Holker Street Newsletter 1555 - 9th June 2005

Further to the piece in the last Newsletter about the odds for the Conference North 2005-06 season, Barrow’s odds have dropped to 25-1.

Former Barrow player, Ian Foster, is considering retiring after being released by Kidderminster Harriers, Ian, a qualified sports therapist, wants to work as a full time physio when he hangs up his boots and will consider that route if no club comes in for him.

Northwich Victoria have been confirmed as playing in the Conference next season, with the news that their ground has been approved by the Conference hierarchy.

Bradford (Park Avenue) have appointed a new manager, Gary Brook, who previously managed Ossett Town is the new man at the helm.

Hucknall Town were beaten on penalties in the FA Trophy Final by Grays Athletic, the game finishes 1-1 after extra time, Grays won the penalty shoot out 6-5.

Alfreton Town have appointed former Notts County boss Gary Mills as their new manager.

At the recent UniBond League meeting, Spennymoor United were finally voted out of the League, and their departure has saved Rossendale from relegation to the NW Counties League. Spennymoor now head for the Northern League. This s from the Northern Echo: “'Revitalised Spennymoor are to rejoin the Northern League after a 15-year absence next month, after Evenwood and The Moors formed a new club. The two groups who have been working to revive Spennymoor have joined forces and a new club, which they hope to call AFC Spennymoor United, will play in the Northern League Second Division. Farsley Celtic have promised supporters they will carry on the fight for justice, at the UniBond meeting, Celtic president John Palmer handed back his 25-year long-service award saying that he considered it was now worthless.


NEIGHBOURS
From Gary Lynch

Surely Lancaster City, if anyone is the most logical pairing for our so-called 'derby' games and not Workington Reds. Lancaster is the historical capital of our native county, you can get there in about an hour and you can enjoy a few scoops in the pubs without looking out-of-place with clean clothes, a mobile phone, decimal currency etc. I think you could do most of the Lancashire / Greater Manchester venues quicker than Reds and without stopping for livestock or to vomit in a field and startling the wildlife. Yes, we have a bit of previous with them and it was proper scary at times in the Football League encounters, but nowadays they exist in a predominant Rugby League culture and if they are in the same League as us - well, we're not doing so great. Naturally, after Carlisle, Reds were flavour of the month on Radio Cumbria towards the end of the season, with Barrow having even less air-time than the mighty Gretna - who I didn't even know were in Cumbria. However, imagine a Nationwide Conference with Barrow, Morecambe, Southport and Carlisle, amazingly pitched together in the 2006-2007 season play-offs - sounds more like it doesn't it? Decent roads and Motorway along the way, like following a proper team in the modern era and back home for tea - that's entertainment! Time for my medication now - goodbye.


FORDE FOCUSES HIS ATTENTIONS ON AFC
From www.barrowafc.com

Danny Forde has committed his future to Barrow by signing a 12-month contract with the option of a further year. Forde, a young midfielder, who joined from Oldham Athletic in February, impressed with a string of fine performances, before missing the last few weeks of the season with a back injury. Lee Turnbull is delighted that the youngster has agreed terms to tie him to the Holker Street outfit.

CREDIT CARD FACILITIES NOW AVAILABLE AT THE SOCCER SHOP
From www.barrowafc.com

Paying for season tickets, merchandise etc just got easier at The Soccer Shop. Supporters are now able to pay for any transaction at The Soccer Shop using the new credit card facility. It is hope this will make payments easier for supporters, particularly those based away from Barrow. One scheme which will hopefully further benefit from the new payment facility is the Supporters Wall. AFC fans have the chance to make their name a permanent part of Holker Street with the ‘Barrow AFC Supporters Wall – Past, Present and Future’. The wall, which will be situated between the Popular Side and the Holker Street end will be a permanent monument to the fans and businesses who support the club. £25 buys you a place in Holker Street history with a two line message of your choice (max 18 characters per line). New born children, departed relatives or even your all-time favourite player can be commemorated by donating a stylishly produced inscribed brick. The wall itself is available for sponsorship and interested parties are asked to contact Jeff Keen at The Soccer Shop on 01229 823061.


FORMER BLUEBIRDS` NUMBER TWO JOINS GOOLE
From www.gooleafc.co.uk

Goole AFC have agreed terms with the former Leeds United, Rochdale, Hull City and Doncaster Rovers midfielder Lee Warren as they prepare for life in the UniBond League next season. Warren, 36, who lives at nearby Welton, has left Nationwide North side Barrow as player-assistant-manager recently after falling out of favour with boss Lee Turnbull at Holker Street. His experience will be a key asset as the Vikings strive to continue the momentum gained from winning the Northern Counties East League Premier Division title, and his versatility in either defence or midfield will give manager Paul Marshall options in either area of the field. Warren was part of the same Leeds United junior side as David Batty and Gary Speed, and was also signed twice by the former United star Eddie Gray when he was manager at Rochdale, and at Hull.


FA TROPHY FORMAT CHANGED
From www.barrowafc.com

The Football Association have announced that the format of the FA Trophy will revert to the original format of a qualifying competition and a competition proper. For 2005-06 there will be three Qualifying Rounds, with Barrow and their fellow Nationwide North and South clubs entering at the Third Qualifying Round stage on Saturday November 26. The Conference clubs are exempt to the First Round. The Isthmian, Northern and Southern Premier start at the First Qualifying Round stage. Dates together with prize monies are listed below:

First Qualifying Round (£1300) Saturday October 15
Second Quailing Round (£2000) Saturday November 12
Third Quailing Round (£3000) Saturday November 26
First Round (£4000) Saturday December 17
Second Round (£5000) Saturday January 14
Third Round (£6000) Saturday February 4
Fourth Round (£7000) Saturday February 25
Semi-Final (i) Saturday March 18
Semi-Final (ii)(£16000) Saturday March 25
Final (£50000) Sunday May 14 or Saturday May 20


LANCASHIRE LEAGUE TABLE, DIVISION ONE
According to this, there is one outstanding game, between Southport Reserves and their counterparts from Workington, but I’m unsure if this will be played.

P W D L F A P
Morecambe Reserves 30 24 2 4 108 39 74
Southport Reserves 30 20 2 8 81 51 62
Vauxhall Motors A 29 19 4 6 81 37 61
Marine Reserve 30 14 6 10 64 34 48
Bamber Bridge Reserves 30 14 4 12 56 47 46
Burscough Reserves 30 14 3 13 51 49 45
Accrington Stan Reserves 30 13 6 11 53 54 45
Leigh RMI Reserves 30 12 6 12 46 41 42
BARROW RESERVES 30 12 5 13 61 58 41
Altrincham Reserves 30 10 8 12 44 53 38
Lancaster City Reserves 30 11 3 16 54 63 36
Northwich Vic Reserves 30 9 9 12 45 61 36
Guiseley Reserves 30 9 7 14 37 63 34
Bradford (Park Avenue) Reserves 30 9 2 19 44 87 29
Chorley Reserves 30 7 6 17 49 75 27
Workington Reserves 29 4 3 22 43 105 15

BARROW RESERVES - IMPROVEMENT OVER THREE YEARS UNDER DAVE STAUNTON AND TONY MACMILLAN
From Stuart Klosinski

Over the last three years, under the tutelage of Dave and Tony, Barrow Reserves have shown continuous improvement.

2004-5 2003-4 2002-3 2001-2
Games played 30 32 28 32
Games won 12 11 8 8
Games drawn 5 6 7 2
Games lost 13 15 13 22
Goals scored 61 61 53 64
Goals conceded 58 67 83 98
Points 41 39 31 26
League position 9 12 11 14
Unbeaten 17 17 15 10

P W/D/L F/A P
Staunton’s managerial record 90 31/18/41 175/208 111


REVIEW OF FOOTBALL GROUNDS OF LONDON
From The Times, 24 May

While the Hillsborough tragedy and the Taylor report meant Britain's dilapidated senior football grounds had to modernise or face the wrecking ball, grassroots grounds - home to the country's once-thriving amateur scene - were largely unaffected. Terracing, wooden stands, floodlight pylons and a myriad idiosyncrasies remained. At their best these grounds are ad-hoc assemblages of corrugated iron, wind-blown timberwork, railway sleepers and reinforced concrete, held together by irregular coats of paint in the club colours, and the look and atmosphere is similarly concocted on a wing and a prayer by enthusiasts.

Hendon FC's Claremont Road ground in northwest London is a classic example. On three sides there is a twelve-step concrete terrace, and on the fourth is the wooden grandstand, built when the club moved here in 1926, with glass screen ends for future expansion that hasn't yet proved necessary. About the only thing that has happened to the stand since is the addition of plastic seats, late of Watford FC's Vicarage Road, in 1993. On the opposite side is a long covered terrace which had Golders Green FC - the club's earlier name - painted on the roof until the Second World War, when it was removed to avoid being a landmark for enemy bombers. The turnstiles and changing rooms are 1920s brick sheds, with the dark green paintwork that all light industrial buildings of a certain age seem to feature. London used to be ringed by amateur football grounds such as Claremont Road, but their numbers have shrunk dramatically in the past 20 years as property developers have pounced. Those most deeply mourned were at Enfield, Tooting and Mitcham United, Walthamstow Avenue, and Dulwich Hamlet's Champion Hill ground, which could hold 20,000.

Alex White and Bob Lilliman's Football Grounds of London - with Wembley tellingly featured on its cover - acts as both celebration and tribute to a vanishing world. East London has fared particularly badly, with clubs such as Walthamstow Avenue and Leytonstone disappearing with their grounds. The latter's Granleigh Road was a fabulous piece of wasteland reclamation, located on a tiny site next to Leytonstone High Road station. One side of the ground was a viaduct and, while the ground once held 9700 for a 1949 FA Cup tie, a stand behind one goal had a scarcely believable capacity of six. But all is not gloom. Nearby Finchley's Summers Lane ground was saved 15 years ago, when the wealthier Wingate FC amalgamated with it, saving a glorious two-sided 1930s grandstand with a rounded-roof fascia that also serves a neighbouring rugby club. The original Wingate ground - where the England team practised before the 1966 World Cup Final - is now buried under the M1. Kerry Miller, author of The History of Non-League Football Grounds, notes that "grounds in out-of-the-way places tend to survive. In East Anglia, the North East, and especially the South West the clubs tend to play local football because they can't afford the travel expenses that come with promotion", so there is never a need to expand, rebuild or relocate. Gems in the South West include Nanpean Rovers, carved out of a clay quarry in 1936, the banks cris-crossed with footpaths and a war-memorial pavilion doubling up as the main stand.

Co Durham was once amateur football's heartland, but the problem for clubs here is that the collieries and crowds have gone, leaving grand grounds in pit villages such as Crook, Willington and Horden hosting crowds that rarely make three figures. "Clubs can't afford the cost of keeping up these stands," says White, the vast pagoda-shaped example at tiny Shildon FC proving the point. Kingsway in Bishop Auckland is an eccentric three-sided ground with an elevated main stand built in 1919, a wild mass of white railing with an odd pair of winged smaller stands on either side. Bureaucrats from the Northern Premier League deemed the historic ground unsuitable four years ago - the ten-times Amateur Cup winners are currently homeless, while Kingsway is used for cricket and junior football. Wolverton Park in Milton Keynes, similarly underused, is the former home of Wolverton Town FC. Hundreds pass it every day - it is hemmed in by the West Coast Main Line and a vast brick engineering shed, part of the former Whitsun Railway Works. The wooden main stand dates from roughly 1895 and is the oldest in the country. English Heritage has it in its sights.

Back at Hendon the Claremont Road ground, complete with its lease, is reckoned to be worth £10 million to the club's directors and Barnet council. An 80-year-old football ground with a barrel load of charm and history can hardly compete. White thinks "it will be a great loss to London football". "Life moves on," says Hendon director and former 10,000m world record holder David Bedford. "So must we."

Football Grounds of London by Alex White and Bob Lilliman is published by Tempus


OF INTEREST?
For those of us with an industrial bent, the Millom Hematite Iron works, has a website dedicated to its history at www.banklands.com/millom.htm


WHITBY’S GROUND WORK GETS UNDERWAY
From www.whitbytownfc.co.uk

Preparation work for UniBond League Premier Division club Whitby Town's new £350,000 complex got under way last week. The development, which is needed to bring club facilities up to Conference standards, will comprise a 505-seater stand, disabled toilets and a first aid room for the public. It is expected the work will be complete by the end of September although the Blues have made a request to the UniBond League that there should be no evening home games before that time. Chairman Graham Manser said the middle two floodlight pylons on the western side of the Turnbull Ground were being taken out so workmen can start digging out the site. Concrete foundations will be laid ready for stanchions to be put up. Plinths will be laid in ready for the seats to be installed before the internal works and plumbing is sorted out. After that phase of work is done, the next stage is to knock down the boardroom to create a female referee's room and a first aid room for the players. This is another requirement of the Nationwide North. Manser said the final, longer-term phase of work to bring the club up to national Conference standards, is to put in more floodlights and turnstiles. He said the development was being built with promotion to the Nationwide North very much in mind. "We are not building a Conference stand to be playing UniBond League football," he said.


LOOK BACK AT SEASON 1982-83
From Terry Kendall.

March 1 1983, Harrow Borough 1 Barrow 1, FA Trophy, Third Round Replay
Harrow: Currell, Metz, Forde, Garrini, Howell, Knight, Emmanuel, Duck, Pearce, Doyle, Manoe. Sub: Knowles
Barrow: Thomas, Large, Knowles, Brooks, Gordon, Taylor, Jackson, Keen, Cowperthwaite, Rogers, Gamble. Sub: Smith (Used)
Goals: Steve Brooks 16, George Duck 48
Ref: B. Daniels (Brentwood). H/t: 0-1. Att: 621.