Paul Hince takes in a day in the North West Counties League:
‘Last Saturday afternoon in a monsoon more suitable to Lahore than Leek, I parked up outside Harrison Park. I was there to watch Leek CSOB play their opening match of the new season in the Moore and Company Construction Solicitors North West Counties League. What a mouthful that is. An entire paragraph just to record the name of the team and the league they play in.
‘To make any sense at all from what you are about the read, you need to know something about Leek CSOB. They are not, it has to be said, the best supported club in the country. Their record attendance at Harrison Park prior to Saturday was 238. Their average gate last season was 70 - plus, in the words of club secretary Stan Lockett "two dogs and a stray cat".
‘On Saturday, that attendance record at Harrison Park moved up a few notches. Well, more than a few notches in truth. Two thousand five hundred paying customers squeezed themselves into that little stadium. Not only a new record for Harrison Park but for the entire North West Counties League.
‘Of course the Old Boys' opponents on day one may have had something to do with that abnormally large attendance. For the overwhelming majority of that 2,500 crowd had made the same trip to Leek on Saturday afternoon that I had. They had come to support the team wishing to be known as `FC United of Manchester' playing their first-ever competitive match of football.
‘And those breakaway fans at Harrison Park on Saturday? Exactly what it said on the label. Noisy, boisterous, good-humoured. A credit to themselves and a credit to their new club.
‘They stood together, they cheered together and they sang together. This, they claim, is how football should be watched and enjoyed. And this is one ageing fan who wouldn't disagree with any part of that sentiment.
‘You might care to know that one song from the Red rebels was heard above all others: "I don't care about Rio. He don't care about me. All I care about is watching FC." Says what those fans were doing in Leek in the first place, don't you think?
‘Harrison Park, Leek, on Saturday was the first small step on the journey stretching out in front of FC United. Where that adventure will take this new club only time will tell. But something tells me it's going to be fun getting there.’