fredmciverslovechild

Bannan bleeds blue and white and it must be killing him what's happening at the moment knowing that there's f all any one can do about it. Most other players would have given up long ago.

The last three times we've gone down to League One it's taken us two seasons each time to get back. At this moment in time I'd settle for that.

We also lost out on Europe after winning the League Cup in 1990/91 because England had lost all the accumulated coefficient points.

Remember the Boxing Day game against Villa. When I got home I started being unwell, was violently sick and doubled over in pain. Nothing to do with the game; I had a strangulated hernia so ended up in hospital in Rotherham about midnight having emergency surgery. Reckon the surgeon must have had a bit too much of the Christmas spirit as I ended up back in hospital a few weeks later having it re-done.

Yes, sort it by message closer to the day.

Are you going to the WSM Cup Tie, Daz? Tickets just gone on sale; got mine!

It starts at 22.30 on that video.

Daz....You might be interested in a bit of nostalgia. This is the game which had the previous best attendance and which I went to. Shame the clip misses Ricky Holmes classic taking the p*** out of the AFC bench after his penalty..... But as you see we've been there before in terms of investment. Peter Webb put a lot of his and his company's money into the club at that time but sadly it ended in acrimony. I hope we don't go down that path again.

Attendances this year compared to last amongst the top six divisions:

Remember....the last three times we have been in League One it's taken us two years to get out.

Remember his debut against Boro. Put in the side because we weren't scoring and hadn't won in about seven games after being top of the table one point. He didn't score that day but well remember Jimmy Mullen did; from about 35 yards out.

Think you're mixing Oscar up with Andy McCulloch there!

I mentioned Wealdstone because I lived in Harrow about a mile from Lower Mead from about 1979 to 1981. I used to frequently watch games there; Stuart Pearce was a chippie and budding full back and a guy called John Watson in midfield who was far and away the dirtiest player I've ever seen. In a game against Altrincham he pole-axed an opponent and then walked on his face; that was one of his softer days. Their ground sale was absolutely dodgy business; I know this for a fact because a relative, who lost his career as a result, was involved. He has always claimed innocence though he did end up with a brand new apartment overlooking Tower Bridge as a result..... Anyhow, back to City and Weston Super Mare at home in Round Two. I'd love to know, if they get through, how they'll accommodate Man Uts (or even Wednesday for that matter) at home in Round Three!

I think the bit about a ground in Melbourne Park goes back to 2012 when City beat Colchester 3-1 (Clinton Morison and all!) in the First Round and there was talk then about the ground. There always is when they have a good cup run. The talk then was of a temporary ground; quite what the point of that would have been I can't imagine. Half the hope seems to be that the athletes might just bugger off leaving City free to develop. That would create extra space for parking and other facilities but it simply ain't going to happen. Anyway, I put some pics of the old, well loved, ground on here a while back. Page 60 if it's not the right one.

I've actually lived in Chelmsford for forty years now which means I've been watching Chelmsford City play for forty years! And the problem with the ground is not a new one; I would say it's been there for the last 38 of them. When I first started watching they had a ground almost next door to Essex CCC in the city centre. That was a decent ground though in need of a bit of TLC but was certainly the equivalent of Fourth Division grounds of the time. If they'd stayed there and perhaps ultimately developed it into a 10 to 12,000 capacity stadium I'm certain they would have been in the EFL long ago. But, unfortunately, it didn't work out that way and the ground issue is definitely now holding them back. The problems started with the storm of Oct 1987 which destroyed part of The Barn; the barrel-shaped covering down one touchline. Rather than re-build it costs meant they had to demolish the entire side so for seven years football was played with a 100 yard wooden garden fence down one side of the pitch. It was odd to say the least. Various proposals were put forward; one involved turning the pitch round by 90 degrees to create more space between it and the County Ground and building a hotel/leisure complex on the land in between but it never got past the initial planning stage. A little later, when thoughts turned to a ground move, sites at what became the university campus and the local park n ride at Sandon were suggested. I remember a programme from about 1992 with a mock up of the ground at Sandon but that came to nothing also. In more recent years the huge development at Beaulieu originally had a sports complex with new grounds for both City and Essex CCC in it; unfortunately that part was never proceeded with. By the mid-90's the ground had to be sold but, a la Wealdstone and probably countless others, the money the club should have received never materialised. City were forced into ground shares first at Maldon & Tiptree (the coldest place on earth bar none) and hated rivals Billericay Town as attendances plummeted. A move back to the City was an absolute essential and so Melbourne Stadium was a godsend. That happened in 2006 but it was only ever seen as a stopgap; unfortunately the stopgap has lasted 19 years. It is totally unsuitable for football as the pictures show. On one side you have two lots of running tracks plus the dug outs whilst on the other you have flat standing. Behind the goals you have small bits of metal terracing which are rolled in place for the football season and fencing everywhere. In decent weather like last Sat it's not too bad but the ground is so open that in bad weather it's for the hardy only. You are never going to get occasional fans in a stadium like that. The current new owner seems to be pushing this new ground business a little more strongly than for a while but it's difficult to see, considering the pressure the local council is under to provide new houses, where this could be within the city. There are probably out of town sites which could be used but I don't think that would be popular with fans. The solution, I am afraid, is not an easy one.