Goonerholics Forever

And so to Highbury for our Fourth Round Carabao Cup tie.

No, dear reader, we are not time-travelling, but voyaging to the Fylde, specifically, the northwestern corner of that west Lancashire coastal plain. There, wedged between the Irish Sea and the River Wyre, lies the early Victorian port and seaside resort of Fleetwood, founded by Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, landowner, baronet, MP and translator of Victor Hugo. 

Barely a mile from the town’s semi-circular North Euston Hotel, which Sir Peter built in 1840-41 to serve rail passengers between London and Scotland who had to switch from train to boat at Fleetwood to complete their journey, as early engines were thought incapable of traversing the Lake District’s fells — Queen Victoria was one such traveller in 1847 — lies Highbury Stadium, home to our opponents on Tuesday evening, League Two’s Fleetwood Town, the Cods.

And, yes, they also play in red and white.

Out of the mud

Highbury Stadium opened in 1939, long after advances in Victorian railway engineering had reduced Sir Peter to penury. It took its name from Highbury Avenue, which ran alongside Memorial Park, where the ground was laid out. 

A novel camber, like that of a crown bowls green, was built from 25,000 pieces of turf to avoid the notorious waterlogging of the club’s old seafront pitch on the site of a former barracks square and swimming pool behind the North Euston Hotel. One local councillor described it as ankle-deep in mud (the pitch, not the hotel). A former player, England full-back Herbert Jones, called it the worst he had played on. Given the general state of pitches in the 1930s, it must have been atrocious.

Highbury Stadium was also a municipal economic development scheme. In addition to providing local youngsters with opportunities to play the game, the town’s corporation wanted to keep their fathers spending their money locally on Saturday afternoons and evenings, rather than in nearby Blackpool and Preston, both of which offered the lure of First Division football. 

The corporation also hoped that the ground would attract First Division clubs for seaside training, putting money in local hotels and attracting more holidaymakers. One model could have been Herbert Chapman taking his Arsenal teams to train at Brighton’s old Goldstone Ground in Hove, with the town using the visits to promote tourism.

The ground cost the corporation £4,000 to lay out, equivalent to £340.000 in today’s money. However, it balked at paying for stands and dressing rooms, saying local supporters should stump up some money, too. In May 1939, the club voted to become a private company with capital of £2,000 to fund the building work. 

However, the 24,000 inhabitants of Fleetwood subscribed only half the hoped-for capital. In July, the corporation provided a further £1,000 towards grandstands and cut the rent by more than half, as part of a £90,000 five-year town improvement plan that World War would soon render moot.

Small-town football club finances were as brutal then as now. To pay its annual rent and rates to its corporation landlord and cover its other costs of playing in the Lancashire Combination, the club would need a match-day gate of £46 at its new home; in its final season at North Euston, it averaged £22 10s (£22.50 for younger ‘holics who may need to google the pre-1950 usage of LSD) and recorded an annual loss of £96.

Thus, it may not surprise you that the club is now in its fourth incarnation since its founding in 1908, with the previous three folding due to financial difficulties. Its amateur predecessor had disbanded in 1899. History is prologue.

Matt Lawlor

Fleetwood’s head coach is Matt Lawlor, who was born five miles south in Poulton-Le-Fylde, as was The Police’s guitarist Andy Summers. 

Now 38, Lawlor has been coaching since he was 26, combining training disadvantaged kids in Manchester with a playing career in non-league football. In 2019, at 32, he hung up his boots and joined Fleetwood as a youth coach. 

He has since held several roles with the club and its Irish sister club, Waterford, including spells as caretaker manager at both. He was appointed Fleetwood’s caretaker head coach for the third time in January, following Pete Wild’s sacking, and was confirmed in the role in March. He is said to be being tactically astute and a strong motivator. He comes across as likeable and grounded. A future at a higher level seems likely.

With early-season defensive resilience deserting them, Fleetwood sit 18th in League Two with 14 points from 13 games after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Exeter City. The trapdoor to non-league football lies just two points below.

The opposition

The Cods’ squad mixes journeymen old pros with flotsam and jetsam from the academies of bigger clubs — Zech Medley, formerly of this parish, was one such before moving to York City in the summer — and young loanees who still cling to the dream. Its average age is 24. Spoiler alert for BtM: there are two full internationals.

Lawlor favours setting up in a 3-1-4-2, although that will likely look like a 5-4-1 for most of Tuesday’s tie. 

Jay Lynch, a 33-year-old Mancunian who came through Bolton’s ranks, is first-choice glove-butler. Lawlor says he hates soft defending and there will be no mullarkey in front of Lynch. Centre-back Toby Mullarkey is on loan at Carlisle United.

The back three will likely comprise Shaun Rooney, a 30-year-old Scot who has won domestic cups with St Johnstone and is in his second spell at Fleetwood after being released by St Mirren in 2024; Rhys Bennett, a 22-year-old who made his loan from Man U’s U-21s a permanent move in January; and Finley Potter, also 22, who joined Fleetwood in 2024 from Sheffield Utd’s U-21s after a year on loan at Barnet. Potter has three England U-18 caps.

The trio have yet to concede a goal in three Carabao Cup ties (v Chesterfield, Shrewsbury and Sheffield United).

Jake Batty, a 21-year-old Scouser who came through Blackburn’s Academy and has three England U-17 caps, will likely play left wingback. His regular counterpart on the right, Lewis McCann, is suspended, creating an opportunity for one of two home-grown youngsters, 20-year-old Crispin McLean and 19-year-old Raff Cirino, Blackburn-born and a two-cap full international for Montserrat.

Another Sheffield Utd youth product, 25-year-old Harrison Neal, is usually the single pivot in Lawlor’s 3-1-4-2, but he will likely be paired with Ireland U-21 international Adam Murphy, on loan from Bristol City. The midfield will be completed by Mark Helm, a 25-year-old who came through two academies, at Man U and then Burnley. There will be no virtue in Fleetwood’s midfield; Matty Virtue moved to Swindon Town in the Summer.

Up front, Ronan Coughlan, a 30-year-old Irishman who had previously played his senior football in the Republic, will likely lead the line. He is the club’s leading goal scorer this season with five. 

Completing the starting XI will most likely be Ched Evans, the 37-year-old club captain with 13 Wales caps, although he has not played international football since a conviction for rape in 2012 that was expunged after he was found not guilty at a retrial in 2016. He was an unused Manchester City sub when we lost 3-0 at the Etihad in 2008.

If Lawlor wants younger legs, he could start Will Davies, a 27-year-old Ipswichian who joined last year from Sutton and is the team’s token Southerner. If he decides to bolster his midfield, the nod could go to Josh Robertson, a promising midfielder on loan from Brighton who captained the Seagulls’ U-21s to the Premier League 2 title last season.

For the bench, Lawlor also has recent England U-18 forward Aaron Loupalo-Bi, on loan from Fulham; Josh Thomas, a former Wales U-21 striker returning from injury; and Danny Andrews, a 35-year-old defender now in his third spell at Fleetwood, his 13th club after 10 free transfers and five loans. Such is life in the lower leagues.

The Arsenal

Naming our starting XI is a mug’s game. This mug’s guess:

Arrizabalaga
Timber, Salmon, Mosquera, Hincapié
Guimaraēs, Zubimendi
Dowman, Merino, Eze
Gyökeres

We should beat a team 85 places below us in the league pyramid, regardless of the side Arteta selects. Conditions will be very windy and possibly wet; Highbury will be full to its 5,327 capacity for the first time in over a decade; Lawlor will have his Cods pieces up for it (Matron!); and cup upsets happen. Yet the gulf in quality should see us through to the last eight by a margin of three or four goals.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.