A Supporter's View Of His Home Town Club
Tue 29th September 2015 | St Helens Town | By Ian Templeman
St Helens Town welcomed long standing supporter Paul Pritchard as match sponsor for their last home game against Cheadle Town.
A Liverpool supporter, Paul has also followed his home town club since the 1970s, and although offered a programme advert as part of his sponsoship package, he declined on the basis he didn't want or need one.
However, Town Chairman John McKiernan offered him an opportunity to write a piece for the programme on why he decided to supported the club, and we reproduce his article below. Many of his comments will be echoed and understood by all of us who follow non-league football.
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When I told a friend that I’d sponsored Town for £100, they looked at me askance and asked “why? You haven’t got a business, you don’t need the (excellent) publicity” and in a way that summed up one of the main reasons for actually doing it.
I’m a St Helens lad through and through, born and bred and proud of it! The town has taken a few knocks over the years, with probably a few more to come in the current age of austerity, but the town has had its share of highlights especially in the sporting arena. Saints (rugby league club) obviously take the limelight in terms press space, but we’ve had plenty of other bright spots in many sports.
One of these I was privileged enough to witness, at Wembley on the 25th of April 1987 when Town beat Warrington. £5 for a ticket, sat just a couple of rows behind the Royal Box, best spec I’ve ever had at Wembley and I’ve been there a few times! A great game, some good goals and a fantastic result!
However, as a young lad my first loves were really Saints and, because my dad and his dad were Reds, Liverpool FC. My interest in Town started after visiting my grandmother, who lived on Carnegie Crescent and, as a young lad in the mid-70s, whenever I had spare time on a Saturday, which wasn’t much with my own sporting activities, I’d jump on the 27A, visit “mother” and she’d feed me and give me a couple of bob and I’d make my way home.
Until one day on leaving her flat, I heard a bit of noise from past the Boilermakers which drew me down Hoghton Road (and over the fence I have to say). Ever since then I catch the, very, occasional game but would always look out for the results and read match reports.
As I grew older and gained responsibilities, work and family, my time became scarce and I stopped watching football as a live spectator and started to become a telepubby! But as my kids got older I started to take them to Anfield, first for the odd European game as a birthday treat and then more regularly.
I’ve had some good memories of watching Liverpool with them especially with my son in Istanbul. However, after having a hip replaced earlier last summer during my time off from work recuperating I managed to catch three or four “home” games at Brocstedes Park, even dragging my son for the FA Cup game against Atherton Collieries and I got a little bit of a flutter.
However, normality returned and time constraints and the lure of bright lights of Anfield brought this particular dalliance to a close.
This close season as I was paying for my season ticket at Anfield, a mind blowing £834, I started to mull over the situation. How can I, in all sincerity, justify spending that amount of money on a club that, to be honest, doesn’t need to charge those prices in order to maintain its flawed business model.
To sit in a stadium that, apart from three or four games a season, is frankly a library, and is increasingly filling with customers who are the cash cows for corporation and don’t really have a connection with the club.
My visits to Town have been to watch players who, whilst they may harbour ambitions of playing pro in the prem, are holding down jobs or getting an education and dealing with real life. Playing a game for love and enjoyment and watched by people who care, not just about their club, but about the game and also the communities that they live. A club like Town is so much more than a football club. It provides focus for young and old, players and supporters alike and it provides hope and opportunity.
So returning to the question asked in the first paragraph, no, I don’t get publicity from the money I’ve spent, but I do get a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that I’ve helped the club keep its head above water and bring it closer to a return home to St Helens.
I could and should probably do more, as should a lot of other people, to be a part of securing the long term future, but this is a start for me, hopefully others can do the same.
Paul Pritchard
A Supporter's View Of His Home Town Club
Tue 29th September 2015 | St Helens Town
By Ian Templeman
St Helens Town welcomed long standing supporter Paul Pritchard as match sponsor for their last home game against Cheadle Town.
A Liverpool supporter, Paul has also followed his home town club since the 1970s, and although offered a programme advert as part of his sponsoship package, he declined on the basis he didn't want or need one.
However, Town Chairman John McKiernan offered him an opportunity to write a piece for the programme on why he decided to supported the club, and we reproduce his article below. Many of his comments will be echoed and understood by all of us who follow non-league football.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I told a friend that I’d sponsored Town for £100, they looked at me askance and asked “why? You haven’t got a business, you don’t need the (excellent) publicity” and in a way that summed up one of the main reasons for actually doing it.
I’m a St Helens lad through and through, born and bred and proud of it! The town has taken a few knocks over the years, with probably a few more to come in the current age of austerity, but the town has had its share of highlights especially in the sporting arena. Saints (rugby league club) obviously take the limelight in terms press space, but we’ve had plenty of other bright spots in many sports.
One of these I was privileged enough to witness, at Wembley on the 25th of April 1987 when Town beat Warrington. £5 for a ticket, sat just a couple of rows behind the Royal Box, best spec I’ve ever had at Wembley and I’ve been there a few times! A great game, some good goals and a fantastic result!
However, as a young lad my first loves were really Saints and, because my dad and his dad were Reds, Liverpool FC. My interest in Town started after visiting my grandmother, who lived on Carnegie Crescent and, as a young lad in the mid-70s, whenever I had spare time on a Saturday, which wasn’t much with my own sporting activities, I’d jump on the 27A, visit “mother” and she’d feed me and give me a couple of bob and I’d make my way home.
Until one day on leaving her flat, I heard a bit of noise from past the Boilermakers which drew me down Hoghton Road (and over the fence I have to say). Ever since then I catch the, very, occasional game but would always look out for the results and read match reports.
As I grew older and gained responsibilities, work and family, my time became scarce and I stopped watching football as a live spectator and started to become a telepubby! But as my kids got older I started to take them to Anfield, first for the odd European game as a birthday treat and then more regularly.
I’ve had some good memories of watching Liverpool with them especially with my son in Istanbul. However, after having a hip replaced earlier last summer during my time off from work recuperating I managed to catch three or four “home” games at Brocstedes Park, even dragging my son for the FA Cup game against Atherton Collieries and I got a little bit of a flutter.
However, normality returned and time constraints and the lure of bright lights of Anfield brought this particular dalliance to a close.
This close season as I was paying for my season ticket at Anfield, a mind blowing £834, I started to mull over the situation. How can I, in all sincerity, justify spending that amount of money on a club that, to be honest, doesn’t need to charge those prices in order to maintain its flawed business model.
To sit in a stadium that, apart from three or four games a season, is frankly a library, and is increasingly filling with customers who are the cash cows for corporation and don’t really have a connection with the club.
My visits to Town have been to watch players who, whilst they may harbour ambitions of playing pro in the prem, are holding down jobs or getting an education and dealing with real life. Playing a game for love and enjoyment and watched by people who care, not just about their club, but about the game and also the communities that they live. A club like Town is so much more than a football club. It provides focus for young and old, players and supporters alike and it provides hope and opportunity.
So returning to the question asked in the first paragraph, no, I don’t get publicity from the money I’ve spent, but I do get a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that I’ve helped the club keep its head above water and bring it closer to a return home to St Helens.
I could and should probably do more, as should a lot of other people, to be a part of securing the long term future, but this is a start for me, hopefully others can do the same.
Paul Pritchard
