County scribe hits milestone
STOCKPORT County’s Emirates FA Cup tie at Aldershot Town saw Gareth Evans reach a notable landmark – reporting on his 500th match for the Hatters.
It was a match befitting such a milestone as County and their nonleague opponents fought out a memorable 2-2 draw.
Gareth is in his 10th season reporting on County and he can also lay claim to another remarkable statistic.
“In each of my nine completed seasons, County have finished in a higher league position than the previous one. And we are also on course to do that again in the current one if we finish higher than fourth,” he explained.
It has been quite a journey for Gareth which began with County languishing in National League North, the sixth tier of the football pyramid.
Indeed, more than 400 of the matches Gareth has covered were watching County in non-league.
Gareth, who had been watching County since 1988, explained how he came to become involved at the start of the 2014/15 season.
He said: “At the time County were really struggling and very reliant on volunteers, and I contributed to the matchday programme.
“When the club were looking for someone to write match reports and put posts on Twitter, I volunteered as I went to matches home and away.”
August 14, 2014 was when Gareth wrote his first match report, a 1-0 victory at Tamworth in front of a meagre crowd of 795.
For Gareth’s first five seasons, Gareth doubled up writing reports and posting tweets before switching to just doing match reports.
“I would do Twitter posts during the game and then go home and do the match report.
“Since I stopped doing Twitter, the match report is posted on the website at the end of the match,” he explained.
Gareth, who works as an administrator at the University of Manchester, misses making posts on Twitter, which has since become X, saying: “I enjoyed doing Twitter in our non-league days as I was able to have fun and could be light-hearted.
“We got lots of followers and posts have been retweeted on the BBC round-up and been in their top 10 Tweets of the week.”
Gareth, who also submitted reports to the Press Association during County’s three seasons in the National League, still contributes to the matchday programme with his Away Day Travelling Fan feature.
That included Gareth rating the catering at away grounds as he says nonleague has some of the best food, citing Harrogate and Kidderminster as the best.
Gareth’s reports also sometimes feature in the Stockport Express, the local newspaper.
Looking back on watching County at almost 200 grounds since 1988, Gareth has been to Wembley five times, four to the old stadium and then in the press box for the 2022/23 League Two playoff final against Carlisle United.
Standout games in the 500 reported are the win against Nuneaton which secured the National League North title after languishing at that level for six years, the National
League title clincher against FC Halifax Town and the Emirates FA Cup tie against West Ham played without fans during Covid-19.
Another of Gareth’s abiding memories has been the camaraderie within non-league football.
He said: “Nuneaton gave us nearly all their ground and set up portable bars.
“There has been an enduring friendship between the two clubs and they allow us to use their ground to train when we are en route to away games.
“Another friendly club was Needham Market who also made a big day out of their FA Trophy game against us.
“I have found the hospitality at non-league to be exceptional.”
Gareth, who originates from Brighton who he followed as a boy without becoming passionately attached to them, lives at Tytherington, Macclesfield.
He said: “When I settled in this area in 1988, I went to watch County as they played on Friday night which appealed to me.
“I loved the banter and was bitten by the bug and was a season-ticket holder between 1990-2014 when I began writing the reports.”