Don't mind me

[Boz]

Halifax makes mansfield look a thriving metropolis (which is quite an achievement) it’s a complete and utter hole with folk stuck in the 60s you’d not want to spend any longer there than necesssary

I’d disagree with this in terms of the place. Only been to Mansfield once for a football match so can’t assess it’s merits. Halifax is one of the nicer Yorkshire towns with a football team. The town is relatively compact set in a valley with good scenery, the historic Piece Hall, a decent theatre and some good pubs including The Three Pigeons, close to the ground and which BITDHSS is a fan of~I’ve not been yet. If we were purely going on geography Halifax is the best choice to come up, though don’t mind Nottingham.

 

[Chris FGR]

Mansfield was fine, but a bit stormy last time I went. Found decent enough pub William IV and New Inn + went to Papa John’s which was close and used my voucher offer I won on SkyBet app on pizza + chilli wedges which we had in the free parking space I found next to a skip round the back of some shops. Can’t get convenient free parking in many towns these days, so fair play on that one. All in all a good away day.

Last time I went to Halifax this bloke was giving a load of shit to the ref at the end despite being blind.

 

[Conker]

Top house and New Inn is a pretty authentic experience for Mansfield I think

 

[RLC]

If you've ever met a Borehamwood fan then you'll probably be relieved to hear there's only 800 or so of them in the world.

There is no way Boreham Wood have 800 fans. I doubt they even have a third of that if you subtract away supporters.

If they ever reached the Football League, it would be the most bizarre circumstance since Thames FC.

 

[AdamStag]

Top house and New Inn is a pretty authentic experience for Mansfield I think

The type of places where covid catches something

 

[County1]

There is no way Boreham Wood have 800 fans. I doubt they even have a third of that if you subtract away supporters.

If they ever reached the Football League, it would be the most bizarre circumstance since Thames FC.

True! A name etched in Newport footballing history. They replaced us for a season in the early 1930s due to financial irregularities. I wouldn’t be averse to a Halifax return. Infinitely preferable to Wrexham!

 

[Pablosammy]

It sounds like something from a childhood story. On my first visit (an eye-numbingly dull 0-0) I half expected the catering hut to be manned by a family of friendly and magical badgers.

As we found out, 'generic soul destroying London suburbia' is as good a guess as any for the location of most of the quaint sounding non league clubs.

 

[Uncle Pastuzo]

Whenever I see Halifax on the NL highlights I'm puzzled why they built those two huge ends. There must be almost as redundant space for a typical game as there was at Darlington.

 

[AdamStag]

Whenever I see Halifax on the NL highlights I'm puzzled why they built those two huge ends. There must be almost as redundant space for a typical game as there was at Darlington.

I think it’s more for that dodgy northern rugby lark they play, the one that no-one cares about

Edit - though after looking at attendances there, the all time average attendance for halifax is 4,700 or so.

Maybe they fill it when it’s cattle market day or something.

 

[shoddycollins]

True! A name etched in Newport footballing history. They replaced us for a season in the early 1930s due to financial irregularities. I wouldn’t be averse to a Halifax return. Infinitely preferable to Wrexham!

Interesting story. They have the record for both the largest ever football league stadium at 120,000 and the lowest ever FL attendance, which was below 500. That's less than a half of one percent full, and it was against Luton so god knows how many of those were Luton fans seeing as it's just down the road for them.

Wikipedia can't make it's mind up whether they spent one or two years in the league, or whether they replaced you or Merthyr.

 

[MadJohn]

Interesting story. They have the record for both the largest ever football league stadium at 120,000 and the lowest ever FL attendance, which was below 500. That's less than a half of one percent full, and it was against Luton so god knows how many of those were Luton fans seeing as it's just down the road for them.

Wikipedia can't make it's mind up whether they spent one or two years in the league, or whether they replaced you or Merthyr.

Thames definitely replaced Merthyr in 1930. Newport did not leave the league until they finished second bottom a year later and lost out in the election process, replaced by Mansfield. Thames finished 3rd bottom in that season, but were bottom a year later in 1931/32. They then resigned from the league rather than seek reelection. Wigan Borough had resigned from Div3N during the season and Mansfield transferred to the northern section to replace them. That left two vacancies in Div3S, with Newport coming back and Aldershot joining them.

 

[Chris FGR]

West Ham stadium was still used for Greyhounds and Speedway up until the early 70's. Was sold for housing. Shame Gold and Sullivan didn't own West Ham Utd yet so didn't sell Upton Park, pocket the profits and pay peppercorn rent to play there for the next 100 years....

 

[FGR Stroud]

Infinitely preferable to Wrexham!

Understandable local rivalry by Newport who insist that they would prefer not that another Wales club return to the EFL. But Wrexham are in North Wales, while Newport, Swansea and Cardiff are in the South of that Country :> a different catchment area, deprived of league football, and more Midland/North West based.

Wrexham have so much going for them:- their home stadium, the Racecourse Ground, is the world's oldest international stadium that still continues to host international games. Welshmen should take pride in that fact and support team into trying to raise its and therefore stadiums profile.

Wrexham’s support is greater than some ELF2 teams [including mine sadly]. Always great attending a match when there are many, many thousands in attendance.

And of course Wrexham have a couple of high profile investors who want to take Wrexham to the Premiership [okay, ho ho] but with their support and investment Wrexham could easily become an established EFL1 club.

I'd welcome them back into Football League.

 

[County1]

Interesting story. They have the record for both the largest ever football league stadium at 120,000 and the lowest ever FL attendance, which was below 500. That's less than a half of one percent full, and it was against Luton so god knows how many of those were Luton fans seeing as it's just down the road for them.

Wikipedia can't make it's mind up whether they spent one or two years in the league, or whether they replaced you or Merthyr.

Mad John’s called it right shoddy. Thames came in for Merthyr in 1930, Mansfield for us in 1931 and then us back for Thames in 1932.

 

[County1]

Understandable local rivalry by Newport who insist that they would prefer not that another Wales club return to the EFL. But Wrexham are in North Wales, while Newport, Swansea and Cardiff are in the South of that Country :> a different catchment area, deprived of league football, and more Midland/North West based.

Wrexham have so much going for them:- their home stadium, the Racecourse Ground, is the world's oldest international stadium that still continues to host international games. Welshmen should take pride in that fact and support team into trying to raise its and therefore stadiums profile.

Wrexham’s support is greater than some ELF2 teams [including mine sadly]. Always great attending a match when there are many, many thousands in attendance.

And of course Wrexham have a couple of high profile investors who want to take Wrexham to the Premiership [okay, ho ho] but with their support and investment Wrexham could easily become an established EFL1 club.

I'd welcome them back into Football League.

Being honest, it’s not really a local rivalry, as Wrexham is at a different end of the country and a few hours drive away. I know there are only a few Welsh teams playing in English pyramid but we wouldn’t concern ourselves with Wrexham (and vice versa) anymore than you would with Rochdale or Oldham. It could be argued that Wrexham’s success is actually bad for us in that Welsh media would put us lower down the pecking order in terms of coverage. Neither Wrexham nor County had really featured on each other’s radar historically though obviously our Play-off victory in 2013 added a bit of spice. As you say, they get big crowds, have a decent stadium and, with the investment, have the potential to reach Championship.

 

[Loyal Dale]

Halifax makes mansfield look a thriving metropolis (which is quite an achievement) it’s a complete and utter hole with folk stuck in the 60s you’d not want to spend any longer there than necesssary

Halifax is a really good day out. Yes; there are one or two dodgy areas, but it's in the main a lively, vibrant town with a superb selection of pubs and eateries. There are now plenty of new bars serving a bewildering variety of craft beers. I'm thinking that you have not been there recently? And Sowerby Bridge, which is only a couple of miles out is another excellent day out.

Mansfield... below average and can be quite intimidating. Some good pubs mind...but nowhere near as good as 'Fax.

 

[Boz]

I don't particularly want Wrecsam or Stockport coming up for selfish reasons; they're financially equipped to out compete us and we'll be recruiting from broadly the same talent pool. Sooner or later it will happen though, unless our Welsh neighbours current owners get bored of their new toy.

 

[FGR Stroud]

I don't particularly want Wrecsam or Stockport coming up for selfish reasons; they're financially equipped to out compete us and we'll be recruiting from broadly the same talent pool. Sooner or later it will happen though, unless our Welsh neighbours current owners get bored of their new toy.

I have attended a few matches at Prenton Park and will say that Tranmere are a big club that should not be concerned whether nearby teams are promoted or not.

Difficult to quantify if the two teams you mention will recruit from same pool of talent. Scouts these day look further afield - indeed FGR have some Scottish lads in team.

And as a supporter I'd much prefer a local team rather than one on other side of country that I get bum ache from sitting on coach for so long getting there.

From a Gloucestershire point of view, Cheltenham were faffing about for many years until FGR became their regular local opponent. That galvanised them into getting their act together and two promotions have followed. The same could happen to Tranmere if either Wrexham and/or Stockport are promoted.

 

[AdamStag]

Halifax is a really good day out. Yes; there are one or two dodgy areas, but it's in the main a lively, vibrant town with a superb selection of pubs and eateries. There are now plenty of new bars serving a bewildering variety of craft beers. I'm thinking that you have not been there recently? And Sowerby Bridge, which is only a couple of miles out is another excellent day out.

Mansfield... below average and can be quite intimidating. Some good pubs mind...but nowhere near as good as 'Fax.

I really like sowerby bridge, was there just before christmas, and also know friends across in hebden bridge - both lovely places to be honest, really nice enjoyable places, good for walks and the pubs are nice. On the same line as rochdale up to leeds.

Was in halifax in october, still as the above, the locals are very royston vasey types and when i’ve gone to watch mansfield there’s always been trouble with locals actively looking for it - ski masks last time!- we all have different opinions - i wouldn’t want them in the league.

 

[SELatic]

Quite simple really for me:

1) If, by some miracle, we stay up, I want Boreham Wood and Halifax up as I reckon they’d be favourites to go back down again

2) If, as expected, we go down, I want Wrexham and Stockport up to give us the best chance possible of coming straight back up (won’t happen with Lemsagams in charge anyway but on the off chance that they piss off).

 

[Back in the DHSS]

Halifax is a really good day out. Yes; there are one or two dodgy areas, but it's in the main a lively, vibrant town with a superb selection of pubs and eateries. There are now plenty of new bars serving a bewildering variety of craft beers. I'm thinking that you have not been there recently? And Sowerby Bridge, which is only a couple of miles out is another excellent day out.

Mansfield... below average and can be quite intimidating. Some good pubs mind...but nowhere near as good as 'Fax.

Spot on.

 

[MadJohn]

Halifax is a really good day out. Yes; there are one or two dodgy areas, but it's in the main a lively, vibrant town with a superb selection of pubs and eateries. There are now plenty of new bars serving a bewildering variety of craft beers. I'm thinking that you have not been there recently? And Sowerby Bridge, which is only a couple of miles out is another excellent day out.

Mansfield... below average and can be quite intimidating. Some good pubs mind...but nowhere near as good as 'Fax.

I've seen some excellent gigs in the area too. You've got the Trades Club just up the road in Hebden Bridge, but Halifax itself has had some crackers, most memorably The Ex at Arden Road Social in around 2015 with That Fucking Tank supporting. Never had the pleasure of a Mansfield gig yet but plenty of time.

 

[Vanni]

I've seen some excellent gigs in the area too. You've got the Trades Club just up the road in Hebden Bridge, but Halifax itself has had some crackers, most memorably The Ex at Arden Road Social in around 2015 with That Fucking Tank supporting. Never had the pleasure of a Mansfield gig yet but plenty of time.

Ah The Ex! Great band.

Did I get you right when you said in your other post that Newport were kicked out of the league in 1931? As in they applied for re-election but were turfed out? Odd that, I wasn't aware the FA used to do that sort of thing in the pre-WW2 years.

 

[MadJohn]

Ah The Ex! Great band.

Did I get you right when you said in your other post that Newport were kicked out of the league in 1931? As in they applied for re-election but were turfed out? Odd that, I wasn't aware the FA used to do that sort of thing in the pre-WW2 years.

Yes, exactly that. The Reelection process was in place from way back in the 19th century.

Seeing The Ex in a proper social club function room with formica topped tables, local IPA beer mats and polystyrene ceiling tiles (and a goddamn glitter ball!) was a pretty surreal experience.

 

[MadJohn]

This is a very good summary of the annual election results...

http://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=3506

 

[GTFCfish]

Quite simple really for me:

1) If, by some miracle, we stay up, I want Boreham Wood and Halifax up as I reckon they’d be favourites to go back down again

2) If, as expected, we go down, I want Wrexham and Stockport up to give us the best chance possible of coming straight back up (won’t happen with Lemsagams in charge anyway but on the off chance that they piss off).

Ha this was my exact thinking last season, once it was obvious we were doomed I was hoping for at least one of Wrexham or Stockport to go up yet they both stayed down and are now both spunking obscene amounts of cash at it this year.

 

[PuB]

Only two points from the last 6 for Halifax.

*wobble*

 

[RLC]

I have attended a few matches at Prenton Park and will say that Tranmere are a big club that should not be concerned whether nearby teams are promoted or not.

Difficult to quantify if the two teams you mention will recruit from same pool of talent. Scouts these day look further afield - indeed FGR have some Scottish lads in team.

And as a supporter I'd much prefer a local team rather than one on other side of country that I get bum ache from sitting on coach for so long getting there.

From a Gloucestershire point of view, Cheltenham were faffing about for many years until FGR became their regular local opponent. That galvanised them into getting their act together and two promotions have followed. The same could happen to Tranmere if either Wrexham and/or Stockport are promoted.

Recruitment aside, I would not want Wrexham to come up because they are historic local rivals of ours and I am not particularly keen on them. I would be quite happy for Stockport to be promoted, even if they could massively outspend us.

 

[GTFCfish]

Only two points from the last 6 for Halifax.

*wobble*

And despite our equaliser being very late Halifax were very lucky to escape with a draw today, if we could actually finish they’d have been buried well before then.

 

[Essex2Wessex]

In the gents' in our South Stand (which was the away end in National League days), there's still a bit of graffiti that reads "I'd rather be a vegan than a scouse": I've long presumed the finger of suspicion pointed firmly towards that bit of North Wales not that far from the Wirral.

Halifax seems to me to be a nicer town overall than Mansfield, but the atmosphere at Field Mill and attitude of the Stags' fans more than makes up for any shortcomings outside. And it's not the grimmest town to have a club in the 3rd/4th/5th tiers in recent years, by a long way.