A new season and a new plan of grounds to visit, which should see me take in grounds of all stature and design!
First up is a visit to newly promoted AFC Solihull from the Midland League Division 3 who play at the Tudor Grange Sports centre 2 miles from my house in Solihull. The venue doubles us as an athletics stadium and interesting still has the hammer area in the far corner , which might explain the less than perfect pitch!
Today there has been a lot of interest from the hopping fraternity and the club have duly obliged by printing a decent programme at a cost of £1 each . These are sold within minutes of the kick off, as well as a small selection of snacks and drinks all at 50p each.
There is one decent benched stand which could easily cover 200 people , although today’s larger than average crowd of 60 odd is mainly stood in the sunshine.
Thankfully for me after my 22 mile bike ride en-route to the ground the grass bank will suffice.
AFC Solihull are eventually outclassed by league regulars Enville Athletic and I suspect they may struggle this year, overall though a great addition ground wise for the league.
Next up was Glossop North End who recently won there league and had in previous years been in the FA Vase final. This is a club on the up after last years fantastic run and promotion the supporters have have that thirst to keep winning.
Glossop were once in the football league and the town itself was once a vibrant northern mill town situated between Manchester and Sheffield. Some of the scenery as we drove up via Buxton was breathtaking and the roads in parts very steep!
The ground has a neat little bar at the main turnstile end and a small snack bar serving proper steak pies and gravy for £1.60, which were super.
There is a covered terrace on the one side and opposite is the main seated stand which needs some attention, behind the goal is another covered terrace and it’s in here that no less than 3 drummers are situated.
Added to the noise is a trumpeter and an old chap from today’s opponents who has a cow bell , totally bizarre as he continues to entertain the home fans.
The match itself is a decent cup tie and Prescot look set to get through until a goalkeeping hash lets the home team in to go and sneak a late winner much to the relief of the supporters.
It will be interesting to see how Glossop adapt this year on and off the pitch, but with crowds of 400 I can see them moving up another level at some stage.
San Marino is my next ground and indeed brings up my tally to 699, I am retiring at 700!
I missed out last time England played there due to lack of tickets and tonight 3,500 England fans turn up to see a fairly standard victory. The ground is Conference Premier standard although 2 toilets between 1,500 fans is just not acceptable at this level of football.
As ever outside the ground on the two hills that enclose it in are around 400 fans without tickets, who add to the atmosphere by chanting towards the north stand, all very weird!
The food and drinks are very cheap albeit lacking in choice, and the programme was £3 and well produced. Every thing is well organised including the 50 free coaches to ferry the England fans out of San Marino back into Rimini.
One bizarre moment was when two Blackpool fans unveil a banner in protest about their current chairman, there was some support but after 5 minutes tempers become a little frayed and a female supporter finally has words and tells them to sit down and stop blocking the view.
Sadly this was not the arena to try and gain support for a club in real trouble, this was also followed by abuse towards Fabian Delph from a number of Aston Villa fans unhappy with his antics.
A wonderful ground in a lovely warm atmosphere and a step closer to France …..which could mean a few more grounds, assuming I haven’t retired by then.
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