Saturday 1st March 2025 ko 19:30

North West Counties League- Premier Division

GLOSSOP NORTH END 0

WEST DIDSBURY & CHORLTON 2 (Banister 60 Bass 81)

Lazenbury penalty saved 17

Att 830

Entry £10

Programme £2

If the North West Counties Hop was going to New Mills then it was close to inevitable that we’d pair them with Glossop North End as the “High Peak Twins.” But with all due respect to New Mills they were never a Football League club…

Famously Glossop were the smallest ever town to have hosted League football having done so between 1898 and 1915, that included a solitary season, 1899-1900, in the top flight. The club were based then at North Road, now used by Glossop Cricket Club. I visited the site in 2008 and you can still see one of the embankments used a hundred years previously. The club were funded by Sir Samuel Hill-Wood, who eventually went on to be chairman of Arsenal.

Glossop moved to Surrey Street in 1955 and played in the Northern Premier League from 2015 to 2023 but I saw them prior to that in August 2008 for an FA Cup tie versus Belper Town (1-2). I have two memories of that game. Firstly the referee booking a player in second half stoppage time for “Annoying me all the way through the game” and the wonderful factory chimney behind the goal.

The ground has changed quite a bit in the last 17 years and sadly the chimney, a relic of Ferro Alloys’ factory and once distributing sulphur dioxide to the masses was demolished in 2016.

I also saw Glossop at Wembley for the 2015 FA Vase Final courtesy rather ironically of the Wessex League where North End were on the receiving end of the Northern League’s dominance of the competition at that time, North Shields won after extra time. Interestingly Arsenal remembered that link to Glossop, and the team prepared prior the game at the Gunners’ London Colney training ground.

But none of that crossed Craig and I’s mind as we parked up outside Surrey Street as the GroundhopUK advance party around 15 minutes ahead of the coach party. It wasn’t that the club were doing anything wrong, it was just getting a crowd of 830 plus complimentaries through two turnstiles plus a gate for advance ticket holders was a challenge, particularly as bag checks were being conducted. The reason for that was to check for illicit alcohol, and I did smile as I remembered West Didsbury & Chorlton’s fans liking for Krombacher. I didn’t see any in the ground so perhaps the ruse worked!?

Nevertheless the coach arrived, and my wife Robyn hestitated after seeing the crowds, and thanks to the stewards for helping the party into the ground quickly, and I was able to get Robyn into a seat without too much difficulty. I must admit I gave up on any notion of getting either food, or to the bar. Don’t take that as being any kind of criticism of the the club, there was simply too many people in too small a footprint to allow it.

I enjoyed seeing the visitors fans, and noone has made better use of the White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” – West Didsbury & Chorlton fits the riff perfectly! And thanks to them for swelling the crowd too, there must have been over 200 of them, and I didn’t even think of completing a lap of the ground.

But if you think this has been a historical piece, then I’d better mention the Glossop manager Richard Brodie. I’m an Oxford United fan and during our stint in the National League every club was well used to whenever they played York City their defences being terrified of him. He was (and is) big, strong and aggressive and scored goals for fun. In fact the real surprise is that he only spent one season at EFL level.

We saw him on the 2022 playing for Padiham and was typically pugnatious but has now hung up his boots. The commitment was still very much in evidence, and the match delegate faced the brunt of his assessment of the officials, game, and just about anything that attracted his ire. He collected a booking for his travails but his team were well beaten on the night.

It was a tough evening to judge. It was clear that huge crowd swamped the catering outlets; I spotted no end of hoppers in the local Tesco afterwards, but equally how could anyone expect to keep queues moving with that crowd and footprint? The way I choose to see it, is that this hop has grown far bigger than anyone could have expected. So we prepare as best as we collectively can, and enjoy our good fortune! On to Sunday…