Rounds of the Cup – Ground Hopping: Clapton FC v Stanway Rovers FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round 17th August 2013

 

Its only 3 months since Wigan won the FA Cup at Wembley last May, but today marks the start of the competition for 2013-2014 season.  There are a total of six rounds before the first round proper. Thus round 1 proper is really the 7th round.

For this season’s first tie, I chose to go to Clapton FC who play about 4 miles from my home in Forest Gate. They are one of the oldest clubs in England and won the FA Amateur Cup on 5 occassions, but their recent history is not one of success. They were however the first English club to play a game in mainland Europe.

The club were established in 1878 as Downs Football Club and were initially based in Downs Road in Hackney. They originally played in dark blue shirts and white shorts. The following year the club adopted its current name. They initially played on Hackney Downs, with its headquarters at the Downs Hotel. In 1880 they moved to a pitch adjacent to Lea Bridge Road in Leyton, but moved on again shortly afterwards to a ground at Elm Farm. In 1888 the club moved to the Old Spotted Dog after it was vacated by St Bartholomew's Hospital.

Their record attendance is said to be 12,000 in a game against Tottenham in 1989/99. It is amazing to think this many people were able to get into the Old Spotted Dog Ground which is surrounded by housing in an area very near West Ham’s Boleyn Ground.

The modern history of Clapton FC is one of mismanagement and “dodgy” financial dealings. I will refer you to the article below for details.

So winning might not be everything for this East London club, but it ongoing existence is under threat as a result of the mismanagement of its owner and this threat is, perhaps unsurprisingly, related to the club’s home ground, the Old Spotted Dog Ground. The club signed a 100 year lease on the ground in 1992 through a company called Clapton Trust Limited, which was subsequently renamed as the Newham Community Leisure Trust Limited in order to emphasise the difference between it and the football club, and in the same year it acquired charitable status. Vincent McBean was co-opted onto the board of NCLT on 8th January 2000, and he later also became the Chief Executive of the football club itself. NCLT was struck off by the registrar of companies for a failure to file accounts in 2003, but the company continued to trade and 2005 McBean wrote to the owners of the freehold of the ground asking if he could buy it. His offer was rejected.

Two years later the Charity Commissioner, having noted that NCLT had been struck off by Companies House, removed it from their register because, in their view, it had ‘ceased to exist’. In 2008, however, McBean successfully applied to the High Court to get NCLT re-instated at Companies House, but this reinstatement woulc come at a cost. McBean was made to sign an undertaking not to trade and to dispose of the lease, in 2009, McBean filed ‘small business accounts’ for NCLT, which meant that the company was re-instated, while McBean released from his earlier undertakings, even though this was a breach of the court order, which required McBean to file audited accounts in order to get this reinstatement. Since the, however, the company has filed no accounts and on the 8th January 2013 Companies House wrote to NCLT giving them three months to show a reasonable cause as to why the company should not be struck off the register. McBean and the chairman of the football club, John Murray-Smith, are understood to have no even responded to offers of help from supporters.

Why, then, is all of this so important? The answer to this is that if NCLT is struck off, the lease on the Old Spotted Dog Ground will be forfeited and if this happens it reverts to the freeholders who have no obligation legal obligation to offer a new lease to the club. It is with this in mind that the Friends of Clapton FC has formed, and has been in contact with Supporters Direct with the aim of getting the leasehold over the ground put into safe hands. If those accounts, however, aren’t produced in the next three weeks the club’s future will be put into jeopardy, and Clapton wouldn’t be the only club affected by any uncertainty over the future of the Old Spotted Dog Ground, either – another Essex Senior League side, London Bari, also use call this ground home having moved there in order to join from the Essex Corinthian Sunday Football League. This club would be at serious risk of being unable to complete it ESL fixtures were it and Clapton to be evicted from the Old Spotted Dog Ground.

From the excellent" 200 Per Cent" Blog

So, I made my way to Forest Gate, only some 7 or so minutes on the train from my home. Forest Gate is an urban area with a huge variety of nationalities living their and the walk from the train station to the ground was a cultural experience. Lots of independent traders of all nationalities. It was nice to see a high street not dominated by the same national chains.

Some shops however seem to be a strange fusion of different businesses.

Outside the ground was the Old Spotted Dog pub. Sadly it had closed down about a decade ago. Despite being a listed building and reputedly Henry VIII’s former hunting lodge, it has been allowed to fall into disrepair.

 

 

There is a campaign to save the building which can be found online at www.savetheoldspotteddog.org

The entrance to the ground is down an alley past a tyre garage. It is not the most imposing looking entrance to a ground. There is not even a turnstile at the ground. There is a red plastic portable kiosk to pay the admission price of £6 and £1 for the programme, which to be honest was not worth the money. It is 8 photocopied pages that have not a lot of information in them. Given that the tannoy system was not used to announce the teams, meant I did not know any of the players. I did however recognise the Clapton goalkeeper who I had seen play for Ilford in the past.

 

 

My initial impression of the ground was not too good. Just beyond the pay kiosk is a black portacabin which turned out to be the boardroom! I’ve never seen a board room like this. It was basically a tea hut and nothing more.

The ground seemed empty until just before kick off when I heard a rousing chorus of “We’re The Famous Clapton FC and We’re Going to Wembley”. Was this a last minute crowd arriving? No, it was coming from the players in the dressing room!

However, about 20 or so Clapton fans did arrive just before kick off, taking their places in the corrugated metal and scaffolding stand on the 1/2 way line opposite the main stand. These were I discovered the Clapton Ultras (@ClaptonUltras ). A fantastic bunch who drunk and sang for 90 minutes. They made the day for me, but more about them later.

The ground was seemingly in a poor state. There was no terracing down either side, and apart from a concrete path and the 2 stands there was no terracing visible (I couldn’t see the far end).  There were bikes parked next to the pay kiosk and cars parked on the far side by what used to be an entrance to the ground

 

There is nothing unusual with this. However, the other materials left in the ground include sand and piping. The pitch itself was not in the best of conditions. The grass looked parched and the pitch was very dry, causing it to be difficult for the teams to play the ball on the ground.

As the game started, it started to rain briefly, so I took shelter in the scaffold/ metal stand on the halfway line. This was home to the Clapton Ultras, a groups of around 20 or so under 30s who seemed ot model themsleves on the continental fans, with the use of drums, flags, banners etc. They sang for the whole 90 minutes, and even during half time. The game itself was not the most exciting, but the crowd did not mind. The Ultras are a mix of males and females and in between singing were drinking on the terraces.

The linesman on their side took lots of stick, from Are You Peter Crouch in Disguise” to “Watch the Ball, not the balls” and “You flag is Loverly”.
The Stanway left winger had his wrist bandaged, so had to endure regular taunts suggesting he had injured his hand pleasuring himself.

The sound of Clapton fans singing “We’re on the March we’re Clapton FC, and we’ll really shake them up when we win the FA Cup” was rather funny. As were the chants of Wembley. The Ultras had a number of banners, the most poignant of which was this one.

At half time, I took the opportunity to walk round the ground and watched the game from the other side of the ground. Whilst walking round, I discovered there were a couple of steps of terracing there with scaffolding to lean on, it most certainly was not a crush barrier.

 

The game itself ended 0-0 with Stanway probably having the best of the game. They did hit the bar in the second half. The Clapton keeper made a number of good saves and looked to be the best player on the pitch. none of this stopped the Clapton Ultras singing throughout the game.

View Full Album

 

 

So, my closing thoughts on today were, an average game made very enjoyable by the Clapton Ultras. The Old Spotted Dog Ground is on the way home from work for me, and given that they allow bikes to be brought into the ground, I think I may visit again during the season if I can.

It would be good if the Clapton Ultras can get their friends to come to games and boost the crowds. It is a good laugh with a good bunch of fans. They come to enjoy themselves irrespective of what their team do.

Non League football is definitely the futire. I paid £6 to get in today. I could have watched Orient away at Stevenage in League 1 but would have had to pay £21 to get in. Hmmm 3.5 times the cost, for no more enjoyment. I’ll stick with the £6 game.

Ground Hopping: England v Scotland Wembley Stadium 14th August 2013

 

So for my 3rd football match in 5 days, I went to Wembley Stadium for the return of the oldest international fixture in football.  The history of this fixture stretches back to 1872 when the 2 sides met at The Oval Cricket Ground.

This was the first time the sides have met since England won the European Championship Play Off in 1999. Despite the long gap between the fixtures, it was surprisingly not a sell out crowd that watched the game.

I have been to several England v Scotland and Scotland v England Internationals in the past. I was not particularly bothered about going to this game, but my son Tom had not been to one and was keen to go, so I had a word with a mate of mine who was able to sort us out with tickets for the game. It was also a chance for that notorious group known as “The Sizzlers” to have a reunion. It was 11 years since we had last met up for an England game.

So Wednesday lunchtime found Tom and I lurking in a corner of Kings Cross Railway Station trying to avoid the unwanted attention of certain people. We met up with a couple of the lads and then headed off to meet up with other fans. We ended up with a mixed group of Doncaster, Newcastle and Plymouth fans having a quiet drink at a bar round the back of Kings Cross. It was a new bar on me, despite having drunk in London for over 30 years! I know I am not 48 years of age yet, so do the maths!)

After distributing tickets there, we headed off into Central London, taking care to avoid the massed hordes of drunken ginger transvestites, that some people call Scottish football fans. We ensconced ourselves in a Wetherspoons pub at Holborn Circus. the pub was less than 50 yards from my work, so I was pleased none of the office drink in there. The choice of bar was an excellent one, with it being a big pub, cheap(ish) beers and no hordes of ginger transvestites, and apart from a group of Chimp Chokers (aka Hartlepool United fans) very few other football fans in there.

In this bar, our group was swelled with fans of Rotherham, Brighton, Nottingham Forest,Tottenham, Liverpool and Cambridge United. Who says football fans can’t mix without there being trouble. We chose to remain holed up here until it was time to head off to Wembley Stadium. Sadly one or two of the lads were unable to be at the game for personal reasons or work commitments.

Surprisingly, the tube to Wembley was not packed. In keeping with the rest of the day it seemed to be a low key affair. Even at Wembley Park station, there were no large queues, in fact there were no queues at all. Normally on a big match day, the steps from the station and Wembley Way are a seething mass of bodies and its impossible to see the ground. Not so for this game.

 

 

Once in the Ground, the first thing that I noticed was the significant number of empty seats. The game was no where near a sell out. Scotland had been given 20,000 tickets and had not sold their allocation. Now, this is not a criticism of the number of

            

 

Scotland fans attending at Wembley. There were thousands of empty seats in the England section as well. In fact, Club Wembley seemed to only be 1/3rd to 1/2 full. No, my comment is more directed at the hundreds, if not thousands of Scotland fans who did not buy tickets for the Scotland end despite them being available, but instead chose to buy tickets in the England end. Why? I have no idea.

I have to admit that I have on occasions bought tickets in the wrong end of a ground, but when I do so, I go in without sporting my team’s colours and keep quiet through out the game. The Scots however, turn up in the wrong end, despite tickets being available in their own end, wearing full colours and jumping up celebrating when Scotland scored.

Now when England fans are in the wrong end of a football ground, the media are happy to immediately label then hooligans and call them for being in the wrong end. Strangely when its the Scots doing it, the media are praising them for the numbers they attended the game in. Saying there was so many of them they had to buy tickets in the England sections. No mention of the thousands of empty seats in the Scotland end, no mention of the provocative behaviour in wearing colours and celebrating their teams goal whilst in the middle of England fans.

I find the media reporting of all things England and all things Scotland quite interesting and a great example of “spin”. On Tuesday night, I was listening to a preview of the game on the radio when they were looking back at previous fixtures, including the England 9 Scotland 3 result in 1961. The Scottish “talking head” was saying how as the Scottish team coach left Wembley after the game it was met with a repeated hail of bricks and bottles from Scotland fans upset at their defeat. This was hailed as something to be proud of. He spoke with pride about the fans passion etc. No mention of hooliganism or the thuggish behaviour of the Scotland fans.

In the post match reporting of the event, the papers wax lyrical about how wonderful the (drunken) Scottish fans were. Strangely few newspapers or TV reports mention the fact that 10,000 cans/ bottles and mountains of rubbish were left in Trafalgar Square be said Scots. No mention either in most reports of the deliberate polluting of the fountains in Trafalgar Square  by Scots fans.

 

A criticism of both sets of fans at the game was the fact they both booed the other teams national anthem. No matter who are playing, the booing of a national anthem is disrespectful and should not happen. Quite why some football fans think this is acceptable is beyond me.

Right, rant over, back to the game… Well actually, there is little positive to say. The first half was dross. Scotland in reality would be a mediocre side in League 1 in England (3rd tier). They took an early lead before England equalised. At half time it was 1-1. The game itself was nothing to write home about. England were playing as if it was a 1/2 paced training ground game. For Scotland, its the biggest game they play. It means everything to Scotland to defeat England, but the feeling the other way is not reciprocated.

Fortunately, the 1/2 time whistle came and put us out of our misery. Some people go to the bar or the toilet at 1/2 time. We did likewise, but to get to the bar, we had to get the tube 6 stops to West Hampstead to meet up with the lads who hadn’t gone to the game. A couple of beers in the bar and we saw the end of the game on TV ( fortunately we could ignore the TV as well).

From West Hampstead we were able to take the London Overground line round to Stratford and avoid lots of changes on the tube. (Good call Tom). We took the train home from Stratford and looked forward to the Pizza from Mario’s on the way home only to find it had shut early! Disaster – how selfish of them to close at midnight. Do they not realise I wanted a pizza. So it was Chinese or Chicken for supper.

So another day, another game over. That was my 7th game of the season and my 3rd in 5 days. It was the least enjoyable game of football, but it was a good day out and hopefully some of us will be meeting up in October when Newcastle host Liverpool. There is no chance of me or some of the others going to the game, but we will meet up hopefully for a drink in Newcastle before/ after the game.

The football was a let down (as expected) but meeting the lads was a positive. Even Tom attending his first England v Scotland game was disappointed at the game and the atmosphere, but enjoyed the day despite this.

I think the next time we meet up for an England game we will save the £40 admission fee and go for a curry in Brick Lane instead of going to the game. It would be far more fun having more beer and a curry than going to the game. Watching England games now is no where near as enjoyable as it was years ago. The atmosphere is flat, the prices are sky high – not just the admission prices, but the food and drink in the ground as well. The only improvement in the years has been the access into the ground and the toilet facilities. mind you the latter could not have got any worse could it? The toilets at the old Wembley were positively primitive.

This weekend brings the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup ( the first of the 6 rounds before the 1st round proper) and a chance to get back to grass roots football.

Just Like Watching Brazil?

Leyton Orient 3 Coventry City 2

Capital One Cup 1st Round (formerly known as The League Cup)

In 1987 Coventry City won the FA Cup beating Tottenham in the FA Cup Final. This was during a run of 34 years in the top division in English football. They were relegated to the 2nd tier in 2001 and into the 3rd tier in 2012. The relegations were only part of the trauma Coventry City fans have had to face. In 2012-13 season  one of the companies connected with the football club went into administration. This relates in particular to debts run up at their then home the Ricoh Arena.

I’m not going to try to explain the background to or the current financial position relating to the ownership of Coventry, but they started the 2013-14 season on minus 10 points and are playing their home games at Northampton’s ground, a 68 mile round trip from Coventry. As a result of this Coventry have allegedly sold a whole 300 season tickets for the season.

They played their first game of the season at Crawley Town and lost 3-2 after coming back from 2-0 down to 2-2 with only minutes left. On a historic note, when Coventry were winning the FA Cup in 1987, Crawley were finishing 13th out of 22 teams in the Southern Premier League.

So tonight they were the visitors at Brisbane Road (know to Barry Hearn as the Match room Stadium). They brought as many fans as they have season ticket holders. This is a good following given the turmoil around the club and the antipathy felt

by the fans for the clubs current owners. The above photo was taken just before kick off, and a few more Coventry fans arrived in the next few minutes.

The Coventry team turned out in a kit of yellow shirts, blue shorts and white socks as seen below.

Whoops sorry, that appears to be the wrong photo, I appear to have mistaken Coventry for Brazil. Its an easy mistake to make as Coventry play football just like that great Brazilian team of 1970 did.

The game started with Coventry playing at a high tempo and pressing all the time. Orient were given little time on the ball and when Coventry had possession they always looked dangerous. This was a little surprising as Orient had won 5-1 away on Saturday and Coventry had lost at Crawley.

It came as no real surprise that Coventry took the lead after 22 minutes with a well taken goal. This seemed to wake Orient up and 4 minutes later they had equalised.

As the half progressed, Coventry started to show their professionalism with a serious of professional foul, pushes, kick etc all of which the referee seemed to either miss or ignore. The linesman on the West Stand side seemed equally unaware of what was happening. To say he was slow was an understatement, he was regularly 10-15 yards behind the play. This is not helpful when trying to make accurate offside decisions.

After about 35 minutes, Orient scored again, and could have easily had a third before half time.

The second half seemed to be greeted by a less energetic Coventry side and Orient started to get more on top. One of the talking points of the 2nd half came with the dismissal of Coventry’s captain Baker for a 2 footed lunge. It was probably the referee’s easiest decision of the night. Initially Baker refused to walk off the pitch and wanted to argue with the referee. When he eventually left the pitch Baker after being spoken to by the 4th official picked up a bottle of water and kicked it up in the air, it landing some 20 yards or so away from him in the middle of the pitch.  Behaviour of a spoilt petulant brat which if it had been done by a spectator would have resulted in arrest and a certain football banning order.

The referee and officials chose simply to ignore this behaviour. I would doubt if they put it in their match report either. Quite appalling behaviour and more reminiscent of the South American style of Argentina at the 1966 World Cup rather than Brazil in 1970.

Down to 10 men, it should have been game over for Coventry, but they continued to fight and kick their way back into the game and got an equaliser.

They very nearly got a most undeserved winner when the linesman on the West Stand side forget he was supposed to keep up with the play and failed to flag for the most blatant offside of the night, allowing the offside Coventry player to run onto a through ball in a move that resulted in Orient’s Cuthbert bringing down Coventry’s Clarke. Rather than give the offside, the referee gave a penalty. Justice was done when the penalty was saved.

Just as the game was seemingly heading to extra time, Kevin Lisbie popped up to score a late winner for Orient. Two wins from 2 games now for Orient, it took more than a month longer last season to win 2 games for Orient. Top of the league (after 1 game) and into the 2nd round of the league cup represents a major success for Orient fans.

Coventry if they can control their petulance will be challenging for a play off place if tonight’s performance is anything to go by. They can catch up the 10 point deduction IF they keep their discipline and do not have to sell any more players. The lack of home gate receipts may however cost them dearly.

So,  watching Coventry was just like watching Brazil? Well, they at times played football at pace and passed the ball well, but they also feigned injury, kicked, pushed and generally fouled their way through a game and when pulled up for it their captain behaved like a petulant thug.

Well it was like watching Brazil if Brazil decided to be a team of cheating, poor sportsmen. Did someone mention Rivaldo at the World Cup?

The Friendly Game?

 

The new football season is (almost) upon us. It is preceded by the ritual of pre season friendlies.

These games are a curious affair. In the past you had local rivals playing each other – e.g. Newcastle and Sunderland playing in a testimonial match for a (former) player. These matches were certainly anything but friendly off the pitch and were often little better on the pitch.

For non league clubs, bizarrely they often provide their biggest game of the season if one of the local professional sides sends down an X1 to play the local non league side. Back in the early / mid 1980s, Newcastle used to send a youth/ reserve side to play Spennymoor United. The Newcastle X1 would be captained by first team player David Barton, only because he was a Spennymoor lad.

For the professional sides, it is often a chance to give fringe and youth team players a competitive run out against a side who want to win to boost local pride. I have been to 3 pre season games so far this summer.

Bishop Stortford v Colchester United 13^th July 2013

You may recall I went to watch Bishop Stortford at the end of last season and they were such a friendly club that I decided to revisit them. In fact, if they were a little closer to my home, I could be persuaded to go more often to watch them.

This game against a local opponent was played on a scorching hot day that was far more conducive to sun bathing than football. Despite this, both sides combined to serve up an entertaining game.

The crowd was disappointingly small, but ~I suspect the fact it was such a lovely day, it was so early in pre season etc all combined to keep the crowd small. There was only a small contingent of Colchester fans who made the trip, but they still probably out numbered the home fans, which included at least one Leyton Orient player.

When you consider that amongst the players lining up for Colchester was Republic of Ireland international Clinton Morrison, then you start to realise how well Bishop Stortford did to hold their visitors to a 2 goal lead (one of which was a penalty0.

As with my last trip to Bishop Stortford, it was a plane spotter’s delight with nearby Stansted airport being very busy on a summer Saturday.

It was another welcome and enjoyable visit to bishop Stortford. They seem to have embodied the best of the old amateur spirit in the modern professional game.

   

Leyton Orient v New York Cosmos 24^th July 2013

A famous name from the 1970s and 1980s provided the opposition to Leyton Orient for their latest pre season friendly.

I as usual went with my friends, Tony & Lisa and took advantage of their carer ticket to gain free admission to the game in return for taking them to/ from the game. It’s a good symbiotic relationship. My other regular Orient companion, Greg was unable to make the game, so we had a spare carer’s ticket. A gentleman in the café we frequent before the game needed a ticket, so I gave him the spare ticket. He insisted on paying for the ticket. I told him we’d got it free, but he insisted on it being paid for. In the end, I said I would take the £10 and donate it to UK COPS as I had done a sponsored bike ride the previous weekend. This met with his approval, but then he insisted on giving me another £5 on top of that towards the cause. God bless you sir, the generosity of the British Public is amazing.

Once again the stewards at Orient showed how good a club it is. They took the time to chat with all the disabled spectators and as usual bring them tea or coffee at half time. Orient truly is the friendly club. I have taken the trouble to write to the CEO Matt Porter to tell him how good the stewards are and asking him to pass on my thanks to them.

The crowd seemed to consist of lots of people wearing retro 1970s style New York Cosmos shirts & t-shirts. The game itself was very enjoyable. The Cosmos are a new team and play in the 2^nd tier of US football. Like most US teams, they are high on skill, but play a version of football that is almost non contact.

I have watched football from schoolboy to MLS level in the USA and the players are generally more skilful than in the UK, but less able to deal with the physical stuff. Orient won 2-1 in an entertaining game. A nice gesture by the Comos team at the end of the game was to applaud the crowd. They will be welcome again back at Brisbane Road.

Leyton Orient v Arsenal 30^th July 2013

Like last week, I went with Tony and Lisa to watch a very fast and youthful Arsenal X1 play against the O’s. Within 8 minutes, Orient, playing in their change kit were 2 up, both simple goals from crosses that Arsenal failed to deal with.

The game was a little like the Cosmos game, with Orient being the stronger side and the visitors being the more skilful side. Arsenal made it 2-2 before goals either side of half time made it 4-2 to Orient, but Arsenal fought back with a very late goal to make it 4-4.

Another enjoyable evening in the East London sunshine and what looks to have the potential to be a good season for the O’s looming with an away game at Carlisle this weekend.

Next week it’s a game against Coventry City in the Capital One (League) Cup. It’s a good job it’s a home game as Coventry City currently do not seem to know where they are playing their home games. They are a club in serious turmoil and serious financial difficulty. It looks as I type this that they will be playing home games, some 30-40 miles from Coventry at Northampton’s Sixfield Stadium. At present time, Coventry are rumoured to have only sold 300 season tickets. A far cry from a club that had over 30 successive seasons in the top flight as I grew up.