Andy Potts
Bio
Community focused sports fan from Northeast England. Tends to root for the little guy. Look out for Talking Northeast, my new project coming soon.
Stories (173)
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Weathering the weather in Tow Law
Tow Law is not quite as high and remote as Wearhead United - famously owners of the highest football field in England - but it's still a steep climb up the road from Durham. On winter days, this is often a journey into the meteorological murk and there were serious doubts that the game would be on.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
Football fortresses: Richmond Town
Earls Orchard. Picturesque name, picturesque place. Nestled beneath the walls of Richmond’s Norman Castle, it’s been a sporting venue of sorts since the Middle Ages, when the nobles watched from on high as jousting tournaments took place on the fields beside the River Swale.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
In the shadow of Stalin
A Soviet fighter jet launches itself from the stand over the away team’s bench. Players warm up amid heavy artillery. Tanks patrol the car park and, legend has it, there’s a top secret metro line to the Kremlin down below. Amid the rusting military hardware there’s an eerie hum from a PA system long out of use. Welcome to Moscow’s forgotten stadium.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
Hebburn Town's transformation
When Hebburn Town run out at Wembley on Monday in the FA Vase Final, it will be the latest memorable moment in a remarkable sporting turnaround. Less than five years ago, the Tyneside club was on the brink of collapse and the future seemed bleak.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
Christmas with a conscience
The High Street is dead, right? A combination of COVID, online shopping and out-of-town retail parks has killed our town centres. It’s time to move on without waxing nostalgic over the days when granny did her shopping in a collection of local, specialist stores where she knew every shopkeeper by name.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Journal
Falling from the heights
It used to be the highest football field in England. That’s the claim. The remote County Durham village of Wearhead, up in the North Pennines, was home to Wearhead United. For more than a century the team, resplendent in Red-and-White, competed on its memorably uneven pitch. The players rarely hit any great heights; this isn’t a tale of stirring cup runs and improbable title triumphs. But, at 1,017 feet above sea level, the team was proud of its geographical claim to fame.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
How to make a future from the past
Looking through a fragmented window frame at a glorious view of the Browney Valley, it’s easy to see why Beaurepaire was built. Once this was a monastic manor house, a retreat for the monks at Durham Cathedral. Set in a vast hunting estate, it was a medieval resort: back to nature, a place to set aside the manuscripts and relax the discipline of the great monastery on the hill. On occasion, it was a place to entertain kings; at other times the idyll was shattered by conflict.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Wander
Skating back
Ice hockey action returns to Britain this weekend after being frozen out for months due to the coronavirus pandemic. But with England back in lockdown and fans forbidden, the first steps are cautious as clubs look to find out whether playing behind closed doors is feasible.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Unbalanced
Stirrings in Murton
In East Durham, football is escaping from its ‘black hole’. After seeing Saturday football in Shotton once again, another trip brought more Wearside League action, this time in Murton. Once a Northern League ground, Welfare Park suffered more than most from vandalism but even as the off-field facilities disappeared, it retained its impressively large playing surface. And, with Ryhope CW U23s playing there this season, it’s hosting games once again.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
After the final whistle
For a football fan, there’s something irresistible about a stadium. Whether it’s the grandest of international arenas or the most primitive of fenced-off fields, the very grass seems to resonate with great goals and famous victories. No matter how modest the team, there’s always ‘that game’.
By Andy Potts5 years ago in Cleats
