fredmciverslovechild

Yes, sort it by message closer to the day.

Are you going to the WSM Cup Tie, Daz? Tickets just gone on sale; got mine!

It starts at 22.30 on that video.

Daz....You might be interested in a bit of nostalgia. This is the game which had the previous best attendance and which I went to. Shame the clip misses Ricky Holmes classic taking the p*** out of the AFC bench after his penalty..... But as you see we've been there before in terms of investment. Peter Webb put a lot of his and his company's money into the club at that time but sadly it ended in acrimony. I hope we don't go down that path again.

Attendances this year compared to last amongst the top six divisions:

Remember....the last three times we have been in League One it's taken us two years to get out.

Remember his debut against Boro. Put in the side because we weren't scoring and hadn't won in about seven games after being top of the table one point. He didn't score that day but well remember Jimmy Mullen did; from about 35 yards out.

Think you're mixing Oscar up with Andy McCulloch there!

I mentioned Wealdstone because I lived in Harrow about a mile from Lower Mead from about 1979 to 1981. I used to frequently watch games there; Stuart Pearce was a chippie and budding full back and a guy called John Watson in midfield who was far and away the dirtiest player I've ever seen. In a game against Altrincham he pole-axed an opponent and then walked on his face; that was one of his softer days. Their ground sale was absolutely dodgy business; I know this for a fact because a relative, who lost his career as a result, was involved. He has always claimed innocence though he did end up with a brand new apartment overlooking Tower Bridge as a result..... Anyhow, back to City and Weston Super Mare at home in Round Two. I'd love to know, if they get through, how they'll accommodate Man Uts (or even Wednesday for that matter) at home in Round Three!

I think the bit about a ground in Melbourne Park goes back to 2012 when City beat Colchester 3-1 (Clinton Morison and all!) in the First Round and there was talk then about the ground. There always is when they have a good cup run. The talk then was of a temporary ground; quite what the point of that would have been I can't imagine. Half the hope seems to be that the athletes might just bugger off leaving City free to develop. That would create extra space for parking and other facilities but it simply ain't going to happen. Anyway, I put some pics of the old, well loved, ground on here a while back. Page 60 if it's not the right one.

I've actually lived in Chelmsford for forty years now which means I've been watching Chelmsford City play for forty years! And the problem with the ground is not a new one; I would say it's been there for the last 38 of them. When I first started watching they had a ground almost next door to Essex CCC in the city centre. That was a decent ground though in need of a bit of TLC but was certainly the equivalent of Fourth Division grounds of the time. If they'd stayed there and perhaps ultimately developed it into a 10 to 12,000 capacity stadium I'm certain they would have been in the EFL long ago. But, unfortunately, it didn't work out that way and the ground issue is definitely now holding them back. The problems started with the storm of Oct 1987 which destroyed part of The Barn; the barrel-shaped covering down one touchline. Rather than re-build it costs meant they had to demolish the entire side so for seven years football was played with a 100 yard wooden garden fence down one side of the pitch. It was odd to say the least. Various proposals were put forward; one involved turning the pitch round by 90 degrees to create more space between it and the County Ground and building a hotel/leisure complex on the land in between but it never got past the initial planning stage. A little later, when thoughts turned to a ground move, sites at what became the university campus and the local park n ride at Sandon were suggested. I remember a programme from about 1992 with a mock up of the ground at Sandon but that came to nothing also. In more recent years the huge development at Beaulieu originally had a sports complex with new grounds for both City and Essex CCC in it; unfortunately that part was never proceeded with. By the mid-90's the ground had to be sold but, a la Wealdstone and probably countless others, the money the club should have received never materialised. City were forced into ground shares first at Maldon & Tiptree (the coldest place on earth bar none) and hated rivals Billericay Town as attendances plummeted. A move back to the City was an absolute essential and so Melbourne Stadium was a godsend. That happened in 2006 but it was only ever seen as a stopgap; unfortunately the stopgap has lasted 19 years. It is totally unsuitable for football as the pictures show. On one side you have two lots of running tracks plus the dug outs whilst on the other you have flat standing. Behind the goals you have small bits of metal terracing which are rolled in place for the football season and fencing everywhere. In decent weather like last Sat it's not too bad but the ground is so open that in bad weather it's for the hardy only. You are never going to get occasional fans in a stadium like that. The current new owner seems to be pushing this new ground business a little more strongly than for a while but it's difficult to see, considering the pressure the local council is under to provide new houses, where this could be within the city. There are probably out of town sites which could be used but I don't think that would be popular with fans. The solution, I am afraid, is not an easy one.

Good to see you went to Chelmo, scram. I watched it on the TV. Interesting bit here about them:

Incidentally, who on here went to the 3-2 FA Cup defeat at Chelsea that season? They missed with one of the worst penalties I've ever seen and we were two up with 15 to go. Then that renowned goalscorer Micky Droy got a couple and we fell apart. Quite a bit of scrapping afterwards; still have nightmare visions of the Wednesday fan with his hand impaled on a fence spike.

Although we were struggling I'm convinced if that if we'd kept McMordie and Tommo we would have stayed up. We got nine of our 21 points that season in the nine games McMordie was with us. But both went within about ten days of each other; McMordie back to Boro and Tommo sold to Newcastle. Arguably our two best players; the heart of the side taken out. As an aside a few years later, after I'd moved to London, I went to Highbury as Newcastle were the visitors and I wanted to see Tommo. He scored that day.....for Arsenal!

We couldn't do what Wolves did because they were able to demolish a whole load of houses and build a new stand behind the old one. We just don't have the space. And I'm not sure how years of watching the action from a stand which is 50 yards from the pitch would go down.

The odd thing is there were some cracking games that season, particularly when Eric Mcmordie was here. The 3-3 at Notts County when Ian Scanlon scored his 2 minutes 45 seconds hat trick to put them 3-1 up when we were bossing it; the Man Utd game. And that early season draw at Norwich; Tommo was fantastic that day. But the second half of the season.....makes me shudder.

The Kop terracing was built directly onto the hill. The only way you could re-build it would be by clearing away the whole lot....roof, supporting structures and all....and starting again. And I'm pretty sure when the proposals for re-building the ground were put forward in 2009 the homeowners in Vere Road objected about the proposed height of the roof in the NW corner. Re-building Hillsborough would be a waste of money, sadly.

That proposal was put forward in 2009; sixteen years ago. Stadium development has moved on somewhat. And that proposal was to try and get the World Cup which no doubt massaged things a little. I doubt the real cost would have been anything like Lee's suggestion. You talk about any proposed new ground having a minimum 55,000 capacity. Transport links are bad enough when the crowds are half that so we'd be back in the same boat; how do we cope with 55,000 crowds? Simple answer? You move.

We're meant to be a "community club" but rebuilding Hillsborough would threaten the local homeowners with years and years of development, upheaval and all the rest right on their doorstep. That would be a great start for a new owner.

You build four separate stands. You then fill the four corners in. You then build a roof right round the whole lot. And so you've essentially got a bowl. All basically driven after step one, by demand as a result of success on the pitch. But to even get to step one in the present situation we're almost starting from scratch; worse, because we've got to demolish first. And no parking space for the increased crowds, disruption to the local homeowners (though businesses would doubtless be happy) and dreadful rail links. If we're talking about a reboot then we can't be harking back to former glories.

I read something a while back that the club looked into the possibility of removing the hill at the Kop end and rebuilding it with proper facilities underneath. It would have cost just as much as building a new ground. The South Stand is restricted by the river, the north west corner and North are restricted by the houses in Vere Road. There is zero parking and access to the ground is terrible. We need to look to the future and not stick with the past. Fresh start.

I can assure you my offer was absolutely genuine.

Remember thinking when he got Notts County promoted along with us back in 1991 when Big Ron walked out that he might not be a bad shout. Had no idea back then he was a United fan.

Who's the one in blue on the right....another emergency loan?

The speed with which they are trying to erase his presence from the club is pretty damning. Must feel like ten Christmasses at once for the staff.