County bowed out of the Football League with a 1-1 draw with Cheltenham and an abandoned match after a pitch invasion by about 30 fans.
A strange atmosphere at Edgeley Park all afternoon was finally followed by an 84th minute on-the-pitch protest by approx 30 hardy souls, who unveiled a ‘Love County Hate Kennedy’ banner, cheered on by the Cheadle End with chants of ‘We want Sale Out!’ and ‘Sack the Board!’
The players were ushered off the pitch with the scoreline at 1-0 to the visitors, before the invaders were removed and play was resumed.
There were talks of trouble all afternoon, and pre-match a prominent County fan was apprehended by police for ‘inciting violence’, and therefore banned from attending. Hmmm.
As the game kicked off, a few hundred red cards were lifted against Sale Sharks owner Brian Kennedy, and the chanting of We want Sale out was pretty loud for the first five minutes.
It was pretty tense, almost like people were waiting for other people to do something. Literally everyone in the ground expected some kind of trouble, and a lot of police were drafted in to prevent.
With half-time come and gone, The Hatters falling behind to a wonder-strike by Cheltenham, there seemed to be no trouble. That was it, and the police looked to be calm.
As County attacked the Cheadle End and the fans were up on their feet, a few hundred from the top of the Cheadle End descended down to the front of the stand and all gathered behind the goal. A handful of chairs were ripped out, and everyone seemed to be waiting for the inevitable CHARGE onto the pitch.
After ten minutes of waiting, a group took it upon themselves to charge and off they went. The players were escorted down the tunnel, and chants against Kennedy and the 2015 Consortium followed.
The game was soon resumed, and Greg Tansey netted a 90th minute penalty after a trip on James Wallace to even the game.
The full-time whistle soon went and we’re now officially in the Conference.
You can’t blame the fans. We’ve been screwed for a good few years, and if you keep prodding and prodding, eventually they’ll lash out.
I think all concerned go the message.
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Well done to the 30 people who protested. Hopefully they’ll get the message now.
Hope we dont get points deducted next season for the invasion as it’s going to be hard enough without starting with points off. Thought the movement of the 30 in midfield was good much better than our midfield have done all season, will be glad to see the back of Elding as I personally have never rated him…anyway into the unknown now so hopefully we can turn this mess around.
The protest was too little too late and very misguided! It’s no use having a go at 2015, as although they do seem to do things a bit amatuerish, we must remember that without them we’d have no club. I think they are crying out for someone to invest and take the club off their hands but no one is really interested. The fine we’ll get now, is something the club can not afford!
I think most County fans like Mary and all she has done for the club she clearly loves so I personally would like to thank her for all she has done and can only imagine the sleepless nights she has had must be horrendous for her. We must remember that we dont have assets we dont own our ground so finding investers is very hard as it might be dead money to them by investing in a club where there is no fall back to them like owning a stadium.
There is only one person responsible for our position and it’s the person who sold our asset to a Rugby man who appears to have no concern for SCFC but there again I personally have no interest in Sale Sharks as I detest rugby, It breaks my heart when I pass Edgely Park and see rugby posts sticking up next to the Cheadle End
And another thing ….lets not forget that only for the “old pals act” in the 60’s/70’s when applying for re-election we would have been relagated to the Conference a long time ago, harsh but true
It was like watching a throw back to a game in the 70s where everyone invades the pitch and then has a ‘sit in’ all holding hands. Thought it was pathetic, uncalled for and far too late!
We’re all devastated that we’ve been relegated. Time for the Board to put up or shut up and move out.
Gannon back in as manager?
Pato, if the ‘board move out’ as you put it, who do you suggest take over? Therein lies the problem – nobody wants to invest or get involved with County!
Until I win the Euro millions of course!!
haha I 2nd your battle iowecounty 🙂 Pato, I agree with iowecounty, if the board moves out then we’re in an even bigger mess. I don’t mind the board we have as long as we can just have a fair share of Edgeley Park (Kennedy won’t let us have). I wouldn’t mind Gannon as manager again but he wouldn’t come back to the club with the mess we’re in, not to mention he has one of those Euro Licences so why settle for bottom. Then again, we shouldn’t be bottom if we keep Mathias in charge and storm up the BSP, whether we win it or not.
Whatever is going on behind the scenes just hurry up and get it done so that we can get proper preparation for next season so that when I take my seat it actually looks like someone has a plan both on and off the pitch
Yeah Local lad, I am too hoping to buy my first season ticket regardless of being outside the football league. I haven’t exactly got the dosh at this moment of time so I might be next year but I hope to get enough at the right time to buy my season ticket. I would like to see some structure than it looking like a kick-around in the park too.