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Join us at 5pm Sunday 11th of February on our first Proper Football The Podcast! The show will be streamed live on our YouTube channel on X (Twitter), Instagram and our Facebook page. Proper Footballs Gary, Dan and Greg will be joined by our resident ex-pro, the former Watford and Derby winger Nigel "Cally" Callaghan who was a major part of Graham Taylors excellent Watford team in the 80s. The lads will be debating the hot topics in the football world from Non-League to the Premier League. The main concept of Proper Football is to give fans of the game from all levels a voice and a platform to have their say so we welcome you all to get involved with the live podcast and join in with the conversation and raise any topics you would like us to discuss. So make sure to either subscribe to our YouTube channel or watch the podcast on one of our socials from 5 pm Sunday 11th of February and get involved!

Whilst scrolling through Facebook recently we came across a post that immediately caught our eye, the picture was of a football shirt collector standing in front of an amazing array of football kits from all over the world and also includes many non-league sides from the UK. We were so intrigued by the collection we messaged Arjan Wijngaard the man in the picture to find out more about him and his many shirts! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Arjan, so, where are you from and who do you support? I'm from Groningen in the Netherlands, and of course I support my local team FC Groningen! Besides that I also support Feyenoord and in England I support Everton. Feyenoord FC In most countries I have a favourite team (but not really supporting them) like Celtic, Werder Bremen and Sporting Portugal who all play in green and white Jerseys! Welling Town FC How long have you been collecting football shirts? I started collecting in 1997. How many do you have in your collection? At the moment I have 2,971 shirts in my collection. Where do you keep your huge collection? I have a room in my house that is solely dedicated to my collection! (these 3 photos credited to http://www.philipphoto.nl/ ) What made you start collecting shirts? Of course I like football, going to home and away games with my favourite team, and watching the Bundesliga and the Premier league highlights on TV. At that moment I decided to collect shirts, and why shirts? I don't know! What is your favourite shirt? In general I like to collect (recent) shirts from smaller teams (non league) or from far away. Its very difficult to point out one specific shirt. if your talking about colours I like green/white shirts and black shirts the most. What's the most you have paid for a shirt? 150 euro (125 pounds). It was for a match worn FC Groningen shirt used during a Europa League game in 2015. FC Groningen won the “KNVB-beker” (FA-cup) for the first time, and played in the Europa League (which they don't do often) and this shirt had a sponsor that was used only during those games. FC Groningen Which shirt means the most to you? I have an old FC Groningen shirt form the beginning of ‘80’s period. It is match worn and possibly also during the Europa League game against Atletico Madrid. A shirt that old you don't see often, and specially match worn. Have you been to a game at each ground the shirts are from? Unfortunately not, But if I go to a game, I try to obtain a shirt from both teams. It doesn't have to be one from that specific game/season, just a shirt from the team is fine. Chesham United FC How many grounds have you visited? I'm not counting them, but I think its about 200 and if I count the grounds without a game I think its 300-400! What is your favourite ground? Very difficult to say, most grounds have their own charm like big grounds such as Goodison Park, Wembley or “De Kuip” in Rotterdam, But also grounds like Prenton Park, Brisbane Road or Selhurst Park are very nice. and of course most non-league grounds are great as well. I like grounds in a residential area, with people living next door, and pubs nearby. De Kuip, Rotterdam What shirts are you missing from your collection? Looking to the fact that I like to obtain a shirt from every team I've seen playing live, I'm still missing a few. they are Hashtag United, Marine AFC, Ilford FC, Witham Town FC and Bracknell Town. Besides that I like to collect non league shirts in general, so still missing a lot haha. ST Helens Town How often do you travel to the UK to watch football? I try to go 3 or 4 times a year with a preference for London or Liverpool, but I've also been to cities/areas like Birmingham, Wales, Glasgow, Southend. Gloucester City What's the furthest you have travelled to a game? I've seen only games in Europe, and often in a combination with visiting a big city. I've been as far to Lisbon, Athens, Istanbul, Rome and Seville. Loja CD What do you enjoy about non-league football in the UK? I really like the accessibility of non-league plus the clubs and their supporters are great and also the willingness to help me to get a shirt from their team in my collection. Windsor FC Do you collect other memorabilia? When I go to a game or a ground I often buy a scarf and a pin badge from the home team. I think I have around 300 scarfs and 200 badges! What would you say is the best era for football kits? For me its the current period because there is much attention and energy put into producing and making football shirts. Its makes it nice to search for them and with all the social media options it makes it accessible to contact the clubs and their supporters. And also to have contact with other collectors. Coventry Sphinx FC How easy is it to tell the difference between an official shirt and a copy? Its getting more and more difficult, the copies from Asia are getting better and better. Its very difficult to see the difference, that's also one of the reasons why I focus on the smaller teams (non league) as you can be pretty sure that they are original shirts!. Which country's leagues tend to have the best football kits in your opinion? For me its the UK, the home shirts are mostly real classics, very easy to recognise with the badge/logo and most are really fantastic. Everton FC Which international team kit is your favourite? I really don't have a favourite, as a collector I like to collect small countries like San Marino, Bhutan or Lichtenstein, as a football fan I have a big preference for league football. Girona FC What trips do you have planned in the near future to grow your collection? And do you think you will ever stop collecting or will you just have to buy a bigger property to store it all in? No concrete plans as of yet but probably Milan in march and England in April. No, I don't have any plans to stop collecting as their are many teams still to go! and there's no plans to move as there is still space in the room with a little bit of re-organising! How can people contact you to assist you with your collection and to find out more about it? All my shirts are displayed on www.voetbalshirts.org, and I'm also active on Facebook , X/Twitter or Instagram and I can be reached by mail on arjan@voetbalshirts.org Also if there is anyone reading this who could help me with a shirt from their Non-League team they can contact me as well! Once again, a big thank you to Arjan for sharing an insight into his fantastic collection!

For yesterday’s Non League vlog, I took in another new ground thanks to a kind invite from Sporting Khalsa’s Jake (who is head of security), for their home match against high flying Anstey Nomads. Joined again by my best mate Thunder, Jake met us on arrival, took us in the ground and showed us around. We was told most things were accessible to us, and introduced to various people, some to potentially interview. During this, I realised I had been so happy chatting that I hadn’t actually done any filming, so, I needed to get my butt into gear! Walking around, what struck me was, what a lovely ground Sporting Khalsa has, very pleasing on the eye with the colours, and, there is a fair bit of raised level viewing which gives you an even better view of the action. So, all the filming I needed before kick off completed, I could relax again and chat to some more people before kick off. You may have got sick and tired of reading this, as every week, I say the same thing…I won’t spoil what happened in the game as hopefully you will watch the vlog which is found below… but, trust me, it was a very entertaining match with plenty of action. It’s also worth watching, for 2 interviews in particular, Nathan, who told me what Khalsa means to him after the passing of his father, and also Anstey Nomads FC fans Luke and Kai, who, despite having season tickets for Leicester City, watch and prefer to follow the Nomads. So, the match ends, I film the wrap up of the vlog and leave the ground… where, one of the Sporting Khalsa staff hurriedly catches me up, stops me to give me back my selfie stick which I hadn’t even realised I had dropped. It was the final classy act from a classy club, where Thunder and I were looked after brilliantly. I would love to read anybody’s comments about visiting Noose Lane to learn of their experience, and would also love to film a vlog at Anstey Nomads if they would have me. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the VLOG below! Once again a big thank you to Darren Ashley for sharing his VLOG with us and we very much look forward to his next one! You can subscribe to Darren's YouTube channel and watch some of his previous VLOGS by clicking the following link; https://www.youtube.com/@dash7148

There's nothing quite like an away win and travelling back with 3 points in the bag! Here are all the pictures of the victorious away ends from the top 5 divisions from the weekend. Friday night saw Leeds United continue their great run of form with a 1-0 win a Bristol City which keeps them well in the hunt for the second automatic promotion spot with an early second half winner from Wilfried Gnonto. In the Premier League Aston Villa completely out classed Sheffield United and were 4-0 up inside 30 minutes! and it was soon to be 5-0 two minutes into the second half which ended up being the final score. The 2900 Villa fans who packed out the bottom tier at Bramall Lane see the Villans remain in the top 4 of the Premier League in what has been a fantastic season so far under Unai Emery. 3OOO Wolves fans at Stamford Bridge saw their team come from 1-0 down to play Chelsea off the park and run out easy 4-2 winners. hats off to Gary O'Neil who has been excellent at the helm for the Wanderers since taking over as manager. Leicester City continued their dominance at the top of the Championship blowing away Stoke City 5-0 at The Bet 365 Stadium and now sit 11 points clear at he top with veteran striker 37 year old Jamie Vardy getting a brace. Southampton fans who made the long journey up to South Yorkshire were rewarded with a 2-0 win at bottom club Rotherham United making it an amazing 21 games unbeaten in the League! and see's them sitting in second place in the table. Cardiff City got back to winning ways after two defeats and earned an excellent 3 points at playoff chasing Watford with a 1-0 win at Vicarage Road with a Josh Bowler goal just before half time. Plymouth Argyle finally got their first away win of the season to reward their amazing fans who always travel in big numbers despite the huge distances they have to cover and Morgan Whittaker's 18th minute goal proved to be decisive in the 1-0 win. QPR made it three unbeaten with a valuable 3 points at Blackburn Rovers who are in free fall at the minute and now 8 games without a League win. Rangers are still in the relegation zone but the 2-1 win at Ewood Park sees them close the gap on those above. Lincoln City won their first game in ten ending a dismal run by beating Burton Albion 1-0 with a Reeco Hackett 54th minute winner. Wycombe Wanderers raced into a 3-0 lead just after half time at Cheltenham Town who managed to pull one back but that's where the fight back ended and the Chairboys took all 3 points back home. Derby County continued their charge up League One with a 1-0 win in the capital moving them up to second spot against a managerless Charlton side who are plummeting towards the relegation zone. Bristol Rovers new loan signing from Nottingham Forest Costa Rican international Brandon Aguilera scored on his debut for the Gas Heads in a the 1-0 win at Exeter City with a cracking finish. Wigan Athletic inflicted Peterborough's only second home defeat of the season with an impressive 3-2 win at The Posh, the home side rallied late on pulling two goals back in injury time but The Latics held on. In the midtable clash between Shrewsbury Town and Cambridge United it was the away team who took the spoils coming from behind to win 2-1 and leapfrog their opponents. There was only one away win in League Two and that fell to Morecambe who beat Crawley Town 2-1 making it Two wins on the spin for the Shrimpers. In the National League runaway leaders Chesterfield stretched there lead to 19 points with a 3-1 win at Eastleigh. Second place Bromley lost at home to Super Kevin Phillips Hartlepool side 2-1 coming from behind to take all 3 points which see's The Monkey Hangers who had 161 travelling fans move to within 6 points of the playoffs. Aldershot Town consolidated their playoff position coming from behind to beat FC Halifax 2-1. Gateshead continued their impressive season and occupy the last playoff spot with a great 1-0 win at Southend United in front of their 61 supporters who made the long journey down. Boreham Wood beat relegation threatened Woking 1-0 despite being reduced to 10 men just before half time after going 1-0 up in the 14th minute but managed to hold on to take all 3 points. Dagenham and Redbridge won a hard thought game at Rochdale with all the goals in the 2-1 win coming in the first half. AFC Fylde won a vital six pointer at Dorking Wanderers near the bottom of the League winning 3-1 on the road. Altrincham leapfrogged Solihull Moors in the playoff positions in the hunt for promotion with an excellent 1-0 away win at The ARMCO Arena. You can checkout all the latest league table standings on our dedicated menu above. YOU CAN'T BEAT AN AWAYDAY, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WIN!

For my latest Non-League vlog, yesterday, I went to a step 6 clash in the Spartan South Midlands Division 1 between 3rd place Moulton and leaders Northampton ON CHENECKS (Old Northamptonians). This is a game I have been looking forward to for a while since I received an invite to do a vlog at Moulton. At start of play it was 3rd v 1st, and the home side were out to make it 3 wins in 2 months against Chenecks. Would the away team get sweet revenge??? I’m gonna say it quickly this week… I won’t spoil what happened in the match because I’d appreciate it if you could try to give the vlog a bit of a view which you can find below. A few weeks ago, I had an invite from Steve Alibone to attend Moulton FC, so, I had a quick look at their upcoming fixtures and found this tasty looking one! Steve was great, keeping in touch and assured me that he would show me around a bit on matchday, which is always reassuring when wanting different bits to film. Matchday arrives, I turn up, it’s cold but sunny, and park up, for a step 6 club there's quite a big car park outside the ground. As soon as I go in and introduce myself, I was made so welcome by everyone at the club. Often, I do get a little nervous but I talk loads to cover it up! Steve, as promised, showed me around the ground and the clubhouse which was really nice. I bumped into both managers and did my groundwork by arranging a pre and post match interview, which then gave me plenty of time to relax before kick off. I wanted to film the match from the main stand which would give me a view from slightly higher up but the sun shining straight at it put paid to that as the visual would be rubbish. The game came and went, some of it very exciting, and some less so, but I must admit, I enjoyed listening to the side line comments from fans and management. One particular lady, a lovely woman called Judy (she is featured on the vid having a pop at the ref), told me that her husband used to play at Middlesbrough with the one and only Brian Clough, but a broken leg put paid to her hubby’s pro career. So, after wrapping up the filming and barely being able to feel my fingers, I headed off home with the memories of a lovely afternoon at an even better club whirring in my head. I also must mention, that everyone who I spoke to at ON Chenecks were great too with me, and I hope to record there at the not to distant future. Just a quick warning, if you are easily offended by... erm… industrial language, best if you don’t watch it. I even got caught up in it, but edited my sweary Mary moment out! Here's the VLOG, Enjoy! Once again a big thankyou to Darren Ashley for sharing another great VLOG with us! You can watch all of Darren's VLOGS and other content by subscribing to his YouTube channel by clicking the following link. https://www.youtube.com/@dash7148

Last weekend me and my cousin did the Sheffield Weekender! We first visited Hillsborough the home of Sheffield Wednesday on the Saturday and then Bramall Lane, the home of Sheffield United on the Sunday. Saturdays opponents for the newly promoted Owls side who are currently in the relegation zone and fighting for safety was last season’s championship play-off finalists Coventry City who are firmly in the hunt for the play-offs once again. Hillsborough is a 39,732 seated stadium, opened in 1899 and was used for many FA Cup semi-finals over the years and hosted 4 games at the 1966 World Cup tournament. On Sunday, The Blades who are rock bottom and fighting for safety after gaining promotion last season to the Premier League face West Ham United the current European Conference League Champions and a team that has had a fantastic season so far but are facing an injury and AFCON crisis. Bramall Lane is a 32,050 seated stadium and was opened in 1855 and has been renovated and expanded over the years. We set off early doors from London on Saturday morning up to Sheffield, we parked the car near Hillsborough and when we got out of the car it was absolutely freezing! I had to put my gloves, hat, and my neck warmer on to keep me warm. As we walked towards the ground, I was filled with excitement on seeing this historic iconic stadium before me, a ground with its huge vast stands but one that is also sadly etched into history with the tragic loss of 97 Liverpool fans back in 1989 at the FA Cup Semi-Final against Nottingham Forest. Onto the game, firstly, I got my programme, if you know me, you'll know I'm a lover of football programmes and wherever I go I’ve got to have one! It cost £3 and the programme was a decent one and it had everything In It you could ask for! We then made our way into the club shop, it was tiny and a bit overpriced on everything, but I bought a keyring as I always usually buy something to remind me of my time at a new ground. Then we waited at the gates to see if any players would come by, and I was very fortunate to meet The Owls captain Barry Bannan! We had a lovely walk around the ground, and grabbed a burger which was very nice and was a decent price at £4. We headed up to the turnstiles which were proper old-fashioned and very different to what you see nowadays. The Stadium was stunning and old school which I like. I was seated in the Kop end which is the noisy stand and home to the Sheffield Wednesday barmy army with their drums and trumpets and when kick-off loomed it was filled up in good numbers. The players came out and the travelling Coventry city fans who were their in big numbers made their voices heard welcoming the Sky Blues onto the pitch before being drowned out by a rendition of “Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday!” The atmosphere was amazing from both sets of supporters and helped by the fact it was such an exciting game, I loved it and to be honest, the best team won by taking their chances with Coventry City winning the game by 2 goals to 1 with two great goals by Ben Sheaf that put Coventry fans into raptures and absolute Limbs! Sheffield Wednesday got a late goal back, but it was to little too late. Sadly, the match was overshadowed just before the end of the game when Coventry's Kasey Palmer was racially abused by a Sheffield Wednesday Supporter in the Kop end, there is no place for this anywhere in football or society and we hope the culprit is dealt with severely, we wish Kasey Palmer the very best and hope it doesn't affect him to much going forward. With the game finished we walked back to the car and travelled back to our hotel in the middle of city which was called OYO Flagship. We then headed out for dinner and had a great night out in Sheffield, if you haven't been before we fully recommend it! Sunday Morning, we woke up early to another cold Sheffield day on what was to be an Away Day for my beloved West Ham United! We had a good night's sleep, so after a quick shower and new clobber for the day we headed down for a bit of breakfast that wasn't much cop to be honest! We checked out and headed to the hotel car park dropped our bags in the boot and set off on what was a 25-minute walk to Bramall Lane and took in some of the sites of the beautiful city. We arrived at the ground and the outside was a bit odd, so we kept on walking around the stadium till we got to the main entrance, it looked amazing! We ventured into the club shop, and you know the drill by now as I bought another programme which was £3.50 and full of decent content, I also purchased another keyring similar to the one I bought at Sheffield Wednesday to keep as a souvenir. The shop itself was very decent and had cheaper prices than their City rival’s who are a Championship team! Afterwards, we did the same thing at Sheffield Wednesday and waited to see if the managers and players would stop before the game, and we met Blades manager Chris Wilder, new signing Ben Breton Diaz, and Gustavo Hamer sadly the Hammers players did not want to stop which was a disappointment. We then made our way around to away end and headed through the turnstile after having our tickets scanned and a quick search by the stewards. When I walked up the stairs, I was blown away, it was stunning, I loved the stadium and the stands were just like a sea of red in the Sheffield sunshine! With the stands starting to fill up we ventured onto the concourse with our fellow West Ham fans who were as noisy and vociferous as always on their travels, we then found our seats and settled down just in time for the teams to come out with the Sheffield United fans singing their famous anthem “Greasy Chip Butty” whilst the hammers gave a rendition of “I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.” It was a great atmosphere from both sets of supporters once again! The game was an entertaining one with plenty of drama including both teams going down to 10 men, the Hammers looked like they was going back to East London with all three points, but the referee made two big late calls, he gave Sheffield United a chance to equalise from the penalty spot 13 minutes into extra time, which they scored to make it 2-2 and then a minute later West Ham had a big appeal for a penalty of their own when Bowen looked like he had been fouled but the referee wasn't interested, like most weeks in the Premier League the refs and VAR caused plenty of debate and both of these incidents was certainly talked about by the press and on sky sports referee watch on Monday morning. After the game we waited to see the West Ham players get onto the coach and I met James Ward-Prowse, Danny Ings, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Aaron Cresswell, and Kevin Nolan as they were heading to their private taxis. Then we headed back to the car and hit the motorway towards home. We had a great weekend in Sheffield and I cannot wait for the next trip. Thanks for reading! Sheffield Wednesday 1 – 2 Coventry City – Attendance: 28,129 Sheffield United 2 – 2 West Ham Utd – Attendance: 29,164 By Bailey Howard Thanks for sharing your weekend Ground hop double header in Sheffield with us Bailey!

I'm a season ticket holder for tier 9 team Redhill FC who play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South at Step 5 of the non-league pyramid and play their home games at Kiln Brow. Although I wasn't at the game this week away to the Jersey Bulls, I was their last week at the home game to bottom of the table but much improved Colliers Wood where Redhill won 1-0. This game will always be remembered as it was the first game I turned up dressed as a Lobster! 🦞 Yes, I know what your are all now thinking... what possessed me to go to football dressed as a sea creature! Some of you may not be aware that Redhill FC's nickname is "The Lobsters" a name that came into regular use in 1994 when a competition was held for people to think up a nickname for Redhill which would be more original than "The Reds". A local woman won the vote, after also naming a large toy lobster which was present at many home games called "Clawdius" The week before the Colliers Wood game Redhill's match was postponed so we went to watch another local side Merstham FC play and I noticed they had a mascot. After 4 beers I turned to my brother and said Redhill Football Club should also have a mascot! so I promptly went on Amazon and ordered a lobster suit! The new Lobster Mascot was a huge success and was welcomed by the other fans at the game with one young supporter giving me his pocket money to donate to a local hospital charity called SASH, https://www.sashcharity.org/ Here's the video of me arriving! Although the new nickname was believed to have started as I mentioned earlier in this post, it is believed that the nickname 'Lobsters' had been used long before the competition. In a 1928 Redhill FC handbook, "The Lobsters" was mentioned in the club's brief history and it is popular belief that the inspiration for the name came from the kit the club used in its very early days (which was still red & white stripes). When shirt manufacturing was not as it is today, the colours in the heavy cotton material would often bleed together after washing and the shirt would become a red-pinkish lobster colour! Redhill FC play their home games at Kiln Brow in Redhill, Surrey, Redhill were moved to the ground in 1984, following over 80 years at the Memorial Sports Ground. Kiln Brow boasts a 162-seat stand, a clubhouse with licensed bar and function hall, modern changing room facilities, a canteen, museum and a club shop. Kiln Brow was granted its E grading, making the club eligible for promotion to step 4, in March 2010. The Lobsters are having a good season and find themselves just outside the playoffs with games in hand and last Saturday saw them get a very good 0-0 draw away to Jersey Bulls. Redhill's next home game is on Saturday February 3rd against Knaphill FC, so if you want to see a Lobster in the stands get yourself down their! A big thankyou to Tim Cooper 'The Redhill Lobster' for sharing this with us!

So, for my weekly Non League vlog, the destination was Rugby Town FC last Saturday for their vital bottom of the table clash vs AFC Rushden and Diamonds. After contacting the club midweek, the very helpful Neil Melvin was great in answering every question I needed answering. Matchday! It was a bit of a nervous wait in the morning as to whether the match would go ahead what with the freezing weather conditions across the country so I had a few back up matches in reserve just in case. Thankfully, at the 10.30am pitch inspection the pitch was declared good to go, so I was happy with that and I set off. I arrived at the ground ridiculously early, and the only people there at that time were a coach load of Oldham Athletic fans who had decided to attend the game after their trip to Eastleigh was postponed on route! Footage of Oldham fans deciding to divert to Rugby Town. (credited to @BradleyKnowles on X) I had a chat to a couple of them, and the coach driver was the one who held my phone as I filmed my opening link to the vlog! After that, I hung around a bit outside as the players were starting to arrive. I made a beeline to a fella in a Rushden & Diamond tracksuit and asked him would it be ok to do a quick interview… I had no idea he was their captain! and, of course, as this is Non League, he obliged! After that, I had a nose around Rugby Town’s Butlin Road ground, which, I have to say, is very very impressive. I actually bumped into Neil, and he kindly showed me around the dressing rooms and arranged another interview, this time with a Rugby Town player... actually, a club legend as he is their all time leading goal scorer! After all that filming, I had loads of time before kick off, where I was talking to plenty of people, notably David , who’s 17 year old son Devonn had just moved to Rugby Town on a months loan from Stratford Town FC. He was telling me how emotional he got when his son scored for STFC on Boxing Day, which was a very poignant day for the club, due to the first anniversary of a tragedy. So, onto the match, and, as I always say, I won’t spoil what happened as I would like you to have a look at the vlog at the end of the post. Full time then, and my fingers are absolutely freezing, I made my way down to pitch side where I managed to nab a couple more interviews, and a good off camera chat with R & D club photographer Shaun. I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon out at Rugby Town, I found it such a friendly place, and the atmosphere was really good… I believe it was actually their best attendance of the season, with plenty of away fans dotted all over the ground, and, of course, the Oldham fans! So, if you have never done a ground hop at Rugby Town, I would strongly recommend it, and, if anyone is reading this and is connected to R& D, I would love to do a vlog there too. Thanks for reading! A big thankyou to Darren Ashley for sharing this with us on our Proper Football Groundhopping page, you can watch all of Darren's other content on his YouTube channel and please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/@dash7148

We had the pleasure of meeting the 1960s and 70s football great and Nottingham Forest legend Ian Storey Moore for the second time on our recent visit to Carlton Town Football Club. We have to say Ian is one of the nicest guys you could wish to meet, a very humble man and extremely approachable and more than happy to talk at length about the game. The recently released book about Ian called "Give it to Moore, He Will Score!" tells the full story of Moore’s life and career with the authors drawing on their extensive interviews with him, his personal scrapbooks and their own first-hand memories in this authorised biography. Ian's career started at Nottingham Forest in 1962 aged 17, he was predominantly a left winger and scored 105 league goals for the Reds in 236 appearances and earned one cap for England during this spell. Moore’s sensational on-off transfer to Derby County for a British record fee was front-page news and left Brian Clough unable to speak to him for two decades! He opted to move to Manchester United in 1972, but his league career was sadly brought to an early end by injury in 1974. He went on to play for non-league Burton Albion, as well as North American Soccer League side Chicago Sting and later served as player-manager for Shepshed Charterhouse, and for Burton Albion in his third spell at the club, before becoming chief scout at Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa. We received a copy of the book from the great man himself and we have to say its a fantastic read! Even if you’re not a follower of Nottingham Forest or Manchester United its a wonderful book about a football icon who played with the likes of Law. Best, Charlton and many many more. We interviewed Ian when we first met him at Carlton Town on what was National Non-League Day in March last year and his enthusiasm for football was as strong as ever and his admiration for Non-League football was clearly evident and he is a regular visitor to watch and support his local side. We can only reiterate that Ian is one of the nicest fellas you could meet and will do anything for you and is a living legend to many, and we look forward to having him as a guest to talk about his career and his book on our brand new 'Proper Football The Podcast' which is coming very soon. You can find "Give it to Moore, He Will Score!" by clicking the link, we fully recommend it! Coming soon!

On Saturday, we took the opportunity to go and visit our very good friends at Carlton Town FC who play in the Northern Premier League Division One East, the eighth tier of the English football pyramid. Last season when we visited the Nottingham-based club they were fighting a relegation battle but by winning their last game of the season they successfully stayed up! On our visit last Saturday It was very clear to see the tables had turned and they are now in the running for a play-off position. What a great turnaround for the club! Saturday's game at Stoke Lane saw them get a 2-1 win over strugglers Winterton Rangers Football Club with a last-minute brilliantly taken headed goal by Khyle Sargent, this result has now pushed the Millers up to 4th spot and firmly in the hunt for a playoff position. Their was a decent crowd of 255 fans in attendance who paid the very affordable price of £10 for adults £8 cons and U16s just £2. As always, it was a pleasure to visit Carlton Town, a club who are embedded into the local community and just like our previous visits they went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and a part of the club. The membership-owned club is run superbly well by some amazing people who give up their spare time to support their local grassroots club and has a proper family feel about the place. We had a chance to get the views of Carlton Town manager Tommy Brookbanks on todays win and and also asked him what has been the main reason for the teams remarkable up turn in form compared to last seasons relegation battle. Carlton Town kindly gave us the opportunity to have a Q&A in the clubhouse with the supporters to share what our Proper Football concept is about, the reason we started and what we stand for, we was overwhelmed with the reception and that many of the Millers fans in attendance agreed with us... top flight football has lost the fans and its soul, we have lost the connection we once had with our beloved boyhood clubs and its the reason why many of us are finding solace at our local non-league football clubs which in-turn has reignited the flame that was going out and why we now feel part of something, something that doesn't line the pockets of some fat cat far away owner or unscrupulous businessman with ulterior motives who doesn't care for the club and is chasing the carrot that is the Premier League cash cow, we now feel worthy and respected and most importantly of all a vital part of a local football club that has its best interests for the community at heart. We very much look forward to another visit to Carlton Town later in the season to catch up with the wonderful people who run the club and all of the volunteers and supporters of the Millers who are a vital cog in the wheel! A big thank you to Carlton Town Chairman Mick Garton who also took time to have a chat with us after the game. If you live in the local area get yourself down their and become part of something special, and fingers crossed it will be to witness a push for promotion!

Ramsgate Football Club are the lowest-ranked team left in this year's FA Cup. They are one step away from reaching the 3rd round for the first time in their history but in their way are one of the most famous giant killers in the history of the competition, AFC Wimbledon, who under their previous guise beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Cup final back in 1988 against all the odds. Ramsgate have sold out their allocation of 1500 tickets and 20 coach loads of Rams will be packing out the away end in South West London! The Rams play at level 8 of the football pyramid in the Isthmian League South East Division and currently sit a the the top of the division winning 10 of 12 games and with only one loss so far this season. They have won six games on their Cup journey, including an impressive 2-1 victory over Woking of the National League in the 1st round. Ramsgate FC is one of the largest non-League clubs in Kent, and last season fielded 78 senior and youth teams, and for 2023/24 again includes 3 for women and 10 for girls as well as 2 senior men’s teams comprising the 1st Team and Under 23s. The current club restarted in 1945 after the ban on football in east Kent during World War 2 was lifted, and originally called Ramsgate Athletic have played at the Southwood Stadium continuously ever since. The Southwood Stadium now has a capacity of 3,500 but the largest crowd registered at the ground was 5,038 for the visit of local rivals Margate in 1955. They made Club history when they reached the 1st Round Proper of the FA Cup for the first time in 1955, narrowly losing 5-3 at Watford (a record that stood for 50 years before reaching that round again). This fantastic picture below (credited to Peter Griffiths) was of his 17-year-old Dad (front right) working on the 1955 Cup special steam train vs Watford! In tradition with the FA Cup Ramsgate FC have also had an FA Cup song made for them with the “Our Road to Wimbledon FA Cup song” performed by Luke J Dorman and the SuperMicks called “Ramsgate Are Massive” The album is now available to download here; https://ramsgatefc.bandcamp.com/album/road-to-wimbledon All money raised will go to the Brooklyn Bain fundraiser for Ramsgate youngster Brooklyn who was diagnosed with a brain tumour called Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma which is sadly a very aggressive type of incurable childhood cancer. Details can be found here; https://www.gofundme.com/f/brooklyn-and-family We wish Ramsgate FC and all their fans the best for the game and fingers crossed the magic of the greatest Cup competition in world football shines down on them tonight with a 3rd round home tie against Championship high flyers Ipswich Town waiting in the wings. Let's hope for a repeat of these scenes from the round before!

Cray Wanderers London's oldest football club celebrated a landmark moment on Friday night in South East London when the floodlights were switched on for the first time at their new ground at Flamingo Park. Cray Wanderers FC was formed in 1860 when migrant workers, building the Cray Valley railway viaduct, teamed up with villagers from St. Mary Cray for a “lunchtime kick about”. Little did these early footballing pioneers realise that what started out as a bit of fun would still be going strong over 163 years later. The Wands have never owned their own stadium and have been groundsharing Bromley’s Hayes Lane ground since 1999 after their former base at Oxford Road, Sidcup failed ground grading criteria as it didn’t have planning permission to install floodlighting – a situation that is still present to this day. The club who play in the Isthmian League Premier Division (level 7) have played outside the Crays area for just over 50 years and work began on building their new stadium on the A20 Sidcup bypass back in August this year after planning permission was granted for a 1,300-capacity stadium. The facility will have two new community 3G sports pitches, the reinstatement and relocation of three existing grass football pitches, as well as a bar, changing rooms, classrooms, a gym and a museum at the Flamingo Park site. To help fund this scheme, two four-storey blocks with 28 two-bedroom flats were also proposed as enabling development. The club hope to be playing at their new stadium at Flamingo Park at the start of the 2024-25 season. Welcome home Cray!