him there. It was also memorable with a County player picking up the dollop of foam sprayed by the ref to mark where a free kick should be taken from and then putting it back down ten yards up the pitch. The crowd were in fine voice letting the ref know what had happened, and that the position had moved into the other half was a bit of a giveaway.

And I remember them having Topps football cards in the seventies, they only had a couple of players – Steve Carter and Dave Needham, but the 1976-77 set was most vivid with the colours used for the team and player name.

It dawned on me that as they’d been in Division One then they would also appear in the massive tome of UK Panini Stickers 1986-93, and it’s the first time I’ve been able to use it in anger. They had some decent players playing for them that season.

Reece Brown played a handful of games for Notts County on loan back in 2014. When looking through the Notts County squad to see if there were any former Crawley players in it, I was interested to find that they have a Barry Cotter on loan, and he heralds from Ennis, in County Clare in Ireland, which is where my dad came from. Meanwhile they do have former Crawley connections in our long-time wing back Nick Tsaroulla on one side and Kellen Gordon on the other, let’s see if we can smuggle the pair of them back after the game.

We go into the game three points and six places behind Notts County. A win could see us overtake them, but it would need to be by four goals. However our record against them isn’t great, we’ve played them seventeen times in League One, League Two, and the FA Cup and have only won four, drawn three, and lost ten. At Meadow Lane it is worse, with a single win, a lone draw, and seven losses.

I have been to Meadow Lane before, but it was a long time ago, and at the time Notts County were in the topflight. I’d gone as a Spurs fan, again for an April game, Spurs won 2-0 and Notts County got relegated at the end of the season, and missed out on the Premier League which started the following season, it was also the summer before they rebuilt three of the stands, so it’s a little bit different from the last time I was here. The other two teams relegated that season have both made it to the Premier League, West Ham have spent a lot of time there, and Luton Town made it back for a single season, but Notts County just missed out on joining Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, and Everton as being founder members of both the Football League and the Premier League. As well as being founder members of the Football League they lay claim to being the world’s oldest professional league club – there is a plaque to this on the Mercure Hotel in the city centre.

And at the end of 1901, Juventus were seeking to replace the pink shirts they had worn since their formation. John Savage, an English member of the Juventus team, arranged for a Notts county supporting friend in England to send a new set of kits to Turin, and Juventus have played in black and white stripes ever since. Yet apart from the plaque on the hotel, the team are virtually ignored in the city centre. The Nottingham tourist info shop is three quarters full of Forest merch and nothing of County, and there is no statue to a former manager in the centre of the city either, unlike for the other lot.

I’ve been to more games on the other side of the river, both at the City Ground seeing Spurs failing to beat the other mob numerous times, and test matches at Trent Bridge. Speaking of cricket, after being promoted last week, Leicestershire have won the Championship second division, and in the NFL the 49ers struggled to a win against less fancied opposition (sound familiar?) so a good week so far.

A weekend in Nottingham means I can catch up with my brother, but I couldn’t persuade him to come to the game. He’s been to a Notts County game before and swears never again. But he did have me going to other ‘sport’ with a night at HOP wrestling in a church hall in Sherwood last night. Not something I was expecting to be doing by any means.

It’s raining when we get to the ground, so Helen persuades me to go into the pub to find other Crawley fans and be sociable. Well, I went in. And Helen did the socialising. Outside the pub they had a mural of the most famous County and Forest managers together, and then outside the ground there’s a statue to legends of the lane.

The club shop has lots of merch, including the pen and fridge magnets to add to the collection.

And there was also a little book on old Notts County cigarette cards, that was never going to stay in the shop, was it?

Notts County are another of the clubs who have stop doing programmes, which is a shame as I did like the funky square ones that Notts County used to do which I found in the batch Mick Fox gave me.

They did have team sheets though.

It is a decent stadium, and lots of choice for a seat, so got as close to the halfway line as possible. And there’s no issue with their sound system.

The teams come out, and we are in all red with white trim kit, whereas Notts County are in their traditional black and white striped shirts, black shorts, and socks.

It’s a slow start to the game, and the first proper attack sees us win the ball in midfield and Kabby Tshimanga goes forward with it and is fouled about twenty-five yards out just to the left of centre. Dion Conroy takes and puts it well over the bar. His first free kick this season was a decent attempt and forced a good save, but since then the efforts have been getting further away so perhaps it’s time for someone else to take over.

There is a whole lot of nothing going on for large periods. We are pressing really well and have a couple of attacks down the wings but the final ball in is getting cleared, or we are giving away a foul in the box. County break down the left and get a cross in deep the attempted shot loops up and into Harvey Davies’ arms.

A couple of off the ball blocks, other pull downs are happening and being ignored. Dion Pereira gets dragged back whilst going down the wing and nothing is given; County break down the left and fizz a dangerous low cross in and Davies just gets fingertips to it to divert it out of range of the onrushing striker. Pereira is down injured from before and gets treatment including the need to stem a flow of blood coming from his leg.

We put a nice move together out of defence, Geraldo Bajrami to Tshimanga, and lays it off to Harry McKirdy down the right, he drives into the box, and his low cross goes across the six-yard box, but no one can get a touch on it. At the other end County get a corner from a deflected shot after we’d played ourselves into trouble. And another County attack sees their striker just get beyond Conroy and into the box, they cut inside and shoot, and Davies saves well down low.

McKirdy is fouled in midfield and wins a free kick, and the ref is waving a yellow card, McKirdy is the closest person to him, and it looks like it is for him. Kyle Scott puts the ball into the box, but straight into the keeper’s arms. The County number 10 is causing a lot of problems down their left and looks dangerous every time he gets the ball and runs at us. County get a free kick midway inside out half on the left wing. It’s cleared and we give a free kick away in the same place on the right wing. That is cleared to the edge of the area and the shot back in is well saved at the expense of a corner, it is cleared, put back in and they win another corner.

There is a round of applause for a deceased County fan in the thirty-fifth minute which is well observed by all. McKirdy gets a booking for a foul on the left wing, which means the ref couldn’t have been waving the yellow card at him earlier. But checking the match stats, nobody else is showing as having a yellow card in the first half, so perhaps the ref was showing it to himself. About time some of the officials got bookings.

We start a move down the right and ping a number of passes together with Pereira putting it through to Tshimanga who moves it on to Reece Brown, and then onto Scott, then to McKirdy and his shot is saved.

A County attack sees a Davies save and turns it into an attack for us. We have a couple of minutes of decent possession which comes to an end with a Conroy clip into the box just running out of play for a goal kick. Ironic cheers from the away support when Tshimanga wins a free kick when pulled over. The free kick is played in by Scott and goes straight into the goalkeeper’s arms again.

Down the County right there is a tussle for the ball lots of attempted tackles by three of our players only for the ball to come across to the middle to a County player, he cuts across the field without being closed down and he curls in a shot from twenty five yards which eludes Davies and goes in the bottom corner and we trial 0-1.

There are three added minutes at the end of the half before the half time whistle goes, and we traipse in 0-1 down.

The first thing of note in the second half is a yellow card for Barker after a coming together as County tried to break out of the County half on the left wing.

We can’t seem to get the ball out of our own half and give the ball away on edge of the area only for them to drag their shot wide. Another corner for County, which goes across and out for a goal kick. The short, fanny about with it goal kick routine is wearing thin now and is only inviting pressure.

There is a break down the left and McKirdy twists and turns to get a cross in, it is headed back to the edge of the box, and Bajrami’s shot goes over the bar, only for a free kick to be given for a foul by Charlie Barker.

It’s a sign of just how badly the half time team talk must have gone that Scott Lindsey is busting the first lot of subs out eight minutes earlier than the standard sixty-minute mark. Brown, Pereira, and Tshimanga are replaced by Kaheim Dixon, Gavan Holohan, and Ryan Loft. A couple of Ade Adeyemo crosses don’t bring anything. There are signs of life now, most of it coming through Dixon. A Barker diagonal ball finds McKirdy on the edge of the box and his shot is blocked and goes for a corner. It is cleared, put back in, cleared again and Barker has a shot from thirty yards out which goes a couple of yards wide.

A long throw into the box from Josh Flint is headed clear and quickly passed forward and County have two on one on Dixon on halfway, and they leave him on his backside thirty yards out and it leaves them two on one with the keeper and slot it into the corner leaving Davies with no chance and we are down 0-2.

There is more playing ourselves into trouble at the back again. Conroy loses the ball, it did look like a foul on him, but it is played into the box, and the County player rifles it in from a tight angle, looking as if it went straight through Davies’ legs and it is 0-3 just like that.

Adeyemo is replaced by Harry Forster, and County are nearly through again, Conroy goes down clutching his face. I’m not convinced how much actual contact there was there, but it stops a one on one. We get a free kick, it’s taken short to Forster, and his cross is headed back by Loft and scraped clear on the goal line.

At our end we lose the ball whilst fucking around with it at the back and give a corner away. We then put our best move of the match together, Bajrami turns his man deftly in midfield and passes to Scott, and he plays it on to Forster on the left wing, his cross pings in about ten yards out and Loft is unmarked, but puts his shot over the bar.

There are four added minutes at the end of the half, which is enough time for County to add to their tally and satisfy their fans who have been chanting we want four. We lose the ball, Conroy is trying to keep it whilst being on the deck, but it squirms away from him, and they are in, and the ball is in the net. That very nearly wasn’t it, we give it away again on the left as Forster loses it on halfway and the ball through thankfully sees Davies get there just ahead of the attacker. The final whistle goes, and it is all over for a 0-4 loss.

The crowd was announced as 8,974 with 259 Crawley fans in attendance.

The loss sees us slip three places to twenty-first, and why is it when we do lose, we tend to ship a load of goals and get a fucked-up goal difference.

On the way back into the city centre we pass here.

And wonder if there is someone (who hasn’t been seen at the last few away games) in there ordering things on their joint account’s credit card.

We carry on past and head for a post-match curry, which was a damn sight better than the taste the match left in our mouths.

Plus it means I can wash my jeans. On the way to Harrogate I spilt coffee on my jeans about ten minutes into the journey, and we won, so I’ve been wearing the same jeans as it was a lucky Omen. This defeat ends that superstition so I can wear something else for games now.

And on to the next game, back at home next Saturday as we host Barrow, who have probably already set off for that one as it’s a bit of a trek.

Come on you reds.

We Close Our Eyes

Due to seating arrangements for tonight’s game I’ve picked something from the band Go West and have chosen their 1985 top five hit as there are plenty of times, we’d have been happy to close our eyes this season. Let’s hope tonight isn’t another of them.

Answer to quiz time from the last one of these, which is the only club to have played in the Premier League, Division One, Division Two, Division Three, Division Three (North), Division Three (South), Division Four, the Championship, League One, and League Two? Coventry City.

After a second win on the spin at the weekend, this time at home and against Cheltenham Town, it is the diversion of the Vertu Trophy this evening with the first of the group games in the competition, at home to Aston Villa U21s.

This is the third visit of Aston Villa’s under twenty-ones in the last four seasons, we had a year off for good behaviour last year, but they are back. Our two previous games against them were both wins, 5-2 in 2022 and 3-2 in 2023. (We’ve not played the senior side).

Villa did fob one of their under twenty-ones off on us for a season long lone in 2022-23 – Caleb Chukwuemeka. There were mentions of Nathan Ferguson and Lee Barnard as being the most bone idle and lazy players to ever stroll around the Broadfield pitch. Both of them were before my time, but CC would fit that description for me.

One of my friends from work is a Villa fan and is going to the game tonight, having lined it up as soon as the draw was done, and he’s stuck with it instead of going for the option of the senior side playing at Brentford in the Carabao Cup tonight as well. So, having driven him up from Hove after work, it was a case of pre-game curry at the Downsman for this one.

Due to the lack of general interest in the Vertu Trophy, the east marquee isn’t open, so I’m having to sit in the west stand instead. My knees will be fucked by half time as the leg room in there is shit.

Since the last game I’ve spent most of the weekend finalising all the cataloguing and sorting of programs after the masses that Mick Fox kindly gave me. The main quandary was how to store them. I did have them in the traditional date order, but I know that will give me issues going forward as I only have knowledge of who played when over the last five years, so I’ve mixed it up and gone for alphabetical order by team name instead. Such an exciting life I lead.

I was looking for Aston Villa football cards. There is not a shortage from the seventies and eighties but was looking for someone who would have been under twenty-one at the time and did find this one of Gary Shaw from 1981 when he was still twenty. Though it would have been unlikely for him to turn out in a fixture like this as by that time he was already a league winner and was gearing up for the season they won the European Cup. And as it turns out today marks the first anniversary of his death, so a mini tribute to him on a mini card.

I did moan about the legroom in the west stand, but it isn’t full so can stretch out sideways. It does have the bonus of being able to see all of the scoreboard and the clock at the top. And can see the front of the player line up for a change.

It is a much-changed side from the one which won on Saturday, and we actually have a goalkeeper on the bench, or as some wag behind said, he’s called Heater cos he keeps the bench warm. We are in our usual all red with white trim home kit, and the Villa U21s are in all black.

It’s a slow start to the game, there is a lot of passing the ball around, sideways, and backwards, but not a lot of cutting edge. Villa looks reasonable when on the ball. The first action of note is that Reece Brown, the only started from Saturday has had to go off injured. Never good. But it does mean a Crawley Town debut for Jude Robertson.

Fate Kotey wins a free kick on the far corner of the area; it is taken deep and then we end up playing it all the back to JoJo Wollacott in goal. A ball down the right gets to Louis Flower, he beats a man on the edge of the box and gets a shot off which is blocked and then cleared. Down the right again and Kotey crosses it in, and a Flower header just loops wide. And again, Kotey down the right and crosses and Robertson’s touch is a bit heavy and it just goes to the keeper. But his clearance is straight to Kaheim Dixon on the edge of the area, and his shot comes back in and finds the net for his first Crawley Town goal, and we lead 1-0.

Despite being close to the halfway line and in the same row back as I am in the east marquee, it does seem a strange viewpoint being sat on the other side. There are about half a dozen rebels who are sat pretty much in the area I normally sit in the marquee as well. I’m not in the slightest bit jealous.

A Wollacott clearance is flicked on by Flower on half way, and Dixon nods forward and is in one on one with the keeper, he shoots earlier than at Chesterfield, and the keeper makes a good save with an outstretched boot, it goes to the left and Dixon is first to the ball and his follow up shot is blocked behind for a corner. Harry Forster takes it deep, and Ben Ratcliffe is at the far post to nod it in, and we lead 2-0.

Scott Lindsey has been quite vocal, being sat in the west stand it is easier to hear, and after a barrage of questioning decisions the fourth official comes over to have a quiet word with him. A free kick is given away on the left near the area by Kotey and the shot forces a good save from Wollacott, and it is cleared for a corner.

Scott Malone picks up a booking in midfield, no contact made but intent, and the ref is pointing to various places round the pitch to suggest it is totting up, which is odd as Malone hasn’t fouled anyone so far. Scott Lindsey is less than impressed and asks the fourth official ‘are you taking the piss?’

There are three added minutes at the end of the half, and it is Villa doing the attacking. They force another save out of Wollacott and then attack again down the right and get a cross in, it goes all the way across the box, and the striker slides in on the far side and puts it back across Wollacott and into the corner and it is 2-1. With only enough time for the restart before the half time whistle goes.

The second half starts slowly, and again the first major action is an injury. Dixon is down screaming in pain and takes some time getting back up, it looks as if he landed awkwardly after a challenge and as if he may well have dislocated his thumb, but he gets his hand and wrist taped up and makes his way back on to continue.

There is the ever-present threat of us fannying about at the back. Joy Mukena makes a hash of a pass and plays a Villa player into the box; Max Anderson does a silly pull back and the ref points to the spot for a penalty. Which is taken sending Wollacott the wrong way and it back to all square at two apiece.

We bring a ball out from the back, Ratcliffe plays it to Kotey, who puts it down the line on the right for Dixon, he gets to the byline and puts in a nice deep cross and Ryan Loft heads it back the way it came and into the top corner for his first Crawley Town goal and to give us back the lead 3-2.

Dixon plays Flower into the box on the left, and Flower’s shot is tipped onto the side of the post, and it goes for a corner. Forster puts it into the mixer, and it is flicked behind on the other side for another. This one he takes deep, and Loft attempts an acrobatic effort which is blocked, and it falls to Ratcliffe, and his semi-acrobatic effort does find its way through all the bodies in the box and in the net and we lead 4-2.

Which is the sign to make some substitutions, with Loft and Malone coming off to be replaced by a test of my typing ability as Tola Showunmi and Antony Papadopoulos come on to replace them.

We nearly play ourselves into trouble at the back with a poor back pass not making it to Wollacott, but we manage to clear and survive. There is some good play to find Showunmi in the box, and he gets a good cross in which more hits Flower than Flower hitting it and it gets cleared. Again we attack, this time down the left and Forster plays it to Flower who slides it into Showunmi, and his shot is saved and then cleared for a throw.

Robertson gets a booking, just seconds after two players sandwich tackle Kotey near the edge of the box, an obvious double foul on him, but the ref gives a free kick to Villa for a non-existent handball. Lindsey is not impressed and is still ‘debating’ the lack of decision with the linesman minutes later.

A break from his own half sees Flower surge into the box, seemingly lose the ball, but then just get a toe in to take a shot which hits the side netting. He’s given himself cramp or something stretching, and shuffles back onto the field of play on his arse to carry on stretching.

Some of the urgency (and to be honest there hasn’t really been a lot all game) has gone out of the Crawley players, and Villa are attacking more, they break down the left, get a cross in and there is a great save from Wollacott. There are six added minutes, and Villa are through on goal again after a Mukena slip and it brings another good save from Wollacott, and Villa get a corner. It is all Villa in added time and Wollacott is called into action again to save before the ref blows the final whistle the game ends with us winning 4-2.

No announcement of the crowd numbers, but there weren’t a lot, not helped by Villa’s first team playing at Brentford, and the four hundred they brought two years ago was down to about forty.

It was a win, without most of the team who’d won the last two league games, and Kotey certainly looked a handful. Robertson showed his youth and inexperience at times, but didn’t do too badly, and it was good that Dixon’s injury didn’t affect him playing, if anything he got more involved after it. Albeit against an under 21s side where the lowest squad number on display all evening was 56, with five in the sixties, three in the seventies, two in the eighties and four in the nineties on display over the course of the evening, so nothing to get too excited about. But a win is a win and it’s good for squad morale.

Quiz time, following on from the last question, besides Coventry City which are the only other five sides to have played seasons in both the old Division Three (North) and Division Three (South)?

Next up, back to league action on Saturday with an away trip to Notts County (not one of the answers to the above).

Come on you reds.

I Spy (For The FBI)

I’m going with this track today, I know it mainly from the 1985 minor hit by LA Ska-sters The Untouchables, but the original 1966 version from Jano Thomas & His Party Brothers Orchestra is also worth a listen. But it is the Untouchables version which ends with them saying they spy for MI5, the CIA, and the KGB as well. And how is this relevant? Well, today’s visitors are Cheltenham, which is where GCHQ is based, and they spy for everybody, and their wives.

Answers to quiz time, name the four managers to have won the English league title with two different clubs. The one people didn’t get without Google was Tom Watson, who won three titles with Sunderland in 1891/92, 1892/93, and 1894/95 before moving to Liverpool and winning titles in 1900/01 and 1905/06. The other three were Herbert Chapman who won titles with Huddersfield Town in 1923/24 and 1924/25 before moving to Arsenal and winning titles in 1930/31 and 1932/33 – interestingly both Huddersfield and Arsenal went on to complete hat tricks of titles after he had left them. Next was Brian Clough who won with Derby County in 1971/72 and then with Nottingham Forest in 1977/78, and Finally Kenny Dalglish who won with Liverpool in 1985/86, 1987/88, and 1989/90, and then with Blackburn Rovers in 1994/95.

I have to say what admiration I hold those who travel up and down in a day for those long away games. Usually when going with Helen, we make a weekend of it and have overnight stays before and after the game, but I’ve done solo day trips to Crewe and Harrogate this season. And I’m knackered for the next few days afterwards. And as for those who do it on the coach for every game, then hats off, I’ve done a few coach trips, but North London is my limit for how far I can hack it on a coach, doing those journeys to Harrogate would see me spending most of the game throwing up.

Speaking of Harrogate, even if I was wiped out for most of this week, it was worth it to see Crawley’s first win of the season, and the first clean sheet as well. May they both continue. And it also meant I could get a haircut, I’d sworn to myself after day one that I wouldn’t get a trim until we won, and although not long, the straggly bits over my ears were annoying the fuck out of me.

Sunday saw the start of the NFL season, which means that for seven hours on a Sunday night I’m stuck in front of the TV watching RedZone. As a long time 49ers fan (40+ years now) it did feel like watching Crawley, some promising play, lots of shooting ourselves in the feet, needless fouls, comedy defending, but they managed to win, only for their two best players to be ruled out with injury for the next four weeks.

Elsewhere is sport, my home county Leicestershire finally managed to secure promotion out of Division Two and into the top flight in the County Championship for the first time this century with a draw against Gloucestershire, combined with Middlesex drawing with Derbyshire, enough to confirm promotion with two games to go. All they need to do now is get the few points required to go up as champions.

The new Reggie outfit has been completed and was shown to the club on Thursday night. Helen somehow forgot to take a photo, not that she would have let me share it until the official unveiling anyway. The new man in the suit is however, still waiting for the extremely random and slow process of DBS checks to be completed before taking to the Broadfield on match days, just in time for the sodden winter months.

The new Reggie outfit, along with some of the improvements around the stadium have come due to the efforts of the Devil’s Advocates. However since the takeover and WAGMI’s departure, it would appear no one is picking up that interface with the Devil’s Advocates, and with some of them giving it up, it begs the question of how long they will continue. And the idea to have helpers to meet and greet fans before games seems to have died a death before it started. It’s hard to see anywhere that the new owners have been in touch with the fans. CTSA contact is under the radar as far as I’m aware (as a member there’s been no news), they aren’t talking to the Devil’s Advocates, and no matter what kind of shit storm there may have been each summer, we had previously had a fans forum meeting with WAGMI by now, but it is all silence now.

As for today’s opponents, Cheltenham Town, we have played them 11 times in the league, all in League Two with five wins, five losses, and a draw. Our record at home is better, with four wins, a draw, and a loss, including winning the last three against them. We also played them in the Capital One Cup back in 2013 losing them 4-3. Going back to non-league days we had one random season being in the same league as them in the sixties, the seventies, and the eighties, before five consecutive seasons in the nineties (at least I think so after going boss eyed looking at the seasons on the CTFC History web site), winning five, drawing five, and losing six in those seasons, there were also a draw and a loss in the Southern League Cup back in 1970, and a loss in the FA Trophy in the 87-88 season.

https://www.ctfchistory.co.uk

We start the game three places and one point ahead of our visitors (a rarity for us this season). Isaac Hutchinson who spent half a season on loan with us in 2022 is in the Cheltenham squad on loan from Bristol Rovers and is someone who seems to bust a gut trying to prove a point against us since, both for Bristol Rovers and Walsall. They also have Ethon Archer in their squad, who although he didn’t play for us, did make a handful of appearances down the road playing for Three Bridges.

It is the first time Crawley have played Cheltenham since I started supporting and coming to games, as Cheltenham were promoted the season before, and then we swapped leagues when we got promoted.

Ryan Loft is suspended after his ridiculous sending off last weekend. Apparently, the ref told Scott after the game it was for an elbow. Talk about should have gone to fucking Specsavers, and it can’t be appealed as it was a second yellow and not a straight red, we’d have been better off if it had had been. And onto the next officiating clown show. Poor old TAFKAL is going to need a throat transplant by the end of the season at this rate, not just some Lockets.

I was cutting it fine to be there for the ridiculous half twelve kick-off, which meant having to leave writing group halfway through thanks to FSS. Only I found a programme in one of the many Mick Fox kindly gave to me which had a more ridiculous kick-off time of 11:15.

That was during the 1993-94 season, and the programmes from that season show me when it was that the club were wearing the shirt framed in Redz bar that I have shirt envy over.

That season also had a programme against Cheltenham in it, so I’ve got a picture of that in lieu of the fact that there are no football cards even remotely related to them in any collection I can find.

There was also a very thin one from the start of the 2019-20 season.

It had been a horrible morning, chucking it down with rain, and I don’t understand the negativity of fans on Facebook and the forum who almost seemed to be willing the game to be postponed. Yet by the time I got there it was bright sunshine.

We were in our usual red home strip, and Cheltenham were in an all-white kit with a single blue and yellow stripe across the chest and on the trim.

I had a dilemma on what shorthand to use for Cheltenham in the notebook as CT wasn’t going to work this week, so anyone who has the misfortune to read any of my scribble in the future will be confused as fuck to all the references to GCHQ in there.

Anyway, Cheltenham win the first corner of the game which we clear, and we win our first one a couple of minutes later, it goes past the back post and Geraldo Bajrami heads it back in the direction it came from for a goal kick.

We put together a great move involving most of the team working it out to the right and across to the left and the ball is finally slipped into Harry McKirdy in the box and his shot is saved, and Reece Brown’s follow up is put behind for a corner, which is taken deep and headed behind for a goal kick.

After been warned for one, Kyle Scott picks up a booking for a second sliding lunge over on the far touchline in front of the dugouts. There is more good play from us, and we get the ball down the right to Brown, he puts it into Kabby Tshimanga in the box, and he turns his man and shoots, and it is saved and pushed behind for a corner. It drops in the middle of the box and Bajrami’s shot is straight at the keeper.

McKirdy chases a long hopeful ball out of defence and manages to get a corner out of it, it is headed clear and then put back into the mixer and Bajrami has a shot which crashes down off the underside of the bar and bounces the wrong side of the line for us. We recycle the ball back in and Josh Flints heads wide.

Brown is taken out in the middle of the Cheltenham half and their player picks up a booking for the challenge. It is floated in by Scott and ends up with Dion Pereira on the right, his cross is put behind for another corner, which gets punched clear for a throw on the other side. We look to go long, but it’s taken short to McKirdy who gives it back to Charlie Barker who crosses it, Ade Adeyemo’s header hits the back of a defender, and it comes back over to Tshimanga who puts the ball in the net only for the whistle to have gone for a foul in the build-up. A shame, as that was a good finish.

Cheltenham have a quick break down the left and cross it along the edge of the area, their striker steps inside and their shot is thankfully straight at Harvey Davies.

There was a minute’s applause in the 39th minute for Ricky Barker, which was well supported.

TAFKAL missed the first ten minutes of action as he was working, so his first opportunity to yell ‘get on with it’ comes as the half nears the end. We win another corner after decent interchange of passes between Pereira, Tshimanga, and McKirdy. It’s taken to the near post area and McKirdy’s attempt to clip it inside the near post goes just wide.

Playing out from the back there is a shout from TAFKAL ‘give it to Dion,’ quickly followed by ‘not that one’ when the ball is given to Dion Conroy and not Pereira. There are two minutes added at the end of the half, and we go into half time with the scores level at 0-0.

Into the second half then, I spent most of half time facing the wrong way chatting to TAFKAL and so missed noticing if they had the silly County Mall game going on.

There is a Cheltenham player with no name and no number on the back of his shirt. I’m thinking that his name must be Freeman (I am not a number, I am a free man). Just me then.

A long ball out of defence and Tshimanga beats his man for pace and gets into the box and squares it to McKirdy who gets his feet all wrong and it ends up hitting his heel and going away from the open goal he had in front of him. It gets played back into the box and McKirdy has another couple of attempts to get a shot away, but it is cleared as far as Brown on the edge of the area, but he can’t repeat his effort from last week and his shot goes well over the bar.

At the other end Cheltenham get a shot which is only just wide, but it is a temporary break from our attacking. A ball down the left sees Adeyemo get into the box and cross it, it goes long but Pereira retrieves and crosses it back in and Brown doesn’t quite get enough on the header, and it goes wide.

Cheltenham win a corner, I don’t look at my watch and can’t see the screen from where I sit, but I’m assuming it must be on sixty minutes as we are lining up to make some substitutions. The corner comes out to a Cheltenham player thirty-five yards out and their shot is well over the bar.

Yes, it is substitution time, with Bajrami, Scott, and Brown making way for Max Anderson, Kaheim Dixon, and Gavan Holohan.

A long ball from the right from Pereira finds McKirdy on the edge of the area, he cuts inside of his marker and curls a shot around the keeper into the corner of the net, and we lead 1-0.

Keeping the pressure on, a long throw from Flint finds Holohan on the edge of the area and his shot is blocked inside the box, and there are claims of handball from the players, which the ref waves away, and Cheltenham win a free kick in their own box. They work it down the left and get a cross in and a header goes over the bar.

We play the ball down the right and Dixon plays it on to Pereira and his cross is headed by Adeyemo and it is cleared off the line and Cheltenham manage to smuggle it out for a corner. This one is claimed easily by the keeper.

At the other end Cheltenham get a cross in which is headed back out of the area, and they get a shot in which Davies does well to save and push behind for a corner. That is play short and the attempted cross back in clears the KRL Logistics stand for ball loss number one of the day.

Adeyemo has changed wings and gets the ball down the right, he beats his man a couple of times and gets into the box and is brought down and we get a penalty. McKirdy takes and although the keeper dives the right way, it is far enough into the corner to beat him, and we lead 2-0 and McKirdy has his second double of the season.

Before the restart we make another substitution with Scott Malone coming on to replace Pereira. We win the ball in midfield and Dixon rushes forward with it and plays it into the box for Tshimanga, it goes a bit wide, as does Tshimanga’s shot which hits the side netting. Another break forward sees Dixon link up with McKirdy this time, and his effort to try and get his hat trick goes wide.

We make out final substitution with Tshimanga (after his best game for us) goes off to be replaced by Louis Flower as the board goes up to show an incredible nine added minutes.

Barker smacks a clearance against a Cheltenham player, and the ball bounces off them and over the KRL Logistics stand for a second ball loss of the day. Adeyemo picks up a booking for a pull back in midfield. It is flicked forward and a shot from the edge of the box is saved by Davies and goes for a corner, it’s taken short, and the shot goes well wide.

We manage to play out the rest of the added time and the final whistle goes, and it is a 2-0 win. A second win on the trot and a second clean sheet on the trot as well, and we didn’t really look like conceding (apart from one fannying about at the back episode with a few minutes to go).

That took us up to sixteenth in the table at the final whistle, but most teams have still to play their games as we were an early FSS kick off, but it does make it seem a lot better than the first six games of the season did.

There was the temptation to follow others who left slightly before the end and go for a double header of action by going to the Three Bridges game, but instead I went home and typed this up, and will watch the second half of games through soccer Saturday before going for the post-match curry at the Downsman, which will be much enjoyed.

Next up is the first of the Vertu Trophy league games on Tuesday night, as we host Aston Villa U21s, and as they aren’t opening the marquee it means a squeeze into the terrible leg room in the West Stand. Then next Saturday it’s off to Nottingham as we face Notts County.

Quiz time, which is the only club to have played in the Premier League, Division One, Division Two, Division Three, Division Three (North), Division Three (South), Division Four, the Championship, League One, and League Two. Come on you reds.

Bring The Drama

The title for this piece is a track from Rae & Christian’s Northern Sulphuric Soul album, seeing as we are definitely in the northern part of the country, and seeing as our opponents today are known as the Sulphurites it is appropriate.

The answer to last time’s quiz question was, Wolverhampton Wanderers are the only team to have won the FA Cup, League Cup, and Football League Trophy.

For those that are interested, Bolsover Castle had no gallows to go with my sense of humour, and its defences looked like they might do a good job but turned out to be mainly decorative. Make your own punchline out of that.

And on the way home, two service station WH Smiths didn’t have a copy of the Football League Paper, and when I got back to Crawley, the local Best One (if that’s the best one I’d hate to see the worst one) didn’t have a copy, but they did have a stack of half a dozen Non League Paper’s. Surely that’s a bit premature isn’t it? I did get a FLP the following day at Handi Corner though. And it had a small piece on the re-signing of Scott Malone. Us getting a mention three weeks on the trot must be a record for us in the FLP.

Loan signing of striker Ryan Loft for the season from Cambridge United. He looks a big old unit, his strike rate hasn’t been great, but he has played the last three seasons in League One, and adds some experience to the squad. He’ll add to the attic (attack) – not my joke, thanks to Paul for that one. There were rumblings of another loan signing to come, that we had the paperwork in before the 7pm deadline on Monday night, but the EFL are still debating whether to ratify it, and surely if it was going to happen even someone as incompetent as the EFL would have sorted it by now.

There has been a lot of umming and aahing all week about whether I was going to make the trip up to Harrogate or not for this game, only making the final decision to come back to the site of my first ever Crawley away game three years ago. Which also triggered a lot of other writing which I bundled together into another piece instead of putting it all in here.

With Harrogate only being in the league since 2020 there are no cards of any description, so just a previous programme to show for them.

The ticket splitting involved spat out a lot of paper as the journey up was split into Crawley to Stevenage, Stevenage to Grantham, Grantham to Doncaster, Doncaster to Wakefield Westgate, and Wakefield Westgate to Harrogate. And it was only after I’d booked the train and got the match ticket that I found out that Fuck Sky Sports plus were showing the game anyway, which would have made the umming and aahing worse if I’d have known sooner.

Our record against Harrogate is quite good, we have played eight, won four, drawn three and lost just the one. At Harrogate we are unbeaten, with two wins and two draws. Their manager, Simon Weaver is the current longest serving manager of any league club, having been their manager since 2009, when Harrogate were in the Conference North.

Jay Williams used to play for Harrogate briefly back in 2021 making seven appearances and scoring one goal for them, although he won’t be on the pitch today. Going into the game, Harrogate sit eight places and six points above us in the league in fourteenth on eight points.

We need a win to get ahead of the rolling points total compared to the 2022-23 season where at this point after six games we were also on two points, only we have a worse goal difference this season than that one. That season we drew game seven, before eventually won in game eight (which should have been game nine, but Gillingham was postponed).

I had a quick wander around the town taking some pictures, a poke in a couple of records shops (nothing I wanted), and thought about braving the big wheel (I am scared of heights), but decided there wasn’t enough time anyway.

The in-town Harrogate Town club shop was closed, and the only full shop at the ground is in the home end after entry, but fortunately they do sell a bit of merch at the window next to the away turnstile, so I managed to get a pen and a fridge magnet.

They have done away with the match day programme and are another club to move to (and stick with) a monthly magazine. It isn’t a bad one and had three pages of Crawley Town content in there.

Since my only previous visit three years ago they have built this new standing area for the away fans, but we obviously weren’t bringing enough today as that was closed.

Ryan Loft makes his debut for us, which means eight games into the season and we’re keeping our record going of having at least one Crawley debutant per game, it may well come to an end here.

We only name six substitutes on the bench, and no keeper again. Surely if we’ve only got six fit outfield players to put on the bench then why aren’t we naming Heater as a sub goalkeeper?

It is an outing for our all-white away kit, and Harrogate are in yellow shirts with black shorts and socks. Some latecomers arrive and sit behind me, moaning that there is no standing and asking why the new standing area isn’t open. I point out the old standing area is and so off they traipse, only for one of their number to give the quote of the day – “Why are we standing up when there are seats?”

A bright start and an attack down the left wing, Ade Adeyemo to Harry McKirdy and his shot is blocked on the edge of the box. At the other end Harrogate win a corner which we clear, but Harrogate are claiming for a handball which is waved away. We get our own corner, and there is lots of wrestling in the box before it is taken, and when it is it is punched clear, and a cross back in is too long and goes for a goal kick.

We work the ball down the left to Ryan Loft, and he plays it across to Dion Pereira on the right, he jinks past two players and gets into the box and his ball across the six-yard box eludes everyone and goes out for a goal kick.

A free kick in midfield is put into the box; it is headed down and Pereira’s shot is headed clear for a corner. That is cleared, then comes back in and we get another corner, it is taken short and then crossed, it is half cleared to McKirdy, and his shot is saved.

At the other end there is a corner to Harrogate. But it looked offside, the lino on our side continually appears to be at least two yards further up the pitch than the last defender, so is guessing most of the time. The corner is cleared.

Harrogate get a free kick in midfield and Scott Lindsey picks up a booking for arguing about it. We win a corner after another great Adeyemo take from a long ball from Dion Conroy is just poked out. The corner is half cleared, and Reece Brown has a shot blocked, but it breaks back to him and he has a shot which goes just over the bar. Pereira is hacked down near the edge of the box and Conroy takes the resulting free kick from just outside the area and it dips just over the corner of the goal.

Meanwhile McKirdy doesn’t appear to be very popular with the home support. We are having some decent pressure without getting a good final ball in, only for Harrogate to break and their number nine beat Conroy to the ball and put his shot just wide. Geraldo Bajrami loses the ball in midfield, wins it back, only for the ref to deem it a foul and give Harrogate a free kick twenty-five yards out, which they put just over.

At the other end Adeyemo is taken out by a crude foul, but the ref plays an advantage. It looks to be gone as the ball to Brown goes too wide, only for him to pull it back, and curl a screamer in around the keeper and we lead 1-0. Get in. Adeyemo is down for a while after the celebrations have finished, and there is no yellow card for the foul given.

There are three added minutes at the end of the half, a bit of pinball in our own box, a couple of blocked shots and then it loops up for Harvey Davies to claim. Charlie Barker gets a booking for a foul in the Harrogate half. The free kick finds a Harrogate player through in our box, but Davies is down well to quell the danger, and the half time whistle goes with us leading 1-0.

Adeyemo had spent the last few minutes of the first half trying to run off the injury received before the goal and is substituted at half time with Harry Forster coming on to take his place. And he is involved almost straight away, Kyle Scott wins the ball brilliantly in the Harrogate half and he slides Forster in, Forster squares it to McKirdy on the edge of the six-yard box only for his shot to go just over the bar. At the other end Harrogate have come alive and have two chances in quick succession which we manage to keep out somehow. The ball comes back to them again and another shot comes across the keeper and ends up coming off the outside of the post. It is kept in, and a cross is turned behind for a corner, and we finally clear the ball.

A Harrogate player goes right through Conroy on halfway about five minutes after the ball has gone. But no yellow card is forthcoming, only a talking to. A Harrogate corner is headed back across and then on and somehow goes wide. Coming out a ball from Conroy puts McKirdy through on the edge of the box but it is taken off his toes as he tries to cut across and cleared. A Harrogate player is given all day to come forward and line up a shot with no one anywhere near him for ten seconds, fortunately the shot is straight at Davies from thirty yards out.

Another Harrogate attack sees a coming together with one of their players and Forster in the box, the fans are screaming for a penalty, but nothing is given. Loft picks up a booking, with no indication of what the hell it was for. We make a substitution with Scott being replaced by Gavan Holohan.

A long free kick sees Harrogate have the ball in the net, but the whistle had gone long before it had even gotten to the striker (surely kicking the ball away given what’s to come). We are struggling to keep possession now and seem to be second to the ball most of the time.

Only for me to write that down and then get a ball out of defence, Loft flicks on and McKirdy is through on goal, the keeper gets enough of a touch on it to put it a yard wide for a corner. It’s swung in and is flicked just wide on the other side for a goal kick.

I have to wonder whether there is a moratorium on Harrogate players being given a yellow card in case it clashes with their kit. Some of the fouls they are getting away without picking one up are dreadful. Another Harrogate attack ends up with another Davies save.

Holohan wins us a corner, it gets nodded down and Conroy has a shot blocked, and a second effort by him goes just over the bar. And we make more subs, with Pereira and Bajrami off to be replaced by the returning Scott Malone, and Max Anderson.

A Harrogate free kick into the box is dropped by Davies, but the ref blows for a foul on him, and the away fans are chanting at him, Conroy is booked for the usual fucking about at the taking of the goal kick, and then Brown is booked, supposedly for kicking the ball away, there’s a quota to fill.

There is a delay to the game, we’re not sure at first, but it appears one of our fans has yelled at the lino on our side that he shouldn’t be allowed near children (but in much harsher terms). In the terrace, Glenn and Carol are shouting at the culprit to shut up, and when the stewards and police arrive point out who it was, and they are ejected from the ground. (Compare and contrast with the actions at Chesterfield last week for racially abusing Ade). I can add that I wouldn’t want the lino near a children’s game, but that’s because he’s the latest in a lengthy list of completely useless officials, who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a line in a game at any level.

There are six added minutes. Loft gets dragged down, and the lino has taken the insults personally as he gives the free kick to Harrogate, and to add insult to insult, Loft picks up a second yellow and is shown a red. The three blind mice are just taking the piss now. We make another substitution with McKirdy being replaced by Kabby Tshimanga.

Another tasty foul from Harrogate finally breaks their duck on yellow cards dished out as the ref remembers he is actually allowed to book Harrogate players as well as Crawley ones. Brown and Tshimanga do sterling work down in the corner, keeping the ball, winning throws and a corner and playing down the clock, and after what seems more like sixty minutes than six, the ref blows the final whistle, and it is the first win of the season for us – 1-0.

The crowd was announced as 2,757, with 168 of them having made the trip from Crawley, over a hundred more than the last time I was here.

The win sees us jump up two places to twentieth and puts us ahead of where we were in that Betsy season. The two teams below at the start of play, Shrewsbury and Cheltenham Towns both won as well, with Accrington and Newport slipping beneath us.

Next up is a home game against the other CTFC in the division – Cheltenham Town. It’s an early kick off at 12.30 as Fuck Sky Sports have chosen the CTFC showdown as one of their games to televise. Even at this early stage in the season it is a relegation six pointer.

Quiz time, name the four managers to have won the English league title with two different clubs.

Come on you reds.

Do You Remember The First Time

With an away match against Harrogate Town this weekend it brought to mind that just over three years ago, this was the location of my first Crawley Town away game. I was going to put a couple of paragraphs in usual match report, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve been given a whole host of old Crawley Town programmes from before my time supporting them, generously passed on by Mick Fox. In amongst them were two other ‘firsts’ of me and Crawley Town games, so a couple of paragraphs morphed into a longer piece around three firsts, and I’ve picked up a title from the Pulp 1994 hit.

I had pulled out the programme from the Harrogate Town game for tomorrow’s match report, and on doing so I realised that it was the first Crawley Town away game I had ever attended. My first season as a season ticket holder the year before had seen me only going to home games. But for the 2022-23 season we were looking at going to some away games. To be fair at that point, the football wasn’t necessarily the first thing on our minds. A weekend away in Harrogate was higher up the agenda for us. And we had done a hard thirty or so hours before the game sightseeing like crazy and following four of the six heritage trails they have around the town.

Having got a programme outside, there was a surprise once we got into the ground. I had experience of away days on terraces where it doesn’t matter where you stand, but all my previous seated away experiences were very much of ‘sit in the seat on your ticket’. To find someone in our ‘designated’ seats, and to be told, it doesn’t matter, sit where you want, was a bit of a shock to my ordered brain. Three years down the line I’m fine with it, get to the ground early and get a choice of the best seat for me.

The other thing to note from the programme is looking at the squad involved, the only player in our squad that day who is still with is, is club captain Dion Conroy.

We had found ourselves in the same hotel as the team, and even at that early stage in the season (the game was on the 13^th of August), you could feel the unease and pressure coming from most of the players and the manager Kevin Betsy, with only James Balagizi and Kwesi Appiah being relaxed and approachable.

The team had lost the first two league games but had had what we hoped was a morale boosting win in the Carabao Cup at home to Bristol Rovers during the week. That performance didn’t carry through to the Harrogate game and the two teams played out a somewhat stale goalless draw. Ludwig Francillette picked up an injury and was helped off, only to appear half an hour later to make his slow painful way around the pitch to the dug outs, which seemed strange as surely he’d have been better getting rest/treatment in the dressing room rather than hobbling to the bench and back on the other side of the pitch.

It turned out to be the only point I saw Crawley pick up on the road that season as we lost the other three games I made it to – the infamous Stevenage game where Preston Johnson was on the bench, a miserable trek to Barrow, and the season finale at Swindon Town.

In amongst the large volume of programmes passed on to me from Mick Fox was one I had been looking for. It was from the 2006-07 season, and it was the first ever Crawley Town game I had gone to.

I moved to Crawley from Manchester when work changed. Others from my old office didn’t move, and one of my former colleagues in Manchester was a Southport season ticket holder, and he was down in Crawley for the game in the Conference.

There were a lot of drinks before the game following on from a heavy Friday night out, and so I remember little from the game. The most vivid memory is of my friend Howard slamming my fingers in the door of the car we’d got a lift to the Broadfield Stadium in. There were about thirty of us stood / wandering behind the goal in the away terrace, the game seemed to go very quickly, and I couldn’t remember the score. So, I looked the game up as to when it was and what the score was, the 20th of January 2007 and Crawley won 2-1.

I did kind of remember that there was no east marquee then, and a photo in the programme would suggest this is what it looked like over that side of the pitch then.

Elsewhere in the programme I was surprised (but shouldn’t be really, I can barely remember the game, let alone other details) to find that the manager of Southport was Peter Davenport, the former Nottingham Forest and Manchester United player. I had a trawl through my collections of football cards looking for him, and found him in the 1991-92 Proset collection, by which time he had moved on to Sunderland.

It has to be said I don’t really recognise any of the names of the Crawley players on the programme and would have no idea who the two players are on the front of it.

But the programme did help me out as they were both recent new signings and had potted bios in the programme itself.

And some of the merch advertised in the programme looks decent. Perhaps I should have been jumping ship to my new hometown club all the way back then.

One of the other programmes I have scanned through so far (I still have another three boxes to complete my trawl through) which has brought back memories is this one from the Capital One Cup against Ipswich Town back in August 2014 (strangely close in date to the Harrogate game which started this piece off, being played on the 12^th compared to the 13^th of August).

This was a first for two reasons. It was the first game I had attended and sat in the home part of the ground (along with the Southport game I’d attended two Tottenham pre-season friendlies and stood in the away terrace), and it was the first game I had attended with Helen.

At the time I was in a strange limbo, I had been dumped halfway through a two-week holiday in St Lucia and was still living in the ex’s house as I waited for a date to move into a rented flat. It was a surprise that Helen wanted to go to the football with me or do anything with me. I’d spent the previous few years being denigrated at every opportunity and told how worthless I was, it was a surprise that anyone might like me. Especially seeing as I felt Helen was way out of my league. But before the game she’d told me how much she liked me and that she thought we would bump along quite nicely. Which we do, although it would be a few months before it really sunk into my idiot brain and we got together.

The tickets for the game were free; they came courtesy of the referee for the game – Andy Haines.

At the time (and for the next three years) I was working with him on a project to implement new HR software where I worked. He was based in Sunderland but worked down south during the week and so would pick up midweek southern games. I went to a few games he refereed, including a couple of others at Crawley (Exeter City and Colchester both in 2016), as well as ones at Reading and QPR.

Pregame we were sat in the officials’ room deep in the bowels of the stadium. It was an eye-opener to what the officials need to do (beside eat the quite large buffet laid out for them that is). They had changed the rules around extra time, replays and penalties for the competition that season, so there was an interesting discussion pre-game about what the rules were, and whether there should be extra time before penalties or not. Andy made the optimistic call that it didn’t matter as there would be goals, and it wouldn’t need added time.

Which of course meant it was 0-0 at full time and into extra time it went, during which Izale McLeod hit a screamer to win the tie 1-0 for Crawley.

The managers of the two sides were both what would be described (in some bowels of the stadium anyway) as difficult characters. Crawley were being managed by John Gregory at the time (seen below in his Aston Villa playing prime on a 1979 Topps Card),

Whilst Ipswich Town were being managed by Mick McCarthy (pictured below in his Millwall playing days from the Proset 1991-92 season). They also had future England international (and another Aston Villa connection) Tyrone Mings in their squad.

Elsewhere in the programme (and in the squad list on the back) was the 19^th Man thing that the club was doing at the time.

Which again would really have appealed to me, seeing as I base a lot of things around the number 19 (such as lottery numbers, all based on 1 and 9 and multiples of 19). Yet again, perhaps I should have jumped ship to my local team a lot sooner.

We left the ground after the game, having had a couple of post-match sandwiches and sausage rolls in the officials room before being ejected when the assessor came in to nitpick the officials’ performance.

That brings the reminiscing from old programmes to an end (for now), and it’s time to sort out ready for the travel up to Harrogate for tomorrow’s game.

Come on you reds.

The Denial Twist

It isn’t just a crooked spire; it is properly twisted. And anyone who doesn’t see us being in for a long hard season is probably in denial, so here is The White Stripes’ late 2005 top ten hit.

Last Saturday’s loss at home to Tranmere Rovers meant that we have recorded our worst ever start to a Football League season (beating the Kevin Betsy led one by virtue of having a worse goal difference). I didn’t realise it was our worst ever but had pointed out it was worse than the Betsy start which some people didn’t like. It was the Football League paper which told me it was out worst ever league season start. And for the second week on the trot they included a side article on our loan signing (this time Geraldo Bajrami), I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them include articles on us which aren’t just match reports more than twice in a season, let along twice on the trot. I also noticed that Bradley Ibrahim is leading League One for bookings already, four in five games so far.

The quiz answer from last time, Harold Bell played a record 401 consecutive league appearances for Tranmere Rovers between 1946 and 1955, a record you would imagine isn’t likely to be broken in the modern game.

On Thursday we announced the signing of seventeen-year-old Jude Robertson, which won’t add to our experience quota. I had done some analysis of the EFL experience in the squad with a view to including it, but Sooty beat me to it on the Forum. Only to then on Friday find we have re-signed Scott Malone after his short spell with us at the start of last season, so a big bump up in the experience stakes as he is out most experienced league player by a mile and adds and extra forty percent to the total of the squad’s EFL experience. I won’t mention anything about the signing being a bit of a gamble. Whoops, already did.

Actually I will make one note about our experience levels. Before Scott Malone’s signing, two of the Chesterfield usual starting eleven – Kyle McFadzean and Will Grigg have more league appearances between them than the whole of our squad named for the Tranmere Rovers game last week, and Grigg has nearly double as many league goals as the whole of our squad.

The opposition today are Chesterfield. We have played Chesterfield four times, two in League One (a home draw and an away loss) in the 2014-15 season, and twice in League Two (a home loss and an away win) in the 2017-18 season. Chesterfield currently sit second in the League Two table, a mere twenty places and eleven points ahead of us after five games, we were only minutes away from starting the day in the relegation places, but an added time equaliser for Salford City at home to Cheltenham Town, prevented the latter from overtaking us.

Kabongo Tshimanga and Reece Brown are both former Chesterfield players, with Tshimanga being their top scorer in the National League in the 2021-22 season with 24 goals, so let’s hope he can add to his tally of goals at the SMH Group Stadium. On the other side, they have Kyle McFadzean, one of Crawley Town team who won promotion to the Football League, and then to League One in their ranks, as he played four seasons for us and racked up 156 appearances. They also have Ronan Darcy in their ranks – on loan from Wigan Athletic, a player from our other promotion to League One season.

During the week I was the recipient of two large batches of old Crawley Town programmes from Mick Fox, who is very generously letting me have a load (of which this was batch one), and Kyle McFadzean is on the cover of a couple of them such as the ones below.

And there was even one against Chesterfield from the Harry Kewell reign in amongst them as I took a quick flick through before travelling Friday morning.

Not a great deal of choice for Chesterfield on the football card front, back to the seemingly default setting at this level the Proset 1991-92 set, from when they were in Division 4, so just Lee Turnbull and the fixture list card for them – from which it is interesting to see that they are one of only five sides from that season who are at the same level (in League Two) this season, along with Barnet, Crewe, Gillingham, and Walsall

Helen and I are up for the weekend, the journey up to the hotel at South Normanton was a bit of a trek, it took six hours and included two random Waze diversions to avoid stationary traffic. When we got back to the hotel after going out for pizza (well it was Friday night, so it’s pizza Friday), we find that the team are staying in the same hotel. Briefly spoke with Jack Roles, Harry Forster, and Danny Cashman, who all seemed quite relaxed and open. Much better than our experience of randomly being in the same hotel as players three years ago when there was a sullen click who didn’t want to engage at all (apart from Kwesi who was friendly). There were a few other fans in the hotel at breakfast as well, and there is a vibe of camaraderie in the players which gives me hope compared to what we’d seen under Betsy.

On Saturday morning there were a few hours wandering around the town, getting close ups of the spire, and then meeting up with my friend Chris, who hasn’t been terminally put off coming to see Crawley play despite his introduction to us being the non-event at Grimsby on the first day of the season. He does tell a good story about the famous crooked spire, as for years he would go on about how he didn’t get what people are on about, it looked perfectly normal to him. Mainly because he was looking at the wrong church in Chesterfield for years. He was trying to point out that the count as we walked down to the ground was straight spires six, crooked spires one.

On the way to the new ground (the old location of Saltergate was so much closer), it is good to see that the road leading to the stadium through the retail park is named Ernie Moss Way, and that the memorial wall in the north east corner of the stadium has his name across the top.

Had a mooch in the club shop, got a fridge magnet. I do wonder (and will come back to wondering throughout the game) whether the SMH stands for shaking my head.

They have a programme, which isn’t bad, a page on Scott and his record against them, and a couple of pages on previous encounters, and they have a page celebrating old programmes, so a couple of ours against them are included.

The stadium is vey nice, as it should be considering the age.

The teams came out and did their usual line up, Chesterfield in blue shirt and socks and white shorts, and us in our all red with white trim home kit. As a side note, Harvey Davies was wearing an all-black kit, as were the officials, so why the hell was he made to change the pink one they had for the Grimsby game?

And then the captains came out and laid flowers before a one minute’s applause for Chesterfield’s owner Phil Kirk who died this week.

We start quite brightly for us, lots of involvement for Ade Adeyemo down the right as he was last week. There is an early yellow card for Charlie Barker for a tug of the shirt just inside the Chesterfield half.

Not long after, Barker launches a long clearance down the right, Harry McKirdy chases it and gets to it first beating the keeper to it who is in no man’s land, it goes wide but McKirdy (who is playing as a lone striker) shoots across the goal from a narrow angle and the ball goes in off the back post and just like that we lead 1-0.

He is nearly put through again minutes later, but the flag goes up for offside with him bearing down on goal again. Chesterfield get a free kick about twenty-five years out on the right-hand side of the box after a foul from Dion Conroy for the offence of winning the ball. The free kick goes just over the bar, but Davies had it covered. But the ref is of the normal standard and is giving strange free kicks to both sides as if he is using a magic eight ball. McKirdy is having his shirt almost pulled off but doesn’t get a free kick, yet alone there being a yellow card as Barker got for the same thing on the other side.

Former fan favourite Ronan Darcy gets a booking for kicking the ball away. Davies is down getting treatment in the box and getting the treatment from the Chesterfield fans behind the goal who think he’s faking it. A ball down the right is then played across the field to the left with Louis Watson and Danny Cashman linking up well, it’s played back into the middle, a heavy touch sees the ball run away but Gerado Bajrami slides in to win it back and it takes a deflection behind for a corner. The ref blows for a free kick as it comes in.

Chesterfield do their own attacking and win a corner, which we clear down the right, and switch it again over to Cashman on the left, it comes back across to Adeyemo, but his final ball goes wide.

Another attack sees Kyle Scott play the ball into the box and Kaheim Dixon is on it and gets a shove in the back and in a miraculous turn of events we actually get a penalty for it. McKirdy steps up to take and sends the keeper the wrong way and then knee slides in front of the stand at that end which is home fans. Something that happens at every game. And we lead 2-0.

What doesn’t happen at every game is a player getting felled by being hit with a vape on the head, as is the fate for Adeyemo. He’s down for a couple of minutes getting treatment. The Chesterfield fans are on the socials trying to justify it, saying McKirdy shouldn’t have celebrated in front of them, or saying Adeyemo was allegedly hit, which is utter bollocks. They showed what scumbags they were as when he got up and was being led around the pitch back to the sidelines it was clear that bank of fans were chanting at him “you black bastard”, as if we’d gone back to the eighties. McKirdy got a booking before the restart, but he’d been given a last warning not long before for his constant chirping at officials, so that’s no surprise.

It’s quite tasty for a couple of minutes after the restart with heavy challenges flying in from both sides. Bajrami gets a yellow card for kicking the ball away; despite having already connected with the ball by the time the ref had blown his whistle. There are five added minutes at the end of the half before the half time whistle goes, and we go into the break 2-0 up.

Which should be cause for optimism, but this is Crawley, and we had this a lot last season.

We start the second half brightly as well and a flowing move sees the ball come out to Adeyemo on the right wing, his ball along the ground into the box is cleverly flicked into the corner of the net by McKirdy and the celebrations start, but the offside flag is up, that was tight.

Chesterfield get a corner and Scott picks up a booking before it is taken for something off the ball. We clear it an attack down the right, Dixon is fouled on the right wing about twenty-five yards out. The free kick is put out for a throw. Barker tries a long one, it ends up coming back to him, he beats a man and puts a cross in which is put behind for a corner. The keeper flaps at it a bit dropping it out for another one on the other side. He flaps again, but it comes out to this side and Chesterfield break away. They get to the box only for a foul to be given. The ref has his card out again, but no idea who or even which side he was randomly waving it towards. A throw on the right is taken short, and their players cuts inside and curls a shot in from outside the box and it beats Davies in the goal and makes it 1-2.

We have another attempt at a long throw into the box, it is cleared and Chesterfield break again, work it left to right and get it crossed back into the middle and a Chesterfield player is free in the middle of the box to steer it in and it is 2-2. Chris tells me after the game he though the original player on the break was eight yards offside, not something I saw.

In the 59^th minute, Phil Kirk’s picture is put up on the big screen and there is another minute’s applause, and the ref holds up the game as we wait to take a throw. It’s also time for us to make the sixtieth minute substitutions, with Bajrami, Watson, and Adeyemo going off to be replaced by Kabby Tshimanga, Reece Brown, and for his full debut (keeping up our record for the season of at least one debutant per game) Dion Pereira.

Pereira is having an almost instant impact; a couple of decent balls get cleared and a third is put out for a corner. The wind takes the ball and dumps it on the roof of the net. Another substitution follows with Cashman off to be replaced by Harry Forster returning from injury.

Yet every time Chesterfield get the ball they are attacking with pace and intensity, and they look dangerous to our now somewhat creaking defence every time they have the ball. We concede a free kick about twenty-five yards out on the left and it is taken quickly, but for once we aren’t completely asleep and manage to block the attack out for a throw. We are struggling to get out of our own half and concede a corner, which is worked across and then put out for a corner on the other side, which is taken short and then put in and the header goes just wide.

We make out final substitution with McKirdy going off to be replaced by Max Anderson. A ball out to the left is put back to Brown and out to Pereira and his cross is flicked out for a corner, which is taken too deep and goes for a goal kick. We have picked back up a bit and are having some decent possession but that last ball isn’t coming off, with Tshimanga, Flint, and Pereira all not quite finding someone in the box, only for Pereira to be dragged over by a shirt pull in the box, but there is no hope of a penalty as we have already had our quota given for the season.

Only for Chesterfield to break quickly again down the right and they win a corner, it’s flicked on for a corner on the other side, which we clear. Pereira gets robbed in midfield and Chesterfield get into the box and have a shot saved by Davies and it’s then put behind for a corner.

Which we break from and Dixon is put through one on one with the keeper, but if anything he has too much time, he doesn’t manage to fake the keeper out, but does take it round him, but too far to get a shot off and it’s blocked out by a defender and it’s difficult to tell who’s holding their head in their hands more, Dixon or the two hundred plus fans in the away end. A hell of an opportunity missed. There is a yellow card for someone on the Crawley bench.

There are five added minutes, and again we have three players try to get crosses in from the right, but they are all cleared. At the other end Chesterfield get a corner and Davies manages to boot a ball out over the top of the stand behind the goal and gets a booking for time wasting. The ref must have a quota to fill as two Chesterfield players are booked whilst we wait a long time for the corner to be taken. And there is another corner after the five minutes are up, it comes in, Davies punches clear and the ref blows the final whistle, and it finishes as a 2-2 draw. And there is another Crawley player down injured in the box in the aftermath of that final action.

The crowd was announced as 8,005 with 252 having made the journey from Crawley to see out second point of the season. Which sees us stay in twenty-second in the league on goal difference.

The Chesterfield fans were moaning that the ref was the worst they’d ever had at the shaking my head stadium. Which if it is even remotely true, they don’t know what lucky bastards they have been. This one was even in the top ten of shittest refs we’ve had in the last year.

Post match curry saw a better venue than the one in Crewe, and then it’s back to the hotel to write this up, and then it is off to Bolsover Castle in the morning, to see if the state of their ancient defences is any better than the state of ours at times. And also to see if they’ve got any gallows up there to go with my sense of humour.

Quiz Time – Which is the only team who have won the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Football League Trophy?

Next up is another away game, and it’s heading even further north with a trip to the beautiful town of Harrogate.

Come on you reds.

National Shite Day

Well, I did have a nice positive title lined up to do with Saturdays being good with it being sunny and there is football at home. The sun went in. And it wasn’t a good Saturday at all, and so we have ended up with a song from Half Man Half Biscuit, who although they hail from Birkenhead, Tranmere claim them.

Though even if it had been bright and sunny, I’m not convinced we’d want to see too many fans at the ground in this get up.

The answer to the quiz question from last time of “Which goalkeeper signed for Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1977 despite having lost an eye in a car accident five years before?” was Gordon Banks.

Following on from Tuesday night’s draw at home to MK Dons which saw our first point of the new season, and elevation out of the relegation places, it is another home game, with Tranmere Rovers as the visitors. They come into the game unbeaten in their three games so far this season, with two draws and a win, having played a game less than most of the division after having to play their Carabao Cup game this midweek. They sir nine places and four points above us in thirteenth.

Back in the seventies and eighties I remember Tranmere being one of two sides who used to play a lot of their home games on a Friday night (the other being Stockport), as they would play then to avoid clashing with the Liverpool and Everton games on a Saturday as a way to try and attract bigger crowds.

And prior to 1974 then I would have been talking about them in the retro piece I did last week – Cheshire Connections – as before the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect on the first of April 1974, Tranmere was in Cheshire.

By the nineties Tranmere had made it up to Division Two, and there were a number of cards available in the 1992 Proset, including their new signing the previous year – John Aldridge. They were heady days for Tranmere, and they made the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League three years on the trot only to go out in the semi-finals each year.

That 1991-92 saw them line up in Division Two with four other sides in League Two this year, including two who came down with us from League One last year – Bristol Rovers and Cambridge United, along with Grimsby Town who we opened the season against, and Swindon Town.

We have played Tranmere fifteen times, the first four games against them came in League One, the rest in League Two apart from a single FA Cup tie against them in 2021. The record is won seven, lost seven, with a single draw, and the results come in batches, we are currently on a run of three straight wins against them. Our record against them at home is better, with five wins and three losses.

On the transfer front we have finally picked up another defender, getting Geraldo Bajrami on a season long loan from Burton Albion. The positivity of getting additional defensive cover is somewhat tempered by the fact he has hardly played the last two seasons due to serious knee injuries, so we’ll need to wait and see how this one plays out.

Elsewhere on Friday, there was, unsurprisingly a charity shop mooch, where I saw this. Regardless of what some people may think about us, we don’t feature in here at all.

And the museum exhibition put together by Steve Leake and Mick Fox has ended and has been replaced by a joint exhibition of work of the Crawley Writer’s Circle, the Crawley Camera Club, and the Crawley Arts Society. The official opening was last night, and I have work on display with the first two groups.

I was surprised by one of my photographs picking up a ‘highly commended’ award. Just a shame it wasn’t one of Crawley.

Anyway, game day, I get to the ground early enough, not as early as I usually do, but in plenty of time. There is a Tranmere fans selling fanzines at the away end. So, in lieu of the fact that we don’t have programmes, I buy one. It’s good, well written, and only gives me programme envy again.

From a distance it looks like Tranmere are in an all-white kit, but it turns out to be the palest of pastel green shades with salmon side panels on the shirt. It’s different. We’re in out usual home kit.

We start well and it would seem the plan is to get the ball out to Ade Adeyemo down the right wing. There are two early examples, the first ends with the ball going out for a goal kick, but the second sees us win a corner. Which as so many will be as the afternoon wears on, is blown dead with the ball in the air for some kind of infringement by a Crawley player in the box.

Playing out from the back, Dion Conroy and Kyle Scott combine well to come forward and Conroy puts the ball through to Kaheim Dixon, who takes a somewhat ambitious shot from outside the box which goes well wide and earns an earful from the captain.

Tranmere have a bit of pressure and win a corner, and we deal with a few crosses into the box reasonably well. We clear the corner, but it gets pumped back in and we concede another. The ref blows for another mystery infringement in the melee from the corner, and Scott manages to pick up a booking, which I’m going to assume is for something he said, which, if so, is a stupid booking to pick up.

Conroy sidesteps a couple of challenges bringing the ball out of defence only to get his ankle trodden on which brings us a free kick and a yellow card for the Tranmere player. A ball goes out on the other side of the pitch and is booted back up the pitch, meanwhile Tranmere take a quick throw and despite there being two balls on the pitch, play isn’t stopped, and Tranmere win a corner, Seriously, what the actual fuck? Another free kick to the defence (us this time) follows the corner being taken, and we have three players down in the box.

There’s a long clearance and Kabby Tshimanga (who is definitely becoming the online boo boy) flicks on, and Harry McKirdy takes a shot which is wide, but closer than the previous effort. We break down the left and McKirdy gets into the box and a cross / shot comes to Tshimanga and the effort goes over the bar.

Back on the right wing Adeyemo is pulling down high balls as if he’s wearing catcher’s mitts as boots, his cross is half cleared, and we work it back to the left and McKirdy floats a shot in which is tipped over the bar for a corner. It is flapped away by the keeper and Josh Flint wins it at the far side and lays it back to Louis Watson whose shot is saved.

When the ball comes forward McKirdy gives away a free kick and is then chopped down off the ball. The free kick remains with Tranmere, but their player is booked. It comes to one of their players outside the box and their shot is over the bar. Tranmere win a free kick, and it gets pumped in and smuggled behind for a corner, which is punched out for another by Harvey Davies, which comes into the sounds of the ref’s whistle.

Again the ball is worked forward and out to the right wing to Adeyemo. His cross is headed out for a corner. It is cleared to the edge of the box and Scott’s shot flies over the bar. Adeyemo gets the ball again and cuts inside for a change and is fouled about thirty yards out in the middle of the pitch. Conroy lines up to take. All that can be said about that effort is, it wasn’t as good as the one on Tuesday night. Scott is fouled a bit further out and more to the right of the pitch. He takes and floats it in, the ball is cleared over to the left and Watson tries drilling one to the back post, but it is a bit too strong for anyone to get on the end of.

More flowing moves, working the ball from right to left, involving half a dozen players before it gets to Danny Cashman on the left wing, his cross comes over and Adeyemo’s flick goes over the bar. Quickly followed by another attack down the left and the ball comes to McKirdy who gets into the box and shoots, the shot beats the keeper but is headed clear about a yard off the line for a corner. It’s played across the box, and Scott plays it back in, only for that to be blocked and he is claiming handball. It goes for a throw and Charlie Barler hurls one in, which is half cleared to Watson at the edge of the box, but his shot goes wide.

We are having plenty of the ball, plenty of pressure, and plenty of touches in the Tranmere half now, but we aren’t getting a final ball in and aren’t prepared to take a shot, and the attack peters out with a goal kick. Another left-wing attack sees Josh Flint and Watson combine and put McKirdy through, but he can’t quite keep it in, and it goes for a goal kick and Watson is down and needs treatment.

Any attempt to try and take a quick free kick is being stymied by a quite fussy ref. Though to be fair it does help us out a couple of times as we try to be too clever with them. A free kick from halfway is cleared for a corner, it is played short to Scott, and his cross is caught by the keeper. We win it back only for Tshimanga to be scissor tackled on the left wing, which brings a yellow card for a Tranmere player.

There are two added minutes shown. The free kicks comes across to Adeyemo on the edge of the area and his shot is high and wide. As time ticks down to the end of the half, Tranmere get their first throw on our side of the pitch, which means in the forty-seventh minute TAFKAL can finally get involved in proceedings. And with that done the half time whistle goes with the score at 0-0.

Does anyone actually watch what is going on with this at half time? And has anyone won anything yet?

Second half. It starts with a long free kick towards the Tranmere box and a clearance out over the east marquee for ball loss one of the day. Flint goes on a swashbuckling run from his own half into the box, but gets tackled and the ball cleared, we win it back and play it into the box and it is cleared for a throw, Barker takes it long and Dixon tries an acrobatic effort but it goes wide.

At the other end Tranmere win a corner, it goes long and out for a throw on the other side, it is flung in and after some head tennis in the six yard box it gets tipped over for another corner, that comes back deep and the ball in finds an unmarked player four yards out and they head in unchallenged and we trail, much against the run of play, 0-1.

From the restart we get the ball into the box to Dixon, he goes down and there are claims for a penalty, but it is given as a corner, which goes out before getting to the box. An attack is broken up and there is a quick Tranmere break which we put out for a corner. It comes long and the shot is well wide, but is somehow given as another corner, which is headed over.

We attack and break down the left, and then back over to the right, involving half a dozen players before a cross comes in and an effort is deflected up and over the bar only for the offside fag to go up. There is another great take from Adeyemo down the right, but he just can’t get the ball into the box, and Dixon is down in the box again claiming a foul, but never going to get that going down like that. Tranmere break only for the offside flag to go up and their player gets a yellow for kicking the ball away.

There is plenty of play in the Tranmere half, a Tshimanga shot is blocked nearly before it is taken, and time after time we can’t get that final ball right or are unwilling to take a shot. But it is subs time. Watson and Tshimanga go off to be replaced by Louis Flower and new signing, Geraldo Bajrami, keeping up our record of playing at least one CTFC debutant in each game this season.

Another ball up the right to Adeyemo who takes it down brilliantly again and crosses for McKirdy to head wide. Ball two is hefted out alongside the south side of the west stand, and there is another sub, with the returning Scott replaced by Jack Roles.

A long ball forward is missed at first and then headed more up than out and it drops perfectly for a first-time volley over a stranded Davies, and it is 0-2. It was a well taken goal, but fuck me, we do it to ourselves.

We attack down the left and play it into McKirdy, his cross is chested out for a corner, and it will surprise no one to know the ref blows for an infringement whilst the ball is in the air. And there is another sub, with Adeyemo making way – I’ve mentioned all his decent work going forward, but it is also worth mentioning he put a proper shift in doing the defensive side of the wing back role as well. He is replaced by Tola Showumni.

Another corner, two attempts are blocked and it is cleared, then put back in and blocked cleared for a corner. Only it’s not, as the offside flag is up again. A ball is played into the box but won’t drop for Flower and gets headed back to the keeper. There are five minutes of added time.

A free kick on the right wing goes to the near post but it is headed over. To be fair to the players they are trying even if the game does look gone and half the east marquee have already fucked off home. There are balls into the box, a shot is blocked, another shot is blocked, and another one, and finally it clears the Tranmere box, it’s one of those days where if we played for another ten minutes after Tranmere were back in the dressing room we still wouldn’t score.

The ref blows the final whistle, and it is another loss – 0-2. There is no announcement of the crowd numbers.

Somehow, we manage to stay out of the relegation places, but that’s only because Shrewsbury and Cheltenham are still shit and losing badly.

And after five league games of the season, we have a worse record than the Kevin Betsy start three years ago, the same played five, lost four, drawn one, but we are minus seven on goal difference compared to minus five. Plus that season we’d had a win in the Carabao Cup to console us. By this stage there were already Betsy out and WAGMI out chants. It’s not a good place to be. All the good possession and being on top in most stats means fuck all when we don’t seem to be able to score, or even to be able to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo.

Our next game is away in Derbyshire as we take on Chesterfield next Saturday who are motoring and are in second in the league, only behind Crewe on goal difference. It has been a tough start to the season, which is shown by the fact the other three of the top four clubs in the league table are teams we have already played against – Crewe, MK Dons, and Grimsby. But let’s hope we can twist the narrative next week almost as much as their famous spire.

Quiz time – former Tranmere Rovers player, Harold Bell, holds the record for the most consecutive league appearances of any player, starting in the first Tranmere game after the Second World War and running until 1955, but how many games did he play consecutively.

Come on you reds.

Come Back Brighter

That is the hope for us all, that we can come back brighter. This title has nothing to do with our opponents tonight, instead this 1997 top ten hit was for the band Reef, and so is a nod to our new main kit sponsors.

After another loss on Saturday away at Crewe Alexandra, our fourth on the trot to start the season (although there were signs of life in the last twenty minutes, and I was surprised to see in the match stats we had more shots and more shots on target than Crewe), we are quickly back in action against the MK Dons. It is a case of the most “free spending” side in the division against the side spending only on frees.

The answer to the question from the last piece, of who is the former Liverpool striker who is the only player to play international football in four different decades, is Jari Litmanen.

Our last two games against the MK Dons came in the playoffs at the end of the 2023-24 season, with a 3-0 home win after the game was put back a day due to a ridiculous amount of rain (and for which the club produced a one off programme, the only one of the season), only to follow that up with the mesmerising 5-1 away win, which sent us into dreamland, into the playoff final, and off for a trip to Wembley, where we played the team we played three days ago – Crewe Alexandra. During the regular season against them we won the home game 2-1 in August and lost 2-0 away. Overall our record against the MK Dons is five wins, two draws, and five losses, and at home it is three wins, a draw and two losses.

Manager, Scott Lindsey left us last season to go and manage the MK Dons, only to return to try and save us from relegation, and Jay Williams made the same journeys there and back a few months after him each time. Kabongo Tshimanga is another who also used to play for the MK Dons. The MK Dons also snapped up talisman playmaker Liam Kelly at the start of last season, along with Laurence Maguire (who hasn’t played yet this season), and then picked up our emergency loanee goalkeeper Connal Trueman, before coming back for Rushian Hepburn-Murphy over the summer. And of course there is the father vs son angle as our former manager Richie Barker is an assistant coach and will be in the dugout for MK Dons as his son Charlie plays for us.

We go into the game in twenty-third place in the league, ahead of bottom placed Cheltenham Town on goal difference, and behind Barnet in twenty-second on alphabetical order. Meanwhile our opponents are only twenty places ahead of us in third place, on seven points, seven ahead of our total, and they haven’t conceded a goal yet in the league this season.

Wading through the Utilita (Rothmans) yearbook, and I was surprised to see that they have our record incoming transfer as being last year’s signing Benjamin Tanimu at £650k. Surely we didn’t really pay that for him, yet the usually reliable reference tome would suggest we did, which makes it all the more strange, and suggests why we are in such bad financial shape.

There might be cards for them somewhere, possibly the season Topps did the Championship, but there is nothing from earlier as back then it would have been Wimbledon. If there was it would likely have been Dean Lewington. This season sees the first season in the MK Dons existence where he is not playing for them.

Tuesday night means it isn’t the extra early arrival at the ground, and by the time the full complement of Baker Close season tickets holders arrive (for the first time this season, putting paid to the joke that Helen not making to any games has nothing to do with the new patio – especially as there is no new patio) there isn’t much time before the game gets underway. There are changes in the line up as well. Dion Conroy is back, Kaheim Dixon (whose shirt only ended up with Ixo on it before half time), Danny Cashman, and Louis Watson were all in the starting lineup as well, and Tola Showumni made it to the subs bench. Which is more than can be said for any goalkeeper. We are in all red with white trim, and MK are in all grey with white trim.

It doesn’t take long for MK to get their first corner, it’s swung in and punched away for another corner on the other side, taken short and then swung in, to the back post and a shot goes wide. But then we attack, and it is down the right, Ade Adeyemo beats a man and gets a cross in and Cashman gets a shot at the back post which is scrambled clear for a corner. That is swung in and smuggled out for a throw to MK, which brings about TAFKAL’s first involvement of the evening, it won’t be the last.

We have another attack down the right, and Adeyemo beats the man again and gets a cross in, which is cleared for a corner and a MK player is down and requires treatment from it. And it happens again, Adeyemo down the right, a cross in, Cashman plays it back to Kabby Tshimanga, and his shot is blocked for a corner. That gets swung into the box and there is a bit of head tennis going on before a free kick is given as Charlie Barker catches an MK player in the chest, which brings about another visit from the MK physio, before that player is deemed no good to carry on and the first sub action happens.

Barker gives the ball away in the MK half but chases all the way back to block the attempted cross near the byline, and it goes out for a corner. It is cleared, and now it is the turn of Josh Flint to need some treatment. MK have a quick break, and the ball goes out to the left channel, and into the box and the shot hits the side netting. Then another long ball, flick on, and a cross. We need to deal with that ball better than we are. There is more MK pressure, and a cross / shot hits the outside of the near post, it gets crossed back in and a shot goes wide. We are still giving the ball away too cheaply in dangerous parts of the pitch.

The MK physio returns, this time in the middle of the pitch. And again we nearly shoot ourselves in the feet, but manage to get away with one again, and there is a rushed clearance from Harvey Davies which clears the east marquee and the first ball loss of the day.

At the other end Tshimanga is getting held, pushed, pulled, and generally fouled all over the place and is getting absolutely fuck all. It is exactly the same shit the refs were pulling with Showumni last season. And you can guarantee the racist prick on the Facebook page will be blaming him and calling him lazy, as he has done already this season and did to Showumni all last season.

Anyway, Adeyemo is back off and running down the right, gets the ball across and Cashman attempts to flick the ball back into the box with a high back heel but catches a MK player and they get a free kick. Then there is a flowing move from the back as Conroy passes to Watson, and then out to Adeyemo, back to Dixon, and his shot is tipped just around the post for a corner. It goes long but it is kept by Adeyemo, this time on the left, he plays it to Tshimanga, and his cross is cleared before the ref blows for a foul in the box after a MK player falls over.

MK break and get a cross in and Davies claims the ball after a looping header up in the air from an attacker. But we have perked up again and Adeyemo, Dixon, and Tshimanga combine, and Dixon flicks it over the defender and Tshimanga puts his shot wide. Dixon does a lovely turn at halfway and runs to the edge of the box only to be fouled as he lines up the shot. Conroy takes and it is top corner bound and forces a good save for a corner.

There are six minutes of added time. The corner ends with a free kick to MK for holding. Jay Williams is down injured. There is a booking for someone in front of the tunnel, so couldn’t tell which of the benches it was for (only to find out post-game it was for something Harry McKirdy said). Williams is still limping a couple of minutes after treatment.

We have a throw on the right wing, Barker takes it long, it gets headed out to Conroy who dinks a ball back into the box. McKirdy has a shot which is blocked, and whilst he is screaming for a penalty for handball, the ball falls to Adeyemo, and he slots it in to give us the lead for the first time this season – 1-0.

There is just enough time for the restart before the half time whistle goes, and we go into the break leading 1-0. What a different atmosphere there is in the crowd at half time after that half.

Williams succumbs to his injury and is replaced at half time by Max Anderson. Adeyemo starts the second half as he played most of the first, getting a cross in from the right wing and Cashman tries the acrobatic effort which doesn’t quite work. There is a long clearance, and Conroy is penalised for a challenge. The free kick gets floated in by some chap called Kelly, and there is a shot at the far post which goes wide.

Dixon wins the ball in midfield, beats a man, and plays it into McKirdy in the box, who himself beats a man and gets a shot in which is saved for a corner. It’s cleared. MK play it quickly out of defence and get it down the right and a cross is deflected for a corner by Flint. A tasty looking challenge in midfield sees Cashman pick up a booking, and a bout of handbags after it from which the MK number eight gets one as well.

It then gets into silly season. Barker wins the ball on the right and MK get a free kick. It is cleared by Tshimanga and in doing so his boot goes nearly as far up the pitch as the ball did. A ball is slipped down the right to Adeyemo and then onto Dixon, but his shot from the edge of the area lacks power and it is an easy save. McKirdy gets dragged down going for a long ball, and MK get a free kick for it. Adeyemo gets a booking for a nothing challenge on the far side. The resulting free kick is cleared, put back in and a corner conceded, flicked over the bar by a Crawley defender for another one on the other side and Adeyemo clears it out over the corner of the west stand for ball loss number two.

We break quickly down the left this time, Dixon plays it long for McKirdy to get on the end of, he gets into the box and plays it back for the onrushing Dixon who can’t quite get his feet right and the shot sails over the Eden Utilities Stand for ball loss number three.

The biggest cheer of the night comes soon after as Tshimanga finally wins a free kick in midfield for being dragged to ground. Only for the ref to then march the free kick back ten yards into our own half. And of course the next contact involving Tshimanga sees a MK free kick.

A long ball is nodded on by Tshimanga for Adeyemo to get on the end of in the box, there is contact and half-hearted claims for a penalty, and a corner is given. The ball is half cleared and comes to McKirdy who has a shot from outside the box which is blocked and again he is screaming for a handball decision which is not forthcoming.

At the other end MK win a corner, they take it short and then float it all the way over to the other wing outside the box. It is then put back in towards the far post and it is bundled in for an equaliser 1-1.

Anderson picks up a booking. And MK are attacking again, getting it down the right and getting a shot off which Davies saves for a corner, which is cleared, but soon comes back down the right wing, crossed, and bundled behind for a corner. We clear that and Dixon wins a free kick, and the ref is in full pedantic mode all of a sudden, after letting MK take a throw twenty yards up the pitch in the other half, he is now moving the ball back inches before he lets Conroy take the free kick.

It’s subs time, a bit later than the advertised sixty-minute mark today, Tshimanga and McKirdy are off to be replaced by Showumni and Louis Flower. Josh Flint brings out a ball from the back down the left, plays it long for Flower to get on the end of, and then gets the ball back from Flower and his cross is blocked for a corner. That is swung in and headed clear for another on the other side.

There are more subs, Watson and Adeyemo go off to be replaced by Reece Brown and Jack Roles. MK get a corner which is flapped out by Davies, and a shot goes wide. From the clearance Showumni is wrestled to the ground and the ref reluctantly gives a free kick. Cashman puts it into the box, and it is headed over by Flint.

There are five added minutes. Which must have flown by as it doesn’t seem to be five minutes as we are putting some attacking pressure on when the ref blows the final whistle to end the game with the scores level 1-1.

It is out first point of the season, and it feels a bit disappointing it’s not all three. The point takes us up one place to the dizzy heights of twenty-second, ahead of the still pointless Cheltenham Town, and also fellow relegated team last year Shrewsbury Town who we are one ahead of on goal difference.

The crowd was announced as 5.361 with 591 away fans, which must be some kind of mistake, even 4,361 would seem generous.

Quiz time

Which goalkeeper signed for Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1977 despite having lost an eye in a car accident five years before?

And it’s now on to Saturday and another home game against a side that has started the season quite well but were in cup action tonight – Tranmere Rovers. Another performance like tonight please, but with less attempts to shoot ourselves in the feet at the back and some more clinical finishing up front. Come on you reds.

Big Girls Don’t Cry

A word variation on a song that has been played far too often at the end of matches at the Broadfield in the last year, instead of boys don’t cry, we have this 1962 hit for The Four Seasons. And it does have a connection with today’s hosts, as the song, as many of The Four Seasons’ biggest hits were, was written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio, and produced by Bob Crewe.

The answer to last time’s question was, the last team to win the FA Cup at a venue outside London or Cardiff was Chelsea when they beat Leeds United in the 1970 final replay at Old Trafford.

Having played Newport County on Saturday (not too well, so played might be stretching it) and then Swansea City on Tuesday night, I believe that was the first time we have played Welsh sides in back-to-back fixtures. The closest would have been in April 2024 when we played away at Newport County on the first and away at Wrexham on the ninth, but there was another away game against Mansfield Town in between them. Although it is entirely possible there has been another occasion, but by this stage I’ve gone word blind trawling through the CTFC History website going line by line through each season and opponents.

Nothing but admiration for the fans who made the trip to Swansea for a ridiculous 7pm kick off. Too early even for me to get to the Downsman for kick off, I was only five minutes late, but enough to miss a Swansea goal. A few random thoughts on the game watched on a big screen instead of live.

If there was a local commentator I’d like to think every time they mention the Swansea captain Burgess, they’d crowbar a Hill reference in, such as “That contribution from Burgess gives Crawley a hill to climb.”

And their keeper being called Fisher, “there will be a price to pay for that”, and a Parker at full back would surely have been ‘pen-ned in’ at some stage, or even better for us, ‘Parker has given away a pen.’ The above just goes to show why I must never be allowed near live commentary for any event.

I kept thinking that on the plus side, Jack Roles wants to have a shot, but on the downside, Jack Roles wants to have a shot.

At half time in the absence of commentary and any pictures, there is just the rolling stats updates. It was funny seeing a stat for successful dribbles, as my mind is telling me that surely if you’re dribbling down yourself it’s the antithesis of success.

That Widell is taking the piss falling over in any mild breeze.

Just stop it with the fucking short corners, why do we insist on fucking about with a corner which could really be put into the box with pace, and then do the long throw routine to get it into the box?

Several times I wonder if there is music playing in the stadium and it keeps cutting out, as it appears we are playing musical statues.

Kabby Tshimanga scored, although I’m not convinced he knew much about it, he looked like he tripped over it, but it did have me roaring with laughter in the pub.

There were some nice shots of the Crawley fans in the crowd, although when it did pan to them it looked as if they were following social distancing guidelines.

Moments after a shot on target threatened an equaliser, Gavan Holohan was sent off, I’m not convinced it was reckless or excessive force, and it looked like he got the ball. And yet Eom’s late mid shin lunge on Barker doesn’t even get a booking.

And it is back to the musical statues for the third goal. A three one loss against a decent strength Championship side is not that bad a result, but we did benefit from some profligate finishing from the Welsh side, and some good saves from Harvey Davies.

Speaking of Harvey Davies, he is one of two players in the side who have previously played for Crewe, doing so in the 2023-24 season as a regular starter until an injury in the new year meant he lost his place and never won it back, so he wasn’t even on the bench at Wembley. The other one being Harry McKirdy, who is certainly dividing opinion after his first few games for us. On the other side, they have Jack Powell in their ranks. It’s a shame Rick isn’t going, as he’d explode with fandom with both his previous and current favourite Jacks in the same place.

I have been busy during the week as (despite eye injections) I’ve had a go (after some prompting) at trying to do a Retro Reds piece. Mick Fox has now been persuaded to do it monthly as well, so this was a test piece for me, and Mick has helped with proof-reading, pointing out I kept trying to miss/forget about games against Macclesfield (the website word blindness I mentioned earlier), so all my usual pre-game musings on the opposition – Crewe Alexandra – can be found in that piece, which didn’t make it as a Retro Reds piece, and is below.

Friday evening and there is a signing, albeit on loan, as Jamaican international striker Kaheim Dixon joins us for the season from Charlton Athletic. Still no additional defenders though.

I travelled up to Crewe early so I can do my usual wander around and take photos of a place I haven’t been to before (apart from changing trains) thing. It’s not a bad place.

Mornflake stadium sounds like a naff own brand label Aldi or Lidl would use, or someone has tried to mash up muesli and cornflakes. Gresty Road sounds much better. Turns out it’s porridge oats.

During the pre-match wandering I went in the market and Crewe have a lock up stall in there, not much smaller than our club shop. It is funded (rent wise) by the supporters association and open five days a week by volunteers, with the stock provided from their main club shop at the ground. If only Crawley had permanent market nowadays.

Crewe have long forgone matchday programmes, but their monthly magazine is going strong on issue 45. Reasonable couple of pages on us, highlighting Harry McKirdy as one to watch.

And Jack Powell is one of the players they have advertising the launch of their new away kit, managing to persuade him to have a shot of him filling his face with ice cream. This picture is just for you Rick.

They had lots of interesting merch, but it would seem wooden fridge magnets (as below) and club design Rubix Cubes are standard across most teams this year.

It’s amusing that none of the staff seem to come from Crewe or are Crewe fans. Manchester, Liverpool, Ireland, even Hartlepool (and he isn’t bitter at all).

One change from Tuesday night, looks like we’re going two upfront. Which means with Dion Conroy in the squad, we start with only two who played at Wembley – Jay Williams and Ade Adeyemo, with a third – Jack Roles on the bench.

We are in our all-white away kit; Crewe are in red shirts and socks and white shorts. Surely a clash of shorts there. Looks like we enforced the change of ends before kick-off. Twats.

Lots of early positive Harry McKirdy chants after Tuesday night. Good opening exchanges, ball down the right to Ade Adeyemo, he holds it up in the corner before laying it back to Reece Brown and his cross is headed wide by Louis Flower.

Crewe are caught offside a few times early doors, a couple of those are close calls so need to watch out for that later. Kabby Tshimanga is getting climbed all over on every long ball up to him, the only free kick comes against him for ducking under.

From a Crewe corner we have a good sweeping move down the left, Josh Flint to Flower, who gets a cross in, toed on by Tshimanga into middle but keeper collects.

The ref is letting a lot go between the boxes and giving any contact in the box to the defending side. There are a couple of shots from Crewe which are wide. An off the ball challenge sees Charlie Barker down injured which is worrying considering our lack of defensive cover.

A Crewe corner is cleared; the ball comes back in from the right wing and finds an unmarked striker in the middle six yards out. He puts it over, definite let off.

The yellow card comes out for Joy Mukena, only for it to be quickly rescinded as the lino had the flag up for offside.

A long throw into the box sees a tangle and an unsurprising free kick given against Tshimanga. It is played long, flicked on and a Crewe attacker is in between two defenders and slots it past Harvey Davies in goal and it’s 0-1.

Crewe have the ball in the net again a couple of minutes later, but the lino has his flag up again and it’s ruled out. This lino would be best mates with TAFKAL by now at home.

At the other end we line up for a long throw, but Barker comes short, plays it back to Flint, back to Brown who puts it into the box, Adeyemo heads down and McKirdy has a shot saved.

The ref is getting abuse from both sets of fans, from Crewe because they feel they aren’t getting enough decisions their way, and from us because we are getting the square root of fuck all from the ref.

A drop ball on the left wing is played back to Mukena who shoots from twenty-five yards out, but over the bar.

At the other end, a deep free kick goes too far side of box, and an unmarked Crewe player volleys high and wide. We come back down the right with Brown and Tshimanga combining before Brown takes a shot from an acute angle which is easily saved and leaves a couple of frustrated players in the box waiting for a cross.

There are three added minutes at the end of the half, and they start with a Crewe shot over the bar. We win a free kick on the left edge of the box as McKirdy is dragged down and the Crewe player gets a yellow card. Brown takes and hits the first man; the half time whistle goes with us trailing 0-1.

The second half starts with one way traffic, mainly down the right wing, and there are desperate boots and heads clear for throws and corners. A shot from outside the box comes back off the crossbar. We can’t get out and are getting manhandled all over the place. Any attempts to get our revenge in first sees a free kick given away. We mount an attack of sorts only for Crewe to break and smash a shot over the bar. We can’t seem to string two passes together and aren’t getting on the end of any second balls, it’s tough watching. But we get a break of our own, McKirdy to Flower down the left and the cross in is just too deep for Tshimanga to get on the end of.

A long free kick goes deep to the far post, but Barker can’t put it back across. It must be the sixty minute mark as there are subs up and ready to come on. Crewe win a corner which delays the substitutions, it isn’t really dealt with and there is another corner, it’s worked short and crossed in, the header is over, but the offside flag is up anyway.

Flower, McKirdy, and Brown are replaced with Danny Cashman on for his first game, Louis Watson, and new signing Kaheim Dixon coming on.

We nearly get Watson in as the Crewe keeper stands on the ball under pressure but just manages to scramble it clear. It’s played into Tshimanga and back to Dixon and the shot is over the bar.

A long ball by Crewe sees Jay Williams pull a Crewe player down, nearly taking his shirt off and he picks up a yellow card (sixty-seventh minute). The free kick hits the top of the bar and goes over the stand behind the goal.

We keep playing ourselves into trouble fannying about with the ball at the back but manage to break out, Dixon goes past two players and plays it into Tshimanga in the box, he puts it across to Cashman who can’t quite get there and a foul just outside the box brings that attack to an end.

It seems we are enlivened by the introduction of the subs, and Dixon looks a hell of a player. Adeyemo is hauled down on the right-hand side just outside the box and there is a yellow card for the Crewe player. There is a bit of a conference about who is going to take it, but it ends up being Cashman, who skews it high and wide into the stand.

Jack Roles sneaks on to replace Max Anderson, and we break again with Dixon trying to drag us back into this game single handedly, he beats a couple of players down the left wing, cuts into the box and shoots but it is an easy save for the Crewe keeper. A Roles cross just eludes Adeyemo at the back post. A ball back down the right finds Roles in the box and his shot is saved.

Crewe win a corner as every Crawley player is claiming a handball in the build up (not to mention the Crawley fans). A long throw bounces around in the box and a shot takes a deflection, but somehow it is a goal kick. There is a fluid attack, starting on the left at the back we work it forward and across to the right wing and a cross from Cashman is put behind for a corner, which is swung in, and Barker’s header goes inches over the bar.

A Crewe player takes the ball away to prevent us taking a quick free kick, Roles tackles them for it, bundling them over, and he and the Crewe player pick up yellow cards for the incident. We win a corner, take it short, cross it in, it is cleared, then put back in and blocked for another corner. That one is swung in, and the ref blows for a foul somewhere in the middle of the mass of bodies in the box.

The board goes up with only a ridiculously short three minutes of added time. Very late into the three minutes we get a free kick just inside the Crewe half, Davies goes up for it, the ball is pumped in, and there is a mad scramble, there are four shots which are all blocked, and as it comes out for attempt number five the ref blows the final whistle on a ridiculously short amount of added time considering, and we have lost again, 0-1.

There were flashes of promise once Dixon came on, but it looks to be a lot to expect to have him carry our attacking hopes through the season. We are struggling, there is no mistake about that, it’s heart in mouths time every time we try and play out from the back, and a long ball forward isn’t sticking with Tshimanga (although he gets nothing from the refs when being held/pulled/pushed etc.)

The crowd was announced as 5,064, but they didn’t say how many were away fans, but there looks to be a couple of hundred there again. The defeat leaves us in the relegation places, now on alphabetical order behind Barnet (as same goal difference and goals scored), and now above Cheltenham Town, who took a 5-0 beating off our visiting opponents on Tuesday night, the MK Dons. Which is followed by another home game on Saturday against Tranmere Rovers. It’s a busy week.

I left time before a train back for a post-match curry, perhaps I should have scoped out venues better, the place directly between the ground and the station was nothing more than a glorified takeaway, and they didn’t do naan bread despite it being on the menu. The fact that no one else came in the entire time I was there should be a clue as to the thoughts of it. It was passable, but there will be no return.

Quiz time, which one time Liverpool striker is the only player to play international football in four different decades?

Come on you reds.

Cheshire Connections

It’s not all about the trains, but I will start there.

A trip to Cheshire and the railway town of Crewe beckons as we play against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday in our third league game of the new season. it is of course the first time we have played this opposition since that wonderful day at Wembley on the nineteen of May 2024.

Crewe is one of those places I’ve never visited, and it is the last of the ‘big five’ railway towns for me to tick off the list this weekend. Doncaster came a couple of weeks ago on the way to the Grimsby game, Swindon happened at the end of the 2022-23 season thanks to an away game. Coming from Leicester, a visit to Derby was a regular occurrence, and when young I went to York a few times, and was hoping for them to get promoted so I could go back this year.

At York I went to the National Railway Museum, and as a kid I was quite obsessed with trains, going on any steam railway available, and I had a few Loco trainspotting books over the years to tick off the trains. Along with other kids, we would play on the train tracks, dodging the diesel locomotives, and later the HST’s. At least there was no electrocution danger as the Leicester stretch of line still, forty years on, hasn’t been electrified.

Also when I was a kid, Crewe Alexandra, along with Rochdale were a side I would feel sorry for as they seemed to be permanently at the foot of Division 4 and having to apply for re-election to the league each season, and for years afterwards I would always look out for their results and fortunes. More recently I was surprised that these two clubs were the top two in the list of most applications for re-election as my mind had told me, two of the sides who weren’t re-elected – Barrow and Southport, and two who have subsequently been relegated – Hartlepool and Halifax Town had more applications.

In my late teens and early twenties I was friends with a Crewe Alexandra fan. He was also a Kev, and I knew him from the local pool league in Thurmaston (just north of Leicester). He used to write a weekly magazine and sell them for 50p in the village. It was a strange cross between a local Heat magazine, Shoot!, and Socialist Worker. I haven’t thought about that for a long time and am now wondering if anyone I still know from back then kept any copies of it. In retrospect it was a shame that none of us ever took him up on the offer to go to a Crewe Alexandra game with him.

In total this will be the twenty-second game against Crewe Alexandra. Outside of the above game at a neutral venue, our record against Crewe Alexandra is not particularly good, in the other twenty game we have only won three, drawn five, and lost twelve. The away record makes even worse reading, with a single victory, two draws and seven defeats.

Out first games against Crewe Alexandra were in 2011-12 season in our first season in the Football League, and we drew both games 1-1 with Matt Tubbs scoring in the away game in December, and Gary Alexander scoring from the penalty spot in the home return in April.

Crewe Alexandra were one of the other promoted sides with us that season, going up through the playoffs after scraping into the playoffs by finishing seventh, and during the season we beat them at home and lost to them at Gresty Road.

We played them in League One for the next two seasons, and I had recently bought a batch of Crawley Town home programmes from the 2012-13 season and was having a poke around in there hoping to get the Crewe Alexander game one, only to find that it is one of only two from the whole season which weren’t included.

Our last (and only) win away against Crewe Alexandra came in December 2016 in a 2-0 win, with both goals from James Collins. In a quirk of the schedules compared to this season, it was a week before a home fixture against Newport County, and there was a cup game in between the two as well with a Sussex Senior Cup third round win over Horsham YMCA. Crewe Alexandra did get their revenge in a 3-0 in the return fixture in March 2017.

It was interesting looking at the comings and goings before that season. The chaos of the last three off seasons are nothing new it would appear, as over the summer of 2016 we released or transferred seventeen players (only one for a fee), and brought in sixteen, all of which were free transfers or loanees.

The following season’s saw us lose both home and away, but the following year saw our biggest win against them as we beat them 3-0. Only for Crewe Alexandra to gain their revenge in the return fixture in spectacular fashion with a 6-1 drubbing in mid-March, after Ollie Palmer had opened the scoring for us from the penalty spot. We were already 5-1 down by the time Ibrahim Meite was sent off for us. I can’t imagine all seventy-nine fans who made the trip stayed to the bitter end of that one.

The next three games saw three losses before a 2-2 draw in March 2023, where we went ahead in the first half courtesy of an own goal, then went behind, for Ben Gladwin to get an equaliser in the 97th minute in one of those roller coaster of emotion games as we were desperately scrabbling for points to stay out of the relegation zone, the late equaliser felt like a win, although hundreds won’t have seen it as they’d already gone. (The programme below shows Jack Powell in our squad, and he is now at Crewe Alexandra.)

In our promotion season, we lost both league encounters against Crewe Alexandra, 4-2 at home and 1-0 away. But at Wembley it was a case of third time is the charm, as goals from Danilo Orsi and Liam Kelly saw us gain promotion.

Elsewhere I have also managed to find a couple of cards from the 1991-92 season for Crewe Alexandra players, with Mark Gardiner and Phil Clarkson, although with retrospect Proset probably wish they had gone for some of the youngsters of the squad that year, which included Rob Jones, Craig Hignett, and Neil Lennon.

Apart from Crewe Alexandra, one of the other two Cheshire sides we have played more than a season against is Northwich Victoria. Cheshire were a Northern League county, and so although we played games in Shropshire and Staffordshire, including against Leek Town who are further north than Crewe, we didn’t play a game against Cheshire competition until 2004.

That first game against Northwich Victoria came in October 2004 with a goalless draw at the Broadfield Stadium. The return fixture was a 1-0 away loss in the final game of the season at the end of April.

Northwich Victoria were relegated that season, but were back for the 2006-07 season, and we played against them for the next three seasons, losing three and winning three, with a victory in the last of those seasons in Cheshire (one of only two).

It was interesting looking through that 2004 programme as it was eighteen months before I even moved to Crawley. I do find older programmes fascinating, not just from the football side, but from the snapshot in time of local history. There is a page of adverts in there which has the Ocean Trawler, which I walk past nearly every day now, and the Half Moon which I rarely frequent but see going to any home game. Most of the local advertisers are still going strong. Yet by the time we get to the 2023 example included above, the local advertisers had disappeared from the programme, being replaced by generic big brands – Sky Bet, eBay, Unilever, and Cazoo, much to the detriment of the character of a programme, and possibly something that helped its demise.

We also seem to go out of our way to avoid other Cheshire clubs. We were due to play Chester City in the Conference in the 2009-10 season, but they were expelled and results expunged before we got to play them (as the games had been scheduled for March and April). And we only had the one season playing Macclesfield Town when we were promoted into the Football League before we were promoted and they slipped into the Conference the following season, we managed a nice early season 2-0 win in our first ever home EFL game, with goals from Tyrone Barnett and Wes Thomas, but still failed to win in Cheshire, drawing 2-2. They returned for 2018-19 (a home draw and an away loss), and we had an away draw against them the following season, only for the home game to be one of those lost to COVID at the end of the 2019-20 season, after which they were relegated and went out of business later that year.

Playing against Cheshire sides is probably not a good thing with our terrible record in the county. Here’s hoping for an improvement there at the weekend.