payonthegate Chip League, Season 2023/24

payonthegate Chip League 2023/24

A season of over 50 games meant that I ate almost 25 portions of chips around 7500 calories, all in the aid of research.

There is a new winner in the seventh year of the League, Tamworth FC, who I visited early in the season. Their chips were extremely hot and fresh very tasty, with a great internal texture, covered by a crispy outside.

Strangely this year I found my winners when attending a match with my daughter, when last year she was with me when I left the chips on the terrace at Burton, no bins seemed to be available, because they were so poor.

This league is very subjective and I feel I may have been a bit harsher as the season progressed. Was this down to chip fatigue or were they just not as good, which I think was the reason. Sometime I was lucky to have chips that had just been cooked and other times I was unfortunate to get the last of a batch.

I must stress that the league is not a criticism of the clubs or the helpers that provide food and drink to enhance the matchday experience and I can only applaud their dedication and efforts.

They were served almost always by happy people who I often had a chat with and the food they served was prepared in kitchens of different sizes and equipment.

Thank you everyone I look forward to a new season.


payonthegate chip league 2023/24

Football Club	Score	Comments
Tamworth	74	Hot, Hot,Hot
Worksop Town	70	Hot, tasty, changed from previous
Goole	70	Just
Basford	70	Freshly fried.
S.M.W. Sunday Cup	69	Hot, tasty, golden, soft inside, bit greasy
Hillborough (S&H Cup)	69	Hot,tasty, good texture, slightly limp
Dinnington	69	Pretty Good
Wombwell Town	67	Fries, great golden colour
Quorn (Ashby Ivanhoe)	66	Tasty, hot good texture
Retford United	65	Could have beeen hotter
Dunkirk	65	Hot and crispy
Staveley Miners Welly	64	Bit Greasy
Kings Lynn	64	Good Portion
Beverley	61	Burnt after taste
Shirebrook Town	60	Well down on previous seasons
Villa Holte End	60	Great but unusual Seasoning
Alfreton Town	60	25 minute wait!
Llangefni Town	60	A bit greasy
Hallam	60	hot , good taste but greasy after taste
Bridlington	59	Greasy and soggy
Yorkshire Main	58	Bit limp but tasty
Sheffield Wednesday	58	Hot, ggod but stange spicy taste
Harborough Town	56	Crazy long wait
Hamworthy	53	Some were hard
Wakefield	48	Warm to cold
Garforth	44	Soggy and limp
Stamford	40	Warm, limp, tasteless, didn’t eat all
Heacham	0	No Chips
Retford Fc	0	No Chips
Newark Town	0	No Chips
Newark & Sherwood	0	No Chips
Dearne & District	0	No Chips
Handsworth	0	No Chips
Scunthorpe Utd	0	No Chips
Mansfield Town x 3	0	No Chips
CD Nacional Madeira	0	No Chips
Oughtibridge WMSC	0	No Chips
Parkgate	0	No Chips
Kiverton Miners Welfare	0	No Chips
Loughborough Students	0	No Chips
Manchester City	0	No Chips
Chesterfield	0	No Chips
Fiorentina	0	No Chips
Kirton Brickworks	0	No Chips

Art of the Terraces

Art of the Terraces – Football / Fashion / Art

Walker Gallery Liverpool, From 5th November 2022 to 12th March 2023.

This exhibition traces The Casuals, supporters of the late 70’s to the early 90’s. The Casusls wore their own brands and styles that had an initial base in tennis and golf wear that evolved. It was later to take up the trainer as the must have footwear with Adidas the favoured make and then specific ranges if they could be sourced.

The fashion had to be seen at the match and had its roots ‘Up North’ in the industrial cities that were reeling from the Thatcher Governments policy of closing heavy industry. The music fashion and art of the time was a reaction to this that gave a sense of purpose at a time of often little hope.

Although the exhibition is predominantly fashion and art focused there is some mention of the the growth of fanzines that were at times critical of the clubs and the game and also highlighted the music of the times.

Thegrounds were also important with their fading facades and names like the ‘Cow Shed’ the ‘Rookery’.

This was aĺ to change with the tragedies at Bradford and Sheffield.

The all seat, hospitality boxes and the birth of the Premiership with eye watering ticket prices and a disconnect with the huge sums of money that entered the game and often the players wages.

This is not nostalgia but a really well put together exhibition that not only informs but males you think.

If you have the time and are in the area it is well worth it.

A football detox.

A trip to see relatives in Ireland and an extended holiday has meant a week or two with no football.

I could have watched Champions League or Premier League football on a huge screen in many bars but it doesn’t suffice for the real thing. I did try to fit in a League of Ireland game but none matched my travelling. It would have been great to compare the standard of play to what I watch at home.

But football (soccer) takes a back seat here to the local games of Gaelic Football and Hurling . Rugby Union also out performs football on an International playing field with their all Ireland team being highly competitive on the world stage and their regional teams are always there or there abouts on a European club basis. Perhaps football has to follow suit sometime in the future at International level. Derry have taken the plunge and for some time been playing in the League of Ireland having left the Northern Ireland Football League. I saw some of their recent quarter final win over the powerful Shamrock Rovers team in extra time in the Irish FA Cup on TV.

People do seem to want to tell you which Premiership team they support though as they often follow these teams on the TV. But it is definitely the Gaelic game that creates the passion which came home to me when in one small town, a cavalcade of cars bibbing horns and waving flags told me they had just won an important game. It also showed up in the market square of Kildare where a statue stands proud to Bill Gannon extalling his and the local teams exploits.