Today I'm going back 30 years to 1992 and Wycombe Wanderers' home fixture against Gateshead in the GM Vauxhall Conference (now known as the Vanarama National League). The game was played at Wycombe's Adams Park and attracted a healthy official attendance of 3,290. My main stand seat ticket cost me just £6. This was Wycombe's third game of the season and they went into the game unbeaten thus far. The programme cover star is Wycombe's Simon Hutchinson, seen here in action against Arsenal in a pre-season friendly.
This game was something of a departure for me. After starting to watch football in 1977 and completing my attendance at the Football League's 92 grounds in 1986, I had constrained myself to watching matches in the professional ranks and, other than the odd York City FA Cup tie, I had stayed away from watching football at a lower (usually semi-professional) level. However, by 1992 I was yearning for new places to visit and I decided to dip my toe into the water of the so called Non-League game. This game at Wycombe was my first such game and I have never regretted it as Non-League football has taken me all over the country visiting all sorts of interesting places. But it started here.
This was my first visit to Adams Park (I've now been 8 times in all). The stadium had been opened just two years earlier in 1990 following the sale of Wycombe's former Loakes Park home to the local health authority who were looking to expand the nearby hospital. The proceeds from that sale effectively funded the entire building cost of Adams Park and gave the club a modern home and a suitable platform for an assault on the Football League. Since my original visit, the stadium has been significantly improved and was the home ground of the top Rugby Union club Wasps between 2002-14 before they took over Coventry City's stadium. The stadium is named after Frank Adams, a former Wycombe player and benefactor.
Wycombe's manager, Martin O'Neill, was cutting his managerial teeth in Non-League football before going on to manage some big clubs at the top level including Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa as well as taking on the Republic of Ireland's managerial hot seat despite his Northern Irish roots. O'Neill had been a very successful player under Brian Cough at Nottingham Forest where he would win two European Cups, a First Division title and two League Cups. O'Neill played 64 times for Northern Ireland scoring 8 goals and, in recent years, has become a feisty and combative television pundit whose opinion is always worth listening to.
The featured match finished 2-1 in favour of Wycombe as they continued their unbeaten start to the season with goals coming from Simon Stapleton and substitute Mark West. Gateshead's sole reply was scored by full-back Steve Higgins. One player of note in the Wycombe side that day was Steve Guppy. Guppy went on to follow Martin O'Neill to both Leicester City and Celtic and would even make a single cap appearance for England under Kevin Keegan. In total Guppy made 640 club appearances scoring an under-par 54 goals (he was a winger).
After finishing runners-up a year earlier, season 1992/93 was a red-letter season for Wycombe Wanderers as they stormed to the Conference title, winning it by 15 points, to claim their place in the Football League at the expense of bottom placed Halifax Town. They have remained in the Football League ever since and even reached the dizzy heights of the Championship just last season before returning to League 1. Gateshead finished the season in 14th place (of 22) with Farnborough Town and Boston United being relegated to the Southern League and Northern Premier League respectively.
CRB Match No. 786
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