Autobiography.

I first attended EP in the 1993-94 season. My mate's Dad was one of the sponsors for the FA cup game against QPR. I'd always liked Liverpool until then, even had one of the crown paints emblazoned shirts of the mid-eighties. I'd never been exposed to anything County related despite growing up in the suburban outskirts of Stockport. No one in the family was big on footy, and all my mates liked United or City. But that day left a taste in my mouth for something I liked, something I'd never experienced anywhere else before. The absolute joy of seeing a County goal whack the back of the net, and Preecey did it better than most on that day!

Since then I've never looked back. My sister conveniently got herself a boyfriend who was a County fan and I started to go to games with him, which soon turned into a season ticket for the Cheadle End. I'd managed to miss most of the years of Play-off drama and disappointment and so my first significant memory was actually Danny Begara chinning Brendan Elwood at some dinner. From there, Dave Jones took the helm and started his transformation of the team and the rest is history.

It was a great time to be a County fan. We actually had a proper midfield, ‘wor Alun dazzled defenders with his blond highlights and Brett Angell shocked everyone with his pace (no defender could really believe how slow he was!) Dave Jones brilliantly managed to turn other teams rejects and some average players into a very effective team, how else can you explain our success despite Keiron Durkan playing all season long. That night at Chesterfield is a brilliant memory for any County fan, as were all the cup games that year.

For me, County really took a turn for the worse when Megson left. Despite his many critics, he would have never let a team go on their worse sequence of results like we did after his departure. It might not have been pretty, ok then, bloody awful to watch at times, but he had passion. Since then, no one has been able to stop the fall down the leagues. But hope springs eternal for any County fan and I'm confident with Jim at the helm. One game I remember quite vividly despite its insignificance in County history was against Cambridge at home in '96 I think. He popped up in the second half with 2 goals from nowhere for County to win 2-1. He always seemed to carry a bit of luck with him as a player as well as his skill and desire. If he can bring all of those qualities to being a manager then I believe promising things lie ahead for County.

As for me, I was born all of 26 years ago in Ashton and then my family moved to Marple when I was four. I took my first real foray into the big world as I ventured many miles from home all the way to York University to study History for 3 years there. After recovering from inevitable Liver disease I sorted myself out and eventually I moved down to London about 3 years ago now. So here I am striving away to improve the much-maligned NHS of this country and faithfully supporting County wherever I can. I try to get to watch the boys at the ‘local' away games I am now presented with and hopefully I'll see a few more victories next season.

It's great to join the SCFC Mad team, roll on next season and sign some more midfielders Jimbo! Take care

Andrew Bailey