The Anonymous Widower

Is It Time To Get Even? – 92 Clubs By Public Transport Alphabetically in a Calendar Month

There’s an old saying about not getting mad, but getting even.

I’ve had a basketful of bad luck over the last few years, what with losing my wife of forty years and son to cancer and then suffering a couple of strokes. So perhaps now is the time to do something to wipe the slate clean and see if I can buy off the Devil who is bugging me. I had thought about perhaps doing something like riding my bicycle to Moscow, like Carol Thatcher did, but she is a lot braver and fitter than I am.

I’d much prefer to do something to raise money that for most of the time had me sitting in a comfortable chair and that at night allowed me to sleep most nights in my own bed.

The task, if I will accept it, is to visit all the 92 Premier and Football League grounds in alphabetical order in one calendar month, using only trains, trams, buses and Shanks’s pony. I thought about adding allowing bicycles and hitch-hiking, but I’m probably not up to the former yet and nobody ever does the second these days. Taxis are definitely out, except in an emergency.

I have created a spreadsheet of all the teams and it looks like it will be possible to do it in a 31-day month.

October, this year would be a good choice as on the 1st, Aldershot, who are second alphabetically, play Accrington Stanley who are first.  So hopefully, I could visit the match and then get a lift back to Aldershot on a supporters coach, just in time to get a train back to London and do Arsenal on the way home.

On the other hand there are some interesting days, where several clubs are close to each other both in alphabetic order and geographically or easier to get between. There are.

1. 3rd – Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool and Bolton
2. 15th – Liverpool, Macclesfield, Manchester City, Manchester United and then on to Middlesbrough
3. 17th – Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Notts County, Nottingham Forest and then on to Oldham
4. 21st – Rotherham, Scunthorpe, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and then on to Shrewbury
5. 23rd – Swansea, Swindon, Torquay and then back to Tottenham.

Other than the Accrington-Aldershot match, there would appear to be games on the 15th at Macclesfield, the 22nd at Stevenage and perhaps it will all end on the 29th at Yeovil.

Obviously any money I raise will go to Liverpool University to help with research into pancreatic cancer. I will be setting up a page on Just Giving soon. Hopefully there are people who might like to sponsor the odd day.

At a first glance there are a few difficult teams.

1. Bournemouth
2. Bradford
3. Colchester
4. Coventry
5. Crawley Town
6. Doncaster
7. Oxford United
8. Plymouth
9. Port Vale
10. Shrewsbury
11. Stoke
12. Swindon
13. Torquay
14. Yeovil

Any help on buses or walking routes for these would be appreciated.  Lifts, although I’m grateful for the thought, are not allowed.

The irony is that I don’t think this would have been possible for me, until this year, as now Marks and Spencer’s now have stagetically placed pit-stops in many stations, where I can get wholesome gluten-free sandwiches to speed me on my way.

Here is a provisional schedule.

1. 1st – Accrington, Aldershot and Arsenal
2. 2nd – Aston Villa, Barnet and Barnsley
3. 3rd – Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool and Bolton
4. 4th – Bournemouth and Bradford
5. 5th – Brentford, Brighton, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers
6. 6th – Burnley, Burton Albion and Bury
7. 7th – Cardiff and Carlisle
8. 8th – Charlton, Chelsea, Cheltenham and Chesterfield
9. 9th – Colchester, Coventry and Crawley Town
10. 10th – Crewe, Crystal Palace and Dagenham and Redbridge
11. 11th – Derby, Doncaster, Everton and Exeter
12. 12th – Fulham, Gillingham, and Hartlepool
13. 13th – Hereford, Huddersfield and Hull
14. 14th – Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester and Leyton Orient
15. 15th – Liverpool, Macclesfield, Manchester City, Manchester United
16. 16th – Middlesbrough, Millwall and Milton Keynes
17. 17th – Morecambe and Newcastle
18. 18th – Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham Forest and Notts County
19. 19th – Oldham, Oxford United and Peterborough
20. 20th – Plymouth and Port Vale
21. 21st – Portsmouth and Preston
22. 22nd – QPR, Reading, Rochdale and Rotherham
23. 23rd – Scunthorpe, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Shrewsbury
24. 24th – Southampton, Southend, Stevenage and Stoke
25. 25th – Sunderland and Swansea
26. 26th – Swindon, Torquay and Tottenham
27. 27th – Tranmere, Walsall, Watford, West Brom and West Ham
28. 28th – Wigan, AFC Wimbledon, Wolverhampton and Wycombe
29. 29th – Yeovil

September 3, 2011 Posted by AnonW | Health, Transport/Travel | 92 Clubs, Buses, Cancer, Charity, Trains, Walking | 32 Comments