The newest writer at SCFC Mad introduces himself, welcome David Ardill!
Born, but not entirely bred, in Stockport, I have had blue blood in my veinssince the day I first clapped eyes on Andy Preece, Big Kev Francis and
Chrissy Beaumont stepping out at EP in that timeless classic zig-zag number
sported during the mid-90s.
The occasion was an old Division Two fixture against Barnet, and if my
childhood memory serves me correctly a Preecey effort gave us a 2-1 win that day, not to mention sowing the seeds for a lifetime commitment to my
hometown club.
I can't remember much of the early years of my County devotion, and living
in rural Shropshire with one bus passing by the end of the muddy track every
3 weeks, getting to games was a task that made Tom Cruise's Mission look
almost ‘Doable' but the unwavering support continued and I can recall to
this day my own celebrations at winning promotion under Dave Jones to the
old Division One, beating West Ham in the cup and running Middlesbrough
oh-so-close in the semis of the ‘Big One'.
Those were the days that helped nurture that initial seedling into the
passionate, obsessive, County-til-I-die Giant Oak of a supporter that I am
today. Oh the good old days.
Today we are in a bit of a precarious situation, but things, as they say,
can only get better and I feel a lot more of those ‘Feel-good-about-supporting-County' days just around the corner.
As for myself, I am a first-year Communications student at, dare I say it,
Chester University, though I have background in sports reporting, most
recently with those ‘Welsh minnows' TNS – the ‘other team' in that First
Round Champions League match Liverpool, or rather Steven Gerrard, played
last year.
My past involvement in local newspaper writing has undoubtedly armed me with a fine repertoire of literary skills, so the minute www.stockportcounty-mad.co.uk starts covering WI meetings and church fetes, I'm
the man for the job.
I like to keep my hand in when it comes to the playing side of the Beautiful
Game and in my day was often described as the Ronald Koeman of the
Shropshire Junior Leagues…more to do with the hard shot and shocking blond
hair than anything else but it's a notion I'd like to keep hold of. Apart
from eating, sleeping, breathing and day-dreaming about football, I
occasionally dabble in the absolutely mental world of triathlon – for those
of you who are not in the know, it's a ridiculous swimming-biking-running
based sport frequented by lycra-clad fitness freaks.
So, that's the end of that, I'm delighted to be the newest member of the
writing team, take care and keep reading.
