Poolie Kev: Swansea and Charlton

Vic Park
By Poolie Kev
September 23 2005

Pools have played at home to Swansea and away to Charlton - so why did Poolie Kev spend part of Tuesday in Stockport? All is revealed in his latest column as he reflects on a double header that's seen a couple of decent performances.

Double-header this week as we had a midweek game and I’ve been on the road since last Sunday!!

Sunny Saturday found us at home to Swansea so again having completely forgotten the parlous state of the A1 I chugged up the road works strewn cart track and took two hours to reach the Millhouse, my chosen watering hole for the day, which I’ll come back to shortly.

On the way up I had passed numerous Jacks in their cars and then a bus full near Borobridge. Now I’ll always declare the Poolie as the finest breed of football fan in the universe and I guarantee that if we’re playing Orkney Casuals in a blizzard away on a Tuesday night in February, there’ll be some blue and white clad zealot egging them on from the cattle trough end. But it occurred to me that it’s 341 miles from Swansea to Hartlepool and at an average of 56mph which is all these buses are allowed to do that takes SIX hours plus food/ale/pee stops. Hats off lads.

Now, The Millhouse. Normally the teeming preserve of pre-match Poolies with five bar staff crawling over each other to slake the thirst of the baying masses. I know things have been a bit errr…. unsteady lately but it was a bloody morgue!! Me, three kids playing pool, a Swansea fan and the landlady’s husband. And it stayed that way until about half past one. I know there wasn’t a mid-day game (slipped up there Sky, probably arranging for a 3am kick off between Bolton and Wigan at £7 pay per view!!) but the place was bare. This didn’t bode well for the attendance at all and regrettably it turned out to be so. A disappointing 4,743, about 500 down on previous gates. I daresay it was to be expected and being the eternal optimist I suppose some people might have said that £16 for the dross against Yeovil was a waste of cash, me not being among them. But honest lads, if your reading, get yourselves back to the Vic, we did good and it was the Pools of last season slinging the ball around in fine style!!

Which they did again on Tuesday night. I was at the dentists in Stockport, yes Mr Blair, that’s how far I have to go to see an NHS dentist, on Tuesday morning at eleven and after he’d numbed me up and ripped out a fang I was free to blast down the M6 for the Charlton game. Well I say blast…. Actually the M6 is another A1, miles and miles of cones closing lanes and then two blokes wrenching a nut through the safety barrier and an infuriating sign saying apologies for any delay. GRRRRRRR!!! There’s footy to be watched!! Don’t these people understand??

So I tried the M6 toll, a snip at £3.50 for about 40 miles and it was refreshingly empty. Trouble is I made a pig of myself and hurtled down it bringing the exhilarating freedom to a premature end. Sound familiar chaps??

Anyway, I’d got a hotel close to the Millenium Dome so drink could be taken and I got a cab down to the Antigallian, whatever one of those is. It turned out to be the scruffiest pub in the Northern Hemisphere and when I ordered a pint and ten cigars there was no change from a tenner. As they say in London, ‘Bleedin’ Ell.’


However it was full of Poolies, most of whom seemed quite optimistic although I wondered at our Mayor wearing a bright red British Lions shirt?? What are you up to Stu?? Leaning towards egg chasing?

Another earth shattering moment occurred inside the ground. The game was a snip at a tenner, same price as a pint and ten cigars co-incidentally, and there was beer available in the ground. So standing outside the bar/snack hut with a pint I got out my pre-match stogie. Well a steward instantly made a beeline for me and I thought, ‘Oh oh, no smoking in the ground, just like at Pools’ but to my amazement he got out his lighter and sparked it up and gave me a light. A STEWARD!!!!!! Well done Mr 149, you made me feel most welcome to the Valley.

Fantastic game, fantastic atmosphere and the warm feeling on the way out that we’d acquitted ourselves in a dignified and competitive way. We gave almost as good as we got and but for a blazing free kick and a dodgy penner we had the draw!! Well done lads.

Three games in eight days, Poolie heaven!! See you all at Chesterfield!!