A trip to Macclesfield. Arranged on Facebook. Booked on the internet. Travelling with SatNav. Texting or Twittering to meet up at a designated pub at a designated time. Wow. What fun.
A trip to Macclesfield in the past, 20 years ago, was a more off-the-cuff affair.
Friday night consisted of ten pints of bitter around town. A few more shorts down the local till the early hours (unless the law culled the lock-in). A few calls around the pub "Who fancies Macc tomorrow?". A quick count of numbers. One car or two? The train perhaps? Bit late for the train, so the car seems best bet. 5 in number, so driver required. Who's turn was it anyway? Didn't one of us drive to Brentford? Or Leyton Orient the other week?
Morning of the game. Maybe time for a trip in town for a haircut. But more than likely lying in your pit sobering up. No Soccer AM to tune into. Football Focus at 12 noon or On The Ball?. but neither would feature the lower leagues, so not really a religious affair watching them.
Beep of the horn outside the house. Car full all waiting. Is it the Vauxhall Viva, the rusty Ford Escort MKII or the "state-of-the-art" Skoda? haha.
A few tinnies for the trip. Maybe a swift spliff or two.
No idea where Macc is. Has someone got an A-Z. Surely one of the lads has borrowed one off their dad or mate at work? Its somewhere south of Manchester, north of Birmingham and east of Wales. But not quite Chester! Then some genius declares "did anyone have the nous to buy a programme last week, pretty sure they print the directions to up and coming away games in them". Alas that would be far too organised.
Another "Shudder Tours" outing has begun.
As per usual. One of the lads has dug out his 7" vinyl collection and knocked-up a mix-tape for the journey. In keeping with the theme for the day, its more than likely a smattering of the Macc Lads (plus old school favourites like "Down in the Tube Station", "New Rose", 'Made of Stone", "Doing The Dinosaur"!).
One of the lads has no tinnies, so its a stop at the local off-licence. But he's no money either. So its a trip to cashpoint. Another brightspark points out he has no money, but needs a different cash point. And whilst we are at it, we've not enough petrol.
4 pick-ups, 2 cashpoints, the garage, the offy and we're finally off, three quarters of an hour behind the drunken schedule we'd arranged in the early hours.
Not much room in the back. Trying to skin up on a Haynes car manual ain't the easiest. Tobacco all over the seat. Driver ain't happy. He'll be less pleased if there's any bombers dropping out of the reefer!! Not forgetting the ale spillage.
Arriving in Macc an hour or so later.
Finding a pub that doesn't look too dodgy. There's no pre-arranging meeting point. We've not played here before, so no ideas of good, bad, safe or dangerous. Finally decide on some place with a car park. Walk in. A few sly glances around to see if any other Wanderers fans in or any dodgy looking locals?. turns out there's a bit of both. Ah well, if it kicks off, there's 5 of us, a few more familiar looking lads at the other side of the bar? safety in numbers. Don't know the Wanderers lads, only by face and the customary nod of acknowledgement.
Chatting to a lads in the pub pissers. Turns out he's from up Morris Green and he's nipped to the shop for a loaf. Bumped into some mates and now he's in Macc. "The Mrs will go spare!".
A few more pints and a cheeky spliff on the walk to the ground. Only a few quid to get in. Might even be able to bribe a steward into letting the 5 of us in for a tenner in his back pocket (we did it at Bournemouth so always worth the ask).
Crap game. Bolton win 2-0. Chester haven't really turned their temporary home into a fortress. Makes a change from visiting Sealand Road though.
Terrace culture my arse
A trip to Macclesfield. Arranged on Facebook. Booked on the internet. Travelling with SatNav. Texting or Twittering to meet up at a designated pub at a designated time. Wow. What fun.
A trip to Macclesfield in the past, 20 years ago, was a more off-the-cuff affair.
Friday night consisted of ten pints of bitter around town. A few more shorts down the local till the early hours (unless the law culled the lock-in). A few calls around the pub "Who fancies Macc tomorrow?". A quick count of numbers. One car or two? The train perhaps? Bit late for the train, so the car seems best bet. 5 in number, so driver required. Who's turn was it anyway? Didn't one of us drive to Brentford? Or Leyton Orient the other week?
Morning of the game. Maybe time for a trip in town for a haircut. But more than likely lying in your pit sobering up. No Soccer AM to tune into. Football Focus at 12 noon or On The Ball?. but neither would feature the lower leagues, so not really a religious affair watching them.
Beep of the horn outside the house. Car full all waiting. Is it the Vauxhall Viva, the rusty Ford Escort MKII or the "state-of-the-art" Skoda? haha.
A few tinnies for the trip. Maybe a swift spliff or two.
No idea where Macc is. Has someone got an A-Z. Surely one of the lads has borrowed one off their dad or mate at work? Its somewhere south of Manchester, north of Birmingham and east of Wales. But not quite Chester! Then some genius declares "did anyone have the nous to buy a programme last week, pretty sure they print the directions to up and coming away games in them". Alas that would be far too organised.
Another "Shudder Tours" outing has begun.
As per usual. One of the lads has dug out his 7" vinyl collection and knocked-up a mix-tape for the journey. In keeping with the theme for the day, its more than likely a smattering of the Macc Lads (plus old school favourites like "Down in the Tube Station", "New Rose", 'Made of Stone", "Doing The Dinosaur"!).
One of the lads has no tinnies, so its a stop at the local off-licence. But he's no money either. So its a trip to cashpoint. Another brightspark points out he has no money, but needs a different cash point. And whilst we are at it, we've not enough petrol.
4 pick-ups, 2 cashpoints, the garage, the offy and we're finally off, three quarters of an hour behind the drunken schedule we'd arranged in the early hours.
Not much room in the back. Trying to skin up on a Haynes car manual ain't the easiest. Tobacco all over the seat. Driver ain't happy. He'll be less pleased if there's any bombers dropping out of the reefer!! Not forgetting the ale spillage.
Arriving in Macc an hour or so later.
Finding a pub that doesn't look too dodgy. There's no pre-arranging meeting point. We've not played here before, so no ideas of good, bad, safe or dangerous. Finally decide on some place with a car park. Walk in. A few sly glances around to see if any other Wanderers fans in or any dodgy looking locals?. turns out there's a bit of both. Ah well, if it kicks off, there's 5 of us, a few more familiar looking lads at the other side of the bar? safety in numbers. Don't know the Wanderers lads, only by face and the customary nod of acknowledgement.
Chatting to a lads in the pub pissers. Turns out he's from up Morris Green and he's nipped to the shop for a loaf. Bumped into some mates and now he's in Macc. "The Mrs will go spare!".
A few more pints and a cheeky spliff on the walk to the ground. Only a few quid to get in. Might even be able to bribe a steward into letting the 5 of us in for a tenner in his back pocket (we did it at Bournemouth so always worth the ask).
Crap game. Bolton win 2-0. Chester haven't really turned their temporary home into a fortress. Makes a change from visiting Sealand Road though.
Ah well, its game 5 of a 23 match unbeaten run.