"As for Maidenhead, the conga (which was amusing) aside, quite a strange bunch really – some the oddest chants I've ever heard at a football match" ~ localboy86, Amber Planet forum, 26th April 2015

Monday 29 July 2024

Scouse Mick

After the gut punch that was the devastating news our friend Michael 'Scouse Mick' Vogel had passed away following a short battle with Motor Neurone Disease, I immersed myself in various photo albums on Facebook. Per his obituary on the MUFC website, as well as football (Everton and the mighty Magpies), his family and friends, fishing and music (Pink Floyd and The Farm), a big passion of Mick's was photography – he was the club's photographer for a time; his wildlife work as featured on the likes of BBC's Springwatch. As such, I hope he would appreciate this photo tribute spanning his near-quarter century as one of the most colourful and well-liked Maidenhead United fans of this or perhaps any other era. Regardless, I'm not sure I can find the words to adequately describe his larger-than-life character, the japes and scrapes (a phrase that Murdo has used elsewhere), and the extent to which we will miss him. So, the pictures will have to do the bulk of the work!


^^^ I first spoke to Mick at the tail end of April 2001 when, at the inaugural Fancy Dresslemania, the team and supporters' coach broke down on the way to York Road, so Murdo – dressed as a Thunderbird – drove me (Mr Blobby – no jokes, please), Callum (Bernie Clifton), Willie T. (Donald Duck), and a plain-clothed Mick to Sutton. (Coincidentally, his first Magpies game had been the reverse fixture the previous November.) Almost a year to the day later, he was a fully-fledged member of the KSG, to the extent that he was out in Maidenhead with me and Willie T. (and others?) the night before Fancy Dresslemania II at Grays. An incident on Queen Street subsequently led to a noteworthy start to Mick's Saturday, much of which he would spend dressed as a gorilla!


^^^ May 2002, celebrating with the Berks & Bucks Cup back in Stripes after a penalty shoot-out win over Chesham at Adams Park (IIRC, MUFC Hall of Famer Tim Cook had missed his kick for the Generals CSG correction: Cook didn't take a penalty). The fact that Mick could wedge a cigar between the gap in his front teeth can be linked to that night out on Queen Street!


^^^ Murdo's report and some photos from our supporters' match vs Bishop's Stortford in November 2002 – a 7-1 win! Scouse saved a penalty despite noting on Twitter that he "told the taker to put [it] one side and I'd dive the other ... fool put it the same way I dived!"


^^^ Elvis Presley eating a burger on the toilet in the Cricketers after a 4-3 win at Bishop's Stortford in April 2003. Perhaps *the* best Fancy Dresslemania photo, which is high praise.

 

^^^ Murdo's report of the Wealdstone 5-a-side tournament in May 2003. Scouse dislocated a finger and spent time, accompanied by my Mum, in Northwick Park Hospital. That helped forge a long-standing bond between the two of them. Mick sent a lovely message to me after my Mum passed away during the pandemic in 2020, which meant a lot.

^^^ Fancy Dresslemania at Hornchurch in April 2004.


^^^ Outside my flat on Cotham Brow, Bristol, in November 2004. (Craig, some years later: "Was that photo taken through a fat-reducing filter or something?!"). We caught a bus from the stop down the road to Temple Meads and then a train to Weston-super-Mare. Scouse Mick and Gav Chelse entered one pub, only to come straight back out before the rest of us had even made it over the threshold because this particular place had no wallpaper and looked – and this was coming from Mick and Gav, don't forget – decidedly dodgy! I think it's a gastropub now. United lost 2-1. Lawrence Yaku scored our consolation. 336 saw it. I recall Craig O'Connor slapping Rob Saunders during the on-pitch post-match warm-down! We had a night out back in Bristol, although I don't think Mick was allowed into Reflex because he was sans ID! IIRC, he didn't have a passport at the time (nor would he entertain carrying one about if he did, and certainly not at the behest of a cheesy 80s nightclub!)


^^^ Fancy Dresslemania at Newport County in April 2005. Effectively a relegation play-off decider, which we lost 2-1. The Beefeater and Friar Tuck's post-match debrief in the clubhouse with our unpopular charlatan of a manager went as you might imagine it would!


^^^ Fancy Dresslemania at Histon in April 2006.


^^^ Stafford Rangers (A) in November 2006. Maidenhead's first appearance in the 1st Round Proper of the FA Cup since the 1971/72 season. Our last appearance in the 2nd Round Proper? A 4-2 defeat at home to Dulwich (not Hamlet) in November 1886. (Nb. Mick's older brother, John, dressed as a tiger at Grays in 2002, is on the left-hand side of this photo.)


^^^ Talking of proper rounds – check this one out! Celebratory drinks in Stripes – served by Zuzana, now living in Australia – after a 3-0 win over Mangotsfield in April 2007. Sterling, Nisbet, and Behzadi with the goals. 492 saw it. One of 17 wins in our last 23 league games of the Southern League season, including a memorable Play-Off Final victory over Team Bath at Twerton Park. This photo cropped up in conversation when I visited Mick in Wexham Park Hospital with Fuzz and Paddy – the last time I saw him in person.


^^^ Boxing Day, 2009. The Magpies have lost 3-0 at home to St Albans, and Stripes is closed? To the Anchor!


^^^ With Magpies legend Mickey Creighton after the Stan Payne Memorial Trophy game – in aid of the Harefield Hospital Scanner Appeal – at York Road in May 2010.


^^^ Dartford (A) in March 2011 – a legendary day out, despite a 3-0 defeat. Game three of four without a goal and part of a run of two league goals in eight! (But, yeah, give Drax another multi-year contract extension!)


^^^ Fancy Dresslemania in April 2011. We walked to and from a reserve team game at Binfield, raising more than £1,200 for Parkinson's UK. It was sweltering hot at times. So, it wasn't ideal to dress as Father Christmas! Mick managed a photo of Willie T., as Postman Pat, standing next to a Post Office van just before we set off from Chez Macleod – another of the great Fancy Dresslemania photos.


^^^ A 4-2 defeat at Weston-super-Mare in November 2011, ft., it would seem, mine and Mick's audition to replace Peter Kay and Paddy McGuinness as Max and Paddy.


^^^ Rock the Moor, Cookham, in May 2013. Mick was often a photographer at the event, including when The Farm played in 2023 – check out his photos on their blog. (UPDATE: They've also posted a tribute. As John mentions on Facebook, Mick would be honoured.)


^^^ A 4-1 thumping by Wealdstone in April 2015 – Drax's last game at York Road in charge of the Magpies. Someone forgot to wear sunscreen, so they ended up looking like Hellboy! Mick and I were the last two standing (just about!) in the Anchor.


^^^ Blackfield & Langley (A) in the FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round, October 2015. Infamous! To the extent that Alan Dev mentioned it when presenting Mick with his Clubman of the Year award in 2017/18.


^^^ Port Vale in the FA Cup 1st Round Proper, November 2015. Mick – seen, top, in the pub before the game at Vale Park – infamously missed James Mulley's late equaliser ... perhaps *the* 'I was there' Maidenhead United goal of recent vintage! However, he was in situ on the Bell End when Alan Massey (!) gave us the lead on telly in the replay.


^^^ My first born, if not Willie T., admiring the framed works of one M. Vogel displayed on the wall of the King's Arms in Cookham during Easter 2016.


^^^ More fraternising with the Stones lot – at their place after a 0-0 draw in April 2016 (top), and in the Bear after our 2-0 win at York Road on New Year's Day 2017.


^^^ Enjoyable and memorable away days at the top of the Conference South – a 1-1 draw at Hungerford in February 2017 (did we ever establish why Fuzz was wearing a sailor's hat?!) and in the Pig & Fiddle, Bath, on April Fools' after our first win vs the Romans at Twerton Park (P8, L8 before this 5-1 mauling).


^^^ Arms (and crutches) aloft! Goals from Tarpey and Parkinson secured the Magpies a 2-1 win over East Thurrock at York Road – our seventh straight victory – and then news filtered through that Ebbsfleet had only drawn vs Truro. That set up an epic bank holiday weekend in Newquay ahead of our Easter Monday romp at Truro, ft. Mick's photo of me (one of my favourites), arms outstretched, and mine of him: Maidenhead scarf, Everton hat, and a bottle of Coke (yeah, right!) in hand. Classic Scouse Mick.


^^^ Ebbsfleet at York Road in the title-decider-that-ultimatey-wasn't. Pre- and post-match photos with former and current Magpies (Messrs Hale and Massey), top, and one for the ages – a veritable who's who of Maidenhead United supporters and officials.


^^^ On the pitch at Margate, Fancy Dresslemania in 2017, after Maidenhead United had won its first league title since 1962. It hadn't sunk in. I'm not sure it ever has! The best day.


^^^ Photographing Maidenhead United in the National League – our legendary come-from-behind win at Hartlepool, just before Christmas in 2017, when Mick captured arguably his best MUFC image (Marksy's mask), and vs Stockport in the Trophy at York Road in February 2018.


^^^ Fancy Dresslemania at Dagenham & Redbridge in April 2018. Mick was on photographer duty whilst dressed as a hippie! Some of his photos from the day feature towards the end of the Season Montage video.


^^^ A bottle of Dooley's in a convenience store in Alcudia, Majorca. (I recall we won 1-0 at Leyton Orient whilst I was on holiday.) Ask Murdo to explain the significance. Clue? Canvey Island (A) in the Trophy QF in 2003/04 ...


^^^ A mock (?!) incredulous Alan Dev presenting Mick with his Clubman of the Year award for 2017/18, referencing Blackfield & Langley! Off to Off the Tap to commemorate that, a 5-2 final day home win vs Bromley, and a top half finish in the National League.


^^^ April 2019, in Stripes after a 2-0 win over Chesterfield to round out another successful National League season. (Check out those gnashers!)


^^^ With Phil W. in the Three Pigeons, Halifax, ahead of an FA Cup 1st Round Proper tie in November 2021. Result? We lost, 7-4.


^^^ Celebratory drinks in the Portland Arms after beating Bromley 1-0 at York Road post-Christmas 2021 (top; bottom left) and Boreham Wood 2-0 on telly in February 2022.


^^^ November 2023, Oxford United (A) in the FA Cup 1st Round Proper. Mick at the back of the coach with 'just a Coke' in hand. Check. Mick missing the second half, a la Port Vale (A), and taking a photo of me – in the away end with scarf aloft – from the Kassam car park. Tick. Karaoke in the Portland Arms (IIRC, Mick nailed Cool for Cats by Squeeze), with him and I being the last ones to leave in the small hours. Of course! *sobs*

Shine on you crazy diamond.

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Wednesday 17 July 2024

Away Day (sort of) Diary: Hanwell Town 0-1 Maidenhead United (16/07/24)


Holyport 0-6 Maidenhead United (in the rain), then the 11th Maidenhead Beer Festival with my Dad and sister (the latter has a video of me subsequently murdering Margate by Chas 'n' Dave on karaoke at the Portland), was my debut pre-season friendly of the summer; this visit – my first – to Reynolds Field ("Are you winding me up?! I will refer to it as The Powerday Stadium") likely to be my only other one ... unless I can be bothered to attend the game with West Ham's kids (a precursor to that new crappy cup competition), primarily because it's on a Wednesday and doesn't clash with the local pub quiz that takes off-season precedence

After the disappointment of England's Euros Final defeat to Spain and my sister's return to Sydney following the conclusion of her month-long visit to the motherland, I was looking forward to a (non-beery) evening out watching the Magpies at a new ground; I made steady progress along the A404/ M40/ A40 – spray off the tarmac of the latter indicative of an earlier downpour, as was the photo of a rainbow above the flats behind the main entrance to the ground that accompanied the tweeted announcement of our starting XI – and arrived in time for a couple of photos featuring York Road-esque 'modifications' (some more botched and half-finished than others)

Not until half-time did I notice that the home side's keeper was ex-Magpie Sam Beasant (almost double the height of our Trialist shot-stopper who, as he did at Holyport, replaced Craig Ross at the break); at one point during a largely uneventful first half, Beasant was handed (and put on) a bright red baseball cap by an equally tall older gent who was stood next to us behind his goal – in hindsight, that must've been Dave

Worrying – albeit only to varying degrees, as it is pre-season, after all – that (1) Sam Barratt went off injured early on (Casey Pettit, Reece Smith, and the relatively impressive Zaco Bell also had spells on the deck), (2) our passing was generally sloppy and we created little (Beasant was required to make one notable save from the gangly Joseph Ajose), and (3) Tristan Abrahams felt the need to take his frustrations out on a drinks bottle that he booted near the end ... before a winning goal from lively substitute Ruben Carvalho, which was somewhat against the run of play and literally the last kick of the game

Enjoyable last fifteen minutes or so for LB and me, though, as we sat in plush red seats – which reminded me (genuinely) of those at the Emirates Stadium – on the top deck of the red bus-cum-kiosk-cum-viewing gallery (the row furthest away from pitch-side elevated by a plywood platform, which was a nice touch); I've since discovered that Deal Town has (or had) something similar at their ground, so I'm keen to go with the family if the black and white hoops have a home game when we visit the seaside once again during half-term in October

LB and his old man gratefully accepted my offer of a lift back (they had travelled by Lizzy Line and bus), so they joined me as we drove past what I thought was – but actually wasn't – the Hoover Building (where Alan Dev worked as a forklift truck driver when West Ham signed him from Southall for £5,000 in 1976); the heavens opened as we approached Holyport on the Windsor Road and I had to stay in the car for a bit when I got home to avoid getting drenched on the short walk to the front door ... and to think there's talk of an imminent 'heat bomb'!

Lots of our chat throughout the evening had centred on next season's away days – my first *should* be Aldershot on the last day of next month, although that depends on a prompt and hassle-free arrival back from holiday in Crete; otherwise, it'll probably be Tamworth on 14th September – train tickets already booked for that one!

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