Northwich Victoria: Problems Like No Other Team

They are currently 24th and last in the Blue Square premier. They are 12 points off safety. They haven't won a game since October. They are currently locked out of their stadium. They are the almighty Northwich Victoria.

As I am sure many of you have never heard of them, they are based in the town of Northwich in Cheshire. The Vics, as they are known, have been playing in the Conference every year since the league began, with the exception of the 2005/'06 season, when they were relegated on a technicality.

Surprisingly, they took the Conference North title and came back up. Northwich seem to belong in the Conference.

Well, they used to. This year, Northwich have hit a new low. They have won three games this season and have scored an unimpressive total of 15 points. They have not scored any points since late November, and really do have some unique problems.

The strangest problem that they have is that they are currently locked out of their own stadium. The landlord of the Victoria Stadium Mike Connett removed all of the necessary safety equipment needed to host yesterday's match against Histon, and charged the team £2,000 to come and collect their kit.

With the gates locked, the game was relocated to nearby Moss Lane, the home of Altrincham, who were playing away to Oxford this weekend.

The game with Histon was played, and Northwich had taken a surprise lead early on, before being reduced to 10 men. Even more of a surprise is that Northwich were still 1-0 up by the 89th minute.

As I am sure you can guess, Northwich ended up losing 2-1.

Another loss has left them bottom of the table, and they are in desperate need of a miracle to keep them in the Conference for next year.

But this miracle has already happened. Last year, Northwich were in a similar position, after scoring the grand total of one point from their first eleven games. New manager Dino Maamria was drafted in, and with an incredible second half of the season where Northwich were one of the most successful teams, they survived relegation.

As I am sure you can guess, this manager was fired earlier this season, and is currently suing the club.

Northwich have had some success in recent times. The picture above is from the third round of the FA Cup in 2005/'06, as Northwich took on Sunderland. This year's FA Cup got off to a good start, as Northwich were 1-0 up against AFC Telford before the game was abandoned due to a floodlight failure.

As I am sure you can guess, AFC Telford beat the Vics 3-0 at the subsequent replay.

So there you have it, the wonders of the team that is Northwich Victoria. Their small army of fans travelling the country to support a small local team, that time after time continues to disappoint.

Why on earth do I support them?