Unibond Premier Division.
28th January 2006
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Gatesheads longest trip of the season is a 480 round trip to Shropshire, yes this is the Northern Premier League, to take on AFC Telford at the New Bucks Head.
I travelled to the game on the luxurious team coach, which our driver made a point of telling everyone was a very expensive coach, where kitbags were not allowed on the bus but to be put in the boot, no mess, use the black bags provided, and we have a DVD player, oh what luxury, and all for £15.
After a long and distinguished history, going back to 1872 as Wellington Town, Telford United came to being in 1969 after the designation of the New Town of Telford.The name change came at a great time as the “Road to Wembley” was now open to Non-League sides in the FA Trophy, and in that first season Telford reached the twin towers losing to Macclesfield Town in the final. They bettered this feat the following season winning the FA Trophy along with the Southern League(yes,the South,not the North)and the Midland Floodlit League to round of a remarkable 1970/71 season.
Telford are of course famous for being FA Cup Giantkillers, their victims have included amongst others Stockport, Northampton, Lincoln, Stoke, Crewe, Brentford and they played a fifth round tie at a 47000 Goodison Park full house against Everton in 1985 and more cup success followed in the FA Trophy including a revenge win against Macc Town in 1989.
The club became full-time in 2000, but events took a turn for the worse in 2004 when the club went into liquidation as the club lost all its financial support with the collapse of the chairmans business empire, even the raised £50,000 through a supporters trust wasn’t enough to save Telford United.
On the day of the announcement of the club liquidation, the supporters trust known as Telford United Supporters Ltd took up ownership of the club and AFC Telford United were born and were placed in the Unibond 1st Division by the FA.
The biggest supported team in the Northern Premier League have maybe the most impressive ground in the Non-League pyramid. It comprises of two matching covered terraces behind each goal, to the North is the David Hutchinson Stand where the most vocal of the Bucks fans gather and to the South the Frank Hagington Stand where I joined up with the other half a dozen or so of the HeedArmy for the 2nd half. The Sir Stephen Roberts Stand is the all seated main stand with a capacity of 2,200, I sat here for the 1st half of the game and got some 'hackie looks' from the Telford supporters when I jumped out of my seat after Adam Johnston headed the Tynesiders in front after only 11 minutes.There is also the uncovered East terrace adjacent to the main stand, which holds 1800 where they are in the process of building a sports college. Work on the stadium began in 2000, with the work completed in 2003 and replaced Bucks Head where Telford played for over a century, it has an overall capacity of 6,300.
Telford rallied in the 2nd half and grabbed an equalizer through Luke Reynolds, but not before a mass brawl from both sets of players, a controversial sending off to Keith Graydon(“Ah didn’t touch him man” I heard him say in the bar afterwards)and to cap it all off Gateshead manager Colin Richardson being escorted away from stewards after being less than happy by one or two(well maybe five or six)decisions from the officials, and I was astonished when the tannoy announcer made it known that Shrewsbury were losing throughout the game, so overall an eventfull and enjoyable afternoon.
I travelled to the game on the luxurious team coach, which our driver made a point of telling everyone was a very expensive coach, where kitbags were not allowed on the bus but to be put in the boot, no mess, use the black bags provided, and we have a DVD player, oh what luxury, and all for £15.
After a long and distinguished history, going back to 1872 as Wellington Town, Telford United came to being in 1969 after the designation of the New Town of Telford.The name change came at a great time as the “Road to Wembley” was now open to Non-League sides in the FA Trophy, and in that first season Telford reached the twin towers losing to Macclesfield Town in the final. They bettered this feat the following season winning the FA Trophy along with the Southern League(yes,the South,not the North)and the Midland Floodlit League to round of a remarkable 1970/71 season.
Telford are of course famous for being FA Cup Giantkillers, their victims have included amongst others Stockport, Northampton, Lincoln, Stoke, Crewe, Brentford and they played a fifth round tie at a 47000 Goodison Park full house against Everton in 1985 and more cup success followed in the FA Trophy including a revenge win against Macc Town in 1989.
The club became full-time in 2000, but events took a turn for the worse in 2004 when the club went into liquidation as the club lost all its financial support with the collapse of the chairmans business empire, even the raised £50,000 through a supporters trust wasn’t enough to save Telford United.
On the day of the announcement of the club liquidation, the supporters trust known as Telford United Supporters Ltd took up ownership of the club and AFC Telford United were born and were placed in the Unibond 1st Division by the FA.
The biggest supported team in the Northern Premier League have maybe the most impressive ground in the Non-League pyramid. It comprises of two matching covered terraces behind each goal, to the North is the David Hutchinson Stand where the most vocal of the Bucks fans gather and to the South the Frank Hagington Stand where I joined up with the other half a dozen or so of the HeedArmy for the 2nd half. The Sir Stephen Roberts Stand is the all seated main stand with a capacity of 2,200, I sat here for the 1st half of the game and got some 'hackie looks' from the Telford supporters when I jumped out of my seat after Adam Johnston headed the Tynesiders in front after only 11 minutes.There is also the uncovered East terrace adjacent to the main stand, which holds 1800 where they are in the process of building a sports college. Work on the stadium began in 2000, with the work completed in 2003 and replaced Bucks Head where Telford played for over a century, it has an overall capacity of 6,300.
Telford rallied in the 2nd half and grabbed an equalizer through Luke Reynolds, but not before a mass brawl from both sets of players, a controversial sending off to Keith Graydon(“Ah didn’t touch him man” I heard him say in the bar afterwards)and to cap it all off Gateshead manager Colin Richardson being escorted away from stewards after being less than happy by one or two(well maybe five or six)decisions from the officials, and I was astonished when the tannoy announcer made it known that Shrewsbury were losing throughout the game, so overall an eventfull and enjoyable afternoon.
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