Chasetown v Trafford

After a VERY messy day out in Preston the previous day, I was still pissed surprisingly chipper this morning and bounced out of the house early doors to board the 0722 train from Blackpool North.

I was determined to do better today – having made bad decision after bad decision yesterday – enlisting Paddington’s help to get my eating and drinking and general lifestyle choices back on track. I started the day well with breakfast #1.

Southbound

I had to change at Preston (scene of yesterday’s carnage). It’s funny but for years I’ve fucking hated that station but, now I know there are so many friendly people and great pubs/beers just outside, I am warming to the place. The station is still shit and always fucking freezing but I no longer have a cloud over my head when I arrive there. It’s also great to know that, if I AM ever stuck there (as often happens), I know exactly where to pop for a warm welcome and a lush beer (or two).

It was too early for that sort of thing today, though, so I headed to the waiting room (still cold) and set about writing my Preston blog, which was to keep me occupied for the duration of my travels today. I hadn’t brought a book to force myself to get it written.

My connecting train arrived on time and I wrote all the way down to Stafford. There was rail replacement carnage beyond Stafford – hence me alighting here – and Wendy’s husband Daz kindly collected me from Stafford. We chatted football and SlimmingWorld all the way to Brownhills, where Wendy and I said goodbye to our chauffeur and headed for breakfast.

Star Coffee

I’d got an early train in case of delays (the trains weren’t helpful on my last visit to the Midlands) and the early arrival meant we had time for a leisurely breakfast before the pubs opened.

They didn’t have any Earl Grey here so I had to make do with regular tea with honey. I would have had a banana milkshake as well, if Paddington’s voice hadn’t been so strong today.

Wendy attempted to order a salad with her omelette but this was refused and explained away by our hostess.

‘Chef can’t be doing with preparing salads before lunchtime. We prepare our salads fresh, you see. He says it’s hard enough preparing all the ingredients for breakfasts, without having salads to deal with as well. They’re available from lunchtime.’

So Wendy had chips with her omelette instead. It’s not always easy this SlimmingWorld lark, when you can’t get the swaps you want.

We took our time finishing up as we were conscious it wasn’t quite 1100 yet – and it was warmer in here than it would be standing outside the pub waiting for it to open. We left it til about 1055 and then continued down Brownhills High Street to the first pub of the day.

The Jack Jigger Taylor

We loitered outside and were stepping through the doors within seconds of our host opening them.

‘We’ve not really been waiting here for you to open.’

‘Hey I’m not judging.’

Wendy and I were still talking a lot about SlimmingWorld and she’s quite the inspiration, reminding me of things I used to do that I’ve not been doing this time around (such as planning and noting down my syns). Subsequently, this being the hot topic of the day, we made good choices when ordering our drinks here today. Wendy ordered a Tia Maria and Diet Coke, whereas I went for a Diet Coke. Frankly, I wasn’t ready for a beer yet after yesterday’s excesses. Had I been, I would have gone for the Dancing Duck here, as the award winning choice – and I think I went to their brewery once upon a time.

‘IT IS EASIER TO MAKE GOOD CHOICES WHEN YOU SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD FRIENDS’

This was a sign above the window at the front of the pub and it’s very true.

A disturbing message came through from Karina, who we were due to meet in the next pub shortly after noon.

This sent us into a state of panic. We were only IN Brownhills so we could go to the Jiggers Whistle. It’s my old local and a belting micropub where I was greeted by name from my very first visit. Plus Wendy had already sold me on the New Invention Scoop Solero beer (Ice cream pale with peach, passionfruit, mango and pineapple) that they had on. I double-checked because I didn’t want to believe what Karina was telling us…but sadly it seemed it was true. With the match kicking off at 1500, we didn’t feasibly have time to wait around until 1400 for the Jiggers to open. And I was so keen to see their new refurb too.

We needed a Plan B (I’m getting good at those through necessity these days) – and that was to rendezvous at the pub down the road from the ground. We notified Karina and I checked out the bus timetable while Wendy powdered her nose. Whilst doing so, I came up with a cunning plan to help with our SlimmingWorld mission. But would Wendy agree? I put it to her when she arrived back at the table.

‘So…you know how we’re making good decisions today to protect our weight loss…? Well, how do you feel about walking to the ground from here.’

I argued that, by the time we’d waited for the bus and travelled on the bus, it would only get us there ten minutes quicker than if we walked the 40 minutes across Chasewater. I used to walk (or cycle) to the ground from my house back in the day, so I knew it was doable – and a lovely walk as well. Happily, Wendy eventually agreed and off we marched.

It was good to be back on familiar turf and I reminisced as we passed the library, where I first joined SlimmingWorld when I was living down here.

Woah – hang on – what the fuck is THAT?!

It was a lovely walk through the country park, past Beowulf Brewery, across the reservoir (without the cloud of midgies present in the summer), passing all the dog walkers and joggers, across the bridge, down through the car park, past The Scholars Ground (more of that later), arriving at the pub where we had most definitely earned our beer.

Uxbridge Arms

Hmm is that food I can smell?

Now, what to drink in here?

I had a taster of both of the dark beers but I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for a beer – or indeed if I wanted beer at all today. But then I channelled Fuck It Rupert and went in for a half of the Salopian Aubade.

Now, I’m not going to lie, it was a struggle to get such a chewy dark beer down today. I’m all for hair of the dog but this was like a furball.

Karina arrived not long after us. As she stood next to me at the bar, she remarked: ‘ooh I’d forgotten that you were tiny too.’ Whilst I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I collect tiny friends, it is always a special treat when I meet up with them.

We took over a big table at the far right of the pub. It’s so strange being in here because it had a massive refurb – as in internal walls being knocked down and new ones added – and it’s totally unrecognisable from how it was. It used to be a traditional boozer and now it looks like, well, a Black Country Ales pub. It’s great but a huge change. I reminisced about the nude painting of the old landlord’s wife that used to hang in the back room. The artwork now just wasn’t the same.

I apologised to the girls for not quite being myself. If only I could force this beer down, I might feel better.

And then I had a brainwave. I knew exactly what I needed. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner? Of course stouts and porters were too heavy for me. What I needed was a light and fluffy pint of mild! Pig On The Wall please!

Dear reader, I was back to my old self in no time at all. Karina was delighted to see the return of ‘cask conditioned Jane’ – a name I rather liked.

It felt like home here today. I kept seeing familiar faces I knew from the Walsall pub scene (you know the ones whose name you don’t know but they’re always in the pub). It never felt like home when I lived here. It’s so funny now when I come back. It is so familiar that I keep forgetting I’m not in Blackpool. It’s the strangest feeling.

And of course there were my Chasetown friends, too. A few of them were in the pub here now, with many more to follow as we headed down Church Street to the newly revamped Scholars Ground.

Chasetown v Trafford

If you’re a new reader (hello Preston) or if you’re a regular reader who doesn’t pay attention, I will point out here that I worked at Chasetown from 2017-2019 (during the Blackpool boycott). Basically I had a breakdown because I couldn’t live without football and you can read more about this here if you’d like to understand why Chasetown means so much to me.

Turning left on entering the turnstiles (a tenner in), I began a circuit of the ground, as I’d promised Lamby (Chief Exec of Chase) I would, so I could check out all the improvements.

I began by seeking out myself in the wall of fame, which was created to raise money for something or other – I can’t remember what. Possibly the new changing rooms.

I pressed my nose against the glass of the club shop to see if there was anything in there that took my fancy. I felt like a football tourist today and simply HAD to get something Chase related to take home with me. In the pub earlier, we’d been talking about hoodies and how I wanted a beer hoodie to promote my favourite breweries (and/or pubs) – suggestions welcomed, btw. I’ve got loads of t-shirts but they don’t get seen for most of the year, as they’re buried under several layers. And, lo and behold, they had some Chasetown hoodies here. Ooh well how could I resist the opportunity to promote my beloved Chase?

I also bought a couple of Chasetown beakers. I have a Colne FC one at home (that I bought at the match v Ponte Colls in 2020) and it has survived the dishwasher very nicely. But obvs it was Chase I needed in this department.

The woman in the shop (where they took actual card payments – this is a whole new world) apologised but they didn’t have any bags. As I’d travelled sans rucksack today, I did need one, really, so urged her to get creative.

‘I can see a bag on the counter there.’

‘Yeah but that’s got my stuff in it. Hang on…there’s one here that someone’s returned something in. You can have that, I suppose.’

This was a LUKE1977.COM bag (note they were plastered all over the exterior of the club shop too). I have no idea who they are but someone in the clubhouse after the game did try and explain but I was too many beers down by then. Something to do with Aston Villa or something.

While I was shopping, Wendy and Karina had found another Non League Dog to fuss.

Having completed our circuit of the ground (I love having the freedom to do this at non league grounds), we headed into the clubhouse to assess their selection of drinks, having found nothing to our liking in the outlets around the ground. I opted for the Doom Bar (there was a choice of keg or bottle and I went for the keg). It went down so well that I think I might have had another one at half time and another one (at least) after the match. It seemed I had my drinking head on again, so order was restored.

We watched the first half – beers in hand, bobble hat and gloves on to stave off the cold – from the corner by the Stag Bar. There are two steps on the terrace now, with the pitch having been lowered and levelled. The ground had been replaced too, no longer concrete steps, but some sort of stuff that looks like tarmac but is comfier underfoot. You can see for yourself in the pics above.

The Scholars Ground was full of friends – nay, my football family – and I felt very much at home here. I believe Wendy and Karina did, too, both being local girls from Burntwood and seeing faces familiar to them, too. Indeed Lamby’s sister (I think) is Wendy’s SlimmingWorld consultant.

I was keen to catch up with John, my mentor when I was at Chase, with whom I once spoke pretty much every day. I had spotted his wife, Edna, and she sent me in the direction of the new media room on the level above the club shop. Media room! En route we got nattering with Lamby, who told us all about the renovation work on the ground, which had escalated into a seven-figure sum. How the club has changed since I left in 2019! I left the girls with Lamby as I headed off in search of John.

This room was amazing. And to think, if I’d stuck around, I could be watching home games from here in the warm on a chair at an actual desk while I was noting down the goalscorers and substitutions to report to the league. That said, I always did prefer to be on the halfway line for a better overall view of the action. I do find it tricky to see what’s going on at the other end of the pitch from behind the goal. Especially with my eyes being as they are at the moment…

The match ended 4-0 to Chase and you MUST watch the highlights because the fourth goal was a fucking worldie (3’15 if you CBA watching it all).

On the final whistle we headed into the clubhouse, which was fucking ROCKING. I took a little video of it for you, dear reader.

It was lovely to see so many friendly faces in here and I was greeted warmly by many, including the two players remaining from my time here, Langy (Jack Langston) and Oli (Hayward), and goalkeeping coach Birty, who I often travelled to away games with back in the day. There was also Fred (Financial Manager) and Chairman Steve Jones, who kindly shouted drinks for me and the girls.

Jonesy also interviewed someone from Trafford (soz, wasn’t paying attention to who) who said: ‘I hope you win the league. This is the best club I’ve been to.’ How lovely is that? Lovely club Trafford, too, btw – despite Adrian shooting me in the head on my last visit there.

Dear reader, I felt so much love for Chase today. I never did want to leave them but the pull of Blackpool in the excitement of The Homecoming proved too much to resist. I thought at the time that I had to make a choice between Blackpool and Chase but I realise now that I didn’t have to make such a choice at all. And now, here I am, living the best of both worlds – watching Blackpool on their unbeaten run at home and going to watch Chase on those Saturdays when Blackpool play away (because fuck standing up at Blackpool away games). Someone (possibly Birty) said to me today that, once this club’s in your heart, it stays in your heart. And that is so true for me. I will always love Chase and be grateful to the club for being there for me when I needed them, when I needed football. I was so emotional today that I found myself welling up with love for this wonderful club. I am so proud of them and the progress they are making. I also love that every time I go back someone asks me if I’ll come back to work there. How wonderful to feel so loved and valued and wanted.

I could have stayed here all night but the girls were keen to get another pub in, so off we trotted back down Church Street, past the Uxbridge to the next pub along.

The Miners Rest

This is a Joules pub and here are the beers that they had on tonight:

Karina and I were both puzzled by the Penny Pincher that we were drinking. It didn’t taste of toffee at all – but could we figure out what that distinctive flavour was? I suggested it was some spice or other and rattled a few off but couldn’t say with conviction exactly which it was. The answer was revealed on a poster on the way out.

Sorry but because beer I can’t remember THAT much about our time in the Miners, other than that I scoffed a cheese and onion cob (barmcake to northern readers, but this one was a cob because we’re in the Black Country, I think, or it is technically Staffordshire?).

It was soon time for me to head home. Daz kindly returned to collect us and despatch me at Stafford station.

Northbound

I finished writing my Preston blog on the way home. I changed trains at Preston and again didn’t mind being there quite so much – although it was fucking freezing. I attempted shelter in the nook by the vending machine on Platform 1. Finally the train arrived to whisk me home to the magical wonderland that is Blackpool.

I bumped into Ozzy on the train – a Blackpool fan making his way home from Bristol Rovers. We’d both enjoyed a win today so concluded it had been a good day, despite having a slight difference of opinion over CJ Hamilton.

Thanks, Chase (and Wendy and Karina and everyone) for another belting day out. I will be back home at the Scholars Ground very soon…

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Next up: Bent n Bongs Beer Festival.