Altrincham Football Club News Archive
29 September to 9 October 2001.

9 October 2001

WOODLEY v ALTY

In the next round of the Cheshire Senior Cup, Alty have drawn Woodley Sports, away. The games are in the week of 12 November. The full draw is-
  • Woodley Sports v Altrincham
  • Stockport Co. v Crewe Alex.
  • Chester City v Stalybridge C./Tranmere R.
  • Macclesfield v Warrington Town

    UNIBOND CUP

    Last night Emley beat Ossett Town 4-0 in the UniBond Cup.
    8 October 2001

    FAIR PLAY

    At the end of September, Alty lay joint 16th in the fair play league with 15 yellow cards and two reds in league and cup matches. Vauxhall lead the table, with Burton second, though Burton are the winners if only league games are considered. For the updated picture on Alty's bookings visit the Statistics Page and see who was booked where on the League and Cup Line-Up pages.

    AWAY TRAVEL

    Details of the supporters' coach to the Widnes home of Runcorn FC Halton on 16th October are now available; just click the Away Travel button at top of page. Road directions are also provided there for car drivers. Maps of all UniBond grounds are on the Links page.

    TWO CHESHIRE BOSSES GO AND A THIRD IN TROUBLE

    Gordon Hill has been relieved of his job as manager of Chester City but new owner, Steven Vaughan, is keeping Hill on as Director of Football. At Macclesfield, manager Gil Prescott has resigned. Meanwhile at Northwich, only last month Jimmy Quinn was Conference manager of the month. Now the Drill Fielder, the unofficial Vics' website, is calling for him to go as the team plunges down the league. Vics and Witton fans are also demanding some clarification of the reported plan for Witton Albion to move to the new ground which the Vics are to construct nearby and groundshare with their rivals.

    ACCRINGTON STANLEY 0 ALTRINCHAM 0


    Sertori and Mullin are centre-stage in this scene from yesterday's game captured by Alan Johnson. For more pictures, see Alan's photographic archive website.

    This site's match report is here.

    The Alty team details and the updated league table and statistics can be found by clicking the League Table, League Line-Ups and Statistics buttons above. The Accrington web site also has a match report.

    Sunday's other game:

  • Hyde Utd 0 Droylsden 3 (3 ex-Robins made the headlines - James Glendenning got the first goal, Adam Farley was sent off and Michael Moore carried off.)
    For updated league table, click here.

    Ks GO BUMP

    Kingstonian, relegated last year from the Conference, have voluntarily called in financial administrators to deal with their losses. These are mainly caused by a high wage-bill based on Conference rates of pay- sounds familiar?

    TWO NEW SITES

    Whitby Town now has an attractive alternative website, run by Neil Thaler, and reachable from here, whilst Tom Fern has set up a new general UniBond site. Both are well worth a look. For these and a host of other links, visit this site's Links Page.
    7 October 2001

    YOUTH PLEA

    On the Fans' Forum Youth team coach Neil Thomason is appealing for sponsorship of the Youth Team polo shirts for their big match at the Racecourse Stadium, Wrexham, in the FA Youth Cup 1st Round Proper (date to be announced). If you can help, please contact Neil on 0161 941 4007 or 07802 494673. For more on the Youth team and their Cup and league progress, click here.

    GOALS

    Altrincham's home and away league games this season have resulted in the joint lowest number of goals of any team in the UniBond Premiership, 30 (20 for and 10 against). However, Rod Thornley's 11 league and cup goals already equal our top scorer's tally for the whole of last season, when Steve Finney also got 11. Altrincham are to receive their UniBond Club of the Month award before Tuesday's home game with Trafford.

    OLD BOYS

    A Telford fan is trying to raise £10,000 to lure Mark Quayle back to his club. The ex-Alty striker scored a hat-full of goals whilst on loan to Telford from Morecambe, prompting the Shrimps to recall the transfer-listed Quayle. The Pink has an illustrated article on Danny Adams. In an interview Danny relives his period working on German building sites after being released by Bury. He goes on to describe his period at Moss Lane, where he found John King and Graham Heathcote "fantastic, the sort of leaders I could really look up to". He also reveals that he has not yet signed a contract this season at Macca, "so I am open to offers". "I know general fitness is still the weakest area of my game", added Danny, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Also in the Pink, Mark Ward again signals his ambition to re-enter management. Not lacking in ambition, he says that he "will be applying for every job that comes up from Conference standard upwards". He also commented "I am not bitter towards Altrincham but I'll always believe the reasons they gave for sacking me were ridiculous".

    ROD ON POSTER

    The centre of the Pink is a double-page poster of yesterday's successful England international side; far right, front row is Mr R. Thornley of Altrincham FC, the team's masseur. Rod should be in action today for Alty at Accrington.

    AROUND THE UNIBOND

    Former Stalybridge man, Martin Filson, has joined Hyde United as assistant manager. Craig Dootson, the Leigh keeper, has joined Bradford P.A.. Dave Pace expects there to be a regular exchange of players between Chester City and Droylsden now that his business partner Steve Vaughan owns the Deva club.
    6 October 2001

    THE OTHER INTERNATIONAL

    Following their two days of training on the luxuriant Moss Lane pitch, the Greeks almost beat England at Old Trafford today. But, there was another international in the Borough of Trafford today. Our League Cup opponents (next Tuesday), Trafford FC entertained Scottish side Gretna at Shawe View at 1pm. Not only did Gretna beat their hosts 4-1, but Trafford also lost two of their defenders, Paul Varley and Lee Southworth, with injuries. These two join their sidelined leading scorer and ex-Robin, Darren Emmett, on the treatment table. The young Gretna side always looked dangerous against the less mobile Trafford back-three and goals from Errington (24 mins), Smart (38) and Henney (84 and 90) were only countered by Weston's 43rd minute strike for the hosts. Two of the Gretna side today were in the side which lost to Alty Youth in the FA Youth Cup last month.

    WEEKEND GAMES

    Goalkeeper Stuart Coburn was Man of the Match against Barrow last Tuesday and he is seen, right, enjoying the win at Burscough this season with team-mates Mark Maddox and Steve Hawes. Because of the World Cup qualifier, Alty have no game till Sunday, at Accrington. Today's UniBond results were:
  • Bradford P.A. 3 Frickley A. 0
  • Burscough 1 Marine 1
    The revised league table is here. Hyde go bottom once more as Bradford won their first match of the season. Following yet another mess-up last night on Ceefax, which showed Bamber Bridge beating Gateshead 4-1 instead of losing by that score, Alty are now fifth (on goals scored) and not fourth as appeared to be the case.
    5 October 2001

    BURTON LOSE AS ALTY DROP

    League leaders Burton Albion lost tonight but Lancaster, Gateshead and Barrow overtook Alty, at least till Sunday. If Altrincham win at Accrington, they will go to the top of the table. The corrected table is here.
  • Bamber B. 1 Gateshead 4 Ceefax had this wrongly as 4-1 not 1-4 last night.
  • Barrow 3 Bishop Auckland 1
  • Blyth Sp. 2 Gainsborough T. 2
  • Colwyn Bay 1 Vauxhall M. 0
  • Lancaster C. 1 Burton A. 0
  • Runcorn 2 Hucknall T. 0
  • Worksop T. 0 Emley 0

    TRANSFERS

    Ex-Alty man Ally Pickering has moved again, from Mossley to Hucknall Town. Other UniBond moves include Andy Todd to Worksop Town from Eastwood Town and Andy Hughes from Vauxhall Motors to Telford Utd. The best name of the "currant" week is Franck-Michel M'fono Croissant who has joined Leek Town from a French club.

    STANLEY MEN LEAVE

    Chester City have reported the signing of Brett Baxter, Accrington's midfielder who has figured in all their games, so far, this season. Alty play Stanley on Sunday (see below). Chester City have also acquired Eric Seekie, who figured in Alty's first team squad last season. Striker, Gary Williams, has also left Accrington Stanley and gone to Southport on loan.

    ALTY ON FRONT PAGE

    Tonight's front page of the Manchester Evening News reports that "Altrincham Football Club is home to the Greeks" for tomorrow's international. "It is the first time an international team has headed to the 6,000-capacity Moss Lane ground, attracted by a 'perfect' pitch, cultivated by groundsman Peter Barry, from Timperley. The garden-firm boss ploughs in 30 hours a week to maintain a surface which now meets [the] high standards demanded by big names including United and City...Club secretary Graham Heathcote said, "It's a great honour for us. We're happy to give our guests all the help we can - so long as they promise to lose". Hopefully Altrincham will enter Peter in the new FA Groundsman of the Year competition as there can't be many as good as him!

    RESERVES REPORT

    There is now a match report here of the Chester City Reserves v Altrincham Reserves game, thanks to Danny Claffey. Chester play the return fixture at Altrincham Reserves' home ground at Flixton FC (Valley Road) next Wednesday (7.45pm).

    EYEING UP OUR OPPONENTS

    Altrincham's next home game is against Trafford in the UniBond Cup on Tuesday (9th). There is a chance to eye up the opposition this Saturday, when Alty do not have a game, as Trafford are at home to Gretna in the UniBond First Division, k.o. at 1pm. Trafford's leading scorer last season, ex-Altrincham man Darren Emmett, is currently out for a month with a minor fracture of his ankle. Meanwhile our FA Cup opponents next week, Witton Albion, are set to reinstate their manager Eddie Bishop. He was suspended recently following an incident with match officials and faces an FA disciplinary hearing.

    PUBLICATIONS

    The Non-League Directory, 2002, the "bible" of Pyramid football, was published yesterday. It is now in the shops at £19.50. Its stablemate the Non-League Magazine for October is also now available (£2.95) and includes a picture of Rod Thornley.
    4 October 2001

    STANLEY IN FORM

    Last night, our next opponents, Accrington Stanley beat Worksop Town 5-0, at home. Click the League Table button, above, for updated standings. Accrington have also recently had a new book written about them. Published in the "Images of Sport" series, it is entitled, Accrington Stanley and is an illustrated history by Phil Whalley covering the entire period from 1891 to 2001. It costs £10.99, from the Club or booksellers.

    VICS AND WITTON

    Even at this late stage, a groundshare between Northwich and our FA Cup opponents, Witton Alibion, is still apparently a possibility as Albion are now approaching the Vics with a proposal to discuss such a development. The ground would have to have Conference grading and the Vics would only contemplate sharing if it were to be at their new Wincham ground and not at Albion's Wincham Park stadium.
    3 October 2001

    YOUTHS' GREAT WIN

    The Youth team beat Morecambe, away, tonight 2-1 in the FA Youth Cup 3rd Preliminary Round. They are now in the First Round Proper where they travel to the Racecourse Ground, to meet Wrexham Youth on a date to be determined. Alty were expecting to be without midfield regulars Lee McDonald and Domain Esdale tonight so their result is particularly noteworthy. More to follow on this on the Youth Page.

    RESERVES DRAW

    Altrincham Reserves got an excellent point at Chester City tonight, holding the Conference side's Reserves to a goalless draw. Hopefully, there will be more news of this game later this week. Before tonight's game at Chester, Alty Reserves lay 10th in their league table and they are now unbeaten in their last five games. For the record, the first team has won its last six matches and the youth team has won its last five fixtures, too. Thanks to Danny Claffey for tonight's Reserves and Youth scores.

    ALTRINCHAM 2 BARROW 1


    Match report now here.

    Seen above is Carl Furlong's goal as pictured by Alan Johnson; for more pictures visit Alan's Alty photographic web site.

    CUP RESULTS LAST NIGHT

    FA Cup 2QR Replays.
  • Burscough 2 Harrogate Town 2 (Harrogate won 5-4 on pens).
  • Burton A. 4 Arnold T. 0
  • Farsley Celtic 3 Colwyn Bay 1
  • Lancaster 2 Durham City 1
    Cheshire Senior Cup
  • Macclesfield T. 2 Vauxhall M. 1
    2 October 2001

    ALTRINCHAM 2 BARROW 1

    Match report now here. Other results tonight:
  • Bamber B. 1 Hyde Utd 3
  • Bishop Auckland 1 Blyth Sp. 1
  • Droylsden 3 Emley 2
  • Frickley A. 3 Gainsborough T. 1
  • Hucknall T. 1 Bradford P.A. 0

    YOUTH TABLE

    The updated NW Youth Alliance league table makes pleasant reading on the Youth squad and fixtures page, as Altrincham Youth are top. For the latest Youth results, see the Youth Page. I am grateful to Bob Allan for these updates.
    1 October 2001

    CLUB OF THE MONTH

    Altrincham have been named UniBond Club of the Month for September, just beating Barrow. The deciding factor, given we both won seven games in the month, was our win over Conference side Northwich Vics in the Cheshire Senior Cup (CSC).

    GREEKS AT MOSS LANE

    The Greek national side will be training at Moss Lane this Thursday and Friday, prior to their match with England at Old Trafford on Saturday.

    WITTON BOSS SUSPENDED

    Witton, our next opponents in the FA Cup (see below), have suspended their manager Eddie Bishop after a fracas with officials after their CSC tie against Woodley recently. The Club appears to wish to distance itself from Bishop pending a disciplinary hearing. Charlie Boyd, his assistant, was sent off in the game and has not played since.

    THORNLEY OUT

    Leading scorer Rod Thornley will miss Tuesday's game against Barrow due to his commitments as England masseur. He will be back for Sunday's match at Accrington, according to the SAM site. Barrow captain Mark Hume had to go off, injured, in the first half of their game on Saturday so he, too, may not play.

    ALTY DRAW WITTON

    Altrincham have drawn Witton Albion at home in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup to be played on 13th October. Just 10 days after this we travel to Wincham to play Witton again, in another competition, the UniBond Cup. In a pre-season friendly, we beat Witton 3-1 on 14th August. Other FA Cup ties include:
  • Colwyn Bay/Farsley Celtic v Gretna/ Brigg T
  • Vauxhall Motors v Harrogate T/Burscough
  • Durham C/Lancaster C v Ashton Utd/Stocksbridge PS
  • Emley v Accrington Stanley
  • Worksop T v Gainsborough Trinity
  • Barrow v Rossendale Utd
  • Whitby T v Spennymoor Utd
  • Runcorn FC Halton v Squires Gate/Bedlington Terriers
  • Marine v Bradford PA
  • Blyth Spartans v Liversedge/Harrogate RA
  • Arnold T/Burton A v Berkhamsted T
  • Hucknall T v Stourport Swifts

    YOUTH TEAM GO TOP TO ROUND OFF GOOD WEEK

    Altrincham Youth had an impressive 3-0 away win at Marine yesterday and went to the top of the NW Youth Alliance Table as a consequence. The goals came from Lee McDonald, Richard Smith and Lee Thompson. There is more on this match on the Youth Page, where there is now also a picture of the 2001-02 squad and a brief summary of last week's friendly against Wright Robinson College. Altrincham's three teams are doing well; the Youth Team has now had four consecutive wins, the Reserves are unbeaten in four games and the first team has won its last five matches. In the picture above, Paul Robinson slams home a penalty against Burscough in the opening Youth league match of this season.
    30 September 2001

    RONNIE NOT DISGRACED

    BBC this afternoon showed a recording of the 3rd Grand National for Football Mascots at Huntingdon race course. The race was a farce in that the winner was not a football mascot but some bloke from the Countryside Alliance who was allowed to compete wearing just a fox's head as uniform when everyone else was encumbered by heavy mascot outfits. There were 121 runners and Ronnie was shown apparently finishing in the first twenty or thirty. Dazzler the Lion, Rushden and Diamonds's mascot, came second and Chaddy the Owl from Oldham was third. Ronnie has only been seen once at Moss Lane this season but will, hopefully, be seen again if fame has not gone to his head.

    ACCRINGTON TRAVEL

    For details of the SAFE supporters' coach to Accrington on 7th October, click the Away Travel button above.

    ALTRINCHAM 4 FRICKLEY ATHLETIC 1

    Left is a picture kindly reproduced from Alan Johnson's photographic Alty website; for more pictures click here.. The N-L Paper has two colour pictures of yesterday's game at Alty, both featuring Rod Thornley. However, in the paper's scores section, our goals are bizarrely credited to "Newbury 30, Thornley 54, Roderick 66, 85" and no scorer is given for Frickley! For this site's match report, click here. For our opponents' view, including a claim that is not too wide of the mark that "Frickley bowed out of this season's FA Cup competition despite playing Altrincham off the park for long periods in the first half", visit the excellent Frickley web site.

    OLD BOYS

    Both Stuart Terry and John Toner scored a brace yesterday for their Welsh sides, Connah's Quay Nomads and TNS, respectively. Michael Twiss played and Ged Kielty was a sub for Leigh RMI. Gary Talbot played for the Vics and Mark Quayle was back in Morecambe's side after a spell at Telford. Matt McNeil, linked with a move to Droylsden, was a sub. for Stalybridge, who are now bottom of the Conference. Michael Garrity scored for Witton and Paul Ellender turned out for Boston, whilst Dean Greygoose was Stevenage's sub-keeper. Dickie Landon played for Radcliffe, who won at North Ferriby, whilst Paul Edwards was in Swindon's side as they drew 1-1 yesterday against Northampton.

    SUNDAY PRESS

    Mark Ward is featured in the NLP and confirms that he is looking hard for a new managerial job, having enquired about the recent Scarborough vacancy. He feels he was treated badly at Moss Lane after improving our disciplinary record and cutting the wage-bill. "I felt I'd done a decent job under the circumstances...but I was treated with no respect and the whole thing left a really bad taste in the mouth". Much more positively, there is an excellent letter about Alty in today's Pink from Brian Wood. He praises Bernard and Graham and the new Board, saying that the "team is now an exciting mixture of youth and experience". Mr Wood encourages people to get down to Moss Lane for its "pleasant surroundings- no queueing, good bar [and] plenty of cover". Let's hope some new supporters result from this letter!

    FA CUP

    Alty Reserve Steve Howe, last season's Youth Team captain, played for Maine Road FC in their 0-2 defeat by Marine yesterday in the FA Cup. For other results, see yesterday's news (below).
    29 September 2001

    RESERVES WIN TOO

    Please see the Reserves Page for details of Altrincham Reserves win over Accrington today.

    ALTRINCHAM 4 FRICKLEY ATHLETIC 1

    A match report is here.

    For today's Alty team sheet, click "Cup Line-Up" button and the "Statistics" button will show you that Rod Thornley now has eleven goals in eleven starts this season. His career total for Alty is 20 in 20!

    Today's FA Cup ties involving UniBond Premier sides ended as follows. Barrow won so our Tuesday league fixture goes ahead against them at Moss Lane.

  • ALTRINCHAM 4 FRICKLEY A. 1
  • Arnold Town 1 BURTON A. 1
  • Eastwood T. 0 HUCKNALL T 1
  • BARROW 3 Kendal Town 0
  • BLYTH 5 Eccleshill Utd 0
  • BRADFORD PA 3 DROYLSDEN 2
  • COLWYN BAY 2 Farsley C. 2
  • Durham City 1 LANCASTER C. 1
  • EMLEY 1 BAMBER B. 0
  • GAINSBOROUGH T. 5 Dunston FB 1
  • GATESHEAD 2 RUNCORN FC HALTON 4
  • Harrogate T. 1 BURSCOUGH 1
  • Maine Road 0 MARINE 2
  • Pickering T 1 v ACCRINGTON S. 2
  • VAUXHALL M. 2 HYDE U. 1
  • WHITBY T. 5 Ramsbottom U. 2
  • WORKSOP T. 3 BISHOP AUCKLAND 1

    S.A.F.E. AND ALTY IN EXILE

    Alty in Exile, the organisation for Alty fans resident away from the Altrincham area, is one of today's match sponsors. The organisation, enthusiatically run by Jacqui Forster, now has 44 members. Meanwhile, S.A.F.E, the Alty Supporters' Association currently has 228 members. On the Alty Fans' Forum, Membership Secretary Simon Brotherton has posted a message to encourage more people to join. For an application form and further details of both of Alty's supporters' groups, please click here. Alternatively, just sign up at the SAFE Cabin at the Golf Road end of the ground before today's game or at half-time.