The FA Cup's Here! Here Being Waltham Forest

Ah, the magic of the cup. I got myself keener than normal for the start of this season's FA Cup. I particularly enjoyed the contrast between the first knocking of the FA Cup and the overblown extravaganza that is the Premier League cranking itself into action on the same weekend.

The main stand positioned behind the floodlights

Fickle By Nature

So, I'm fickle. I'm a football fan; it's part of the job description isn't it? Some weeks before my last post I slumped drunkenly into my Wembley seat, head despairingly plunged in my hands. No Championship dreams for Orient. A 2 goal halftime lead had transformed into penalty shootout agony. Not to worry though, with the eternal foolish optimism of most fans I found myself not only drowning my sorrows in a pub round the corner from Baker Street tube. Not only that, I was getting excited about next season. I vowed to get a season ticket again.

I didn't though. I remembered the things I touched upon in my last post and decided against it and settled down to enjoy the World Cup. Then something strange happened. Francesco Becchetti, a mysterious Italian billionaire bought out Barry Hearn and became the new owner of Orient. Much excitement ensued as last season's squad was added to. Not only that but the newcomers were players that fans had heard of and rated. My money remained resolutely in my pocket as my levels of enthusiasm failed to increase at all. It all seems too good to be true and not very Orient. There seems to be very little information available in English about Becchetti. Why would a billionaire buy a club like Orient. We don't own our ground and even if he were to buy the lease from Hearn there is now next to no scope for development at Brisbane Road. That leaves the Olympic Stadium as spectre that hasn't been quite banished. I wish I could just enjoy the ride on the pitch but my suspicion of where we're headed off it. I'm not stopping supporting Orient but I can't see myself at Brisbane Road too many times this season. Obviously I leave myself open to accusations of not being a real fan but I'm not sure I've ever seen the rulebook.

So what does the season ahead hold for me? I've bemoaned the lack of a thriving non-league club in East London. Dagenham & Redbridge ate up all the candidates in the 80s. There is no Sutton United or Dulwich Hamlet round these parts. However, there is Clapton. The Clapton Ultras make taking in a few of their game an interesting prospect. I may even manage to see them win a league game. Waltham Forest struggle on and need all the support they can get. I'll be sure to get down to Dulwich a few times. I can't deny a club with its own lager. These are places that could probably do with my entrance money more than Orient at the moment.

I am lucky that I am happy to get my footballing kicks in a multitude a ways. I'm already forming plans. The romance of a daytrip to Glossop North End. Can I get to Dumfries and back in a day? I've always wanted to see Queen of the South. Maybe a trip to Belgium. The possibilities are if not endless difficult to exhaust in a season . I may even get round to getting to Wingate & Finchley. How can Finchley have so many tube stations and the ground be so far from all of them? I bet parking is murder too.

Of course, I may just end up back at Orient. If it all goes to plan on the pitch it may be too alluring to turn my back on it all despite my (admittedly nebulous) misgivings. Which is where I came in. I'm a football fan.

 I'm fickle.

Germane Pennant?

The mid season demise of Leyton FC set me to thinking. Since I caught the non league bug again this season I have been trying to get to places I haven't been before. I hadn't seen a game at Leyton's ground since the club that played there was known as Leyton-Wingate. I had been meaning to get to see Leyton but each weekend found a game I would rather be at. Now I'll have to see who ends up playing at the Hare & Hounds next season. So in the meantime I thought I'd better get to some games while some of the other local teams are still around. It seemed apt that I should scamper along to a Waltham Forest match quick smart. Waltham Forest is the amalgam of non league teams left in that borough after the juggernaut that eventually became Dagenham & Redbridge left town. It has always irked me that although half the teams that make up that merger of merger were from Waltham Forest that was ignored in the name. So it is left to Waltham Forest to fly the flag. Although I had seen Leyton-Wingate in the past on a number of occasions and had managed to see Walthamstow Pennant a couple of times I hadn't seen this incarnation of the club before. Logically enough they currently play in the borough Redbridge where the share the not much loved (as far as I can tell) Cricklefield Stadium.