Fans finding a safe haven

Oct 30 2009 The Journal

Grumpy old man Roger Brown made a long-overdue return to Hartlepool, finding optimism in continued efforts to encourage family support

WITH the unusual mission of test-flying a football crowd I went to Hartlepool for the first time in around a quarter of a century – my last visit being during the Cyril Knowles Darlington side’s successful promotion season out of the old Fourth Division.

I always found those two clubs friendly enough, but comparisons between the match-day experience of a bitter derby clash back then and a Coca-Cola League One game against a John Barnesless Tranmere are pretty meaningless.

But I have to say that Saturday’s was one of the least intimidating league days out I can recall – and less so than one or two non-league away days in the past too.

Sitting in the family area in, fittingly, the Cyril Knowles Stand, as part of a crowd of 3,428, was a really relaxed experience without any of the feeling of being corralled which I had feared and without any of the irritations of young voices saying they wanted the toilet or asking how long there was to go – which I feared more.

And some of the kids were very well educated in football terms, while there was a sprinkling of first-timers and relative newcomers.

Uncles, grans and granddads, cousins, older brothers and sisters could focus on the game without distraction, as did most of the kids, while others were, well, just kids.

The game wasn’t bad either, which helped all attention spans.

Managerless Tranmere, in the hands of popular physio Les Parry (sorry, had to get that one in), kept their shape in a disciplined 4-3-3 with the back line pushing up just enough to always make a set-piece the most likely route to a home goal and kept them in touch to make late pressure on the home goal meaningful.