FC United of Manchester 1 v 2 Leamington FC:
Finally back to Manchester for the first time in at least 6 months. I arrived early, grabbed some breakfast and after an hour or so we were on our way to Yorkshire for Batley Festival. A few beers in and it had the weird feeling of an away game. I half expected us to head to a ground rather than a field. It was good to see, amongst others, former Malcolms guests "Cabbage" play. The music continued the next day pre-match, with my trip coinciding nicely with the 10th anniversary of Malcolms. I even got to play a shaker on stage. Despite it being freezing under the stand, im always struck by how nice it is under the SMRE - the memorabilia, the stickers, astroturf and pub benches. Its also nice to see fanzines back at FC - no new Under the Boardwalk but 1878 was on sale allowing me to finally bag an issue. The main band couldnt play in the end but instead we were treated to music from a lad from the Space Monkeys who also happens to be behind our season ticket and membership cards. A few lovely pies and a couple of pints of Fools Gold and it was time for kickoff. It was a genuine joy to be back on the terraces at FC, but unfortunately the match was dire. I very rarely have no positives to take from our performances but we were lacklustre, without structure or skill and deserved to lose. This aspect makes it more understandable that crowds have suffered this season. Why everyone should stick around is due to what happened after the final whistle. We went up to the main stand bar. Regardless of the result, everyone was nicely pissed, singing away, club officials were dishing out free pies and sandwiches and we had the run of the ground - as it should be as owners. As we sat outside in the sunshine waiting for a taxi back into town i felt a pang of regret that i cant come more often. Its still ours.
