Football: The dizzy heights of ninth place

FAN'S EYE VIEW: NO 252 Stockport County

AMONG the points to be won and lost in tomorrow's First Division programme, you might be forgiven for thinking that any gained by Stockport County at Edgeley Park would be rather less important than, say, those sought by Middlesbrough, Stoke or Manchester City. Well, yes and no. While I'm not claiming that another good home result for County will overshadow relegation for Manchester City, one more point for County will secure ninth place in the First Division.

Ninth place, huh? So? Ninth place for many of the teams in the division would mean disaster. But for us, ninth would represent the highest placing in our 115-year history.

To the johnny-come-latelys proudly sporting the latest Man Utd (oops, sorry, it's Arsenal this year, isn't it?) replica kit that might seem a pretty pathetic boast, but to those football fans who recognise that teams like Stockport are an integral part of what has sustained the professional game in England for all of those 115 years and more, it's an achievement well worth celebrating.

Of course, we're not really supposed to be in this division. It's a bit above our station, in the same way teams like Sunderland and Middlesbrough are below theirs. Fans of both these clubs took great delight in informing us of our true status when they visited Edgeley - or at least that's what I took the many cries of "Mickey Mouse club" to mean. Odd, then, that both sets of fans seemed so happy with the single point their teams scraped, Sunderland in particular being strangely delighted with a last-minute equaliser.

They weren't the only side to be outplayed at Edgeley: the success of this season has been based almost exclusively on excellent home form. Edgeley Park might not have quite the same ring as Highbury, Old Trafford, or Anfield, but when you consider that we have had the grand total of five wins on our travels, a mere two draws, and a staggering 16 defeats, it's all the more surprising that we're not fulfilling most pre-season predictions of a swift return from whence we came.

I must admit the thought of experiencing my first relegation as a County fan did flit across my mind more than once. When we clinched promotion on a memorable night in Chesterfield (and you don't often see those last five words in close proximity) in April last year, I genuinely thought the First Division play-offs were not beyond us in the coming season.

We had already shown, by beating four Premiership teams in our Coca-Cola Cup run - three of them on their own grounds - that we could live with teams not merely in the division we were joining, but those in the one above.

However, Dave and Paul Jones (whose managerial acumen and goalkeeping skill respectively are evidenced by Southampton's first season without a relegation battle since the Middle Ages) departed, the board turned to the relatively unproven Gary Megson, poached from Blackpool, and the fans' thoughts turned to a season of struggle.

To Megson's immense credit, it was not so. Although we made a dreadful start, things were turned around to such an extent that at one stage we were actually sitting in a play-off position. It couldn't last, however, and as the season progressed, financial expediency meant that our board were not able to turn down bids from Birmingham and Middlesbrough for Chris Marsden and Alun Armstrong respectively - two of the stars of last year's campaign.

Chuck in no fewer than five broken legs (belonging to five different players, in case you were wondering), and it's no surprise that we could not hang on to sixth. What is absolutely amazing, however, is that we've still got a chance of ninth. Believe me, that's worth celebrating.