Today I'm going back 31 years to 1991 and the pre-season Friendly match between Athlone Town and English Football League-side Birmingham City played at the since-demolished St Mel's Park in Athlone, a town that borders both County Westmeath and County Roscommon in the Republic of Ireland.
I've managed to see Athlone Town AFC twice, both times being pre-season Friendlies but this was my first and only visit to St Mel's Park and I distinctly remember struggling to find it in the back streets of Athlone. After driving around for a while I eventually stopped the car to ask some local kids (street urchins) on pushbikes for directions and, to my horror, a little lad aged about 6-years old just opened my passenger door, climbed in and said he'd show me! There's me, a stranger danger, driving in a car with foreign plates, now crapping myself in case the local Gardai were, at that very moment, being alerted to a child molester operating in the area. Luckily for me, the hidden entrance to St Mel's was only a few hundred yards away and the little lad jumped out again as soon as we got there. All I can say is that the world in the west of Ireland was a much more innocent place than was England but I was mightily relieved to get shot of him without incident I can tell you!
As you can see from the programme, Athlone Town had managed to arrange a couple of attractive Friendlies in pre-season 1991/92 with the programme being a double issue covering the visits of both Birmingham City and Leicester City. We didn't know it at the time but 1991/92 was to be the last season before the advent of the Premier League. Birmingham City would play that season in the old Third Division (now League 1) whereas Leicester City operated in the Second Division (now the Championship). I guess that the programme has some rarity value as there's an edition currently available on ebay for £7.99 plus postage and packing. I paid £0.70 for my copy and it's not for sale!
At the time, Birmingham City were at a low ebb and were spending only their third season outside the top two divisions in 89 Football League seasons. Lou Macari had quit as the Blues manager at the end of the previous campaign and new boss Terry Cooper wouldn't be in place until just a week before the new season started. So it was left to caretaker boss Bill Coldwell to negotiate new contracts with the out of contract players and to prepare the side for the new season. Hardly ideal preparation eh?
Nevertheless, the Blues came to Athlone and won the featured game by a single goal before successfully launching themselves on a new Third Division season with an opening four straight victories and were undefeated over their first seven games. By the end of the season, Birmingham achieved promotion finishing in second place just a single point behind Third Division Champions Brentford. It was a remarkable achievement given such close season turmoil and a credit to both Coldwell and Cooper.
CRB Match No. F13
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