| Reclaim The (Holker) Street | ||
| December E-Dition | ||
| Second (and possibly
the last) edition. |
December 8th
| Gainsborough fans are apparently cock-a-hoop
after their recent well deserved 2-0 victory over Barrow. They
now seem set to take on the world – or at least a small part of the East
End of London. We at Reclaim the Holker Street found
the following posting on the Unibond Website.
“Trinity are capable of much more. If we’d played Orient last weekend, we may have got at least a draw as we are playing with so much confidence.” So much confidence in fact that they lost their next game to Burscough. Gainsborough could have tested their mettle on the pitch against Orient instead of in Cyberspace if they’d actually managed to beat Whitley Bay. They didn’t. They lost to Whitley Bay, and Barrow beat them 6-1, and then went on to make the fans proud with an excellent performance against Orient. And talking of ungracious winners – probably a worse species than the sore loser – an Orient fan visiting the Gainsborough forum described Barrow as a two-bob outfit. Mmmmmm, we reckon that 3-3 draw against Northwich Vics must have been worth all of half a crown. |
Emley away 0-0
| A creditable draw against the league leaders.
And a clean sheet! Wow! The championship race hots
up as Barrow make ground on the leaders. What d’ya mean it
was only a draw? According to our theory of you needing to win your
home games and draw away from home, this was a double bogey for Emley,
with them dropping two points. Barrow neither lost or gained
any points on a difficult par 5. Barrow still remain 6 points
off what we consider a championship target. Emley are five
points ahead of schedule, and despite their defeat today at Lancaster,
Stalybridge Celtic are about plus 73 points. Our prediction
is that Emley won’t last the pace all the way through ‘til May.
We’re reserving judgement on Stalybridge until they visit Holker Street in January. But if they don’t look up to it, then that leaves it between us, Alty and the Bishops (yeah right, ED). |
Walking on the Moon
Emley might as well have moved to the moon as Wakefield. There’s about the same amount of atmosphere. (Get rid of that rag mag NOW – Ed) It’s a rather surreal place to watch, and I imagine to play football. Set back about 15-20 yards behind one goal is a square block of flats that masquerade as executive boxes, presumably for Wakefield Wildcats as they are empty for the football. Some fans gather on the first floor balcony to watch the game, and the rest of the crowd are spread sparsely around the ground which probably has a capacity of about 8-10,000. There is a huge open terrace behind the other goal on which a few fans stand milling about, but you would need the average gate of a top third division team to make it even look halfway full. Emley apparently moved to Wakefield to progress their Conference ambitions, but you do have to wonder at the ground’s suitability when there are constant tanoy announcements warning about the dangers of smoking in the main stand which is the only seated area in the ground. The crowd today was less than 400 and one of the reasons cited for the move to Wakefield was the potential to increase gates as it was felt that a ceiling had been reached at Emley, so you do have to wonder again. Yes it is December. Crowds are traditionally low in the run up to Xmas, but less than 400 when you are top of the league and playing a team with one of the largest away followings in the league must be hugely disappointing for the players, officials and any ambitious players.
The Rushden & Yeovil Times
Our predictions for next weekend.
Barrow win. Stalybridge and Emley both lose (unless they are
playing each other) In the Non-League Paper Yeovil just pip
Ru$hden with five pages of coverage devoted to the cider drinkers and only
four this week to those hard up beggars from Nene Park who need all the
publicity they can get. Three hour meeting of Alty supporters’
club to be held on Friday evening as they try to reach concurment on their
excuse for not winning on Saturday and we at Reclaim The Street give you
the reader a sneak look at the, as yet, unpublished minutes :- “Grass too
long? No, used that twice already this season.
Other team raised their game? Nope, now that
we’re slipping down the table and our gates are making Spennymoorlook well
supported, it’s our opponents who’re using that one. Sod it,
let’s stick with the usual crap referee
and weren’t they a dirty bunch of b@$t@rd$ even though we committed more
fouls than them. Yeah, that’ll do. All agreed.
Aye. See ya Saturday.
O no you won’t, can’t make it this week, we’re
not in the Conference any more and we
keep losing so I can’t go.”
December 11th
| Heard the news today of a third Nuneaton fan
dying as a result of a minibus accident as they returned from the Bournemouth
cup game at the weekend. We would like to pass on our condolences,
deepest sympathy and our thoughts go out to all their family and friends.
Some people often (mis)quote Shankly when he said that football wasn’t a matter of life and death, - it’s more important than that. How wrong he was. Our thoughts are with you all. |
| Another postponement. On a day when most senior games in the country were called off, Barrow fans were still being told this game was on , up to an hour before kick-off. Even though clubs are getting desperate to avoid fixture congestion, this surely isn’t good enough. Will these fans bother to travel a second time. Some won’t. And this will result in a loss of revenue for the club involved so it isn’t really good business sense either. Come on peeps, consider the travelling fans. It might be a local derby, but it’s still a hundred mile round trip. And this really was a wasted trip. | |
| Sources on the net say that the Lancaster police
were deployed to meet Barrow fans arriving by train for this game.
It is some twenty five yards from the station to the ground, and the seven
fans who arrived by train must have been delighted that the boys in blue
were so keen to ensure that no-one got lost en route. I am
so pleased that my taxes are being used in such a constructive way.
I am grateful the police are not being utilised in such wasteful exercises
as preventing crime, or even catching criminals.
And another thing, if this competition is going to be regionalised, won’t we be playing the same teams every season? So what really is the point. |
December 14th
Where Are They Now?
Vol 1, Issue 1, Chapter 1, Page 1, Paragraph 1
Featured player Tigger Rigby.
And Tigger arrived with a suspension so
he couldn’t be assessed in the first game of the season. I
had been to a pre-season at Trafford and had a preview of Tigger in action,
and I thought he looked class, so I was disappointed that Tigger didn’t
get in the first team
when his suspension was up. In fairness though, Barrow were
unbeaten and why change a winning combination.
Why indeed? Well, maybe one good reason was that we were flattering
to deceive. The results were there, but the performances weren’t.
Barrow weren’t playing like championship contenders and it all felt apart
on a Bank Holiday weekend at Christie Park, when Morecambe tore off the
emperor’s new clothes in an emphatic 3-1 victory.
Next game was at home to Buxton.
Another unconvincing victory during which Kevin Proctor suffered an injury
and enter Tigger. A fortnight later and barrow had moved up
from ninth to top of the league. I can’t really remember too
much detail about Tigger’s performances, but just to say that he left a
sufficient impression on his debut to leave the fans knowing that he wouldn’t
be staying long at Holker Street as he was surely destined for a move up
to a higher league. One incident that does stand out is a stunning
goal at the Leisure Club End against Marine when Tigger scored one, made
another and won the game almost single handed.
Tigger played 22 games for barrow over a period
of 3 months. In this period Barrow’s record was played 22 won
8 drew 7 lost 7. Not that impressive but we’re gonna gloss
over those stats because they are so unimpressive.
The team’s early season promise evaporated with
a home defeat to Frickley in early December and Graham Heathcote soon became
an ex-Barrow manager – and how we miss him. His ability
to produce a mediocre side at Barrow led to him being snapped up by Bury,
and it wasn’t long before – surprise, surprise, - he came back to take
Tigger with him. At the end of the next season tigger was named
in the third division’s team of the season. In the Sunday papers
I kept seeing his name as a first team
regular and occassionally on the scoresheet. But as Bury progressed
through to the first division, then I found I was seeing Tigger’s name
on the teamsheet less and less frequently until I almost forgot about him.
Then, at the beginning of last season I heard
a few Scarborough fans asking about him as he was signing for them.
Before I could give my considered opinion he was turning out for Alty in
a pre-season friendly. The next I heard he was playing for
Runcorn, and then at the beginning of this month he turned up at Holker
Street playing for Droylsden after travelling from Runcorn via Burscough
(again) and Rhyl. And apparently he made a stop off in Shrewsbury
at some point. I was looking forward to watching him play again,
hoping that he wouldn’t destroy us as he had Marine some eight years ago.
I needn’t have worried. Tigger was still influential but his
overall performance just wasn’t anything like it had been when he played
for the home team at Holker Street. And I know it’s a case
of the pot calling the kettle incredibly black, but he looked a lot overweight
as well. One or two good touches but nothing special is our
overall assessment of his performance against Barrow. It’s
a bit of a shame really as Tigger is stillonly 28, but it seems that the
off-field problems that were part of the terrace talk at Holker Street
resurfaced at Bury and Cllymoresque rumours abound.
It was nice to see Tigger back at Holker Street, but if we’re really honest we’re glad he wasn’t wearing the blue shirt.
Where Are They Now?
Vol 1, Issue 1, Chapter 1, Page 1, Paragraph 2
Featured player Andy Mutch.
Who sodding cares?