23 Seasons watching
Maidenhead United
Epilogue: The last twelve
months
When promotion started to become a reality last season, I was often
asked how worried I was about playing in a national division. My reply was one
of uninterest. What mattered was enjoying the glory of winning the title.
Anything that came as a result would be sorted out in due course.
Thus the day I stepped onto an open topped bus to tour the streets of
Maidenhead with the champions will live long in the memory. It was a day to
enjoy the moment of being associated with the best, made complete by the return
of Dave Tarpey, fresh from turning down a move to Coventry City.
This summer of celebration continued into the following pre season by
winning the Berks & Bucks Cup in July.
In the meantime there had been two important additions made to the
squad in centre back Jake Goodman and prodigious midfielder Harold Odametey.
Also striking options were strengthened by the return of Adrian Clifton and
Jake Hyde.
Off the pitch almost five hundred season tickets were sold, more than
the total opening day attendance of the previous season. The ground was
augmented by the Devonshire hospitality suite, and new food and drink outlets,
including one for the new away end in front of the Maidenhead Advertiser
office.
The publication of the fixture list brought home the nature of
United’s brave new world as the season started with a run of matches against
former Football League clubs.
Many were reticent about our chances and were keen to peddle a
survival narrative but I was confident of a mid table finish as the team
carried through their title winning momentum.
That the club now had a higher media profile became clear as I sat on a beach in Costa Rica and tuned into live commentary of the first home game against Wrexham. Then, on my return to the UK I had to get to the next game at York Road a little earlier than usual as BT Sport had chosen the match against Hartlepool for their lunchtime live broadcast.
Fortunately, after a stuttering start, my arrival coincided with the
match the Magpies season clicked into gear, comfortably beating Hartlepool with
Tarpey announcing himself on the National League stage with two goals. The
following Tuesday, Tarpey hit four at Fylde and he was hot property again. A
deadline day move to Barnet for a club record fee again saw the doom mongers
out in force but in the next match United won at table toppers Sutton to firmly
dispel any thoughts that they were a one man team.
Now nicely settled in mid table the season became a fantastic journey,
with wins, defeats and draws in equal measure as the Magpies visited hitherto
unknown parts of the country.
Memories were made most matchdays, even if it was for peripheral
highlights such as the Three Pigeons pub in Halifax, or the time the supporters
made it to Torquay way ahead of the team after the coach driver refused to
avoid a traffic jam.
A home match against Aldershot, saw six goals shared in a thrilling
draw and proved to be a swansong for terrace hero Dean Inman as he came off the
bench to equalise before accepting the non league deal of a lifetime to sign
for Billericay.
One aspect of higher status was only having to play one FA Cup
qualifier although a very late winner was required from Ryan Upward to set up a
first round trip to Coventry, an occasion when James Comley commanded the stage
only for the team to slip to a defeat.
Although the squad’s talent wasn’t in question, this was a league of
fine margins with no easy rides as Eastleigh showed when they retrieved a two
goal deficit with minutes remaining in November.
With the matches coming thick and fast there were chances for fringe
players such as Sam Barratt, Remy Clerima, Max Kilman, Christian Smith to
establish themselves, with fellow midfielder Upward also coming to the fore.
An epic trip to the north east two days before Christmas saw the
double completed over Hartlepool courtesy of the masked assassin Sean Marks.
The New Year started with the promise of a Trophy run but despite a
triumphant return to Halifax, in the last sixteen Stockport went one better than
Eastleigh as the Magpies let slip a 2-0 lead at Edgeley Park to lose the replay
in extra time.
Despite the mid table position being maintained, doubts once again
started to creep in about sliding league form, the erection of anachronistic
fences on the Bell Street terraces, a visual symbol of the less attractive
aspects of the National League.
Eventual champions Macclesfield were pushed all the way into stoppage
time at Moss Rose before they finally finished ahead against United who had
held their nerve for over three hours against the division’s best team.
Everything came crashing down though at Gateshead as I had the
displeasure of describing every goal of a 7-1 humbling to BBC Berkshire
listeners. However just when the season threatened to get interesting at the
wrong end of the table, Alan conjured up the spirit of the champions to win
three home matches in eight days against Woking, Dover and Sutton before ending
the away campaign perfectly on Tuesday night by beating Orient to guarantee a
top half finish.
Over the summer there will be improvements to floodlights, the pitch
and hospitality facilities, but as the club is required by the league to show
gradual progress towards developing a 6,000 capacity stadium with 2,000 seats,
challenges on a whole new scale will present themselves.
In twelve months time the question of whether to go full time will
become ever more insistent, perhaps a pivotal moment in the club’s long and
proud history.
In another twenty three seasons time will I view this as a high water mark or the start
of the next volume of memoirs? Only time will tell but whatever happens I’m
sure it will remain an altogether more splendid kind of life supporting the
Magpies.
With thanks to Mark
Smith’s book One For Sorrow Two For Joy for the statistical content of this
series.
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