Bath City - Most popular for 2010
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Part 1 of Havant & Whotheheckareyou?-ville can be read here.
We last left this story with Bath City's defence bravely trying to fend off a relentless Havant &
Waterlooville attack. City had taken a 1-0 lead moments before, but up in the terraces there was a
feeling that something was definitely wrong.
Bath City drew against Bishop's Stortford at home in front of 558 people yesterday. That was not
how things were supposed to go.
No. Things were supposed to go very differently. City were supposed to crush Bishop's Stortford as
they did at the away fixture 5-1. This was supposed to happen in front of a bumper crowd made up of
people drawn back after the great football they saw at the last two Saturday home matches (1,404
against Newport County and 3,325 against Forest Green Rovers).
Bath City defeated St Albans City 2-0 yesterday in a decisive victory. This should not be a huge
surprise to anyone: City are a better side than their record would indicate, and St Albans' have
now lost four games on the trot. Perhaps it wasn't a surprise, but it sure was a relief to City
supporters everywhere.
Saturday's coach journey to Welling included a fifteen minute stop at Clacket Lane services on the
M25. As the coach pulled into the car park I noticed that we were pulling in alongside another
coach with the exact same livery. It took a moment for the penny to drop, but eventually it did. My
deduction was confirmed by the exclamation of a fellow passenger: 'It's the players' coach!
Today's Bath City match against Weston-super-Mare was postponed today in very controversial
circumstances. Since Monday's home match against Havant & Waterlooville was called off as well, any
decision not to play was bound to upset a lot of fans. What happened today, though, appears to go
beyond disappointing and move into the realms of farce, gamesmanship, and shame.
In my previous post (New Year Begins With Controversy) I offered to print any official response
from Weston-super-Mare AFC. I did receive an email from one Philip Sheridan yesterday afternoon.
That is the name of the website and program editor for WSM, but the message is from a private email
address and he makes no reference to his position in the club.
When I first started following Bath City I really struggled to figure out which player was which.
This was not because I have some sort of problem recognising faces, but because I was confused by
the numbering system on the player's shirts. To me there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. One
player would wear number 10 in one match and be in a 11 the next.
Yesterday was my first day back to work after the Christmas holidays. As I was parking I noticed
one of my colleagues had arrived at the same time. He is a dedicated Swindon Town fan, so in order
to ease the pain of the first day back at work I decided to walk with him to the office and talk
football.
One of my favourite books is Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass. It is a diary of sorts about
Bass and his partner moving to a remote valley in the Northwestern USA, near Yaak, Montana. He
arrives just in time to begin preparations for the ferocious Montana winter. He knows that foot
after foot of snow will come and render him housebound for weeks at a time.
Bath City fans had something to talk about other than snow yesterday. The Times broke a story about
Bath Rugby's plan to build a new 20,000 seat stadium in the centre of Bath. The frenzied online
discussion that followed was not just polite interest in the plans of another local sports club.
The Times article cites Bath City Football Club as a potential partner in the scheme.
Bath City lost to Thurrock 3-1 on Saturday. After nearly a month without any matches at all, I
suppose I should just be thankful that the season is back underway. That would be a lie, of course.
It's impossible for a loss to be preferable to anything else.
The match was almost postponed in fact.
Bath City defeated Weston-super-Mare 1-0 last night. It was an important victory. City are now in
eighth place, but only four points behind second place Woking. A victory over Dover Athletic this
coming Saturday will almost certainly launch City for the first time this season into a playoff
spot. Holy change-of-fortune, Batman!
As I set down to write this I am aware that I might end up saying some not very nice things about
Bath City's Tuesday night opponents: Weston-super-Mare AFC (the club so nice, they reformed it
twice!). Perhaps that's not fair. I'll admit that it is probably not sporting. Weston are likely to
be relegated at the end of the season and not play Bath City again for several years.
Bath City's match against Dover Athletic yesterday ended in a scoreless draw. It was not the
prettiest display of football this year by City by any measure. You couldn't say it was a boring
match - there were plenty of heart-in-mouth moments. And, if you were in need of more drama than
was on display on the pitch, there was a fair amount in the terraces as well.
I spent most of the second half of Saturday's home match against Dover Athletic wandering around
the ground with my son, Little Nedved Junior. He can handle staying put in the first half, but
after that he needs a bit of distraction to keep from getting too bored. We ended up in front of
the Family Stand, which is the corner of the pitch where the substitute players warm up before
going into the game.
Bath City defeated Maidenhead United 2-1 Saturday in a scrappy and uninspiring away victory. Who
cares if it was scrappy, though? We are now entering the final third of the season and as long as a
match results in three points for City I don't ask questions.
Before I get to the match against Maidenhead, though (of which I will not be asking questions), I'd
better recount some of the significant events that have happened off the pitch this week.
Bath City and Havant & Waterlooville battled out a tough 1-1 draw last night at Twerton Park. I
suppose that I should feel disappointed about this -- a victory would have finally pushed City up
into the playoff spots. And a victory didn't seem too much to ask. After an strong start to the
season, Havant had slid down to the nether regions of the Conference South table.
Last night while I was unsuccessfully trying to publish part 2 of my account of the Havant &
Waterlooville match (the Internet connection died mysteriously in the middle - I'll have it out
tonight), my fellow Bath City fans were at Twerton Park enjoying a concert by the famous West
Country band, the Wurzels.
Bath City defeated lowly Weymouth 2-0 on Saturday. It was not the one-sided goalfest City
supporters had been hoping for. In fact, for a while it looked like there would be no goals scored
at all by either team. Weymouth gambled on a 0-0 draw, hoping to take at least a single point home
with them.
Two eventful moments in the history of English football happened to coincide on the same day today.
Portsmouth FC entered administration (the first Premier League club to ever do this) and Chester
City was ejected from the (non-league) Football Conference for various rules infractions rooted in
serious financial problems.
On Saturday's Supporters Club Coach trip to see Bath City take on Welling United, I recorded short
interviews with thirteen volunteers. They told me about their earliest memories as a Bath City
supporter. Here is the result.
I was hoping to cover a range of time periods, but I was flabbergasted to speak to two City
supporters who first attended matches as school boys during World War II.
Bath City defeated Welling United 2-0 yesterday. It was a brilliant, very important win for City. I
have a feeling I'm going to struggle to write about it without gushing a lot. I apologise in
advance. If any of my readers, especially the ones that are not Bath City supporters, bail out
before they get to the end I understand.
You can read Part 1 of this article here.
By the time all of the Bath City fans had resettled themselves behind the High Street Goal the
match had already been underway for a couple minutes. There wasn't room for our gigantic white
ensign, but the rest of the flags were hung as visibly as possible and we got down to the serious
business of cheering the team on.
Bath City defeated Thurrock 1-0 at Twerton Park Saturday. Despite the rather tame sounding
scoreline, it was a momentous victory for City. I will get to why it was so important in a moment.
Before then I will pause to take a few digs at Thurrock. It is too tempting to resist.
Thurrock are a relatively recently formed football club, having entered the already crowded
London-area football scene in 1985.
After the Welling match I stayed in the area to visit some of Mrs Nedveds's relatives in Kent. On
the way back home on the train the next day I decided to try and write a letter to the Bath
Chronicle to encourage more Bathonians to turn out to City matches.
I was feeling pretty pumped up after the Welling victory.
Bath City drew 1-1 at Eastleigh (or 'Beastleigh' as everyone in non-league football appears to call
them) on Saturday. On many counts, it was a frustrating draw. It did, though, keep City in the
vital playoff zone in the standings. Considering that Eastleigh defeated City at Twerton Park
earlier in the year, getting a point on the away leg isn't too bad a result I suppose.
In the Belly of the Beastleigh - Part 1 can be read here.
One of the nice things that has happened wtih the emergence of the new, extremely vocal Bath City
supporters group ('the Legion') is that I don't get nearly as worked up as I used to in the minutes
before the match begins. Instead of brooding about what a loss or draw would do to City's
promotions prospects I'm usually distracted by how the flags are going up, or what new song we are
going to try today.
In the Belly of the Beastleigh - Part 1 can be read here.
One of the nice things that has happened wtih the emergence of the new, extremely vocal Bath City
supporters group ('the Legion') is that I don't get nearly as worked up as I used to in the minutes
before the match begins. Instead of brooding about what a loss or draw would do to City's
promotions prospects I'm usually distracted by how the flags are going up, or what new song we are
going to try today.
Bath City drew 1-1 at Eastleigh (or 'Beastleigh' as everyone in non-league football appears to call
them) on Saturday. On many counts, it was a frustrating draw. It did, though, keep City in the
vital playoff zone in the standings. Considering that Eastleigh defeated City at Twerton Park
earlier in the year, getting a point on the away leg isn't too bad a result I suppose.
After the Welling match I stayed in the area to visit some of Mrs Nedveds's relatives in Kent. On
the way back home on the train the next day I decided to try and write a letter to the Bath
Chronicle to encourage more Bathonians to turn out to City matches.
I was feeling pretty pumped up after the Welling victory.
Saturday's coach journey to Welling included a fifteen minute stop at Clacket Lane services on the
M25. As the coach pulled into the car park I noticed that we were pulling in alongside another
coach with the exact same livery. It took a moment for the penny to drop, but eventually it did. My
deduction was confirmed by the exclamation of a fellow passenger: 'It's the players' coach!
Bath City defeated Thurrock 1-0 at Twerton Park Saturday. Despite the rather tame sounding
scoreline, it was a momentous victory for City. I will get to why it was so important in a moment.
Before then I will pause to take a few digs at Thurrock. It is too tempting to resist.
Thurrock are a relatively recently formed football club, having entered the already crowded
London-area football scene in 1985.
You can read Part 1 of this article here.
By the time all of the Bath City fans had resettled themselves behind the High Street Goal the
match had already been underway for a couple minutes. There wasn't room for our gigantic white
ensign, but the rest of the flags were hung as visibly as possible and we got down to the serious
business of cheering the team on.
Bath City defeated Welling United 2-0 Saturday. It was a brilliant, and very important win for
City. I have a feeling I'm going to struggle to write about it without gushing a lot. I apologise
in advance. If any of my readers, especially the ones that are not Bath City supporters, bail out
before they get to the end I understand.
On Saturday's Supporters Club Coach trip to see Bath City take on Welling United, I recorded short
interviews with thirteen volunteers. They told me about their earliest memories as a Bath City
supporter. Here is the result.
I was hoping to cover a range of time periods, but I was flabbergasted to speak to two City
supporters who first attended matches as school boys during World War II.
On Saturday's Supporters Club Coach trip to see Bath City take on Welling United, I recorded short
interviews with thirteen volunteers. They told me about their earliest memories as a Bath City
supporter. Here is the result.
I was hoping to cover a range of time periods, but I was flabbergasted to speak to two City
supporters who first attended matches as school boys during World War II.
Two eventful moments in the history of English football happened to coincide on the same day today.
Portsmouth FC entered administration (the first Premier League club to ever do this) and Chester
City was ejected from the (non-league) Football Conference for various rules infractions rooted in
serious financial problems.
Bath City defeated lowly Weymouth 2-0 on Saturday. It was not the one-sided goalfest City
supporters had been hoping for. In fact, for a while it looked like there would be no goals scored
at all by either team. Weymouth gambled on a 0-0 draw, hoping to take at least a single point home
with them. They played a scrappy game, mostly with all eleven players behind the ball.
Part 1 of Havant & Whotheheckareyou?-ville can be read here.
We last left this story with Bath City's defence bravely trying to fend off a relentless Havant &
Waterlooville attack. City had taken a 1-0 lead moments before, but up in the terraces there was a
feeling that something was definitely wrong.
Last night while I was unsuccessfully trying to publish part 2 of my account of the Havant &
Waterlooville match (the Internet connection died mysteriously in the middle - I'll have it out
tonight), my fellow Bath City fans were at Twerton Park enjoying a concert by the famous West
Country band, the Wurzels.
