2006-07 (18th)

Football seasons are getting longer and longer. In 2006, a mere 19 days were to pass between the highlight of my ground-hopping career in Berlin and a works trip to Belgium which allowed me to combine my three loves of beer, trains and footy. After a Friday night watching Club Brugge stuff AA Gent at a packed Jan Breydel Stadium, it was off to Mouscron on the French border to see Excelsior, one of the many small town teams that play in Belgium's top division. The ground was well out of town, but a bus driver told me he could get me halfway there. I was a fool to believe him. I boarded his bus 90 minutes before kick-off and then was taken on a 45-minute tour of the town before being deposited about half a mile away from where I had started. By the time I reached the ground, huge queues had developed at the two ticket windows. After two lengthy circumnavigations of the ground, I concluded that the only way to see the kick-off was by going in the away end. Thus I became a Cercle Brugge fan and got my suntan lotion confiscated. Needless to say they lost, and the next day I was hassled and harassed by bored French border police who couldn't believe that anyone would spend a night in Mouscron.

With the NPL starting late, I saw Accrington Stanley's first and third game in the fourth division. Theirs was a promotion well deserved, if funded, at least in part, by more than their fair share of appearances on Match of the Day. At least they got there the honest way, unlike Milton Keynes Dons.

Then it was time to go to Horsfall. I had never looked forward to a season less since our reformation. Fifteen months earlier, we had been playing teams like Altrincham, Kettering and Southport. Now we faced visits to teams many Avenue fans would never have heard of like Cammell Laird, Alsager Town, Woodley Sports, Gresley Rovers and Shepshed Dynamo. And in the coming months, all of those teams would come to beat us. We weren't even playing the top clubs in Ossett or Harrogate. It gave me no pleasure to say "I told you so", having been predicting our eventual relegation to NPL1 for the last two or three years. Pathetically, Avenue still used Conference North corner flags.

Depressed by the lack of interest from readers and by two relegations, and lacking in time and energy, I gave up my attempts at writing non-parochial articles for the club programme. I also vowed to stop making nightmare journeys over the M62 to see midweek fixtures in such a lowly league.

New manager Phil Sharpe had brought in a cavalry on players at the end of 2005-06 in a desperate attempt to avoid the drop. They could have formed the basis of a good team, but Lee Harper, Martin Thacker and Paul Robinson were all enticed away by clubs like mighty Goole, while star forward Dean Calcutt and talented young centre half Tom Agus were released, presumably due to injury proneness.

The new look Avenue did not impress me in the opening games of the season, although many of these were won. A 5-0 win at Rossendale flattered to deceive as Avenue benefited from a sending off, a comical own goal and some appalling defending.

Phil Sharpe was clearly no believer in youth as a number of old players returned for one last season a decade beyond their peak. Oldest of them all was Neil Redfearn who had seemed past his best donkey's years ago at the Shay. But to his credit, Neil added a touch of class to the team and scored, in my view, the goal of the season to defeat Harrogate Railway. However our defence and midfield lacked pace and positional sense and it was no surprise when Avenue went out of the cup in the preliminary round, losing 5-3 at Goole on the 2nd of September. The heady days of the first round proper seemed a million miles away.

A week later, I did my 100th overseas game when I finally got in to see ADO den Haag, a club with one of the strictest membership schemes in Europe. The Friday night game ended 2-0 to the visitors NAC. Den Haag are a nice little club which sadly has attracted a hooligan element in recent years. Their season ended in relegation but hopefully a move to a new stadium will be a sign of better times ahead.

Newly promoted Buxton and Cammell Laird set the pace early in the season, confirming my view that NPL 1 was a weak league. With only one automatic promotion place to play for, defeat at Silverlands was a bitter blow. Star man for Buxton was our own Tom Agus. What a mistake to make! I set off from Ellesmere Port for our Tuesday night game at Stocksbridge in glorious sunshine. However as darkness fell over the Woodhead Pass, the mists started to gather and by the time kick-off time was reached you could barely see the goals from the half-way line. The referee waited for 25 minutes before calling the game off. To their credit, Stocksbridge organised complimentary tickets for everyone for the rearranged game.

Simon Parke became the latest member of the Darby and Joan club when he rejoined Avenue after a decade away. He made an instant impact netting a hat trick in a 7-3 win over hapless Clitheroe. It takes almost 4 hours from Ellesmere Port to Horsfall by train, so home games were normally done by car. The Trackside Bar at the East Lancashire railway station in Bury, the Tavern in Warrington and Appleton Thorn Village Hall were frequent stop off points on the way home. After several pints of good ale, it was a pleasure to listen to George Galloway on the Mother of All Talk Shows.

Avenue faced a daunting trip to NPL Premier side North Ferriby, the posh end of Hull, in the FA Trophy. Avenue seemed to be coasting after David Cooke lobbed the home keeper from 40 yards and Tom Greaves added a well-taken goal. However our nemesis Gary Bradshaw pulled two goals back in injury time. I thus had my second miserable ride of the season down the sparsely served Goole – Leeds line. Bradshaw scored two more in the replay, but one from Redfearn and two from Parke won the day for Bradford. Avenue entered the Trophy at the last 512 stage, despite the fact that there were fewer than 250 entrants. Next season, no doubt, we will come in at the last 1024. Southern League side Solihull Borough were next in line and were defeated 2-0. This was Neil Redfearn's 1000th competitive game, a tremendous achievement. Neil was featured on local television and a special presentation was made before the game.

I then vanished off for a belated summer holiday. Thanks to an Iberia crew at Heathrow who didn't get out of bed in time to clear security, and thanks to the lack of effort of the Madrid ground staff to help us make connections, probably because flights were overbooked, the missus and I ended up stranded at Baracas airport for 24 hours. She was not amused at being dragged on the crowded metro to Atletico vs. Villarreal and didn't see it as quite the consolation that I did. It was a great game and the seats were covered in bird muck, just like Horsfall.

We returned just in time for our 3rd qualifying round game with Nuneaton Borough and memories of our days in Conference North. Despite a decent show, Avenue went down 2-1 in front of a disappointing crowd, despite the fact that the final was to return to Wembley. In reality, NPL 1 clubs don't stand a chance. In the league, Avenue were in the play-off positions but a last minute 1-0 defeat at Colwyn Bay allowed the Welshmen to narrow the gap. Bay then gained a 0-0 draw at Horsfall to maintain the pressure. Avenue responded with a 3-1 win at lowly Belper, but it was a struggle. Leading scorer and dead-ball expert Neil Ross scored the key goal.

Avenue visited Harrogate Railway Athletic on Boxing Day, which was highly inconvenient as there were no trains. A late goal by new signing Craig Farrand seemed to have earned Avenue a point. However the side then went all out for the winner and got caught by a sucker punch at the death. At Ossett Albion four days later, an even later sucker punch cost Avenue victory.

Non-league football is plagued by swarms of jobsworths known as ground inspectors. This year's posse duly arrived at Horsfall and started to fill in their clipboards. The ground didn't look like a football ground. The seats in the stand weren't tip-up seats. There weren't enough signs. The barrier round the pitch wasn't right. Etc, etc. Avenue faced a huge bill to get everything up to scratch by deadline date, otherwise we may be denied promotion or even be kicked out of the league. In essence we had to replace over 1,000 seats! Clearly the cost of new seats would be enormous and the club desperately searched for second-hand ones. Officials and supporters scratched their heads trying to think of clubs who were moving ground or closing stands. Eventually salvation came from the most unexpected of quarters. Seats considered good enough for test cricket at Headingley, but not for the Unibond League, would be replaced by seats from cricket's headquarters at Lord's.

Unhappy with his forward line, Phil Sharpe started experimenting and tall centre half Chris Clarke was moved to centre forward. Chris started well with a goal in an undeserved 3-1 win at Clitheroe, but rarely looked comfortable. Nevertheless a good spell ensued. Avenue gained a vital 2-1 home victory over top-5 rivals Stocksbridge Park Steels and this was followed by a 2-1 win at Kidsgrove, thanks to some excellent back-to-the-wall defending. Star of the show was Polish goalkeeper Piotr Skiba who was having a splendid season. It was great to have a keeper who commanded his area instead of the flappers of the previous two seasons.

The recovery ended a week later when Avenue faded after a good start and were then given the run around by Woodley Sports. The visitors won 3-0. An awful spell ensued. Ossett grabbed another last minute equaliser and another stuffing occurred at Goole, this time by four goals to nil. This was to be Neil Redfearn's last game for the club as he announced his retirement as a player. Avenue then faced a daunting trip to Cammell Laird in Birkenhead. Situated behind a bus garage, Kirklands will have come as a culture shock to most Avenue fans. Basically it is just a field surrounded by minimal hard standing and couple of bus shelters and portacabins. How on earth could the league force Avenue to install 1,000 new seats when there are grounds like Kirklands not only in the same division, but passed fit for promotion? Clearly there are very serious inconsistencies in the way ground-grading rules are applied. Having had a few before the game, I got into heated arguments with locals when I commented on their facilities a little too loudly. Avenue's problems were compounded when keeper Piotr Skiba got lost on his way to the ground. Cheshire County Council has put up some road signs in Polish but they do not point to Birkenhead. Goalkeeping coach Paul Allen thus had to stand in, making his first appearance for the club for over 10 years. Paul kept a clean sheet in the first half and, perversely, the management kept him on for the second, even though Piotr was on the ground and changed. This would cost Avenue dearly as Paul was slow to get down to a couple of low shots, which went past him into the net. We eventually lost 3-1. Cammell Laird is a good team. Avenue's floundering promotion hopes were boosted when news emerged of a mystery backer. Bradford immediately signed Jamie Walshaw from Ossett Town who had tormented us so much in the past. Top scorer Neil Ross went the other way, but it looked like a good deal. Striker Danny Davidson also joined Avenue and scored a hat trick on his debut against Brigg.

The Hope valley line was closed when Avenue revisited Stocksbridge, so I had to travel via Huddersfield and Penistone to Chapeltown. The Station Tavern at Huddersfield is second only to Stalybridge, but you can't get into it from the platform during the day – and the lady ticket inspector didn't want to let me through the barrier. She was in the wrong as I held a cheap day return ticket, which allows a break of journey on the outward leg. Eventually she relented. I can understand why they are sensitive as the fare from Liverpool to Penistone is cheaper than the fare from Liverpool to Huddersfield. Jamie Walshaw never turned up at Bracken Moor, nor did Neil Ross. Nevertheless Avenue gained a most unexpected 3-0 win and I celebrated afterwards with excellent pints of Wentworth and Bradfield at the Commercial in Chapeltown, even letting the first train home go. This wins my pub of the season award. A few days after the game, Neil Redfearn stunned supporters by signing for Stockbridge. This defection did not go down well. Had he stayed he might now be Avenue's manager instead of Northwich Victoria's.

For the second successive season, Phil Sharpe went on a late season signing spree, bringing in players such as Alex Callery, Dominic Krief, Stephen Downes, Mark Ward and Scott Jackson. However the biggest coup was to sign star ex-Manningham striker Kevin Sanasy from Farsley, closely followed by the acquisition of wing-half Reuben Wiggings-Thomas on loan from Chesterfield. A more controversial move saw Avenue swap keeper Piotr Skiba for Jon Worsnop, possibly because Piotr was planning to leave the club at the season's end. The new look side stuffed a poor Belper 4-0 but found life much harder at Skelmersdale. This was my first visit to United's new ground. The pitch was superb and there was a large new clubhouse. Sadly the beer was keg. However spectator facilities were uninspiring. In the best game of the season and inspired by two lively wingers, Skem took an early lead. Avenue fought back to lead 2-1, only to be denied by a deserved equaliser a few seconds from time. This started a bad spell. Avenue had two perfectly good goals disallowed in a goalless draw at Warrington, then lost at Woodley and Eastwood. I have just seen the Woodley game for the first time on Unibond TV. It was played on a plastic pitch. I do not approve.

Meanwhile few details emerged about Avenue's mystery backers. Eyebrows were raised when they bought out Frank Thornton's major shareholding and closed down the share save scheme. Who would have thought that Avenue shares would ever be traded? What I did find out, and it came as a complete shock to me, was the amount of money that chairman John Dean had been putting into the club. I had no idea that John had been bankrolling the club to the extent that he has. We all owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. You don't need to be a Nobel scientist to realise the money we take at the gate, in the bar and in sponsorship comes nowhere near paying the wages. Basically, at all levels of football, you are as good as your current benefactor. Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers, Rushden & Diamonds, Gretna, Reading, … . Need I say more? The new owners stunned supporters by appointing Benny Phillips as club manager on a full-time basis. In fairness, the job had been offered to Phil and Clive, but neither was willing to work full time. However both stayed at the club till the end of the season, leaving Avenue with three managers, affectionately known as Freeman, Hardy and Willis.

Back on the playing field, easy home wins against Alsager 4-1 and Shepshed 5-0 kept the side in the play-off frame. Easter saw Avenue visit Wakefield, a strange club playing on the former home of Wakefield RUFC. I believe the rugby club went bust after a proposed liaison with Bradford Northern went wrong. Emley were forced out of their traditional home by ground graders, moved to Wakefield Trinity, and became Wakefield & Emley. When the move floundered, they split into two eponymous clubs, which was hardly a brilliant idea given their poor support. Nevertheless Wakefield gave Avenue a good game and forced a draw with a late equaliser. In the last month of the season, Avenue finally started scoring late goals instead of conceding them, gaining three 1-0 victories with goals in or around the 75th minute. This included a Tuesday evening trip to Gresley, which took me ages to find despite me having a decent street map. An excellent Kevin Sanasy free kick won the day.

Unibond TV came to Horsfall for Avenue's game against newly crowned champions Buxton. The visitors had a centre half in goal, but Avenue couldn't beat him and the game ended scoreless. That left Avenue needing to win at Brigg to secure a play-off berth. And win we did thanks to a goal from Tony Lennon. Avenue finished fourth and thus faced third-placed Eastwood Town away in the play-off semi final. I booked a room at the Good Beer Guide listed Bell Inn at Smalley. It was more like a flat and you had to cook your own breakfast, but very pleasant all the same. The game started disastrously with Eastwood taking the lead in the first three minutes. Avenue fought back strongly and came close to equalising on a couple of occasions. But a second goal really knocked us back. We never recovered and lost 3-0. But I can't fault the players for effort. Our defensive frailties caught us out.

My season lasted another month as I took in some key promotion and relegation battles, including the notorious game at Wrexham where Boston went into liquidation five minutes from time. I also saw the last game at Gay Meadow, where a 0-0 draw had Franchise FC looking Wembley bound. I was so pleased with the Shrews' second leg victory at Milton Keynes that I bought a ticket to see them in the final, little realising that the West Coast and East Coast main lines would both be closed on the day. I ended up driving from Ellesmere Port to Derby to catch a train to London and parking miles from the station because of obscene car parking charges. I couldn't even go to the Brunswick as I was driving. Between the two games, a works trip to Helsinki saw me grab two matches in two nights. PK-35 vs. FC Atlantis in the Finnish first division was a real eye-opener. The ground was just a field, it didn't even have railings round it. There were a few uncovered temporary seats, a burger van, two portaloos and that was it. The players changed in a nearby sports centre. It made Cammell Laird look like Wembley. But at least they had programmes.

With all the comings and goings, and the play offs, Avenue official and unofficial historians all took their eye off the ball and failed to commemorate the formation of Bradford (Park Avenue) FC on the 6th May 1907. 2007 is generally considered as Avenue's centenary year, even though Bradford FC played competitive football at Park Avenue between 1895 and 1899, and went out of existence between 1974 and 1988. The club has been rather slow in fixing up an official centenary game, even though 18 months ago I suggested they make a preliminary approach to Celtic. It would have been great to play the team who gave us our famous green and white colours, which we wore with pride in the old First Division. Instead we have a small faction trying to use the centenary as an excuse to go back to red, amber and black, the colours of failure, expulsion from the league and bankruptcy (not to mention Bradford Northern). The argument rumbles on. And so to next season. What can we expect?

The NPL, in its lust for power and equality with the Southern and Isthmian Leagues, has regionalised our division. The two new sections are now so unattractive that they can't even get a full complement of clubs to play in them, no matter how much they scrape the barrel. It just feels like a third successive relegation. And to make matters worse, no matter how much money the new owners put in, we will still have to compete with FC United of Manchester. This club was formed by disgruntled Manchester United fans and regularly attracts four figure gates. They have waltzed their way through the two divisions of the North West Counties League and it is difficult to see who is going to take points off them in NPL 1N. With only one automatic promotion place to play for, Avenue could get 100 points next season and still not go up. The lottery of the playoffs beckon once again. And I suspect that even reaching these will not be as easy as some people think. At this moment in time, we do not know whether a team will be promoted from each division via the playoffs or whether there will be an inter-divisional play off for one promotion place.

I'm not looking forward to next season with any great enthusiasm. The club seems to have changed from a workers' collective to a business. Stalwarts like Kenny and Lynn in the tea bar, Director of Football Alan Hirst, programme editor Ian Smith and countless others have left their posts. I no longer know the people running the club and I'm not sure where it's going. We have been promised the Football League in 5 years. My worry is what is going to happen if we don't get there.

As Uncle Mort used to say in I Didn't Know You Cared - "Always back on pessimism, it will never let you down".