Match Information

• Wolverhampton Casuals 2-1 Tividale

• When: Saturday 13th August 2022

• Kick-off: 3pm

• Where: Brinsford Stadium, Brinsford Lane, Coven Heath, Wolverhampton, WV10 7PR

• Competition: Midland League Premier Division 

• Attendance: 63

I have been to Wolverhampton several times in the past for groundhopping adventures and it is a real hotbed of football.

Obviously, the main club in this area are Wolverhampton Wanderers. My first trip to Molineux was when I was at school completing visits to all the 92 League grounds.

Since then, I’ve been back to the region to take in fixtures at Wolverhampton Sporting Community FC and Wolverhampton United FC.

Therefore it was high time for me to make another 225 mile round trip so that I could witness a match at Wolverhampton Casuals.

Roadworks on the M6 motorway added to my journey time but I arrived an hour before kick-off. I have to say that their opponents in this fixture – Tividale FC – have always held a real fascination for me.

Result of my @MidlandLeague match today :@WolvesCassies 2 @TiviFCofficial 1

Attendance 63, excellent programme by @353photo Football grounds visited - 2,456@nonleagueshow @NonLeagueCrowd @NonLeaguePaper pic.twitter.com/yaZ2i3hFQz

— Tony Incenzo - my 50th football season (@TonyIncenzo) August 13, 2022

This stems from the fact that Daily Mail journalist Brian James wrote a famous book entitled ‘Journey to Wembley’ where he chronicled the 1976/77 FA Cup competition.

Brian intrepidly started out by watching Tividale win at Hinckley Athletic in the Preliminary Round of the Cup and then followed the victors of each subsequent game all the way to the Final where Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1.

In my view, it is still one of the best football publications of all-time with fantastic anecdotes and photography. I wrote a copycat book myself in 1984/85 where I commenced my FA Cup odyssey at Dudley Town v Heanor Town.

Unlike Mr James though, I didn’t latch on to each winning club as I preferred to pick out a tie of interest in each round. My 100 page publication took a good three months to write and sold very well at the time.

Although I have to chuckle nowadays when I see that copies are currently available on Ebay for only 99p!

Ground Description

Located just off a country lane in Coven Heath, which is on the northern edge of Wolverhampton’s urban area. Entry is via a pay hut into the club car park.

The main feature of spectator accommodation is a sturdy, 160-seater grandstand containing four rows of benches.

There also is a second railed off pitch which I understand is used for training and Sunday League football. The clubhouse did a roaring trade in cold drinks on what was an extremely hot day amidst temperatures topping 33°C.

Programme Details

The ‘Brinsford Gazette’ is an excellent publication that encompasses plenty of stimulating reading about Wolverhampton Casuals and Non-League football in general.

It comes from the admirable stable of Garry Griffiths at 353 Photography. Garry also produces programmes for several other local clubs including AFC Wulfrunians, Bilston Town FC and Sporting Khalsa FC.

The Match

I managed to escape the relentless sun by finding some shade created by a thicket of tall bushes behind the dug-outs. The referee sensibly allotted two drinks’ breaks during the game.

Tividale led 1-0 at half-time after Jamie Hunt powerfully scored with a half-volley in the 23rd minute. But things changed in the second half as Casuals bounced back through a close range header by Nathaniel Graham on 59 minutes.

This was followed by Matthew Hearsey’s winner deep into injury time where he curled home a glorious angled shot via the underside of the crossbar.

The People

Wolverhampton Casuals vice-chairman Paul Tudor made me literally laugh out loud at one of his pre-match broadcasts on the club’s public address tannoy.

In view of those sweltering weather conditions, Paul announced: “I would like to welcome all spectators for the match today. Excuse my lack of enthusiasm but I am actually sweating my what-sits off here!"

*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to @TonyIncenzo*

FIRST PUBLISHED: 7th September 2022

"It's a jungle". That is is how I have been describing the transfer market for years now, because every day you wake up and you never know which and how many surprises it can reserve for you.

An incredible world full of twists that I personally fell in love with in the summer of 2009: I was 16, I started collaborating with a small Italian site until my first contact with an Italian agent in Spain opened the door to me.

"Mauro Icardi will join Sampdoria from Barcelona B, Pep Guardiola does not believe in him and will leave immediately", my first news that made me fall in love with that crazy world called the transfer market.

A small contact that became great when Icardi left Sampdoria to sign with Inter. It was November, a deal completed in June and then revealed almost eight months in advance thanks to my first contact that I will never stop thanking.

So I realized that the transfer market was my world, my life and it continues to be every day almost 13 years later.

The sense of adrenaline when you receive news, the total focus in working on it and verifying it with your sources until the last one before sharing it.

These are the simplest things in theory, but still today the most important ones to become the secrets of an increasingly complicated job.

Because compared to 10 years ago, the world of transfer market journalism has evolved a lot; in England and Germany for example it was much weaker than in Italy, today it has evolved and reaches excellent levels all over the world, each area with its own top journalists and specialists.

A turning point in my life was certainly the arrival at Sky Sport.

As a 19-year-old I had the opportunity to enter a world full of extraordinary professionals, but above all the opportunity to go around every day for almost 7 years in the center of Milan in search of news, new contacts, new football friends - agents, club directors, presidents, in some cases even players.

Because in Italy it works like this: in hotel lobbies or restaurants the most important people of the transfer market meet to discuss transfers, I used to spend 3 summer months plus January every single day on the sidewalks of Milan in search of a scoop, a new contact, news to be told the same day.

I will never forget many historical moments for the transfer market, like the face of Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici - Juventus directors in 2018 - when they had just signed the documents for Cristiano Ronaldo signed from Real Madrid

I was out at their hotel at the time and when they left they were happy, almost as incredulous as children!

Being able to tell these emotions has been a privilege for many years that has allowed me to fall in love with this work, try to always improve myself and never have limits in the search for news.

The beginning of collaborations with The Guardian and CBS Sports helped me to work on a more international dimension, a push that I wanted to carry on even in my networking in the most unexpected moments.

I remember well when I denied a deal between Sporting and Manchester United for Bruno Fernandes in the summer of 2018 despite everyone in Portugal ensuring that the deal was completed; but a few months later, in January, when I wrote my "Here we go" with the photo of Bruno and his agent Miguel Pinho leaving for Manchester it was an incredible moment.

I will always remember the reaction of the Man United fans on Twitter, a real turning point in my professional life ever since.

Bruno Fernandes and Manchester United until 2027. Here we go. 📑✍🏻🇵🇹 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/DINn2eunzv

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 31, 2022

Thus a constant search for international news was born without ever forgetting Italy, a job that every day requires almost 16/17 hours of my day and therefore a constant but beautiful commitment.

A great privilege, because the transfer market is a fair of dreams and being able to tell it is truly wonderful.

With a message always well impressed in mind: the journalist in my opinion must describe and update on the deal, never become more important than the clubs or the players.

A passive role that must be maintained in an attempt to tell each negotiation in the best way. It is not easy to always be connected, but it is the dream of many guys that I have been lucky enough to realize. Here we go!

*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*

FIRST PUBLISHED: 7th September 2022