I get off at the station and meet Kev. Did I imagine the first 5 or 6 buildings outside the station being pubs? Some are not even closed down, and a couple are even open now. So we start off with a crap lager in some downtrodden place I forget the name of. Even the Guinness is off, it’s that downtrodden. (Not a problem for me, it’s undrinkable.)
The two places we most fancied a drink in haven’t opened today, which is their loss. So we call in at the Wetherspoons to find it full of Bury. No seats for the middle aged (us) so we go outside in Winter. But Kev does spot that Wetherspoons now have a Top Trumps on sale (proceeds to charidee). They’ve sold out, but he’s on the case next day at his local ‘spoons. Good man.
Bower Fold is quite a walk from the station, but there’s another couple of pubs on the way up, but we save them for later. We’ve a social club to put some money behind the bar thereof. I’ve got digital match tickets (home end) as I was given the impression tickets had to be bought by midday. Thus, I’m disappointed to find I could have had a paper version in my grubby paws had I bought at the ground. Nevermind. Programme bought, we’re in. Where’s the social club?
We entered at one corner. A large terrace (the ground holds 6,500...’allegedly’ as the joke goes) is on our right, and the social club on our left. The queues are crazy. Despite arriving early, I’m sure the teams must be out by now. I leave Kev in the queue – hey, it’s his round – and step outside. The game has already kicked off and Bury have a free kick on the edge of the box at the far end, in front of their own support. Straight over the wall and into the net, the first touch I’ve seen. Several minutes pass before Kev makes his entrance. Much appreciated.
We head to the terrace, but there’s some yoof with a drum. Let’s not stand there. We perch on the edge of the terrace, our beers perched on the crush barriers. (Out of interest, when is a crush barrier not a crush barrier?) Bury run riot and, despite the two sides being in a play-off battle, go four up after 21 minutes. This is harsh on Celtic, who miss chances of their own. Half-time is 0-4 and could easily be 3-4.
We let the half time rush die down, then go get a another beer before returning to the stand opposite the social club. Being a further walk, it’s less populated than the Main Stand adjacent to the social club, but probably a better view, as the front portion is already high up off the ground. How many will Bury score this half?
The answer is ‘only two’, with a pair for Celtic too. Actually, why are Celtic playing in BLUE? I thought they played in green and white hoops? Isn’t that the POINT? (Later, I see an older home fan with a green and white scarf.) But the stands are painted blue, so maybe they’ve had those colours for a while. It’s been an entertaining game and the Bury fans are certainly happy with today in a packed away end. The Celtic programme congratulates themselves being more than half the 2,000+ crowd at neighbours Mossley on Boxing Day (nil nil) but today the boot is on the other foot.
The drinking isn’t over though. We call in at the second pub on the left and end up chatting to a Celtic sponsor. He’s carrying a small pile of programmes (to hand out willy-nilly) and he kindly gives me one. What had I done with mine? Musta lost it somewhere. I definitely bought one. Then another beer near the station...that was a nice pub too. So nice I cut it too fine with my train and got to the platform as it shut its doors. I rang Kev. ‘You’ve missed your train haven’t you?’ ‘Fancy another pint?’
Happy New Year!
The Damage
£12 ent
£2.50 prog
£4.60 beer x 2
£11.70 train
= £35.40
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