Road to Wembley - Runcorn Linnets FC

10 things you never knew about our next FA Cup squeezes:

1) They play in the North West Counties Football League Premier Division, the ninth tier of English football.
2) They play in a sickly strip of bright lime green and yellow stripes - see picture.
3) The Linnets are owned by a trust, which is an Industrial and Provident Society, and is registered with the Financial Services Authority.
4) Manager is a bloke called Paul McNally. No, me neither.
5) Runcorn Linnets Football Club was born on 28 April 2006, when the fans of Runcorn Football Club, dismayed at the club’s predicament, met at their spiritual home at the Quayside in Canal Street in Runcorn and voted to establish a new club.
6) They established the new club within 4 months and poor old Runcorn FC was dissolved.
7) If you include their days as Runcorn FC, the club's most famous player is Ian Woan - now assistant manager at Watford.
8) They play at the Millbank Linnets Stadium see photo.
9) The record crowd was 1,000 fans for the opening game against neighbours Witton Athletic.
10) Runcorn is a shit hole.

They play Mossley AFC away on Saturday in the Preliminary Round. Good luck to the Linnets.

Week 3 review

An incredible week in the Premier League ending with this.. Manchester 13 North London 1.

Dzeko got four as City ran riot at WHL. Only one of our 70 managers has Dzeko in their team! At Old Trafford a sorry Arsenal conceded 8 for the first time since 1896. Rooney got a hat trick, Ashley Young a brace and one each from Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-Sung.

Newcastle remain unbeaten after winning at home against Fulham and Stoke got an injury time winner at West Brom.

Villa and Wolves were goal-less, Arteta got a late pen for Everton at Ewood after the chicken men missed two penalties themselves. Norwich put up a good fight at Stamford Bridge but the Blues came through 3-1. Liverpool beat Bolton by the same score, Wigan beat QPR 2-0 with Di Santo scoring both and Swansea were held at home by Sunderland.

N&R Weekly Bet

Week 3, here we go. Nobby needs to start winning some money.

Nobby:
WBA v Stoke HOME - WRONG
Chelsea v Norwich HOME - CORRECT
Aston Villa v Wolves DRAW - CORRECT

£2 stake. Winning potential £18.76. Winnings £0

Ready:
Man Utd v Arsenal HOME - CORRECT
Liverpool v Bolton HOME - CORRECT
Chelsea v Norwich HOME - CORRECT

£2 stake. Winning potential £6.94. Winnings £6.94

Running total:
Ready £18.76 (positive)
Nobby £6 (negative)

Hurricane Irene

With one eye on the telly watching CNN's saturated 24-hour hurricane coverage and one eye on my daughter in her playroom yesterday I suddenly saw out of the corner of my eye her inflatable turtle, which earlier she'd been sat in half full of water, fly by the window followed by a couple of garden chairs.

I rushed outside and there he was Tropical Storm Jose careering past Bermuda 50 miles away packing winds of 40mph. My little excursion out to the garden got me soaked and when I returned to the telly there was Anderson Cooper on CNN stood in the middle of a deserted New York's Greenwich Village desperately looking for sign of rain, let alone a hurricane.

Hurricane Hyperbole is nothing new, especially since the invention of 24-hour news channels, and the American's have rarely been known to overreact, but when one anchor proclaimed that the storm to be as "big as Europe" it was enough for me to turn over.

Hurricane Irene was in fact about as wide as Slovakia, and her lumbering, unorganised structure plus rarely visible, from satellite images anyway, eyewall prevented it from causing far more damage with land wind speeds well below the modeled forecast. Picture an overweight jogger in Central Park at the end of their run and imagine Irene at the end of her 10-day sprint through the Caribbean and up the Atlantic Ocean.

Weather men were on boardwalks all across the east coast and North Carolina's outer banks took a good battering but by the time it got to Manhattan and Long Island it was no more than a storm as cameramen rushed around tiny seaside towns (such as Long Beach where we were in June) looking for pools of water.

Irene's track did take her over the pretty states of New Hampshire and Vermont, both stocked with intricate rivers and lakes. These states were much less prepared and the flooding there will be significant.

Watch now for Tropical Depression 12, which is set to follow the same track as Irene.

Arsene Knows

Like the next man I like to see a lot of goals in a televised Sunday afternoon Premier League match but as Man United continued to humiliate Arsenal this afternoon I just ended up feeling embarrassed. It was like a FA Cup 3rd match, David v Goliath when you just know that the big team can score at will, and you wonder if eventually they will take their foot of the opposition's throat and allow them to reclaim a bit of pride.

There was too much joy on the faces Man U's players for them to let up, particularly that of Ryan Giggs, him with a long memory on the football pitch, but not as good of it. Well, he probably hasn't had this much of a good time for a while. Sir Alex Ferguson also looked embarrassed and said afterwards "I did not want them to score any more." I am sure that made Arsenal fans feel heaps better!

Arsene Wenger cut a sad solitary figure slumped in an oversized red leather seat. I'm not sure how he will ever recover from this and the Emirates on Saturday when the Gunners are at home to Swansea will be an anxious place, especially if the Frenchman doesn't sign the 8 players the experts in the press think he needs.

It was Arsenal's heaviest defeat since 1896, when Loughborough Town inflicted a 8-0 loss on the then Woolwich based side. They were so short of quality today and as each games passes that fictional shopping list that everyone writes for Wenger grows, mind you Szczesny was the Gunners' man of the match.

I like Wenger, I like his bloodymindedness and I have nothing but admiration for way he gets his teams to play the game of football. I have often said that Arsenal are the only other English team I would pay to see and I guess that is why I and I imagine many others this afternoon cringed at the sadness of it all.

Earlier, Spurs and Harry Redknapp, probably the next English manager if he can stay out of prison, was humbled by Man City. Manager Roberto Mancini finally finding the right blend of cash and football player.

I was a little excited this season thinking that the Premiership title could be a five or six team race, after 3 weeks it is obvious to everyone that it will be a two-horse race, even I think Chelsea will make up the numbers for a Champions League place.

As for Arsenal, tellingly when Wenger puts such an emphasis on youth, United's team today was younger than Arsenal's. Ferguson is on his 4th rebuild, yet Wenger looks like one of those starry-eyed pensioners who has just one the lottery.

As for Carl Jenkinson, the fact that he is playing underlines Arsenal's issues and Wenger's stubborness. When Jenkinson got that phone call earlier in the year from his agent saying that Arsene Wenger had been on the phone, the 19-year old must have thought he'd died and gone to heaven. After all it was only just before Christmas last year that he was playing for Eastbourne Borough in a four-game winless spell.

In fact I was going to write a few weeks ago how lucky he was to be playing and how I wondered Jonjo Shelvey felt about it now he has been pushed back down the pecking order at Anfield. Well, maybe it's the two managers we should compare and not the players.

Carl Jenkinson is so out of his depth it is not funny and when he took that long walk to the Old Trafford tunnel today after he was sent off, I think it was hell he was heading not heaven.

Road to Wembley - Pool out

Well AFC Liverpool survived one round and we now inherit the Runcorn Linnets as our N&R Road to Wembley team.

The Reds bowed out of this season’s FA Cup at the Millbank Linnets Stadium. They were three goals down before STEVEN JONES finished with aplomb but sadly for the Reds it didn’t inspire a second comeback in four days.

AFC Liverpool: Christopher, Tai-Hogan, Torpey, Jones, Brown, Bennett, Stafford, Foley, Steve Jones, Barry, (Edwards 64), Corris (C).
Attendance: 320

Runcorn Linnets now play Mossley AFC on the 3rd September in the Preliminary Round Proper. We'll find out more about them in due course.

Lube me up

Manager of the Week - week 2
Previous N&R Champion Brett Davey will be hoping to put behind him a poor return to fantasy action last season and he will be very pleased with his performance so far this season. A MoW winning week 2 pushed him into 8th place in Division 2 after securing 46 points.

Just missing out was Ricky Wood who scored 45. Barry Paull has also been fast out of traps and scored another 39, the same as Godders and Henry Williams, who can now watch Brett Emerton play for Sydney FC if he so wishes (very nice stadium apparently).

Hilary Flynn and Wardy scored 38 with Kirstie Baillie and Dewbs getting on the scoresheet with 37 each.

C'est si bon

N&R Division 1 - week 2 update
Paris Eagles are a point ahead of Woody's Round Up with Bingo FC and Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel swapping place. In 5th is Room with a view, 6th Guinness & eggs, 7th Gooner Win The League and Henry's Socceroos in 8th.

Hot on the heels are Non-Calculated Risk and big climbers were Boys on Tour and Bagpuss 11.

How's about bollocks climb out of the relegation zone but surprisingly no one else did and Tanus Terriers drop into the very premature bottom 12.

In 35th last but not least is surprisingly Pk and Sainsbury's Maggotts LMFC with Bobby Z a point better off in 34th.

Irish eyes

N&R Division 2 - week 2 update
Pure Irish stay top for a second week after another sterling week's fantasy work. Hills is a full 22 points ahead of 2nd place Morgan's Machines and Keith and I are thinking about presenting the trophy to Hilary now.

In 3rd is Plummer and 2Infinity & beyond held jointly with another title favourite Glasgow Kiss. Luis & Carroll's Adventures in Wonderland move up a few places to 5th with No Hopers in 6th level on points with Full Metal Jacket and Alchees Lubes.

In the other promotion places are Gooner Go Up, Kings of Leon Osman, Dalton Warblers, Conan Destroyers and Sons of pitches.

Guys, I should note that there are 5 ladies in the top 11. Very healthy I would say. Bit like a wilting salad.

The bottom manager is a bit of a turn-up. Danny Rose's Arsene still knows are holding everyone up with just 33 points on the baord. Danny has denied that he tried to buy Rob Munden from Travelers this morning for 65 pence.

Photograph of the week

Peter Jackson, Bradford City's manager is the first managerial casualty of the season - just 2 weeks in!!

Congratulations

Congratulations to Neil Bixby and his much better looking other half Tina who get married at Pontlands Park, West Hanningfield, Essex (near Chelmsford). Luckily it's not until 5.30 so he should be able to get the footy scores before he gets hitched!

Their lovely 7 month old daughter Chloe will be in attendance along with the equally lovely Ready, Sav and Mrs Sav.

Ready is off to the airport on Sunday for a flight to Thailand so will probably be feeling pretty grim!

Have a great day the two of you.

Week 2 review

Roberto Martinez went back to Swansea with Wigan and collected a point in a 0-0 draw. A Ryan Taylor winner gave the Toon first bragging rights of the season over neighbours Sunderland at the SoL.

In the shock of the day Tommy Smith gave Rangers a superb win over lackluster Everton at Goodison. Malouda sealed a Chelsea win over WBA, who were winning at the break.

Two late Liverpool goals put more pressure on Arsene, Villa beat Blackburn well 3-1 and Wolves won well at home to Fulham. Norwich held on for a point at home to Stoke despite taking the lead and Man City beat Bolton in a 5-goal thriller at the Reebok.

And Man U fielded their under 12's and still beat Spurs 3-0 at the OT.

More photos of suspects released from the London Riots

Anyone seen this fella?

Luck of the Irish

Manager of the Week - week 1
Hilary Flynn was the first MoW for this season. Her defensive back five collected the majority of her 60 points and Hilary banks a fiver, fortunately for her in GBP not in EURO's. A close second was Barry Paull with 57 points, then Ricky Wood 50, Soozie Saveall 49, Ian Kennett 48 and Barry Plummer 46.

The lowest score in week 1 was from Mark Wenman, who scored unlucky 13.

N&R Weekly Bet

Ok, week 2 of our Weekly Bet.

Nobby:
Sundrland v Newcastle HOME - WRONG
Arsenal v Liverpool AWAY - CORRECT
Aston Villa v Blackburn HOME - CORRECT

Better from Nobby, but still no cigar.

£2 stake. Winning potential £18.38. Winnings £0

Ready:
Aston Villa v Blackburn HOME - CORRECT
Swansea v Wigan HOME - WRONG
Chelsea v WBA HOME - CORRECT

£2 stake. Winning potential £8.60. Winnings £0

Running total:
Ready £11.82 (positive)
Nobby £4 (negative)

Road to Wembley - Reds face replay

AFC Liverpool were held by Runcorn Linnets in the Saturday's FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie at home.

Goals from Steve Jones and Joe Bennett secured a second half comeback for the Reds after Kevin Towey had given the visitors a two goal advantage in the first half.

Liverpool huffed and puffed but couldn't break the Linnets down until Bennett was brought down on the right hand edge of the Linnets area. This teed up the opportunity for STEVEN JONES strike the free kick through the crowd into the far corner and halve the deficit.

With the two teams cancelling each other out and nothing being created at either end, it seemed as though the visitors would hold onto their lead until Darren Torpey delivered a cross to the back post that just begged to be converted and JOSEPH BENNETT didn’t spurn the invitation, rising to guide his header into the top corner.

The Millbank Linnets Stadium hosts a replay this coming Wednesday where our Road to Wembley boys AFC Liverpool will be hoping to win their first game of the season (they've played 5 already!)

AFC Liverpool: Christopher, Tai-Hogan, Torpey, Brown, Stenhouse, Bennett, McGahon (Foley 60), Sinnott (Ormesher 80), Jones, Barry (Edwards 71), Corris (C).
Unused Subs: Gardener, Pennell, Lamont
Attendance: 222

Photograph of the week

I know, a cricket picture on a fantasy football blog, but what the heck. Rule Brittania!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/14614779.stm

Summer time in Paris

N&R Division 1 - week 1 update
Barry must be pleased with Palace's early start to the season, and likewise he can be pretty pleased with his own. Paris Eagles swoop into top place in Div 1 after week 1 with 57 points with Woody's Round Up in 2nd.

Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel are 3rd but don't fear Kennett always gets off to a flyer, in 4th is Bingo FC with 5th ex-champion Gooner win league.

Joint 5th is Alastair Bigg's Room with a view with current champion, To Elland Back, getting out of the blocks well in 7th. ThE DrEaM FacTorY are in 8th with one of the pre-season favourites Guinness & eggs in 9th and not one of the pre-season favourites is one of my favourite Balkans Davor and Non-Calculated Risk in 10th.

Turning Japanese in 15th is Giles and his hangover-inciting team name of Asahi Kirin Sapporo Saki Eight, 23rd is last Ken's The Magnificent Eleven, Ready's Hannoi Utd are 27th and probably for the only time this season, Nobby's Junior's are higher in 19th.

Bobby Z is world class are bottom a point behind Ted Striker's XI.

Irish gold

N&R Division 2 - week 1 update
MoW surges to top spot of Div 2 after the first round of matches. Hills was in the USA last week getting her fill of baseball and budweiser and will be happy to be back in Blighty and see he Pure Irish name at the top of the fledgling league table.

Soozie's Gooner Go Up are second and we know she is desparate to get promotion back to Div 1, and 49 points was a very good start. 3 points behind in 3rd is another ex-champion Barry Plummer and his 2Infinity & beyond and in 4th iswas another relegated manager, Scott and Morgan's Machines.

The No Hopers, Glasgow kiss, Conan's Destroyers, Kiwi Fantastic,Luke & Carroll's Adventures in Wonderland, Sons of pitches, Full Metal Jacket and Dalton Worblers make up the very early promotion pack.

We must mention Tony Murray and Hammer Nation who at 19th in the table is higher than at any point last season - well done Tone. Also Rutts' Goonersmoan who find themselves in the very sad prized penultimate place position, i.e. the 69th best score. Team mate Wenners and Lazarus Utd are bottom, but so are Blackburn and it's early.... Oh.

Week 1 review

Only Man City won at home on opening day beating Swansea with 4 second half goals. Fellow new boys Norwich drew at Wigan 1-1 and QPR were stuffed at home by Bolton in a nightmare first game for Neil Warnock.

Arsenal drew 0-0 at St James' in a dull game with only Joey Barton and Gervinho providing any sort of entertainment. Liverpool started their game against Sunderland on fire with Suarez scoring the Premier League's opening goal of the season but Larsson replied with a cracker.

Wolves won at Blackburn and Fulham and Villa shared at goalless draw at the Cottage. Man Utd won late at West Brom 2-1 even though they only had one shot on goal, and Stoke held Chelsea to a 0-0 at the Brittania.

Photos from the N&R Prize Giving - New Moon, August 8th

Top left to right: Nobby, champion Rob Munden & Ready; Nobby, Cup winner Neville White & Ready; The QBE Team winners Chris Wright, Richard Richards, Nobby & Ready; Neville sipping champagne out of his very large cup; Rob with his name on the trophy.

A great night was had by all, although unfortunately some of us had had a great lunch too.....

Welcome

This will be the biggest ever N&R FL season. Literally I get people stopping me in the street asking to play. Honestly I do.

We have 70 managers, from 8 different countries plus Wardy, who lives in his own world, so 9 really. Some of you have been with us since the beginning, but most for a fair number of seasons. Some of you we lost, but luckily regained including record point scorer Paul Kelleher, Giles Crowley and Huw Thomas, now working and living in Tokyo and Adelaide respectively.

We have 10 new managers. A big welcome to you all. We hope you join in with what the yooth call interaction, but I prefer the old phrase of piss taking. We also have a few extra birds this time out, have no fear you will find Ready and I very fair on the sexism front.

The weekly scores come from the Daily Telegraph and appear in the newspaper around each Wednesday. Our Scoresmith then sits in his converted Scientists labaratory at home and works out the points and sends them to us. Please note though that occasionally our Scoresmith does some very secret undercover work in Poland and Nobby, believe it or not, does do some work, so the weekly scores can come out a little late. However I attempt to get the weekly scores and tables out just a few days after they appear in the Daily Telegraph.

The scores and tables are emailed to you but this blog is where it all happens. The weekly email will link you back here for intellectual reporting of all the week's events. If, for some reason your company block this, then let me know.

I mentioned interaction. When Keith and I were both working abroad, this was our number one way of keeping in touch with the market, gossip and our mates. Please email or text or comment on the blog any ideas you may have plus suggestions, announcements and gratuitous gossip, especially if it involves roofers or Romford.

The very best of luck to you all.

Nobby & Ready

simon.newport@aon.com
Mobile: +1 441 504 0215

keith.read.2@bluefingroup.co.uk
Mobile: +44 (0) 7921 700549

The N&R rules reminder

No one likes rules but we do have a few. Here is a brief overview:

*The N&R FL managers will be split in the two divisions. I think we'll call them N&R 1 and 2!
*Managers will be split based on last season's promotion and relegation, and previous N&R FL history. New managers will start in N&R 2.
*There will be no end of season league splits or play- offs this season and each Division's 1 and 2 will have separate prizes and there will of course be a number of places for promotion and relegation.
*There will again be the annual N&R Cup plus individual League Cups.
*Team Challenge Trophy, Benfleet Bet, best and worst weekly score and other spot prizes will continue.

*Re transfers. You can make a maximum of 12 transfers during the season.
*The weekly deadline is Tuesday at 6pm GMT.
*Players changed before the deadline will be available for any games that night. If the deadline is missed, they won't be available until the following Tuesday.
*Email me your transfers to: simon.newport@aon.com
*At all times your team cannot exceed £50m in value.
*We will regularly send out a player list, obviously it is regularly updated particularly after a transfer deadline.
*A team list is always available on request.
*We follow the rules, regs and importantly the player values of the Daily Telegraph and you can always check the list of players on their website.
*Your side can play in 4 different formations, doesn't matter which, and you can change it during the season.
*The formations are: 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-5-1 or 4-3-3.
*We have a Manager of the Week award, which is simply the highest score across two divisions. *The prize is £5 and will be shared if tied.
*There is only a MoW prize if a minimum of 5 Premiership matches or 10 Premiership teams in the FA Cup.
*Points scored in FA Cup games are included but not the Carling Cup, Champions League or anything else.
*Prizes will be announced later in the season.
*We reserve the right to evict anyone who doesn't pay the entry fee, which is £25 or $40.
*If you have yet to pay, you will be getting an email shortly with directions of how to.
*Nobby & Ready's decision is final.
*Bribes are acceptable, cash preferred but beer will sometimes suffice.

In the media

I know a lot of you probably get to see the Evening Standard, but this article on Arsene Wenger by Jason Cowley, whose a clever sausage and is during the day editor of the New Statesman, which has a few too many long words for me, hits a few hard truths on the head.

I don't know what you Gunners' fans think but I reckon Jason talks a lot of sense.

"Wenger the continental sophisticate once seemed like a very progressive and modern figure, part-boffin, part-romantic visionary. Now, more than ever, he is beginning to resemble a man out of time...."

Click here to read the full article.

Photograph of the week

Finally, we can move on. In the most protracted transfer in recent history Cesc Fabregas' move back to Barcelona was finally sealed today for £25.4m up front for Fabregas, with the player contributing £880,000 from his own salary (for why I don't know). Arsenal will also receive £4.4m if Barcelona win six La Liga titles, five Champions League title, the Cricket World Cup and the Superbowl in the next five years.

The N&R Weekly Bet

This season Nobby & Ready will have a little weekly bet (usingg the entry money collected in the New Moon of course) on 3 Premier League weekend matches. Each week it will be a £2 treble using the odds offered on Betfair. Simples, at least you would think so!

We'll keep a tally of how we get on over the course of the season for a bit of a laugh. So, for the opening games, week 1, we plumped for the following:

Nobby:
Fulham v Aston Villa DRAW - CORRECT
Liverpool v Sunderland HOME - WRONG
Wigan v Norwich AWAY - WRONG

£2 stake. Winning potential £20.74. Winnings £0

Ready:
Fulham v Aston Villa DRAW - CORRECT
West Brom v Man U AWAY - CORRECT
Man C v Swansea HOME - CORRECT (bastard!)

£2 stake. Winning potential £13.82. Winnings £13.82

Running total:
Ready £13.82 (positive)
Nobby £2 (negative)

Nobby & Ready's guess at the final Premier League places

Nobby first. Of course I support a team that play in the 3rd Division but thought it would be fun to attempt to pick how the English Premier League will finish in May 2012. Here we go:

1. Manchester United
--------------------------
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester City
4. Liverpool
--------------------------
5. Arsenal
--------------------------
6. Bolton
7. Tottenham
8. Stoke City
9. Sunderland
10. Aston Villa
11. Fulham
12. West Brom
13. Wolves
14. Everton
15. Wigan Athletic
16. Norwich City
17. Newcastle United
---------------------------
18. Swansea
19. QPR
20. Blackburn

The title for Man U quite comfortably, Arsenal to miss out on the top 4, Bolton, WBA and Stoke to have excellent seasons, Wolves to improve, Everton to start badly, Newcastle to start even worse and toy with relegation, Norwich to survive just and Blackburn to join QPR and Swansea in the Championship next season

This is Ready's effort:

1. Chelsea
-----------------------
2. Man Utd
3. Man City
4. Tottenham
-----------------------
5. Liverpool
-----------------------
6. Arsenal
7. Everton
8. Aston Villa
9. Fulham
10. Stoke
11. Sunderland
12. West Brom
13. Bolton
14. Newcastle
15. Wolves
16. Blackburn
17. Norwich
----------------------
18 Wigan
19 QPR
20 Swansea

So Keith has Chelsea winning the title and his beloved Spurs in the Champions League spot. Arsenal to miss Europe all together and Everton to do far better than I think with Villa to have a good crack at Europe. Keith has Wigan relegated along with QPR and the Swans, with Newcastle and Blackburn to struggle.

What do you think?

Links

For the newbie's amongst you and as a reminder to the oldies, the panel on the left is designed to help you navigate around this very simple blog and also help you in your quest for N&R FL glory.

I've written a blog for years and if you are at the depths of boredom feel free to click on my blog to see what I am up to, when I'm not of course fumbling around with this.

Then there are loads of links that are meant to help you with this whole fantasy football thing. Injury news, player and team stats, player career histories on Soccerbase, betting odds, a live game listing plus the Premier League player list that we use from the Daily Telegraph are linked.

For bedtime reading I have listed a range of pretty good websites and writers that I like, and I will try to add to this shortly.

Then the N&R Road to Wembley team is linked, see post below this one.

Finally the list of past champions, Bermuda's weather solely to irritate you and 7 years of N&R FL blog archives after we moved on from the old A4 format.

Enjoy and feel free to comment with any suggestions, or otherwise after each post. We would be glad to hear from you.

Nobby & Ready

Road to Wembley - Little Liverpool kick us off

This year's first N&R Road to Wembley pick will be AFC Liverpool, wo were formed in 2008 by a 1,000 or so disruntled Liverpool FC fans.

According to one of the founders Alun Parry: "The club was set up to provide a match-going experience for Liverpool fans who have been priced out of Premier League football."

For £10 you can become a member of the club and it's only a fiver entrance money for each home game, compared to nearly £50 at Liverpool. But then again you will be watching the likes of Bacup Borough and not Chelsea!

The club has adopted the same colours, fan songs and is based around the same community as Liverpool F.C. They play at Valerie Park in Prescot 8 miles from Anfield. Joey Jones and John Aldridge are club patrons and occasionally get a game!

On Saturday 20th August, AFC Liverpool will host fellow North West Counties League Premier Division side Runcorn Linnets in the Extra Preliminary Round in their first ever home FA Cup tie.

408 lowly but very proud teams take their places in the Extra Preliminary round of the world's most famous cup competition. Full draw here.