Newest article: Re: Never look at gift horse in the mouth by Stockingford BlueYesterday 13:39Yesterday at 13:39:29view thread
Oldest article: League leaders are "at home" tonight
by Unnamed Sauce9/9/2025 09:44Tue Sep 9 09:44:53 2025
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All these posts about moving grounds btought to mind going to away games. In the seventies we visited Guildford at three different grounds in consecutive seasons. The first one was at their home of St Joseph's, then at Dorking fc, then finally at the Metropolitan police ground. I used to love going to the away games in that era.
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Yes. I made all those trips too and later lived and worked in the Guildford area, regularly driving past the old Guildford City ground (now flats) and the Met Police ground.
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I don't suppose there will be too many of us regulars left from those days. I know that the Breeds family are no longer with us. Do Guildford have a team now, do you know?
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I recall that there was Guildford and Godalming FC but Guildford City FC now play in the Southern Combination Div 1 (Step 6)
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Good that they still have a team. They were a pretty good team back in the day. Not many grounds still survive from those days though.
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Romford and Hillingdon both regular opponents in those days. Romford are in a similar position to us, ground sharing and looking to find a ground of their own.
Edited by nil desperandum at 22:33:22 on 23rd June 2026
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Yes, went to both of them. I know it has been fifty odd years, and a lot can happen in that time ,but how many of the clubs from that era, moved ground, and found themselves better off? Like others , I believe that our demise started when we left Manor park. Yes, we had some success at Liberty way, but to me, it never felt like a home match when playing there, much like it does playing at Bedworth.
Edited by Stockingford Blue at 14:29:37 on 25th June 2026
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In 1977 the Boro attempted to buy Romford's Main Stand & 4-pylon floodlights at the Brooklands Stadium.
The Main Stand was built in 1964 & run the full length of the pitch.
The Boro were looking to improve Manor Park at the time, in an effort to bring it up to Football League standards.
The sale never materialised.
Edit:
Brooklands was also a Speedway Stadium.
It was the home of the Romford Bombers speedway team.
Edited by VoR at 23:15:35 on 23rd June 2026
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I believe, Margate, Dover, and Bath, plus the Adders of couse. Not sure about Cheltenham. Plus Telford.
Edited by Stockingford Blue at 22:59:42 on 23rd June 2026
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Cheltenham, still play at Whaddon Road but it has all been modernised since Boro played there in the 50’s and 60’s.
Edited by Dougie8 at 13:02:32 on 24th June 2026
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And 70's, 80's and 90's
Note to self, 'be careful what you wish for'
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I remember a 3-2 win at Cheltenham must have been 81-2ground near the racecourse. Tommy Robson was playing for us
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That was our 1st game in the Southern League after relegation from the Gola League. We were 2-0 down at half time. A player called John Jones got 2 of the goals.
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I think he was captain and played in midfield
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Another great player . We have had so many.
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Sure was. One of my particular favourites.
Little by little.
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He went to Stamford when he left us (they were a few divisions below us then - how times change, eh?). I went to see them play Stansted in the Vase final at Wembley that season, and though Stamford lost Robson was far and away the best player on the pitch.
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He was a winger, who joined the Boro from Peterborough United, where he made 482 appearances, scoring 111 goals.
He died in 2020.
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I thought they were still at their old ground but had not bothered to check. An example of a team that has thrived by developing their ground, as and when , they had the means. i sincerely believe that if the Boro' had done that in the late sixties, when , following the cup run, and with the crowds we had then, we would still be at Manor park.
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We’d still be at Manor Park if the Council had not sold the ground to the Club for peanuts in 1979.
I know people who were in the room shaking their heads because they knew exactly the calibre of people who had run the Boro over the years!
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The council may have sold Manor Park for peanuts, but did well from the eventual outcome. Lifting the covenant netted them over a million, plus , how much council tax do they now raise each year from the households on the site? I honestly believe that the council, for all their promisses of help, wil notl look upon the club's plight with any great urgency.
Edited by Stockingford Blue at 12:33:47 on 25th June 2026
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Not right im afraid.
The combined amounts for NBBC and WCC covenants was 250k as detailed in the Liquidator's report.
NBBC sold the ground to NBAFC for 25k.
Almost immediately Kelly was trying to sell the ground.
Eventually it was sold for 4 million.
Don't let anybody ever tell you the Councill have never done anything for the various football clubs. They also saved the ground when Nuneaton Town went bust and gave the lease to the new Nuneaton Boro.
It's one of the reasons its been hard to persuade the council to help the club recently. the best argument is that the new Club is CIC and cant run at a loss (or profit).
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The covenant amount, as you say, was a whole lot less, but like I said the overall outcome for the council's coffers has turned out pretty well. As for the council helping the club, in the present circumstances, given the perceived need to build , more , and more housing, their need to find a site for the club will not be a priority.
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It's not a 'perceived' need, it is an actual need.
NBBC have an obligation to guarantee a 5-year rolling supply of land.
Most of the 'Brownfield' sites are now exhausted.
That means they are having to consider building on 'Greenfield' sites, which needs private landowners to bring forward sites for consideration.
NBBC are committed to building 14,000 new homes during the currency of the latest Local Plan (effectively 15 years), 10,000 homes for the Borough of Nuneaton & Bedworth, plus another 4,000 homes for Coventry over-spill.
The Council have their own challenges!
Edited by VoR at 13:20:02 on 25th June 2026
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It is a perceived need! It is a policy decision that politicians have come up with. Other than immigration , the the population of the country is not growing. Like you , I was a baby boomer. This growth, in the post war years , led to the building frenzy that followed. There has been no baby boom in the last few decades.
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It is dictated by the UK Goverment's National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which also has to factor in Economic growth, not to mention the Social needs arising!
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The key word there is "economic". Since the eighties ,manufacturing, and industry as a whole has declined. The only need to build more, and more, housimg is to boost the economy.
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It was crazy to sell the ground to the football club given the characters involved running the Club over the years! The responsible civic thing would be to hold onto the asset. Although I suspect one of the clowns running the Club would have been spouting how the Club needed to move for off field income at some point.
I think the best site now for the council, local area and football club would be Stockingford but I suspect a local councillor has put a stop to it for their own reasons and there’s nobody interested enough to overrule them! Only hope is adverse publicity.
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Don't forget NBBC's cash windfall from the Tories 'new housing bonus'
6 times the amount of Council Tax for every new home.
That adds up to a tidy sum!
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They were built long before that!
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The Tories/Liberals 'New Homes Bonus' came in to force in 2011.
It depends on when the new homes built by Bloors sequenced with the Local Plan in force at that time.
The NBBC Local Plan can count homes towards its quota retrospectively, it's a feature/result of the length of time it takes to implement a new Local Plan, typically 5 years!
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The UK Government did not introduce the New Homes Bonus scheme until April 2011. Because the planning permissions, land sale, and initial build stages for the old football ground took place between 2007 and 2010, the development missed the introduction window for the bonus.
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The Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council Local Plan at that time was adopted in 2006.
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You say the 'initial' development.
How many new homes were built after April 2011?
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Let him get back on google and he will reply.
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We are like minded . We were secure at Manor Park, and did not need to buy the land. If you have read my posts regarding Tamworth, I have said as much regarding their new owner wanting to buy the Lamb. Once a saleable asset is involved then you are inviting third party involvement who see it as a business opportunity. It did nothing for the Boro' ,buying Manor Park, and it will do nothing for Tamworth football club, if their property developer owner is allowed to buy the Lamb.
Edited by Stockingford Blue at 16:49:27 on 24th June 2026
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And we could have bought the Cock and Bear pub
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Could have been one the social club plus extra parking. That would be a better set up than Liberty Way.
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I did not realise that , one ,the pub had been for sale, and two- the club was in any possition financially to have bought it if it had.been.
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As a social club perhaps.
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Definitely an improvement on the Boro Social Club
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No text
Edited by Stockingford Blue at 23:35:14 on 24th June 2026
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AFC Telford United still occupy the same site, although it is a new Stadium now, the New Bucks Head.
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I believe that Bedford moved from their old ground in the early eighties. Of all the grounds we visited way back when, very few are still in existance. It shows that the Boro's story is far from unique.
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There are a few clubs that still play at the same grounds, who were West Midlands (Regional) League clubs at that time.
Bromsgrove Rovers (now Bromsgrove Sporting).
Halesowen Town.
Kidderminster Harriers.
Tamworth.
Also, Stourbridge & Kings Lynn, who were Southern League clubs.
Edited by VoR at 11:31:00 on 24th June 2026
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Margate was one of my favourite away games in the 70s usually followed by a night out in London
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