Welcome to the FL Sutton

[Son of Cod]

Came down to this league last season......................Told every man and his dog it was temporary
I got told to stop being billy bollox big time...we are now in lge 2
Yet now you ridicule Sutton Utd.............Well i will tell you this be prepared to get stuffed by them next season

Welcome and good luck Suttton

Not a single person in this thread has ridiculed them...

 

[Casey]

Other than a few friendlies and an FA Cup game in 1995 (which we won 4-1, early bragging rights!) I can’t recall ever playing Crawley. I’m looking forward to a friendly rivalry, we’re a pretty friendly bunch for the most part.
Didn’t we pinch Ted Shepherd and Larry Pritchard off of you in the 90s (not long before the aforementioned cup match) as managers?

Ted Shepherd I recall. Larry Pritchard rings no bells at all...doesn't mean not just a complete blank in my mind.

That fa cup game had also slipped my mind (I wonder why?). Over the years we have rarely done well against Isthmian league teams....are Sutton the first Isthmian side to make it into the football league since the pyramid was introduced?

Casey

 

[JaredSUFC]

Ted Shepherd I recall. Larry Pritchard rings no bells at all...doesn't mean not just a complete blank in my mind.

That fa cup game had also slipped my mind (I wonder why?). Over the years we have rarely done well against Isthmian league teams....are Sutton the first Isthmian side to make it into the football league since the pyramid was introduced?

Casey

Wycombe and AFC Wimbledon are two ex-Isthmian sides currently in the Football League.

 

[AdamStag]

In fairness sutton’s ground looks hilariously bad - but it’s got character to it and not some dull ground which looks like the rest

 

[Chris FGR]

In fairness sutton’s ground looks hilariously bad - but it’s got character to it and not some dull ground which looks like the rest

You're an experienced enough non-leaguer, you'll have been to worse grounds. Histon, Lewes, Eastbourne, Grays, Hayes and Yeading etc

 

[Claret Forever]

I went to see a FA cup qualifying game there maybe around 2013 or 2014? At the time, the stadium was probably the same sort of quality as the local step 7/8 teams. They've apparently got 3G now though?

Not that it matters, got up here fairly enough without massive 'financial doping' as much as I can see, so fully welcome in the League.

 

[Casey]

Wimbledon were originally Southern league but like Yeovil went to the Isthmian after later troubles.

Wycombe are Isthmian league though. Not that it actually matters. It just occurred to me so I thought I'd ask.

Casey

 

[JaredSUFC]

Wimbledon were originally Southern league but like Yeovil went to the Isthmian after later troubles.

Wycombe are Isthmian league though.

Casey

Wimbledon FC were Isthmian far longer than they were Southern League. They joined the Southern League from the Isthmian in 1964 (the season after their only ever season in the same league as Sutton)

AFC Wimbledon came up through the Isthmian

 

[Casey]

Sorry, I altered my original post to try to tone down what I thought came across as big headed but you replied before I'd reposted.

It doesn't matter where you come from. It's who you are and where you are going that matters.

Very pleased to have you here.

Casey

 

[AdamStag]

You're an experienced enough non-leaguer, you'll have been to worse grounds. Histon, Lewes, Eastbourne, Grays, Hayes and Yeading etc

i prefer to do all i can to forget ever being non league, it was 5 years of hell.

 

[The Terminator]

One thing that I think they could miss is their 3G pitch - to me it was such a big part of their game under Doswell as they knew how to work it to their advantage. Not sure if Gray has done the same.

Small compact pitch, keep their shape and go direct and play forward quickly with Sutton understanding how the pitch would react in certain places.

Only other thing I will say - GGL is in need of some serious work to bring it up to EFL regulations, but I am sure the plans are already in place.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Looking forward to a new ground and another excuse to visit the smoke. I'd rather have a ramshackle ground of character than a new identikit one, I even enjoyed going to Kingsmeadow when you couldnt see the whole pitch from the terrace.

 

[Greenacres]

One thing that I think they could miss is their 3G pitch - to me it was such a big part of their game under Doswell as they knew how to work it to their advantage. Not sure if Gray has done the same.

Small compact pitch, keep their shape and go direct and play forward quickly with Sutton understanding how the pitch would react in certain places.

Only other thing I will say - GGL is in need of some serious work to bring it up to EFL regulations, but I am sure the plans are already in place.

I think what they will miss most from the loss of the 3G pitch is the income it generated for the club, in addition to the number of teams that were able to use it to play games or train on, with grass they will be hard pushed to get more than two games per week...certainly not the same level of use.

I haven't been to GGL so can't comment on it, but when we were promoted to the Football League the biggest expenditure was apparently the control room which was added to the main stand. There might have been other adjustments and improvements, but I'm not aware of what they might have been, but our ground only opened in 2006 having been designed and built with league football as an aim.

 

[Roger Stone]

Remember us playing Sutton a couple of times in the FA Cup / Trophy up at Meadow Park, Gloucester 92/93 ish. No recollection of the scores but pretty sure Sutton were a couple of tiers above us at the time. Good old days on the apple juice.

 

[E10rifle]

Looking forward to a new ground and another excuse to visit the smoke. I'd rather have a ramshackle ground of character than a new identikit one, I even enjoyed going to Kingsmeadow when you couldnt see the whole pitch from the terrace.

You’ll enjoy GGL then, as you probably won’t be able to see the game if there’s more than 150 of you. The seated stand is appalling as well; set back from the pitch, cramped, miles from the fans on the flat terrace and struts blocking the view from basically every seat. It’s less ‘ramshackle character’, more ‘absolute shit tip’. Looks like a scrapyard that’s closed down from the outside.

Naturally I’ll be going to our game there.

 

[chipmunx]

The fans that pride themselves in having been to all 92 (PL and EFL) grounds will be busy next season with Sutton, Harrogate, Barrow (for most of them) and possibly one more (Bromley or Eastleigh) to visit... IF away fans are allowed in.

 

[Vanni]

You're an experienced enough non-leaguer, you'll have been to worse grounds. Histon, Lewes, Eastbourne, Grays, Hayes and Yeading etc

Lewes? LEWES? Are you out of your mind old boy? The Dripping Pan is awesome.

 

[chipmunx]

for anyone who graced the Alliance Premier League or Football Conference between 1980/1 and 1986/7 we will raise your Histon, Lewes etc and give you Frickley Athletic...... A ground with a huge "slag bank" down one side. And for southerners a Slag Bank isn't where you find all the Sharon's and Tracy's from Essex....

 

[Chris FGR]

Lewes? LEWES? Are you out of your mind old boy? The Dripping Pan is awesome.

I remember standing at the top of a grass bank in the rain watching us somehow lose 3-2 to an awful Lewes team and feeling like absolute crap due to watching us play so incredibly shitely whilst having severe man flu. Not awesome in any way.

Histon was a bit better, they had a hog roast one year at the corner of the pitch and another year their chairman gave me a free potato.

 

[Kim Mitten]

Local rivals is a tough one as historically our biggest rivals were carshalton athletic and maybe Kingstonian at a push. We haven’t played either club in a decade as they are Isthmian League sides. For the youngsters Bromley are very much disliked. In the last decade we’ve been at the same level for 9 seasons.

What must Dipre be thinking! He made some outlandish claim didn't he one season that he'd have Carshalton in the league within 5 years and they were promptly relegated to the Isthmian South East. They'll always be your traditional rivals no matter what leagues both clubs play in, so it pleasing to see Sutton in the league and Dipre still can't get out of the Isthmian.

 

[Kim Mitten]

Lewes? LEWES? Are you out of your mind old boy? The Dripping Pan is awesome.

Arguably one of the best football grounds in the whole of Europe, let alone this country.

 

[JaredSUFC]

What must Dipre be thinking! He made some outlandish claim didn't he one season that he'd have Carshalton in the league within 5 years and they were promptly relegated to the Isthmian South East. They'll always be your traditional rivals no matter what leagues both clubs play in, so it pleasing to see Sutton in the league and Dipre still can't get out of the Isthmian.

One positive for the bobbins is that they’re now the number one non-league team in the Borough

 

[AdamStag]

Arguably one of the best football grounds in the whole of Europe, let alone this country.

i do remember the dripping pan. we won 1-0 about a decade ago, crowd of 598!

won 5-0 at histon, saw us lose 4-1 at hayes and yeading, drew 0-0 with grays at home when they brought 8 fans and we had 62,737 shots at goal.

 

[Uncle Pastuzo]

Remember us playing Sutton a couple of times in the FA Cup / Trophy up at Meadow Park, Gloucester 92/93 ish. No recollection of the scores but pretty sure Sutton were a couple of tiers above us at the time. Good old days on the apple juice.

Yep, we played them in the FA Cup and Trophy about six weeks apart and lost both. First was 1-4 and the second 1-2, which flattered us. I think they were one tier above us but in the first game in particular the gulf looked wider.

Later played them in Conf South and we did much better - W 4, D3, L1.

 

[Bone Idle]

When we first reformed we played our home games at morton -in-marsh one of the most picturesque little grounds i have ever been too, there were quite a few nice places to go and watch football in the helenic league and it was a pleasure to frequent them, i also remember playing sutton in the days we played our home games in gloucester but like roger i can't remember any results, so welcome sutton and i hope we won't be playing you next season, also its nice to see a few sutton fans making contributions to this forum unlike our friends from harrogate and salford, once again welcome to the fl sutton utd.

 

[JaredSUFC]

When we first reformed we played our home games at morton -in-marsh one of the most picturesque little grounds i have ever been too, there were quite a few nice places to go and watch football in the helenic league and it was a pleasure to frequent them, i also remember playing sutton in the days we played our home games in gloucester but like roger i can't remember any results, so welcome sutton and i hope we won't be playing you next season, also its nice to see a few sutton fans making contributions to this forum unlike our friends from harrogate and salford, once again welcome to the fl sutton utd.

As a Sutton fan based in Swansea, for selfish reasons I would prefer if Newport stay down. We were in the Conference South together between 2004 and 2008. County had the better record (not surprising as we were mediocre for 3 of those seasons and an abomination for the last).

 

[County1]

Yep, we played them in the FA Cup and Trophy about six weeks apart and lost both. First was 1-4 and the second 1-2, which flattered us. I think they were one tier above us but in the first game in particular the gulf looked wider.

Later played them in Conf South and we did much better - W 4, D3, L1.

Got a feeling the Cup and Trophy ties at Gloucester were even closer together than that? Didn’t we have to borrow a goalkeeper from an obscure team for the FA Cup match due to injury?

 

[Uncle Pastuzo]

It was five weeks and you're right about the keeper. I had to look him up and he had the unfortunate name of Robert Weakley. Never played again. The late great Mark Kendall was our regular.

 

[Devon_Lad]

You're an experienced enough non-leaguer, you'll have been to worse grounds. Histon, Lewes, Eastbourne, Grays, Hayes and Yeading etc

And The New Lawn Stadium

 

[Son of Cod]

And The New Lawn Stadium

I'd take a few decades there if it meant we were getting the best new ground in the country, which is what they're gonna have a in a few years.