WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Long before people were asking “Yes, but can they do it on a wet Tuesday in Stoke/Burnley?” people were asking “Yes but can they maintain their proficiency during inclement weather at Wuthering Heights?”. Visiting teams would always feel the odds were stacked against them: the pitch was vast, bumpy and soggy; visibility was often poor; the crowd was hostile; the away dressing room was haunted too. When the Football League was formed they rigged the votes to make sure ‘The Heights’ were frozen out.
BLEAK HOUSE
Formed as a riposte to the swanky fancy pants of Crystal Palace, Bleak House played up its wrong side of the tracks, down-at-heel image to the maximum. In fact it did so to the point where people found it so boring they just gave up going. For a short while, Bleak House was considered London’s answer to Wuthering Heights and Victorian sports reporters drew lots to see who would have to attend fixtures between the two. Bleak House FC was disbanded after the scandalised reaction to their brutal treatment of Corinthian Casuals in the 1895 FA Cup.
MANSFIELD PARK
In the mid-1850s the Mansfield derby was regarded as a classic collision of opposing styles. Mansfield Town were the rugged, working class proponents of the beautiful game, while their big rivals ‘Park’ were the effete dilettantes who liked to dwell on the ball and play mind games with withering put-downs and sarcastic asides. Eventually, as the massive defeats piled up, ‘Park’ dropped the FC and became a book club instead.
ASTON VILLETTE
Technically a brilliant team, Aston Villette were too often undone by their brooding, mystical intensity to gain the silverware that they were surely capable of. Taken over in 1874 and relocated to Birmingham with the name tweaked, they went on to win the double before the end of the century. Even so older fans would remark that, despite the conventional success, they still longed for the ambiguity and fantastic set-pieces of the original club.
SteveTLooksBack 