Football’s back – welcome home
Strolling into Matlock Town’s glorious Causeway ground last Friday, it was remarkable how different some things were, and yet also how familiar.
The Season Stumbles Already
As the weirdest of years gets even weirder, the weirdest of football seasons finally got underway on Saturday, the sodden murk at Gainsborough providing a fitting backdrop to perhaps the strangest and most low-key start to any season in Boston United’s history.
The Quadrant: State of Play
In all the excitement of Boston United playing – and winning – their first home fixture since the Neolithic era on Tuesday night, you might have missed the club (or more specifically, Craig Singleton) drip feeding us new photos from the site of the new Community Stadium development over the last 24 hours.
Time To Say Goodbye: Life After York Street
Back in April, his voice on the verge of cracking, Boston United chairman David Newton gripped the microphone, stared back at supporters gathered in the club’s Pilgrim Lounge and reiterated his determination to deliver them a new stadium.
United’s Last Stand: A Decade Since Wrexham
Such was the drama of the occasion you didn’t notice it on the day, and it’s tricky to spot on the fuzzy YouTube footage, but Boston United’s faint hopes of remaining a Football League club were actually killed off by a rabona.
Gregg Smith: the new Mickey Nuttell?
A cold, grim night in Ilkeston. The clock said 83. Boston United were playing badly and heading for yet another defeat. Little surprise there: the Boston United of eight years ago were not very good, and the New Manor Ground was a ground no-one ever looked forward to visiting.
Boston United’s Road To Nowhere
It has been two and a half years since I wrote about the future for the Boston Standard. So last weekend, in a post-Darlington pique, I decided to go take a look at it.
Winning Wars With His Head: Denton Ends Boston’s Season
For as long as there are football matches, there will be people who turn up determined not to watch them. Such was the case during Boston United’s season-ending defeat at North Ferriby on Sunday afternoon, during which one Pilgrims fan – having ‘occupied’ the stand where some local children had chosen to watch the game […]
Derby Days: Who *ARE* Boston United fans supposed to hate?
When Trinity manager Steve Housham sat down with the BBC’s Rob Makepeace last week and, with a smirk so smug it was literally audible, rolled out a clichéd, finger-based observation about Boston’s townsfolk, he probably thought he was striking a great blow to his bête noire, Dennis Greene, and dumping a gallon of napalm onto […]
Farewell To All That: The Best and Worst of 2015
For all the terrible reasons you already know about, 2015 is a year many will be happy to see the back of. If it wasn’t the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians, it was floods. And if it wasn’t floods, it was dead children on beaches. And if it wasn’t dead children on beaches, it was bombs on planes. […]
From Fanzines To Punk Football: The Resistance Endures
Half time during a dull Manchester derby and the advert for a well-known betting company arrives like a lorry crashing through your living room.
The Premier League: English Football’s Vacuous Death Star
When news about the latest blockbuster Sky/BT television deal exploded across Twitter, so scarcely believable were the figures that you could sense the incredulity from those at the press conference. You could almost hear their brains fizzing and popping as they let the news sink in.