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Football: Wherever it may be

~ Laurence's football travels

Football: Wherever it may be

Tag Archives: Wembley Stadium

Dreams

13 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by laurencereade in A, C, W

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal, Chelsea, Diego Costa, FA Cup Final, stadium, Victor Moses, Wembley, Wembley Stadium

Saturday 27th May 2017 ko 17.30

FA Cup Final

ARSENAL 2 (Sanchez 5 Ramsey 79)

CHELSEA 1 (Costa 77) Moses sent off 69 (2nd booking)

Att 89,472 at Wembley Stadium

Entry £45

Programme £10

I’m old enough to remember the FA Cup when it took over all of the television on whatever Saturday it fell. You could watch “Cup Final Multi-Coloured Swap Shop” if you so desired, such was the importance attached to the final game of the season. Then after lunch I’d sit with Dad and watch the game, preceeded by the marching band, and the singing of “Abide with me,” and it goes without saying that from the moment I first set eyes on the spectacle I wanted to go to a final. There were a few problems with my idea though….

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My Wembley

10 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by laurencereade in O

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Barnsley, Football League, Football League Trophy, JPT, JPT Trophy, League 1, League 2, oxford united., Wembley, Wembley Stadium

Sunday 3rd April 2016 ko 14.30

Football League Trophy Final

BARNSLEY 3 (Dunkley 50og Fletcher 68 Hammill 74)

OXFORD UNITED 2 (O’Dowda 29 Hylton 76)

Att 59,230 @ Wembley Stadium

Entry £60

Programme £5

Tea £2

I’m fortunate in that I get to visit Wembley reasonably frequently. It fulfills both sides of my divergent footballing personality. On one hand I’m a traditionalist, for me Wembley is English football’s spiritual home, so when the stadium was rebuilt in situ it was the correct decision. I admit it may well have been entirely logical to build the national stadium in Birmingham, but….. Wembley, is… home isn’t it? Continue reading →

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Gas Panic

21 Thursday May 2015

Posted by laurencereade in B, G

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bristol Rovers, Conference, Conference Premier, Football, Football League, Grimsby Town, groundhopping, John-Lewis, Playoff final, Wembley Stadium

Sunday 17th May 2015 ko 14.00

Conference Promotion Final

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 (Harrison 30)

GRIMSBY TOWN 1 (John-Lewis 2)

AET Bristol Rovers won 5-3 on penalties

Att 47,0229 at Wembley Stadium

Entry £10 (Member clubs’ allocation- “Neutral Zone”)

Programme £5

Now I know the Conference Premier is pretty much League 3 these days. I know it’s almost entirely full-time and I know there are many former Football League clubs in its ranks. The vital word here is “Former” though, and take it from me, a fan of a club that did lose its place in the League, it hurts a lot it when you get relegated. You get used to the comments like “How on earth did you end up there?” and every time you go to a game you cheer your club on straining every mental sinew to get back to whence you came. There’s nothing wrong with the Conference, but believe me the fans of at least half of the clubs in its top flight hate being there.

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But It Was Gone

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by laurencereade in G, M

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

FA Vase, Glossop North End, North Shields, North West Counties League, Northern League, Wembley, Wembley Stadium

Saturday 9th May 2015 ko 15.00

FA Vase Final

GLOSSOP NORTH END 1 (Bailey 55)

NORTH SHIELDS 2 (Bainbridge 80 Forster 96)

After Extra Time

Att 9,674 at Wembley Stadium

Entry- Complimentary (Many thanks to the Wessex League)

Programme £4

I do enjoy my annual trip to the Vase final, even though on this occasion I found myself photographing the same people I did a few years ago! There’s something touching about the trip to the hospitality seats and seeing all those officials from Step 5 leagues. These people aren’t the career administrators from the higher echelons, these are the people who do it for the love of it, and I do wonder whether when the event will switch to a joint Trophy and Vase day that flavour will be lost in a sea of professionalism? Continue reading →

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Ticking almost every box

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by laurencereade in M

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

England, International, Milton Keynes, MK Dons, MK Dons FC, StadiumMK, United States, USA, Wembley Stadium, Women, Women's International Friendly ENGLAND

Friday 13th February 2015 ko 20.06

Women’s International Friendly

ENGLAND 0

UNITED STATES 1 (Morgan 25)

Att 14,369 at StadiumMK, Bletchley (MK Dons FC)

Entry- Comp’

Programme £3

The groundhopping purist tends to have a long list of what they won’t go to see. Amongst that list is friendlies, women’s fixtures, games at a stadium that aren’t the home club’s home fixture, and of course there’s always the vexed question of the MK Dons. There’s few who would try to defend the uprooting of the old Wimbledon to Buckinghamshire, but the club that built StadiumMK is certainly flourishing, and the stadium is by anyone’s standards a fantastic edifice, designed as it is by HOK, who also were behind Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Nevertheless, there are still plenty who would fall into the “Never forgive, never forget,” camp so short of there being no programme, the teams being reserves, and the game finishing goalless this was a close as you can get to the ultimate “Irk the purist” game!

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Another Octave

24 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by laurencereade in E

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Club Wembley, England, Germany, International, ladies, Wembley, Wembley Stadium, Women, women's football

Sunday 23rd November 2014 ko 15.00

Women’s International Friendly

ENGLAND 0

GERMANY 3 (A Scott 6og Sasic 12 45)

Att 45,619 at Wembley Stadium

Entry- Complimentary

Programme £5

It’s a fact of my footballing life that I don’t watch nearly enough women’s football. My cause in that respect was aided when a league I work with offered two Club Wembley seats, and I pondered how to get to the national stadium with the Jubilee, and Metropolitan tube lines closed for planned engineering work.

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You Are Only Coming Through In Waves

14 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by laurencereade in W

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Tags

Bobby Moore Lounge, FA Vase, final, Northern League, Sholing, Vase, Wembley, Wembley Stadium, wessex league, West Auckland, West Auckland Town

Saturday 10th May 2014 ko 15.00

FA Vase Final

SHOLING 1 (McLean 71)

WEST AUCKLAND TOWN 0

Att 5,341 at Wembley Stadium

Entry to Bobby Moore Lounge, Programme, and Team Sheet – Complementary (Thanks to the EMCL and the NCEL)

 

So, a third visit to the Vase final in three years, for last year’s final click here, and the method is more or less set in stone. You park at Hillingdon Tube station for £2, then buy a six-zone travelcard for £8.90 for the Metropolitan Line trip to Wembley Park. I could park at Bicester North and take the train to Wembley Stadium, but that’s £22, or drive but it’s £30 (£15 for Blue Badge holders) to park at Wembley. I’ve yet to find a cheaper way of doing it, and yes I did try an unofficial car park for a rock concert here once. I  drove home with no driver’s window or sat nav! Yes, Wembley is an expensive place to visit, and I get the feeling that’s part of the reason why the stadium has been close to empty each of the 8 Vase Finals held at the rebuilt stadium. Continue reading →

A Distant Ship Smoke On The Horizon

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by laurencereade in S, T

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

FA Vase, final, Gavin Cogdon, Josh Stanford, Keith Graydon, Spennymoor Town, Tunbridge Wells, Wembley Stadium

Saturday 4th May 2013 ko 15.00

FA Vase Final

SPENNYMOOR TOWN 2 (Cogdon 18 Graydon 80)

TUNBRIDGE WELLS 1 (Stanford 78)

Att 16,751 at Wembley Stadium

Entry- Complementary

Programme £4

Team sheet Comp

For a while I’ve applied an acid test to all newly constructed stadia, called the, “Dad Test,” and its simple, can my 77-year-old father use it? He’s not particularly fleet of foot these days so long flights of stairs, and standing for long periods are a no-no. With the rebuilt Wembley having virtually no parking and public transport being actively “encouraged” the ground looked a bit of non-starter for him. Continue reading →

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Just Nod If You Can Hear Me

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by laurencereade in D, W

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andrew Bulford, Barnet FC, Dunston UTS, FA Vase, final, Football, groundhopping, northern counties east league, Stephen Goddard, The Hive, Thomas Lipton, Wembley Stadium, West Auckland Town

Sunday 13th May 2012 ko 3.00pm

FA Vase Final

DUNSTON UTS 2 (Bulford 32 79)

WEST AUCKLAND TOWN 0

Att 5,126

At Wembley Stadium

Entry, Programme & Team Sheet- Complimentary (Many Thanks to Dave Morrall of the Northern Counties East League)

I really hadn’t planned on doing this one, but when Chris Berezai phoned me to say Dave Morrall, chairman of the NCEL had offered us complementaries for the final, well who’d say no to that?  So my suit and tie travelled up to Chris and Jenny on Sunday morning, and the two of us must have looked like we were off to church, as we left Long Eaton!

It was easy enough to park at Stanmore Tube station, and we passed The Hive, home to Barnet FC’s training facilities, and potentially their new stadium too, between Stanmore and Canons Park. It’s just 4 stops to Wembley Park, so there was plenty of time to collect out tickets, and enjoy a local chinese meal. After that it was a short walk to beneath the Bobby Moore statue to the hospitality entrance. Our tickets gave us access to the Bobby Moore lounge, which gives you a large bar and food area behind the seats directly below the Royal box. We got a free programme and team sheet, and noticed that food and drink prices were just as stupidly expensive as everywhere else in the ground. £8 for a burger is way beyond a joke.

Our seats were just to the right of the dugouts, a few feet from where the “Wally with the brolly” once forlornly stood, and on a sunny day I did notice there wasn’t much roof over our heads. However padded seats and armrests are not to be sniffed at, and there was a little clip in front of you for your programme!

What was utterly lacking was a half decent attendance. With this being an all Northern League final, that league’s policy of not taking promotions due to excessive travelling was borne out by the 85,000 or so empty seats! In these straitened times though the FA should take most of the blame. This is a competition for clubs a minimum of 5 promotions from Football League status so to ask people to spend £25 a ticket (no concessions) plus £4 for £2 worth of programme, plus the cost of getting there, is at best insensitive and at worst crass. Surely charging £10 each would have produced a better crowd and more revenue. The alternative would be to move the final to somewhere more suitable, although one hopper’s idea of Hartlepool was I think a little wide of the mark. I did comment though that it would have been a darned sight nearer for both sides to have played at Hampden Park.

The game saw Dunston take on the World Champions as West Auckland famously won the Thomas Lipton Trophy representing England in 1909 and again in 1911. On this occasion West Auckland were undone by the predatory Andrew Bulford who completed the feat of scoring in each tie. While West Auckland had far more possession, they created few chances and once Bulford latched on to a Stephen Goddard flick-on, he opened the scoring with a neat lob over keeper Mark Bell.

The second half carried on in much the same vein, and when West Auckland switched to 3 at the back in search of a goal, it was inevitable that there would be more space for Dunston to exploit. And exploit they did. Bulford hit the post, and soon after strike partner Goddard did exactly the same. The two combined nicely for the winner, Goddard again flicked on, and Bulford capitalised on hesitancy in the West Auckland defence to fire past Bell, taking his Vase tally for the season to 15.

The Hive in Stanmore. The half built stadium originally for Wealdstone, but now at one end of Barnet’s training ground. The replacement for Underhill?

Inside the Bobby Moore lounge


Man of the match Andrew Bulford


 

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