Where are you going?

Have to say that I’m enjoying the ground hopping far more than watching us grind out a turgid 1 - 0 defeat to the likes of Accrington or Stevenage with a lop sided set up.

Smile I did. But agree with every word.

As do I. The problem is that while people continue to fund the circus it will never stop.

I’ve sort of drifted into this rather than it being a conscious decision. Was going less anyway as it is an expensive afternoon now and only one of my boys would come so eats up time we could spend together as a family. My friend who is a West Ham fan and still goes most weeks even to European away games suggested it and it has gone from there. I also wasn't enjoying the match day experience at home on saturdays. I’ll therefore go to grounds I’ve not been to before to get closer to the 92 and the odd home game but the groundhopping looks here to stay

I fear that hyper-inflation at the top of football is filtering right the way down the pyramid. Hence £47 for a shirt in Nat League South and a whopping £25 spend before you get to the bar. That's not a cheap afternoon to watch tier 6 football. And you're still getting play-acting and abuse of the officials. So it's a bit cheaper than the EFL, but with less talent on display and the same deficiencies. Tier 7 in Essex isn't exactly a cheap day out either
I'm thinking it's tiers 8 & 9 which are the 'sweet spot' (Community, value for money, sportsmanship) before you get down to 'over the park' football in tier 10 & 11.
You should have gone to Bath City yesterday - a Pay what you Want Community day! Bath City - fan-owned and they seem to have the right sort of idea. 

Think you are right about the flow down to lower tiers. We are trying yo do different grounds each time and mixing up the leagues so Bath City admirable as they are and deserving of patronage are unlikely to get a look in. Will prob do one more game at tier 6 - Banbury in NLN and likely Oxford City in tier 5. The rest will be tier 7 and below. We’ve been really lucky with the games we’ve picked. All worth doing - even yesterdays but the ones that stand out have been Abertillery Bluebirds, Tuffley Rovers and Brimscombe and Thrupp. There always seems to be some sort of Rovers connection at these games too which adds to the interest.

Woodford Town 4 Ilford FC 0. Essex Senior League (tier 9). Woodford usually play on a Friday night, so a rare Sat 3pm kick-off and a 20 minute drive through Chigwell to the Ashton Playing Fields. A pleasant afternoon in the late summer sun. Met up with a dis-connected ex-Watford ST holder, who was hoping for decent lower league game and convincing Everton win over Luton. Woodford have only been around since 2000, but been through a mind-boggling number of iterations before plumping for the rather pedestrian Woodford Town (Mauritius Sports & Pennant and Haringey & Waltham Development anyone?). They have been nomadic and only been playing back in Woodford since 2021. Despite their roaming existence and ever changing name, they attract decent support and average around 300. The friendly lady (they're always friendly at this level) behind the bar said that playing on a Friday evening they pick up additional Wham, Spuds and Arse support. Decent bar, good. Pitch surrounded by a running track, not so good. To the game - Woodford in Brazil colours and Ilford in Doncaster Rovers attire. Ilford the brighter and with a bit of pace up front. First blood to Woodford though as they bundled the ball in at the keepers left. HT and Woodford probably a little lucky to be up at the break. Ice cold Magners and back to the game. More even in the second half. Then the key moment. A Woodford attack was well defended and it looked liked it had fizzled out. Cue the keeper thinking he's in the premiersh*t, tries to chip a pass to the left back. Left back beaten off the ball, crossed in and a simple tap in. 2-0. Keeper then gobs off at the lino and the ref. Ref yellow cards him. Keeper continues to gob off. 10 minute in the sin-bin as the keeper petulantly throws his gloves and shirt to the floor. Refs should definitely use the sin-bin more at this level. Keeper replaced with outfield player. 5 minutes later Woodford work the ball down their left, cut back, goal, temporary keeper has no chance 3-0. Near full time the Ilford keeper comes back on, just as Woodford line up a dangerous free kick. "Wouldn't it be funny if the first thing he does is pick the ball out of the net" I quip. Bang on cue, Woodford dispatch the free kick into the keepers top left. 4-0. That was a bit tough on Ilford. But to be fair, their keeper was an idiot.
Entry: £7. E-programme (yuk). 3 pints of Magners £14.10 (reasonable for this neck of the woods).
Attendance: 112.
(Everton 0 Luton Town 1. LOL).

Union Berlin 2 Braga 3 European Champions League October 3rd.
An early Tuesday morning flight from Stansted to Berlin Brandenburg. Bier and bratwurst at Pratergarten. Checked in at a budget hotel in Mitte, and jumped on the S Bahn to the Olympiastadion. Union traditionally have most their support in south east Berlin and the trains were pretty full as they pulled into the centre of town. The trains picked up supporters all along the route to north west Berlin. "Berlin ist rot & weiss" now. Hertha who? Packed, but all good natured. Supporters all drinking en route, no trouble though. Gave up my seat to a child and the Dad presented with me with a bottle of lager. Marvellous. Easy enough to pick up a quick Bitburger outside the stadium about an hour before kick off, and all going smoothly. Took the obligatory selfie in front of the entrance to the stadium, and felt a couple of spots of rain. Looked up, yikes. Cue a cloudburst of Wycombe vintage. Everyone ran for cover under the trees. That sort of rain. Now cold and very wet. The entrance to the Stadium was shambolic. About 1000 people in the (now just drizzle) slowly filtering into about 6 turnstiles. No stewards. 30 minutes of snail pace shuffling before thankfully getting my now rainsoaked ticket through the bar code reader. Despite the weather Union supporters made a terrific noise. Not as hostile an atmosphere as at the Alte Forsterei, but very impressive nevertheless. No flares? Bloody UEFA spoilsports. Beers flowing aplenty in the stadium. Union unfurled a big banner "UEFA stadium infrastructure regulations... You don't care about the sport, all you care about is money". Damn right. Union were 2 up after 40mins. Great - what could possibly go wrong from here? Well Braga scoring either side of half time for starters. Union well on top second half and pushing for a winner to satisfy the fanatical support. Missed an absolute sitter when a shot was hit straight at the keeper from 5 yards out. Sheisse! As FT approached I thought 2-2, first point on the board in the group stage, that's not so bad. Union pushed forward a little bit too ambitiously. You know what happens next, a quick Braga counter, some sloppy defending and ffs they score the winner in the 4th minute of injury time. Great strike from distance low to the keepers right. (Same time as conceding at the loss at Real in the previous game). Head in the hands moment. FFS. More shambolic queuing to get back on the trains, No stewards, no rail staff. A long wait for a train to pull in and a surge as the train drew into the platform. It really wasn't ruthless German efficiency. Maybe they should have stayed at the Alte Forsterei - but then 50,000 people would have missed out on seeing the game...
Entry: Euro 85 (I missed out on all the cheaper seats due to tech issues). Bitburger: Euros 4.50.
Attendance: 73,445.
Cycled down to Kopernick the next day to pick up a programme. 2 Euros for 72 glossy pages. Cheaper and better than in the Isthmian Premier League.
I watched the later ECL games back in Mitte after a very long hot shower had fixed my mild hypothermia.
ManU lost to Galatasary at home. That cheered me up a bit.
Und Niemals Vergessen Eisern Union.

Waltham Abbey 2 Hadley 3 (Southern League Central Division - tier 8). Short drive down the Lee Valley to Capershotts. Slow service at the turnstiles meant a bit of a queue, but not as bad as at the Olympiastadion. Cue the first goal going in for Waltham Abbey before I'd entered the ground. Hadley are from Barnet and were formed in 1882. Red tops, black shorts (occasional Man U kit) vs the green hoops of Waltham Abbey (Celtic). WA in 6th place in the table, Hadley one from bottom. A pretty even contest with the Hadley No.7 and big No.9 looking useful. But a stupid tackle in the Hadley box led to a penalty and WA 2-0 up at HT. Hadley away fans (30-40 of them) made a bit of noise and had some interesting chants. A quick walk over the car park to pick up a San Miguel from the Clubhouse bar. Back over to the pitch clutching a plastic cup, sipping a cold beer in the unusually hot October weather. Grass roots football. My Union shirt attracted a bit of interest, chatted to a disgruntled Spurs supporter and a Bochum fan! 2nd half Waltham Abbey must have had something slipped in their HT drinks. Hadley causing problems and WA couldn't get hold of the ball. Two well taken goals and Hadley were level. WA didn't seem to know what to do. More pressure from Hadley and the inevitable winner was bundled in at the keepers right hand post. WA huffed and puffed but didn't really threaten to get back on level terms. So my second game on the spin with the home side going 2-0 up, only to go on and lose 2-3.
Edit: The referee 'sort of' had a good game. He took no nonsense and was happy waving yellow cards for any back chat. Good. He also made quite a few very strange decisions. WA player charging into the box, tripped from behind, no card. Hadley player cleanly wins a 50/50 ball on the half way line - yellow card. Eh?
Fair play to both sides for not disputing the very questionable decisions. A game played in good spirit nevertheless. Hoorah.
Entrance: £10. £10! Up £2 on last season, poor show Waltham Abbey. Programme £2, 20 pages, mostly adverts. Can Magners £3.50, pint San Miguel £4.50.
Attendance: 192.

Night and day from last Tuesday then Oldie. Lewis Powell was the difference then though. Hope they can stop the rot. Clubs in a free fall tailspin are hard to pull out of it though