2021/22 STATS & AWARDS

 2021/22 STATS

GAMES: 167

NEW GROUNDS: 112

WYCOMBE WANDERERS GAMES: 30

MOST VISITED GROUND: Adams Park (24 visits)

COSTS

TICKETS: £1,046

MOST: £42 (Sunderland v Wycombe Wanderers)

FREE GAMES: 39

EXTRAS (FOOD/DRINK ETC): £377

TRAVEL (TRAINS/PETROL): £1,891 (via car, petrol works out at 18p a mile)

SERVICING: £906 (works out at around 7p a mile)

TOTAL: £4,220

Average around £25 per game

Priciest day out: Welshpool Town: £67 (including £65 car costs_
Cheapest: Three Horseshoes Hazlemere v Nags Head Winslow (£0)

GOALS: 632 (316 home, 316 away)

HIGHEST SCORING: Basingstoke Town 9-2 North Greenford United

GOALESS GAMES: 5 (Wycombe v Shrewsbury, Otford United v Ten-Em-Bee, Ilkley Town v Garstang, Wycombe v Rotherham, Ellistown & Ibstock v Glenfield United

GOALS PER GAME: 3.78

OTHER STATS

ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 352,808

AVERAGE: 2,113

HIGHEST: 72,332 - Sunderland v Wycombe Wanderers (L1 Playoff Final)

LOWEST: 10 - South Shields Pineapple v Consett (Sunderland Over 40's League)

MILES DRIVEN: 15,092

GAMES DRIVEN TO: 90

AVERAGE: 168

HIGHEST: 405 - Wigan Athletic v Wycombe Wanderers

LOWEST: 13 - Amersham Town v Aylesbury United

METHOD

ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT: 50

WALKED: 27

DRIVEN ON OWN: 35

WITH COLIN: 19

WITH ANWAR: 18

WITH CHRIS: 15

MULTIPLE PASSENGERS: 3

AWARDS 21-22

BEST NEW GROUND

The wonderful FALMOUTH TOWN. Much loved by groundhoppers and you can see why - full of character from the grass banking to the bricks and mortar stands and club buildings. Add to that it was a lovely day, nice atmosphere and pleasant town and it was a great visit.

As for the most disappointing, Woodford Town's new home is at least back in Woodford thanks to a huge effort by those at the clubs. But it is a terrible place to watch football. I've been to a few basic ones too, but Willen was my least favourite of these. The club was very welcoming on Twitter, it was a nice location and a late replacement. But the lack of enclosure on any side means that I was glad that I visited on a fairly warm evening.

BEST CLUB SHOP

No contest here, it just has to be FOLKESTONE INVICTA. Worth a most enjoyable revisit on its own, this is a real treasure trove of random items. Everything is at pocket-friendly prices, so you won't have to spend a fortune if there's something you fancy.

BEST PUB

I've been in plenty of great pubs this season. However, the winner is the brilliant Micropub, The Mean Eyed Cat in Newcastle. A range of around six ciders and very good choices too - no overly sweet commercial stuff here. A nice atmosphere and fair prices mean that it wins this year's award. The Victoria Inn in Colchester was superb too, a real great range and it was on Untappd so you could pre-plan prior to your visit. Another late entry was the Hop Inn in Hornchurch which was similar to the Mean Eyed Cat with a great range of cider. It is very difficult to split these three brilliant places.

BEST PINT

Ross On Wye Dabinett and Bisquet - a brilliant dry cider from my favourite maker was the best I had on my travels - on my penultimate game of the season at the Hop Inn in Hornchurch.

BEST TAKEAWAY

On the Scottish Hop, this was, Mexita in Belshill. A burger wrapped in a pizza with jalapenos and spicy beef along with chips and an Irn Bru. It was quite expensive with it being delivered through. But seeing as I count great food as a separate hobby, it wasn't charged to my football costs. Mediocre food is however and there was a fair bit of that too.

BEST FOOD IN A GROUND

It's been a rather uneventful season, tea bar-wise, with not much standing out, even on the organized hop events. Folkestone Invicta had a great tea bar but they have already bagged an award. Same for the amazing pastie at Falmouth Town. Therefore, it must be Padiham who were on the North West Counties Hop. The pork pie, peas and gravy might not have been groundbreaking, but it was delicious, a pie with lovely peppery meat and all the necessary lubricants that made it even better.

BEST CLUBHOUSE

Another hard to award as I generally make my own arrangements pre-game. I only drank in a couple and Darlington Railway Athletic was the best of those. Nothing special on the drinks front, but was smart and modern.

BEST PROGRAMME

Like with the last award, not many nominees here as I don't bother often. This is due to the vast majority being a token effort. But I had no choice on the Scottish Hop, having bought a ticket that included them. Hill Of Beath Hawthorn's was an exceptional effort, glossy and well presented. It also had an excellent amount of reading material including some great articles on lost grounds.

BEST GROUNDHOP GAME

Aston Clinton 4-3 Long Crendon. This game might have been in the basic and humble surroundings of Aston Clinton Park and it might have been a friendly, but it was a cracker. The game kicked off and Lond Crendon were on top, flashing a header wide in the opening minute. They continued to have the better of the game and they took the lead on 8 minutes with a header. The hosts equalised with their first chance a couple of minutes later. The forward controlled the ball well and took the ball down before placing a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner from ten yards. As is the nature of pre-season friendlies, there were a few new faces, so much so that the home manager forgot what his #4 was called!. His side was more in the game by now but wasn't yet creating any real chances. After 22 minutes, the visitors were back in front. Following a great looping cross from the left, #12 sidefooted home from 15 yards. Aston Clinton were good on the break and on 25 minutes #16 headed narrowly over. They did get their equaliser on the half-hour, a near-post header by Mitchell Collins (I think) following a corner from the left. It was only due to the player being congratulated that I could guess who it was, as details of scorers had not been released. Long Crendon shot narrowly wide on 31 minutes but on 40 minutes, it was the hosts who took the lead for the first time. The visiting keeper was beaten to the ball which was poked home to make it 3-2. The visitors made a few changes at halftime, bringing some more established players on. They equalised on 54 minutes, a well-worked move and a low shot from ten yards. Chances had generally dried up but Aston Clinton got what turned out to be the winner on 73 minutes. #18 poked the ball home from close range although it probably wasn't as true as finish as he'd like with the ball going in off his trailing leg.

As for the worst, I've seen five 0-0's this season. Four of them were not terrible, although the game at Ilkley came close. However, Otford United v Ten Em Bee was truly awful with barely an incident of note. A real contender for the worst game I've ever seen. 

FRIENDLIEST CLUBS 

A lot of competition here. In fact, as ever, I didn't encounter a bad club. But there were some notable clubs who made a real effort. Esh Winning were superb for my ground 1,000 and gave me a shirt and other stuff. Newport City were brilliant on social media and sent me a hat. Also, a couple of clubs in the Sunderland Over 40's League were great, most notably Sherburn Village.

BEST WYCOMBE GAME

A fairly easy one this, despite many contenders. Wycombe were 2-0 down against Morecambe at halftime during which I was sent a picture of two grinning hoppers (one who hates 0-0 draws and one who is a bit of a windup merchant and far more tolerable after a couple of pints). Wycombe turned the game round to lead 3-2 only to concede another. Just as it looked as if we would have to settle for a draw, up popped Curtis Thompson with an injury-time winner.

As for the worst, the 4-1 defeat to Ipswich takes some beating. It was the only game that I drove to and after the hell of trying to find a parking spot, it was something that I'll not be repeating. There have been quite a few games I've not enjoyed at Adams Park this season and that has left me questioning whether to get a season ticket next term. The defeat to Milton Keynes with their fans' vile chanting was another sour note and the poor view from the terrace has not helped matters.

BEST WYCOMBE PUB

 

For the third season in a row, THE ROSE & CROWN wins this one. Though it may not be amazing on the cider front (no pub in Wycombe is) it is a nice, homely, friendly pub. I feel welcome and like a regular there and aside from having my annual Highland Haggis burger in our awful 'Spoons, I've not drunk in another Wycombe pub since I first visited in August 2019.

BEST WYCOMBE TAKEAWAY

Previous winner Peri-Peri Grillbox went downhill this season under their new owners. Prices rises, inflexible and burnt orders and slow service meant that we went elsewhere for our food. Various places were tried with varying degrees of success, but the best in terms of value is PRIME PIZZA. Great pizzas, a varied menu, friendly service and advance ordering on the internet mean that this is likely to be a regular food place for me. Especially seeing as we've won three games in a row without conceding since I started using it as my regular pre-match meal place.

Aside from my former regular place, there have been a couple of disappointments. Our branch of German Doner Kebab is very poor compared to the one I had in Reading and Arthur's China City is vastly inferior to my favourite Wycombe Chinese of Peking House.

FRIENDLIEST FANS

Apart from Milton Keynes and to a certain extent, Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth, most sets of fans have been brilliant this year. But I'll give it to Sunderland, the locals were very friendly when I went up there groundhopping and also at Wembley too.

NEXT SEASONS PLANS

Could 2022/23 be the first season when I go past 200 matches in a season. I would love to think so, but am promising nothing. It'll depend on a lot of factors, mostly whether I can get my numbers up on the organized groundhopping events. The excellent GroundhopUK have not put much in the way of information available yet, but the dates on their site differ slightly to what I was told on the way back from Scotland. I hope it's the dates that I was told as I've booked the time off work.

The locality will have a lot to do with it too. I'm unsure whether I will get a Wycombe Wanderers season ticket next season - I'll work out the figures when the fixtures are released in late June. I'll be sure to visit the majority of home games though. With the number of teams left to visit dwindling, I'll be sure to visit Holmer Green and Penn & Tylers a lot more too. The latter are far more communicative on Twitter but the former is a lot more walkable from home. I hope to see a fair few of their midweek games this season. As for hopping with my main two hopping pals, Colin & Anwar I will have to draw up a list of what I can offer them from their budget of around £30.