Thetownend.com

Relegated to the Conference North yesterday. They took 1500 away to Kidderminster and the game was suspended for half an hour as their fans ran on the pitch to punch players of both teams. Pretty sad state of affairs and shows what can happen with mismanagement at the top.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22133379

Ha, cunts. Relegation's too good for 'em! (shakes cane)

Went to Stockport away during Malpas era on my stag night, day Aljofree offered out the entire away end at half time.... strange memories.

A very strange fall from grace,  almost without a whimper until yesterday.

A lesson we should be well aware of, Stockport are comfortably a football league club but with the wrong people in charge this can happen

Things started going wrong for them after the ITV Digital debacle.

The took an offer to ground share with Sale Sharks, who then managed to buy Edgely Park off them in a fire sale. This left County with little or no assets.

Very sad for their supporters. My first proper Town game was at home to Stockport in 1985.

Their decline seemed to start with the appointment of Didi Hammann who several people on here wanted to be appointed Swindon manager at the time. Bullet dodged.

Wasn't that the game when about 10 of their fans tried to take the Town End? and failed miserably.

Good memories of Stockport as a 10 year old seeing Town parading the Div 2 title in 96.

Guilty as charged.

I'll happily admit at the time I thought he'd be a better appointment than Di Canio, bullet dodged indeed.

Actually I was not against the idea at the time and probably did rate him higher than PdC......wierd how things have moved on.

Although the circumstances for both couldn't be more different - Di Canio was in a position where he could throw money around and Hamman was constrained by a failed takeover that persuaded him to take the job originally

He certainly seemed the more sensible choice at the time, I wanted him over PDC.

Glad I was wrong

I guess we have no idea how Didi would have done under the same circumstances, what he had to deal with at Stockport would have been entirely different.

Stockport were already in Non-League by the time Didi Hamann arrived. Plenty of shit had already hit the fan and I dare say that Di Canio or any other manager wouldn't have lasted much longer in the same situation.

A dramatic decline.

Stockport County, for so long a Championship side, now find themselves in The Blue Square North and playing the likes of Colwyn Bay, North Ferriby and Worcester City.

On the Stockport County message board someone has linked a web site showing some of the grounds that they will be playing at next season and it is frightening, rude awakening

http://members3.boardhost.com/marionsboard/msg/1366574008.html

Some good day's out on the ales though, every cloud and all that  ;)

Two things I noticed on that link...

1.  Gloucester City have a terrible pitch.
2.  Oxford City's ground has four sides.

 :D :D I have a sneeky feeling these Stockport fans are actually going to have a great laugh visiting many of these ramshackle grounds that time forgot in back of beyond locations.

Gloucester City play at Whaddon Road (Cheltenhams Ground); so the ground isn't that bad. As for the pitch, we've played on some pretty awful pitches this season (Colchester, Tranmere and Doncaster to name a few) so no real difference.

There are suggestions Gloucester could move into the Conference South anyway.

Looks like the travelling folk have taken camp at one end of oxfords place.

Some cracking little grounds to visit.

Firstly......I went to the rearranged fixture when Payntor bagged a pen...

Secondly....I love the word ramshackle...

Gloucester City got flooded out and haven't been able to return since

They won't be playing in Worcester as next week is the last game ever at St gorges lane before it gets turned into a housing estate. Worcester are playing their home games at Kiddy next season.

I agree, would be great to visit a few of those grounds, especially if they could muster a few hundred away fans to outnumber the home fans!  Also, as you rightly point out, a few decent pints to be had in those destinations e.g. Harrogate.

This is in the alternative reality that you inhabit right? Beacuse in the one I live in Stockport have never been near the Championship.

They had a brilliant spell in the 90's under Danny Bergara and then Dave Jones, which they managed to spend in the old second division and had some cracking cup runs. But the overwhelming majority of their history has been lower league which is where they've been pretty much all of this century. A bit like us.

They were in the 2nd tier for a few seasons, always struggling though.

Didn't Carlton Palmer take them down in 2000? Might have been a year or two later. Anyway they've been fucked ever since.

They left the 2nd Tier two seasons after Swindon were relegated.

Meanwhile, fellow non-leaguers Grimsby only dropped out of the 2nd tier in 2003... and then there's poor old Luton.

Some fans seem to have it worse than us. Shock horror! :)

And Cambridge United were a play off defeat away from becoming founder members of the Premier League in '92 :eek:

Just imagine The Abbey Stadium and long-ball expert John Beck gracing the top flight!

Is it really as long ago as 2005 since they fell through the football league trap-door??!!

I think they had a major setback after coming out of administration post relegation, they appointed some ex Norwich journeyman striker onto their Board...oh.

There's plenty of long ball teams in the Prem, even 20 years later.

Dare I suggest that Man U play a little bit of 'long ball'? The first 2 of United's goals last night came from raking 40/50 yard balls from Rooney.

Although the Prem is full of foreign players, it's taken a lot longer for foreign managers to become the norm, so for example at the start of the season 13 UK subjects were in place at the helms of prem clubs...11 remain.

The philosphy of many of these, is on direct football, using big athletic players, some of whom will also have some technical ability, but pace and power is the desired commmodity.  They range from Stoke, who are right out of the Charles Hughes manual, through Allardyce at WHU, to Pardew at Newcastle.