Cod Almighty | Diary
Fleeting moments
13 December 2018
Casual Diary writes:A couple of years ago, browsing the web as you do, I came across some double-unit Sprinter trains for sale for £5,000. So what – how's that related to Town? Well, being me, I immediately formulated a business plan to buy two, refurbish them, paint them black and white – and the InterCity Mariner was born.
The plan failed because you can't get access to a train line at shortish notice. But I remembered it this week while messaging back and forth, arranging and rearranging travel plans to Palace. Add in the hoops Town have introduced, which you need to jump through to get a ticket – from the 4,000 allocation which I doubt we'll sell half of – and I'm coming to my point.
It's not another rant about TV, and fans being last in line – that’s been done to death. This is more of a lament.
You see, in years gone it was easy to arrange an away day. You knew it would be Saturday 3pm, or 7:30pm Tuesday or Wednesday for midweek. There was the odd outlier, like Stockport or Tranmere on a Friday, but they were the exception.
You also knew that if it was a big game there would be a special going, and more importantly it would be cheap.
My first away game was Scunny in '69-70. It was televised on Anglia, but not until Sunday, and you didn't know until you turned up. We won 2-1, and the trip on the special, full of beardy blokes swilling massive cans of Watneys, is my abiding memory, not the scorers.
I have the recollection of the first mass exodus to Coventry. I recall the awe of the Valley, when Charlton still used the far side terrace, and was a founding member of the Town Travel Club to visit Southampton on another FA Cup night, as well as the second replay at Leicester (remember those?), though we went by train.
Then came the 1979-1984 period. The halcyon days of away travel. Followings of 6,000 were frequent, and two at WBA and Liverpool even bigger. I was stood in the toilets at Old Trafford (long story, not for here) on the Wednesday after Liverpool away. Two United fans were discussing Liverpool getting 50,000 against Grimsby. Yes, says one, but they had to put Grimsby in the Kop, they'd brought that many. I was proud.
The point of all this that football, the railways, the police and to some extent the clubs have made it so difficult and expensive now to go away that today's kids won't experience that. Yes, we'll take 4,000 to Donny and 2,000 occasionally – but it's not the same. There won't be a special. You’ll be lucky if you can drink on the service trains and the pre-match instructions (don't drink here, etc) in places like Chesterfield mean that all anticipation and joy are removed before you've even left.
Add in to that the worry that stewards will make it allocated seats only, and not only can you not stand with your normal disparate groups, but the family behind you want you to sit down because they are on their annual visit to a Town match.
If the club really wanted to organise something with regard to tickets, they could allocate block xx as the singing section, and so those of that bent could buy their tickets for there. Now, if only we had a proper SLO who could have liaised on that, eh?
Enjoy the games in between, and enjoy Palace – and if you're of an age when you remember all the above, try not to be dwelling on it. UTM – we’re all Town, aren't we.