Season 2010/11 Rewind - Sir Terry Brown memories

 

Felt strange to have no game this week. I normally moan that we have live league games every night, however I was a bit sad to not have any to watch this week. Robbo made a great decision this week to invite Sir Terry Brown down to the training ground and to have a chat with the current squad. 

Terry is like your grandpa who is old-fashioned in his ways, kind and generous but has a sharp tongue if you cross him. It got me thinking back to that memorable promotion season in 2010/11 which from a personal level had so many ups and downs, but watching that Wimbledon side was brilliant, ending with a penalty win too reach the football league in 9 years - that sounds like a good name for a podcast! https://9yrspodcast.org/ 

Pre-season was eventful with loads of players coming in with the likes of Lee Minshull, Christian Jolley, Ryan Jackson, Andre Blackman, Rashid Yussuf, Ismail Yakubu & you know, Sammy Moore. Terry decided to have a weekend trip down to the West Country and take in a Friday night game at Tiverton Town and a Saturday game at Exeter City, where we had made a previous trip for a FA Cup 4th Qualifying round game and that Roscoe D’Sane goal in front of the away fans rammed into that end.

I travelled down to Tiverton with some friends and it was in the middle of nowhere, however it was a lovely club and they were so pleased to see us. We played a weaker side for this game and ran out 2-1 winners and it was played in a good spirited manager and I remember that Terry and Simon Bassey were enjoying the home made pies that evening as we watched the game. 

I was fortunate enough to be staying in the same hotel as the players in Exeter and we checked in late Friday night, however we did see “papers” and it was rumoured that he had travelled back to London by train to then travel back down to Exeter on the Saturday morning. That rumour turned out to be true - what a legend!

It was a good game down at Exeter which we lost 2-1, with Jon Main scoring our opener. Now what happens on tours, stays on tour and I have kept that part of the deal ever since, however with that night being nearly 11 years old, I can probably share some bits that indicated early on how close knit this squad was and that it had the characters to help us towards promotion in May

You will have to bear with me as this was a long time ago but I remember us being in a hotel at the bottom of this massive slope somewhere in Exeter and we worked our way up the slope by going into a few pubs on the way. We eventually reached the top of the slope to the main road and Simon Bassey went with the rest of the team to the nightclub and I joined Terry, Stuart Cash and some others in a small pub and just chatted football. 

My group headed back to the hotel for some drinks before bedtime and surprisingly none of the players were back yet. Gradually though some of the players arrived back and some were in good spirits and some were pissed. I remember a player we had just signed coming back to the hotel, going straight upstairs and then coming back down about half an hour later with his shirt inside out and ready to go partying again! Jon Main came back and had got a bicycle from outside the hotel and was riding it round the hotel foyer and Danny Kedwell in hysterics as he somehow stayed upright. 

As the players started to come back for drinks in the hotel bar, it become apparent that they were all using the same tab for the drinks and this players tab would find out to his cost when checking out the next morning. That's all I can really mention as the other stuff stays on tour and well, some of the stuff you wouldn’t believe. 

My group left early in the morning to get the train to London and the players were getting on the coach to leave for around 10am. I heard that a few players were still worse for wear and some slept on the coach floor all the way back to London.

This was the season that my future wife was introduced to the Wombles and her first game was a 1-1 draw with Forest Green Rovers at Kingsmeadow. We thankfully got a late equaliser through Christian Jolley who ended up being one of my wife’s favourite players. It later transpired that my wife was more nervous watching that game than she was meeting my family as she knew if she didn’t like the football, then our relationship was going to be challenging. Thankfully she loved it, I took her to Wrexham away a week later and 11 years later she is a ST holder, so is her father who we brought to games and now our 2 year old son has his first ST for Plough Lane.

Just before Xmas in that season I managed to snap my Achilles’ tendon and ended up in a protective boot for months which meant I was watching games from the disabled area in the athletics end. That really made me appreciate how dreadful the disabled area was as you would get cold and wet on many occasions and I had to get into the ground for 1:30pm to make sure I got a space under the limited shelter. 

The playoffs were just crazy and I remember the Friday night trip to Fleetwood and staying for the weekend with my wife as why not combine an 80’s throwback and football. One tip I gave my wife was if she was standing behind the goal, she always needed to be looking in front to avoid any wayward balls. Well this night she forgot and I ended up doing a one hand save to stop her being hit on the head by a wayward shot during the warm up. The shot was so hard that my wrist was really sore for the rest of the night, by my future wife thought I was a hero and my mates also thought that was a good deed for the evening.

We won comfortably on the night, we went back to Blackpool and partied with a number of other Wombles who had the same idea. I then recall my wife and I were woken up by a fire alarm in the early hours at our in hotel and having to go outside to a safe place. I think a lot of the girls in that hotel forgot to pack any warm clothing judging by what they were wearing outside whilst we waited for the all clear to return to our rooms.

We finished off Fleetwood in the first ten minutes at Kingsmeadow in the second leg and we were on our way to….. City of Manchester Stadium!! Typically Wembley wasn’t available for the finals that year and we had to travel up north with Luton fans which was always going to be fun. My wife and I had managed to get some great seats right behind the goal, however I was on crutches still recovering from my achilles injury and we decided before the game started to move to the back of the stand as we wouldn’t be sitting much it seemed.

Penalties was horrific for me as I couldn’t pace around like I usually did and had to sit in my seat away from my mates hoping we won the shootout. I can still remember Yakubu doing a John Fashanu style penalty and that massive grin he had when celebrating with the fans down that end. Kedwell was always going to score and that was us in the football league ahead of schedule. My wife still claims to this day that I was emotional and had tears when that winner went in, but I’m sure it was just some dust coming from the net considering how hard Kedwell kicked that winning penalty.

Terry was brilliant after the game on the pitch celebrating with the fans and you could tell how much it meant to him. From that day onwards he would never have to buy a drink at Kingsmeadow and his legend status was complete.

When I look back to that period I now wish Terry had decided to either leave after that win or after his first full season in League 2. He deserved to leave on his terms and have an almighty piss up with the fans, but I think we all sensed this wasn’t going to happen in his second season in League 2. 

We lost 7-0 at home to Reading in the first preseason game, followed with a defeat to Woking away and home defeats to Preston, West Ham XI and Portsmouth. 

Recruitment had been difficult in the summer and we brought in players like Curtis Osano, Louis Harris, Stacy Long and Warren Cummings who Terry really did big up when he was signed, which turned out to be unfortunate shall we say.

Trips to Burton Albion midweek and Bradford City the Saturday after resulted in 11 goals conceded and no points. Being at Kingsmeadow on that Tuesday evening in early September, the mumblings going around the place was Terry would get the boot if we didn’t beat Torquay United that evening. When Rene Howe scored with his backside after 34 minutes when Seb Brown had tried to clear the ball, I think we all knew and Terry did on the touch line, that this was not going to be his night. A late sending of for Christian Jolley and that was the curtain closed on a magical 5 year journey that started in the Ryman Premier and ended in League 2. I headed home really despondent as we waited for confirmation that he had been sacked, which arrived around 10:30pm that evening.

I was fortunate to bump into Terry at a preseason game down at Margate and he instantly recognised me and my wife and had a drink with us to talk about old time. I have also interviewed him a couple of times on our podcast and he is a joy to spend some time with as he just loves football.

I can’t wait for the day we can all return to Plough Lane and Terry be a guest of honour and get the applause and thanks he deserves for his contribution to the greatest story in football.