Goodbye Bluebird

14 min readSep 27, 2025

Credited to just Wayne Fontana and not including The Mindbenders, this was just about a hit single for him, getting to number 49 for one week in 1966, back when there was only a top 50. A reference to today’s visitors’ nickname, though surely all birds are blue with the cold in their neck of the woods.

The answer to last time’s quiz time, who were supposedly the oldest league club whilst Notts County were out of the league between 2018–23? Stoke City (although there is much argument to say they weren’t founded in 1863).

Speaking of Notts County, erm, let’s not. It wasn’t great whilst we were in the stadium, the rest of the trip was, but it is the football we go for, so let’s hope that is better this week, and at least we aren’t away at Barrow, and it’s them having to travel the length of the country to come to us. The last time (and only time so far) I went to Barrow; it was the same score as against Notts County last weekend. So we don’t want any more of that. (It’s been a good week for Nottinghamshire all round, they’ve won the County Championship this week, bringing Surrey’s three-year winning streak to an end.)

There are no old football cards with Barrow players on, they were perennial lower league dwellers before their failure to be re-elected in 1972, and they came back too late for the nineties revival, however in a two year spell in the mid-eighties, three of their managers were former players who appeared in my favourite 1976–77 Topps set, with Vic Halom being their manager when they won the Northern League in 1984, and then they had Brian Kidd and David Johnson (amongst a host of others) over the next two seasons.

I have a few programmes from games against them, and it is strange what they throw up, the one from our home game against them in the last year we did programmes — and were nearly relegated — has none other than Dom Telford on the cover, whose next club was of course Barrow. There’s something for me to do when I’ve got nothing better to do with my time, go through all those programmes and see how many there are where a player is on a cover of a programme against a team they move on to later.

I know from when I was cataloguing there was an example as Anthony Grant was on the cover of a Southend programme from when we played there years ago. And he never made it onto the cover of one of our programmes, as despite playing for us for a dozen games in that relegation threatened season, his name never got added to the squad list on the back of the programme.

There is no player overlap in the squads today. Which isn’t too surprising considering the distance between the two clubs. Dom Telford going to them, and us signing Rory Feely from them last season are outliers.

We’ve had eight encounters against Barrow in the football league, all in League Two, winning four, drawing one, and losing three. At home we are unbeaten against them with three wins and a draw. We also played against them for three seasons in the Conference, winning two, drawing two, and losing two, with two wins and a loss at home.

Going into the game we are two places and a single point behind Barrow who sit in nineteenth on nine points. Barrow are one of only two sides in the division not to draw yet this season (Swindon Town being the other).

I had mentioned previously that there had been no communication from the new ownership team recently, and a couple of days after someone had posted about that on the forum there was the announcement that a virtual Q&A is going to be run.

And today will see the first appearance of the new Reggie, manned by the costume’s maker (as he has MOD clearance and the more permanent occupant is still awaiting DBS checks). Helen is chaperoning, as bizarrely she had her DBS checks done and returned within a week. Despite being associated with me.

I got to the ground early, straight from writing and saw the new Reggie nearly straight away, even without a costume I’m pretty much the same size, only with a slightly smaller head, and no tail to speak of.

It didn’t take long for some people to start moaning about the new Reggie outfit, slagging off the ten-year-old competition winner’s design as if they could do better and asking what was wrong with the old one. Well, apart from the missing ears, tatty tail and general disrepair, nothing.

There are three changes from the side that has started the last two league games, all of which are in the front four with only Harry McKirdy surviving, along with the back three, holding midfielder and two wingers (it would be a bit of a stretch to call them wingbacks).

We are in our standard home red kit with white trim, whereas Barrow are in an all-navy blue kit apart from the front of the shirt which looks like a graphic designer threw up on it.

Less than a minute in and we’ve managed to concede a corner. It’s swung in and there is an unchallenged header which is tipped over the bar by Harvey Davies for another corner, which is half cleared, and a cross comes back into the box and Davies claims.

Our first attack sees us get the ball into Harry McKirdy in the box, but a Barrow defender whips it off his toes and clears it out over the top of the KRL Logistics stand for a corner and ball loss number one of the day. Barrow break from that corner and win one of their own and from it a shot goes over the bar.

In midfield a Barrow player goes straight through the back of Ade Adeyemo, who goes down injured, but nothing is given, and he only gets treatment once the ball goes out of play. He has to be helped off (and is later using crutches) and we’re not fully ready to make the substitution as Harry Forster can be seen running off down the tunnel to get something before he comes on a couple of minutes later. A couple of minutes during which we spend the time fannying about at the back and trying to shoot ourselves in the foot (fortunately at this point we’re so bad at that we’re missing).

Barrow have a long throw, there is no urgency to do anything and there is a slow looping free header which everyone just watches as it floats towards the goal and hits the bar before anyone even thinks about trying to clear it. A venture into the Barrow half sees us work the ball in from the left to Gavan Holohan and he fires a shot in from twenty-five yards out which goes just over the bar.

But another Barrow attack sees another Davies save and another Barrow corner. We clear and there is some patient build up, it goes to Holohan and then to Ryan Loft and on to Dion Pereira on the right, he cuts inside and his shot appears to hit the inside of the far post and then spin back across the goal and out for a goal kick.

TAFKAL is warming the vocals cords up quite nicely, with shouts at the lino to get involved and for the full back to get on with it when taking a throw (strangely he didn’t do the same in the second half when the full back’s name went up one arm, across the back and down the other arm).

A blatant handball is ignored in midfield, Pereira plays musical statues with his arm up claiming an offside as he lets the winger run past him and get a cross in which Davies does well to clear with his outstretched leg. A right wing cross from Barrow is turned in from close range, but there’s a big sigh of relief as the lino on the other side has his flag up for offside. Apparently there has been a rule change which means Barrow are allowed to handle the ball anywhere on the pitch without any punishment. Half an hour in and there have been five blatant ones. Another Barrow clearance disappears out of the ground, an impressive hoof over the west stand for ball loss number two.

An absolute shambles at the back. I know, difficult to believe, but what are we doing, not even sure what was going on but Davies sort of goes to gather a ball, but in a quite lackadaisical manner, it is kicked away from him (and they obviously get his hand in the process as well), and they cross it and there isn’t much challenging going on in the middle of the six yard box as the Barrow striker bundles it into an empty net to make it 0–1.

Davies is over on the sideline getting what looks to be treatment for a couple of minutes after the goal. Which isn’t good as we have the standard zero number of goalkeepers on the bench. Apparently, it isn’t obvious which of the outfield players would replace Davies if he couldn’t carry on as Charlie Barker could be asked whether it would be him, Gav (an Holohan) or (Josh) Flinty going in net. But Davies does come back on to continue.

We wake up a little and keep the ball in the Barrow half for some time, and there is an end product as McKirdy gets a shot off, only for it to go straight at the keeper. But at the other end, another Barrow shot, another Davies save, and another Barrow corner.

There are six minutes added on at the end of the half, mainly for injuries to our own. Forster gets a cross in and Pereira heads it back across to the far corner where the Barrow keeper just about keeps it away from Loft’s head at the expense of a corner, which comes in and goes straight to the keeper.

An attempted back heel flick by Loft in midfield is intercepted and a long ball is played down the right wing, Flint fails to deal with it very well and the winger is round the back of him and into the box, he cuts it back to the edge of the box, and it is squared across and then slotted in and in the last minute of added time it is 0–2 and the half time whistle goes.

It has gotten well past the point of parody now. It would be an insult to call much of what has been seen schoolboy defending, as even when losing nine nil as a kid, the defending wasn’t this poor. The half time stats showed we had 292 successful passes, 100 forward, and 36 backwards, which shows how much sideways rubbish was going on.

The second half starts with another lost ball; Barrow hoof another ball over the west stand for ball loss number three. From the throw it gets to Pereira and his cross to the back post is met by Forster and his header is blocked near the line and there are muted appeals for a handball.

Flint brings a ball out and plays it down the left wing to Forster, his cross into the box is deflected for a corner. It’s taken deep and there is a header which goes just wide. A Barker throw gets cleared back to him and his deep cross is cleared for a corner which is punched clear and Barrow break. Pereira gets a booking for a pull back just outside the corner of the penalty area, and the free kick is fired just wide.

Our next attack is down the right, and the ball is played into Pereira in the box, and his shot is deflected for a corner. It comes out to Forster on the edge of the box, and his shot is wide. Loft gets a booking for a challenge in midfield. You can see why as it looked like he led with a forearm smash. The resulting free kick is taken long, and Barrow win a corner.

Which causes a bit of panic in the box, Davies has a couple of flaps at it before it is scrambled away off the line and when the ball comes back in the offside flag goes up to ease the pressure. Only to then concede another corner, but there is a foul on Davies, and protests from the Barrow bench which brings them a booking.

We keep playing down the left now, keep feeding Forster as anything good is coming from him. A couple of crosses are cleared and then another one comes to Holohan on the edge of the box, but his shot is well wide. A long ball out of defence from Dion Conroy is taken down well by Forster and his cross is blocked for another corner. It comes in, there is a shot, half cleared, blocked, and hacked out over the Eden Utilities stand for ball loss number four and another corner. It’s swung in by Pereira and met by a Geraldo Bajrami header, and it goes in off the underside of the bar for his first goal for the club and we are back to 1–2.

Flint throws an empty energy gel sachet towards the sideline, but it stops short and is retrieved by the lino, which prompts TAFKAL to shout ‘that’s all you’re good for lino’. There is a ball across midfield to Flint, he rushes forward and launches a thunderbolt of a shot from the edge of the area, it hits the keeper more than the keeper saving it and it goes for a corner, it goes to the edge of the box and Louis Watson has a shot wide.

A free kick in the middle of the Barrow half, it is flicked out for a throw, it comes in and is cleared for another throw, which goes to McKirdy, and he curls a shot from the edge of the area, but it goes wide. Scott Lindsey picks up a booking for something said on the sidelines. Barrow attack down the right, get into the box and shoot wide.

There is another left-wing attack, and Forster crosses and it gets cleared. Holohan gets fouled. We go down the right and Pereira gets into the box and clips a cross over to Forster and his shot is just wide. We’re attacking more now and go down the left, cross it to the right, and then back to the centre and Forster slices his shot and it is caught by the keeper.

Back down the right a cross in is half cleared, and Loft has a header straight at the keeper. Down the left, Flint finds Forster, and he cuts inside and crosses, and it is blocked for a corner, which is punched clear. Flint is tripped twenty-five yards out on the left of the area as board goes up for five added minutes. The free kick is clipped in by McKirdy, cleared and recycled back in and we get a corner, and it goes straight to the keeper.

All the play is at the Barrow end and there is a lot of head tennis with nothing to show at the end until a sliced clearance gives us a corner. There is a lot of pushing and shoving before it is taken and a Barrow player gets a booking. But we just can’t seem to get the final ball to stick.

Flint gets the ball just outside the box and his shot hits the inside of the post and goes to the right and Loft can’t seem to get on the ball and it goes wide, there is a scuffle behind the goal and there are yellow cards for the Barrow keeper and Holohan, and on the restart the ref blows the final whistle and we lose 1–2.

For the last couple of minutes of the match there was a medical issue in the terrace, which the medical services were slow getting to despite calls from the crowd, the Crawley bench was quicker there. It was still being dealt with after the final whistle and fans were being shepherded out via the east stand corner. Hopefully, they are OK.

The crowd is announced as 2,898 with 111 away fans having made the long trek, which they must be quite happy to have done with the result. It did look like there were more home fans than that though. None of which would have been very happy with what they saw. There were angry words with Scott Lindsey post final whistle and supposedly he told someone to fuck off. Apart from the Ade injury early doors there were no substitutions, and the defending isn’t getting better and the finishing at the other end isn’t getting any better. It is worrying and to be fair if it was any other manager these issues would have been coming to the fore a lot earlier.

We stay in twenty-first, but more because the three teams beneath at the start of the day did even worse than we did, including Cheltenham Town who got a 7–1 drubbing at Grimsby, which makes our 3–0 loss there first day of the season seem a let off.

There was a half time swap of people in the Reggie outfit, and there is a lot of wandering around for Helen before, during and after the game as the chaperone.

Quiz time, which side replaced Barrow in the Football League when they failed to gain re-election in 1972?

Next up we are away against Cambridge United, where we managed to get a win early on last season, a result we desperately need to repeat. And where hopefully they have taken our away fans’ advice and actually stuck those clackers up their arses.

Come on you reds.

Originally published on my own website at the link