I see Peterborough are the latest club to be linked to a move to my local ground Nene Park, erstwhile home of the now sadly defunct Rushden & Diamonds. It didn't do much good for its next tenants, Kettering Town either before they moved back closer to home to Steel Park (Corby) and then Coventry were linked with the place a few months back. We should remember how lucky we are to be on a stable footing with an historic ground without imminent threat of eviction or relocation. I wouldn't be surprised to see these ground switches become more common in years to come and it's the fans who will suffer as the clubs are pulled out of the communities they've traditionally served. It's another slide down the slippery slope towards franchise football, in my opinion. PS My outstanding memory of Nene Park is being among a great away following singing "We've no idea . . . how to get home . . . we've no idea how to get home . . . we're in the middle of nowhere . . . we've no idea how to get home" despite the fact I could have walked it from there.
I was there, great day out. Never mind no idea how to get home, even finding the place was an absolute farce. First of all my GPS took me into a field, then TMFDM called me to say that he'd found out the ground wasn't even in Rushden but in a place called Irthlingborough, which I had never heard of. Drove around a few villages aimlessly for another ten minutes before finding a leisure centre with a lot of Barnsley fans milling round the car park. Finally realised this was the ground. Managed to find TMFD who had just bitten into a pie which was still frozen in the middle.
Won't forget my only visit to see the Reds beat R & D. Stopped at a nice little pub on the High Street called the Oliver Twist for a pint and a bite to eat with a friend and his daughter. Just after we had started eating four Barnsley fans came in and went up to the bar for drinks. One of them looks round and says to the others, "Who wants the Premier League and all the aggro, when you can visit nice pubs in nice villages in this league." On relection, sound words. At the ground, and having a Merc. on personal plates, the stewards thought we must be BFC officials and directed ud straight to the officials car parking area.
