Not many of us who travel regularly in the car credit Trainspotter John with much intelligence; however and for the first time he decided to stand us up today. To give him his due, he continued to hide behind the sofa even when Megaphone Man politely knocked on his front door, back door and then moved across his lawn to tap gently on his front window. I guess he must have had a much better offer than the exciting January Saturday in Tamworth that we had on offer. In hindsight hiding behind the sofa all day now seems like a perfectly sensible thing to do.
Two hours and just over one hundred miles later we arrive on the outskirts of a damp and dismal Tamworth. We stop to call at a local chippy and find a good quality bargain fish butty for only £2.20.
They always say you should never speak to strangers but when we’re waiting at the turnstiles we’re approached by a man in his 40’s riding a bicycle. He’s full of questions about the Shay and asks how good the club shop is at Halifax Town. We exchange glances with each other before deciding we don’t have enough time to tell him the full story. Encouraged by the information we do give he pulls out a package from his bag and asks that we take it.
He tells us that inside the package we will find a selection of football programmes from a variety of clubs and he asks that these be exchanged for a selection of Halifax Town programmes and posted back to him. Without too much thought, Megaphone Man takes the opportunity and the deal is done. We ask the man what his thoughts are on the game ahead, he tells us he’s not a Tamworth fan, he’s not going to the game and tell us Hull City is his team before cycling off back home.
Inside the ground we’re segregated. We have a small covered terrace behind the goal with unusual 4 foot high brick partitions equally spaced along the terrace making about 10 different sections to view the game from. The main stand has seating for about 200 and a covered terrace down the other side. Behind the other goal is an open terrace.
The game is another of those best forgotten. A two goal defeat, the first half was so exciting we ended up counting the number of times a steward decided to walk directly in front of us blocking our view of the pitch. At half time we asked one of the stewards how many times he thought they had walked past during the first half. He was miles out with his guess, 47 times was the correct answer but at least in the second half it was only another 22. We may have been soundly beaten but we got the steward thinking in the second half. I guess you now understand how captivating the match was.
On the way home, our attention returned to the package that Megaphone Man had been given but not yet opened. What’s in it and what he does with it is still a mystery but if you’re approached by a strange man with a megaphone this week offering you something unusual, please send him on his way
Next stop Wrexham…..
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