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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/24/manchester-united-fan-family-seat-given-to-vips
A relevant article. Whilst I understand that it’s tough to let go of a club you’ve supported your whole life, that would be the final straw for me. Wouldn’t give them a penny ever again.
I am sorry for him but that is the way the Premier League has become.
Maybe he should consider supporting FC United of Manchester instead? They are currently top of the Northern Premier League and in with a good chance of gaining promotion to National League North.
I have seen them play Southport a few times, most recently in a pre-season friendly last July. They always bring plenty of support and their supporters seem like a good crowd of people.
It looks like they have a good stadium as well.
I am sorry for him but that is the way the Premier League has become.
Absolutely, it’s a shame but all you can do is walk away and spend your time and money somewhere it will be appreciated. The founders of FCUM obviously saw what was coming 20 years ago, and it’s far worse now than it was then.
I remember Alex Ferguson being rather dismissive of FCUM but he was wrong. They have been quite a successful non league club.
I hope they gain promotion. They did have a season in National League North a few years ago but it proved a step too far for them back then. I think they are better placed to deal with it now.
There is a similar club in Liverpool, namely AFC Liverpool (Affordable Football Club Liverpool). Unlike FCUM, it wasn’t formed because of any animosity about the big club’s owners. It was more of a protest about the escalating cost of the Premier League.
It hasn’t really taken off as an idea. The club is in non league tier 5, ground shares with Bootle and only gets crowds of about 100.
Maybe AFC Liverpool might pick up some additional fans as more supporters realise the Premier League doesn’t really care about them but their problem is there are several other non league options in the Liverpool area: Marine, Prescot Cables, Bootle, Lower Breck, South Liverpool.
And unless they pull their fingers out, Tranmere Rovers on the other side of the Mersey might be joining them in the non league.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj94nm47823o
I know they do this story every tournament but another example of football eating itself. Who seriously pays these prices? Plenty must do I suppose but again the only way is to hit them in their pockets.
Tranmere Rovers on the other side of the Mersey
Tranmere’s a suburb of Birkenhead isn’t it? A poor man’s Everton then
Yes, Tranmere is in Birkenhead (Everton isn’t). Their ground Prenton Park.
Tranmere Rovers was the answer to a question on “University Challenge” this week. The bonus questions were on the only football league club found in named metropolitan areas. When Amol Rajan said the area was “Wirral”, the students suggested the team located there was Brentford..
Back in the era when almost all weekend football matches kicked off at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, Tranmere often played their home games on Friday nights. In that era, either Liverpool or Everton was going to be at home. Tranmere figured it would affect their crowds, so the FA allowed them to play on Fridays instead. As Southport often did when we were a league side.
I haven’t been to Prenton Park since the late 80s/early 90s, back in the day when the old Cowshed stand was still in place. You took your life into your own hands when you stood in there. I still wake up in a cold sweat about it sometimes..
Bit of a brainstorm there, thinking Everton was ‘cross the Mersey
My only visit to the Wirral was a ride on the rattler from Chester, hopping off at Port Sunlight, New Brighton and West Kirby.
Is the Wirral home to a shoal of your beloved lower-league minnows?
You do get quite a good view of Everton’s new ground from the Wirral, if you go for a walk along the front at New Brighton.
In fact, New Brighton was the unlikely home to two football league teams: New Brighton Tower FC (a financial disaster and wound up after three years) and AFC New Brighton (never very distinguished and voted out of the league in the 1950s in favour of Workington Town).
As for the non league, Vauxhall Motors in Ellesmere Port is the peninsula’s main team (Northern Premier League West). There is also Cammell Laird FC in Birkenhead, playing in the North West Counties.
Finally, there is Ashville FC in Wallasey. The club was founded by John Dennett, a veteran of Sword Beach on D Day. He turned 100 last year and was still active around the club. He was also the Guest of Honour at the Remembrance Day ceremony in Liverpool last November, when I saw him lay a wreath.
I am very sorry to discover today that Mr Dennett died earlier this week, aged 101.
Sad news but what a great story. I’m sure there are many such interesting characters in the lower echelons of football and indeed other sports.
Far better to hear about them than the vapid billionaires and other unsavoury characters at the top end.
Yep, good to read about John Dennett.
The British Legion estimate that of the 5 million British who fought in WW2 there’s just 8,000 or so still living.
I’m almost surprised it’s that many. Anyone born in 1930 was only 15 at the end of the war and unlikely to have fought, although no doubt a handful probably slipped through but even they are now 95, most will be close to or over 100.
I too was a little surprised it was so many.
The figure of 8,000 was estimated using a baseline of those who were 98+ at the time of the 80th anniversary of VE Day in May last year i.e. at least 18 in 1945, which was the official minimum age for conscription. Now, nearly a year later I should think the number is significantly less.
The previous estimate was made in 2020 and the figure then was around 70,000 which indicates how rapidly their numbers are decreasing.
There’s around 16,500 centenarians living in the UK, another surprisingly high figure.
Tranmere Rovers was the answer to a question on “University Challenge” this week. The bonus questions were on the only football league club found in named metropolitan areas. When Amol Rajan said the area was “Wirral”, the students suggested the team located there was Brentford..
I watched that this evening, have to say I was surprised that one of them not only got the greyhound racing question but it was even an interruption. I’d have been straight in there as soon as he said Belle Vue though.
Doesn’t seem two minutes since Henry Allingham died
Indeed. One of the most moving things I’ve ever seen was his forlorn attempt to get out of his wheelchair to lay a wreath at the cenotaph during the the 90th anniversary commemorations of the WW1 armistice in 2008.
There were just three living British veterans by then and all were at the ceremony. All died the following year.
Henry Allingham 112
Harry Patch 110
Bill Stone 108
I suppose if this was “Just A Minute”, we would have been challenged for deviation from the subject by now!
I meant to mention the greyhound racing question on the relevant thread in the sports section. It was good to see a student answer it correctly. I suppose once Rajan mentioned the “sport’s famous Derby” it gave it away.
Just a pity that the foundation track at Belle Vue is no longer open. It must have been the last part of that once vast entertainment site to have been still going. I remember visiting the zoo back in the late 1970s.
The students were no more successful with the other football questions. They didn’t know West Brom is in Sandwell or that Greenwich’s team is Charlton Athletic (although Crystal Palace wasn’t a bad guess).
To be fair, I think the question was phrased poorly. I think they believed all the answers were to be London teams, hence their wild guess at Brentford for the Wirral.
I would have gone along to Ashville tomorrow to join in the applause for Mr Dennett, if it wasn’t for the little matter of the FA Trophy semi final at Haig Avenue.
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