Saturday, 15 August 2015

VENUE #63 OLDHAM ATHLETIC The Sports Direct.Com Park


SKY BET LEAGUE ONE
Oldham Athletic ...1     Fleetwood Town ...0
Saturday 15th August 2015
@The Sports Direct.Com Park
Kick Off 15:00




BRIEF HISTORY
     Formed as Pine Villa in 1895 the club changed it's name and colours four years later, becoming Oldham Athletic and changing from red and white stripes with blue shorts and socks to a more familiar blue and white stripes with white shorts and blue socks.
      The club joined the football league's division two in 1907-08 season replacing Burslem Port Vale
View approaching from Boundary Park Road 
and worked their way up to the first division within three seasons.  In the 1914-15 season Oldham finished second in the table by one point behind Everton, this was the latics highest ever placing in the English football league.  War broke out and football was put on hold for five years and when it returned in the 1919-20 season Oldham found it hard with most of their squad retired or killed in the war and so the latics made a return to division two in 1923.
      Oldham then found themselves fluctuating between divisions two and three until the 1959-60 season when the then new fourth division was formed and the latics were relegated into it finishing in 23rd place and having to apply for re-election to the said league which they passed for the league decided to relegate Gateshead instead who had finished above Oldham.
View from Sheepfoot Lane
     The latics fortunes changed in the 60's and 70's since that close scare of non league football and arrived back in league two in the 1973-74 season under the management of Jimmy Frizzell.  Joe Royle ex Everton and England striker took over in 1982 and after nine years in charge brought Oldham back to the top flight of English football making them a founder member of the Premier league.
     Oldham made two Wembley appearances under Royle losing 1-0 in the 1990 league cup final to Nottingham Forest and drawing 1-1 in the 1994 FA cup Semi finals to Manchester United  United won the replay 4-1 at maine Road which demoralised Oldham who didn't win another game till the end of the season and saw them relegated back into division two (Now the Championship) on the last day.
     Athletic are now in league one which is the English third flight after being relegated in the 1996-97 season under Greame Sharp the ex Everton and Scotland striker, finishing in 15th place last season.

RUN UP TO THE GAME

     As I was travelling down to Exeter last weekend the latics visited my home town Walsall where a
Teams coming onto the pitch
late goal from Jonathan Forte who came off the bench to secure a share of the spoils equalising Ronaine Sawyers 8th minute goal for the Saddlers.  Darren Kelly makes three changes to his main eleven bringing in Connor Brown for Brian Wilson, Danny Philliskirk for Carl Winchester and Dominic Poleon for Rhys Turner up front.
     Fleetwood were at home to Southend to start their campaign this season and came away with the same result as the Latics, McManus putting Town ahead in the 33rd minute with David Worrall equalising from the bench for Southend with just six minutes of normal time remaining.  Graham Alexander has named an unchanged starting eleven for this match.  

THE MATCH


Oldham preparing to shake hands with opponents 
     This was a scrappy encounter for the opening league game of the season at the newly named Sports Direct.Com Park.  Both teams had chances early on in the first half with Fleetwood slightly edging it but their finishing can only be described as abysmal.  Players had nothing to blame for their wayward attempts on goal as the pitch looked immaculate and could be compared with the green baize of a billiards table  The only saving grace of the first half in fact of the whole match was the goal coming after 36 minutes when a long ball was flicked over the Fleetwood defence by Rhys Turner and Danny Philliskirk raced into the Town penalty area to smash home his second goal of the season.
     Lee Croft had a good chance soon after to double his sides advantage but again poor finishing saw
Two teams take part in usual pre match sporting gesture  
him squander it from close range.
     Fleetwood came out early to start the second half but their enthusiasm stopped there as the game carried on in the same vein as the first with neither side looking likely to add to the scoreline and when the referee blew for full time I think that everyone was relieved that it was finally over.  Not a good advert for British football at all and I can only hope that it doesn't get any worse than this on my travels this season.






THE SPORTS DIRECT.COM EXPERIENCE
   
     Wish I had looked deeper into my preparations for this trip as I could have saved some money and some energy cutting out a lot of the walking I had to do.  Mistake number one was taking a taxi from Piccadilly station to Victoria which cost me £8 when I could have taken the tram for £1.20.  I caught the train from Victoria station to Mills Hill which is the nearest train station to the ground but is a two and a half mile walk were as I could have taken the tram again from Picadilly to freehold which is only a twenty minute walk from the ground at a cost of  around £4 return.
     Boundary Park or the Sports Direct.Com Park as it's been renamed is a 10 and a half thousand
New stand still under construction
capacity all seated stadium built in 1906 which is under-going some much needed modernisation with a new stand being built on one side of the pitch, it looks quite impressive with what looks like executive boxes at the back of the blue plastic seating area that leads down to pitch side.  On the other side is the George Hill main stand which is two tiered and covered but only stretches about two thirds of the touch line evenly straddling the half way line with a business suite to the left (looking at the pitch), and some unused terracing at the other end.  There are supporting pillars which can restrict your view pending on where you are sitting, I was lucky and could see most of the main action areas. The seats are most uncomfortable and have very little leg room all are coloured blue in each stand with some white ones to spell out initials or names related to the club.  I had a shock when I visited the toilet on the way out of the ground for it was just one lavatory cubical for use by one person at a time, I'm glad I didn't get involved in the half time rush although there may be other toilets around I didn't move too far away from where I was sitting.
     At the business suite end of the main stand behind the goal is the Zen Office (Chaddy Road end)
Zen Office (Chaddy Road End)
which is an old structure with supporting pillars running across and houses the away support, the stand is covered and has around 16 hundred seats.  The opposite end is the Rochdale Road stand (Verlin Stand), which has been recently built and is a fair sized stand and fully covered.
     No club shop which was a big surprise they used to have one but closed it down, this is the first time I've come across this on my travels and , of course, I couldn't buy my usual souvenir scarf, managed to get a match programme inside the ground.
     I was told by people who had already visited Boundary Park to try the chicken balti pies which I did and must say that it was well worth the visit just for that reason although a mite expensive with one pie and a bottle of diet coke coming to £5.
     My ticket cost me £22 which is about right for league one football but I must say that although the ground is being modernised there are parts that are old and tired and need bringing up to date very soon.  Not the most memorable of trips but another ground ticked off the list and one in Greater Manchester at that.  Very tiring day, no problems getting there or back but could have made life a little easier and less expensive for myself.

                                                                    MATCH DETAILS




      

Saturday, 8 August 2015

VENUE #62 EXETER CITY St. James Park




SKY BET LEAGUE TWO
Exeter City ... 3     Yeovil Town ... 2
Saturday 8th August 2015
@ St. James Park, Exeter
Kick Off 15:00


ORIGIN AND BRIEF HISTORY

     Exeter City were formed from two local teams, Exeter United and St Sidwell's United who played
Thatchers big bank stand from outside ground
each other in 1904 and at the end of the game decided to merge and go under the name of Exeter City.  They played their home games at St. James Park which was Exeter United's ground and City still play there today although it was just an open field back in those days.  To even the merge conditions a little City kept the St. Sidwell colours of green and white that is until 1910 when they changed to the familiar red and white stripes that we know today.
     City played their matches in the East Devon league switching to the Plymouth and district league after just one season where they remained for three seasons.  In 1908 they became members of the Southern league replacing none other than Tottenham Hotspur, they spent twelve years in this division when they where invited by the football league to become founder members of the Third Division.
Site that greets you as you emerge from railway station
     Exeter were to spend 83 years fluctuating between Divisions three and four never reaching the heights of the football leagues second tear and then in 2003 and in their centenary year disaster struck as City finished 23rd in Division four and were relegated to the Conference being the first team to be relegated in the bottom two after the league restructured their rules.
     The following season the club was taken over by the Exeter City Supporters Trust after two of their directors were convicted of fraudulent trading and leaving the club millions of pounds in debt.  The supporters trust managed to keep the club afloat until January 2005 when City were drawn away to Manchester United in the third round of the FA cup and astonishingly they managed a 0-0 draw bringing the Premiership giants back to St. James Park but lost the replay 2-0.  The revenue made from the two games was a great contributor to City clearing their debts by the end of the year.
     Exeter managed to return to the football league beating Cambridge United 1-0 in the 2008 play-off final at Wembley but are still bouncing up and down between the two lower divisions.  They are now in league Two finishing 10th last season.

RUN UP TO THE MATCH

      Exeter City are in a much healthier position at the start of this season than they were last.  City
Exeter warming up before kick off
took out a £100,000 loan from the Professional Footballers Association in June last year which placed them under a transfer embargo until the loan was paid back.  The sale of Matt Grimes to Swansea for a club record of £1.75 million in January has left manager Paul Tisdale with a much happier prospect for the start of 2015/16 season.  Tisdale has bought in Peterborough goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik, Brentford midfielder Manny Oleyeke and Cheltenham's defender Troy Brown without spending any of the clubs windfall from the sale of Grimes and promises that their will be more signings to come.  Leaving St. James's Park are long serving defenders Pat Baldwin and Scott Bennett as well as strikers Graham Cummins and Clinton Morrison.  Midfielder Liam Sercombe also says goodbye to his boyhood club after signing a two year deal with league two rivals Oxford United.
     After gaining promotion to the Sky Bet championship in the 2012/13 season Yeovil have been in
Yeovil preparing for start of the game
free fall finishing bottom of the league in the following two seasons.  Manager Paul Sturrock wielded the sword and releases 12 players from the squad at the end of last season including captain Joe Edwards with another 4 being told they were surplus to requirements.  This has made Sturrock a busy man in closed season trying to rebuild his team, he's so far brought in Matt Dolan from Bradford, Jack Compton from Hartlepool, Marc Laird from Tranmere, Ben Tozer from Northampton, Jordan Gibbons from QPR, Shaun Jeffers from Newport, Omar Sowumni from Ipswich, Ryan Bird from Cambridge, Wes Fogden from Portsmouth, Alex Lacey from Luton, Mark Beck from Carlisle and winger Iffy Allen from Barnet.  In fact only four players remain from the squad of the last game of last season, Nathan Smith, Stephen Arthurworry and the two goalkeepers Chris Wheale and Artur Krysiak.

THE MATCH

     The whole stadium applauded at two set times for the same player who was idolised at both clubs.  On seven minutes everyone clapped in appreciation for Adam Stansfield who tragically died from testicular cancer 5 years ago to the day on Monday 10th August.  He wore the number seven shirt for Yeovil between 2001-04 scoring 14 times in 55 games.  The applause rang out again after nine minutes the number of the shirt he wore for his final 4 years at Exeter city 2006-10 scoring 37 goals in 142 appearances.
   
Grecian the Lion waving to the croud
On the pitch the mood was a little subdued, maybe the occasion got to the players or maybe it was the weather for it had to be at least 26 degrees pitch side.  A voice behind me in the main stand rang out "It's got 0-0 written all over this game and you feared that his prediction would come true for the first half hour as both teams prodded away without much conviction but then on 31 minutes he was proved wrong when Alex Nichols was put through on goal in the Yeovil penalty area only to be held back by Yeovil new signing Connor Roberts.  Nichols despatched the spot kick himself sending Chris Weale in the Yeovil goal the wrong way.
     This seamed to inject some life into Exeter who went for the Yeovil jugular who looked stunned and unable to respond and four minutes before half time their troubles were doubled when David Wheeler beautifully controlled a well weighted ball from David Noble and slipped it passed the on coming Yeovil keeper who clattered the Exeter goal scorer leaving him riving in agony and needing treatment.
     2-0 at half time and most of the fans hadn't even made it back to their seats after the half time
St. James Park end filling up with away support
interval when Yeovil reduced the deficit with a well crafted goal from the kick off which saw Marc Laird turn sharply in the Exeter penalty area to curl the ball past the Grecian keeper.  Seven minutes later and they were level when substitute winger Harry Cornick was brought down in the Exeter penalty area by Christian Ribeiro, the referee awarded the penalty and Matt Dolan (no relation) stepped up to even up the tie.
     It looked as though a draw was inevitable especially when Wheeler's thunderous shot from twenty yards cannoned of Weale's right hand post and away from danger but with six minutes of normal time remaining substitute Will Hoskins chased a ball knocked over the Yeovil defence by Matt Oakley and coming face to face with the Yeovil keeper somehow managed to knock the ball over Chris Weale's head and into the back of the net stealing all three points for the Grecians.  Verdict: a fair result.  

THE ST. JAMES PARK EXPERIENCE

     What a glorious day to pick for a trip to the seaside.  Arriving early at Exeter St. David's I decided to catch the train to Exmouth and take in some sunshine and sea air as well as trying a regular portion of cod, battered chips and mushy peas from the local chippy Krispies and believe me they were well worth trying.
   
Scenic view from esplanade
I took a walk along the Esplanade or Exmouth's version of a promenade with some scenic views and the sun blazing away in an almost cloud free sky with the temperature around the 22 degree mark, I was seriously thinking about sitting outside a pub on the sea front and ditching the idea of the short train journey to St. James Park.  But like a true martyr to the cause I soon come round to my senses and headed for the game.  
     The ground has a capacity of nearly 9,000 of which 3,800 are seated.  On one side is the Grandstand which is the oldest part of the ground, it is all seated and fully covered but it only covers half of the pitch just straddling the half way line which leaves the other side toward the Thatchers Big  Bank end unused by spectators.
     The other side of the ground is the WTS stand (Main Stand) which was built in 2001 and is the newest and smartest part of the stadium, it is also all seated and fully covered and is where I watched the game.
     At the end to the right of the WTS stand as you look at the pitch is the fore-mentioned Thatchers
Cramped conditions outside club shop
Big bank terrace which is fully covered with a capacity of around 4,000 which makes it the largest terrace still in existence in the English football league.  At the opposite end is the St James Road terrace which is small and open and allocated to away support as is the part of the Grandstand that leads onto the terrace.
     My ticket cost me £25 which I think is dear for a league two game, I'm off to Oldham next week who are a league higher than Exeter and the price of the ticket is £3 cheaper.
     The ground is lovely although a little cramped in places especially outside where fans congregate outside the bar with the club shop just across the road and the turnstiles in close proximity.  It was a good turn out for this match just over five and a half thousand, well it was the opening game of the season and both clubs were determined to give a fitting tribute for Adam.
     Although there was a lot of drinking going on the fans intermingled and there was not even a glimmer of any trouble.  Both sets of fans were well behaved and very friendly, a credit to their clubs

                                                                     MATCH DETAILS.