One Hundred of the Best , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Paul Hodgson

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104 pages

English

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What were Darlington FC's most memorable matches of the last 50 years? Paul Hodgson is better placed than most to weigh in on the matter. He's been a regular presence at games for the past half-century. What's more, as a disabled fan attending games in a wheelchair, he offers a unique and fascinating perspective on the matchday experience. The story begins in the 1972/73 season when Paul's mother took him to his first game: Southport at home. The Quakers were soundly thrashed 7-0, yet the seven-year-old Paul was hooked. The book takes us through the 1970s when Darlington had to apply for re-election almost every season, on to the 1980s when their fortunes improved and through to the modern day. Paul hasn't just chosen the 100 best results - some were horrific defeats - but each match made an indelible impression on him. One Hundred of the Best is an interesting mix of match reports and Paul's experiences of not just the games, but his adventures of getting there in his wheelchair. The book is a 'must' for every Darlington fan.

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	31 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781801504096
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Paul Hodgson, 2022
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801503761
eBook ISBN 9781801504096
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
1. The 1970s 15
2. The 1980s 43
3. The 1990s 124
4. The 2000s 201
5. The 2010s 237
6. The 2020s 254
Photos
For my wife Jennifer, who is my soulmate and best friend.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Jane Camillin at Pitch Publishing for all her support and, as per usual, her patience – plus the editing team at Pitch. Thanks to my wife Jennifer for her never-ending patience and my PA Chris for his constant practical help. I’d like to say a massive thank you to all the Darlo fans for their support along the way, especially Ian Carter, Stephen Lowson, John Gray and Steve Keeney – all of whom feature in this book. In addition, I’d like to thank the following ex-Darlington players who through playing for the club have become firm friends: Mark Forster, Kevan Smith, Peter Kirkham, Simon Shaw, Craig Liddle, Robbie Painter, Paul Ward and Dale Anderson, as well as ex-Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Norwich and Sunderland striker but more importantly former Darlington manager David Hodgson, who kindly wrote the foreword for this book. I’m extremely grateful to him for this.
Finally, I’d like to express my sincere thanks to freelance writer Simon Weatherill and Craig Stoddart from the Northern Echo for allowing me to use some of their material. Last but no means least, I’m extremely grateful to current Darlington FC CEO David Johnston for the help and support he has given me with this, and indeed the many other projects I have undertaken since we met.
Foreword
By David Hodgson
In 2002/03 I was asked by Paul to write a few words as a foreword for his book, When Push Comes to Shove . I felt privileged at the time and now, almost 20 years later, I’m writing one for the second time, which I must admit made me feel very special.
Two things we have in common – the obvious, our names, and that we have a real love for Darlington Football Club. Our friendship is one that was cemented in 1997 at an away match at Barnet. Strange as it seems, it’s engraved in my head step by step, or in Paul’s case wheel by wheel.
Let me explain. Only 30 minutes into the game my eye was drawn to Paul slowly wheeling his way towards a steward. I literally watched every move as it happened. I could see him talking with the aforementioned steward, then the gate was opened. Next, he was on his way towards another steward, again after a two-minute chat he was on the home straight. One more steward to pass, 30 metres from me and the dugouts. I was still watching this scene unfold, while the game was going on, and then BOOM – he was next to me in the dugout.
‘Hodgie, what the hell is going on?’ he asked. I replied, ‘Are you joking? We are destroying them with our possession.’ Paul sat and thought for a few seconds before responding, ‘But the objective of the game is to score or at least shoot.’ There was no bad language, no abuse, just a simple remark that killed me. I then asked him, ‘How the hell have you got all the way round the ground to get here?’ Paul grinned before saying, ‘I told them that I was your brother!’
From that day onwards, I admired his nerve and respect towards me as a manager and a friendship was sealed for life. I have two of his books in my collection and have read about the bigger projects he is producing and the awards and admiration that are coming his way. He is an extremely gifted man. He has disabilities which simply don’t hold him back. But above all he is a true Darlo fan, one who I’m extremely proud to know.
David Hodgson
Introduction
Greatest games aren’t always cup finals and title deciders, which, as a lifelong Darlington fan, is just as well as I would have been struggling to fill this book! But as any Darlo supporter will tell you, there has been plenty of drama and many unforgettable games.
Our memories as Quakers fans are filled with just as much drama and rollercoaster moments – our club more than most – and that is what I’ve tried to capture in this book. While most of the games you would expect to find in a collection such as this are indeed here, there are a few others that might evoke some raised eyebrows and a couple that might even raise the question, ‘Why?’
There’s a reason behind each one and while some may be more obvious than others, I hope you enjoy reading about one or two gems that might have otherwise been forgotten and confined to a stat in a history book. I reckon the next few years will probably yield another 20 or so new matches that could live happily in this book. However, here are 100 that should certainly stick in the memory banks for one reason or another. Enjoy the book and thanks for buying it.
Paul Hodgson
1
The 1970s
DARLINGTON V SOUTHPORT – 1972/73
The first Darlington game I ever saw was at a fog-shrouded Feethams on 6 January 1973 when I was only seven years old. Our visitors that day were Southport, who at the time were promotion contenders, while the Quakers were firmly rooted to the bottom of the Fourth Division.
Our home fixture against Workington on Boxing Day had already been postponed because a mixture of injuries and a flu epidemic had reduced Darlington to just eight fit players, and because of the foggy conditions the Southport game was only given the go-ahead by the referee an hour before kick-off.
Allan Jones, who had been sent on a three-week ‘holiday’ by the chairman, George Tait, had officially parted company with the football club on 21 December. He became the fourth Darlington manager to lose his job in only 15 months. His replacement was Ralph Brand.
The previous game, on 23 December 1972, had been away to Bradford City where we were hammered 7-0. Apparently, after the game at Valley Parade the newly installed Brand assured the press that the result had been a ‘one-off ’ and that the team would never be beaten like that again.
Clearly he didn’t believe, and neither did I, that lightning would strike twice.
Brand had an impressive pedigree as a player and knew all about scoring goals. Born in Edinburgh, he had played for Rangers, notching an impressive 206 goals in 317 games for the Ibrox club. He even ranks third among their postwar strikers, just behind Ally McCoist and Derek Johnstone.
However, the omens certainly didn’t look good for the visit of Southport. On the day of the match, with only an hour to go before kick-off, Phil Owers, a 17-year-old rookie goalkeeper, was called upon to make his first-team debut in place of regular stopper Ernie Adams, who couldn’t play due to injury.
The match was certainly a one-sided affair. By half-time the Quakers were 4-0 down and they went on to lose 7-0, which is their heaviest ever home league defeat to date. To cap it all, I’d pestered my mother for weeks on end to take me to a Darlington game. My abiding memory was, ‘What have I come down here for in the middle of winter in the freezing cold?’ Or words to that effect.
Throughout the game, as the avalanche of goals came thick and fast, much to the anger of some of the crowd, Brand remained in his seat in the directors’ box instead of going down to the touchline to encourage his players. His semi-detached attitude to management was exemplified by the fact that he actually lived in Edinburgh where he was in business and only commuted to Darlington each Wednesday, when he remained until the following Saturday evening.
At the final whistle, the fans gave Phil a standing ovation. After all, he wasn’t to blame for the rout. Had it not been for his bravery and agility, we might have eclipsed our heaviest ever league defeat when we lost 10-0 away to Doncaster on 25 January 1964.
As a matter of interest, Phil went on to carve out a lengthy career for himself and only retired in February 1999, still playing non-league football into his 50s, so that first appearance can’t have been too traumatic!
Thinking about it, I bet that hasn’t happened very often in professional football – two consecutive 7-0 defeats with two different goalkeepers. Those two results must have struck a chord with David Frost, who in February of that year highlighted our plight by making a documentary about the club for ITV.
At the end of that season, which saw Southport crowned as champions of the old Fourth Division, Brand’s men finished bottom and had to apply yet again for reelection at the Football League Annual General Meeting in June 1973. Thankfully, we managed to retain our status with a majority of 12 votes over our nearest rivals, Yeovil Town. Darlington polled only 26 votes (the lowest successful total since the war) and were perhaps fortunate that the non-league clubs that they were up against were competing with each other and had split the vote (Yeovil polled 14 votes, Kettering 12 and Wigan Athletic ten). Had the non-league applicants been better organised and hadn’t put forward more than one candidate, Darlington’s application may not have been successful.
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