The Main Stand at The Drill Field. It's over 1000 years old, is mentioned in the Domesday Book and it's going to be knocked down (probably).

They were founder members of the Conference (then Alliance) in 1979 and have been there ever since - quite an achievement when you consider their seemingly-permanent financial problems and crowds averaging rather less than 1,000 for most of that time. For most of their time in the top flight of the non-league game they've rarely set the world alight, but likewise they've rarely been in any danger - their idea of a yo-yo season was the move from 9th to 12th and back again. Apart from one 4th place in 1980-81, and two 17ths in the mid-eighties the Vics were the definition of a mid-table side year after year after year. But times have become bleak in Northwich recently. Three season's ago a defence that leaked over 2.5 goals a game away from home, and saw them go through to the spring without a win on the road, put them into all sorts of trouble. They didn't scramble to safety until the last couple of weeks of the season, finishing 18th. The following October saw the Vics at rock bottom and manager Mark Gardiner sacked and replaced by Keith Alexander. The revival of the Vics was initially impressive, and Alexander picked up the Manager of the Month award for November as they moved steadily up the table to fifteenth. But that was as good as it got, and they bumbled along between 15th and 18th for the remainder of the campaign, eventually finishing one place better than the previous season. Alexander himself then moved on to become assistant manager at Lincoln City. With Graham Barrow turning down the job Jimmy Quinn landed the post after something like a thousand applications to continue his career in management.

Quinn's Northwich began like a house on fire last season, aided and abetted by a 3-2 win on the opening day of the season at Huish Park - a foretaste of what was to come a little to often at home for Yeovil fans last term. Jimmy won the Manager of the Month Award for August,the Vics were sitting pretty on top of the table and it all looked very promising for a while..... Sadly for Vics fans the lack of any kind of strength in depth to the squad, plus the lack of resources to enable Quinn to add real quality to the squad ensured that that was as good as it got and the Vics ended up in their usual mid-table confort zone, finishing the season in 13th place. The Glovers gained revenge for that opening day defeat when a thousand fans travelled up to say goodbye to the Drill Field last March and witnessed a 2-0 win for Yeovil in the quarter-final of the FA Trophy.

The sign that shows you just how ancient The Drill Field was....

Where now then for Northwich? For almost a decade the club battled to stay at their much loved Drill Field ground, and large amounts of money and energy were committed to make this a reality. With hindsight it might have been better to bite the bullet earlier but history and sentiment are important things in football, despite what the faceless accountants who think they know best might believe, and we can but applaud the efforts made to maintain football on the site. However the end of the road is now nigh. With large debts, and creditors clamouring at the door, it looks clear that yet another town centre ground's days are numbered. The tinge of regret for the loss of one's much loved ground never goes away, as some of us here at Ciderspace know only too well, but there is life afterwards and the survival and future of the club as a whole has to take priority. This season the Vics will groundshare with neighbours Witton Albion at Wincham Park. The plan was to have a brand new stadium built in time for the 2002-3 season, but the recent refusal by the local council to grant planning permission for the re-development of the Drill Field site has thrown all that into doubt. The Vics are appealing against that decision at the time of writing.

The Vics temporary home: Wincham Park's Main Stand Photo © Central Grounder - Witton Albion on the Web

Prediction corner : We've been makin these predictions for some time now and each time we've said exactly the same thing about the Vics: A season of toil and struggle to follow with safety eventually being reached, just - and we've been right for most of that time, last season's better than expected final position of 13th being the exception that proves the rule. However, there's not been much movement in or out of, er, Wincham Park (seems odd not to say the Drill Field) over the summer, although the addition of the experienced Greg Rioch should help to shore up the defence somewhat. With that in mind and also considering the difficulties involved in trying to get the new stadium built as well as playing all home games at their bitterest rivals ground, then one can only feel pessimistic for Northwich's chances this season. There are some clubs we would be more than happy to see relegated, but Northwich Victoria isn't one of them - unfortunately it's hard to think of three clubs with worse prospects in the immediate future. We hope they stay up, but this time we don't think they will. Final position: Bottom three, sorry.

Northwich's Clubhouse - the inside is highly recommended.

One of the best Conference club houses. The decor isn't up to much, but who cares about that? It's BIG, so you don't have to stand to attention on one square foot of floor space; it's friendly; it serves some decent beer - the Guinness is excellent I'm told, but I stick to the Dark Mild; and it's CHEAP. My God is it cheap - especially that Dark Mild! There are, apparently, reciprocal agreements with some other clubs to waive the temporary membership charges - which is very generous of them considering how many fans the Vics tend to take away. However I presume this doesn't apply to Yeovil (especially this year as we peasants no longer have a bar - thank you so much Mr Fry!), but I've never begrudged the fifty pence..... and they don't charge after the match anyway. It's child-friendly too : perhaps over child-friendly given the slightly irritating games of football the locals have allowed their off-spring to indulge in around the bar the last couple of years. Still, it's their club house. The other down-side is that the T.V. is terrestial only. Make the most of it - the new ground will doubtless have a charmless antiseptic designer bar with all the character of a bowl of tofu.

Local Pubs :

The most convenient is The Volunteer outside the ground. Convenient... because it’s right outside the ground; I mean you could drain the last dregs at 2.59 and still make the kick-off. It’s tolerable enough - and has Sky Sports and a pool table, but there are better pubs for the discerning drinker.

The Volunteer.

The pubs in the centre we liked were The Beehive and The Penny Black. The Beehive in the High Street is a tiny traditional town centre pub. A couple of dozen people and it's packed. The Pedigree, not an easy beer to keep well, was good. The food was solid unpretentious stuff, the portions impressive. In contrast The Penny Black in Witton Street (which runs into the High Street) is a huge barn of a place. It was the old Post Office / Sorting Office and feels empty when the clientele is under three figures! It is the local Wetherspoons and, from a regular frequenter of such establishments, above average for the genre. The landlord was a footie fan and very welcoming. The Drill Field Den takes its beer seriously, and its top pub of the moment is the Freemason's Arms in Chester Street. All these pubs are no more than ten minutes walk from the ground.

A little jewel of a town centre pub.

Further out we found The Coachman at Hartford (right by the railway station) a large cut above the average. It also had no problem with children. A long list of other decent hostelries can be found here at the aforementioned Drill Field Den. A couple we haven't visited as yet but might highlight are: the George & Dragon at Great Budworth for its cider as well as its beers; and, as regular readers of these Ciderspace profiles will know, since this author is a mega-fan of Timothy Taylor Landlord, the Hazel Pear Inn.

The local Wetherspoons is The Penny Black.

Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You :

Not bad for t’North. And they’re friendly. They do exercise their hilarious right as Northerners to do a cod-cockney Dick Van Dyke accent at the drop of a hat, but the beer tends to numb the irritation this might cause. Sadly most seem to want to talk about some clubs called Liverpool or Everton. Ho hum......

Top-Tip :

Drink lots, then drink some more; it'll help brace you for the prices when you get back home.