Farewell 2009 ...

So - another year bites the dust ... in fact another decade bites the dust ... hard to believe it was ten years ago at the "minellium" when Andy Wood proposed to Lynne in our back yard at 0015 !!!

Its certainly been a roller-coaster year here at "Six Tame Sides HQ" - so here's a quick "thrown together post" - got back from Bolton Octagon after watching "Oliver Twist" with Mrs Smiffy and her mum at tea-time and am now flitting 'twixt family and laptop !!

Highlights - Family first - the Smiffy's made it to "25 years not out" in the marriage stakes - and we had a helluva seven day party to celebrate same in a posh Elizabethan Manor House hired for the occasion. A couple of excellent other holidays as well in Britanny (summer) and Kefalonia (a "b*ll*x to redundancy" break in October) Plenty of football highlights as well - probably the biggest being getting a photographer's pass for the FA Vase Final at Wembley between Glossop North End and Whitley Bay and everything that went with it ... that was some day for me - shame the result went the wrong way though ! Other football photo highlights include getting some stuff in newspapers - Ilkeston Advertiser and Ashton Reporter (with credits !), "Non League Paper" (no credit !), and on websites other than my own (for example, www.asktameside.co.uk - with credits). Shame that the Tameside Advertiser ended the year by basically "nicking" one of my pix with no credit - still awaiting a reply on that one !! Also nice to see the new "wall hangings" at Stalybridge Celtic Social Club last Monday (some "blown up" pictures of mine taken at the Alfreton game are now adorning the walls). The "collapse and resurrection" of Mossley AFC off the pitch during the summer was quite a relief - thanks to the hard work of many there's still football five minutes up the road for me !! Naturally some games/results come to mind - Mossley beating Brackley, and getting a draw at Ilkeston - seeing Stalybridge beating Hinckley, and the Alfreton game - sometimes not just the football but the whole "day out" as well (yes I'm talking about train trips and real ale !)

Lowlights - Redundancy naturally, and the realisation that no-one is safe these days and that management can treat people like sh*t because we've allowed them to (Thatcher started to kill the unions - and it's followed on from there. When people start moaning about the actions of Royal Mail/BA employees, they should really be looking at themselves and their fellow co-workers who for one reason or another decided that a tenner a month for union membership was better spent elsewhere - fortunately (in my eyes anyway) there are still some properly unionised workplaces who CAN and WILL look after the welfare of the workers - and it's when the management of these places attempt to bully in the same fashion as the non-unionised places ... that's when the conflict arises ... but I ramble ... football disappointments include seeing the state of Marston Road (Stafford Rangers) in 2009 - a far cry from the glory days of the 1970s; defeats for Mossley by Ilkeston - and Salford City not that long ago come to (immediate) mind, and of course Glossop's defeat at Wembley. We've lost a few good people to war, illness and old age this year - Cpl Joey Etchells (Mossley/Afghanistan), Tony Kempster (the non-league "guru"), Derek Howard and Phil Heap (Mossley) and Graham O'Neil (Ashton United) to name but a few ... I've surely missed many others - for which I apologise - but we should all take a moment tonight to think about those who won't be here to see 2010 ...

Enough of this ...a big thank you to everyone who keeps supporting this blog - that mouse-click means a lot to me - OK not the most erudite at times, often half-baked "stream of consciousness" type rubbish (with added pictures !!) and probably a few too many expletives at times (!), but football-wise I always aim to "get it up" (oo-err) ASAP, so you have to take the rough with the rough !! A Happy New Year to you all, and fingers crossed that when we all wake up - late - tomorrow ... there's some football to go to ... PLEASE !!!

Best wishes from Smiffy.
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