FA Vase Quarter Final
27th February 2010
Pictures from yesterdays big Vase tie can be found here on the 100FgC Facebook page.
The Facebook site also has photographs from other ground revisits at Whitley Bay and York City.
My Matchday - 242 Liberty Stadium
Swansea City 1v1 Newcastle United
Championship
Saturday 13th February 2010
Swansea is a city on the south-west coast of Wales in West Glamorgan on the banks of the River Tawe, known locally as Abertawe - “mouth of the Tawe”
Swansea geographical location saw it thrive during the industrial revolution, the port exported coal across to the south-west of England and specialised in copper smelting, as smelting works opened along the Tawe Valley.
The town expanded during the 18th and 19th centuries as the Smelters were established producing arsenic, tin and zinc to create tinplate and pottery, which made the town a big player in the world copper industry, which termed Swansea the name “Copperopolis".
Swansea Town formed in 1912 and joined the Southern League Second Division, winning promotion prior to the war which gained admission into the expansion of the Football League, becoming founder members of Division Three South.
Swansea gained city status in 1969 to mark the enthronement of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales, so the club became Swansea City in February the following year.
Having played at the Vetch Field for 93 years, Swansea City moved into a new purpose built stadium on the outskirts of the town on the west side of the River Tawe.
The stadium was built upon the site of the former Morfa Athletics Stadium and during construction went under the working name of White Rock, named of the copper works which was located on the site and opened way back in 1737.
White Rock would have been a unique and cool name for a football ground, however the stadium became available for sponsorship naming rights, which went to local developers Liberty Property, so it became “Stadiwm Liberty” on 18th October 2005.
The stadium was designed by Gateshead based TTH Architects (I’m their postman. Morning!)and built by Interserve at a total cost of £27m.
It wasn’t just the Vetch Field that needed replacing, local rugby club All Whites played at the St. Helen’s ground which was also well past its sell by date.
All Whites merged with Neath RFC to form Ospreys, and along with Swansea City the city council had the ideal site in Landore a few miles from the city centre to accommodate both clubs.
The 20,500 capacity multi-use stadium was funded by the nearby retail park built on the east side of the river. Work commenced in Autumn 2003 with the opening game played on 23rd July 2005 between Swansea and Fulham.
The stadium has four two tier stands all equal in size with a much larger top tier. The West Stand is slightly bigger having executive boxes at the back running full length of the stand. The seats are decked out in black with triangular shapes and the name of the ground and home teams picked out in white.
The stadium benefits from partial transparent roofing which produces more natural light and has electric scoreboards on top of the North and South Stands.
Outside the stadium in the south-west corner stands a statue of Ivor Allchurch MBE.
“Swansea’s Golden Boy’ wasn’t just a legend for The Jacks but was also a great favourite on Tyneside. Ivor signed for Swansea Town in 1947 scoring 124 goals in 327 appearances before a big money move to Newcastle United in 1958. In four seasons Ivor notched 51 goals in 154 starts before returning to South Wales to Cardiff City before going back home to Swansea in 1965.
Allchurch scored a club record 160 goals for Swansea and with 68 Welsh caps once held the record appearances for his country. Ivor was a true gentleman on the field and never the type of player to lose his temper, a gifted inside forward who could play with both feet and was renouned for his pinpoint passing and his ability to score from distance. A true football legend and the golden boy of Swansea and Wales.
With an unbeaten league run of 15 games coming to an abrupt end at Pride Park last Tuesday, this game took on a much greater significance for Newcastle. It was expected that the players would show a positive reaction to the gubbing off Derby County with a good performance and result at the Liberty Stadium.
Well at least the result was a good one, as the overall performance was very poor and the Toon were lucky and rather fortunate to share the points with an energetic and well organised Swansea City side.
City looked up for the game from the start, applying early pressure and going close with a well worked free kick from Orlandi. United’s best effort came after half an hour when Nolan should have done better with a close range header, but overall the Jacks were the better side and at the break I personally would have settled for a point.
In the second half the Swans went close with two efforts from Dyer but eventually took the lead on 56 minutes. A Pratley cross was dummied by Dyer which allowed Cotterill plenty of space and time to cut inside and pick his spot giving Harper no chance.
Williams then went close with a header but the best chance fell to Pintado who could have secured the points, missing his kick from close range with only six minutes remaining.
Three minutes later Newcastle levelled. Substitute Leon Best produced a great cross which was met at the back post by Andy Carroll with a powerful header. A goal which left me and the rest of the Toon Army both stunned and yet relieved to be able to make the long journey home with a point, which wasn’t deserved, but may prove to be a crucial one by the end of the season.
Championship
Saturday 13th February 2010
Swansea is a city on the south-west coast of Wales in West Glamorgan on the banks of the River Tawe, known locally as Abertawe - “mouth of the Tawe”Swansea geographical location saw it thrive during the industrial revolution, the port exported coal across to the south-west of England and specialised in copper smelting, as smelting works opened along the Tawe Valley.
The town expanded during the 18th and 19th centuries as the Smelters were established producing arsenic, tin and zinc to create tinplate and pottery, which made the town a big player in the world copper industry, which termed Swansea the name “Copperopolis".
Swansea Town formed in 1912 and joined the Southern League Second Division, winning promotion prior to the war which gained admission into the expansion of the Football League, becoming founder members of Division Three South.
Swansea gained city status in 1969 to mark the enthronement of Prince Charles as the Prince of Wales, so the club became Swansea City in February the following year.
Having played at the Vetch Field for 93 years, Swansea City moved into a new purpose built stadium on the outskirts of the town on the west side of the River Tawe.
The stadium was built upon the site of the former Morfa Athletics Stadium and during construction went under the working name of White Rock, named of the copper works which was located on the site and opened way back in 1737.
White Rock would have been a unique and cool name for a football ground, however the stadium became available for sponsorship naming rights, which went to local developers Liberty Property, so it became “Stadiwm Liberty” on 18th October 2005.
The stadium was designed by Gateshead based TTH Architects (I’m their postman. Morning!)and built by Interserve at a total cost of £27m.
It wasn’t just the Vetch Field that needed replacing, local rugby club All Whites played at the St. Helen’s ground which was also well past its sell by date.
All Whites merged with Neath RFC to form Ospreys, and along with Swansea City the city council had the ideal site in Landore a few miles from the city centre to accommodate both clubs.
The 20,500 capacity multi-use stadium was funded by the nearby retail park built on the east side of the river. Work commenced in Autumn 2003 with the opening game played on 23rd July 2005 between Swansea and Fulham.
The stadium has four two tier stands all equal in size with a much larger top tier. The West Stand is slightly bigger having executive boxes at the back running full length of the stand. The seats are decked out in black with triangular shapes and the name of the ground and home teams picked out in white.
The stadium benefits from partial transparent roofing which produces more natural light and has electric scoreboards on top of the North and South Stands.
Outside the stadium in the south-west corner stands a statue of Ivor Allchurch MBE.“Swansea’s Golden Boy’ wasn’t just a legend for The Jacks but was also a great favourite on Tyneside. Ivor signed for Swansea Town in 1947 scoring 124 goals in 327 appearances before a big money move to Newcastle United in 1958. In four seasons Ivor notched 51 goals in 154 starts before returning to South Wales to Cardiff City before going back home to Swansea in 1965.
Allchurch scored a club record 160 goals for Swansea and with 68 Welsh caps once held the record appearances for his country. Ivor was a true gentleman on the field and never the type of player to lose his temper, a gifted inside forward who could play with both feet and was renouned for his pinpoint passing and his ability to score from distance. A true football legend and the golden boy of Swansea and Wales.
With an unbeaten league run of 15 games coming to an abrupt end at Pride Park last Tuesday, this game took on a much greater significance for Newcastle. It was expected that the players would show a positive reaction to the gubbing off Derby County with a good performance and result at the Liberty Stadium.
Well at least the result was a good one, as the overall performance was very poor and the Toon were lucky and rather fortunate to share the points with an energetic and well organised Swansea City side.
City looked up for the game from the start, applying early pressure and going close with a well worked free kick from Orlandi. United’s best effort came after half an hour when Nolan should have done better with a close range header, but overall the Jacks were the better side and at the break I personally would have settled for a point.
In the second half the Swans went close with two efforts from Dyer but eventually took the lead on 56 minutes. A Pratley cross was dummied by Dyer which allowed Cotterill plenty of space and time to cut inside and pick his spot giving Harper no chance.
Williams then went close with a header but the best chance fell to Pintado who could have secured the points, missing his kick from close range with only six minutes remaining.
Three minutes later Newcastle levelled. Substitute Leon Best produced a great cross which was met at the back post by Andy Carroll with a powerful header. A goal which left me and the rest of the Toon Army both stunned and yet relieved to be able to make the long journey home with a point, which wasn’t deserved, but may prove to be a crucial one by the end of the season.
Following on from Cardiff and Plymouth this is the final part of my far flung Championship grounds trilogy. The final episode saw the earliest departure time yet - 3.30am, as Sky Sports decided to broadcast the game with a 12.45 k.o. to go up against ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup.
With the game kicking off early I thought I wouldn’t have much precious time in Swansea, to do the things I needed to while visiting this corner of South Wales.
I needn’t have worried as we arrived in good time at around 9.30am, giving me plenty of time to tick off a couple of pubs (your reader should know which ones..Eddy) and pay homage to the Vetch Field.
As is always the case when following NUFC away, I was with Ian Patrick and his son Lee, Ian doing his usual fantastic performance behind the wheel, even though he nearly dropped off a couple of times, myself and Lee took turns at going shotgun to keep him awake during the 700 mile round trip.
I decided we should stay well away from the M4 with the Rugby Union international in Cardiff between Wales and Scotland taking play at 2pm. So I navigated an alternative route, crossing the border at Monmouth and travelling on the A40 towards Abergavenny and through the valley’s down the A465 towards Merthyr then out at the bottom across the M4 into Swansea.
This was a much better and quicker way to South Wales, the roads were quiet and I didn’t see any other football fans on route, meaning we made good time heading back north, arriving home at quarter to nine.
We found the Swansea folk very friendly making our short stay in the city very enjoyable. I’m pleased to complete this ground trilogy and special thanks to 100FgC #2 for making the three match days enjoyable and getting us safely from A to B and back again, even though it meant getting up in the middle of the night and having to suffer sleep depravation, although overall it's been well worth it and a small sacrifice to pay to tick off these new grounds.
Matchday stats SCFC 1(Cotterill 56) NUFC 1(Carroll 87) att.15,188 Admission £30 Programme £3
Ground no.242 Liberty Stadium - Matchday Web album (22 pictures including 9 from the Vetch)
My Matchday - 241 Field Mill
Mansfield Town 0v2 Gateshead
Blue Sq. Premier
Saturday 6th February 2010
Mansfield lies on the River Maun, a former mining town and the largest market town in the county of Nottinghamshire.
A local church formed Mansfield Wesleyans FC in 1897 playing games on Kate Moody Lane for three years before switching to public playing fields on Stanhope Street.
The club’s next home base from 1903 on Newgate Lane was purchased by the local railway, which meant another move, this time to the aptly named ‘The Prairie’ at Radcliffe Gate from 1912.
The Stags finally found a permanent home when purchasing Field Mill in 1919 from the Duke of Portland, who leased the land with the agreement that the land must always be used for sporting purposes. By this time the club were established as Mansfield Town, which had infuriated rivals Mansfield Mechanics, who themselves were in pursuit of adding the Town suffix to their name.
Originally a cotton mill, football had been played on Field Mill as far back as 1861, making it one of the worlds oldest continuously used football grounds. The original tenants Greenhalgh formed from the local cricket club, cricket being its sole purpose from 1840, then Mansfield Amateurs followed by Mansfield Mechanics both shared with Mansfield Town Cricket Club from 1912.
The first stand was built on the west side in 1922, a small wooden structure which stood until 1959, when the club purchased a steel framed stand from Hurst Park racecourse in south London. The structure was built behind the original stand with changing rooms, offices and club lounges added. The original stand was then demolished and replaced with a standing paddock at the front of the new stand before finally opening in 1966.
In February 2001 the new West Stand was opened which is a large two-tier cantilever stand with a capacity of 5,500 which completed the £6.5m redevelopment of Field Mill. The stand also includes the Sandy Pate bar and sponsorship lounges.
The North Stand terrace was covered in 1956 with funds from the Supporters Club and along with the open Quarry Lane End terrace were replaced with new seated stands behind each goal in August 2000. Both stands are similar in stature, the North Stand is the away end, decked out with 1,910 blue seats with STAGS picked out in yellow. The Quarry Lane End is slightly larger with an extra 73 seats, with mainly yellow seats with MTFC picked out in blue. The players tunnel emerges from the nearside corner of the stand.
The Bishop Street Stand became the main stand when built prior to the Second World War, with 1,120 bench seats taking across from the West Stand.The stand is now condemned and cordoned off, only the players dugouts are at this side with an electric scoreboard on the old paddock terrace. There’s plans to redevelop the stand which would include a TV studio and gantry.
The overall capacity stands at 9,990 with the club’s record attendance of 24,479 against neighbours Nottingham Forest for an FA Cup 3rd round tie in January 1953.
As a young boy the Newcastle United 1973-74 side became the football club I fell in love with. A side which embarked on a thrilling FA Cup run which ended in a predictable Wembley embarrassment against Liverpool’s Shankly, Keegan and Co. A result and performance which the first time in my football fan career, ended in tears.
On my bedroom wall was a team picture of the United squad, amongst Supermac, Bobby Moncur, Hibbitt and Tudor, was one player who stood out amongst the rest of the striped shirts.
Standing in between Craig and Cassidy, was a big strapping lad with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and matching moustache, much like a 70’s German porn star.
I knew all about the United squad in that photograph, except for this one particular player that I had no knowledge of apart from his name.
Gordon Hodgson was born in Newcastle and signed for his hometown club as a teenager in 1971. Shortly after the Cup Final horror show and limited to only 9 appearances over three years he signed for Mansfield Town .
Gordon is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in Town’s history. In his first s
eason with the club he played a starring role in The Stags promotion as Division Four champions. In 1975-76 he skippered the club as promotion was again achieved as league winners reaching Division Two for the first time in the clubs history.
Over four years Hodgson made 184 league appearances, missing only two games because of suspension and notching 23 goals from midfield before moving on to Oxford United in 1978.
Gordon went on to play for Peterborough United, before hanging up his boots, swapping the blue of The Posh for the blue of the police force.
Gordon Hodgson died in April 1999 at the tender age of 46, the big Geordie will always be held in high regard with the Stags fans, playing a decisive part in the most memorable time in the club’s history.
Mansfield Town’s 77 year stay in the Football League ended in 2008 and like many clubs relegated into the Blue Square Premier, a quick return has proven difficult, and in turn, clubs promoted into the Conference find it equally tough to survive.
Mansfield currently lie in fourth position took on a Gateshead side who are an example of a club finding it difficult to adapt to the big league. However that struggle may be about to change, as The Tyneside’s produced their best performance of the season to upset a large anticipating home support.
The return of Carl Jones in defence from long term injury, along with January recruits Andy Ferrell in midfield and striker Brian Wake has seen the backbone of the team strengthened, along with wingers Winn and Sinclair added to the squad.
It was one of the new signings Brian Wake which gave Gateshead a dream start in the 5th minute, the former Morton striker picked up the ball in the middle of the park and ran unchallenged to the edge of the box, his shot took a deflection which looped high over the stranded Marriott.
Gateshead created more chances to extend the lead, Wake twice went close while Armstrong saw a close rage effort blocked by a defender. Heed keeper Farman wasn’t called into action until first half injury time, easily dealing with a Jake Speight shot from the edge of the box.
The consensus amongst the media and Mansfield supporters was that they’d turn the game around in the second half and go on to take the three points. That theory was diminished after only three second half minutes. Wake again lead the Stags defence a merry dance before smashing a right foot shot into the far corner to double the lead.
Mansfield had spells of pressure to try and get a foothold back into the game. Challinor’s long range effort was tipped onto the crossbar, then a Speight shot was blazed over.
Town’s best opportunity came in the 82nd minute, a mad scramble in the penalty area saw a blocked shot fall to Gary Silk who’s effort was pushed onto the bar, the rebound fell to Jon Shaw but his close range header was desperately cleared to safety.
The Tynesiders weathered the late storm and deservingly held on the claim a morale boosting win, which could turn out to be the big turning point of their season.
Picture courtesy of 100FgC#26 Alan Price
This was actually Gateshead’s closest Saturday away fixture of the season, which meant we had a full bus on, leaving at a reasonable time of 10.30am and arriving with enough time to spare for me to tick of the two ’Spoons pubs in the town.
This game caught the imagination of the local public as the club launched a special ‘pay what you like’ initiative, which means what it says on the tin, pay whatever you like to gain admission, be it 1p, £1 or a tenner, the choice was yours.
The plan was a success, as the Mansfield public turned out in large numbers giving Field Mill its biggest gate for over eight years. The big turnout meant the game had to be delayed for 20 minutes, with a section of the North Stand opened to feed the demand.
When I say the plan was a success, I mean the attendance of 7,261 (74 away fans) was a great achievement, however the fact that Mansfield were comprehensively beating will not encourage that casual supporter to return t’ Mill in a hurry.
The reason that this particular fixture was chosen is The Stags chairman was expecting an easy win for the home side. The big crowd would have enjoyed a goal fest, gone home happy seeing their team win and be keen to return again, however the boo’s ringing out at half time and on the full time whistle means this ambitious scheme has basically gone tits up!
I entered the ground via the Kevin Bird Suite at the back of the West Stand, the staff at Field Mill made me feel welcome, special thanks to Mark in the press box who looked after us all, my only complaint would be the lack of filling in the half time sandwiches! I also heard and spoke to reporters working for local radio, who gave an unbiased opinion on the game, giving full credit on a well deserved victory for Gateshead.
Unfortunately I have to report that the ’pay what you like’ gave good reason for the local crackerjack element to come out to play at a cost of only a penny.
Coins were thrown towards the Gateshead end from both inside and outside the stand with one lady supporter hit on the head, the father of one of the players was hit with a bottle, while a Heed supporter was set upon and punched by a gang of five thugs in the toilets. To cap it all off on our way out of the town a brick was thrown at our coach, luckily the person taking aim had a throw like a girl and missed the windows, his feeble effort ending up hitting the roof of the bus.
It’s a shame that a small minority spoils it for everyone else. I was warned by several people beforehand not to go into the town centre and be very cautious of the stewards at the ground.
While I appreciate what the club is doing in generating interest and extra home support, the matter of the safety and well being of away supporters has to be looked into. Visiting Field Mill needs to be a pleasant experience, otherwise away fans will be put off and the likes of myself, along with my fellow members of the Heed Army won’t be in too much of a hurry to return.
Matchday stats
Blue Sq. Premier
Saturday 6th February 2010
Mansfield lies on the River Maun, a former mining town and the largest market town in the county of Nottinghamshire.A local church formed Mansfield Wesleyans FC in 1897 playing games on Kate Moody Lane for three years before switching to public playing fields on Stanhope Street.
The club’s next home base from 1903 on Newgate Lane was purchased by the local railway, which meant another move, this time to the aptly named ‘The Prairie’ at Radcliffe Gate from 1912.
The Stags finally found a permanent home when purchasing Field Mill in 1919 from the Duke of Portland, who leased the land with the agreement that the land must always be used for sporting purposes. By this time the club were established as Mansfield Town, which had infuriated rivals Mansfield Mechanics, who themselves were in pursuit of adding the Town suffix to their name.
Originally a cotton mill, football had been played on Field Mill as far back as 1861, making it one of the worlds oldest continuously used football grounds. The original tenants Greenhalgh formed from the local cricket club, cricket being its sole purpose from 1840, then Mansfield Amateurs followed by Mansfield Mechanics both shared with Mansfield Town Cricket Club from 1912.The first stand was built on the west side in 1922, a small wooden structure which stood until 1959, when the club purchased a steel framed stand from Hurst Park racecourse in south London. The structure was built behind the original stand with changing rooms, offices and club lounges added. The original stand was then demolished and replaced with a standing paddock at the front of the new stand before finally opening in 1966.
In February 2001 the new West Stand was opened which is a large two-tier cantilever stand with a capacity of 5,500 which completed the £6.5m redevelopment of Field Mill. The stand also includes the Sandy Pate bar and sponsorship lounges.
The North Stand terrace was covered in 1956 with funds from the Supporters Club and along with the open Quarry Lane End terrace were replaced with new seated stands behind each goal in August 2000. Both stands are similar in stature, the North Stand is the away end, decked out with 1,910 blue seats with STAGS picked out in yellow. The Quarry Lane End is slightly larger with an extra 73 seats, with mainly yellow seats with MTFC picked out in blue. The players tunnel emerges from the nearside corner of the stand.
The Bishop Street Stand became the main stand when built prior to the Second World War, with 1,120 bench seats taking across from the West Stand.The stand is now condemned and cordoned off, only the players dugouts are at this side with an electric scoreboard on the old paddock terrace. There’s plans to redevelop the stand which would include a TV studio and gantry.
The overall capacity stands at 9,990 with the club’s record attendance of 24,479 against neighbours Nottingham Forest for an FA Cup 3rd round tie in January 1953.
As a young boy the Newcastle United 1973-74 side became the football club I fell in love with. A side which embarked on a thrilling FA Cup run which ended in a predictable Wembley embarrassment against Liverpool’s Shankly, Keegan and Co. A result and performance which the first time in my football fan career, ended in tears.On my bedroom wall was a team picture of the United squad, amongst Supermac, Bobby Moncur, Hibbitt and Tudor, was one player who stood out amongst the rest of the striped shirts.
Standing in between Craig and Cassidy, was a big strapping lad with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and matching moustache, much like a 70’s German porn star.
I knew all about the United squad in that photograph, except for this one particular player that I had no knowledge of apart from his name.
Gordon Hodgson was born in Newcastle and signed for his hometown club as a teenager in 1971. Shortly after the Cup Final horror show and limited to only 9 appearances over three years he signed for Mansfield Town .
Gordon is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in Town’s history. In his first s
eason with the club he played a starring role in The Stags promotion as Division Four champions. In 1975-76 he skippered the club as promotion was again achieved as league winners reaching Division Two for the first time in the clubs history.Over four years Hodgson made 184 league appearances, missing only two games because of suspension and notching 23 goals from midfield before moving on to Oxford United in 1978.
Gordon went on to play for Peterborough United, before hanging up his boots, swapping the blue of The Posh for the blue of the police force.
Gordon Hodgson died in April 1999 at the tender age of 46, the big Geordie will always be held in high regard with the Stags fans, playing a decisive part in the most memorable time in the club’s history.
Mansfield Town’s 77 year stay in the Football League ended in 2008 and like many clubs relegated into the Blue Square Premier, a quick return has proven difficult, and in turn, clubs promoted into the Conference find it equally tough to survive.Mansfield currently lie in fourth position took on a Gateshead side who are an example of a club finding it difficult to adapt to the big league. However that struggle may be about to change, as The Tyneside’s produced their best performance of the season to upset a large anticipating home support.
The return of Carl Jones in defence from long term injury, along with January recruits Andy Ferrell in midfield and striker Brian Wake has seen the backbone of the team strengthened, along with wingers Winn and Sinclair added to the squad.
It was one of the new signings Brian Wake which gave Gateshead a dream start in the 5th minute, the former Morton striker picked up the ball in the middle of the park and ran unchallenged to the edge of the box, his shot took a deflection which looped high over the stranded Marriott.
Gateshead created more chances to extend the lead, Wake twice went close while Armstrong saw a close rage effort blocked by a defender. Heed keeper Farman wasn’t called into action until first half injury time, easily dealing with a Jake Speight shot from the edge of the box.
The consensus amongst the media and Mansfield supporters was that they’d turn the game around in the second half and go on to take the three points. That theory was diminished after only three second half minutes. Wake again lead the Stags defence a merry dance before smashing a right foot shot into the far corner to double the lead.
Mansfield had spells of pressure to try and get a foothold back into the game. Challinor’s long range effort was tipped onto the crossbar, then a Speight shot was blazed over.
Town’s best opportunity came in the 82nd minute, a mad scramble in the penalty area saw a blocked shot fall to Gary Silk who’s effort was pushed onto the bar, the rebound fell to Jon Shaw but his close range header was desperately cleared to safety.
The Tynesiders weathered the late storm and deservingly held on the claim a morale boosting win, which could turn out to be the big turning point of their season.
Picture courtesy of 100FgC#26 Alan PriceThis was actually Gateshead’s closest Saturday away fixture of the season, which meant we had a full bus on, leaving at a reasonable time of 10.30am and arriving with enough time to spare for me to tick of the two ’Spoons pubs in the town.
This game caught the imagination of the local public as the club launched a special ‘pay what you like’ initiative, which means what it says on the tin, pay whatever you like to gain admission, be it 1p, £1 or a tenner, the choice was yours.
The plan was a success, as the Mansfield public turned out in large numbers giving Field Mill its biggest gate for over eight years. The big turnout meant the game had to be delayed for 20 minutes, with a section of the North Stand opened to feed the demand.
When I say the plan was a success, I mean the attendance of 7,261 (74 away fans) was a great achievement, however the fact that Mansfield were comprehensively beating will not encourage that casual supporter to return t’ Mill in a hurry.
The reason that this particular fixture was chosen is The Stags chairman was expecting an easy win for the home side. The big crowd would have enjoyed a goal fest, gone home happy seeing their team win and be keen to return again, however the boo’s ringing out at half time and on the full time whistle means this ambitious scheme has basically gone tits up!
I entered the ground via the Kevin Bird Suite at the back of the West Stand, the staff at Field Mill made me feel welcome, special thanks to Mark in the press box who looked after us all, my only complaint would be the lack of filling in the half time sandwiches! I also heard and spoke to reporters working for local radio, who gave an unbiased opinion on the game, giving full credit on a well deserved victory for Gateshead.
Unfortunately I have to report that the ’pay what you like’ gave good reason for the local crackerjack element to come out to play at a cost of only a penny.
Coins were thrown towards the Gateshead end from both inside and outside the stand with one lady supporter hit on the head, the father of one of the players was hit with a bottle, while a Heed supporter was set upon and punched by a gang of five thugs in the toilets. To cap it all off on our way out of the town a brick was thrown at our coach, luckily the person taking aim had a throw like a girl and missed the windows, his feeble effort ending up hitting the roof of the bus.
It’s a shame that a small minority spoils it for everyone else. I was warned by several people beforehand not to go into the town centre and be very cautious of the stewards at the ground.
While I appreciate what the club is doing in generating interest and extra home support, the matter of the safety and well being of away supporters has to be looked into. Visiting Field Mill needs to be a pleasant experience, otherwise away fans will be put off and the likes of myself, along with my fellow members of the Heed Army won’t be in too much of a hurry to return.
Matchday statsMTFC 0 GFC 2 (Wake 5,48)
att.7,261
Admission:1p and above
Ground no.241 Field Mill - Matchday Web album (17 pictures)
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