Groundhopping24

Contrary to the David Brent reference in the title, I haven’t actually been to Winnersh. But I have been to Didcot. Not to brag or anything, but my short trip to the Oxfordshire town yesterday marked the start of my 2023-24 season. I expect the season to take in some football from a variety of nations - from my first foray into French football, to some Polish, Czech and Slovak football, as well as whatever else crops up on my radar.  Didcot didn’t exactly offer the most glamorous of starts, but it got me thinking about each opening fixture of the last ten years - how do they all rank alongside one another? Admittedly it’s a Stevenage-centric list, with only three of these games not involving a Stevenage side of some kind, but it’s always fun to take a look back at my groundhopping career to date. They say pre-season is meaningless, and in many ways it is, but it marks the return of football to at least some degree. Without further ado, here are my opening days of the last decade ra...