Top stuff SZ, congrats on coming of age.
I may have used and even abused it a little (not much) over the years, but it carries on as the best fans forum by far out there.
The Zone's ultimate accolade was perhaps a deserved mention in the 'good book' (no Cricko, I'm not plugging it, given up on that for something else
)
For a little 'treat', here is the extract. Thanks SZ, I can safely say that you've had an impact (a positive one) on life.
"45/92 - MEADOW LANE, Notts County 1 Southend United 2, League Two, Saturday 18 September 2004
Surfing the net is now an established part of the footie experience – club sites, fanzones, news feeds, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube …… it’s all there, part fact, part fiction, part rant. You can see it, watch it, say it and buy it.
Scan through Twitter and you might find 426 folk with nothing else to do other than participate in a debate on corner flags ……. or a bit more usefully you could just find out that the place you were going to meet up next Saturday is closed and so you sort out a problem before its happened. Join Facebook and you can somewhat weirdly follow a group on football mascots …….. or you can use it to track down friends from long ago and then meet up again at the footie as though the decades in between were just an interlude to accumulate grey hairs. Look on eBay and you will find someone who has been digging up his own lawn and passing it off as the hallowed turf that Robbie Fowler once sniffed ….. or you might just find that genuine one missing gem from your programme collection that you pick up at an absolute bargain (as the seller never really thought that anyone else in the world would ever be interested in acquiring the scribe on Workington Town versus Barrow from 1969).
From a personal perspective the use of a Southend United chat forum (Shrimperzone) has opened up a whole new community of folk who, yes, rant and moan a bit (there is a health warning to avoid it after a defeat if you have any suicidal tendencies), but who do really care about the club and will help their fellow fans. For the exile its use is almost essential – through kind fellow Shrimpers I previously didn’t know I’ve obtained tickets I otherwise could not get, found out about fan meeting places I would otherwise have missed, used it to sell items I could no longer use, received information that’s helped make travel easier and cheaper, joined up with club events I’d otherwise never have heard about …… the list is a long one. Above all though it’s been a forum to chat with and meet others and, spotting there was another fan marooned like me in Suffolk, we made contact and agreed to meet up at Meadow Lane.
I took Jim with me (for protection) and did a quick tour of Nottingham’s sporting trilogy before going to the game - Trent Bridge where we entered for free and briefly sampled Nottinghamshire versus the mighty Essex entertaining around 32 lost souls, and The City Ground where I attempted to explain to Jim just what a character Mr Clough was. It was then just a 275 yard walk round to our target for the day of Meadow Lane.
The home of the Magpies had been completely rebuilt during the preceding decade into a neat modern stadium, perhaps bringing in to question why clubs feel the need that only a new site will do to adequately build hospitality boxes and function rooms for focusing on everything bar football. Meadow Lane provides all a club could now want for widening the net to catch your pound, even something called the ‘Celebration of Life’, though when you delve further it is somewhat disappointingly a finger buffet for £7.95 + VAT.
Once inside you are faced with blocks of black seats on all four sides, each with large lettering displays or magpie emblems to leave you in no doubt where you are. It’s smart yet a bit docile, like some kind of giant Hummer, only spoilt when fans start to gather with their multi coloured shirts and flags to rev the place up. Sitting amongst them was fellow Shrimperzoner Andy and we instantly struck up a supporter’s rapport which would lead to many future trips to grounds far away. When you’re driving to places like Morecambe it’s good to have someone to distract from the endless motorway tarmac, and when you go 200 miles before you even think of turning on the radio it’s a sign of a good conversational journey.
A double strike from our centre half and genuine love-the-badge thumper Adam Barrett put the seal on a very decent day."