A day in Morecambe

Oxford United have only visited Morecambe twice.  Once in the Conference to their old Christie Park ground, and last year back in the football league to the Globe Arena.  Both games were 3-0 victories to United. 

This year we booked our train tickets well in advance, and to make sure I was on the same trains as the Barking mob, I had an early start at 7:02 from Guildford station. 

I left home just before 6:30, and rather than walk 10 minutes to London Road station for an hour into London with no newspaper or coffee, I instead opted for the 25 minute stroll to the main station for a 45 minute journey to Waterloo.  At this early hour for me, and being December, it was still pitch black, the stars were out, and it was a full moon too.  Surprisingly there was little traffic or activity at that time in the morning.  I did spot "laughing man", a 50 year old man who drinks in the evenings in a pub near the station, lives at home with his mother and has a Sid James type cackle which you can hear from 100 yards, walking with purpose along the Upper High Street - it is a mystery where he was off too, or where he had been at that time in the morning. 

Arriving at the station, at least Costa Coffee was open, and so I caught the train to Waterloo.  From there it was a simple tube journey along the Northern Line to Euston.  At Euston, there were a few other fans on their journeys North: Wolves fans off to Old Trafford; and the lesser spotted Stevenage fans were off to Preston, wearing "bah humbug" Christmas hats.  

The Virgin Pendolino to Glasgow is a nine carriage train, however the first four are first class, with barely a handful of people in each.  The last five are standard class, fairly crammed, and as usual, coach C is where the pre-booked tickets are allocated, next to the buffet car.  For a 'bargain' price of £15, you could upgrade to first class, but for a bag of peanuts, water, railway tea or coffee, and a bit more space it was hardly worth it.  On the 8:30 at least there was space to move from designated seats so we could travel up together, with one of the Stevenage Boro fans a few seats behind.  As we were arriving at Preston, it emerged that the other handful of Stevenage fans had sent someone off from coach D to find the odd one behind us, but had given up looking at the buffet car and left him to himself.  

Billy Ray Cyrus at Lancaster station

Just before 11 we arrived at Lancaster, with half an hour to wait for the train to Morecambe.  There wasn't time to leave the station, so we contented ourselves with ground spotting of Lancaster City from Platform 1, wondering if hopping over the fence would count as a ground 'visited'.  Instead, there was just an 80's mullet to spot waiting for our train.  The train to Lancaster was a simple two carriage Northern Rail service, and Morecambe is barely three miles away.  After stopping at Bare Lane - a strange village which seemed to have nothing more than houses, a corner shop, and a tanning shop, we were on our way to Morecambe.  The Guard asked if we were departing at Morecambe, and advised us to leave from the rear carriage.  Seconds later it was announced that Morecambe was the final destination, so why asked where we were getting off I don't know.  

Cafe not open today

Morecambe itself is a mixture of a town.  From the station there is a retail park of Morrisons, sports shops, Frankie & Bennies.  The town centre seems quite run down, and further out is a mixture of bungalows and caravan parks.

Barrow is over there somewhere

Eric

  However, the council have spent some money on artwork: a path to the seafront with quotations built into the pathway;  sculptures of seabirds on a roundabout; and of course the Eric Morecambe statue on the seafront.  Just like last year, we posed for pictures, before heading off for refreshments.  The seafront, unsurprisingly at this time of year was pretty much deserted, and so onto Wetherspoons it was before getting a taxi to the ground.










  

play off final

The Globe Arena is only about a mile from the old ground, and a mile from the station, but is in fairly open surroundings, rather than hemmed in by houses and restricted access.  This year they allowed away fans into the clubhouse bar, which had an impressive photo mural of their play-off final victory against Exeter to take them into the football league in 2006/07.  Alongside was a bookie taking bets on both home and away sides, and I invested in £5 on Peter Leven to score first.  

We entered the ground just before kick-off, pausing briefly for 'meat pie, gravy and mushy peas', which took up the first 15 minutes of the match.  The Globe is not that much bigger than Christie Park, but has a good sized main stand with executive boxes, bar and function rooms.  The stands either end of the pitch were both covered steep terraces, with a shallow uncovered home terrace to our right opposite the main stand.  Morecambe is stuck in the heartland of Northwestern football, with the Manchester, Liverpool clubs, Blackpool, Wigan, and so on all within easy reach to watch the game at a higher standard.  Unsurprisingly, the crowd was less than 2,000 - however the Morecambe fans have a band of trumpet players and drummers to keep them entertained.  

Main stand

The match itself ended 0-0, but we did see Anthony Tonkin and Tom Craddock play a full 90 minutes following injuries and illness, and Adam Chapman also made a welcome cameo appearance in the final few minutes.  

After the game, with frozen and numb toes from the cold, we headed back by taxi to the station (£5 for six of us), stopping for freshly fried cod and chips at the amusement arcade (£4.95), catching the train back to Lancaster, and then waiting for the fast train back to Euston.  With a few strong coffees inside us, we also bumped into a group of 10 or 15 Oxford fans off on their way back to Blackpool for a Saturday night out.  

Finally our Euston train arrived, and this time we first had a ranting Wigan Athletic fan and his son for company - his point being that he was a loyal supporter, and how everyone else from Wigan was either a Manchester or Liverpool fan.  [Wigan had won 2-1 away at West Brom, so what he was doing on our train was a mystery].  He departed, and we then had Andy, a Portsmouth fan.  He lives in a road backing onto Fratton Park, and was complaining how for the Southampton match coming up, he has to have a written letter from the police allowing him to leave his front door and walk along the street.  [The Southampton fans are being bussed in].  Like us, he books all his tickets in advance, and his tickets from Portsmouth to Burnley were £19.50 each way.  Mine from Guildford to Morecambe were £16.50 each, and those from London were £14.50 each.  Compared to an on the day price of around £80 return, it is baffling why the train companies insist on their four nearly empty 1st class carriages on our service.  

We (or rather the Barking mob) reminisced about old clashes with Portsmouth, and away trips all over the country.  Arriving into Euston just after 9:30pm, Andy and I rushed for the Northern Line to Waterloo - getting their just before the 10pm fast train to Guildford and onto Portsmouth harbour.  

Finally at 10:33pm I was back in Guildford, with just the short walk back up the hill and home.   Guildford has "night angels": hi-vis jacket wearing do-gooders who look out for clubbers and other young adults in any difficulty at the end of their nights.  As I crossed at the pelican crossing at the the bottom of town, a young man walked up to the night angels, congratulating them on a fabulous job, marvellous service, before getting to the point and asking if they had a cigarette lighter.  They did, sparked up his cigarette, and all went off happy.  

Finally at around 11pm I was home, some 16 hours after starting off and 560 miles later - all for a Nil Nil draw. 

Football tributes

On my previous post, I considered football statues.  I think they are best left until after the player or manager has passed on.  This normally allows a significant number of years reflection to judge their contribution to the game or their club, whereas an immediate tribute can seem hasty in later years - In cricket for example, the England Ashes winning team from Summer 2005 all received MBEs in the 2006 New Year's Honours, but then went on to lose the next Ashes series 5-0 in Australia.

 
So what else is available?

Retiring the shirt number

Long established in American sports, where a baseball team will have squad numbers up to the 70s and 80s.  In football, this started off with genuine legends such as Pele and Bobby Moore - however now it seems that clubs may also retire a shirt following a premature death such as for Adam Stansfield at Exeter, and Dale Roberts at Rushden & Diamonds. 

As sad as a footballing death is, the club endures, and there is a sense of history when for instance the Manchester United number 7 shirt has been worn by George Best, Eric Cantona, David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo.  Similarly, a centre forward will want to be number 9, and there is a certain pride in being allocated that number. 

The 12^th Man concept also sees some clubs retire that number, with the fans being the notional 12^th man in the team. 

Professional football will never go back to a simple 1-11 for each game, but when players start picking their own numbers it seems a bit too much: Vitor Baia with 99 at Porto; Bixente Lizarazu with 69; and David Beckham picking 23 when he was at Real Madrid, supposedly after Michael Jordan’s basketball number, as club captain Raul was the number 7 (Beckham’s number at Manchester United). 

Naming a stand?  

Sir Alex Ferguson now has a stand named after him at Old Trafford, well deserved after 25 years and numerous trophies and titles, despite still being manager.  Unsurprisingly Manchester City didn't follow their supporter's vote to name one end after legend Colin Bell.  Chelsea have the Matthew Harding Stand, named after their early 90's chairman who died in a helicopter crash.  More recently, Crawley Town also renamed their South Terrace after recently deceased club director, part owner and lifelong fan Bruce Winfield, who just missed seeing their promotion to the football league. 

Stands were traditionally named either after the road they backed onto (London Road, Cuckoo Lane), or geographically (North, South, East, West).  In more modern times, stands are available for sponsorship, such as the Manor Hospital stand, or the Oxford Mail stand.  This does mean that once the sponsorship deal is finished, the naming rights can be sold off again. 

It seems though that once a stand is named after a person, it can’t be un-named, and so endures until a ground is redeveloped or the club moves.  West Ham have the Trevor Brooking stand for instance, but if and when they move to the Olympic Stadium, commercial sponsorship will probably take over. 

What else?

A popular option seems to be naming executive boxes or suites after players;  

Newcastle have Shearer’s bar;  

Wembley has the Bobby Moore Club for Club Wembley ticket holders (which has the Bobby Moore Restaurant and Bobby Moore Room).  

These allow a club to recognise individual players, coaches, or managers fairly early after their retirement, and with executive boxes several can be named, assuming of course their are sufficent boxes.  Also, a restaurant or bar can be refurbished and renamed if necessary, rather than the permanency of a stand name. 

Football statues

Arsenal FC have recently unveiled three bronzes of club heroes to celebrate their 125th anniversary:

Herbert Chapman - led the club to their first league titles in 1931 and 1933,

Tony Adams - most successful captain in a career spanning three decades;

Thierry Henry - top goalscorer with 226 in eight years.

Chapman:  Before his arrival Arsenal were unknown.  Chapman however had survived a football ban before the first World War whilst at Leeds City, being implicated in an illegal payments scandal.  Arsenal would win five titles in all in the 30's, although Chapman died of pneumonia in 1934 after the first two;

Adams: a one club player from an apprentice in 1984 to 2002, although not without his much publicised troubles with gambling, drink, and even a spell in gaol following a drink driving conviction.  In 2000 he founded the Sporting Chance clinic, "a safe, dedicated environment, where sportsmen and women could receive support and counselling for the kinds of destructive behaviour patterns that exist in the world of competitive sport, but that are often denied."  He has though been relatively unsuccessful since then in management, and is still just 45.

Henry: Joined Arsenal after several years at Monaco, one at Juventus, then after eight years at the Gunners went to Barcelona for three, before heading off to the USA for the New York Red Bulls. Whilst he is top scorer, he only spent part of his career there, is still playing, and is perhaps better noted for winning the World Cup in 1998 and the Euros in 2000 with France.  The Irish will remember him for controlling the ball with his hand twice in the World Cup 2010 qualifier play-off, which led to a William Gallas goal and Ireland being eliminated.  He also has a reputation as being rather easy to go to ground under challenges. 

In my view it is a bit too early to start putting bronzes up of Adams and Henry.  Adams I feel would merit one in the future - as the days of a one club player are long gone.  Henry though hasn't even retired from the game yet - and although 226 is a remarkable tally, I reckon it takes a good few decades to weigh up anyone's contribution to a club, particularly if they are still alive and well.  Newcastle United haven't erected an Alan Shearer statue, but apparently plans are afoot to do just so, alongside one for Jackie Milburn as well in time for the Olympics next year.

As football statues go, I like the following

Sir Matt Busby

Dixie Dean

Sir Stanley Matthews

Billy Bremner

Brian Clough

Emlyn Hughes

Bobby Moore (at Wembley)

England captain Bobby Moore being carried shoulder-high by Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, with Ray Wilson looking on.

At Southampton the first Ted Bates statue was a bit too much like Jimmie Krankie, very short legs and a hand bigger than the football he was holding. Similarities with Milan Mandaric were also pointed out. 

so they had another go