Ready to go again?

Back to work and the normal day to day life has brought me down from the cloud i'd been floating on for the previous two weeks. But, over the past couple of days i've set about emailing all the clubs that helped to make our tour as memorable as it was along with many of the individuals. I sent a quick thank you note simply letting them know that we completed the tour in the scheduled time and that their help was hugely appreciated and helpful in allowing us to see and learn as much as we did.

Since sending them, I've had good responses back from many of the clubs wishing us well for the future and congratulations etc. But a few have gone a step further and overed to bring us back to see a game as their guests with complimentary tickets and all. Those clubs are Rotherham United, Morecambe, Bradford City, Leyton Orient, Cardiff City, Bolton Wanderers, Hull City, Birmingham City and Manchester United.

United have already done a huge amount for us so to recieve an email back offering us the chance to return for a game it was quite overwhelming. Tony Kelly at Bolton was a great character. He donated towards our cause, showed us round and offered us the tickets with red carpet treatment! I'll settle for a good seat and a few goals, but it'll be good to meet up with him again and at the very least buy him a drink and listen to a few more of his memories from previous games.

The security officer at Leyton Orient is a guy named Chris and since he sent us the signed shirt we've talked a lot about our clubs. He's invited us up to the Matchroom Stadium for the Gillingham game and we've also talked about meeting up to see a game at Priestfield as he used to stand on the Rainham End as a kid.

Over the next few days we'll be busy, fixture lists in hand, working out which games we can go to see and when. It would be good to try and fit in two or preferably three in a weekend. But we'd have to be extremely lucky to work that in our favour. That said, we'll have a lot of fun trying.

24 hours later

With the tours main objective complete we set out this morning to visit again the final 4 clubs we hadn't been inside in the past 12-13 days. We had to drop our hire car back first but by 11am we were at Southend United.

Mark Davies met us at reception and presented us with a signed ball whilst walking us through into the stadium. We've seen many a game at Roots Hall but its a totally different place when its empty. Quite ery even. Mark told us how current plans for the new stadium were going and seemed very positive. Lets hope things start moving soon on that front.

Leyton Orient was our 2nd port of call and after being allowed inside to walk around, we located Chris who i'd been speaking with previously. Chris arranged for the signed shirt to be sent to us and was really interested to hear how we'd gotten on. We talked about going back up there for the Gillingham game and he said to contact him first if we wanted to and he'd have something put in the programme along with providing our tickets for us. A lovely guy and it was a pleasure to meet him. From there we headed back through London to Millwall.

Our 3rd visit to The Den proved much more successful. We met our contact at reception who also had a signed pennant waiting for us. She then took us pitchside so we could collect some photos inside our 91st ground.

Gillingham became the final stop. We phoned ahead and told them everything we'd done and who we were raising money for etc. We're also puting together an article for the Kent Messenger newspaper. We were both glad to be finishing our 92 here, although Brighton was the official last ground on Thursday. As we arrived, the lady in reception phoned through to a guy in the press office. He came out, ushered us in, hardly said a word, and then ushered us back out again... And that ws it. All 92 grounds visited and seen inside. But the biggest disappointment was saved until the very end. Gillingham just didn't want to know.

You dont choose who you support but you can't half fall out of love with them....

Day Twelve

The final day was upon us already. An obvious sense of depression was working its way round our hotel room in Swindon as we got ready to leave at 6.30am. We only had 5 grounds to complete but as we've seen inside every stadium since day one, we decided to try and shoot round them as quickly as possible so we could head back into London to re-visit Crystal Palace, Millwall and Leyton O's.

We circled the County Ground, home of Swindon Town, until finally we spotted the kitman going in through a gate. Once we'd told him what we were doing he was happy to let us wander around ourselves. We got the needful and headed along a busy m4 toward Wycombe Wanderers with last nights cold pizza filling a gap and the early morning sun making sunglasses a must at 7.15...

Pulling into the car park at Adams Park we found ourselves a good 45 minutes ahead of schedule. But, as we got out we noticed a rather large gash in the front passenger side tyre. We had to call the hire company so they could get the rac out to us. Initial response time was 75 minutes. However, we'd then have to drive to Slough so they could replace the spare tyre with a proper one. Disaster. All we could do was sit and wait. As we had time on our hands, the very friendly Lisa Belcher on reception made us a hot chocolate and showed us round the stadium including board room etc. They have a lovely little stadium and a great manager in Peter Taylor, who had kindly signed a pennant which Lisa presented to us to help raise money. Eventually the breakdown man arrived, ripped to piece of rubber off the tyre and told us it was still fine to drive. Reluctantly, we gingerly drove down to Aldershot.

We were able to walk straight in and get our photos which helped. Next was Pompey. The penultimate ground. It took us a while, but we found security hiding in a little blue hut in the car park. He walked us in through the famous listed building entrance and told us a little bit about his time at the club and the restoration work currently taking place.

We left to begin the journey to the Withdean Stadium. We both felt a mixture of emotions as we pulled into the carpark. We'd completed the 92 which was the goal but we'd enjoyed the trip so much that i'm not sure either of us were ready for this to be it. We were taken into the ground be Martin Perry, chief executive. He was a busy man but congratulated us on completing our tour before saying "its a shame we're still playing here. Let's face it, its total crap isn't it". Fair enough. He also told us about the new stadium thats currently in development and due for completion next year. It's about time. I hope they take their history with them though. One thing we've really been aware of on the way round is that some new stadiums are more like council leisure centres than anything else.

We made our way back up into London to get photos inside for the website. Palace was easy but by the time we reached The Den, it was all locked up. So we'll have to go back again tomorrow. 3 visits in 13 days. Too many?

But we did what we set out to do. 92 grounds, 12 days, all in daylight hours. We had a few small problems but very few things that really cost us time. When I go back through the days, we've been so lucky in many ways. The weather has been incredible. It rained for about 30 seconds at Wembley and the only other time got caught in it was straight after eating in Nottingham. Typically, it was also the only evening i'd chosen to wear shorts!

The importance of contacting the teams before hand is indescribable. Having a contact name gives you a foot in the door and doing it for charity can only help too. The bear we carried round with us got us into quite a few areas we may not have been allowed in otherwise. The friends we've made along the way and the people we've met at some of the grounds have simply made this tour a pleasure.

I'm truly gutted i'll be waking up tomorrow without the excitement of 8 or 9 new grounds to visit. Just 4000+ photo's to remind me of a memorable 12 days.

Day Eleven

The longest day yet. It all started with a 155 mile drive from Cardiff to Plymouth and all before 9am. We arrived before most of the staff so as they walked in we grabbed them and allowed one unfortunate guy to escort us into the stadium. There was a rather flat feel to the place after last nights loss at home to Watford. One of the most impressive club shops outside the premiership though. That said, they did have one of the strangest leaflets i've ever seen at a football club. A had to picture it and use it as tonights pic. Football team funerals huh? Where does it all end? ...

Torquay next and our contact was Frank Prince. As we entered reception we noticed that all the pictures from Torquay's promotion season hanging on the walls were actually taken at Southend. Frank walked us out and allowed us to go on the pitch. Only the 2nd ground to allow us to do so. From there we were shown around the dressing rooms where we were presented with a pennant signed by the manager Colin Lee. Dad recalled watching Colin on his debut for Tottenham scoring four goals and winning 9-0. Frank let Dad continue to try and remember and dig his hole even deeper until finally he admitted to being the captain of the opposition that day and being substituted after going 6 down! We met Colin just after this and he was obviously busy but found time to speak to us which was great.

We arrived at Exeter knowing we'd be collecting an item to put towards fundraising but neither of us expected to be there for long. But, we probably enjoyed out tour and cup of tea with club operations manager Andy Gillard more than any other team throughout this penultimate day. A small and personal stadium which just ouzes character.

Yeovil was next on the agenda and they'd been kind enough to donate 2 tickets to auction. We geatefully collected them, took some photos and made the trip down to Dean Court/Fitness First stadium to visit Bournemouth. There's very little that actually advertises the club on the exterior and on the inside we were suprised to see that no further work had been carried out to build some kind of stand behind the park end goal since our last visit in 2003.

Southampton proved to be the last stop along the South coast. We were taken inside St Mary's at 5.05pm but knew we'd be unable to reach Portsmouth before the club workers went home, so we decided to shoot up to Reading to watch the game with Cardiff.

As we arrived at the Madejski we were very impressed with security as they allowed us to park at the stadium because of our tour. Good news didn't last long though. Although it wasn't a sell out, it was all ticket and despite the charity work we're doing and the fact that we'd contacted them regarding the possibility of seeing the game 3 months earlier they simply refused to help. We could be '2 Cardiff fans looking to cause trouble' they said. And we should have contacted them earlier as well apparently. 3 months wasn't enough... The only real disappointment that i'll take away from this tour, especially as we worked so hard to get there on time.

The final day looms large all of a sudden. Aldershot, Swindon, Wycombe, Portsmouth and Brighton are all thats left to complete. Although we're still toying with the idea of going back into London on Friday to see inside the grounds we failed to on day 1. We shall see.

Day Ten

Just two days left. It was a rather depressing moment today as we reached the 80 club mark. We weren't supposed to reach that level until tomorrow but we've given the finish to our tour a lot of thought over the last few days and decided that we'd like to go back to the 4 grounds we didn't get inside of on Day 1. It may be that we dont manage it but we're going to give it a go.

First up this morning was Coventry City. The Ricoh Arena is a new symetrical stadium that's impossible to see inside of without being taken inside so we were relying on security being around. 7am, they were there. A good result really as the security guard who showed us round worked at the old Highfield Road stadium and had too many stories for us to be able to listen to unfortunately. We thanked him for his time and made our way to Hereford.

Edgar Street is a strange stadium. It has a semi-circular stand behind each goal and a two-tiered stand running along one side of the pitch. We parked in the players car park and made our way inside. The guy on reception begrudgingly allowed us in but happily ushered us out as soon as he could. It was a shame because i really enjoy the visits to the lower league teams. Wont be too disappointed if they and Darlington were the 2 teams to drop out of the league this year. When we returned to the car we were almost blocked in by the players arriving for training. 5 minutes later and we'd have had a serious problem!

Cheltenham and the two Bristol clubs came and went very quickly without any noticable incidents worthy of mentioning. All were very welcoming and happy to show us in for photos.

We made our way into Wales for a non '92' stop at the Millennium Stadium. We'd been given 2 free tickets to do the tour and arrived a few minutes before it was due to begin. It looks a magnificient structure from the road or other side of the river taff. What lets it down, both inside and out is the there's very little advertisement of the fact that it hosts the Welsh national football and rugby teams. However, we learnt some interesting facts on the way round. They bring in a falcon bird to chase out all the pidgeons twice a week. It has to be a specific type of bird because they only want it to chase and not catch. Also, it amazed me at the amount of work that goes into relaying the pitch. It needs 188 lorry loads to deliver the 7312 1.3m sq pallets of grass required and costs over £150,000 everytime.

Cardiff City's new stadium was next. As we arrived we could see the frontage of the old Ninian Park still clear and easily accessible for photos. Workmen were onsite and wouldn't allow me in so i asked the guard to take some for me. He wandered off with my camera. After a couple of minutes, Dad and I were convinced that he wasn't coming back.. But he did, and he'd actually taken some very good shots.

Up at the new stadium my contact, Scott Young, met us with his colleague Joe. They took us on a very relaxed tour of the ground, totally unrushed and full of stories from the days at Ninian including Scott's winner against Leeds in the FA Cup when Leeds were top of the Premier League. We got some great pictures from the executive boxes at the top of the main stand. We left at about 4pm, ahead of schedule, to check in at the hotel before the game at Swansea.

The Liberty Stadium is very similar to Cardiff's new ground. Very impressive both outside and in, which gave lots of photo opportunities. We collected our complimentary tickets and after dinner, made our way inside. Seats were very impressive in the West stand upper. Although it didn't look as though there was a bad view in the house. Lee Trundle was sat a few rows infront of us so we asked him to sign our programme a left him to watch the game between his current employers and the side he's on loan to. It turned out to be a pretty boring 0-0 draw but there was a very lively atmosphere and sound really travels around. We were very grateful for the hospitality they showed us. The gulf in class between here and Hereford is scarily large.

A long day tomorrow starts with a 3 hour drive to Plymouth. I hope they're in....

Day Nine

Having done Macclesfield and Stockport last night I was expecting an easier morning. But I was wrong. Alarm went off at 5.45am and we were away from the hotel in Manchester by 6.20.

Crewe was up first. We pulled up and without any obvious signs of life split up to walk opposite ways round the stadium. Just at the end of the newest main stand I came across the janitor. He was dubious and it took a bit of work but eventually he went and asked the only other member of staff around, the kitman, if he thought it was ok. Next think we know he'd opened the gates, invited us in, made us a cup of tea and given us a short walk through the changing rooms. He also donated a couple of programmes to put towards the collection. We chatted about the tour for a while and he told us that he's seen games at 91 of the football league grounds. Only Dagenham and Redbridge remain to be ticked off his list.

At Port Vale we were showed in by the duty manager. He talked all about the re-development of the stands including the Robbie Williams suite. A big stadium for a lower end league two side. But they appear to be doing things right and the reception was rather impressive so good luck to them.

After a quick detour into Hanley town centre for a picture of the Stanley Matthews statue and some breakfast, we made the short trip down to Stoke. The Brittannia Stadium is very eye catching both inside and out. Our contact, Steve Hunt, met us at reception and walked us through to pitchside for photos. He told us that he knows someone doing the same job as he does at WBA and getting paid £10k more than him. But he wouldn't dream of leaving apparently. As a life long Potters fan its a dream job.

Shrewsbury were very friendly and had made an obvious effort to take some of their history with them to the new ground. We were taken pitchside as we were at Walsall, our next stop. The Banks Stadium was a little soulless I thought but i'm sure its much better on matchdays.

Arriving at Wolves we'd managed to get ourselves about an hour ahead of schedule which was good because Molineux has lots to get pictured. As we walked down to reception, Steve Bull walked out and jumped into his car. We stopped him from driving away and he was happy to pose for a quick photo with our Great Ormond Street bear. A great start to our visit. Our contact, Jane Whitehead, was behind reception as we entered and had a signed pennant waiting for us! It was nice for another club to have been expecting us. They've recently had one of the corners of the stadium filled in with temporary seating so as a Gillingham fan i felt quite at home.

West Brom were very friendly and more than happy for us to walk around and get photos before offering us tickets to a future game! Amazing generosity again! We left to make the trip to St Andrews. We spoke to the lady in the Birmingham City reception and after initially telling us there was no chance of gaining access, the lady helping us phoned the press office. 'Chris' came down to help us and spent a long time talking to us and walking us round to the oldest stand to make the panoramics look better. He also offered us complimentary tickets to a game in the future. Much like the offers at Bolton & West Brom, its one we'll have to take up.

We went and checked in at our hotel before venturing out to Villa Park for the reserve game against Portsmouth. We walked round the ground before kick off and with Villa leading 1-0 at half time, decided it would be a good time to make a move to go and find somewhere for dinner. We'd parked in the official car park and on our way back to the car we noticed a large painting of an old Villa Park in the Trinity Rd reception. Security allowed us in to take photos of it. We talked about the tour we're doing and Steve Chance, a hospitality manager, asked if we'd like to see the executive boxes and vip suites. Before we knew where we were we'd spent an hour walking through the amazing halls with pictures adorned on the walls. We were shown through the 1982 restaurant dedicated to the European Cup winning side. After, we were taken up to the vip section where we saw Gary Speed, Mark Robins, Geoff Horsfield and Ian Taylor. From there, Steve took us into the box next to Randy Lerner's. He told us many stories about following Villa round the country and England around the world. He also went to Euro 2008 and saw a lot of games including both semi finals. It really is all about contacts isn't!

We left in shock again at just how friendly they'd been. Another big club that really couldn't have done more for us.

Day Eight

Its hard to believe how quickly this tour is going. We've now completed two thirds of the 92 grounds and I've simply run out of ways to explain how much i'm enjoying it. Today's journey from our overnight base of Warrington up through all Liverpool and some Manchester based teams was no different.

We arrived at the home of Tranmere Rovers at about 7.30 am to be greated by a mass of people there for a boot sale in the far car park. Fortunately there was a lot of activity throughout Prenton Park as part of the clean up process for the game the day before. The security guard was happy for us to let ourselves in and walk around.

After the short journey through the Mersey tunnel we took a detour through Penny Lane and the roundabout at the end of the road. The barbers and bank are still there but in the centre of the circle was a run down and boarded up cafe called Sgt Peppers. You would expect places like this to make a lot of money and this subject provided the main line of conversation for the next hour or so. It was a shame to see the area had been allowed to get into the state it is. With all the beatles tours run daily, there should be a market for a cafe. But i guess it just hasn't been done rightly so far.. Anyway, back to the football!

Liverpool was the 2nd scheduled stop of the day and the tour manager kindly took us through a side gate into Anfield. Unfortunately, at most Premier League grounds there's been heaters and lights all over the pitch which does take away from the pictures we're trying to take. Outside the stadium, we took in the Hillsborough memorial and the famous gates. Including the statue of Bill Shankly, there's just so much to capture on camera.

At Everton we caught the security lady on her way in. We had been promised a signed photo on the gate which wasn't forthcoming but at least they allowed us pitchside to keep up our record of having taken photos inside every stadium since Leyton Orient on day one.

Oldham were friendly enough and allowed us in. We had a contact of Lois Best who had given us her phone number to call when we arrived. If we'd have struggled to get in we may have had work to do but we didn't so we called Lois to let her know and moved onto Man City.

We arrived at Eastlands knowing that we'd been told we wouldn't be allowed access but we've learnt a lot on the way round and thought we'd put our experience to work. We found security, but no luck, club shop, no luck, and then finally we found the tours centre. Dianne Hill, tours manager was very friendly and helpful and also interested in our story. She was at the infamous City v Gillingham play off final in 99 but came away with some much happier memories than us. Anyway, she showed us down to the pitch where we took some quick pics and set off to Old Trafford.

Our contact was stadium manager Gordon Shields but he'd been unable to meet us and so arranged for his colleague Paul Constanti to take his place. We were at the ground early so i called him to let him know. It was only then we realised he was coming in on his day off just to show us round! He arrived and took us straight into the Theatre of Dreams. From there he walked us round the dug outs, the changing rooms, players lounge and even up into the commercial boxes. A place the public tours dont even go! We came across the tours manager in one of the boxes who chatted to us for a while before asking Paul to collect a pennant from his office on the way down to help with our fundraising. From there we were taken down to the museum and guided around through all sections including the main feature of the 99 treble. By the time we left, Paul had spent over an hour with us. It was an incredible effort from a club widely recognised as the biggest in the world. They didn't have to do what they did but it was hugely appreciated and will add to the memories we'll take away.

That was due to be the lot but with day nine all set to be a long one, we chose to tick off Stockport and Macclesfield. At Edgeley Park it was quickly apparent that no one was home. So, desperate to get pictures inside we found a low gate and I climbed up towards barbed wire territory and took some. However, i wanted a picture of the end behind the goal so after an adventure through a derelict building and an overgrown hill, I levered myself up between a fence and a tree and managed to get the shots I wanted.

Much of the same at Macclesfield until the kitman appeared through a side door. We pounced and I think he was just happy for some company and as such ushered us through. We got all we needed and made the trip back up to our hotel for the night.

Still a very early morning planned but it is, at least, 2 grounds lighter now. Hopefully there'll be no need for any mountaineering tomorrow. But when needs must..

Day Seven

We decided to re-arrange our plans for today a few weeks ago but only actually realised we forget to print off the amendments last night... That meant that i had to sit with a road atlas on my lap that's so big, that you could fold it out flat and give yourself a full scale model of the british isles. I considered this map not to be one of Dad's better purchases but it did us a good turn for the first few grounds of the day.

We reached Stadium Dave (DW Stadium) at 7am and as we pulled in it appeared to all be locked up but after we circled around looking for some signs of life we came across a truck parked by an entrance. I jumped out and shouted through the hole in the fence. The grounsman was just about to start but heard us and let us inside. We had similar luck at Rochdale just half hour down the road. Neither club had responded to the letter or any emails so it was nice to get a result with these.

Next up was a trip to Bury. Our contact was Gordon Sorfleet. He met us at reception and showed us inside Gigg Lane. He was a huge Bury fan and used to run an online unofficial club fanzine when he was in the navy. The day he left, he was offered a job as media man at the stadium. He walked us through the stadium, boot room and changing rooms until we reached his office. Or his 'den' as he called it. Its only a small room but its full to the brim with videos of games, programmes from the last 60 seasons and he even had 9 cash books from the first few years after the 2nd world war. But the real thing that caught our eye was the shield above. Its an award for 'supporter of the year'. He then told us the story behind it. He'd helped raise £150,000 to keep the club in business and as a reward uefa gave him and his wife an all expenses paid trip to Monte Carlo. At the reception he and his wife were sat on the same table as Zinedine Zidane. Not bad company to keep! However, whilst they were walking round being introduced his wife accidentally stood (high heels and all) on Francesco Totti's foot! It actually fractured his metatarsal and put him out of action for 8 weeks! An amazing man with so many stories to tell.

Bolton next and although we arrived late, our contact Tony Kelly, had phoned us earlier in the day to make sure everything wss going well. I asked at reception for him and they didn't even know him. They cant have spoken to him before! After spending 10 minutes talking to him on a quick tour round we certainly wont be forgetting his infectious sense of humour and passion for the game. He was hugely intrrested in the tour and as such donated a signed ball and shirt to help with fundraising. He also invited us up for a game sometime with complimentary tickets and all. A lovely guy and we'll certainly be looking to take him up on his offer.

It was off to Burnley next and a letter we'd recieved from them asked us to go straight to the club shop on arrival. Unfortunately no one anywhere was able to help until we found a supervisor gathering some stewards together for the trip across to Liverpool. After a short sob story and an appearance by the Great Ormond Street bear he eventually took us into Turf Moor through a side gate.

We'd been given 2 tickets to see Preston play Swansea in the afternoon so we took the opportunity to get to Deepdale early and take in the fabulous national football museum. There's so many fascinating bits and pieces in there. If you're ever up that way you really should try and find an hour or so to go round. Its definately worth it! Afterwards we collected our tickets from the Tom Finney reception and gratefully made our way inside. Since completing the 4th stand, it really has become a magnificent stadium. Preston won 2-0 although we missed the 2nd goal as we needed to beat the crowns away to make it to Blackpool before dark.

We made it to Bloomfield Road easily. Our plan was to get some pictures and walk through from the ground to get something to eat whilst taking in the illuminations. After finding a space i walked over and found a security guard who took me inside before offering us a free space in the clubs car park whilst we did everything else we wanted to. It saved us £7.50 parking fees so we were very happy with Blackpool's donation to the cause! The lights along the prominade were also worth a night out.

All the little extras we've added in seem to have worked out really well so far. Touch wood, it stays that way!

Day Six

A nice easy morning. Up at 7.30 and out taking pictures along the tyne by 8. From there we walked up to St James' Park and bought our tickets for the 11am tour. After a seriously satisfying 'belly buster' breakfast we returned to the stadium for our first look inside Newcastle United. What an unbelievable set up they have. Its difficult to see how they can fail to get promotion this year especially since they're still raking in over 45,000 for games in the Championship. The highlight of the tour for me has to be sitting in Bobby Robson's seat.

90 minutes later and we were off to Carlisle where we met our contact Jenny at reception. She really made us feel at home and spent a lot of time walking us round before presenting us with a signed ball. In the main entrance is a big photo showing just how bad the floods of 2005 hit this club. The entire pitch and first few rows of each stand were under water and took, in total, 4 months to complete the clean up process. Jenny showed us round the old training pitch and it wasn't difficult to see the destruction that the rain had caused. On the way out of the ground, purely by coincidence we bumped into 3 guys touring the 92 in 92 hours. They were rushing round, seeing grounds in the dark and sleeping in the van. Im happy with the way we're doing it I think!

After a long run down the M6 we arrived at Morecambe. We found Janet Preston who we'd been emailing before the trip in a portacabin outside the main entrance. She immediately handed over a limited edition home shirt for this season, their last at Christie Park. As an added bonus we were allowed to walk on the pitch! Ground 47 and finally we got to step on the green stuff.

Blackburn next and the security guard was kind enough to let us into the ground. Took our pics and panoramics and headed off to Accrington Stanley.

We were due to be presented on the pitch but Rob Heys who was going to arrange it for us was very busy with Sky tv interviews and the SOS appeal (save our stanley). We accepted our free tickets and found our seats. Neither of us were disappointed by not going on the pitch. We weren't going to do a bucket collection or anything so it would only have been a quick wave anyway. However, the average crowd at The Fraser Eagle stadium has been little more than 1500 recently, but with fans of all other local clubs appealed to to turn out, tonights attendance was in excess of 3200. There were a mass of Blackburn, Burnley, Bury and even Rochdale shirts. It was impressive to hear stories of local clubs providing charity matches to help raise vital money needed to keep Stanley's head above water. But its not just other clubs helping out. As we sat in reception a man walked in and handed over a £1000 cash donation! No one wants to see this club go under again.

And after the atmosphere the home fans in the main stand behind the goal created, its obvious to see that passion at tradional football grounds is well and truly alive.

Day Five

An extra half hour in bed was much needed. Last night i sat watching the England game with matchsticks holding my eyes open. I did see the goals but couldn't fully appreciate the success the win brought with it.

Anyway, by 8.30am we'd driven over 50 miles and visited Scunthorpe and Grimsby. At both grounds we managed to just walk straight in, grab a few pics including the panoramics i'm trying to do at each one and even have a wander around inside with no one insight.

The journey to Hull took us up and over the Humber bridge. Some very impressive views are to be had whilst travelling across if your quick enough with your camera! The stadium itself is a very impressive build. Its situated in the middle of a park and although im told its not the friendliest place on matchdays, today being as sunny and warm as it was, just helped to set a much better tone. Unfortunately the guy that ended up showing us round wasn't overly keen on us being in there. More than happy to usher us out asap.

Instead of using the quickest directions to Darlington we decided to take the more scenic (and slow) route up the coast through Bridlington and Scarborough. Just outside Middlesbrough we took the wrong turn (Dad's gps at work again) and managed to head off in completely the wrong direction. We ended up circling round the quays looking for The Riverside Stadium. After finding it we were very impressed with the exterior. Ayresome Parks gates are terrific. The maintenance man that showed us round was also great. A very proud West Ham fan, he spent a long time with us basically allowing us to do whatever we liked. We had photos by the pitch, in the press room and even lying on the injury tables!

At Darlington it was one ground that defined the difference between a traditional football stadium and a lifeless, soulless area where people frequent to watch games. Also, the guy that was asked to let us in was the rudest guy we've come across on the tour so far. On introducing ourselves he simply said "this wont take long will it". Went downhill from there. That said, the secretary was nice, we liked her!

Off to Hartlepool after where we'd been promised a signed ball. Our contact was off ill unfortunately but Becky, her colleague, knew about our tour and showed us in. When Dad asked about staff and how many work at the ground Becky asked if we wanted to meet the manager Chris Turner. Of course we did...! He came out and posed for photos whilst asking about the tour. They took down lots of our details to put an article on their website. Very nice of them!

Just Sunderland left after that and we really did save the best for last. There's so much to take pictures of outside let alone in the Stadium Of Light. Our contact Andrew met us at reception and took us on a tour. He really made the effort showing us the changing rooms, players lounge, media lounge, interview rooms and obviously out to the pitch. Such a lovely club and you really notice the effort they've made to bring their past with them. Statues everywhere and the H'way the lads gates help to make the main entrance that little bit more special.

After we'd finished, we headed off to find the Angel of the North. Its even bigger and better close up than it looks when you drive past.

I'm having an unbelievable time and only wish it'd stop going by so quickly!

Day Four

Up and out of our Nottingham Traveloge at 6.10 this morning. This was always going to be a tough day so we needed some luck to make it round on time.

We arrived at Lincoln expecting everything to be locked up but to our suprise there were lots of cars and people gathered by the main entrance. We grabbed our cameras and asked if it was possible to go inside. I think the guy that showed us round was the stadium manager but for the purpose of the meeting that was taking place he was also the cook and barman!

At Chesterfield we were able to just walk straight in and up the stairs into the ground. We made some time here but lost it all and fell about 15 minutes behind after getting lost on the route away from the ground.

Our next stop was Sheffield FC. The worlds oldest football club. As we pulled into the car park the place looked very quiet. So we decided to grab a quick photo and move on. However, a guy ran out from the other side of the stand and asked what we were doing. We explained and he asked if we wanted to look around inside. No questions asked. He introduced us to the chairman and the manager and they showed us into the trophy room which housed all sorts of memorabilia from pictures to signed pennants and shirts. Also adorned on the walls was pictures and a FIFA accreditation for their 150th year as a football club. Jack Warner the president of FIFA had visited along with Trinidad & Tobago a few days before hand and we signed the guest book directly below him. As we were preparing to leave the 2 guys showing us round (ian and lee) presented us with some memorabilia including a shirt to help with fundraising. A great effort from a terrific club hopefully destined for bigger and better things.

Lee at Sheffield FC also happened to know a projects manager at Bramall Lane and so phoned ahead for us. When we arrived he met us and showed us round the stadium. He then badgered the lady at reception, Sue Bramall into donating something. She went into her cupboard and managed to dig out a shirt signed by the whole team. Thanks go to Dave McCarthy.

After visiting Hallam FC and the oldest stadium in the world, we were about 45 minutes behind and as hard as we tried we never managed to make that up.

Sheffield Wednesday is a lovely traditional football stadium. Security took us round and showed us how bad the floods of 2007 were. Its amazing how bad it was. News stories just didn't relay it in that manor. Took pics of the Hillsborough disaster memorial and headed off towards the Don Valley.

We turned up, pork sandwiches in hand and raced in and out as quickly as possible. We did the same at Doncaster. Lovely new stadium but they dont own it. However there is good advertising outside and the most helpful and friendliest receptionist encountered in 3 months of planning and preperation.

On the way to Barnsley we were stuck for a while behind the pie van above. Fantastic company slogan. Yesterday we passed a breakfast van called Angies Big Baps. Great work.

At Barnsley we were waiting for our contact Wayne Bullimore at reception when Mark Robins walked out. He's literally just taken over at the club after compensation was agreed with Rotherham. Wayne arrived soon after and was really friendly and talkative whilst taking us in.

At Huddersfield we really had to rush in and out to get to Bradford before 5.30. We found reception and were allowed to go through to the pitch. Took some very quick snaps and raced off down the m62. Our contact at Valley Parade was Ian Ormondroyd and he'd been really helpful over email in arranging the tour so we called him to let him know we were late. He stayed on the phone for a good 5 minutes guiding us through the city in rush hour and he'd happilly stay til we arrived. He did, presented us with a signed programme, showed us inside and we left very happy!

We reached our last ground, Elland Road, home of Leeds United at 6.40pm. To our suprise security were still there and unlocked the gates for us. We took our pictures and headed off to the hotel for some very well earned sleep. Oh and the England game!

Day Three

Another early morning saw us up and out of the Ipswich hotel by 6.10am. Norwich was first on the list and we arrived there at 7.20. Having had no email or postal correspondance from them we looked for security and thought of the right things to say. The guy was very helpful but did need a lot of nudging to eventually phone his boss to get the ok for allowing us in. He did, we went in, lots of photos and headed off to Peterborough.

Long slow journey through East Anglia ensued but we still arrived at London Road a few minutes ahead of what we'd planned. Reception were very helpful and allowed us in for pictures.

Onto MK Dons after and on entering reception I spotted Pete Winkleman (chairman) and pointed him out to Dad. A lovely lady from the trust department showed us round the ground and told us about future plans for progression. As we were leaving reception and driving toward the exit we noticed Mr Winkleman still standing down by the frontage so Dad grabbed the camera and raced down for a photo. Lovely guy and was very happy to talk and pose with the Great Ormond St bear.

Leaving on a high we set off for Northampton and were let in and back out and on the road again very quickly. Unfortunately a series of wrong turns saw us lose the 25 minute gap we'd manage to give ourselves.

Leicester and Burton Albion were both very friendly and happy to assist and Derby at 4.30 proved difficult to find but easier to drive away from after than we had expected. However, I did pull into the wrong car park here and found myself mounting the pavement and driving along the walkway, down a ridge at the pedestrian crossing and back onto the road into the main reception. Pride Park is a lovely stadium and our favourite of the day. The front really shows off the teams colours and logo's and makes you want to photograph it.

Off to Notts County next. We arrived at 5.10pm and went straight into reception. We were 20 minutes early but the lady on reception said our contact had left the club on Saturday and unfortunately the ground was all shut for the night. Dejected, i threw in another name mention in an email and it turned out to be the chairman. He was in a meeting though so it looked like we'd fail to see inside. At that moment the meeting broke up and first out the door was Sven Goran Eriksson.. We firstly asked him for a photo which he very kindly obliged to when he noticed the bear with GOSH on it and he asked what we were doing. We explained and said its a shame we cant get photos inside. He said "we can sort that i'm sure. follow me". So we did. He took us through inside Meadow Lane and chatted with us for a few minutes about why he took over and his influence in the Sol Cambell deal. We left moments later completely stunned. Walking behind my Dad and Sven having a talk whilst SGE gave us a tour of the ground was the most sureal moment of my life.

Onto Forest as the final stadium of the day and we arrived just as they were closing up. Fortunately the groundsman let us in for some quick snaps.

If we have a better day than this by the end, i'll be hugely suprised. I'm still on a different cloud.

Day Two

The day began at Kew Bridge Travelodge in Brentford at about 6am. We needed to get around the first few grounds quickly so the early start was a must.

We reached Chelsea at 6.45 and after walking past the main entrance which was blocked off, we reached the Millennium Hotel through road where the security for Stamford Bridge were based. We spoke to a guard who asked us to wait until 7 o'clock. We did and he took us through the shed end entrance and into the ground as his last act of a long night shift. This was a real result as letters and emails similar to ones from Arsenal had given us no hope of any help.

Fulham was next and after a very good run we were there 10 minutes early but the security officers were already working. They should have been expecting us but seemed to know nothing about our tour. However, they were more than happy to help and allowed us in for pictures of the cottage.

From there we headed back towards our starting point and with a little help with parking we were able to visit and see inside both QPR and Brentford and head off towards Wembley with a 2 hour cushion. When we turned up at Wembley the parking assistant allowed us to leave the car for 5 minutes which was a huge help.

Watford are having a lot of building work done and to gain access inside we had to park next to a £40 charge for parking here sign, clamber across the building site and up into the stand behind the hospital end to find the manager. He was very happy to show us round and told us about a similar tour to ours that he's got in the pipeline.

Barnet was next and although i'd had 3 responses to my 1 email, 2 rejections and 1 acceptance they were very happy to have us. The lady at reception asked the groundsman to 'sort us out'. He was possibly the friendliest person we've met on the tour so far and told us all about being called up to help work on the pitch at Wembley for the England v Croatia game on Wednesday. He also had a large Chelsea tattoo on his leg that he has to cover up on match days, especially when Arsenal are in town as the chairman is a gunners fan.

After leaving Underhill we had to shoot off home very quickly to pick up some pills Dad forgot to take. Noticed twice today how Dad's becoming the stereotypical male on the roads. I drove from 6am until we reached home and twice, as navigator, Dad decided that the google map instructions were wrong and that his internal gps was much more trusted. Both times, we turned round half mile down the road and followed google after all...

Our penultimate ground was the new Colchester United's Weston Homes Community Stadium. After seeing Ady Boothroyd leaving the car park we met our contact at reception and he showed us round. Impressive facilities and lots of room for expansion if needed.

We took a slow drive up to Ipswich for our last Stadium of the day and Camilla welcomed us with a parking space and entry inside. We took lots of photos and she told us all about the stand which will be renamed in Bobby Robson's honour at the Newcastle game in the coming weeks. Outside the ground is a statue of Sir Bobby and also one of Sir Alf Ramsey. It's lovely to see them both remembered by a club they both served so well.

All in all, a great day and the time we managed to get ahead gave us great optomism for the rest of the tour.

Day One

We started at 8.30am. A relative lie in compared to the days ahead.

Southend and Gillingham were first and second on the agenda and both came and went with no suprises. Both were closed so a quick few photos and back in the car. I took over driving on the route to Crystal Palace and immediately took us the wrong way, fortunately not irrepairably. By the time we reached Selhurst Park we were about 10 mins behind scedule but with no one around to let us inside we took some pictures of reception and the main entrance, grabbed a sandwich from sainsburys and headed off to Millwall.

No real problems with directions but the journey was slow. As we pulled up to the lights opposite the zampa road entrance to The Den there were a group of very shady looking characters on the corner. We drove down, under the rail bridge and parked over a factory driveway to get some photos. There was an open day in progress in the car park with kids on the millwall bus and everything. Really not as intimidating as a match day would have been. Even the dodgy guys outside the entrance turned out to be evangelical church goers... But you could have mistook them for a gang.. In the dark.. Maybe.

The trip to Charlton proved a total nightmare. Roads were chocker block, street names were different to that on the map and the blackwall tunnel was incredibly busy. When we arrived at the ground the security guard very kindly walked us through into the stadium. He also gave us some programmes to auction. By the time we left, we were over an hour and fifteen minutes behind schedule.

West Ham next and after a relatively easy drive considering the traffic at the tunnel, we were known at reception and security came down, presented us with a signed pennant and took us inside for photos. Terrific considering my contact at the club had only been able to give me 'possibles'. Very friendly and a lovely stadium.

Our contact at Dagenham had to leave before we arrived but he left behind 3 tickets to any home game for fundraising. We gratefully collected those and wandered into the ground for photos and a few minutes of the Daggers ladies match v Norwich.

Leyton Orient was a quick stop and go but fortunately the trip to Spurs was a good one and as we pulled into Bill Nicholson Way we were only about 30 mins behind time. Building work was still going on at The Lane and because of that we were able to signal one of the contractors who had security come and talk to us. The guy was very friendly and allowed us into the main entrance, through the inside of the stadium and out the tunnel to the pitch. My Dad's a big Tottenham fan so getting to do this was obviously a life long goal and made the trip wholly worthwhile for him!

From there to Arsenal was relatively simple and after email correspondance that were of no help we had no real expectations of the new Emirates Stadium. We pulled up in a surrounding road with derelict buildings along one side allowing us to park up and leave the car. We took photos and had a walk round before heading back to the car. As we went to turn round, purely by accident we happened to notice the main security entrance hidden under the stadium. I figured what harm can it do to ask them for some photos inside. After a small story looking for someone to take pity they eventually let us in and were actually really helpful. We spent about 10 minutes inside looking around at the impressive design.

After that we took the short journey over to the site of Arsenal's ols stadium Highbury. They've kept the east stand main entrance and made a very good job of turning into appartments but keeping the Arsenal football heritage involved in the land.

Early start tomorrow and a long day. Day 1 over though, 10 grounds down. 82 to go.

1 more sleep..

The tour starts tomorrow! Infact, by this time tomorrow we'll be settling into our hotel room in London having ticked off 10 of the 92 grounds. Hopefully..!

Today's been more interesting than it should have been though. Avis called this morning to let us know that our hire car was ready to collect. However, they were supposed to be delivering it. That wasn't the issue though. The problem was, they now no longer had a catogory car equivalent to the one we had booked and were therefore going to have to downgrade us. £5 off didn't seem like enough for the change but we'll sort that out when we get back. We've been given a Ford Focus 1.6. Looks very nice and I certainly cant complain because it's a very smooth drive with a fair bit of kick to it, but it's not what we were promised and after the post I put on here praising them and how helpful they were I feel I should backtrack slightly. From my experiences in trying to hire a car of a certain size for 12 days, dont bother. It's probably easier to buy a car, use it for the time you need it and then take it back... Less annoyance, less problems and you're always in control!

After collecting the car we made our way up to Brentwood as we were booked in as guests on Steve Robertson's Saturday Kick About radio show on Phoenix FM. We had a little bit of trouble finding the studio, mainly due to my sense of direction (bodes well for the tour) but we got there in the end and had a great time. Just seeing how the inside of a radio station works was a lot of fun and learning just how clever some of the systems are, allowing just one person to run an entire show alone was a real eye opener.

We talked about the tour and the fundraising aspect. It was really pleasing to be able to say how much we've raised. When I first set all of the promotional sites up I set a modest target of £500. I expected to reach that and as long as I did i'd be more than happy. Since then, things changed slightly and my Dad became involved. Both he and my Mum have helped with collecting sponsors and some of the people at work have been tremendous at guilt tripping a few others into signing my sheets too!

As of today, we have officially raised £1025! Over double the original target. On top of that figure, we have all the items that football clubs have sent us. Signed shirts, photos, balls and tickets to games for all different teams will hopefully help dwarf that original £500 mark!

Early night I think!

On the Radio...

On Saturday my Dad and I will be following up the initial radio interview with Phoenix FM promoting the tour, which I did a few weeks back. We'll be visiting the station's offices in Brentwood. Actually doing interviews on the radio doesn't fluster me, but they have a live stream online complete with webcam at www.phoenixfm.com. That does worry me slightly. That said, i've really got to get used to it quickly because in just over 9 days, we'll be standing out on the pitch at Accrington Stanley with a few thousand people to talk to.

Tottenham have given us a lifeline. Originally they were unable to help as the ground was closed on Sunday's. However, apparently they're now having some building work done and as such will be open for a period of time over the weekend and if we turn up during that period, they'll be happy to let us in to have a picture in the stadium.

5 days and counting!

With the tour approaching, i'm now starting to confirm final details and arrangements with the clubs that have asked me to do so. Bury, Manchester United and Sunderland are now finalised whilst i'm awaiting responses from Newcastle, MK Dons, Southampton and Tottenham.

In the post over the weekend i recieved a signed photo of Shaun Wright-Phillips from Man City which should help hugely with fundraising. Also on the donation side, The Millennium Stadium have given us 2 free tickets to do the stadium tour when we arrive.

So much to look forward to and only 12 days to fit it all in....