Fan Fest

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful day.

AFC FYLDE away at Plymouth Argyle in the FA CUP.

For us it has been a 660 mile round trip on free coaches organised by our Chairman and President. What a brilliant gesture to get us there in style.

When we stopped at a service station on the M5 we met these fans from Doncaster Rovers heading to Weston Super Mare. They would arrive to discover their game was off.

We were luckier; no danger of our game being called off. Quite the opposite. Despite the heavy rain there had been in Plymouth they were watering the pitch....

Plymouth Argyle is a superb football club. We have been impressed by the very friendly interaction over social media and the fans we met were very knowledgeable about AFC FYLDE. They had done their research on tbe club and were most complimentary about our aims.

In the Fan Fest my bright orange shirt (see yesterday) was singled out and I was invited onto the stage.

I was amazed by the wonderful reaction to my humerous observations. I usually have an outdoor audience so I've no way of gauging their reaction. Here I was indoors and the audience reaction was brilliant. Maybe I could do stand up after all.....

Anyway, such was the positive response that I was given a Plymouth Argyle shirt to put up in our bar. I was later fortunate enough to get the shirt signed by the Plymouth team.

They do such lovely touches that make it a great day out.

There were signs that said "Thank you for traveling 330 miles".

There is a family area where children can play under the safe supervision of trained staff. Table tennis, pool, air hockey, a kick about area, play station and computers.

After the game we were stopped by the caterers and given all the unsold pasties.

Plymouth won the game 2-0 but Fylde gave an excellent account of themselves and can consider themselves unlucky not to have scored.

We saw this very much as an opportunity to raise the profile of the club. There was excellent media coverage in the build up and today I did my little bit by speaking on BBC radio 5 live this morning and tonight, and on the Radio Devon breakfast show.

So although the result wasn't what we wanted, we have had a brilliant day.

Onwards and upwards. We have a Cup game on Tuesday; this time we are defending The Lancashire Cup. And I will also have a Silence for The Fallen to arrange and announce.