Sunday, March 27, 2005
Archie's in with bricks
Engineering Archie - by Simon Inglis
From Scotland on Sunday: "In 2002, to coincide with the Commonwealth Games, English Heritage launched a pilot study of Manchester, to establish whether Britain’s sporting heritage - not only its football grounds but its billiard halls, cricket pavilions, ice rinks, bowling greens and so on - were at risk. The result is a series of books, called Played in Britain, of which Engineering Archie (above), a study of Archibald Leitch’s life and works, is a part. The first book in the series, Played in Manchester, was released last year. Future titles include studies of Birmingham and Liverpool, followed, it is hoped, by Played in Glasgow for 2007."
"Played in Britain" has it's own website which can be found here.
posted by chevblue at 1:58 pm 0 comments
Friday, March 25, 2005
Whitton United
Whitton United 2 Fakenham Town 0
Two second half goals settled this Ridgeons First Division fixture in the 'Greens' favour on Good Friday afternoon. Whitton are jointly managed by 'local lad made good' Ruel Fox (of Norwich City, Newcastle and Tottenham fame) and featured former Ipswich Town academy players Adam Atay and Daniel Flack in their starting line-up. Also playing - Ronaldo, Ronaldo Wright as it happens, who, accoring to the match programme was recently signed from Ipswich Exiles and 'will do well when he settles down'. Wright scored one of the goals, while Flack provided the cross for the other.
The King George V ground is located on the western edge of Ipswich and neighbours the now defunct Allied Bakery. The main pitch, there are five in all at the complex, has one small grandstand and an incline of Yeovil-ian proportions sloping upwards quite noticeably from the turnstile towards the main road behind the goal at the far end (see picture above). United play in a distinctive kit with green and white quartered shirts - very 'rugby-ish' in style.
Admission £3.00, programme 50p, half-time cup of tea 50p, attendance 76.
posted by chevblue at 11:00 pm 0 comments
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Gillingham
Gillingham 0 Ipswich Town 0
I have no idea why Priestfield gets so much grief, in fact it was voted the worst ground in the Football League in a poll conducted by some magazine at the tail end of last year. OK the visitors section is an uncovered temporary scaffolding affair but the remainder of the ground has been fully renovated since Paul Scally took over as Chairman in the 1990’s. It’s not in the greatest of area’s but which grounds are. If you want ‘bad’ try sitting in the away section at ‘Premiership’ Fratton Park. In the rain.
I must admit to having a soft spot for Gillingham, being the first ever Football League ground I attended (v Torquay United way back in 1967) and the side supported by my late grandfather as well as by a number of assorted relatives. But to hell with that for today’s game as Ipswich go looking for three further points in their push for promotion ….. well perhaps not as the game end’s goalless. Town’s first 0-0 draw since December 2003!
From a Gillingham perspective, and sitting with the home fans I had one, this was a very good result for the Men of Kent as, with Coventry losing 1-0 to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, it moves them out of the relegation zone for the first time since mid-October. And if it weren't for a number of excellent saves from Kelvin Davies and the intervention of a cross-bar at the death, the Gills could have made off with all three points and it would have been deserved. As for Town, they could have carried on playing for another ninety minutes and would still have struggled to find the net. A performance far removed from the one put in in last Saturday's 6-0 trouncing of Nottingham Forest.
posted by chevblue at 11:00 pm 0 comments
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Colchester United
Colchester United U-18's 0 Ipswich Town U-18's 5
Layer Road was one of the earliest grounds I visited after moving to Suffolk, and the first game I watched there, with my father and brother (I believe) was an FA Cup game between Colchester United and Bognor Regis in the early 1970’s. Being at a still impressionable age back then I stood in awe of, not the game itself, but what seemed to be non-stop fighting between fans in the stand at the road end of the ground. No idea what the score was but Bognor seemed to have the upper hand in the punch-up.
The end furthest away from the road used to be an uncovered crumbly terrace, but has since been converted to covered seating, but that aside the ground is still pretty much as it was thirty something years ago – a rusting relic. Located slap-bang in the middle of a residential area it is clear to see why the club and its fans have been fighting for years to get planning permission for a new stadium. Their efforts have paid off as just recently the office of John Prescott gave the nod and the new ground should begin to take shape sometime in 2006. The 10,000-seater stadium will be located on a site to the north of Colchester known as Cuckoo Farm, access to which will be provided by a new junction on the A12.
As for this evening’s game a healthy crowd of over 2,800 saw Ipswich Town's U-18's thrash their Colchester counterparts 5-0 in round 6 of the FA Youth Cup. The first half was a fairly even affair before Town took the lead through Darryl Knights in time added on following an Owen Garvan free-kick. Two further goals in the ten minutes after the break, from Aidan Collins and Knights, ended any chance of comeback by the home side and the rout was completed in the 78th and 88th minutes with strikes from Liam Craig and Billy Clarke. Town will take on either Watford or Spurs in a two-legged semi-final.
posted by chevblue at 3:30 am 1 comments
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Cardiff City
Cardiff City 0 Ipswich Town 1
Tommy Miller's 12th goal of the season, and his second from the spot in the last two games, secured a vital win for Ipswich. The home side spurned chances early in the game but Town's counter-attacking football always looked the more likely to produce a goal. The breakthrough came in the 62nd minute, when Miller was obstructed by Danny Gabbidon in the box, and he duly converted his 23rd consecutive penalty-kick. Despite the now customary late wobble the Blue's hung on to keep the Bluebirds at bay and register back-to-back clean sheets.
Cardiff, in addition to hovering just above the drop zone, are currently facing serious financial difficulties with debts of almost GBP30m. Player's salaries have recently gone unpaid and club captain Graham Kavanagh was sold to leaders Wigan just over a week ago to ease the club's cash flow problems (making his Latics debut against Town the following day). Unexpected delays in the construction of Cardiff's new home in neighbouring Leckwith are being blamed for the crisis, with income connected with the retail side of the development delayed until construction starts. Many fans have turned against Chairman, Sam (He’s not the Messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy) Hammam, who was once hailed as the clubs saviour, as the full extent of the Welsh side's problems are revealed.
More pictures here.
posted by chevblue at 3:45 am 0 comments
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic 1 Ipswich Town 0
The JJB stadium avoids the off the shelf bowl shape favoured by Leicester, Southampton, Derby, and so many others, having as it does four traditional stands on each side, but is completely devoid of any ambience or ‘feel’ that the other newer grounds have somehow managed despite their sameness.
‘Yes, but you only saying that because you lost’. Not at all. In its favour the sightlines are good, leg room is ample and the facilties inside the stands are excellent and spacious compared to the JJB’s contemporaries (if you’ve ever been crammed in the mezzanine in the away section at the Stadium of Light at half-time you’ll know what I mean), but would hate to have to come here and watch my football every other Saturday.
As for the match, despite putting in one of their better performances of the past two weeks, and bolstered by the return to action of leading marksman Shefki Kuqi, goal shy Town lose 1-0 to Wigan and are now three points off the automatic promotion places.
More pictures here.
posted by chevblue at 11:00 pm 0 comments
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