Why Alexandra?

Last weekend my exploration of Northern football stadia and the experience of the fans who use them took me to Crewe to experience The Mornflake Stadium of Crewe Alexandra, formerly known as Gresty Road. It was a trip I will only make once.

I made it this time to experience the First round of the FA Cup in it’s 150th year at the easiest place for me to get too. Not being able to drive I need to rely on public transport and with Crewe being famous as a railway hub it made sense to visit whilst I had the chance. It was only half an hour for me to get to on the train and the stadium is simple to get to from the station, its simply a 5 minute walk left out of the stadium. You turn left and from the road bridge you are then on the stadium is on your left, it’s then simply a case of finding a left to take that is a through road (the traffic lights are a good place to find such a road). The stadium and it’s huge attached car park are unmissable at this point.

The stadium is nothing to look at from the outside as all you can see is a brick wall as you pass it on the road. The south stand where my seat was located is the only large stand of the entire stadium and was the only one more than 50% full when I made it inside. Before heading inside though I went to pick up my ticket from the ticket office only to find out that the ticket office only sells tickets on the day and, because I had pre-bought my tickets I would need to collect them form the club shop round the corner. Luckily this was only 60 seconds walk away and the staff behind the collection desk were unfailingly helpful and were able to find my tickets quickly. They were unable to tell me anything about programmes though.

The staff member behind the shop tills was far more helpful on this point when I went to pay for my traditional keyring. It turns out that Crewe don’t do programmes and instead have a monthly magazine for fans who wish to get updates on the state of the club. This is not a bad way to keep longstanding fans up to date on the club, but it is no use for those casual fans who turn up for games once in a while or one-offers like me who know very little about the squad and rely on game programmes for info on which players are on the pitch. This lack of programmes along with manned, mechanical turnstiles that are becoming a rarity in this age of e-tickets and smart tech at turnstiles.

The most impressive thing about the stadium was the inner concourse which was extremely spacious with screens inside that showed scores from round the grounds in the FA Cup as well as views of the action on the pitch. Unfortunately, this impressive concourse was almost deserted as I headed to my seat. The stadium was only less than a quarter full for this game against Swindon, with an official attendance of 2,303 in a stadium whose capacity is 10,153. It was depressing to look at the stand and see so many empty seats. The Family Stand behind the goal to my right was completely empty, whilst the Rhino Safety Stand at the opposite end of the pitch was only filled on the back 3 rows of the stand directly behind the goal. The only stand, other than the almost full South Stand, that looked more than 15% full was the Ice Cream Van Stand opposite me that was about 50% full of the travelling Swindon Town fans.

Even the dugouts were not really there. The only clue that the area was any different from the rest of the seats was that they were blue instead of the normal red. There were none of the normal barriers to keep fans out of this area, but they were not needed at this game. The main thing that surprised me at this game was the announcement of the last food bank of the year at the ground would be in a few weeks time. I have never heard of a football club that doubles as a food bank for those in need in their local area before and whilst it shouldn’t need to be both I do wish that other clubs would follow the example of Crewe and do whatever they can to help those in need in their local area.

This was the last game I was able to make before this year’s remembrance services that took place around the country today and those that will happen at 11am this Sunday. The fans in the stadium observed the silence to a man and I only hope that those services this Sunday will be observed with the same deference.

The game began with Crewe in Red and White, whilst the visitors Swindon Town were in their away kit which was so reminiscent of a Norwich City home kit that even their fans sent up the cheer of ‘Norwich City’ many times when things were going well for them throughout the match. I even took to referring to them as Norwich in my notes, as this helped me keep clear in my mind which team was which. Normally I look at the strips each team is printed with on the back of the programme for the match. The lack of programme also means that I have no names for any of the players in my notes so they will all be referred to by the numbers they wore.

The first 15 minutes of the game were exceedingly dull as it appears I have found a talent for finding those games which are to have the most boring starts of late, this is a talent I could do with losing fast. The only moment of interest in this portion of the game was a forced substitution for the visitors. The Swindon number 6 went down after a tackle and was unable to continue through injury. He was replaced by the visitors number 24. This seemed to spark a little motivation in both teams as within minutes they had both had their first decent chance of the match.

First Swindon went close from a corner which fell to one of their players on the edge of the box who was able to turn and volley the ball towards goal. It beat all the defenders and the keeper, but it also beat the goal and went sailing over the top. It was the first time that either team had threatened to score all match, but Crewe would not be outdone and would go right up the other end to threaten themselves. From the goal kick they were in through the middle from a simple long ball, but Swindon’s keeper went full sweeper and raced out to clear the ball before Crewe could make use of the space the long ball had given them.

This marked the end of the excitement for now and the next 5 minutes of play were so atrocious that my gaze wandered to the Family stand end of the pitch, specifically what was at either end of that stand. At the far side of it was the stadium’s only screen which showed the game time and the current score, whilst the near side was home to a normal clock with black hands and a white back ground with little black marks to signify each minute between black numbers at each five minute interval. This should’ve made it easy to track the amount of stoppage time needed at the end of each half.

Back to the action on the pitch though, where Swindon’s number 11 got in behind the Crewe defence in the 23rd minute and found himself one-on-one with the keeper. He failed to beat the keeper though, his shot instead rebounding off the keeper’s diving body.
Two minutes later though Swindon did put the ball in the net for the goal that the game badly needed. The goal was scored by the visitors number 25 from about 20 yards out and was the first instance of true quality all match, absolutely deserving of opening the scoring. The visiting fans exploded with the joy of taking the lead and surged forward towards the pitch to celebrate with their players. They also threw 2 flares onto the pitch which fortunately missed anything they may have been aimed at and were swiftly dealt with by the stewards.

It wasn’t till the 34th minute that Crewe came close to opening their account and levelling the match up. They had a freekick at this juncture that was cleared to the edge of the box where it was volleyed on the turn and fizzed inches wide of the post. It was the closest Crewe had come all match. Just 3 minutes later they were on the attack again, this time though one of their attacking players was cleared out in the air by Swindon’s number 20 who received a yellow card for his troubles. Many of the home fans felt he had got away lightly.

He almost made excellent use of this reprieve in the 43rd minute as he found himself in space in the area and unleashed a powerful shot that beat the keeper, but not the post. It cannons off the post and ends up going out of play on the other side of the pitch. This was the last chance of the regulation first 45, but not of the first half. There were a very generous 6 minutes of added time, which felt like a lot of time to add for one goal and one injury stoppage. Crewe almost made good use of it though when a corner was flicked on in the area by their number 9 where it was met by their number 22, who headed it over the top. That was the last chance of the first half that ended 1-0 to Swindon.

On my way out to grab food at half-time one of the stewards described the first half as painful and I agree entirely with this assessment. Thankfully there had been a goal, but the general quality of most of the play had been dreadful and with the unwelcoming feeling given off by the run-down nature of much of the stadium I was looking forward to leaving at the end of the match. My mood was not improved by the lack of food on offer at half-time. They had no substantial food on offer at all, so I went without any half-time sustenance.

I don’t know what Crewe’s manager said to them at half time or how much their play at the start of the second half was due to the replacement of the ineffectual 21 with number 37, but whatever the reason they came out in the second half looking far more positive and looked to play on the front foot.

Unfortunately for the home fans though this didn’t last long until the wind was ripped out their sails by Swindon scoring their 2nd goal of the match in the 52nd minute. This goal came from another simple through ball that found an attacker free in the box. This time the player in question was the visitors number 9 who wrapped the ball round the keeper and in off the far post. It was a quality finish that seemed to destroy Crewe’s will to fight.

Just 2 minutes later Swindon almost got their 3rd of the match with what, would have been, a spectacular solo effort from their number 11. He dribbled the ball through the hapless Crewe defence and only failed to score when he lost his footing whilst trying to transfer the ball onto his preferred right foot. The ref must’ve thought that a Crewe player was involved in this turn of events though as Swindon were given a freekick for this. The freekick was deflected over the top for a corner. From that corner Crewe managed to fashion a promising break only for them to waste it with a misplaced pass that went straight to an opposition defender.

Crewe decided to make a double substitution in the 64th minute to try and help them get back into the match, taking off both numbers 9 and 12 to be replaced by numbers 5 and 20 respectively. This did not work for them as Swindon looked to have scored a 3rd in the 70th minute with a tap-in after a little penalty box pinball only for the linesman to chalk it off for offside. Swindon were clearly on top by this point though and were not showing any signs of letting Crewe back into the game.

However, they did finally make a tactical substitution of their own in the 72nd minute of the match when they took off their number 20 to replace him with their number 7. The game did not produce any more decent chances again till the 79th minute. The intervening time was eaten up with yellow cards for each team and another double substitution for the hosts. This time they took off 17 and 16 to be replaced by 35 and 40. This bought Crewe up to 5 substitutions for the match, but even changing half of their outfield players was not enough to help Crewe get back into this one.

Swindon got their 3rd goal of the match in the 79th minute straight from a freekick on the edge of the D, the strike was so sweetly struck into the top right postage stamp of the goal. Going 3-0 down was enough for many Crewe fans to decide to head for the exits, but one Swindon fan was not given the choice of sticking around to watch his team win though as he was escorted out of the stadium by 3 security guards.

By this point of the match any competitive edge was gone from the match as it felt that both teams were now just waiting for the ref’s whistle to end the match in those last 10 minutes. Swindon even took the time to give more players a chance to experience the joy of winning in the FA Cup with a triple substitution in the 83rd minute. Numbers 19, 17 and 26 were given that experience as 9,11 and 25 were withdrawn from the match.

Crewe even managed to waste a golden opportunity gifted to them by the visitor’s keeper. The ball was passed straight to them 13yards out in the centre of the goal, at this point most people would shoot but not Crewe. They overplayed the ball till a Swindon defender got back in to nab the ball off them. At this point the trickle of home fans leaving the stadium turned into a flood.

Those who left missed Crewe finally managing to get the ball in the net in the 5 minutes added on at the end of the 90. The only problem with that was that the ‘scorer’ was yards offside when the ball was sent through to him. Crewe at least found out that they can attack and get the ball in the net though and this is something they hadn’t looked like doing for most of the match. That’s the only positive for the host from a game where they lost 3-0 to a mediocre Swindon who visit Walsall in the next round. Good luck to both of them in their attempts to reach the 3rd round.

As for my hopes of getting straight out of Crewe at the end of the match I had no luck. My train out of Crewe was cancelled and the next train wasn’t for an hour so I spent the time finding food instead. I will not be going back to Crewe.

Next weekend is another international break so I will be heading back to women’s football for the weekend as I explore the blue side of women’s football on Merseyside for the visit of Manchester United. A grudge match in the Men’s game, lets see how the Women’s game treats it. See you then.