JEFF STELLING

The Soccer Saturday anchorman on the new-look West Brom

SUPPORTING Hartlepool, I see a lot of NonLeague football now and I think people would be very surprised by the standard.

I would urge every supporter of a Premier League and Championship club to get out and support Non-League Day during the next international break. It’s a great initiative, and a great day out.

I went to our first home game this season against Harrogate, who’d just won promotion. They came to the Vic and they played some fantastic football in a 2-2 draw.

The whole atmosphere is completely different as well. There’s much more of a family, community feel.

A lot of games don’t have any segregation. Fans can mix. And when we go to Leyton Orient on Non-League Day next Saturday, I know it’ll be respectful and friendly because we’ve both been in exactly the same boat with regard to having dreadful owners who were partly responsible for our decline.

You hear everything the manager and the players are saying on the pitch. They can hear everything you say. Sometimes, you can get a real rapport going.

I was at Boreham Wood against Hartlepool last season and we almost had an ongoing conversation with their manager, Luke Garrard. In the nicest possible way, because we both thought the referee was hopeless. But that’s the sort of thing you get.

You’ll be supporting your local team and, this year, raising some vital funds for Prostate Cancer UK, too. In the case of the game I’m going to, Orient v Hartlepool, you can get in for a fiver.

What can you get for that these days? I went to meet a mate in London this week and I got a pint of Bombardier. I was still waiting for the change when I realised it had cost me five quid!

What would you rather do? Watch 90 minutes of football or have one pint of Bombardier? I’m taking the match every time.