From The Ashes

[MikeO]

A long, long time ago I woke up on Christmas Day morning to see what Father Christmas had left for me. My (Liverpool supporting) brother, who I shared a bedroom with, was already up and had found a red and white scarf among the piles of nuts and oranges that were the norm back then...no Playstation games strangely . I immediately set off in search of my blue equivalent so imagine my horror when I discovered that I too had a red one, Santa had apparently made a gaffe of monstrous proportions .

 

As it turned out the whole Santa thing was a con and in fact the scarf was from my dad and was for my local Southern League team, Guildford City. For a few years after that the team was a big part of my life...got season tickets..huddled round the radio at half time to get the Everton score..sat next to Geoff Hurst at a pre-season friendly against West Ham and watched us lose FA cup matches 4-2 at Watford and (sadly in common with Everton ) 2-1 at Shrewsbury...Terry Dyson scored for us that day though perhaps only 'licker will immediately twig who he was/is.

 

Anyhow in around 1972 the club sold the ground (smashing little ground it was too, held 10,000 at a push) to developers with a promise that the local council would provide a new one...long story short, never happened and the club went out of business in 1974. I was nearly as upset as when Alan Ball went to the Arse. Thanks for reading this far..I'm coming to the point.

 

Fifteen odd years ago the village club I played for as a lad, called Burpham changed their name to AFC Guildford and move to pitch within an athletic track just outside Guildford. More recently they changed their name to Guildford United and built a stand holding about 150 people. Now, for next season they are going back to the original Guildford City playing in the Combined Counties League Premier division, still a long way from where they used to be but it's a start.

 

Love stories like this and the fact that it's got such a personal connection makes it even nicer. I may even buy a shirt (stripes BTW, like Southampton so not all red), it's the only non-Everton one I'd ever wear.

 

Finally there is another slight connection to the Blues. Garry Peters, currently manager of Shrewsbury, started his career at Guildford City and I think I'm right in saying he was DM's boss at Preston for a while . He was an attacking full back ahead of his time...my dad used to scream at him constantly to stay back while he stormed off up the wing...good memories.

[Mac]

I lost it a little bit until you got to the meat and veg of the subject. My soft spot is for Prescot Cables, I went to Prescot school and if I couldn't afford to go the match, I went to see Prescot Town (as they were then). It is nice to see a pheonix (I got the reference Mike) fly again. In fact Prescot seem to be doing better now than they have for years. It's good to be reminded of these things.

 

I hate Guilford by the way Mike, spent 6 weeks there doing an AIPT course (Aldershot, really, but it's all the same to me). Too many Para's.

 

ATB

 

Mac

[MikeO]

I hate Guilford by the way Mike, spent 6 weeks there doing an AIPT course (Aldershot, really, but it's all the same to me). Too many Para's.

 

39723[/snapback]

 

Yeah parts of the town used to be very dodgy on a Saturday night because of the proximity of Aldershot, coupled with the WRAC barracks in town ....which is why the IRA hit when they did.

[Romey 1878]

When I seen the title of the thread i thought it was about the cricket ashes, its still a good story though