Forever Blue with Ian Cheeseman

My Dad would have been 92 on Saturday so when I looked around for a football match to attend that day, the fixture scheduled to take place in the town of his birth, Radcliffe, seemed perfect.

My Dad was born there and I grew up and went to Primary School in the town. In the years after my Mum died, back in 1977, we lived close to Radcliffe Borough’s Stainton Park ground, although I’d rarely seen them play as I was an obsessive Manchester City fan.

During my school days I had attended occasional fixtures at Gigg Lane, Bury whenever I had the chance, so I’ve always had a soft spot for the Shakers. The players I admired in my youth were Derek Spence, Brian Williams and Keith Kennedy. Just like so many other people it was heart-breaking when Bury FC were expelled from the football league in 2019.

A few months ago, I interviewed Gordon Sorfleet, the clubs long-standing press officer, and fan, for the Saturday afternoon chat show I was hosting on Tameside Radio and you could feel the emotion of what it meant to him to lose his club through every word he spoke.

The game I attended last weekend was in Radcliffe but it was AFC Bury, the newly formed phoenix club, that were at home to AFC Darwen. I enjoyed my trip there more than anything I’ve done during these terrible months of Covid19. The ground was full; well as full as the rules would allow. The supporters were passionate, happy Bury fans. They sang, they bantered the opposition players like only football fans can do. They drank pints and ate pies and it for a couple of hours it felt like I’d escaped the depressing mood that this horrible virus has created.

Bury won the game convincingly by 6-2, so naturally that improved the mood no end, but I found myself smiling, cheering and chanting by the end. Yes I was grinning from ear to ear and came away having had a really uplifting afternoon. I host a YouTube channel called ForeverBlue which was established as a forum for football fans, specifically Manchester City fans, to have a voice at matches. This season I’ve not been doing matchday vlogs because the fans, me included, haven’t been able to attend games, but I filmed a vlog at the Bury game. It’s worth a look if only for the joy it shows on peoples faces.

I didn’t quite make it home in time to watch City’s 1-0 win against Arsenal on TV at 530. I missed the first ten minutes because I called at a chippy to get the family tea on the way home. I’m a lifelong City fan. For over forty years I’ve travelled all over the country and all over Europe to every City game and loved every minute but I have to say that on Saturday I enjoyed my live game at the resurrected Bury more than watching the Blues on TV.

I hope we’re all able to watch our own teams in the stadiums again soon because there’s nothing quite like being there. I never thought when Bury lost their league status and then had a complete season without a team to watch, that I would envy their fans, but right now they have matches to attend. I can’t deny that I’m a little bit jealous, but I think they deserve a bit of good luck, don’t you?