Search: 'Altrincham'

John Chapman recounts the year Wigan Athletic won promotion via the ballot box

The long-term significance
Before 2004-05, this was the last time Wigan Athletic finished second in their league. Like last season they went up, but on this occasion the champions didn’t. Despite winning their fourth title in six years, Boston United’s ground was failed by the Football League inspectors, just four years after it had hosted Derby County and 11,000 spectators. So Wigan, 12 months after their worst ever season but on the back of a good FA Cup run, got put forward for election to the League. After tying 26 votes all with Southport in the first ballot, they won the second 29-20. They were to be the last side promoted to the league in this way.

Read more…

Dear WSC
I enjoyed Roger Titford’s nostalgic piece about half-time scoreboards (WSC 202). Many people will remember Hud­ders­field Town’s big scorebox at the old Leeds Road ground. It was manned from within and, although it couldn’t boast Fulham-style coloured lights, it was still a complicated business to fathom its information. Scores were displayed in three groups (A, B & C) of eight and unless you watched it constantly, you couldn’t be sure whether the scores shown were from Group A or Group B. I missed many a goal and other dramatic incidents early in second halves through over-attentiveness to my programme to see how (for example) Ply­mouth and Blackburn were getting on. It was usually 0-0.
Stuart Barker, Carlisle

Read more…

 Chris Taylor’s dreams of watching Juan Sebastian Verón turn into an evening comtemplating has-been celebrities, at a typical reserve match

I had not expected to be discussing the members of Take That while stood on the Popular Side terrace at Altrincham’s Moss Lane ground.

Read more…

The Robins have soared to new hights, but their rapid rise looks to be coming to an abrupt end. Cheltenham fan Mark Herron explains what has hampered his club's momentum

Does Cheltenham’s poor start suggest there is a significant gap in standards between the Second and Third Division?
A lot of people are saying the gap is greater than that between the Third and the Conference, but there are other reasons for our poor start, not least the loss of Steve Cotterill, whose part in our rise can never be overestimated. Also, it should be remembered that we went into the Third Division as Con­ference champions, whereas we got into the Second through the play-offs. Neither Plymouth nor Luton, the two best teams in last season’s Third, appear to be struggling.

Read more…

As Roy Keane reflects on an eventful career, Joyce Woolridge questions the representation of United's skipper and the influence of the ghost writer

“Journalists and players have an uneasy relationship… Journalists tend to try and make the player say the things they want him to say. And it is all too easy for them to do this… This shows particularly when they are on the ‘discontented player’ story.”
Eamon Dunphy, Only A Game?

A ghost stalks the pages of Roy Keane’s autobiography: the unquiet spirit of professional Irish malcontent, Eamon Dun­phy. The ghostwriter who transcribes the tapes and knocks the pieces into shape usual­ly leaves some sort of footprint on the text of a footballer’s life, whether a flowery met­aphor or a stock phrase.

Read more…