| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 09:03 - Oct 12 with 1500 views | NthQldITFC |
Bottom of that article:
“Colchester have just appointed the former Wycombe player Matt Bloomfield as manager. He started his career at Ipswich, which means they’ve now ‘provided’ 11 ex-players as managers to their A12 neighbours. Can that be bettered?” asks Philip Genochio.'
Strewth! |  |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 09:52 - Oct 12 with 1367 views | MattinLondon |
Off-topic, but as a club we are incredibly spoilt in terms of having a train station, town centre and pubs within walking distance of the ground. Plus having a large green area where the fanzone is. |  | | |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:03 - Oct 12 with 1322 views | clive_baker |
Even some not mentioned in that article are debatable whether they're particularly 'nearby'. The likes of Burton & Bristol Rovers etc which are 1.5 miles by foot, particularly crap in the rain.
Colchester is a rubbish one, that's a couple of miles from the station.
PR is a lovely little spot, close to the station, the town, waterfront etc. Shouldn't take for granted how lucky we are as fans to have such a historic ground that's so well located. PR being developed for flats and a new stadium built at Copdock or something would be the absolute pits. |  |
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:31 - Oct 12 with 1235 views | Sharkey |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 09:03 - Oct 12 by NthQldITFC |
Bottom of that article:
“Colchester have just appointed the former Wycombe player Matt Bloomfield as manager. He started his career at Ipswich, which means they’ve now ‘provided’ 11 ex-players as managers to their A12 neighbours. Can that be bettered?” asks Philip Genochio.'
Strewth! |
I think some people would count it as more than 11.
Cyril Lea, Alan Hunter, Mick Mills, Ian Atkins, George Burley, Dale Roberts (stayed for a month or two after Burley left), Steve Whitton, Geraint Willams, Tony Humes, Richard Hall (was a trainee at Ipswich), David Wright, John McGreal, Wayne Brown, Matt Bloomfield. (It's reasonable to count Roberts, Hall and Wright as 'caretakers', so perhaps 11 is right.)
I'm encouraged by what I've seen of Bloomfield so far. The 'B team' played some nice attacking stuff last night at Gillingham (for whom Bagott looked a bit ponderous) and had 32 shots on goal, - which would be about ten games' worth under the two previous managers. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 10:39]
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:38 - Oct 12 with 1220 views | BarcaBlue |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:31 - Oct 12 by Sharkey |
I think some people would count it as more than 11.
Cyril Lea, Alan Hunter, Mick Mills, Ian Atkins, George Burley, Dale Roberts (stayed for a month or two after Burley left), Steve Whitton, Geraint Willams, Tony Humes, Richard Hall (was a trainee at Ipswich), David Wright, John McGreal, Wayne Brown, Matt Bloomfield. (It's reasonable to count Roberts, Hall and Wright as 'caretakers', so perhaps 11 is right.)
I'm encouraged by what I've seen of Bloomfield so far. The 'B team' played some nice attacking stuff last night at Gillingham (for whom Bagott looked a bit ponderous) and had 32 shots on goal, - which would be about ten games' worth under the two previous managers. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 10:39]
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I didn't realize Alan Hunter went into management, or obviously at Colchester. Can only guess at his management style but any idea of his success as a manager? |  | | |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:43 - Oct 12 with 1191 views | Sharkey |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:38 - Oct 12 by BarcaBlue |
I didn't realize Alan Hunter went into management, or obviously at Colchester. Can only guess at his management style but any idea of his success as a manager? |
His managerial career was cut short by the suicide of John Lyons, one of his players, shortly after a game.
Lyons killed himself on November 11th, and I wish that Colchester would replace the poppy-fest (OK, it is is a military town) with a minute's silence for Lyons. You will find there is a generation of Colchester fans who are much slower to hurl abuse at individual players. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 10:51]
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:54 - Oct 12 with 1140 views | BarcaBlue |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:43 - Oct 12 by Sharkey |
His managerial career was cut short by the suicide of John Lyons, one of his players, shortly after a game.
Lyons killed himself on November 11th, and I wish that Colchester would replace the poppy-fest (OK, it is is a military town) with a minute's silence for Lyons. You will find there is a generation of Colchester fans who are much slower to hurl abuse at individual players. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 10:51]
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That's so sad. Tragic. You'd hope nowadays there'd be more support for players going through difficult times. Must have been terrible for the family, friends, players and manager. | | | |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 11:09 - Oct 12 with 1082 views | Sharkey |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:54 - Oct 12 by BarcaBlue |
That's so sad. Tragic. You'd hope nowadays there'd be more support for players going through difficult times. Must have been terrible for the family, friends, players and manager. |
Yes, Hunter was relatively young himself - perhaps even a player manager to start with. He had Cyril Lea as coach, so good support, and Lea picked things up when Hunter understandably walked away.
I was at Colchester's next game, which was at Tranmere. Checking the facts now, I see the game was just two days later. I was early (I was at university in the north) and was in a pub and Hal Mason, the esteemed Colchester journalist, came in. He asked the landlady how/where he could get some black armbands. She went upstairs and made some on a sewing-machine.
'Hard man' Roy McDonough volunteered to wear Lyons' shirt. (I don't think players had actual shirt numbers in those days, but anyway the number he normally wore if selected.) Colchester won the game 4-2, and I clearly remember McDonough leaving the pitch in tears when he was substituted. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 11:21]
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 11:14 - Oct 12 with 1047 views | Steve_M |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 10:03 - Oct 12 by clive_baker |
Even some not mentioned in that article are debatable whether they're particularly 'nearby'. The likes of Burton & Bristol Rovers etc which are 1.5 miles by foot, particularly crap in the rain.
Colchester is a rubbish one, that's a couple of miles from the station.
PR is a lovely little spot, close to the station, the town, waterfront etc. Shouldn't take for granted how lucky we are as fans to have such a historic ground that's so well located. PR being developed for flats and a new stadium built at Copdock or something would be the absolute pits. |
I never found Burton particularly far from the station to walk and I presume the Memorial Ground is based on local stations which at least go straight back out of Temple Meads.
A couple of others that should probably be on there are Port Vale and Shrewsbury. Despite a closer station, Port Vale is definitely a trek back to Stoke.
And 100% agree on your last point, PR is in an ideal location for all of those reasons plus a large proportion of fans can simply walk to it which wouldn't be the case out of town. |  |
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 11:46 - Oct 12 with 909 views | Sharkey |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 11:09 - Oct 12 by Sharkey |
Yes, Hunter was relatively young himself - perhaps even a player manager to start with. He had Cyril Lea as coach, so good support, and Lea picked things up when Hunter understandably walked away.
I was at Colchester's next game, which was at Tranmere. Checking the facts now, I see the game was just two days later. I was early (I was at university in the north) and was in a pub and Hal Mason, the esteemed Colchester journalist, came in. He asked the landlady how/where he could get some black armbands. She went upstairs and made some on a sewing-machine.
'Hard man' Roy McDonough volunteered to wear Lyons' shirt. (I don't think players had actual shirt numbers in those days, but anyway the number he normally wore if selected.) Colchester won the game 4-2, and I clearly remember McDonough leaving the pitch in tears when he was substituted. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 11:21]
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I don't know how much more U's history anyone has an appetite for, but I'll take my chances.
Looking back, McDonough was quite critical of the management style at the time. This certainly wasn't directed particularly at Allan Hunter, but just at the football culture in general.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/kids-can-learn-from-footballs-most-16787
McDonough later replaced Ian Atkins as Colchester (player-) manager in the Conference, and won the double of League and F.A. trophy. He was clearly adored by the other players, and I suspect he deliberately kept a very small squad to make sure that nobody should ever feel left out. There was a feeling among Colchester fans that the BBC were always rooting for Wycombe to win the Conference, and their manager Martin O'Neil seemed to be permanently on the radio wittering away, when he wasn't busy signing player after player after player, taking advantage of their geographical position near motorways to cream off a lot of non-league talent in the attempt to stop Roy's 'thugs'. And to this day, Wycombe is still a big grudge match, and a fixture that U's fans regret not having at the moment.
So for Colchester fans, Bloomfield is not the guy who played one game for Town, but one who is a legend at Wycombe. But as I say, he's made a promising start, and arguably is a 'poor man's version' of McKenna - young, assured, and articulate. [Post edited 12 Oct 2022 12:14]
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| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 12:01 - Oct 12 with 834 views | clive_baker |
| Most of the largest English clubs nowhere near a train station are in League 1 on 11:14 - Oct 12 by Steve_M |
I never found Burton particularly far from the station to walk and I presume the Memorial Ground is based on local stations which at least go straight back out of Temple Meads.
A couple of others that should probably be on there are Port Vale and Shrewsbury. Despite a closer station, Port Vale is definitely a trek back to Stoke.
And 100% agree on your last point, PR is in an ideal location for all of those reasons plus a large proportion of fans can simply walk to it which wouldn't be the case out of town. |
The Memorial will be based on Filton Abbey Wood, the tiny station that largely serves the MOD. I've used it in the past but it's not close to the stadium particularly, it's got to be 2 miles ish. Quite an interesting walk on derby day though, there's a pub on Filton Avenue called the Bulldog, that's not for the feint hearted when Rovers play Swindon or Bristol City.
I worked for Bristol Rovers for a couple of years some time ago and tended to get there on the bus which its really well served by. Trains less so.
Burton perhaps you're right, felt a bit of a trek this season though but that's perhaps because it was raining and I wasn't dressed for it. We also went to that away pub which you have to overshoot the ground to get to, so perhaps felt further. | |
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