Workington

west cumberland marrs wrote:be nice to see you all at borough park,the ground may be scruffy,but the playing surface is one of the best in the country.
enjoy a safe trip through the beautiful cumbrian countryside.
been following the reds since the fifties,better than following the so called glamour clubs,
Workington are my team,not some team from miles away.

Good post.

I've always looked out for Workington's results ever since i was kid,i always felt sorry for them having to try and get re-elected each year and playing in front of only 1000+ fans even in the league days.

I've watched that old YouTube video about your groundsman,Shankly and the last home league match you played v Newport County in 1977,in fact i watched it the night before the cup draw was made so i guess i had a premonition.

Hope we get chance to say hello to you when we visit,i'm looking forward to seeing your ground.

All the best.

Just watched that video about Workington's last match and their "relegation." Fascinating stuff. Less than 40 years ago but a totally different World!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAlljVWRhXc

Interesting bit of video taken by a Wrexham fan in 2009 (I think)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKfdgZVr-cY

In case anybody is getting carried away, they got a very good point against Hednesford today in a 2-2 draw. Workington led twice. Their first goal was apparently down to a back-pass from Macca that was intercepted.

I didn't think I'd ever seen Workington play before... but just realised that I have!

1998/99 - FA Vase 4th Round (last 32). Oldbury Utd 0-4 Workington.

(Just in case anybody was interested)




PS. I am now checking all of my posts very carefully for spelling and grammatical errors.

It really is amazing that a club with a history such as Workington's ever dropped to a level low enough for them to compete in the FA Vase.

Nathan Gulliver wrote:It really is amazing that a club with a history such as Workington's ever dropped to a level low enough for them to compete in the FA Vase.

I think they were only in the Vase that one season when they dropped into the North West Counties League (equivalent to Midland Alliance). At that time (pre Conf North & South) it was step 4. They won that League at the first attempt.

been more of a rugby league town thab soccer,both clubs shared borough park in the fifties when Workington town attracted crowds well into 5 figures.
even so the reds have had good crowds over the years,the local derbies with Carlisle used to pull in 18,000.
anyhow back to Saturday,may the best team win,thanks for your kind welcome,i,ll just get back to my old daily express community song sheet from the 1956 fa cup final between city and brum.
KEEP RIGHT ON.
see you sat.

west cumberland marrs wrote:been more of a rugby league town thab soccer,both clubs shared borough park in the fifties when Workington town attracted crowds well into 5 figures.
even so the reds have had good crowds over the years,the local derbies with Carlisle used to pull in 18,000.
anyhow back to Saturday,may the best team win,thanks for your kind welcome,i,ll just get back to my old daily express community song sheet from the 1956 fa cup final between city and brum.
KEEP RIGHT ON.
see you sat.

I've been to Derwent Park for Rugby League (with the mighty Featherstone Rovers - not so mighty that day - we lost). Would have been about 20 years ago. I'm sure a few of our supporters will have been there for speedway as well.

It sounds to me as though you might be a Birmingham City supporter. I'd keep that quiet and hope nobody notices if I were you. No love lost between Brummies and us Black Country folk!

What sort of crowd are you expecting on Saturday? Is it grabbing the attention up your way?

Been doing a bit of fact-finding on the Football Club History Database (you'll love this... no, honestly you will...).

If it goes to a replay it will be the furthest south Workington will have played an FA Cup tie since 1954/55 when they lost at Luton Town after winning at Leyton Orient in the previous round. Closest they have come was last season when they drew at Barwell and won the replay.

Before that you have to go back to 1934/35 when they played at Northampton Town.

But obviously they do go further south these days for League matches at Leamington, Brackley and Oxford, and they've been to Braintree, AFC Wimbledon (ironic, that) and Stevenage in the Trophy in recent years too.

As far as I can tell, this is the furthest north Stourbridge have EVER had to travel for an FA Cup tie. Of course, we have had to go further north in both the FA Vase and FA Trophy.

Told you you'd love it!    

Disappointed i cant make it, as booked to do the weekend in London for the NFL last year.
SHould be a good following up there from the Stour lot. Albion Mark will be taking my flag, still needs the ''ss7'' to be replaced.

Shame you cant make it Nick,remember at Plymouth you bouncing down the steps after the Ryan Rowe goal? Seen DY9 stour today he will be in attendance with 6 people,we could do with his sprint down the terraces if we score,like at Weymouth;) 

Its looking more and more like we are easily going to reach the 100 + mark in terms of numbers making the trip on Saturday. As of last night,another 20 bookings will see us reach 80+ on the coaches and I can see the same number again making the trip in cars. Let's hope this bloody rain stops!

What rain? Has it been raining?  

Will expect there will be at least 130+ of us there. Just ashame really as imagine how much more it would have been if it was even half the distance.

Jack wrote:Will expect there will be at least 130+ of us there. Just ashame really as imagine how much more it would have been if it was even half the distance.

There's the challenge for Mickleover!

All joking aside, days like Saturday are a big opportunity to grow the travelling support. Let's make it a really good atmosphere and encourage the first-timers and the every-now-and-againers to make it a regular thing.

Just hope that their pitch can hold out with all the rain forecast.

TRM wrote:All joking aside, days like Saturday are a big opportunity to grow the travelling support. Let's make it a really good atmosphere and encourage the first-timers and the every-now-and-againers to make it a regular thing.

The first target we should be looking to reach in terms of capitalising on a large away support on Saturday is to be aiming to take a supporters coach to most if not every away match. With Prospect Coaches now supplying the club,it should be no problem to arrange a second coach alongside the team coach. Infact,the club could actually benefit financially if Prospects were to offer a discounted rate for the team coach on the basis of us hiring two.

This could be done as part of the Supporters Club (I believe it is still operational and account still active) or organised by the club. If we go down the Supporters Club route,this could help us re-ignite the SFCSC and start taking memberships again and organising other club events.

The BBC website weather forecast for Workington, in brief...

Raining from now until tomorrow afternoon, then dry until early Friday morning. Then heavy rain until Friday lunchtime, and light rain until early Saturday morning. After that, dry all day Saturday. But it will change, it always does...

To be honest, I'm almost as worried that the roads might be flooded like they were up there a couple of years ago - bridges washed away and all that - and we might not be able to actually get there!

Panic not....it will all be fine.

west cumberland marrs wrote:be nice to see you all at borough park,the ground may be scruffy,but the playing surface is one of the best in the country.
enjoy a safe trip through the beautiful cumbrian countryside.
been following the reds since the fifties,better than following the so called glamour clubs,
Workington are my team,not some team from miles away.

I am encouraged by this! I've seen photos of their ground and pitch that suggest this is no exaggeration.

Nathan Gulliver wrote:

TRM wrote:All joking aside, days like Saturday are a big opportunity to grow the travelling support. Let's make it a really good atmosphere and encourage the first-timers and the every-now-and-againers to make it a regular thing.

The first target we should be looking to reach in terms of capitalising on a large away support on Saturday is to be aiming to take a supporters coach to most if not every away match. With Prospect Coaches now supplying the club,it should be no problem to arrange a second coach alongside the team coach. Infact,the club could actually benefit financially if Prospects were to offer a discounted rate for the team coach on the basis of us hiring two.

This could be done as part of the Supporters Club (I believe it is still operational and account still active) or organised by the club. If we go down the Supporters Club route,this could help us re-ignite the SFCSC and start taking memberships again and organising other club events.

Im my opinion the club should look into purchasing it's own coach second hand.

I'm not a believer in renting vehicles and property,it's not the way i run my own business.

Instead of pouring dead money into the coach week after week it could become an asset and make the club a profit each season.

Once your ban is completed Nath we could put you forward as driver,"Confession's of a bus driver" would then make us a fortune in additional sales.

Women like a man in uniform.

TRM wrote:The BBC website weather forecast for Workington, in brief...

Raining from now until tomorrow afternoon, then dry until early Friday morning. Then heavy rain until Friday lunchtime, and light rain until early Saturday morning. After that, dry all day Saturday. But it will change, it always does...

To be honest, I'm almost as worried that the roads might be flooded like they were up there a couple of years ago - bridges washed away and all that - and we might not be able to actually get there!

I'm more worried about not being able to get back.

A few days trapped in a small town with Nathan and Jim could see me losing 70% of my hard earned wealth in a divorce.

Yes,it makes sense to look into buying a coach,especially when you look at the amount of times per season we as a club are now using one. With the exception of Redditch and Banbury,we will be taking a coach to every single away league fixture this season. With cup games on top,we could be looking at least 25 trips per season. Even at an average of £500 per coach this is £12,500 a season and £500 average is a conservative estimate.

Devil's Advocate wrote:

TRM wrote:The BBC website weather forecast for Workington, in brief...

Raining from now until tomorrow afternoon, then dry until early Friday morning. Then heavy rain until Friday lunchtime, and light rain until early Saturday morning. After that, dry all day Saturday. But it will change, it always does...

To be honest, I'm almost as worried that the roads might be flooded like they were up there a couple of years ago - bridges washed away and all that - and we might not be able to actually get there!

I'm more worried about not being able to get back.

A few days trapped in a small town with Nathan and Jim could see me losing 70% of my hard earned wealth in a divorce.

Yes DA, there is good reason why Ulster Jim and myself are unmarried!