Fascinating Facts About Fleetwood

A little too late for anyone actually planning to travel to the game, but after literally minutes of detailed research, here we go.

Fleetwood, pop 26,000, a former fishing port on the Lancashire coast can trace its origins back to Roman times but was a quiet backwater until a local landowner decided to build it up into a town in the 1800's. The idea was to make it a major terminus for trains connecting to ferries to Scotland and Ireland. Great care was taken in planning an attractive new town, only for the railways to bypass Fleetwood on their way north, and the landowner uttered a Victorian version of "D'oh!".

However, plan B was to develop the harbour into a major fishing port and that enabled Fleetwood to prosper for a while. It also explains Fleetwood Town FC's nickname 'The Cod Army' - possibly the only club nickname that could serve equally well as a fanzine title. Sadly, on a related note, Blackpool's all time top scorer Jimmy Hampson ended his career in novel fashion in 1938, when he drowned off Fleetwood in a sailing accident.

Fleetwood also evolved into an upmarket resort, as a deliberate contrast to its brash cousin Blackpool a few miles down the coast. Today the two are still linked by a tram line but have little else in common apart from a lousy climate - certainly any stag parties looking for raucous thrills in Fleetwood might be disappointed. However Fleetwood isn't entirely dull - it boasts one of the largest model yacht ponds in Europe! And our visit today coincides with the annual pop festival Fleetwoodstock - which is exactly like Glastonbury except with acts you've never heard of.

Finally, we have to mention Fleetwood's most celebrated resident. Born Cyril Mead in 1942, he found fame as a thin chap in glasses who tried to sing a song in a reedy voice whilst a fat man interrupted with bad jokes and impersonations of a host of characters ranging from Telly Savalas to Kojak. Who else but Syd 'Supersonic' Little. Yes children, that was Saturday night entertainment at its best circa 1979.

Strangely, the public eventually tired of this hilarious double act, and Syd shuffled off into early retirement whilst his partner still occasionally pops up to crack a feeble one liner about Manchester City.