The Former Players Association continues to grow as multiple new members attended this month’s meeting at Poolfoot Farm on Thursday.
With the association celebrating its first-year anniversary last month, new players have reached out and have attended this month, bringing the total of members up to 90, with people ranging from just retired to ones who played for the club over 50 years ago.
The meeting started off with a speech from Stuart Murdoch, the chairman of the association, who thanked all who have made the group and meetings what they are today. Also, he introduced the new newsletter ‘A Kick in the Past’, which was available for all members of the group.
With resounding feedback from the members, they all sat around and laughed about the feature with Steve ‘Docker’ Brooks, as he talked about some of his favourite memories whilst at the club.
A shirt from Town's 1985 FA Vase final was brought to the meeting for all to look at, which was accompanied with an original programme and a team picture, and the players all looked and shared memories of the game with each other.
After that, we caught up with one of the former players. Tony Mudie – who played for Town back in the 1970s after moving to the area to become a teacher at Larkholme School, made his first trip to one of the meetings on Thursday.
“Coming back here, and the way Fleetwood had grown in the past years, it makes it special that you were associated with a football league club.
“It’s strange seeing all these people that you haven’t seen for many years and when you look back, you realise its probably around thirty years since I’ve seen them. Its nice to talk about old times, and funny things that had happened.
“One of our players, I remember, whilst we were playing at New Mills, he was sat there just a few minutes before going out onto the pitch with one boot on. He was sat there scratching his head, and Rob Thomas said: “what’s wrong with you?” He said that he thought he’d left a boot back in Fleetwood.
"Stuart Robinson had played a joke on him and tied his boot on his peg over his head which made us all laugh. It little things like that you remember when you get talking to people at the meeting.”
“I often look on the Fleetwood website to see how the team are going on, and I saw an icon for a Former Players Association, which I clicked on. I saw a number of people on there that I had played with and I had to see what was going on.”
The next planned gathering will take place at Poolfoot Farm on Thursday 4th October at 10am. Further details may be obtained from the Association's Chairman, Stuart Murdoch, by email stuart.murdoch@fleetwoodtownfc.com or phone 07921 934775.