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COUNTY WEB LINKS

THE "COMPETITION"

The Good, The Bad And The Downright Stupid

Matty from 'Thorne By My Side' reviews other Stockport County websites...

"Howdy! All websites devoted to God's own team are great and in my opinion the more there are the better! I sincerely hope the people associated with the sites featured here take the comments constructively and as good natured joshing. By the way it was pleasantly different to do some web-based research that didn't involve the key-words 'Swedish', 'baps' or 'bukkake'. Right, here we go, hold tight..."

STOCKPORT COUNTY.COM - Let's start with the Grande Fromage, affectionately known as COWS - (County's Official Web Site) has all the official news, as well as some lesser newsworthy stories. Whilst it is very good content wise and puts us lesser endorsed sites into the shade a little - (incidentally it doesn't recognise any of us unofficial sites) it is held under the 'Premium TV' umbrella and therefore is not original to County, so it's just a carbon copy of 99% of other club sites, which is a real shame. I believe this website is ran by Des Hinks, a man born with a face for radio! ****

STOCKPORT COUNTY TRUST - Just like Don Corleone, this Trust based website is above the law, and whilst it's brought to you through County folk who are uprooting trees in support of keeping The Hatters afloat, then really it can't be criticised. What made this website popular was its sadly defunct message board, which took over from Marions Board temporarily when the Trust were attempting the take over the club. Now it's mission accomplished, the forum moved back to Marions, maybe the popularity of the website would have crumbled? Not really. Some of the stuff on here is more up-to-date than on COWS! Superb, well written and informative, The Trust have a great website here and also recognises County4Life too, labelling it as 'A Well Maintained Fan Site! ****

THE YELLOW BOARD - If you've read it on Marion's, then it has to be true...! The Yellow Board aka Marion's is still after any years the best County site out there so personally I am dead chuffed that it's back at the top of the County tree after all the twisting and turning after it closed and moved to The Trust and now back. Still controversial, still forthright and there is still a helluva lot posters who are clearly up their own arses, and has lost a little of its spark and vigour and the freedom of speech aspect the old Marions has now been taken away by the autocratic admin, but as it's still in its original 'easy-to-follow' format, it'll do for me. More importantly not heavy going so you CAN read it in your dinner hour. ****

HATTERS MATTERS - H.M. was recently dragged from the Rivals football franchise to be placed on the 'clubfanzine' circuit. This is possibly the best name for a County based web site and now it's freed itself from the dying and unoriginal 'Rivals' franchise after six years. I really like this one. Loads of information here, is (and should be) regularly updated by WebMaster Andy and is really well worth a browse. Has a very lively forum which attracts fans of opposing teams which just adds banter to the website, and as it is relatively new, it still has to be cleaned up, and recently graduated with another Brownie Point as it has now started to recognise its peers. Lovely! ****

CHEADLE ENDER'S FORUM - Made initially as a League Two Forum, Cheadlender's Green board hopes to emulate the success of Yellowboard, yet with possibly more with an open forum feel, rather than the sometimes clique YB. Still in its infancy at the moment, yet will surely be ever-improving with more posters. Simple to follow and easy to navigate, this is the sort of forum you want to be looking at rather than the other formats. ***

STOCKPORT VITAL FOOTBALL - I was kindly offered first dibs when the franchise was up for renewal. After declining their kind offer, I thought it wouldn't give me 100% artistic licence with all those horrible pre-defined adverts, broken links and other crap that usually comes with a shitty franchise. Vital may have more hits than others, but let's face it, that's where the similarity ends. If truth be told, it's a poor mans Rivals with hardly any action on the forums. To the editor's credit he has took the site forward and developed a well written site but it just plagarizes other sites, which is very loose and lazy journalism (tut tut). Another strange thing here is the links page - where County 4 Life has been snubbed! **½

TR'S BOARD - Before, County4Life have (rather cruelly) quoted TR's Board as being "Blue Mercedes" to Marion's "Wham", and although it still a poor relation to The Yellowboard, has rose though the popularity divisions and has now seen more action than Jodie Marsh's thong. It would have very easy to look at Marion's success, lose heart and for TR to pull the plug, but as there is a special bond between their posters and often have quizzes and stuff. 'Nuff respek' for persevering with your project as this is proof there still is a nice niche in the market for another (albeit similar) open forum, although the adverts that litter the forum is still a little annoying. ***½

STOCKPORT COUNTY-MAD - fuelled by the Footy-Mad franchise, but before we go tar this with the same brush as the other bastard franchises,.this one is actually very good. Colourful, bright and very easy to navigate, but in my very humble opinion (for what it's worth), SC-M is far too busy...! I realise the pre defined links come with the website and there is loads of stuff on here, but it's not a website you can read in your lunch break. Has changed hands recently but hasn't seemed to have lost any of the va-va-voom. Very well done. ****

COUNTY BLOG - A brand new, all singing, all dancing regularly updated blog, possibly the only blog designated to God's Own team. Devised and written by James Bisphop, who used to be co-editor of County Matters before he and his oppo jumped that nasty franchise shite and went their own separate ways. At the moment the website looks particularly vague, but with a bit more artistry and articles, will be a huge success. James seems like an ambitious bloke, and I'm sure he's glad to had ridded himself of the bastard franchise network. ***½

PEELS ON WHEELS - An age old County establishment, which has been part and parcel of Stockport County Football Club since the days old yore has been the Sir Robert Peel drinking establishment on Castle Street. The Peels On Wheels has arranged alternative transportation to most away games for a num,ber of years but only recently have encroched onto the world wide web. But I hear you ask, 'is this website dedicated to the transportation?' By Jove, no, it is arguably one of the neatest and easiest to read County sites and apart from being 100% County, they also arrange charity functions, like sponsored walks to nearby grounds from EP. Well done to you all...! ****

STOCKPORT COUNTY LADIES - Some of the more cynical County fans might say that County Ladies are more successful than the fellas and it's true they have made a remarkable rise through the divisions in recent years, but this website isn't just about the first team. What it good about this website is that it focusses on all the levels of the girls from the Juniors to the Ladies First team. The Ladies rarely play at Edgeley Park, so home at the moment is at Lambeth Grove, home of Woodley Sports, but this very good website is a clear indication of where their ambitions lie. ***½

FANS ONLINE - A new franchise, yet state they are independent, which is a laugh. Yet on closer inspection, this is not only 'just another franchise site', but it's actually a clone of all the others. It has the old Rivals' forum style, the links like Footy-Mad and the annoying adverts like them all. Now, hopefully this relative new County website will fall short of being 'another franchise' and move away with its unique writing and forthright views. The editor has got a lot of hard work to do to bring this site up to scratch. Total dedication and T.L.C. 24/7. ***

and finally...

COUNTY 4 LIFE - and by no means the least, (warning, own trumpet being blown alert) What is there to say about this award nominated website? Vastly superior to its peers. Updated every day, ever improving, superb reviews, has its controversial Hall Of Shame, and truly is a brilliant read. Ran by Stretford's answer to Ant and Dec. Funny, quick, witty, humourous. Every man wants to be them, and every woman wants to sleep with them. *****