Today’s blog is different. I was very fortunate to secure an exclusive interview with Nick Gearing. Nick is well known in the League and non-league football circuits from his time in the coaching teams at Gillingham and Leyton Orient, as well as a brief period as manager at Herne Bay. More recently Nick has been…

This was the Women’s FA Plate Competition Final, which I attended because my very good friend’s daughter, Natalie Murray, plays for the Baggies, as West Bromwich Albion are known. I had been to watch her play in the semi final, against Gillingham, which WBA had lost, only to then find out that Gillingham had fielded…

This was a windy October Saturday and having visited my parents, I went to watch Evesham play Halesowen Town (who play a league above them in Step 4), in the FA Trophy Preliminary Round. The Evesham stadium is modern, set on land surrounded by hills a little outside the town. The ground has a main…

I went to the game with my eldest son and was expecting a good game, with Leeds sitting 2nd and Birmingham 15th before the match. Manager Pep Clotet wrote explaining that he was trying to develop a football philosophy and style at the club and asked the fans to get behind this. There was a…

In getting a ticket I had been very fortunate for this FA Vase 3rd round fixture. Due to being in Tier 3 Chatham had limited tickets to 150 and I tried to get two tickets for myself and a friend but was only able to secure the one, which turned out to be the final…

The game today was a Vanorama National League South fixture. My first visit ever to Park View Road Stadium. It’s a nice little ground in the heart of Welling and has a real football ground feel with welcoming food, club shop and bar areas as you enter. Two large seated and covered stands flank the…

This was a London Senior Cup match at the Artic Stadium in Eltham. The ground was easy to find and had a small tea bar and on the opposite side of the ground a covered stand, with sheltered comfy seating. Corinthian Casuals have a long and illustrious history, and they influenced the England and Real…

As the lockdown continues I have been looking back at games I’ve attended over the years. In the 1980’s I had started going to see England play, either through the football supporter’s society trips with the University of Warwick where I was studying, or with friends. It started with a 1980 Home Championship game against…

I travelled to what would be the final game before the second lockdown of the year, at Folkestone Invicta, where the manager Neil Cugley has served for 24 years, being the longest serving manager in the top seven tiers of football. The ground had a real atmosphere and a crowd pushing 600 all singing and…

Arrived early for this one on a very very wet afternoon. Depressing news this morning suggested increased cases of Covid across the country and thus a real possibility of an announcement later today of further national lockdown and a suspension of the non-league fixtures. What this would do to our smaller clubs is a real…