After the win at Charlton, it seemed like anything was possible, that Notts County could keep the momentum going, get results against the Sheffield sides and secure a play-off position. However, this proved a bridge too far.
On a warm St Patrick’s Day at the lane, a bumper crowd of 12,410, including a sold out Jimmy Sirrel Stand packed with Owls fans, watched the Pies lose 2-1 against a resilient and well-organised Wednesday side, Ryan Lowe and Gary Madine netting the away side’s goals and Lloyd Sam with a late consolation for Notts.
An improvement was expected against the red side of Sheffield the following Tuesday; instead, a first-half horror show saw the Pies concede four against United, and even though Alan Judge and Julian Kelly netted two before the end of the 90 minutes, a fifth was conceded and, to make things worse skipper Neal Bishop, already going through a bad patch of form, was sent off after two yellows.
On a positive, the three consecutive games against the titans of the division were now behind them, and a return of three points may have seemed decent enough. However, this left Notts in eighth place on 56 points, with Carlisle and Stevenage into sixth and seventh spot respectively. Even worse, those two teams had two games in hand – the play-offs were theirs to lose now.
A resurgent Scunthorpe side was the next team to face County at Glanford Park, and despite Notts dominating the match, the Iron defence proved just that, and a 0-0 scoreline was the final result. Two more points dropped – had the wheel come off the wheelbarrow for good?
Keith Curle, alarmed at this drop in form, decided to make some personnel changes. Out went the ineffective Ben Burgess to Cheltenham, in came Dele Adebola, Daniel Bogdanovic and Nicholas Yennaris – the former two seasoned Championship-level veterans, the latter a talented Arsenal youth-teamer.
A good performance against Oldham culminated in another late winner for the Pies, Alan Sheehan getting the all-important goal in the 89th minute, while Leyton Orient were dispatched 3-0, courtesy of goals by Damion Stewart, Jeff Hughes and the ever-improving Sam. Crucially, the seemingly unsurmountable Carlisle dropped points at Wycombe; a last-minute Chairboys goal making it 1-1.
On Easter Bank Holiday, despite looking finished two weeks before, Notts miraculously rose back from the dead and ascended into the play-off positions once again. Carlisle dropped two more points, while Lloyd Sam decided to pay tribute to the injured Jonathan Forte by bagging a hat-trick of his own against Yeovil and sealing a 3-1 win. Sixth place was once again occupied by County.
Brentford were up next, away at Griffin Park. A fairly tricky fixture, Notts finished the game with a valuable point, keeping the Bees at bay in a 0-0 draw while Carlisle lost against Charlton, the Addicks sealing promotion to the Championship after an outstanding season.
As things stand after Matchday 43, it’s not quite advantage Notts, because Carlisle still have a game in hand. However, this will be played on Tuesday against fellow play-off chasers Stevenage, who trounced Yeovil 6-0 away on Saturday. All Pies’ eyes will be on the game this Tuesday evening, hoping the Cumbrians drop even more points and with three games left in the season, the saying “squeaky-bum time” has never been more apt.
However, having done so well to claw our way back into play-off contention twice in one season – when Keith Curle took over County while in 11th and again after dropping to 8th after the Sheffield games – it would be a shame not to finish the job properly! So Come On You Pies!
Written by Giuseppe Labellarte, We Are Going Up’s Notts County blogger
I worked for my previous employer for the best part of 10 years. I’d been through an apprenticeship there, learnt my trade there and was comfortable there. I knew my role inside out, knew everybody and had a lot of friends.
Then the company hired a new manager who tried to shake things up and work “his way” and I didn’t like it. The reason for this wasn’t because I didn’t agree with the new man’s methods; I knew he was right, but it was different. It just wasn’t how I was used to working and the feeling of comfort I’d had for so long had gone.
I knew I could earn more money elsewhere and so decided to leave. My thought process being that if I was going to be made to change, I might as well be made to change for more money in an office nearer to my house.
And so… Gary Smith and Stevenage.
Smith’s arrival at Stevenage has heralded a period of uncertainty and fan division not seen at the club for many a year. It’s difficult to imagine from the outside a Stevenage fan who would have the temerity to feel dejected, but trust me, there are plenty. As with all periods of uncertainty and change, Stevenage has spawned a vociferous element that likes to make their ill-thought-out opinions known, and there is already a growing ‘Smith Out’ brigade among the fanbase.
The recently buoyant terraces are full of misplaced moans and muted boos at final whistles. I even heard one bloke ludicrously suggesting that this summer – the eve of another assault on a league we’re too small for – would be the first in years that Stevenage fans would be “at a low.” Ridiculous, I know.
Don’t get me wrong, Smith hasn’t done much to endear himself to the fans. His two forays into the loan market have been not far short of woeful with Patrick Agyemang seemingly unable to do anything you’d expect from a footballer and Jordan Slew seemingly more bothered about trying to get sent off than actually score goals. But the positive of those two arriving is that at least Smith has recognised quickly what we recognised a long time ago; that the club’s strikers don’t find the net often enough.
He’s also committed the cardinal sin of not applauding the fans after every match – something which I’ve never really understood. If I was getting whinged at and booed after two months in my new job I can’t imagine I’d be queuing up to ‘go for drinks’ on a Friday.
The main problem is that Gary Smith has inherited Graham Westley’s Stevenage squad and is not winning games that people think would have been won under Westley. It would appear that it’s Smith’s fault that his predecessor decided to up sticks with his whole management team in the middle of the season. It left captain, hero and living-legend Mark Roberts at the helm for three matches while chairman Phil Wallace frantically scoured the globe – and I do mean the globe – to find a replacement.
It would appear that it’s Gary Smith’s fault that Stevenage have had injuries to key players and that others were sold before he arrived, which has meant that he’s had to shuffle personnel about into unfamiliar positions.
It would appear that it’s Gary Smith’s fault that he has inherited a collection of players whose achievements have exalted them to the status of Gods. A collection of players who have taken Stevenage from non-league obscurity to League One security. A collection of players who have reduced grown men to tears. A collection of players who simply cannot be bettered and must never be disbanded… Ah.
The truth is, this team needs to be disbanded now. There was always going to come a day when somebody moved on. Truth be told, even if Westley hadn’t moved on, the team was never going to stay together beyond this year and the change in management will have unsettled the entire squad as much as it has the fans.
There’ll be players in the squad that dislike Smith, players that Smith dislikes, players who want to move closer to home and players that have simply had their heads turned by the opportunity of Championship football and associated wages. There will also be players who have no intention of leaving but face a period of uncertainty, knowing that the hugely successful team they’ve been a part of will be no more.
I fully expect four or five players to leave the club in the close season. If rumours are to be believed then one or two have already tied up moves, and good luck to them. They’ve more than earned their stab at a higher level or more money and every single one of them will move with my blessing and my thanks.
However, as sad as I’ll be to no longer see these players in a Stevenage shirt, I do find the thought of a summer revamp quite exciting. The club have coped perfectly well when losing star players in the past and hopefully will do so again. I genuinely believe that, given a transfer window and some funds, Gary Smith has the right contacts to bring in some very good players to this club. If he can keep enough players in the spine of this team and build around them, there’s no reason why we can’t press on again next year.
And let’s not forget, there’s still a chance that pressing on might even be done in the Championship.
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage blogger
I’ll admit it – I never wanted Graham Westley back at Stevenage because I didn’t think he was up to it. Shows what I know!
In fairness to me, however, his first stint at Broadhall Way was, by and large, a pretty awful affair. Dreadful football, dreadful press relations and a dreadful relationship with the fans. I remember a good friend of mine having a cut out of a local newspaper article where Westley had slated the fans pinned to his wall “just so we didn’t forget” he’d done it. I guess it worked.
However, in among the gloom of Westley’s first tenure was a glimmer of light in the shape of the 2005 Conference play-off final, which was lost 1-0 to Carlisle United. But I’d imagine that even Graham himself would admit that the club finished there more by luck than judgement.
On his much maligned return, Westley pledged that he was a changed man and he’s spent the last three years proving that to be the case. Now, two FA Trophy Finals – OK, one was lost – a Conference title, a 3-1 FA Cup battering of Newcastle, a League Two play-off victory and, for now, League One comfort later, I’m genuinely gutted to see him leave.
Could Stevenage have achieved everything they have in the last three years under anybody else? Quite simply, absolutely not.
Westley’s knowledge of non-league football meant that, on his arrival, he could bring in some unearthed gems and assemble them into a well-drilled machine. The likes of Michael Bostwick surely could not have imagined that he’d be nominated as a League One Player of the Month, just three years after being in a relegation fight while at Ebbsfleet. Could Mark Roberts, arguably Westley’s greatest signing, have imagined he’d have had such success in the short time after he was marshalling the back line at Northwich Victoria? I seriously doubt it. But that, in my opinion, is Westley’s greatest talent.
Dragging more out of a player than anyone else thought was there is something which he has done time and again, and it meant that he could find players who would go along with his regime. As a rule, footballers don’t like training from 9-5 and most refuse to do it. Westley, though, has put together a squad at Broadhall Way that, while they might not like it (but how would I know?) know that it’s best for them and know that it works. The players who don’t like it? They don’t play for Westley – it’s as simple and as ruthless as that. His methods may be unorthodox, but they get results and that is why he’s now moving on.
This does pose a worry though. When he returned to Stevenage again, he arrived at a club that allowed him to set up his own regime and he was working for a chairman who knew him well enough to back his every decision. Whether Peter Ridsdale is the type to allow that remains to be seen, but Westley is not stupid and he won’t have taken the job without assurances.
While I’m sad to him go, I don’t blame him for taking his chance. His stock is as high now as it’s probably ever going to be and I think he is totally justified in moving on to Preston North End who are, lets face it, a much bigger club than Stevenage. He’s worked wonders here and a man with his ambition is always going to push for more. If Preston can give him the freedom to run things his way, then our loss will most certainly be their gain.
The success that Graham Westley brought to this club has been a long time coming and it’s been a joy and an honour to be a part of it. All the best Graham, and thanks for the memories.
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage blogger
FA Cup third round day is a key fixture of the post-Christmas football calendar. Held on the first weekend in January, the third round is where the big sides from the top two divisions enter the competition.
In the earlier preliminary rounds, plus the first and second rounds teams from all over the country have fought to get this far, in the hope of securing a money-spinning tie and having a chance of upsetting one of the heavyweights.
League form goes out of the window on third round weekend as teams from the lower leagues take on some of the country’s most decorated sides. This stage of the competition has become famous for throwing up its fair share of shocks down the years, with underdogs upsetting the odds. Here’s ten Football League sides who did just that….
10: Liverpool 1 Reading 2 2010
In January 2010, Championship strugglers Reading forced a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at the Madejski Stadium to earn a replay at Anfield 11 days later – where it was expected the home side would win.
However Reading had other ideas. Despite falling behind when Ryan Bertrand unluckily deflected Steven Gerrard’s cross into his own net a minute into first-half injury time, the Royals held their own against Rafa Benitez’s side. With 91 minutes on the clock, a throw in led to Reading striker Shane Long being fouled in the Liverpool penalty area, winning a dramatic late penalty for the visitors. Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up, sent goalkeeper Cavalieri the wrong way to force extra-time.
Having saved themselves, Reading then took the lead with ten minutes of extra-time remaining. Brynjar Gunnarsson nutmegged Emiliano Insua down the right hand side and sent in a cross which Long met with a glancing header into the far corner in front of the Kop. Liverpool were unable to find an equaliser as Reading held on to win 2-1 as Anfield was left stunned.
9: Manchester United 0 Leeds United 1 2010
When League One Leeds United travelled to Old Trafford to face great rivals and reigning Premier League champions Manchester United in the 2010 third round, a rivalry was rekindled. The tie evoked memories of the beginning of the century when the two were challenging at the top of the Premiership, but was also a reminder of how far Leeds had fallen since.
At the time of this match Leeds were seeking promotion to the Championship, with Jermaine Beckford’s goals keeping them in the hunt. The striker would produce the one crucial moment against United, as his goal in front of the Stretford End gave Leeds a memorable victory and progress into the fourth round. An historic result too as it was the first time United were knocked out at this stage under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson.
8: Burnley 1 Liverpool 0 2005
This game was memorable not only for Burnley’s unexpected win, but the comical own goal which gave them their victory. Liverpool travelled to Turf Moor for this third round tie but failed to put in a meaningful performance, and were punished.
After a first-half in which Burnley were the better side, the Clarets took the lead six minutes after the break when Richard Chaplow rolled a low cross into the Liverpool penalty area from the left, and Reds full-back Djimi Traore thought he was Zinedine Zidane, with disastrous consequences. The defender tried to turn as he controlled the ball, only to complete a dragback on the spin which ended up with the ball rolling into the back of his own net. A ridiculous goal which gifted Burnley a place in the fourth round.
7: Bournemouth 2 Manchester United 0 1984
In January 1984 Manchester United entered the 1983/84 FA Cup third round as holders, having beaten Brighton and Hove Albion in the 1983 final. Their defence of the triphy began with what seemed a straightforward trip to Third Division Bournemouth. The Cherries were near the bottom of the league and United had lost just once on the road that season, with the likes of Bryan Robson, Arnold Muhren and Frank Stapleton in their team. Bournemouth’s manager was Harry Redknapp, three months into his first managerial position.
United failed to offer much during the game and went behind on the hour after goalkeeper Gary Bailey fumbled a cross. Milton Graham was on hand to score and send 16,000 fans at Dean Court into raptures. Four minutes later Ian Thompson added a second goal and sealed a well-deserved 2-0 win for Bournemouth.
6: Sunderland 1 Notts County 2 2010
When former Manchester United team-mates Paul Ince and Steve Bruce went head-to-head in the dugout in January 2010, it was the former who earned the bragging rights, as Ince’s League One strugglers Notts County secured a memorable 2-1 success over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
It was Notts who took the lead five minutes in when Craig Westcarr’s flick was fumbled into his own net by Black Cats goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and despite some efforts at goal in reply, Sunderland could not find a goal and fell further behind with fifteen minutes to go. County striker Lee Hughes saw his first effort saved by Mignolet but tucked in the rebound from an acute angle to make the game more comfortable for the visitors.
Darren Bent pulled a goal back from the penalty spot on 81 minutes, but it was not enough as Notts secured an impressive victory.
5: Everton 0 Oldham Athletic 1 2008
Four years ago Oldham Athletic from League One pulled off one of the shocks of that year’s FA Cup by beating Everton at Goodison Park. Everton were flying-high in the Premier League and Oldham were mid-table in the third tier but it was John Sheridan’s team who prevailed thanks to a stunning 25-yard strike from Gary McDonald seconds before half-time.
Everton pushed for an equaliser, Yakubu hitting the post deep into the second-half, but Oldham’s lead remained comfortable and their strong rearguard display saw them through to the fourth round at the expense of David Moyes’ side.
4: Swindon Town 2 Wigan Athletic 1 2012
Paolo Di Canio’s Swindon Town side gave us one of the shocks of this year’s third round, as they came from behind to beat Premier League Wigan Athletic at the County Ground.
Callum McManaman looked to be setting the visitors on course for victory when he tucked home the rebound after Ben Watson’s penalty kick came back out off the post, but the League Two hosts fought back. Five minutes before the break, Alan Connell glanced a header into the far corner of the net from Matt Ritchie’s right-wing cross to level matters going into half-time.
Swindon continued to hold their own against Roberto Martinez’s Latics and got their reward fifteen minutes from the end. A 25-yard shot from Ritchie deflected off the legs of striker Paul Benson and rolled into the back of the net with Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi stranded. Swindon held on to defeat a side three leagues above them to the joy of the capacity crowd at the final whistle.
3: Stevenage 3 Newcastle United 1 2011
The 2011 third round draw pitted Stevenage against Newcastle United, rekindling memories of the time when the two met at the fourth round in 1998, where a goal from Giuliano Grazioli saw the non-league outfit secure a replay at St. James Park, which the Magpies won 2-1.
In 2011 Stevenage were playing their first season as a Football League club under the management of Graham Westley and were 13th in League Two as Alan Pardew’s Premier League Newcastle visited Broadhall Way. After a goalless first half the underdogs took the lead when Stacy Long’s strike deflected off Mike Williamson and sent Tim Krul the wrong way as it crossed the line. Newcastle fell further behind five minutes later when Michael Bostwick drilled a low shot in off the post to give the hosts a shock 2-0 lead.
Newcastle had midfielder Cheik Tiote sent off for a wild lunge on what would be an uncomfortable night for the visitors and despite Joey Barton’s outstanding 30-yard drive which halved the defecit two minutes into injury time, Stevenage extended their lead and sealed their place in the fourth round three minutes later, as Peter Winn clipped an effort over the advancing Krul after being played in by John Mousinho to send the home fans into raptures.
2: Shrewsbury Town 2 Everton 1 2003
In Jnauary 2003, Shrewsbury Town manager Kevin Ratcliffe, the most successful captain in Everton history, masterminded an FA Cup shock against his former club, knocking them out of the competition with victory at Gay Meadow. Shrewsbury, in the Third Division were 80 places below their opponents in the league standings but took the game to their more illustrious opponents, being denied on several occasions by Toffees goalkeeper Richard Wright.
However two goals from veteran striker Nigel Jemson either side of a Niclas Alexandersson equaliser – the second coming two minutes from time – sent the Shrews fans into delirium and humbled David Moyes’ Everton team which boasted the likes of Wayne Rooney and Tomas Radzinski in their ranks.
1: Wrexham 2 Arsenal 1 1992
At the Racecourse Ground in 1992, basement division Wrexham wrote themselves into FA Cup history with an unforgettable victory over George Graham’s Arsenal side. The Gunners were reigning league champions and expected to brush aside the Welsh outfit, bottom of the fourth division whilst Arsenal were near the top of the first.
Arsenal took the lead through a close-range finish from Alan Smith and looked to be going through, but with ten minutes to go 37-year-old Mickey Thomas, formerly of Manchester United and Chelsea, rolled back the years as he powered a superb 25-yard free kick past David Seaman to level the game.
With the crowd still in raptures after Thomas’ thunderbolt, the minnows from North Wales were not content with a draw as Steve Watkin squeezed an effort under Seaman’s dive to give Wrexham a 2-1 lead late on in the game. That’s how things stayed and at the final whistle, a pitch invasion ensued as the home supporters celebrated the most unlikely of FA Cup victories.
Written by Steven Toplis, We Are Going Up podcast member and blogger
As we are a few days into 2012, there’s no better time to reflect on the previous year in the Football League. 2011 served up some memorable moments, with unexpected promotions, great relegation escapes, controversies and goals aplenty.
A resurgent East Anglian outfit upset the odds to claim their second promotion in two seasons and top flight football returned to South Wales for the first time in nearly 30 years. A Premier League legend turned up in Wiltshire to begin his managerial career while two former England managers were hired and fired in the East Midlands.
Plenty more took place in 2011 and this week Toppo’s Top Ten takes a look back at some of the most memorable events of the past twelve months in the Football League.
10: Stevenage are promoted again
Stevenage were promoted to the Football League for the first time in their history in 2010 and made a decent start to life in League Two, hovering around mid-table for the first six months of the campaign. In January the club were sat in 18th place but went on a remarkable run of form in February and March, winning nine out of eleven games to propel themselves into the play-off spots. They may have come to the attention of many for their ‘timewasting’ tactics and the hard work put in by the team on the training field, but Graham Westley’s side were on the up.
They finished sixth and defeated Accrington Stanley 3-0 in the play-off semi-finals, to set up a meeting with Torquay United at Old Trafford in the final. Stevenage had the better of the first-half and made their dominance count four minutes from the break as John Mousinho rifled in a shot from the edge of the area after a fine run from midfield. The goal would prove to be the decider and Stevenage saw out the match to secure a famous double promotion into League One, emulating Exeter’s back-to-back promotions from the Conference into the third tier in 2008 and 2009.
9: Crystal Palace shock Manchester United
Having struggled at the wrong end of the Championship table early in 2011, Crystal Palace made a much better start to the 2011-12 season under manager Dougie Freedman, challenging for the play-offs and having a good run in the Carling Cup.
In the quarter-finals on November 30 they travelled to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, with the home side considered big favourites, despite Sir Alex Ferguson fielding some fringe players. After a dull first half, the game sparked into life when Palace midfielder Darren Ambrose thumped a brilliant 35-yard strike into the top corner at the Stretford End. United equalised thanks to Federico Macheda’s penalty but they could not find another goal, so the match went into extra-time.
Eight minutes into extra-time Palace won a free-kick which Ambrose swung into the penalty area, Glenn Murray escaped the attentions of his marker and nodded the ball into the back of Ben Amos’ net to restore Palace’s lead. The Londoners came under pressure in the closing stages of the game but defended resolutely to seal a last-four spot for the first time in ten years.
8: That Clarke-Di Canio bust-up
Former Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United striker Paolo Di Canio was appointed manager of Swindon Town in May, not long after the club’s relegation into League Two had been confirmed. The Robins got off to an inconsistent start under the Italian, who was known for his short temper and hot-headed moments as a player. At the end of August we saw this side of Di Canio return as he had a furious bust-up with striker Leon Clarke on the touchline at the County Ground after losing to Southampton in the Carling Cup.
Clarke had an argument with one of the club’s fitness coaches before manager Di Canio stepped in. He asked the striker to leave the field but Clarke refused, Di Canio tugged at his shirt which seemed to wind the striker up more. Eventually the pair headed down the tunnel where the confrontation continued and became more heated with the two having to be pulled apart. Clarke had only joined Swindon from QPR 11 days later, and he was soon heading for the exit – farmed out to Chesterfield on loan.
7: Darren Ferguson returns to Peterborough
In January 2011, fourteen months after leaving the club by mutual consent, Darren Ferguson strolled back into London Road to become Peterborough United boss for a second time. He had just been sacked by Preston North End, who were bottom of the Championship – which was where Ferguson took Peterborough from League Two thanks to successive promotions in 2008 and 2009 during his first stint as manager.
Posh were in the play-off mix when he arrived and he eventually guided them into the end-of-season shootout for a place in the Championship. After overcoming MK Dons in the semi-finals they would face Huddersfield Town at Old Trafford on May 29, where Ferguson began his playing career and where his father Sir Alex, is a club legend. Huddersfield were considered favourites having just been pipped to automatic promotion by Southampton but the game was a tight affair until the late stages.
In the 78th minute Peterborough broke the deadlock when Tommy Rowe headed Grant McCann’s free-kick into the back of the net, before striker Craig Mackail-Smith’s 35th goal of a memorable season made it 2-0. Posh sealed the victory five minutes from the end thanks to a great free-kick from McCann to seal promotion back to the Championship and a remarkable comeback for manager Ferguson.
6: Huddersfield’s unbeaten run
In 2011 Huddersfield Town came close to securing a place in the Championship, being beaten to an automatic promotion spot in League One to Southampton, before losing the play-off final to Peterborough United. Lee Clark’s side were tipped to go one better in the 2011-12 season and pushed for the play-offs again from the start as they carried on a long unbeaten run from the previous season.
After losing in the league to Southampton on December 28th 2010, Huddersfield picked up 24 wins and 18 draws from their next 42 league games to equal Nottingham Forest’s Football League unbeaten streak of 42 matches. In their next game at home to Notts County on the 19th of November, Town would make history as they ran out 2-1 winners thanks to a brace from Jordan Rhodes and make it 43 unbeaten.
In this time they had lost matches in the FA Cup, Carling Cup and most notably, in the League One play-offs, so some felt the record should have been ended much sooner, however it was an impressive feat from the Terriers which came to an end with a 2-0 loss away to leaders Charlton Athletic in their next game.
5: Brighton move to their new home
Fourteen long years after leaving the Goldstone Ground and playing at the Withdean Stadium since 1999, Brighton and Hove Albion finally moved to a new stadium of their own, the impressive Falmer Stadium (named the AMEX Stadium due to sponsorship) which was in construction since 2008.
The move coincided with Gus Poyet’s side winning the League One title last season to be promoted to the Championship and the feel good factor was back amongst the Seagulls and their supporters. Their first competitive match at their new ground was a home league fixture against Doncaster Rovers and it would be a memorable afternoon for the home side. The teams took to the field amid a great atmosphere and the sell-out 20.219 crowd waving flags, but it was Doncaster who threatened to spoil Brighton’s afternoon as they took the lead through Billy Sharp.
Brighton tried to find a goal and finally equalised on 83 minutes as Will Buckley, a summer signing from Watford, hit a shot from the egde of the penalty area after Doncaster had failed to clear a free-kick. Injuries meant there were eight minutes of injury time and in the final minute, Buckley converted an excellent pass from Craig Noone to complete a brilliant turnaround and send the home fans into wild celebration.
4: Fans Reunited
Plymouth Argyle began the season in financial turmoil and had just suffered back-to-back relegations from the Championship into League Two. The club were £13 million in debt and placed in Administration. On the pitch the club’s fortunes continued to slide as the Pilgrims sat bottom of the whole Football League after nine games and manager Peter Reid was sacked.
A ‘fans reunited’ day was organised for Plymouth’s home match against Macclesfield Town on September 24th, led by Brighton and Hove Albion fans, hundreds of well-wishers pledged to descend on Home Park in their own teams’ shirts to support Plymouth’s plight. Albion themselves went through a similar situation in 1997 when they were evicted from the Goldstone Ground, docked points and nearly dropped out of the Football League.
Over 6,000 people attended Plymouth’s match with Macclesfield, with fans from clubs all over the country making the long trip South to be at the game. Argyle’s players responded and ran out 2-0 winners to pick up their first win of a difficult season. Two weeks later a second ‘fans reunited’ day was staged on an International weekend to encourage even more fans to support Plymouth, and the Home Park attendance swelled to over 8,000 as the Pilgrims drew 2-2 with Accrington Stanley.
3: Norwich City reach the Premier League
Norwich City’s rise into the Premier League is remarkable. Defeated 7-1 at Carrow Road by Paul Lambert’s Colchester United on the first day of the League One season in 2009, the club dismissed manager Bryan Gunn and appointed Lambert as the new boss. The Scot galvanised the team as they regained their form and went on to win the League One title later that season, immediately bouncing back into the Championship.
Norwich carried on their winning momentum into the second tier and the club were in and around the play-off spots for most of the season. Thanks to the goals of striker Grant Holt the Canaries were very much in the promotion shake-up and moved into the top two, maintaining consistent form in the process – not losing back-to-back matches all season.
On May 2nd the club went into their penultimate match of the campaign away at Portsmouth needing a win to guarantee promotion. The game was a scrappy affair with neither side fashioning many chances, however in the 50th minute they did find the net. David Fox curled a free-kick into the penalty area and Simeon Jackson met it with a close-range header to give the Canaries a priceless lead.
Norwich held on to secure the win and with it a second consecutive promotion into the Premier League as the players ran towards the travelling supporters to celebrate a remarkable triumph. The club became the first since Manchester City in 2000 to win back-to-back promotions into the top flight.
2: Brendan Rodgers takes Swansea City up
Having narrowly missed out on a Championship play-off place the season before, Swansea City appointed former Watford and Reading boss Brendan Rodgers as manager in the wake of Paolo Sousa’s departure for Leicester City. The Swans developed a reputation for playing attractive, attacking football and this would continue under Rodgers. He moved to bring Scott Sinclair to South Wales for £500,000 from former club Chelsea before the season began and he would be one of the club’s key players throughout the campaign.
After a slow start, Swansea picked up form and were soon in the play-off places, moving into the top two on occasion before falling away to allow Norwich to finish second. They eventually finished third to secure a play-off spot and face Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals. After a goalless first leg at the City Ground, Swansea won the return at the Liberty Stadium 3-1 to reach the Wembley final, where they would face Reading for a place in the Premier League.
On May 30 the two sets of fans descended on Wembley to witness what would be a pulsating encounter. Swansea took control of the first half as two goals from Scott Sinclair and a strike from Stephen Dobbie saw the Swans go into the half-time break 3-0 ahead. Reading looked out of it but they pulled a goal back when Joe Allen deflected a header into his own net four minutes after the restart, and eight minutes later the Royals got another when Matt Mills headed home from a corner to put Brian McDermott’s side right back in the contest.
Swansea had to see out Reading pressure as they pressed for an equaliser, being denied by the post and some last-ditch defending from Garry Monk, before they were awarded a penalty with ten minutes to go when Fabio Borini was brought down in the Reading penalty area. Sinclair stepped up and converted the spot-kick to complete his hat-trick and send Swansea on their way to promotion. At the final whistle they returned to the top flight after a 28 year absence and became the first Welsh team to reach the Premier League – quite a feat considering the club won promotion from League Two six years before.
1: Barnet’s great escape
On the final day of the 2010-11 League Two season Barnet and Lincoln City were locked in a battle to remain in the Football League. Lincoln were two points ahead of the Londoners with a home game against Aldershot, while Barnet faced Port Vale at Underhill. Barnet began the season with Mark Stimson as manager but he left with the club bottom at New Year and they turned to former boss Paul Fairclough as caretaker manager.
However after 15 points from a possible 48 the club were staring the Conference in the face and Fairclough left, with another former manager, Martin Allen returning as Bees’ manager on an eight game deal. He gave the side the lift they needed as they won two and drew one of his first three matches in charge, before he shocked everyone by agreeing to join managerless Notts County, just 19 days after his return to Underhill.
Giuliano Grazioli, a Barnet legend and assistant manager to Allen was placed in charge until the end of the season. After a win, a draw and two defeats from his first four games as boss, Barnet went into the final day of the season needing a victory whilst hoping Lincoln lost. Three minutes into the second half, Izale McLeod scored from the penalty spot to give Barnet the lead, but it would be meaningless unless Lincoln conceded against Aldershot.
Midway through the second-half at Sincil Bank Aldershot themselves won and converted a penalty to take the lead, with the news gradually filtering through at Underhill amid chants of “We are staying up!” from the Bees’ supporters. Fifteen minutes later Aldershot doubled their lead and the Barnet fans began cheering once more. Aldershot made it 3-0 with five minutes left, while at Underhill there were six minutes of injury time which only added to the tension, but Barnet held on to survive in the Football League, climb up to 22nd place in the table and condemn Lincoln to non-league football.
At the final whistle the Bees fans poured onto the pitch to celebrate with the players and coaching staff. Barnet had saved themselves by the skin of their teeth.
Written by Steven Toplis, We Are Going Up podcast member and blogger
Tweet Steven at @steven_toplis with your suggestions for Toppo’s Top Tens
Here we go again then folks, entering the second half of the season with Stevenage on an unbeaten run that surpasses that of Huddersfield Town. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one – but it wasn’t really 40 odd games, was it? (Play-off finals don’t count!)
The current run spans nine matches across League and FA Cup, with seven clean sheets kept and two goals conceded – one in each of the games against Bury and Sheffield United – both of which Stevenage won. They’re making quite a habit of this.
On top of the unbeaten run, the club are also continuing a run of not losing games they score first in, with that little achievement now moving past the 90 game mark, extending back to when the club were in the Conference.
In all seriousness though, results this year have way exceeded all expectations and it’s going to be a tough ask to maintain this until the end of the season. But, as we have seen for the past two years, Stevenage are more than capable of continuing to prove the critics wrong and achieve more than even us fans think is possible.
Since my last article, Stevenage have won five and drawn three; arguably the most impressive result being the defeat of Sheffield United, with Scott Laird’s late penalty winning the game. But even that was on the back of impressive victories in two tricky away matches at Bury and Brentford.
Much to the fans disdain, Stevenage don’t appear to have made many friends in football terms – but then who likes to be beaten by a pub team? However, the club’s fans have been picking up plaudits wherever they go, so I suppose I’ll take that. For now.
The side’s achievements so far seem to be going largely unnoticed, with Player and Manager of the Month nominations overlooking anybody with a Stevenage affiliation. But you just need to look at Stevenage’s league position compared with those of fellow promoted sides Wycombe Wanderers and Chesterfield.
The other teams promoted last season, Bury aside of course, have struggled hugely with the transition to this league but, even after derogatory words about Stevenage from both camps, I doubt there’s a single person related to either club that wouldn’t change places with Stevenage at the moment.
With only three home games before February, the next few weeks are going to be a difficult time for Graham Westley and the team. However, past experience shows that Stevenage should not be discounted from here on in and with the run they are currently enjoying, I certainly wouldn’t bet against the club dragging themselves into the play-off mix.
There are some tough games to come, notably Charlton Athletic and both Sheffield clubs away – all of whom will want to seek revenge for defeats at the Lamex Stadium earlier in the campaign. Who knows, this may all peter out to a mid-table finish, but even that will be six or seven places higher than most fans would have been happy with.
To wrap things up, 2011 has been a fantastic year to be a Stevenage fan and we’re just soaking it all up in case the club do a Dagenham next year! All that remains is for me to wish you – and your club – a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.
Cheers.
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage blogger
Sixteen matches into the season and Stevenage find themselves with almost double the number points than games played, a positive goal difference and a league position that is closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone.
Not bad that – for whipping boys at least.
Without wanting this blog to come across as smug or to deliver it in an “I told you so” tone, I’m feeling smug. And I did bloody well tell you so. Quite how long this smugness will last is anyone’s guess, but the rattling I’m expecting on Saturday won’t do much to rid me of it. Should that rattling occur, of course.
Truth be told, with a bit more luck, more competent refereeing and a bit more composure from the penalty spot, Stevenage would be in the play-off places now and there would not be many with legitimate grounds to argue it.
There’d be plenty who would argue it of course because, obviously, the team are a vile collection of thugs with no technical ability and no right to be in League One because they are newly promoted, don’t have much history and their ground isn’t fourteen times the size of the club’s average attendance*.
All that aside though, the start of this season has been a joy and to find ourselves in the best position of all of last seasons promoted sides is as impressive as it is unexpected.
Stevenage have beaten sides historically they shouldn’t be beating, with the highlight of these being the 1-0 win over Charlton Athletic. It would have been the 5-1 annihilation of Sheffield Wednesday but the “we’ll get our revenge” speech from little Bradley Wright-Phillips made that one so much sweeter. To think, a Charlton player wants to get revenge over Stevenage. You’re smirking too, aren’t you?
Other highlights have included beating Bournemouth away, Brentford away as well as turning Bury over on their own turf after former Stevenage star Efe Sodje claimed in the press all his former employers do is lump the ball forward. The irony of him then spending 90 minutes lumping the ball forward was not lost on those who made the journey. I didn’t go obviously, I’m married.
One away game that I did go to though, thankfully, was Huddersfield.
It was a lovely day. Few beers with the lads, kebab, fish and chips on the way home plus I got to see the worst penalty I’ve ever seen resulting in The Boro losing 2-1. Not the best way to build up to another highlight of the season, but you can find joy in the strangest of places and I found it in Lee Clark.
Watching a man of his standing in the game, who had his team on a 36 game unbeaten run, celebrating like he’d just steered Huddersfield to victory in the FA Cup Final after beating Stevenage, was brilliant.
The look of sheer joy on his face at the final whistle was unbridled, and to then watch him nearly rip Graham Westley’s arm out its socket and have the gall to complain when Dino Maamria refused to have the same treatment made the whole trip worthwhile. Obviously the little lamb blamed the visitors for that episode but even David Blunkett saw that it was an unnecessary confrontation started by him. But to avoid digressing – onto the downsides.
There’s only been one really, and that was short lived. Westley’s side lost four games in a row.
Not a big deal to many, but it’s the kind of run the club hadn’t been on for years, since losing three in a row back in October 2008. It was about due I guess. A run of defeats which started with a missed penalty against Notts County and ended with the aforementioned missed worst-ever-penalty at Huddersfield.
The Notts County defeat had the added downside of watching Lee Hughes scoring and grinning, and we followed that up with defeat in Carlisle then another at home to Scunthorpe in a game which left many wondering how Stevenage hadn’t scored until the 93rd minute. Add to that the fact it was merely a consolation after being 2-0 down and that was a rough afternoon. The defeat in Huddersfield was the fourth and then came the victory against Charlton to set the club on their way again.
The Boro have now won three and drawn one of their last four and are entering that time of the year where, in the past, they’ve maintained superb form until the end of the campaign. That said, in the past they haven’t had to play Sheffield United in their next fixture so no-one is going to be thinking that the team are safe just yet and what’s more, few fans are certainly not expecting a repeat of the last two years.
The goal remains the same: don’t go down. Stevenage are on course to achieve it.
* = It’s 2.5 times bigger but that’s beside the point.
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage blogger
Some of you may be shocked to read this given our reputation, but Stevenage is not an attractive town.
It’s an identikit post-war new town with too much concrete, too many roundabouts and too high a rate of teenage pregnancy. Oh, and a Chicago Rock Café. Despite this though, people flood to fill the new housing developments in the town every year, and why?
Is it because most of them are available through the housing association and are therefore cheap? Probably.
Is it because of the good rail links with London? Possibly.
Is it because they want to cut down the commute to the football club they visit every week? Is it buggery.
Stevenage FC has long been establishing itself as an attractive and modern football club, building success slowly over a number of years which, as we all know, has culminated in a very profitable past two seasons with back-to-back promotions and blah blah blah…
However, they still can’t seem to increase the home attendance above the 2,000 – 2,500 mark it has been at for years.
The success of the last 2 years has helped to highlight the club to a wider audience, but those around the town will know that Stevenage have been an emerging force for some years now and there is some local interest in the club.
In 2007, they won the FA Trophy in front of 53,000 people. Around 30,000 of them were there because of a passing interest in Stevenage Borough FC. Granted, many of that 30,000 saw it as an excuse to be among the first to visit the new Wembley, but they would not have been at the match had Kidderminster Harriers been playing Grays Athletic in the final.
In that match, Stevenage put in one of the greatest Wembley comebacks of all time, winning 3-2 after being 2-0 down at half time. They did so by playing some fantastic attacking football.
Despite this the club’s average attendance hasn’t grown since our days in the Conference. You can guarantee there will be 2,000 home fans every week at The Lamex but to greatly increase that number, there needs to be something pretty special happening; even the chance of revenge over Newcastle United in the FA Cup wasn’t enough to sell out the stadium.
My neighbour recently peered over the fence to ask if he’d need to book tickets for him and his lad for the then upcoming match against Hartlepool. I genuinely thought he was winding me up and was shocked when he told me he thought the ground more or less sold out every week.
So why don’t the people of Stevenage turn out for games and what can we do as a club to entice them in?
Many of you reading this are immediately thinking of adding a witty comment to the bottom suggesting that we could try playing better football, so to save you the job I’ll explain that the style of our play has nothing to do with it.
I’ve admitted openly on here that Stevenage don’t always play fantastic football, but only a few years ago they consistantly did under the stewardship of Mark Stimson. They attacked with pace and flair and played some beautiful one touch football with a team including George Boyd and Steve Morison. But not only did it not get them anywhere; it didn’t significantly boost attendances.
There’s the usual argument that Stevenage is a 30-minute train journey from London and therefore the club are competing for fans with the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and West Ham. It’s a fair argument in some respects, but how many of the football going population of Stevenage realistically travel to watch those teams play weekly? I’d guess fewer than 10% – so what is the other 90% doing?
They’re certainly not visiting the other sights of Stevenage because there aren’t any. Unless you count a trip to UK Discount Warehouse, Primark and QD in the town centre as alluring.
Is it a marketing problem? Possibly, but the club are working hard to address their standing and visibility in the community and are actively trying to encourage people on match days.
For example, the recent home match with Rochdale fell on an international weekend and with League 1 being the highest tier playing, the club put on an initiative that offered all Premiership and Championship season ticket holders entry to the match for £5.
I’ve not seen any word from the club as to its effect, but from my vantage point on the half way line, it had little-to-no impact. In the long run, trying to entice people in to watch Boro’ when they hold a season ticket elsewhere is pretty pointless, but at least it was a nice idea.
Stevenage also offer free entry to all under-11s in the hope that a parent will start bringing them along, but this is a long term plan to raise attendances and in reality the club needs a quick fix which – despite recent successes – I just can’t see coming.
On Tuesday, they play a match that two years ago would have been a fantastic FA Cup draw; Sheffield Wednesday at home. However, this is no FA Cup match. Stevenage are playing them on their own merit and, were I wealthy man, I’d bet every single person reading this a tenner that The Owls don’t beat them and another £10 on top that the attendance is around the 5,000 mark, with 1,400 of them travelling down from Sheffield.
Has someone got any ideas?
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage blogger
“Am I happy supporting a team who play completely rubbish football?”
I’m paraphrasing slightly because my iPod is playing up and so I can’t access his exact quote, but that’s more or less the question I was asked by this podcast’s venerable host in the opening episode 4 weeks ago.
A brief, shocked, intake of breath from the assembled crowd can be faintly heard in the background before my reply … “I wouldn’t say we play completely terrible football”.
After three games of our debut League One season, I’d suggest that I was right.
The opening game was a tight affair against a decent Exeter City side. OK, we set up very defensively, and rightly so in my opinion.
Despite the fact we were at home, we couldn’t afford to go out and get comfortably beaten on the opening day and so we took steps to stop that happening. I’m personally glad that we took that stance against a side that finished inside the top ten last season and played some pretty neat football, with Exeter captain and Stevenage boy Dave Noble the main figurehead in a lot of their moves.
Following that up with a League Cup game at home to Peterborough was as tough a start as we had last year (Macclesfield followed by Portsmouth – both at home) and again, despite going a goal down early on, we gave a good account of ourselves, coming from behind 3 times to eventually be knocked out by a questionable penalty in the last minute of extra time following some George Boyd, let’s say… ‘theatrics’.
A point away at Chesterfield followed with their equaliser coming in the seventh minute of six minutes injury time and resulted in John Sheridan and the associated Chesterfield local press pushing themselves up my personal and wildly scientific “Bitterness League” (it’s actually got a different official title but it just wouldn’t do to repeat it here) after coming out with post-match rubbish like “I knew it wouldn’t be a great spectacle, but that’s the way that they are”.
Now, I’m no football manager, John, and I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but my suggestion would be that if that’s “how we are”, then perhaps you should have set your team up adequately to deal with it. Bit less time moaning, bit more time doing your job, eh?
And then there was Bournemouth, fresh off the back of mauling the not-too-dissimilar-to-Stevenage Dagenham & Redbridge 5-0 in the League Cup. I wasn’t confident.
As is usual though, when I’m not confident, Stevenage pull out the stops and to go there and win 3-1 is something that I wouldn’t imagine many teams will do this season.
So three games in and we’re unbeaten. What odds would we have got on that in the close season?
Many Bournemouth fans are complaining to anyone who will listen about how we kicked them off the park with niggly fouls (ironic really, considering they ended up with 10 men) but the truth of the matter is, and in fairness there are a number of Bournemouth fans who have noted it, they’re just the latest in a long line of clubs that probably should, but definitely couldn’t, deal with us.
Despite this continual whinging from our non-victorious opponents, and it is, oddly, only the non-victorious opponents, I categorically do not accept the view that we are a bad footballing side.
Yes, we have a big centre back pairing who won’t be bullied, but we have a midfield and attack that are, on the whole, good ball players who can dish out some rough stuff if necessary. And anyway, who doesn’t want a pair of giants at the back aside from Arséne Wenger?
What you have to understand is that Stevenage grew up in a tough neighbourhood. If you couldn’t take a bit of a kicking from the likes of Barrow then you came out on the wrong side of a 1-0 or you’d lose to Welling Utd more times I care to remember. (Coincidentally, I’m writing this the day after Grimsby have just lost 5-0 to Braintree). We learnt the hard way after 15 years in the Conference that pretty football doesn’t win you enough points to achieve anything; you need to be able to play neat passing football when you can and be able to battle when you can’t.
I don’t understand why this is viewed as wrong.
Football is a results business and I challenge anybody to find me a football fan who would be happy to see his team get relegated because he could comfort himself with the fact they tried to play pretty one touch football.
So yes, in answer to the original question, I am more than happy supporting a team who play “rubbish football” because I don’t believe we do. I believe we play the type of football needed at a point in time to get a result, and up to now, it’s not done us much harm.
As it stands, I’d rather be a Stevenage fan celebrating back to back promotions and holding our own in League One than be a fan of a team like Chesterfield who ‘play football in the right way’ (whatever that dull platitude actually means) but can’t dispatch of a “non-league team” in their own back yard.
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage FC Blogger
Ask anybody for their predictions of who won’t survive the travails of the coming League One campaign and ninety per cent will offer the same first answer: Stevenage Borough.
Of the remainder, two per cent will be thinking overly pessimistically about their teams’ chances, three per cent will say Yeovil and the rest will be in agreement with the majority. Except they’ll be the ones switched on enough to have got used to our name change; referring to us correctly as just ‘Stevenage’.
What we’re referred to as though, as shown in recent seasons, is not important to us when it comes to achieving the supposedly impossible. The countless nicknames that we at Stevenage are used to (“Chavenage”, “Satanage” and “those cockney wankers” – naturally, being from Hertfordshire) didn’t stop us running away with the Conference title two years ago, nor did they stop us achieving last seasons back to back promotion into League 1.
The new title that we seem to have adopted as we approach our debut season in League 1 though, is that of “whipping boys”. In fact, there was even recently a contributor to one message board trying to come up with a subcategory with even less gravitas than that with which to demean us further.
I suppose this is all well and good really, but we’ve shown in recent seasons that we’ve got the talent, desire and fight to go up against the very best and win through. Yes, we might have a tiny ground and tiny attendances in comparison with some of the traditional big boys we’ll be facing next year, but look where a big stadium and decent attendances have got Bradford, and look at where relatively large crowds took Oxford and Luton.
Being the perceived whippings boys will be fine by us. The thought of a supposed big club turning up at The Lamex with the delusion that we will roll over is exactly what we’ll be looking to take advantage of this season and, to an extent, is what we’re going to need to survive.
That said, we’ve had big clubs come to us time and again over the course of our short lifetime and yes, whilst a good few have comfortably turned us over, there have been plenty that have been sent packing with their tails between legs having not been up to the fight. Isn’t that right, Newcastle?
Of course, there’ll be teams, a lot of teams, that have done their homework and who will dispense with us with relative ease. There’ll be teams who watched us last year and know that, based on our performances over the course of the season, we probably shouldn’t be in League One. Finishing 10 points adrift from the fourth placed team does not a League 1 club make, but as we all know, that’s not how football works and if you are one of those that have been studying, you’ll know that Stevenage know when to turn it on.
Achieving promotion through the play offs wasn’t far off a miracle for a team that was sitting in 18th place as late as January, but Graham Westley has the team well drilled and the players worked their socks off for each other to put together a fine run of form which took us from the mid-table nothing finish that many Stevenage fans would have been delighted with, to genuine play off contenders and then through to Play Off Champions in the course of a joyous few months.
This pressing on in the second half of the season is no coincidence. We did it a year beforehand to cement ourselves comfortably as Conference Champions ahead of Luton and Oxford and I’m sure that we’ll be setting ourselves up to be in a similar position next year.
The players here train ridiculous hours in comparison with other clubs but it’s this work ethic that means that we have enough left in the tank for when it really matters to enable us to push on past others who haven’t quite got the belly for it. Last season this meant the Play-Offs and next year it’ll hopefully mean that we can keep ourselves outside of the relegation zone and avoid the drop back to League 2.
We might not be pretty at times, but pretty doesn’t always get you where you want to be and I doubt we’re going to make many friends next season because of this. However, without wanting to sound all ‘Millwall’, we’ve had long enough of being hated throughout our time in Non-League to not let it bother us. Dare I say it though, if you can look past what at times will be viewed as anti-football and take us for what we are, a small club with a small but loyal and vocal following, then you might even learn to love us.
Written by Mark Hollis, We Are Going Up’s Stevenage FC Blogger
After the win at Charlton, it seemed like anything was possible, that Notts County could keep the momentum going, get results against the Sheffield sides and secure a play-off position. However, this proved a bridge too far.
