This morning I had a coffee with Andrew. This afternoon I had a beer with Nicktor. This morning, the chat was about all sorts of hilarious things, this afternoon it was mostly about how shit Aldershot Town Football Club was.
After sacking the manager last Monday (Danny Searle) and employing a new one a day later (Mark Molesley), the team played like a group of unskilled individuals. Their performance was uninspired, humdrum and abysmal. Following the first points of the season in the previous two games, when we thought perhaps the Shots were on their way to some sort of decent position in the table, this afternoon’s game against Halifax saw them back to their losing ways.
If that wasn’t enough, a couple of Halifax fans decided it would be a good idea to come and stand on the Slab with us. This really upset Nicktor, who went and spoke to the 11 year old steward. The very young steward approached the two men and asked them to leave, to return to their segregated area. And they went without much ado. Apart from shaking hands with Nicktor. Which he didn’t enjoy very much.
It was probably the most exciting thing that happened all game. For the Shots fans anyway. Halifax scored a winning goal which was probably their highlight. Not that Halifax played much better. Had they shown the same form as in their last few games, the scoreline would have been a lot different.
The crowd was down as well. For a Saturday, there were lots of empty spaces. I noticed that the fans in the East Bank spread themselves out a bit to make it look fuller than it actually was. At least that’s what it looked like. It could just as easily been a bit of social distancing.
According to Nicktor, attendance has been down this season. This could be because of the plague but, also because the team has been pretty lame. In fact, the lack of fans has been so bad that the café wasn’t open and won’t be until numbers return to some sort of normal.
The best bit of the afternoon was visiting the redoubt on Redan Hill afterwards. And, obviously, seeing Nicktor (and James).
That’s James over Nicktor’s shoulder.
