Altrincham Football Club News Archive
5 to 17 September, 2001.

17 September, 2001

BERNARD ON BURSCOUGH

The SAM site quotes Bernard Taylor as saying of the Burscough game, "I don’t think we played that well. We should have had a few more, but after the second goal we sat back. Some time soon we’re going to give someone a good hiding".

TONIGHT'S RESULT

Monday, 17th
  • Emley 0 Accrington S. 3
    Click "League Table" button above for revised positions.

    THROUGH THE YEARS

    Howard Watts's Alty through the Years data has been added to this site, with the first file relating to tomorrow's match-day, 18 September. I am very grateful to Howard for supplying this data.

    TRAVEL TO RUNCORN

    Details of the SAFE supporters' coach for our first ever visit to Widnes to watch Runcorn FC Halton play Altrincham, a week on Wednesday (26th), can now be found on the Away Travel page; click the relevant button at the top of this page. There are also road route details given on the Away Travel page, especially for those who went to Emley last week instead of Wakefield, (yes, we know who you are!).

    MARK WARD IN U.S.

    Former Alty boss Mark Ward is reported to have gone to New York until the end of October. Mark is quoted as saying that "the vacancy situation within the league and non-league pyramid is very quiet at the moment. The experience out here will help me for future jobs within management as I am spending my time looking at how MLS Soccer like the New York Metrostars and the whole American structure is geared ... and so far it has been a great eye-opener. With all my experience it is refreshing to know there are things that I didn't know that could be done to help on the management and coaching side and they are things I will look to bring into my next job when then time comes".

    NORTHWICH CHANGE SHAPE

    Our Cheshire Senior Cup opponents tomorrow, Northwich, have recently taken on a new non-contract winger to replace Darren Vicary. He is Michael Meaker who was formerly at QPR, Reading and Swindon; he previously played under Vics' boss Jimmy Quinn at the latter two clubs. The Vics have also changed their team formation to 4-4-2 this season instead of using three centre-backs, so ex-Robin Gary Talbot is vying for his place with Gary Burke and Marcus Jones.
    16 September, 2001

    BURSCOUGH GAME


    Rod Thornley's penalty goes in at Burscough on Saturday. Photo reproduced here by kind permission of Alan Johnson. For a larger version of the above picture and more excellent photos of the game by Alan Johnson, please visit his site here. For this site's match report, click here.

    RESERVES' TABLE

    The Alty Reserves play in the Lancashire League Division One and their league table has now been added to the Reserves' Fixtures page here. There is also a Reserves' News page here. The Youth table is here.

    ROD'S RISE

    An article in the Pink on Rod Thornley charts his rise from being a Salford swimming pool lifeguard two years ago to being the England FA masseur today. He moved to his England job when David Beckham recommended him to Sven Goran Eriksson, having previously transferred from his job at Salford to a similar one at United's training complex at Carrington. Rod believes he is not good enough to play professionally himself and would find it impossible to play in the Conference as he has to work on Saturday mornings. As for Altrincham he believes their one big fault is that "we can't just seem to get our heads around playing to feet and too often resort to simply lumping the ball forward. I think that's just down to a lack of confidence", he said. "If we could crack that particular problem, there could be no stopping us", he added.

    OLD BOYS

    In the Nationwide League, Danny Adams had a good game yesterday but Neill Hardy was out injured at Stockport. Paul Edwards was a playing sub. for Swindon Town. Elsewhere, Mark Ward is reported to have flown to America last week. Craig Skelton scored again for Blyth but Leroy Chambers did not get on the scoresheet for Hucknall. Adam Farley and James Glendenning played as Droylsden lost in front of just 126 fans at Hucknall, whilst Stuart Scheuber appeared again for Colwyn Bay. Ricky Harris went off injured for Leigh RMI who won to move off the bottom of the Conference. Paul Ellender's Boston Utd are now top of that league, in which Mark Quayle again turned out for Telford. His former fellow centre-back, Chris Timons, was only a sub. for Ilkeston but Tony Hemmings played for the same team. Stuart Terry netted for Connah's Quay.
    15 September, 2001

    BURSCOUGH 0 ALTRINCHAM 2

    The match report is now here. Alty moved back to fifth in the updated League Table. Pictured right is Jeremy Illingworth; the full Alty team today is here and included a debutant, Stuart Locke, signed on non-contract terms from Stalybridge Celtic. The updated Statistics and Fixture Grid can be found by clicking the buttons at the top of the page. The full results today are:-
  • Barrow 3 Gainsborough Trinity 0 (1,198)
  • Bradford PA 2 Marine 3 (308)
  • Burscough 0 Altrincham 2 (322)
  • Colwyn Bay 1 Bishop Auckland 2 (262)
  • Frickley Ath. 1 Accrington Stanley 3 (194)
  • Gateshead 1 Burton Albion 1 (402)
  • Hucknall Town 1 Droylsden 0 (126)
  • Runcorn 1 Blyth Sp. 2 (275)
  • Vauxhall M. 1 Emley 1 (274)
  • Worksop T. 2 Whitby T. 0 (317)

    LINKS PAGE

    Links to Alty Youth team's opponents this season have been added to this site's Links page, which now has more than 100 links to non-league and related sites.

    EX-PLAYERS' MISFORTUNES AT HYDE

    Ex-Alty trialist, left-back Kenny Brady, made his debut for Hyde United on Monday but suffered a serious knee injury which will sideline him for several months. On Friday night, ex-Robin Terry Bowker was sent off at Hyde for butting in his side, Bamber Bridge's 1-0 win.

    RECENT UNIBOND MOVES

  • John Andrews (Mansfield T. to Hucknall T on loan)
  • Alan Bailey (Manchester C to Burton Albion)
  • Scott Bettney (Sheffield Wed to Worksop T on loan)
  • Andy Evans (Stalybridge Celtic to Frickley Ath)
  • Paul Miller (Lincoln C to Hucknall T. - an ex-Wimbledon striker)
  • John Andrews (Mansfield Town to Hucknall T. - a defender)
  • Steve Rimmer (Hyde Utd to Marine).
    14 September 2001

    HYDE LOSE AGAIN

    Hyde lost tonight to bottom of the table Bamber Bridge 0-1 and take over from the Preston side at the foot of the table, which is here.

    FURLONG BANNED FOR 3 GAMES

    Carl Furlong misses tomorrow's match at Burscough as he starts a 3-match ban for his dismissal at Lancaster City. The MEN reports that both Altrincham and Droylsden are showing interest in former Robins' striker Matt McNeil, now at Stalybridge. Dave Pace is reported to have tabled a four-figure offer for McNeil. The same source also claims that the Robins and Bloods are still interested in Stuart Locke but Stalybridge are hanging on to him for the time being. Michael Twiss, an Alty trialist this pre-season, is in the Leigh squad for tomorrow's Conference match.

    RESERVES REPORT

    I am very grateful to Danny Claffey for his report of the Alty Reserves v Leigh RMI match, which now appears here. Two of the Youth Team, Lee Thompson and Paul Tilley played in this match despite having 90 minutes football in the FA Youth Cup the previous evening. 13 September, 2001

    JACKIE SWINDELLS

    Terry Rowley's profile of Jackie Swindells has now been added to the Alty Legends page.

    NEXT OPPONENTS

    Our opponents this Saturday, Burscough, had their fourth red card of the season on Tuesday night when Lee McEvilly was sent off for violent conduct against Marine. Like us, Burscough also have a Furlong in their side but our former full-back Steve Porter was absent from their team last night after a couple of recent appearances for the Lancashire club. Bamber Bridge also had a man sent off yesterday when Simon Burton struck Colin Caton of Colwyn Bay as the Welsh side won 2-1. Our opponents on 2nd October, Barrow, are without Ian Duerden for up to four weeks with a ligament injury and Wayne Bullimore is still six weeks from fitness.

    DIBBLE MISSES

    Ex-Robins' keeper Andy Dibble came on as a sub for Stockport County after their first-choice keeper, Jones, was dismissed in the match at Nottingham Forest last night. With the penalty shoot-out at 7-7, Dibble failed to convert his spot-kick and Forest won 8-7. Two other old boys, Danny McGoona and Adam Lillis are still at Caernarfon Town but Danny is out of action for a further couple of weeks with an injury.

    BISHOPS OUTGUN ARTILLERY

    In one of the season's more unusual friendly pairings, a Bishop Auckland XI beat the Light Infantry 6-1 in a friendly fixture this week. The Bishops brought out their own big guns; the Bishops' chairman played in the second half! The prolific Carl Chillingsworth scored twice.
    12 September 2001

    HYDE SIGN ALTY TRIALIST

    Hyde have signed Kenny Brady, an ex-Stockport County right-back, who played for Altrincham in this season's pre-season games at Abbey Hey and Rossendale. They have also acquired Steven Lyons, a goalkeeper, from Tintwistle

    DRAW WITH LEIGH

    Alty Reserves drew 2-2 tonight at home (Flixton) to Leigh RMI. More details tomorrow on the Reserves Page (courtesy of Danny Claffey).

    TONIGHT'S UNIBOND GAMES

    Altrincham remain sixth after tonight's results. Click the League Table and Fixture Grid buttons for tonight's updates. With 88 league games played, 15 matches have ended as draws and 298 goals have been scored.
  • Accrington S. 5 Droylsden 2
  • Bradford PA 0 Bishop Auckland 2
  • Gateshead 2 Whitby T. 0

    THORNLEY'S GOAL


    Another of Alan Johnson's fine action shots shows Rod Thornley converting the Alty penalty at Emley on Monday night. For several more pictures of the game, visit Alan's site

    ALTY YOUTH 3 GRETNA YOUTH 1

    For more on this match, please visit the Youth Page.
    11 September 2001

    ALTY DROP TO SIXTH

    After tonight's games, Alty fell to sixth in the UniBond Premier; click the buttons above for the updated League Table, League Grid and League Line-Up pages.
    Tuesday, 11 September, 2001
  • Bamber Bridge 1 Colwyn Bay 2
  • Barrow 2 Runcorn 1
  • Burton A. 2 Vauxhall M. 1
  • Lancaster C. 4 Blyth Sp. 2
  • Marine 3 Burscough 3
  • Worksop 1 Frickley A. 1
    Matches on Friday, 14 September, 2001
  • Hyde Utd v Bamber Bridge

    EMLEY 2 ALTRINCHAM 1

    This was another controversial away game after last week's at Lancaster. Match report now here Other result:
  • Hyde United 1 Gainsborough Trinity 1. The revised league table is here.
    10 September 2001

    ROCKY RUNS OVER FURLONG

    Alty's mascot, Rocky Robin, seen left, reappeared after several years absence at the opening game of this season but has not been seen since. However, he has been entered to run over a furlong in the 3rd British Mascot Grand National. The Furlong in question is not Carl but, rather, a course of six fences of Huntingdon racetrack. The race is on 30 September at 3.40pm. Place your bets now! (The story of Rocky's entry in the race also reached the columns of The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday 11 September).

    BURSCOUGH TIMES

    The times and fares for the supporters' coach to Burscough next Saturday are now on the Away Travel Page.

    FAIR PLAY

    Alty finished seventh in the UniBond Premier fair-play league for August, with five yellow cards and no reds. Top were Vauxhall Motors with just one caution and bottom were Gateshead with 10 yellow and 2 red and Burscough with four yellow and three red. Monthly winners get a litre and a half of whisky. £1,000 is the prize for the season's winners. Alty are joint leaders of the teams with most clean sheets this season - three have been achieved so far.
    9 September, 2001

    BRADFORD'S KEEPER'S PAST

    Bradford's goalkeeper in Saturday's match at Moss Lane, Lutz Pfannenstiel, is not just an interesting name but also appears to be a player with an interesting past. In January 2001 a German goalkeeper of that name was jailed in Singapore on three counts of alleged match-fixing, charges which he denied. He was released after three and a half months but banned for life from playing in Singapore. The accusations were that he assisted a bookie in betting 18,000 Singapore dollars on matches in which he was involved in the S-League for Geylang United. His room-mate, an Australian, was also jailed. See the following for more: (1) and (2).

    ATTENDANCES

    Terry Rowley's updated attendance chart for the UniBond Premier League is here.

    ALTY YOUTH 2 BURSCOUGH 4

    The Youth side lost their first league game of the season today but were unlucky not to get a draw after going 0-3 down in the first half. For more and a brief match report, click here.

    SUPPORT THE CLUB!

    S.A.F.E., the Altrincham Supporters' Association is organising the following events. There will be further details of these in the near future. S.A.F.E. and Alty in Exile have donated between £40,000 and £50,000 to the Club in recent years - their fundraising events are very important factors in helping the Club to move forward. So, please support these events and tell your friends about them! For details of joining S.A.F.E. or the Exiles, please visit the S.A.F.E. & Exiles Page of this site or click this link to find the membership form. The next SAFE Members' Meeting will be at 12.30pm on Saturday 17 November in the bar.
    Date Event Venue/Time
    26 or 27 October 2001 QUIZ NIGHT  (1st prize £50) (Entries £2 per person, max. of 5 people per team) Noel White Suite (doors open 7-30pm for 8pm start)
    10 November 2001 RACE NIGHT (Entry £2 including race-card) Noel White Suite (doors open 7-30pm for 8pm start)
    26 December 2001 GRAND CHRISTMAS DRAW Noel White Suite (after the match with Hyde Utd)

    THORNLEY AND TWISS

    The Non-League Paper has a centre-page feature on Rod Thornley and his dual role as Altrincham striker and the England F.A. masseur. Bernard Taylor is quoted as saying "I don't know a nicer lad". He also said "I should imagine it is quite hard working with the stars all week [at Old Trafford] and then coming here, but he doesn't seem to mind". The Alty manager also expressed his willingness to work round Rod's inevitable absences with Manchester United and England- "his job comes first and it's a very important job", he said. The Pink has a an article on Michael Twiss, who scored for Alty at Witton in pre-season but is now interesting both Leigh and Bury.

    BRADFORD GAME - BIGGEST GATE


    Alan Johnson's picture of Rod Thornley's goal yesterday. For more pictures by Alan and Doug Ashton, please visit Alan's AFC Photographic Record site
    At 644, Alty's crowd yesterday was the biggest in the UniBond Premiership. All of the gates are listed below. For the match report, click here

    BOWKER?

    A player named as "Bonker" is listed in today's NLP playing in Bamber Bridge's defence. As Terry Bowker was at Bamber briefly last season, it would appear that he has now rejoined the Preston club.

    OTHER OLD BOYS

    Former Robins Leroy Chambers (Hucknall), Tony Hemmings (Ilkeston), Lee Ellington (Gainsborough), Mark Quayle (Telford) and Tony Hemmings (Ilkeston) were all on the mark today with goals for their clubs. Paul Robertson now seems to be at Mossley. Neill Hardy made his full debut for Stockport County as they picked up their first point of the season. Gary Talbot conceded a penalty but the Vics still won. His ex-defensive partner, Paul Ellender is pictured in the NLP for Boston Utd. Stu Scheuber played again for Colwyn Bay, as did Adam Farley and James Glendenning for Droylsden and Chris Timons for Ilkeston but Dean Greygoose was only sub. for Stevenage, against Ricky Harris and Leigh RMI. Ken McKenna is pictured in the NLP alongside a report of TNS's win yesterday. Danny Adams gave a "typically gritty" display for Macc. Town, according to the Pink. Soner Zumrutel, at Alty a few years back, is likely to be back at Moss Lane soon, as he is now playing for Frickley.

    AROUND THE UNIBOND

    Hyde have now gone 7 games without a point this season; they also finished last season with seven winless games. Worksop's new chairman Howard Raymond is the son of Paul Raymond, the founder of the famous Revue Bar in London. His ambitious plans for a new stadium have been hit because, amongst other reasons, they do not meet with the Council's requirement to incorporate a whippet racing track!
    8 September, 2001

    BOWKER LEAVES

    Terry Bowker, who established himself as a first-choice Altrincham centre-back in the latter stages of last season, has left the club. Terry had not been able to get into the first team this season. His new club is not yet known.

    ALTRINCHAM 1 BRADFORD PARK AVENUE 0

    This match was played in a gusty wind and consequently there were few really memorable moments. Altrincham got their winner after 66 minutes through a low shot from Rod Thornley from about 15 yards which the keeper was unable to keep out. Bradford strung together some neat midfield passing but they lacked punch in the final third of the field. Altrincham also laboured to find the target for much of the game but were deserved winners. They remain fifth in the updated table but gained ground as Burton and Lancaster drew (see below). The League Line-Up button above shows today's team and the Statistics page has also been updated. There are match reports for this game here and, courtesy of Danny Claffey, for the Reserves' 4-4 draw last night, here.

    TODAY'S RESULTS

  • Altrincham 1 Bradford PA 0 (644)
  • Bishop Auckland 1 Lancaster City 1 (238)
  • Blyth Sp. 2 Hyde Utd 0 (461)
  • Burscough 1 Emley 1 (223)
  • Colwyn Bay 1 Hucknall Town 1 (288)
  • Droylsden 0 Gateshead 1 (245)
  • Gainsborough T. 5 Bamber Bridge 0 (393)
  • Marine 1 Burton Albion 1 (459)
  • Runcorn FC Halton 0 Worksop T. 1 (340)
  • Vauxhall M. 3 Frickley A. 1 (275)
  • Whitby T. 2 Barrow 4 (336)

    JOHN KING

    Terry Rowley's profile of John King has been added to the Legends page of this site.

    STANLEY LIST STRIKER

    Accrington have listed 21 year-old striker Gary Williams, whom they re-signed from Doncaster last year after having sold him to Belle Vue for £60,000 early in 2000.
    7 September, 2001

    CELTIC CLEAR-OUT

    As well as releasing Stuart Locke (see below), Stalybridge have released their keeper, Gary Ingham, who has re-joined one of his former clubs, Gainsborough Trinity. Celtic are rumoured to have signed a New Zealand international goalkeeper instead. Andy Evans has also been freed from the Bower Fold.

    ALTY CHASE LOCKE

    Despite reports (below) that defender Stuart Locke, released by Stalybridge, was about to sign for Accrington, the MEN tonight reports that he is actually choosing between Altrincham and Droylsden as his new employers and that his decision will be made in time to play for one or the other tomorrow. After a spell with Stalybridge Celtic he joined Leigh before returning to the Bower Fold. Amongst his attributes is a very long throw.

    TWO FORECAST COMPETITIONS

    SAFE (the Alty supporters' association) is again running a prediction competition which is open to anyone. To enter, pick up a form from the SAFE Cabin on match days or contact Neil Dawson via the Club at Moss Lane (address and telephone number at the top of this page). You will be asked to forecast this season's champions, runners-up and one relegated team from each of the top six levels of English football (Premiership to UniBond) as well as the winners, runners-up and a semi-finalist from the FA Cup, Trophy and the League Cup. It costs just £2 to enter. The winner at the season's end picks up £50, with other prizes of £30, £15 and £5 to be won. Entries must be submitted by 30 September 2001. Gary Warrington is also running a competition in which you forecast three results each week, one of which will be Altrincham's game. For further details, visit Gary's Forum.
    6 September, 2001

    UNIBOND ATTENDANCES

    A UniBond attendance grid has been added to this site, thanks to the efforts of Terry Rowley. It can be found by clicking the "Attendances Grid" button at the top of the page. Last Saturday saw the UniBond average gate, at 488, exceed that in the Ryman (427), but that in the Dr Martens League was 684.

    LEGENDS

    Thanks to Terry Rowley of the Robins' Review, a series on Altrincham F.C. Legends will appear on this site. The first article, on Lennie Dickinson, is here. Lennie will be at Moss Lane on 21 September as part of the GMR Panel (see below).

    FRICKLEY LOSE THEIR POINT

    As well as losing 0-5 at home to Burton on Tuesday, Frickley Athletic expect to see their sole point gained this season deducted because they played Luke Smith, an incorrectly registered player, against Gateshead in the 0-0 draw on Saturday. More bad news for them is that new signing from Scarborough, Matt Russell, has had his career ended by a broken leg. However, the Yorkshire side have signed a new keeper, Martin Kearney from Doncaster Rovers. Meanwhile, Doncaster have signed Rushden's ex-Morecambe striker Justin Jackson for £150,000.

    LANCASTER LEAVE IT LATE AGAIN

    For the fourth time in six matches this season, Lancaster scored in the last minute on Tuesday night and their first goal, in a 2-0 win, was a penalty. Ex-Robin, Lee Ellington scored for Gainsborough versus our next guests, Bradford PA. Troubled Hyde have borrowed teenage centre-back Chris McCready from Crewe Alexandra for a month. Accrington Stanley have re-signed goalkeeper John McKenna following his return from playing in South Africa and he was bizarrely named Man of the Match in a Reserves thrashing 0-6 by Morecambe! Former Alty defender, Steve Morgan, made his debut for Stanley at Colwyn Bay on Tuesday. Stanley also hope to acquire Stalybridge Celtic's Stuart Locke.
    5 September, 2001

    ALTRINCHAM 2 HUCKNALL TOWN 0


    There is now a full match report here. The above picture, courtesy of Alan Johnson, shows Carl Furlong on the deck (white shirt) as his shot enters the net after 68 minutes. For a larger picture of this goal, see Alan's website. Bernard Taylor is quoted on the SAM site as saying that "The team spirit is just sky high at the moment and every player in the squad wants his chance. I’ve had the situation in the past where players are happy to sit on the bench and not play, but these lads are not like that at all. Both Jason Gallagher and Danny Murphy picked up ankle knocks against Hucknall, but I’m sure they’ll shake it off in time for Saturday’s match, because they want to play so much".

    RESERVES' FIXTURE CHANGE

    There is now NO Reserves' match tonight. The next Reserves' game is now an away fixture, on Friday, at Lancaster City.

    EMLEY TRIP

    Details of the coach times and fares, as well as directional information for this game on Monday next are on the Away Travel page (button above). NB The game is at the Belle Vue Stadium, Wakefield and NOT at Emley's Welfare ground.

    ALTY AT NATIONAL MUSEUM

    A visit, today, to the National Football Museum at Preston revealed that the star attraction on display is not the replica of the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy, nor the oldest international soccer shirt still in existence, but the 1975 Altrincham v Macclesfield matchday programme which is exhibited in a case on the ground floor. Other attractions include a traditional bar football table but with the added bonus of video action replays of all your goals. Entry is £6.95 (£4.95 for children and concessionaries) and the building is open from 1000-1700 on weekdays/ Saturdays and 1100-1700 on Sundays. The museum, at Preston North End's ground is well worth a visit- but don't choose the blue side if you play the bar football, as the floor slopes towards the blue goal!

    OLD BOYS

    Steve Morgan, with us last season, has now moved from TNS (Wales) to Accrington Stanley. Michael Garrity, who also played for us last season, scored Witton's goal which defeated Trafford 1-0 in the UniBond First division last night.