2024/25 - END OF SEASON STATS, SUMMARY & AWARDS

24/25 SEASON SUMMARY

It has been another great season, one of my favourites. The highlight in terms of stats has to be twelve countries visited, although I wish I'd had more. 198 games over the season is something I am very pleased with. There's a slight disappointment that I couldn't make it a round 200 or beat my 203 from the 22/23 season, but never mind. The most pleasing stat is 12 countries watching football, bringing me up to 22 in total. I hope to add a few more next season.

ENTRY: £969
Surprisingly high this, the most expensive was Wrexham v Wycombe Wanderers at £26. The cheapest was the 82 games that cost me nothing. 

EXTRAS: £702. This does not include pubs, food that I enjoyed or one pint per Wetherspoons tick. Nor does it include my costs when Wycombe won, which tailed off towards the end of the season.

TRAVEL/HOTELS/SERVICING: £4045. Not surprisingly, the most expensive element given public transport costs and the cost of running a car. Visiting 12 countries this season made the costs stack up, too.

TOTAL COSTS: £5,716 (£28.69 per game)

MOST EXPENSIVE: Valerenga FD v Sraebaek IFK (£97)
MOST EXPENSIVE UK: Mousehole v Thatcham Town (£72)
CHEAPEST: 7 games at £0

METHODS

On public transport: 79
Giving Colin a lift: 52 (two with other hoppers too)
Driving on my own: 32

Walking: 32
Getting a list with others:3

MILES DRIVEN: 7894

COSTS (TOTALS - CHEAPEST - MOST EXPENSIVE)
MODES OF TRANSPORT

BEST NEW GROUND

A tough one to call this. I got started off with a cracker in Garw but this was just about eclipsed by Nanpean Rovers on the South West Hop. Both remarkable grounds with plenty of character and both built into a steep grass bowl.

MOST ENJOYABLE REVISIT

An easier one to call this - New Mills. It was one of my earlier groundhops, and so it was great to revisit as a more experienced groundhopper. It was great to get better pictures too, and their hosting on the North West Counties Hop was exceptional.

BEST ATMOSPHERE

Another easy call. My trip to Poland was superb, and the atmosphere at the local derby between Gornik Zabrze and GKS Katowice was electric with pyro, fireworks and huge Tifo displays.

BEST HOPPING GAME

Another foreign jaunt, this time to Budapest for a derby. Former giants Kispest Honved had fallen on hard times and were at the wrong end of the Hungarian 2nd Division. There might have only been around four miles between them and city rivals Soroksar, but there was an ocean of difference between the two clubs' histories. That didn't matter as Soroksar twice took the lead, only for Honved to come back and win 3-2. It was also an excellent new build stadium and a nice city.

WORST HOPPING GAME

Back to Poland. Although the setup at GKS Tychy was good, albeit far too big for them, the game against Stal Stalowa Wola was a turgid 0-0 draw.

BEST CLUB SHOP - LEAMINGTON

Another great revisit: the Leamington club shop was as excellent as last time, with a huge range of programmes, fanzines, and books. Chesham United's was also fantastic. Merchandise-wise, Cumbernauld Colts did a great range.

BEST PROGRAMME - WEALDSTONE

I barely bought a programme this season, as when they are offered, they are usually token efforts. But Wealdstone's was superb with plenty to read. Another great club shop too. 

FRIENDLIEST CLUB

So many to mention. But seen as they were unlucky not to win the best ground, I will give it to Garw, who made us feel very welcome and were communicative on Twitter.

BEST FOOD - HARTPURY UNI

The Pepperoni Pizza was superb and freshly made, as good as any I've had in the UK. Also excellent Rocky Road, both from small vans run by the local firm Gumbies. Several other clubs have made an excellent effort, Abbey Rangers was one that excelled towards the end of the season.

As for the worst, easy. The external caterer at Bodmin Town on the South West Peninsula Hop. An hour to serve a queue of ten people, and then when it did come, the chips were overly greasy, and the sausage wasn't even cooked. To avoid food poisoning, it went in the bin, and I regretted not walking into town.

BEST CLUBHOUSE - SHERBORNE T

Most clubhouses do the bare minimum; obviously, they only see lots of trade on non-matchdays. So it was great to see a local real cider at Sherborne as it is a rarity even in most pubs. Especially as it wasn't in a prolific cider region, the people were also very friendly, and the bar has a Twitter account.

BEST WYCOMBE GAME

The FA Cup win against higher-division side Portsmouth was decent, and it was on a Friday night. A decent game, but sadly, it was Matt Bloomfield's last game. He opted to go to Luton Town due to interference and being undermined from above.

WORST WYCOMBE GAME

Goals were hard to come by once we had appointed the defence-obsessed Mike Dodds. We failed to have a shot on target during the final two hours of the season. Not so in this game as we were thumped 4-0 following an abject performance. 

BEST TAKEAWAY

Fast Food Point in High Wycombe. A recent discovery, the only place in Wycombe where you can get a Parmo. All very well cooked and priced too.

BEST PUB

So many brilliant pubs visited this season, too many to mention. The Victoria Inn in Colchester was amazing with a great choice of cider. Recency bias has caused me to plump for The Alehouse in Reading, this was a great quirky pub, full of character. It also had a great range of cider and was one of the more local ones. I'll be back, for sure and won't be leaving it six years (last visit before was 2019) this time either.

BEST SPOONS

Wetherspoons have upped their game in the past year and a number of pubs scored 8/10 on my ratings which is decent as the defualt is 6. However, the Aneurin Bevan in Cardiff scored a 10 as it had a great range of real cider and service was excellent.

WORST SPOONS

The Plough and Harrow in Hammersmith (3) was the worst and had very slow food service. Dishonourable mentions for the Welkin in Liverpool (4), The New Fairlop Oak (5)  and the Lynd Cross (5) in Horsham, which were the only others to score below 6 on my scale.

Basford United - Greenwich Avenue

Basford United FC

Greenwich Avenue
Basford
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
NG6 0LD

07850 996397
Official Website
Twitter

Ground Number: 531
Tuesday 27th October 2015
Basford United 1-1 Newcastle Town
NPL D1 South



 

BASFORD UNITED FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in 1900. Early days were spent in the Notts Combination before Basford switched to the Notts Alliance. It was here where they tasted early success, winning the title on three occasions. This would be it in terms of titles in this particular competition, and they bounced between the first and second tiers for many years, winning Division 2 in 1930. The club joined the Notts Senior League in 2005, but resigned halfway through the season. The short break was just what they needed, though and after working their way back, they were twice runners-up here. A rapid rise through the leagues followed, starting with a switch to the Central Midlands League, with them winning the South Division title at the first attempt in 2012. They had the facilities to progress to step 6 and subsequently won the East Midlands Counties League in 2013. Following a 5th place finish in the NCEL Premier the following year, they were switched to the Midland Premier, which they won in 2015. Three seasons in the NPL Division 1 South followed with another title won in 2018. They finished 7th in their first season and were going well when Covid-19 struck. Since then, the team have struggled and they finally went down at the end of this season.

Basford United had their best FA Cup run in 2022, beating Romulus and Rugby Town before beating Boston United after a replay in a giant-killing feat. Their run came to an end in the 4th Qualifying Round as they lost 1-0 at National League side Solihull Moors.Last season saw their best FA Trophy Run as they reached the 4th Round. Routine victories over Hanley Town and Anstey Nomads before a notable 2-1 win at higher-league St Albans City. Another giant-killing feat came as they beat National League side FC Halifax Town on penalties, but their run came to an end with a 4-1 loss to Eastleigh.They also reached the FA Vase 2nd Round in 2012. Local cup wins include six Notts Senior Cups, two Notts Alliance League Cups, the East Midlands Counties League Cup in 2013, the CML Floodlit Cup in 2012, the Notts Intermediate Cup in 2006 and the Notts Combination Cup in 1904.

MY FIRST VISIT

As it was half term, my groundhopping partner Anwar would not have to pick his kids up from school, and so we would be able to leave earlier if needed. The original plan was to take in a game in the afternoon - Wigan Athletic were playing in the FA Youth Cup at the Wigan Robin Park Arena, and it was a 3PM kick-off, meaning we could take in another game in the evening. Sadly, his parents were busy until 2PM, so that idea was knocked on the head. I was hoping to go to the FA Cup replay at North Ferriby United v Stalybridge Celtic, but unusually for them, the game was being played on Wednesday. Anwar presented a list of the games he was interested in and I plumped for what I felt the most attractive one - Basford United v Newcastle Town. This was a good one for me as I'd been targeting a visit to there ever since they played in the NCEL over 2 years ago. I was glad to be getting on a groundhog, to be honest. I’d had a two-week break from watching Wycombe play, but when we played Newport County last Tuesday, we were dire and were lucky to lose only 1-0 to the bottom side in the league. Carlisle on Saturday was a tiny improvement, but we were still very poor and only got a point thanks to a last-minute equaliser against another struggling side. It now looks as if the early season promise of a repeat of last season’s 4th placed finish or better was a false dawn, and October has been a horrible month for us with 3 defeats and a draw so far. 

It was my usual Tuesday off work on the day of the game, and so I walked down Wycombe as per usual, getting some drinks for tonight's game. After relaxing for a couple of hours, I left home at 3.15 and, after getting petrol, met Anwar in Aylesbury at 3.45. It was a reasonable journey, at first we thought the M1 was going to give us hell when I saw 40 minutes delay on my Sat Nav, but in the end, there was only around 20 minutes delay. We got to the ground at 6.15, going to a nearby takeaway called Mr T's. There, I had a decent Spicy Burger and Fries before walking back to the ground. Paying a bargain £6 to get in, I got myself a programme for £1.50 before going to the club shop. There I bought a mug for £3 and then went into the bar, having a can of Strongbow. After that, I went outside, joining Anwar on the halfway line and getting some pictures of the ground while I waited for kick-off.

The hosts had a couple of players I recognised. Saul Deeney played for Notts County against Wycombe many times, including our victory over them during our Carling Cup run in 2006/07, while from across the River Trent, former Forest man Eugen Bopp also starred. In the early exchanges, Basford dominated possession, but it was Newcastle Town that were most threatening in the final third. Even so, it was Basford that opened the scoring on 35 minutes with a well-worked goal from Courey Grantham. It was Basford that continued to dominate, but on 59 minutes Newcastle got an equaliser, a pinpoint header into the top right-hand corner from Ben Mills. Despite chances for both sides, that was the way it stayed. Basford will be disappointed they failed to make their possession count, but the visitors were a much-improved side to the one I saw lose in the FA Cup earlier in the season.

 

The journey home started off well enough on the local roads. The game between Guiseley and Halifax that would decide where Wycombe would be going in 10 days in the FA Cup was still going on, but we couldn't find a commentary. Instead, we had to make do with BBC Leicester, who were covering their Carling Cup game up at Hull.  We found out that Halifax would be our destination on November 7th, as well as various other scores, which included Barwell getting through to their FA Cup 1st Round debut. As it turned out, the BBC moved Halifax v Wycombe to Sunday, meaning I was unable to go due to work. We got onto the M1 OK, but around Leicester, they had shut it for roadworks. The standstill, along with a poorly worked diversion, added an hour plus 20 extra miles onto the journey, not what you want when you are up at 4am for work the next No apology either, and it feels as if I write about the disgraceful amount of roadworks and bad roads every blog. Eventually, I dropped Anwar off at 12.20, getting home myself 20 minutes later. I hardly got a wink of sleep, but thankfully, the following day was not busy at work, and I caught up on sleep the following afternoon.

MY SECOND & THIRD VISITS

This set of games was announced a couple of weeks before I booked travel on 21st May. The main reason for wanting to go was that it would allow me to see a game on June 14th, one of the seven days of the year that I'd not seen a game on. It was also a good opportunity to get some fresh pictures of Basford United, as my originals from 2015 were not the best. There was also the potential to get some new Wetherspoons in. I looked at public transport options and would have favoured the train. However, even with advance tickets, the prices came in at £28 each way from London. It just wasn't worth it at that price. Once more, the coach came up trumps. It was Flixbus rather than my usual National Express. The reason was that they went from the more geographically friendly Finchley Road, and the times worked out better. Rather than £56 return, it was £10.50. With the trains and trams needed at both ends, plus getting to the station and back, that worked out at £26 or £13 a game. The only negative was that I would have a 5 am alarm. This was still an hour's lay-in compared to work, but the early kickoff and slower mode of travel meant that I had no other option.

It was not the best preperation to have a crap nights sleep on Thursday, going into Friday. It had been a nice week at work up until then, but Friday was very busy, and I was glad to get out the door. The results of last Thursday night's drinks arrived as I got home, thanks to Ali Express. A flag promoting this blog, which was far bigger than expected. Also, I spotted a cool little Tic-Tac-Toe game on YouTube, both for £13. I had a few drinks to unwind, but had an early night in mind. I found out a few guys I know from Merseyside should be coming down, and this made it all the better. It was a reasonable night's sleep and I awoke ahead of my alarm. After getting ready, I left at 5.20 and drove to Amersham station. I was on the platform 15 minutes before the 05:52 train. It left a minute early, and despite the early hour, still had a fair sprinkling of people on it. I was at my stop at Finchley Road around half an hour in advance.

The Flixbus app let me know that the coach was on time and going from Finchley Road was far better for convenience and cost, being closer to home and saving going into London Zone 1. The coach was early arriving but didn't leave until the scheduled departure and was pretty full, so no double seat sadly. I'd have happily paid extra but wasn't offered the option. There were a load of black ladies on the coach, going to some religious event. At least that's what I presume when they talked about meeting the pastor, rather than the Italian dish. It was a gloomy day for June, but the journey was peaceful and I put in yet another Ali Express order. I realised I needed some cable ties for my flag, so naturally ended up ordering a Brazil training top to make up the £6 order. I was also re-reading the book 'The Road From Wembley' by John Stoneman. It got me in the mood for the return of the FA Cup on 2nd August, where, no doubt, Flixbus will get a look in. Seven passengers got off near the Uni before we headed to the bus station itself. It was really another grubby bus stop outside the bus station, but it did the job. It was early too, so after a nine-minute walk, I was at the Joseph Else Wetherspoons. An excellent Spoons, very central, well kept and good service. I had a breakfast muffin, an energy drink and a pint of Black Dragon for £6.13. After consuming that, it was 10, so I walked a few minutes to the Roebuck Inn. Another with a good cider selection but with Black Dragon weighing in at over four units a pint, I opted for a pint of Stowford Press for £1.99. I finished quicker than expected and so got an earlier tram. Everything was very efficient but they were still operating on paper tickets in the contactless age. I was at Highbury Vale at 10.40 and it was a ten-minute walk to the ground, where Rob Hornby gave me a lovely welcome. It was £4 entry for two games with a free programme.

First up was Basford United U23 v Notts Senior League U23. The hosts took the lead on 9 minutes, a ball over the keeper and a blast into the empty net. A low finish from around fifteen yards made it 2-0 on 20 minutes. The Notts Senior side barely had a chance, but Basford made it 3-0 on 31 minutes, a lob over the keeper from wide on the left. It was 4-0 on 37 minutes, a well-worked move and finish from the edge of the area. Just as half time approached, it was 5-0, a real cracker from the edge of the area. Some chips with sweet chilli, mint and BBQ sauces made a tasty treat. The second half started quickly and the Notts Senior League side pulled one back straight from kickoff. It was 7-1 on 82 minutes, rounding the keeper and a simple finish. A header made it 8-1 on 86 minutes. Just as full time approached, it was a 9-1, a blast from the edge of the area.

Paul, the Non League Rover, gave the final score as 10-1, so no doubt I missed a goal during the quick half-time. I went in the clubhouse at half time, fancying a pint, a rather pricey £5.75 for a pint of Kopparberg Sweet Apple. It was an opportunity to charge things up and lend my charge to another hopper. It had been great catching up with Ollie, Sean, Paul & Rob as well as Ollie's Dad. I started to work out my spending for the season. Nearly £6k was quite scary but it had been great fun and you can't take the money with you. Game two of the day was a Notts Senior League XI against Edwalton Caveliers. They were a village team but played in West Bridgford at Gresham Park in the East Midlands Public Authorities League Division 2. A Sunday side by all accounts. A good ball forward after three minutes saw the Notts Senior League side take the lead. Playing in red and white stripes against Edwalton's blue, a long ball was lofted forward and volleyed home from around the penalty spot. Edwalton equalised on 10 minutes, a low shot in off of the left-hand post. Edwalton took the lead on 21 minutes, a lob over the stranded keeper from thirty yards. An NSL goal was disallowed at the start of the second half and then Edwalton made it 3-1 just before the hour with a lob. NSL made it 3-2 with a lob to make the game exciting. Ollie's dad kindly gave us a lift to the Wetherspoons I needed, and it was good to spend some more time with the lads. I had a Ramen Bowl with a poached egg and a bottle of Aspalls for £9.80 before finishing this blog.

THE GROUND -2015

GREENWICH AVENUE is typical of a ground that has seen a rapid rise in fortunes, with a few metal ‘arena’ type stands in place. There are a couple of original small stands, but overall it’s not one for the purists. There is a local pub nearby, but it didn’t seem that great from the outside. Food wise there is a local chippy, kebab & pizza place and an Indian takeaway nearby, while the tea bar at the ground is a decent one also. The club shop has a decent range of stuff as well as old programmes. Overall, the £6 admission and the friendliness of the people make this club well worth a visit. 

THE GROUND - 2025

There wasn't a huge amount of change between visits, given that the club had only gone up on division. It was nice to get some daytime photos, though. There was cover on three sides, two seated and one terrace. No club shop was open that I could see. The clubhouse had been moved from behind the goal to the side of the pitch. This now had draught beet and cider although it was quite pricey at £5.75 a pint of Kopparberg. It's a nice place to relax though and offers good WiFi for free. The food was OK, quite limited options but a good range of sources to pimp up your chips Parking is plentiful and the ground is well connected to Nottingham and Hucknall with trams and buses..