On Saturday, I made the trip north to the FA Cup. First round tie between Fleetwood Town and Burton Albion. I do not support either of these teams and had little interest in who won the game. The reason for making the trip was to complete the 92 Premiership and Football League grounds again.
It has been a number of years since I had last completed all the 92 clubs. At the start of this season. I had five grounds to visit. Harrogate Town and Barrow came into the Football League last season and owing to Covid I never got the chance to visit them. AFC Wimbledon and Brentford had both moved Newgrounds last season and again owned COVID. I had not been to their new grounds but had been to their previous grounds. I visited all those four grounds earlier this season.
That left me with Fleetwood to do. They have been in the Football League for a number of years, but I have never managed to get to their ground. I tried to go several times in the past , but Northern Rail were having weekend strikes and it would have meant I may well have been stranded in Blackpool. Unable to get depressed and for my train home. Then COVID intervened. I was determined this time I was going to complete that ground.
When the draw for the FA Cup first round was made and Fleetwood were drawn at home to Burton Albion, that seemed an ideal opportunity to visit Fleetwood. I initially had to withhold from booking train tickets until the TV companies had decided which games they were going to show and whether this game was going to go ahead or not. When eventually. It became clear that this would be a Saturday 3:00 PM. Trip I booked my train tickets to Fleetwood. To get the cheapest available route. I had to go up. From London Euston to Liverpool. Then get a train from Liverpool to Blackpool and coming back. I had to travel from Blackpool to Preston and then take a train from Preston to Euston. The observant among you will have noticed, I said about train journeys to and from Blackpool. The reason for this is that there is not a train station in Fleetwood and has not been for many many years now. It was necessary to walk from Blackpool North train station to the sea front and take a tram from there. 2 Fleetwood. It actually turned out to be the best way of travelling. I could have taken the bus from Blackpool to Fleetwood, but as the Illuminations were on the bus on the way home would likely have got delayed in the Illumination traffic.
It was an early start for me to get to Fleetwood. I was on a train at three minutes past seven from London Euston. It was interesting to see how quiet. In terms of football funds, London Euston was to how it used to be in the past when I started travelling regularly to football matches. In the 80s there would always be mobs of football fans hanging around the station. There were none this weekend, partly because. There were not that many premiership games on, but even the lower level clubs. There were very few fans there.
The train journey itself up to Liverpool was rather uneventful, apart from as we arrived in Liverpool we went through but did not stop at Edge Hill station. That is a station about. Football fans will remember from years gone by. It was always the station about the football special trains. Stop that when you are playing at Liverpool or Everton. Also, sometimes the police will put buses on for away fans from Liverpool or Everton and make the normal service train stop specifically at Edge Hill to put you on the train and keep you away from the town centre.
Arriving in Liverpool Lime Street, it was like used remarkably quiet and the edge there used to be on football days was no longer there. The station has been modernised and. The biggest threat to your pocket this time was the prices in the coffee shops rather than the local population.
A quick change of train at. Lime Street and I was on my way to Blackpool. This journey was operated by Northern Trains. Fortunately it was one of the new Northern trains rather than their old decrepit trains. Paragraph we arrived into Blackpool on time and I made my way from the station down to the sea front too. Get the tram to Fleetwood. It is the first time I have been in Blackpool for several years. Blackpool has certainly suffered a decline in that time, will stop. It is looking very run down and very shabby. The one exception to this was the tram we got from. Blackpool to Fleetwood. This is a modern tram and much more comfortable than the old fashioned trams I remember.
Arriving in Fleetwood. I was early and decided I would head to the local Wetherspoons pub for a pint and something to eat. Walking from the tram to the pub. Along the High Street it was very noticeable how many shops had closed down and were shuttered. There appeared to be no big name shops in the High Street. Indeed at one point. 3. Successive shops were a cash converter type shop, a 1 pound bakery and a Bernardo’s charity shop. That sums up the level of shops in Fleetwood. However, it is probably fair to say that the majority of the shop premises were closed.
I went into the Wetherspoons pub and. Was pleasantly surprised at the prices. A pint of real ale for 99 pence is not to be sniffed at. I cannot remember the last time I was paying less than a pound for a pint of beer. I said that I had intended to have a drink and something to eat. At those prices, it would have been rude of me not to have several drinks before the game. I took advantage of the hospitality.
Eventually I had to drag myself out of the pub and force myself to go to the game. If it hadn’t been a new ground and my. 92nd ground, I could have been tempted to spend all afternoon sat drinking in the pub. I. Instead made my way. Along the deserted High Street towards the ground.
The ticket I had was an electronic ticket and it didn’t actually tell you where the turnstiles were to go into the ground. The stewards did not seem to know where the turnstiles were for the stand I was in. That is never a good sign.
I did eventually find where the turn start were an went into the ground. You will see the various photos of the ground. It is a modern looking ground now with covered standing at both ends of the ground and a big main stand down one side and. I seated stand of only six rows. Covering about 2/3 of one side stop. That was the stand I was in. It is called the hurry. Step by band are. The odd thing about this stand is that immediately behind it is the old main stand. As you can see from the photo stop. It is not clear. Why they built the new stand immediately in front of the old stone and. Why it has not been demolished. There is a suggestion that the old stand was left there in case Fleetwood wanted to redevelop that area in the future. They would be able to say that they were demolishing a structure and replacing it rather than wanting to build something. on land currently has no building on it.
The game itself was a game between 2 mid table League One sides who were relatively evenly matched. The game ended with Burton winning 2-1. It was actually an enjoyable, hard fought cup tie. However, 20 minutes or so of the second half was played in some of the worst conditions I have seen in a long time. Very heavy rain and strong winds. It was actually. quite funny at the end of the game over the pa system they played the Travis song “Why Does It Always Rain On Me”. That about summed up the afternoons weather.
I made a sharp exit from the ground at the end of the game and got the first tram from Fleetwood into Blackpool. This gave me time to get something to eat, found a few beers for the train. It actually cost me more per can in Sainsbury’s then I was paying per pint in the Wetherspoons pub will stop. I did however, get sorted and onto the train from Blackpool to Preston, where I had to change for the train back to London.
I did even manage to sneak a peek at the Illuminations. The real highlights of the day
We arrived in Preston on time, only to hear an announcement over the PA system that the London train had been cancelled with no further information provided. No help was available for passengers as to how to continue their journey. All the Avanti West Coast staff seemed to have disappeared. The Travel Centre was closed and There were around 200 or so passengers trying to head back for London on that cancelled train. A lot of them were Horsham Town FC supporters who had been to see their team in the FA Cup at Carlisle that day.
No, thanks to Avanti West Coast. I worked out the quickest way back to London. Involving a couple of changes of train and arriving home an hour and a half later than expected. It is good to see, that despite privatisation the railway still do not run a service for the benefit of the customers. The only positive is I will get a full refund of my return portion of my train ticket.
I have now completed the 92. Ground and have completed nine out of the top 11 grounds in the National League., so hopefully. I will not have to do many grounds if any next season try. Membership of the two group. Paragraph. I suppose now I will have to find another obsession and another excuse to go to varying football grounds. I have completed 17 out of the 23 National League grounds, so I suppose I should look at trying to do the remainder of those in the near future.
Bobby Shaftoe's Gone to Sea 
Brilliant write up
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