Literally only got one song

#12 - Stevenage - The Lamex Stadium
23rd November 2010 - League Two
Stevenage 1 vs 1 Southend United

Randomly, of all the grounds I had to catch Rich up on, Stevenage was not one of the ones I expected. Fortunately my home town side, Southend United, had a midweek away trip to the Lamex so off I went. 

Having been to see his Arsenal side (or at least an XI side) play against Stevenage in pre-season's past, Stevenage of League Two was one of the more surprising sides I needed to catch Rich up on.

So after ticking off West Ham with my ex's family, and Chelsea with a colleague, it was now the turn of Stevenage with an old mate of mine from college.

James Miller, or just 'Miller' as he's known to most, was the latest person to help me along my way to doing the 92. But this time I asked him to join me rather than the other way around when I saw that Southend were playing Stevenage on a Tuesday night in November.

Miller was a season ticket holder at Roots Hall and is as die-hard a Southend fan as you'll ever find, but away trips for him were a bit trickier. He was, though, well up for the relatively short trip up to Hertfordshire to see a struggling Southend take on Stevenage in League Two.

Miller and I made our way to the ground separately - I drove and he took the train - and after having a nightmare trying to find somewhere to park I eventually met up with Miller in the nearby McDonalds in sight of the ground.

After having a little catch up about life after college we headed over to the ground to join the rest of the Southend fans in the South Stand behind one of the goals.

For me Stevenage was synonymous with non-league football and the FA Cup, thanks mostly for their fourth round tie with Newcastle United back in 1998, but the ground itself didn't have the look of a side so entrenched in non-league history.

The ground was made up of two seated stands and two terraces. The stand we were in was the biggest of the seated areas which always makes me laugh. As the home side surely you'd put your own fans in the best stands, not the away fans?

Anyway, it was a nice little ground and with Stevenage having finally broken into the football league by winning the conference the season before I expected Southend to be in for a tough test against a side who were more than holding their own in League Two.

At the time Southend were languishing near the bottom just a few points off the relegation zone but the Shrimpers started the brighter and it was arguably against the run of play that Stevenage took the lead through Stacey Long midway through the first half.

The one thing I noticed about the Stevenage fans was that they literally only had one song. I don't even think it had any words and it's impossible to describe it in a blog...you'll have to just take my word for it, but it was bloody annoying!

To the right of us was one of the terraces where the majority of home fans camped. In amongst them was a group of young lads who just bounced away and sung the same song, over and over and over again.

For that annoyance alone I took quite a bit of joy out of Southend scoring a late equaliser through Barry Corr which sent Southend home with a point - although the joy was slightly soured when Peter Gilbert was sent off for a bit of a lunge in injury time.

Southend away games would become a fairly common occurrence as Rich and I ticked off the grounds in the lower leagues. Although Miller wouldn't join us for them it was good to see an old friend and get another ground ticked off.

Champions League Chelsea

#11 - Chelsea - Stamford Bridge 
3rd November 2010 - UEFA Champions League
Chelsea 4 vs 1 Spartak Moscow

With word getting out of my attempt to do the 92 I was starting to get offers from supporters I knew of other clubs to go along to games with them. West Ham was the first, next was Chelsea. 

Like most workplaces you get your selection of football fans. Where I work all of the top clubs - with the exception of Arsenal - are represented. 

You have your Manchester United fans, a Liverpool fan, Tottenham Fan and even a Manchester City fan at one point, and we also had a couple of Chelsea fans. One of which - Steve - was at the time a season ticket holder and would go home and away, even in Europe, to see his side. 

So when Steve got wind of my attempt to do the 92 he asked if i'd done Stamford Bridge yet, and when I said no he asked if I fancied joining him for a Champions League group phase tie against Spartak Moscow. 

With the tickets being relatively cheap it was a great opportunity to tick off another Premier League ground and also, being the Champions League, see some decent football. 

So off we went straight from work on the train to south-west London and we got there early enough to have a drink in one of the bars near the ground. 

Steve's a born and bred Chelsea fan - not one of those plastic fans who happened to join the regime around the same time a certain Russian billionaire decided he needed a new toy - so he was telling me all the funny stories he's heard from the stands of people who couldn't seem to remember a thing prior to 2004. 

When we got to the ground I remember thinking the concourse was huge but we didn't hang around as we got to our seats in the West Stand off to the left, near the Matthew Harding stand. 

When I was growing up watching Premier League football I always remember Stamford Bridge as being a bit of a building site as they made improvements to the ground. The stand we were in was the most recently built of the stands and the stadium as a whole was pretty impressive. 

With Chelsea's record in the Champions League I expected this match against the Russian's to be a pretty straight forward affair - all I wanted was some goals, and that's exactly what I got...eventually. 

After a uneventful and, quite frankly, boring first half that even Steve described himself as dull, the second half sparked into life when Nicolas Anelka scored four minutes into the second half. 

Dider Drogba then scored from the penalty spot to all but secure Chelsea's passage into the knockout phases before Branislav Ivanovic made it three. 

Nikita Bazenhov scored a consolation for Spartak late on to make it 3-1, a scoreline that was starting to become all too familiar. 

In four out of the six grounds I had visited as part of my ground hopping, 3-1 was the final score - Leyton Orient 1 vs 3 Charlton, Barnet 1 vs 3 Southend, Ipswich Town 3 vs 1 Northampton, West Ham 3 vs 1 Stoke - and I was starting to think this would be yet another 3-1 to add to the collection. 

But as we were edging our way up the stairs towards the exits, Steve stopped to say "lets see this last attack" which was promptly followed by Ivanovic scoring his second and Chelsea's fourth to make it the highest scoring ground hop thus far and spoil the streak of 3-1's. 

All in all everyone was happy. Steve was happy as his side were safely through into the next round. I was happy because I'd seen plenty of goals and you've got to love that Champions League theme tune, and I'd ticked off another Premier League ground as I tried playing catch up with Rich. 

Seeing as the evening had gone so well for all involved it was almost predictable that the journey home wouldn't be quite so straight forward with trains being delayed or cancelled, resulting in a late return but you can't have it all your own way. 

Going it alone...sort of.

#10 - West Ham United - Upton Park
27th October 2010 - League Cup 4th Round
West Ham United 3 vs 1 Stoke City (AET)

With the whole doing the 92 idea building up a head of steam I had some catching up to do with Rich, starting with Upton Park...with my ex-girlfriend's family.

With Rich being a season ticket holder at Arsenal, travelling home and away, I had a lot of Premier League grounds as well as some in the Championship and lower down to catch up on.

It meant having to ditch Rich and tag along with supporters of other clubs to get grounds ticked off, starting with going to Upton Park with the West Ham supporting family of my ex girlfriend. This was an odd one for me, but I saw an opportunity and I took it.

It had been over a year since my ex Hannah and I broke up, but I was still on fairly good terms with her family at the time and tried to maintain that relationship with them despite my relationship with Hannah hitting the preverbial fan.

So when I mentioned to Hannah's younger brother, Jake, about my ground hopping he asked if I wanted to go along with the rest of the Inwood clan - younger brother Zach, mum Anita and dad Del - to Upton Park for a League Cup tie against Stoke City. I thought...why not?

Going straight from work I met up with the Inwood family on the C2C line from Shoebury to Fenchurch Street and we made our way to the Boleyn Ground for my second ground hop in as many days having been at Portman Road with Rich the night before.

As I said, I had a good relationship with the Inwood family so despite this sounding potentially terribly awkward there was no atmosphere and we made good time, getting to the ground pretty early.

We had a quick nose around the club shop, which included me being forced into having a photo in front of the massive West Ham crest near the exit, before eventually heading into the ground to find our seats.

Anita had booked the tickets a couple of rows form the front, to the right of the dugouts which is apparently where they normal situate themselves at West Ham games. I've never been a big fan of being that close to a pitch but being practically on the half way line the view wasn't so bad.

The ground itself was nothing spectacular and the sparse crowd meant the atmosphere wasn't fantastic either.

This was made worse when Stoke took the lead early on through Kenwyne Jones who scored after just six minutes, and as the game went on it looked like Tony Pulis' side were going to coast into the next round.

But after failing to take their chances, West Ham made them pay and found an equaliser late on when Scott Parker leveled six minutes from time to send the game into an extra half an hour - making sure I got my £10's worth.

My hopes for a penalty shoot out though were dashed thanks to a goal a piece from Manuel da Costa and Victor Obinna that saw the Hammers through safely into round five before we made our way home.

Now Upton Park to Southend doesn't sound that long of a journey, but it is when you decide to walk from West Ham's ground to Barking station which was Del's idea, but no harm in an unexpected work out.

All in all it had been a worthwhile evening and one caught up on Rich with three more to come.

"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy."

#9 - Ipswich Town - Portman Road
26th October 2010 - League Cup 4th Round
Ipswich Town 3 vs 1 Northampton Town

Following on from the bore-draw at Colchester, it was now time for some cup football as we headed to Ipswich to watch the Tractor Boys take on Northampton Town in the League Cup. 

Prior to this match, Rich and I had been down to Brighton's old Withdean Ground and I had been to Barnet for a couple of Johnstone Paint Trophy ties. But as both clubs have since moved to new grounds they're no longer included in the 92.

Anyway, on a miserable October evening the two of us ventured up to Suffolk for this Carling Cup tie.

Miserable definitely summed up the weather because it rained practically the entire night, but after parking up early and taking a few photos of the Sir Bobby Robson statue outside we made our way into Portman Road.

We were, other than the stewards, the first people in the entire ground which meant we were open to some mocking from a steward or two but they were nice enough to take a photo of Rich and I before the game.



As more and more people began to filter into the ground there was on kid in particular who I could only really described as 'bouncy.'

At Leyton Orient we'd been witness to some special characters. This was the same at Brighton as there was a kid there called Ben who had come along on his own and seemed to be a walking encyclopedia of all things Brighton & Hove Albion.

Well, Ipswich had this one kid who, before the two sides had come out for their warm up, was just bouncing up and and down, up and down whilst holding onto the wall in front of the advertising hoardings. God knows why, but bounce, bounce, bounce he went which created some hilarity for us two.

Ipswich had always held a special place in my heart - mainly because United beat them 9-0 many, many years ago, which is still a Premier League record - but they were also located fairly close to family of mine in Bury St Edmunds, so I'd always keep an eye out for them growing up.

So I was quite looking forward to this ground-hop, and, despite the awful weather, Portman Road was a tidy ground.

We found ourselves behind the goal to the left of the dugouts and as the game kicked off the stewards when jovial to jobsworths, telling us quite swiftly that we weren't allowed to take any photos during the game which was a bit of buzz kill.

It was the first time we'd located ourselves behind a goal. I always prefer the sidelines, but it proved a wise choice when Northampton took the lead through a cracker of a strike from Liam Davies in the goal we were behind.

The Cobblers had been struggling at the bottom of League Two at the time and the goal must have come as a bit of shock to the guy operating the scoreboard as he mistakenly put Ipswich 1-0 Northampton, before quickly changing it around.

In the previous round Northampton had beaten Liverpool at Anfield so they were riding the crest of wave and had arguably taken the lead against the run of play. But the lead wasn't to last long as Ipswich equalised ten minutes later through Carlos Edwards.

The Tractor Boys would go into the break with a lead thanks to Damien Delaney, with Tamas Priskin sealing it late on with a header for Roy Keane's side.

Off the back of the bore-fest in Colchester, we made our way back to the car soaked through after this game but having had our faith restored in the whole idea of doing the 92, thanks to the random bouncy kid and a decent cup tie.

"They're gonna score, they're gonna score...they've scored."

#8 - Colchester United - The Weston Homes Community Stadium
27th August 2010 - League One
Colchester United 1 vs 1 Carlisle United

Two weeks on from our trip to Leyton Orient and the company of it's hilarious fans, Rich and I were off on the short trip to Colchester to see more League One action. 

With these two sides sitting first and second in the embryonic table we were hoping for a bit of a ding-dong battle. Yeah...we didn't get that. 

The Weston Homes Community Stadium, to give its full title, was only opened in 2008 with Colchester United having previously played at Layer Road. 

From what I've heard, Layer Road was a bit of a dive, but this was a smart looking new stadium just off the A12 so we shot up there straight after work. But seeing as Colchester isn't that far from where we work we turned up ridiculously early - this would become the norm at later ground-hops. 

With time to kill we bought our tickets, wondered around the outside of the ground, had a nose in the club shop, picked up a programme and actually read some of it - which didn't happen often on ground-hops - before we were finally allowed in. 

We parked ourselves in the West Stand and patiently waited for the game to begin, whilst admiring the handful of Carlisle fans who had made the ridiculous five hour plus journey down to support their team on a Friday night.

The game itself was...well, dull. With the stadium not even half full and with it being a Friday evening there was next to no atmosphere and the football did little to peak the interest of those watching. 

Colchester took the lead when Dave Mooney headed the hosts in front just short of half an hour in, and then little happened after that until injury time. 

With time running out, Carlisle pushed forward for an equaliser and as a bit of a bombardment ensued. 

I remember saying out loud "they're gonna score, they're gonna score, they're gonna score" followed by "they've scored" after Paul Thirlwell scored four minutes into stoppage time to send the hardy Carlisle fans home happy. 

For almost three years this game would be the benchmark for dull. At later ground-hops we would base our opinion on matches and their entertainment value by comparing them to this game. "It's not quite a Colchester - Carlisle" would become a common phrase, until later on. 

It's always been a contentious discussion between Rich and I over whether we would have began doing the 92 if this had been the game we went to first, instead of Leyton Orient. 

Fortunately (or unfortunately if you ask my bank balance) it wasn't, so the quest continued. 

"Fancy going Orient?"

#7 - Leyton Orient - Brisbane Road
13th August 2010 - League One
Leyton Orient 1 vs 3 Charlton Athletic

When I was younger, I remember thinking how cool would it be to own a shirt from all 92 football league clubs. Visiting all of them never really came into my thought process. 

And it still hadn't when Rich asked if I fancied going down to Leyton Orient on a Friday night in August 2010.

It was sold to me on the basis that tickets were £10 and, quite frankly, I had nothing better to do with my Friday night. Sad, I know!

So Rich, Dan Bell (Rich's mate) and I jumped on the train to Orient to watch this early season London derby, and the experience was well worth the £10 based mostly on the people that we saw alone.

Orient's Brisbane Road from the outside looked quite smart, with flats embedded in all four corners of the ground - a must have for any big Leyton Orient fan, especially as certain flats had balconies facing inside of the ground itself for the perfect view.

We were, though, stood outside the fairly new West Stand which was opened about five years previously. In ground hops to come it would become the norm to do a 360 of the stadium before a game, but as we hadn't really broached the subject this didn't happen so we didn't really get a good view of the rest of the ground and it's other less modern stands.

This had been my first experience for a long time of what I would consider to be 'lower league football.' But I've always thought that you have to be a little odd to go week in week out to watch a side from that level, and the people within Brisbane Road only added weight to my theory.

From the drunken woman who stacked it whilst trying to clamber over a row of seats, only to face-plant the floor - to the (probably also drunk) older gentleman with his trolley offering a steward a drink out of his outrageously over-sized mug, the crowd provided a lot of the entertainment.

The football itself didn't quite live up to the general public, but it was a decent early season showing from both sides with Charlton taking a lead midway through the first half through Alan McCormack only for it to be cancelled out early in the second half by Scott McGleish.

But after ex-West Ham player Christian Daily saw red, Charlton turned the screw, winning 3-1 thanks to goals from Scott Wagstaff and a goal deep into injury time from Chris Solly.

The three of us left Brisbane Road having thoroughly enjoyed our evening's entertainment and whilst we sat on the platform waiting for our train, Rich posed the question of going to more football grounds in the future and asked if I fancied going to Colchester United a fortnight later.

With memories of Orient and it's bonkers (arguably more inebriated) fans still very fresh in my memory, I almost immediately said yes hoping for more of the same.

Before the 92...

Like most football fans from the south of the country I support...yes, you've guessed it - Manchester United.

Now I'm not one of those glory hunters who have never even seen the inside of Old Trafford. I have spent thousands of pounds of my own money in accumulating over 50 visits to 'The Theatre of Dreams.'

At one point I was even the very proud owner of a season ticket whilst I was still at university just a short train hop away in Huddersfield.

My reason for supporting Manchester United is simple - it's a stupid story, but it's my story and I'm sticking to it!

When I was six I knew diddly-squat about football. Nothing! Then my best friend at the time, Bradley Steptoe, pointed at one of those free Panini stickers you got in the paper that was stuck to my wardrobe and said "you should support them. They're the best." And so I did.

So since that very tender age I've followed and supported Manchester United and learnt about the beautiful game. Living so close to Southend United's Roots Hall ground has also allowed me to see the other end of the footballing spectrum as The Shrimpers have yo-yoed up and down the divisions.

Roots Hall was where I got my first taste of professional football, and what a game it was. On Saturday the 21st of March 1998 my Sunday League manager took our team to see Southend United vs Bournemouth in what was Division 2 (League 1 nowadays).

I don't remember the particulars of the game like who scored or how they scored or when they scored, all I know is that the match ended 5-3 after being 0-0 at half time. Eight goals scored in an action packed game of football. I was hooked - football then became almost my entire life.

Roots Hall was therefore #1 on the quest to 'do the 92', although I didn't know it yet.

Before my first ever 'ground-hop' I had visited six of the football league's 92 clubs so before I get into the nitty-gritty of my ground hopping adventures, here's what happened at those six grounds before it all kicked off.

#1 - Southend United - Roots Hall
March 21st 1998 - Division Two
Southend United 5 vs 3 Bournemouth
...we've been through this one already. NEXT!

#2 - Manchester United - Old Trafford
October 23rd 2001 - Champions League
Manchester United 3 vs 0 Olympiakos

Going to Old Trafford was, to me anyway, nothing but a pipe-dream. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd get to go and see United - I mean Manchester is so far away...especially when you're 14.

Not to worry, the mother was on the case and she spotted an ad in the local rag offering coach trips to a Champions League game at Old Trafford plus a one night stay in a hotel and tour of the ground the day after.

There were two matches on offer; one against Deportivo La Coruna and one two weeks later against Olympiakos. I instantly said Olympiakos solely based on the fact I thought we might lose to Deportivo (we did, 3-2!) so me, my Mum Anne, Dad Ian and my brother Ben all went up there for what my Mum had sold to me as a 'once in a lifetime opportunity.'

When we got there Jesus the place looked huge. We were sat right at the back of the East Stand which my Dad wasn't best pleased about - he didn't even like football anyway, if anything he hated it, but was there as the family man that he is...hmm.

Anyway, United won comfortably 3-0 and I went back to the hotel one happy 14 year old boy.

#3 Huddersfield Town - The Galpharm
October 20th 2007 - League One
Huddersfield Town 1 vs 1 Oldham Athletic

Six years on from visiting Old Trafford, I've left school, college had been and gone and I was now at University up in that there Yorkshire, Huddersfield.

The majority of Huddersfield is concentrated in their city centre. If you venture outside of that there's lots of fields and hills and more fields and hills. But on the horizon of the main city centre you can see what was then know as the Galpharm Stadium.

Students at the university were able to get tickets to any home Huddersfield Town or Huddersfield Giants rugby league game for £5 from the student union. So a few of us thought whilst we had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon between all the drinking and eating and sleeping and drinking, drinking, drinking, we'd pop down.

The game itself was pretty poor quality but what you'd expect from League One, and the ground is far too big for a League one side but it was a decent day out with the two sides sharing the points.

I'd end up going a few times to watch Town play over the three years at uni, including a Yorkshire derby against Leeds United. Huddersfield won that one 1-0 and what a cracking atmosphere.

#4 - Everton - Goodison Park
January 30th 2008 - Premier League
Everton 0 vs 0 Tottenham Hotspur

A couple of my mates from my first year at uni, Dan Lyne and Dave Hambidge, were huge Spurs fans. Muggings here was one of very few people at Uni who took their car so I taxied people around A LOT, but Dan and Dave said that if I took them to Goodison they'd pay for my ticket. Deal!

What can I say about the game...? Not a lot - it was pretty toilet but the Spurs fans to their credit sung away to their hearts content and although I didn't see a goal at my first ever Premier League game I was happy that I'd gone.

The away end at Goodison is a dive to be fair and (as I'll explain later in this blog) as I didn't see a goal I suppose I've got to go back. I'll probably try the home end next time.

#5 - Manchester City - The City of Manchester Stadium
October 2nd 2008 - Europa League
Manchester City 3 vs 0 Omonia Nicosia

This was a difficult one for me as a United fan, but at the time City had only just got their billions and had just signed Robinho on transfer deadline day. 

They also weren't quite the threat then as they are now to my beloved Reds, and one of my best mates at uni was a City fan so when City were offering cheap tickets for their Europa League group games Danny was desperate for a few of us to go.

Again, I drove but I used the game to help me with some uni work as I'd happened to have been given an assignment of watching a live football match and doing a match report on it earlier in the week.

So I took my pad and pen with me (I looked like a massive twat for the majority of the game - more than I normally do anyway) and scribbled away as City comfortably beat a poor Nicosia side.

I got to see Robinho play up close and personal and remember saying to myself "that guy is worth £34 million"...shame he never really lived up to that price tag at the club. Better than Fernando Torres though.

#6 - Burnley - Turf Moor
January 21st 2009 - League Cup
Burnley 3 vs 2 Tottenham Hotspur (AET)(Agg 4-6)

Another Spurs away game and another one for old muggings here to drive, and what a drive it was. The snow had hit the area pretty hard over the previous few days but was starting to clear, but then I took my low riding Peugeot up a sodding mountain because I missed the turn on my sat-nav, and UP THERE of all places is where it sent me next.

Anyway, after somehow surviving the mountainous terrain we found ourselves at Turf Moor for this Carling Cup Semi Final second leg which for a neutral, like myself and Blackpool fan Nathan who joined us, was a cracker.

Spurs had won the first leg 4-1 so they were pretty much home and hosed. Burnley had other ideas and after having knocked out Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as well as Arsenal at home in the previous rounds Burnley went for it.

The hosts won 3-0 in the 90 minutes and were fully deserving of their winning margin as Spurs were atrocious. The atmosphere was electric, but in extra time the Premier League side's superior quality and fitness told as two late goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermaine Defoe sent Spurs through to the final where they were to face Manchester United (and lose on penalties).

So, that was the before part. 

Between second and third years at Uni I worked at First Data in a job very similar to what I did before I left for uni when I worked for Lloyds TSB. There I met my mate, Richard Serowka, an Arsenal season ticket holder.

After leaving to go back to uni I kept in touch with a lot of the guys and girls I met during my three month stint there and one fateful night in August 2010, having returned from Uni and working back First Data, Richard said "do you fancy going Leyton Orient tonight?" To which I replied with, "yeah, why not?"

And that's where it all began...