No. 80: DW Stadium [Wigan Athletic]

Saturday, 21st March 2015
Wigan Athletic v. Bolton Wanderers [Championship] 1-1

My trip to Wigan was a little bit of a personal pilgrimage as well as a football trip, as my grandfather was born there.

He never really spoke about Wigan - he was one of Norman Tebbitt's "get on your bike" generation - with no work for him in a Lancashire in industrial decline in the 1930s, my teenage grandfather rode off to Huddersfield and found employment and founded a family on the other side of the Pennines.

Nonetheless, as I wandered round the streets and post-industrial canal tow-paths of Wigan yesterday I did so knowing my wonderful gramps had almost certainly once walked them himself, some 80 years previously.

Maybe he'd even paused by the canal side like this bronze fellow in the picture, looking out over Wigan one last time before he left his home town for the last time in search of work.

Wigan is perhaps most famous for its pier. It's even signposted from the motorway as a tourist attraction - which it isn't really. Even the lady I spoke to in Wigan's tourist information centre said she didn't understand why it was signposted, as there isn't really anything to see.

Wigan Pier: Post-Industrial.

The original pier, a coal loading jetty which would once have been the centre of a bustling industrial landscape, was demolished 90 years ago - there is a small reconstructed jetty built in the 1980s but it's easy to see why people would walk past it wondering "Where's the pier then?"

Wigan Pier was made famous by George Orwell's 1937 socialist polemic describing the awful living conditions of the working class in the industrial north - "The Road to Wigan Pier".

My own grandfather would have left Wigan before its publication but his family could easily have been a case study for Orwell during his visits here, so the deserted, post-industrial landscape of the canal felt eerie as I walked the tow-paths.

Amongst this modern tranquility it's not too difficult to imagine a busy, dusty tow-path alive with dozens of "Pit Brow Lasses" sorting through coal before it was tipped from the heavily-laden coal buckets off the pier into waiting barges. As such despite there being very little left to see, it's still worth a visit - and if on your way to the football (or rugby if you are oddly inclined), the canal tow-path is a really nice walk from the town centre to the ground.

Wigan Pier: Stimulating.

 Before all this though - I needed sustenance. And if the Pier is the first thing people think of when they think of Wigan, the second is probably pies. Pies, Pies, Pies. It's all about pies.

Wigan people are known as "Pie-Eaters" by their North-West neighbours, and it's true that they do like a pie - there are pie shops all over the town. But the term is not one of endearment, coming from the fact that during the 1926 General Strike, the Wigan miners were amongst the first to break the strike and go back to work, and thus eat 'humble pie'.

Gents Pie Shop: Standish

Wiganers have nonetheless embraced the pie and I wanted to sample the borough's best - and luckily stumbled across this You Tube video before my visit, telling me that the best pie shop in England was in the village of Standish, about 5 miles north of Wigan town centre.

Gents Pie Shop doesn't even have a sign outside - and they don't really need one. In the 10 minutes I was in there there was a never-ending stream of customers buying their breads, cakes and pies from the mother and daughter team of family Gent.

When I asked if I could take a picture, the daughter asked me if it was because I'd seen the You Tube video - apparently their sales of steak pies have gone through the roof since the video went online. The power of online marketing, eh? And well, I have to say, it was a pretty impressive Steak Pie - thanks Gents!

Gents Pie Shop & inset: My Tasty Standish Steak Pie. Mmm. 

I headed into Wigan centre and explored the town in the few hours before the game in the glorious sunshine of the first day of spring. I started in the small but impressive Museum of Wigan Life which only takes 30 minutes to walk around but is free and a good introduction to the town, its people and its history.

Museum of Wigan Life: Excellent.

The girl working in the museum sold me some of Wigan's own Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and gave me tips on what else to see in Wigan before the game. Which, she admitted, wasn't very much, but as the sun was shining - what did that matter? And she was right, it was a gorgeous day.

I strolled up Wallgate to the pedestrianised square known as Church Gates. In one corner was a Wetherspoons full of Bolton fans singing "who ate all the pies?" On this occasion I could be safe knowing it wasn't aimed at me - well, exclusively at least.

Left Unity Rally, Wigan. I've been spotted.

In the other corner was a small-scale political rally by the Left Unity party - Wigan's working-class industrial roots still represented in this corner of the country and Orwell's socialist message still has an audience and a relevance, it would appear.

I had a quick pint in the recommended Anvil pub at the bottom of the Victorian Quarter (which disappointingly just seemed to be one uninspiring street), then headed off to the game, a 25-minute walk down the Leeds & Liverpool canal tow-path.

Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Inset: Canalside View.

Wigan has historically been a rugby town - Wigan Warriors, who also play at the DW Stadium, can lay claim to being the most successful Rugby League side in the world.

Wigan Athletic, up until the arrival of Dave Whelan, were always in their egg-shaped neighbour's shadow. When my grandfather left Wigan in the 1930s, Athletic had only existed for a handful of years, and despite being a successful non-league side for decades, they were locked out of the Football League by the flawed 'old pals act' of re-election until ridiculously recently. It wasn't until 1978 that the Latics first played League Football.

A Wigan Fan: Dedicated.

Before Whelan's arrival in 1995 though, Wigan had never progressed beyond the bottom half of the Football League. His promise that year of buying Premiership Football with his JJB Sports millions, although having a precedent in the contemporary success of Jack Walker's Blackburn, must have seemed a long way off.

Whelan & The FA Cup

Ten years later in 2005, Wigan Athletic were promoted to the Premiership, where they stayed until 2013 - the same year they won the FA Cup. Whelan made good on his promise, and some.

But 20 years of a club on the rise seemed to plateau with that amazing cup win. Wigan seem now to be on the decline - how far or how long that decline lasts is still to be decided.  But less than two years since winning that FA Cup they could find themselves relegated for a second time to the 3rd tier come May.

Six points clear of safety at the bottom of the Championship going into today's game, coupled with an inability to win at home (they have't won at the DW since August!), and it would be one hell of a run should Wigan avoid relegation. Should they find themselves in League One next season, they will be right where they were when Whelan first took over.

DW Stadium from the South-East.

I wasn't sensing that there was much expectation of anything more than relegation from the jaded Latics fans inside the DW today. There was a few songs belted out with a drum chorus from the back of the Boston Stand, true enough - but there seemed to be a cold resignation that they can't expect miracles.

Perhaps this down-to-earth humility is a gift from a set of fans just glad for the success they have had in the past 10 years and don't wish to push their luck too much. Or perhaps not having a support base that expanded in the hot-tempered, violent terraces of the 70s and 80s, they've developed an immunity to getting too over-excited by the visit of a near-neighbour?

DW Stadium Frontage.

And fair play to them if that's the case. But this really didn't feel like a local derby with two teams only 7 miles apart - for whatever reason, there was an 'edge' missing.

Bolton of course, would like to tell you they don't give a monkey's about these young upstarts, their real rivalry is with Manchester United. But they travelled in great numbers and sang in great voice for much of this game. Their deflected 70th minute opener was also celebrated with as much gusto as a derby-day winner should be, and a winner that goal seemed destined to be.

Bolton Fans in the North Stand: Packed In.

The Wigan players, winless at home for seven months, must have been gutted when that deflected shot spooned past their Omani goalkeeper Al Habsi. Wigan had had numerous chances to win this game - they rattled the bar after 15 mins, had a point-blank header miraculously saved, and a goal disallowed for offside all in the first half.

In the second half, Jermaine Pennant had two great chances - a fantastic bending free kick tipped onto the bar by Bolton's keeper, and a spanking volley blocked from a wonderful cross from the marvellously-named Gaetan Bong.

A Late Wigan Corner as a lonely linesman watches on intently.

After Bolton's wicked goal, Wigan still wasted a number of chances to level the game - including their third crossbar-rattler of the game in the dying minutes. It all looked over, and surely, Wigan's stay in the Football League's top half was coming to an end?

Then up pops Wigan's Waghorn in the fourth minute of time-added on with an audacious bicycle kick from a corner, which also clipped the crossbar, but this time rebounded downwards and into the goal. What a way to end the game. And perhaps that point might save Wigan from relegation, come the end of the season?

Eat My Goal! Boston (East) Stand and South Stands taunt the Trotters.

Probably not, to be honest - but it's a nice romantic thought, isn't it?

It might not have felt like a real derby, but it was a great game and I found Wigan a pleasant town to spend a sunny afternoon in and WAFC a nice little family club. The DW Stadium is actually not a bad little ground - it's obviously lacking a little bit of character being a 1999 new-build on the edge of town, surrounded entirely by retail and car parks.

Final Score! I've been spotted, again.

But that seems to be the way things are going, and as new-builds go, it's not too bad - it has steep stands that look closely over a tight pitch and the gaps between the four stands are quite small so it avoids the 'bowl' stadia look, and also doesn't feel exposed. I'm sure when they were in the top flight and this 25,000 seater was packed to the rafters it created one hell of an atmosphere. With 10,000 empty seats in the Championship it would always struggle to be quite the same place.

Sadly, just as when it was first built whilst Wigan were in the 3rd tier, its probable return there next season and a likely 15,000+ empty seats will make it look something of a white elephant and reduce the atmosphere further for Wigan home games.

But at least its realistic, patient and unspoilt fans won't get too grumpy. They waited 65 years for 2nd tier football, after all. I'm sure a couple of seasons of rebuilding in the 3rd tier is not beyond their uncommon patience.

Mind you, had my grandfather had similar patience he might have stayed in Wigan and starved to death. Swings and roundabouts about staying calm under pressure, I guess.

With thanks to the very wonderful John Cumberbatch (@johndanbatch).


NEXT UP - Wolves' Molineux! Monday 6th April 2015.

No. 79: Carrow Road [Norwich City]

Saturday, 14th March 2015
Norwich City v. Derby County [Championship] 1-1

This trip was a real milestone for me.

Not only was I ticking off another ground and now well on the way to the 92 club, I was also visiting Norfolk for the very first time and have thus now visited EVERY county of England.

Yes, that's also including all the metropolitan boroughs. Yes, and Rutland. And if you haven't ever heard of Rutland then sorry but you haven't also visited every county, so there - I am the County King.

I nearly didn't make this one though. Coming down with a dose of the flu in the middle of the week, I was feeling so sorry for myself that come Friday I looked doubtful for a trip to see Nelson's birthplace, having seen the spot where he croaked it just a few weeks earlier.

But the 92 quest was too important to let illness get in the way - and besides which I'd already bought the ticket and it was forty fucking quid!

Thankfully, in a rare appearance on a 92 Club match day for Fantastic Mrs Ox, I was able to drift in and out of drug-induced consciousness in the passenger seat as my angel wife drove the 3hrs cross-country to the eastern wilds of Norfolk.

There is a reason that Norfolk was the last English county I'd managed to find myself in - and that is the fact that it really isn't a county you'll ever find yourself driving through to get somewhere else. You are here because you are specifically visiting Norfolk - out on a limb as the eastern rump of England, sticking out into the North Sea like a big round county-sized arse. If you'll pardon the expression.

Norwich City Hall: Stark.

From what I saw of Norwich though, this bum-shaped part of the country was well overdue my visit  - it's a very fine city indeed.

We started our pilgrimage by a walk around the Norwich Market, and the gigantic 1930s art deco structure that is Norwich City Hall that sits above it, beyond grand concrete staircases and period streetlamps in front - quite an impressive sight.

Norwich Market: "Twizzle That!"

The deckchair-striped pastel-coloured roofing of the market seemed nostalgically familiar despite this being my first trip to the city - I realised that I had of course seen famous fictional resident Alan Partridge walking amongst the stalls in a recent mock documentary, as I also recognised other highlights of the City's skyline on my walk to Carrow Road later that afternoon.

Up With the Partridge.

Steve Coogan's failed and flawed Norfolk DJ is always the first thing I think of when I think of Norwich, and I'm sure his celebration of all things Anglian is a mixed blessing for the city. The man is of course, sold to us as a self-important figure of ridicule, and his indulgence of references to the city over the years since his first appearance on TV is meant to highlight the fact that he's, well - a little bit "provincial".

But I think the city has more recently rather taken to its most famous fictional son. The 2013 Partridge film had its world premiere in Norwich, and the local tourist board even offer Alan-themed walking tours of the city, in the summer months. A-ha indeed.

Sadly there weren't any Alan tours on a cold winter's morn for us, so we had to make do uncovering any issues surrounding the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre on our own.

The pedestrianised cobbled streets of the "Norwich Lanes" were actually quite nice to potter around, with their quaint little shops and arcades.

We even found that most well-known of Norwich brands, The Colman's Mustard Shop and Museum - and as luck may have it a man with a wicker basket on his head happened to be walking past it as I took this picture.

Well, each to their own.

Grosvenor Fish Bar, Norwich. Fishlicious.

Fish 'n' Chips - Lunch Classic

Our lovely lunch spot amongst the cobbles was in the Tourist Board approved Grosvenor Fish Bar on Lower Goat Lane, where we indulged in a traditional Fish 'n' Chip lunch - replete with an ancillary portion of Toad in the Hole. Outstanding.

Bogged down with fried fish and carbs and the remnants of my cold  in the Norfolk sun, there was just enough time to take a walk up to the striking Norman-era Castle at the centre of the city, and have a walk around its battlements.

The stone keep still towering over Norwich today was built around 1100 - and as we visited it only a couple of hours later at 1pm I was astounded the concrete had already set well enough for us to wonder about inside it.

(I'm here all week, ladies and gentlemen).

Norwich Castle: Norman.

The 900-year-old structure was in remarkable condition considering its age - although I'm sure certain parts of it have been built and renovated in more recent centuries. Such as the glass lift-shaft in the foreground of the above picture, for starters. I don't think that was listed in the Domesday Book.

It's a remarkable place and the galleries inside the museum are worth a peek around, but the real highlight is being inside the atmospheric stone chamber of the ancient keep itself. It's about £8 to go in, but if you are sneaky, you can bypass the attendants via the gift shop and look around for free.

Not that this is something I did or recommend anyone else does of course, and any enquiries from members of the Norfolk Constabulary on this matter will be referred straight to this categorical denial and disapproval of such activities.

Carrow Road: Functional 1970s design.

Shortly afterwards, I left Mrs Ox shopping and took the short 20min walk from the city centre via the banks of the river Wensum to the football ground.

From the outside, Carrow Road isn't the most attractive or interesting to look at of the 79 League grounds I've visited so far.

Delia's at Carrow Road: Gastro.

It's a typical late-20th century re-build at the oldest parts of the ground - the end behind the goal closest to the river (currently the "Norwich & Peterborough Stand"), is the oldest, completed in 1979, and houses "Delia's" fine-dining restaurant within its brick facade.

Celebrity TV chef Delia Smith (along with her husband the writer Michael Wynn-Jones) is of course the well-known majority shareholder of Norwich City FC, and attends most games with her green and yellow scarf very publicly on display around her neck.

Delia: "Where are you?!"

She's probably best-known amongst football fans for her association with Norwich City, thanks to the infamous 'rallying call' she gave on the pitch to the home fans during the half-time interval during a Premiership match in 2005.

I'm sure you've all seen it so it would be childish to post a link to its cringe-worthiness here, wouldn't it? Let's be 'Aving You!!!!

I was housed for the game in the newest part of Carrow Road - the Jarrold South Stand, completed in 2004 and running alongside the pitch. Again, from the outside the most inspiring word you would think of for this stand would be functional.

The 2004 Jarrold Stand and adjacent swanky riverside apartments: A Modern City.

Beyond the car park immediately behind the Jarrold are a number of brand new swanky apartment blocks up against the riverside, that have sprung up within the last year. Talking to a steward outside the ground, I learnt that this was previously the site of Read's Flour Mills for generations.

This is a sight you see of modern city centres all over the country - the former 19th century industrial and commercial landscapes swept away as modern residential blocks come in alongside the 21st century cantilevered football stands. As sure as the mill's former workers are priced out of the living space here, so too they give way to the modern, middle-class affluent football families attending games at Carrow Road. All in the name of progress, of course.

Looking towards the Barclay End.

I'm generalising to make a point. But I do have to wonder how many families are able to afford the £40 per adult ticket I was asked to pay for this game, week in, week out.

It was certainly something not lost on the travelling Derby fans I was sat next to on the right side of the Jarrold. Their most popular song of the day went along the lines of "Twenty is plenty, Forty is naughty, Delia is a fucking arsehole!"

It was like something out of a 1980s Harry Enfield sketch as some of the Norwich contingent in the Barclay End waved their bulging wallets at the 'Northern' visitors, proudly proclaiming that Delia did indeed have their £40s, and that paying for the talent involved in the home side's well-taken 1st-half goal was why it was so expensive.

City Stand: With City Views Beyond.

Inside the ground - Carrow Road leaves behind the functional exterior and takes on the mantle of a lovely, tight arena which must bustle with atmosphere for big games. A Derby fan entering the ground and clearly impressed himself caught my eye as I sat pre-match reading my programme. "Nice ground mate", he said sincerely. I nodded and muttered back "thanks a lot" before I knew what I was doing.

He was right though - this was a great ground, seeming to have a little bit of character and modernity in equal measure. The only negative was the Holiday Inn taking up one corner of the ground between the Jarrold and Barclay Stands.

Opposite the Jarrold is the 1986-built Geoffrey Watling City Stand, which itself houses the director's box and thus Delia Smith and Stephen Fry cramp in their egos together in there on match days.

It's a single-tier, small affair dwarfed on all sides by the rest of the ground - but I'm a fan of the  Edwardian-style clock in the centre of the stand, and its nod towards the pre-war stand that must have preceded it.

I chose this game because it had all the hallmarks of being a humdinger in the race for the Championship title. Going into the match, four teams including Derby were on 66 points at the top of the table - and Norwich just 1 point behind those front-runners. Middlesbrough's early KO victory over Norwich's arch rivals Ipswich put paid to the slight chance of Norwich finishing the day at the summit - but they could stamp a real claim on automatic promotion with a victory over Derby this afternoon.

Aviva Community Stand in the corner, N&P Stand behind the goal.

And the home side started the more lively, taking the game to Derby from the off. Cameron Jerome's tap-in on the half-hour came from a wonderful play down the Norwich left, culminating in a pin-point cross from Martin Olsen to the unmarked Canaries top-scorer who could hardly miss.

The crowd went wild. The flags were flying and the thick Norfolk Farmer accents underneath the tweed flat caps and Barbour jackets around me were full of talk of a title charge. Well OK, that was a stereotype I didn't really see very much of in my time in Norwich - save it must be said for the extraordinarily thick accent of the old guy sat two rows directly behind me.

At times I found his rural twang of elongated vowels and lazy consonants almost impenetrable as I eavesdropped in on the wonderful old boy describe what it was like standing behind the railings at the River End in the 1950s. Great days!

The second-half was a less vibrant affair. The cold wind was whipping into Norfolk from the North-East, and as my hands began to turn blue I think the players may have felt the chill and the flowing football stuttered somewhat. Derby came back into the game but up until their goal they had only really forced Norwich's goalkeeper John Ruddy into one 2nd half save.

That became pretty much the only save Ruddy did manage as well, as shortly afterwards he managed to juggle an inoffensive-looking corner straight into his own net. Absolutely appalling. Still, the Derby fans made the most of their equaliser and were keen to point out to me and all the Norwich fans around me that they had big ears.

Derby Fans: Taunting. Holiday Inn just visible behind.

A good game of football, two points dropped for both teams in the race for promotion but I'm sure both will believe they are still in that race.

I left a now positively arctic Carrow Road at high speed and bolted back up the hill to the city to get my wife and my car back on the long, slow A-roads west and away from Norfolk.

It was a good day out, Norwich a pretty and welcoming city - and Carrow Road has the feel of a great mid-sized ground in a city-centre location. I liked Norwich and the Norfolk folks I met there a lot.

A-Ha!


Next up: WIGAN'S DW STADIUM! Saturday, 21st March 2015.

No. 78: Villa Park [Aston Villa]

Saturday, 7th March 2015
Aston Villa v. West Bromwich Albion [FA Cup Quarter-Final] 2-0

I've been to quite few drab encounters this season on the road towards the 92 Club. Doncaster v. Oldham wasn't particularly inspiring. Neither was Crawley v. Crewe for a neutral.

So it was nice to redress the balance a little with a real humdinger of a local derby this afternoon - which just so happened to have the added spice of the victor gifted a place at Wembley in the FA Cup Semi-Finals.

The new Holte End's 2007 facade. Lovely.

I was only able to secure a ticket to this game by contacting Aston Villa and asking them to consider bending their ticketing policy, which stipulated that only fans with a history of booking this season would be sold a ticket. I sent a couple of emails and directed them to this website to prove I wasn't a Baggie trying to boing his way into the home end.

It worked, and so Saturday morning I was on my way up the M40 with the hottest ticket of the weekend in tow. So there's a tip for all you bloggers in how to get around a club's ticketing policy - just spend hundreds of hours travelling to random games and writing up a tedious blog about it, and you may just blag it in.

Villa Fan Tom Hanks: His life obviously still incomplete.

I arrived mid-morning and parked up in the Birmingham district of Witton that is home to Villa Park, had a quick walk around this slightly run-down but functional suburb and deduced there was little to really see here, so hopped on the train for the 3 mile journey into Central Birmingham.

England's second city gets a pretty bad rep for being an ugly city full of tower blocks and civic poured-concrete monstrous carbuncles.

The Paradise Forum in Chamberlain Square: A bit dated.

True enough, Herr Göring's luftwafffe destroyed much of Birmingham's Regency and Victorian splendour, along with a fair chunk of the manufacturing might that made it a target for the Nazi bombs during the city's own blitz of 1940-43.

What the luftwaffe started, the local authorities continued in the 1950s and 60s by ripping down the slums and congested back-to-backs of the city to replace with what at the time would have surely seemed a vision of the future, with all the sleek concrete slabs sliding into the horizon behind giant tarmac causeways as dual carriageways carved through the heart of the city.

Sadly, today these misguided principles of urban modernism just look bleak and ugly, and the massive 4-lane roads that divide the city just make it feel even more disjointed and unwelcoming for the pedestrian explorer.

New Street Station: Very Modern.

Rotunda, Brum.

Change is afoot though - the area around New Street Station is all in flux as the Palisades shopping Centre above the station is redesigned for a re-opening as "Grand Central, Birmingham" later this year.

The station itself looks like a giant alien spaceship has landed amidst the construction cranes and refurbished office blocks.

Even that beacon of the city, the Grade II listed & recently refurbished Rotunda that sits over the top of the Bullring (the most infamous of England's 1960s concrete shopping centres), wouldn't look out of place amongst the financial beasts of the City of London these days. Well, almost.

The bombs and urban modernists of the 20th Century didn't destroy everything from Birmingham's 18th and 19th Century heyday as the cradle of the Industrial revolution however. Victoria Square, home to The Council House (home of the City's Council) is beautiful, and festooned with gorgeous period buildings and art installations.

Birmingham City Council House, Victoria Square.

In the back of the Council House is the fantastic Museum and Art Gallery, which has a bit of everything in it and well worth a visit if you have a spare couple of hours in Birmingham. Highlights for me were a couple of LS Lowry originals, a remarkable display on the Staffordshire Hoard (the largest Anglo-Saxon hoard of gold ever found, discovered in a field in 2009), and an installation by local artist Emma Starkey in which a video is played of the artist, fully naked and waving around a pair of deer antlers to "symbolically transform from woman to deer".

Fair enough dear. I mean deer.

Best of all though were the galleries on the history of Birmingham & its people on the top floor - which included, I was delighted to see, an original Balti dish from the 1977 origins of this fine Birmingham culinary invention!

The Original Birmingham Balti!

My cultural requirements now satisfied, It was now time to head back to Witton, grab something to eat and go and watch a game of football.

I was accompanied by Baggies fans on the 12-minute train ride back to Witton, the visitors having had but a 4 mile hop across the city from their Black Country home to Birmingham, the boundary between the two something that only locals seem to have any clear knowledge of, as both seem to blend into each other within the West Midlands conurbation to an ignorant outsider like me.

But the distinction, the passion and the hatred between the two sets of fans was very evident as soon as I got off the train and nipped into a restaurant for a quick pre-match Chicken Jalfrezi Balti and Nan. Well, I had to really, didn't I?

Birmingham Balti: 2015 Style.

The Witton Arms pub opposite the restaurant was a Villa pub, and as the Albion fans walked past the congregated outside, the rival chants started up as the police watched on.

Villa Fans: "I always wipe my arse, always wipe my arse, always wipe my arse with a tesco's bag!"
Albion Fans: "Hey, Tim Sherwood - Ooh! Ahh! I wanna Know-ow-ow-ow-ow, why you're such a cunt!"

Very witty.

It wasn't all funny chants and high spirits though - I saw the first blood of the day as a young Albion fan who had been hit by a bottle outside the Witton Arms came into the restaurant dripping with blood from his head before being asked to leave and stop putting people off their Balti's. I could sense it was going to be an evening of heightened tensions in the ground. And indeed it was.

Villa Park: Corner of Doug Ellis & North Stands

Villa Park itself is a fantastic ground to approach. First of all, it's bloody massive - and dominates the surrounding area, right from your first view of the giant Doug Ellis stand, visible from the M6 approach. It's also, despite the relatively recent redevelopment, got a lot of character.

The iconic old Trinity Road Stand (considered Archibald Leitch's masterpiece) and it's grand external staircase might have been controversially replaced by a modern stand in 2000, but the staircases, pediments and dutch gables added to the facade of the new Holte End in 2007 go some way to make up for that.

The New Trinity Road Stand.

Behind the new Trinity Road Stand is a small hill onto Aston Park, which I took a brief detour onto before entering the ground. Atop of the hill in clear view of the football ground is the beautiful Jacobean mansion house known as Aston Hall.

Aston Hall: Very Nice.

Within a stone's throw of Villa Park and the throngs of derby-day match-goers, it seemed such an odd place to find a peaceful, green park with this stunning 17th Century house sat quietly within it. But it was time to descend into the maelstrom below - and the magic of the FA Cup Quarter-Finals!

The atmosphere was electric pretty much from 20 minutes before kick-off right until the final whistle. The Holte End sang it's "Holte Enders In The Sky" song (not sure where that comes from exactly), and the West Brom fans in the North Stand sang about wanting Tim Sherwood to let them know why he was such a cunt, again.

The Holte End: Yippeeh aye aaaayyyy.

It was end-to-end stuff on the pitch, too, and going into the break, West Brom could easily have been 2-0 up at half-time, had they taken their own gilt-edged chances. I could feel the tension in the Trinity Road stand around me as the Villa fans wondered if they were going to be able to repeat the League victory here over the same opponents earlier in the week, and earn their place at Wembley.

It was looking very edgy.

But it was Villa who capitalised on the stalemate with two wonderfully taken 2nd half goals which broke Albion hearts.

North Stand: Smoke Bombs Below, Flying Chairs from Above.

Then it all went a bit mental.

Both sides had a player sent off that probably shouldn't have been, the referee throwing yellow cards about like he didn't have a pocket to conceal them in, in a game that up to this point did not reflect the needle and animosity between the fans in the stands.

A Villa Attack in the 1st Half.

Towards the end of the game though, with their cause lost, some Albion fans decided to smash-up the seats in the Upper North stand and throw them down on the Villa fans in the bottom tier. I counted at least 15 seats come flying down into the unsuspecting home fans below - and saw my 2nd gashed head of the day as one lad was led out of the stand and down the player's tunnel with blood pouring from a chair-shaped gash on his bonce. Not pleasant.

Full Time Pitch Invasion: What a Lot of Villains.

And then we had the remarkable pitch invasion of at least 3-4,000 of the Villa fans at the final whistle, jubilant at finally having something to cheer about after a pretty crap couple of years to be a Villain, from all accounts.

Although there was a potential flashpoint with the remaining Albion fans in the lower Doug Ellis Stand, I don't think this invasion was really something to get too excited about - it looked like a genuine outpouring of relief and jubilation to me, not an attempt to intimidate visiting fans and players.

Nonetheless, I'm sure when this game is remembered it'll be for the pitch invasion, and not for the far more dangerous and threatening throwing of chairs from the Upper Tier!

It had been a long day in Birmingham, but one I'd really enjoyed - both the game, the city and the background of a big-match game between two rivals. I was ready to go home though.

Not for me a trip to Wembley to look forward to - More likely it'll be Oldham, or Coventry, or Colchester or somewhere similar next. But I'm glad to say - I simply can't wait for the next one!

With thanks to Andrew Whing (@Whingy2).


NEXT UP - To Be Confirmed 14.03.15!