Hatters Worldwide-6 Andy Goodliffe @andygoodliffe ( Singapore )

 

 

 Hatters Worldwide- 6 Andy Goodliffe ( Singapore)

@andygoodliffe

For number 6 in the current series we have the story of a real globe trotter.

Andy Goodliffe has travelled a bit , but retains an unshakeable  affinity to County.

This is Andy`s story, told by him  in his own words....

 

 Growing up in Marple surrounded by City and United kits, I thank my dad, who wasn’t really a County fan at the time (neither was ‘my grandfather before’…), for starting this love affair and taking me to my first ever County match in 1992. I’d been to both Old Trafford and Maine Road before that, but nothing compared with the County matchday experience for a young fan. We sat really close to the tunnel the first few games and I joined many other young kids standing trying to grab ‘high fives’ and watching what felt like giants walk past me, in Preece and Francis. The game was a 3-3 thriller, enough to make me hooked for life - helped by a Wembley trip the same season vs Peterborough. One of my favourite childhood memories was being our (unlucky) mascot for a 1-5 drubbing by Sheffield United. One of my favourite ever County games was avenging that defeat by beating them 5-2 at Bramall Lane in 1996 - what a night, Jim scoring the opener with a classic ‘ghost’ header. Seeing Jim sign my ball here nearly 30 years ago shows that he is probably the single most constant figure in my life, beyond my parents!

 

James does the biz. image- agoodliffe

 

Like many other County fans my age, I was fortunate that the years that followed were just unbelievable. Cup runs, promotions, beating City home and away, some of our best ever players and a period of great stability and prosperity as a club. For fans of my generation, wooed by the Bergara years and season-ticket holders through the Jones era, it was enough to imprint the club in our hearts enough for us to persevere through the mostly miserable decade or so beyond it!

 

In 2000, I moved away from Stockport for university and have never actually returned to live, despite my love for the town. First I went to Newcastle to study Literature, which took me into teaching there for a couple of years. I then took a leap to Dubai for my first international teaching post which turned out to be a life-changing decision - meeting my wife, Verity, on the day I landed. Then, in 2010, we moved to Singapore and became a family - adding Ralf and Freddy to the County fold and allowing them to fulfil the famous lines: their father and grandad both true County fans. Even now, as an Assistant Headteacher at a top International School, being a County ball boy for the whole 94/95 season is still the greatest ‘job’ I’ve ever had!

 

 image-agoodliffe

 

 

 

Singapore is an amazing place to live and somewhere we feel happy as a family. The quality of life is excellent, the only thing we lack are proper seasons (we’d love an autumn, winter or spring) and of course decent live football (County would walk the ‘S League’ quite comfortably!). I wish I could treat the boys to the football upbringing I had on the Railway End and then in the Cheadle End with my dad, but that alone is probably not a reason to walk away from the international education and travel opportunities they have here in this beautiful city. Here’s Ralf in last season’s kit doing the famous pose with our most famous landmark and symbol of Singapore, the Merlion.

 

 image- agoodliffe

 

 

Pre-pandemic, we have been back to Stockport at least annually for all the years we’ve been away, and I always love checking which County games I can squeeze in during our trips. I’ve caught some magical moments of recent years, notably our 6-0 away win at Chester in our title-winning season. It was on that great night my dad took the picture below, alongside the third regular member of our match-going trio, Chris Spavin (right of pic), who has joined me on countless (often thankless!) away adventures over the years.

                        

6 nil joy!. image-agoodliffe

 

 

 

 

 

Ironically, the misery of the pandemic and the closure of the grounds has brought me and other fans abroad the best period ever of watching County, week in week out. Once all of you get back into EP to watch the team I hope the likes of Akito and I (the single other member of the Asia Supporters Club, unless your series uncovers a few more!) are still able to purchase a stream (please, Jon Keighren?) and watch from abroad and keep the global County community as happy as the rest of you will be. Even with the miserable time difference, I love watching us on TV and haven’t missed a game this season. Promotion would mean the world to exiled fans as we can use the ‘ifollow’ feature of the football league to watch the team every week. And, more importantly for my boys, it would mean we ‘get on FIFA’!

 

 

Cheers

Andy Goodliffe

@andygoodliffe

 

 

So massive thanks to Andy for his story , and to Chris Spavin for being the original conduit twixt hedgegrower and Andy.

We have another 4 in the pipeline, but if you have a story to tell........

.......and the blog in the last 24 hours has been visited by people in some interesting places around the world, last week I noticed a good number from Argentina, but yesterday these were the figures, and we would love to hear from you  via hedgegrower@gmail.com.

                                 Sweden 96 , United States 22, Azerbaijan 10, France 3,Romania 3                                                        Russia 2, Australia1, Brazil 1

 

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