Ringing out the old...

Can we really be about to enter the 2020s? Already?  It really doesn’t feel that long since we anxiously watched the seconds tick down to midnight on December 31, 1999, convinced that our microwaves were about to stop working, our DVD players would need resetting, and – oh yes – planes would fall out of the sky and the world would end. As time spins on with dizzying speed we will soon be getting used to referring to ‘the Twenties’ without immediately conjuring up images of flappers, gangsters, Al Jolson and the Wall St Crash. If that’s enough to make you need a lie down, you’re not alone.

The 2010’s were the decade that gave us austerity, Brexit, President Trump and Mrs Brown’s Boys. And what future historians will simply refer to as the Wicksteed Park Meeting. In a way that was our Brexit moment - the night that put us on a course that was divisive and likely to be hugely influential for years to come. We all have our memories of those marvellous, exciting times at Nene Park. As a personal favourite, I can’t choose between JP and Moses being sent off for twatting each other, and the regularity with which the scoreboard showed us a goal down before the clock (two minutes slow) had even reached 03.00. Happy days!  It all lead inevitably to Bashley and what felt like the end. At our darkest hour one man stood up and made a statement of defiance. That man was Martin Bellamy and the statement was the beer keg he announced was open for business the following Saturday afternoon. So long as somewhere in the world a Poppies pint was still being pulled, there was hope. Perhaps a pint was in Martin’s plans that weekend in any event – who can say? – but in my mind this was a defining moment.

So as we reach the end of an eventful decade it’s worth remembering that yes Latimer Park is a dump and we all wish we could somehow plonk York St down on the edge of Kettering, as it seems Boston won’t be needing it any more, but keeping the faith these last few years has given us far more good times than bad.  Some might go for Stourbridge or the equally late win against Diamonds, but if I had to pick one moment from the decade it would be Elliot Sandy’s late, late equaliser at Rugby. It was the first game after we came back from the dead that truly felt like old times, with a good and noisy support in a decent ground and everyone going mental at the end. We were back, and still are.