FA Youth Cup Brings Cheer to Bury and Plymouth Argyle

It has been a dismal season at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury FC, with relegation to League Two looking a certainty and two managers having already been sacked during the 2017/18 campaign.

With two major powers on the doorstep and a thriving Non-League scene underneath, keeping the Shakers afloat in the Football League and as a source of local pride may be getting harder and harder each year.

It is of huge credit then that not only have the club’s youngsters made it into the Fifth Round of the FA Youth Cup but that they have outlasted both Manchester City and Manchester United in the process.

Birmingham City come to Gigg Lane on Friday 16 February for a 7pm kick-off, hoping to avoid the fate of Aston Villa in the previous round. Tickets are priced at £5 Adults, £2 Concessions.

Manchester City’s demise, after three successive appearances in the final, came at the hands of Plymouth Argyle in Round 3, a huge surprise given the disparity in resources available to the respective clubs.

The Pilgrims’ youngsters then defeated Burnley at Turf Moor and now face Fulham on Wednesday 7 February, kick-off 7pm, at Home Park.

Tickets are priced at £5 Adults, £3 Over 65's and £1 for Under 18's.

Other ties coming up in February include Norwich City versus Newcastle at Carrow Road on Wednesday 7 February (7pm kick-off, £3 tickets) and Blackburn Rovers against Nottingham Forest at Ewood Park the previous evening (7pm, £4 Adults, £2 Concessions).

Manchester United v Spurs For Free On Monday

The Under-23 clash between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, in Premier League 2, on Monday evening (29th Jan) is free entry for all spectators.

Having made his first senior start against Yeovil in the FA Cup on Friday evening, Angel Gomes could be in line to play in the game.

Kick-off is at 7pm. 

United Under-23's return to Leigh Sports Village on Friday 16th February with free admission to the game against Chelsea which kicks off at 7.05pm. 

UEFA European Under-17 Championship

The Proact Stadium, home of Chesterfield FC, will be one of the venues for this summer's EuropeanUnder-17 Championship which takes between from Friday 4th to Sunday 20th of May.

England, reigning world champions at this age group, will be joined by 15 other countries and the FA are making a big push for the tournament to be as accessible as possible to schools and youngsters.

10 matches, including games at Chesterfield, Walsall, Burton Albion and the New York Stadium in Rotherham, will kick-off at 1pm during the week with school parties encouraged to attend.

School tickets are priced at £2 each with accompanying adults/teachers going free.

There are also other opportunities to get involved, such as adopting a nation and a Champions Flag competition.

More details are available on the dedicated competition pages on the FA website.

Football For A Fiver At Charlton Athletic

I've updated the links tab at the top of the page to include the superb Game of the People website where in-depth articles such as this one on Charlton Athletic can be found alongside a host of other interesting pieces on the game at home and abroad.

This season's Football for a Fiver game at The Valley is quite a tasty-looking fixture as the Addicks, currently just outside the play-off places, take on promotion-chasing Shrewsbury Town.

Links

The following sites have been invaluable to me in writing this blog and are well worth a visit.

The London Football Guide - James Doe is the man behind Non-League Day and set up TLFG to provide a comprehensive guide to football (at all levels) in the capital and its suburbs. On a weekly basis he runs through all of the fixtures of note and is also happy to answer queries from anyone coming to London and looking to catch a match.

With its focus on a similar patch geographically, The Cold End combines news and match previews with reports, highlights and some great photographs of Non-League football in London, Hertfordshire & Beyond.

If there is anything you need to know about football in Oxfordshire then the Oxon Football blog covers everything from Oxford United downwards while Football in Bracknell is an excellent not for profit site that doesn't leave a stone unturned when reporting on football at all levels in the Berkshire town.

Women’s football features regularly on these pages and the excellent She Kicks website has features, stats and regular fixture updates covering all levels of the game in the UK with Scottish Women's Football performing a similar function in its area.

The official FA WSL site also has an easy-to-navigate fixture list with ticket info and links.

Non-League Matters is a good resource for fixtures, tables and stats from all levels of the game below the Football League and the Forum part of the site has a section where special ticket offers, free and reduced admission and ‘Pay What You Want’ fixtures can be publicised.

The Northern Counties East Football League is my local Step 5 league and the home of Hallam FC who have featured regularly on the site. The NCEFL website is an excellent resource for results and fixtures while many of the clubs in the league feature on the Non League Yorkshire website which has a wealth of news, match reports and opinion from across the county.

North of the border, Scottish Football Fixtures does exactly what it says in the title with day-by-day fixtures from all levels of the Scottish game and regular Twitter updates.

I've always enjoyed Neil Jensen's writings in the Non-League Paper (the print edition of which is a great source for upcoming fixtures) but they are just the tip of the iceberg of his wonderful Game of the People website which has features and views on football in all corners of the globe.

And a quick word for Partizan Bristle and it's cracking tales of groundhopping in the West County and beyond.

International Football In Yorkshire

Despite my 16 years (and counting) in the county I don’t think I will ever be accepted as even an honorary Yorkshireman but I’m happy to give a plug to a slightly unusual fixture taking place this coming Sunday (Jan 28).

The newly-formed Yorkshire International Football Association (YIFA), having been recognised by CONIFA, the football association that represents regions and states not part of FIFA, play their first fixture against Ellan Vannin, the national team of the Isle of Man.

A squad of players drawn from Non-League clubs across the region, from Bradford Park Avenue to Thackley AFC, has been named and that should ensure a genuinely competitive game at the Fitzwilliam Stadium, home of Hemsworth Miners Welfare.

Kick-off is at 3.30pm and admission is priced at £10 Adults and £5 Concessions.

I won’t be able to make that game but have got my tickets for England Under-21’s against Ukraine in a European Championship qualifier to be held at Bramall Lane on Tuesday 27 March.

Under-21 matches are always good, family occasions and a kick-off of 6pm in the week leading up to Easter should help in that regard.

Tickets are priced at £10 Adults, £5 Concessions and £20 for a Family of 2 Adults and 2 Children.

Upwardly Mobile Brighton Face Man City Test

The Fourth Round Proper of the Women's FA Cup takes place on Sunday 4 February and sees the entry to the competition of clubs from the Women's Super League.

Pick of the ties is probably the meeting between Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City which takes place at Culver Road, kick-off 2pm, with tickets purchased in advance costing £6 Adults and £3 for Under-16's and Over-65's (£10 and £5 on the day).

The upwardly mobile Seagulls will see the game as test of their ambitions ahead of another restructuring of the Women's game next season when they will move into the top tier after a successful licence application.

Former England manager Hope Powell was appointed as head coach in the summer, attracted to the ambitious plans of the club which have perhaps been realised sooner than thought possible after the FA's decision to move to a fully-professional first division with strict criteria laid down for those wanting to be part of it.

City, however, have genuine hopes of winning four trophies as they lead WSL1, are into the final of the Continental Cup and the last eight of the Champions League and will be none too keen to relinquish their hold on the FA Cup.

They triumphed at Wembley last year in front of nearly 40,000 and tickets for the 2018 event, at Wembley on Saturday 5 May, will be priced at £15 Adults, £5 Concessions and free for Children.

Early Bird Offer For England v Wales

Will it be a first competitive game in charge for Phil Neville when England Women take on Wales in a World Cup qualifier at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton on Friday 6 April, kick-off 7pm.

The venue reflects both the growing interest in the England team and the fact that this will be a key tie in a group that Wales currently lead, albeit having played a game more than a Lionesses side who have won three out of three and scored 15 unanswered goals in the process.

Neville is the unlikely name to have emerged as a candidate to be named the permanent successor to Mark Sampson and his potential appointment has led to some sharp differences of opinion, from the positive of such a high-profile figure coming in to the negative that it may be overlooking those already working in the women's game.

Whatever your view it will cost just £7.50 for an Adult ticket to the Wales game if you buy before the end of January (£10 after) while all Concessions tickets are just £1.

And Two More From League Two

In addition to the Coventry City offer detailed in the article below, two more League Two clubs have ticket initiatives on that are well worth a mention.

All tickets, in all areas of Meadow Lane, are priced at just £2 for Notts County against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday 3 February as owner and chairman Alan Hardy celebrates one year at the helm of the Magpies.

And this coming Tuesday evening, (23 Jan), Newport County are supporting local food banks by reducing ticket prices to £10 Adults, £5 Concessions/U21's and £1 Under 16's if you donate an item.

£5 Football Is Back At Coventry City

Affordable Football started out, tentatively, as a blog and on Twitter in the summer of 2013. It's inspiration came, strangely enough, from Coventry City's run to the area final of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in the 2012/13 season.

The Sky Blues had offered tickets at £5 for the area quarter-final against Sheffield United and were rewarded with an attendance of over 10,000 at the Ricoh Arena at a time when gates were falling amidst deepening discontent with the club's owners.

Prices were held for the semi-final against Preston North End (12,665 coming through the gates) and, to the club's credit, for the area final home leg against Crewe Alexandra. This game took on a life of its own as ticket sales grew and grew until the Ricoh was sold out for the first time for a Coventry home match.

31,054 were there and I sat next to a gentleman who was travelling around the country for the next two weeks and watching a game on most days. He had read about the ticket offer on the City website and it formed an idea in my mind about a website where you could read about reduced price tickets and offers in one place.

I wondered whether there would be enough to write about but that certainly hasn't been a problem as clubs, at all levels, up and down the country are constantly trying innovative ideas to get people through the turnstiles.

The Sky Blues were very proactive in that area two seasons ago but disappointingly have not been so since, moving from a 'twenty's plenty' stance in 2015/16 to higher prices now despite being in a lower division.

Add some PR own goals (such as footage of stewards ordering supporters to sit in their numbered seat at a Football League Trophy game despite their being just the 31,180 empty places in the ground) and it has intensified the bad feeling around the club, on top of the ownership and stadium issues, at a time when Mark Robins has put together a competitive side who are firmly in the League Two promotion mix.

But for the visit of Accrington Stanley to the Ricoh Arena, on Saturday 10 February, City have gone all out and have priced tickets at £5 in all areas while local schoolchildren will be handed free entry with their families in the North Stand.

Dagenham & Redbridge FC

I’ve written many times before about Daggers Against Racism Day at Dagenham & Redbridge FC but that doesn’t make this annual event, now into its ninth year, any less worthy a subject for an article.

Their nine-season stay in the Football League may have ended in the summer but there has been no freefall in East London as John Still again tries to work his promotion magic on the club he guided out of the National League (then the Conference) in 2007.

A promotion challenge is being put together on attendances that still seem to hover around the 1,200-mark, competition for crowds being particularly fierce in this part of the world.

But not many know the division, and those below it, better than Still and testament to his eye for players is most recently confirmed by the performances of Oliver Hawkins who made the move to Portsmouth at the end of August.

Tickets for the game against Solihull Moors on Saturday 27 January, which celebrates Daggers Against Racism Day, are available for just £2.50 for Adults on the terraces with Concessions and Under-16's 50p.

Buy before the day of the game to benefit from these prices.

Trio Of Free Matches In Northern Ireland

A great gesture from all concerned as three matches in the Danske Bank Premiership, abandoned on 2 January due to Storm Eleanor, will have free admission on the re-arranged dates.

Premiership referees and officials have waived their match fees for the fixtures at Cliftonville (against Ballymena United on 6 February), Glentoran (versus Warrenpoint Town on 27 February) and Ards (against Glenavon which does not have a new date.

NI Football League Managing Director Andrew Johnston told the official website: "We want to express our thanks to the clubs in their decision to put the supporters first and make the rescheduled fixtures from the abandoned games free admission.

"Thanks also to the Premiership referees for their kind gesture ahead of these three fixtures."

Notts County: One Year Celebrated with Two Pound Tickets

What a year it has been for Notts County FC since the Magpies were taken over by local businessman Alan Hardy, last weekend's FA Cup win at Brentford and a promotion place in League Two showcasing the work of Kevin Nolan, the man he, perhaps surprisingly, brought in as manager at the same time as Hardy became chairman and owner at Meadow Lane.

An upturn on the pitch has been matched by progress off it with attendances increasing.

The two things often go together, of course, but there is no doubt that increased engagement with the local community has brought back a feeling that supporters are once again connected to their club.

Mr Hardy is at the helm of that, very visible on Twitter where he doesn't shy away from anything, most notably when taking the hugely difficult decision that he could not continue to fund the Notts County Ladies team.

Anyway, to mark one year of progress, all tickets for the game against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday 3 February are priced at just £2.

Scottish Lowland Football League

I can't really add anything to this...

💸 | In need of a football fix over the Premiership winter break? Your local Lowland League club has you covered.

Good football, passionate people, affordable prices. 💪 pic.twitter.com/R0xDwNQ65f

— SLFL 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@OfficialSLFL) 8 January 2018

Just £3 For A Big Chelsea v Man City Clash

Manchester City Women are emulating the achievements of Pep Guardiola's side as the 2017/18 season progresses with a 100% record in WSL1 and a place booked in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women's Champions League.

They begin their defence of the SSE Women's FA Cup on the first weekend in February after Monday's Fourth Round draw and are also through to the semi-finals of the Continental Tyres Cup where they have a very interesting game this coming Sunday (14 January) against a Chelsea side who are matching their rivals blow-for-blow.

Also through to the Champions League last-eight stage, Chelsea are two points behind City in the WSL table after the weekend win against Arsenal.

Sunday's semi-final takes place at Kingsmeadow, Kingston, and tickets are priced at just £3 Adults and £1 for Under-20's and Over-65's.

Liverpool FC / FA Youth Cup

There are four good opportunities for Liverpool supporters to watch a Reds team in competitive action in January.

Three Under-23 fixtures are scheduled to be played during the month, starting this coming Sunday with a Premier League 2 game against Arsenal at Tranmere Rovers’ Prenton Park ground.

Kick-off is at 1pm and admission prices are £3 Adults and £1 Children. LFC members and season ticket holders can watch for free.

The same prices are in operation for the visit of Charlton Athletic to the Swansway Stadium, Chester, on Sunday 21st for a Premier League Cup tie and also for Liverpool’s clash with Derby County on Sunday 28th.

The FA Youth Cup is at the Fourth Round stage and, although quite a few ties are being played away from the host club’s main ground, which I always feel is a shame given that this remains the most prestigious tournament at this age level, Liverpool are using Anfield for their tie against Arsenal.

Even better, the game is taking place on a Saturday afternoon, the 20th January at 3pm. I haven’t seen the admission prices as yet but they are likely to be similar to those for the Under-23 games.

Also in the FA Youth Cup, Norwich City host Derby County at Carrow Road on Friday 12th, 7pm, with all tickets priced at £3 and AFC Bournemouth take on Tottenham Hotspur at the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday 16th, 7pm, with tickets priced at £3 and £1. 

Update: Tickets for Liverpool's FA Youth Cup game at Anfield on Saturday 20th January will cost £3 Adults and £1 for Juniors, Young Adults and Over 65's. 

From Newcastle Benfield to Newport (IOW)

And many other points in between as the FA Vase reaches the Fourth Round stage this coming weekend.

There is huge excitement at many of the clubs taking part in the 16 ties that are taking place, many of them describing their games as the biggest in their respective histories.

And with the competition going national at this stage there are some long journeys being undertaken over the weekend.

Coleshill Town of the Midland Football League, for example, will be heading north to face Newcastle Benfield where admission prices will be £6 Adults, £3 Concessions and free for Under 16's.

I'd imagine those admission prices will be pretty similarly at most of the matches taking place and for your money you are guaranteed hard-fought and competitive football.

At the other end of the country, Newport (IoW) are preparing to welcome Bradford Town of the Western League to St George's Park, where a crowd of 200+ is hoped for, visiting supporters making plans to follow their team 'over land and sea' to the Isle of Wight.

The 2018 FA Vase Final will once again form part of Non-League Finals Day and be played alongside the FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 20 May.

Combined tickets are on sale now priced at £25 Adult, £10 Concession and £1 for Under-16's.