h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Barney Daniels.Exact details are lost in the mistsof time but Barney played for the great Stockport County side of the late 1970s.As an impressionable teenager he was a hero to me and also the two or three thousand others who gathered at Edgeley Park on Friday nights to see some godawful team from Workington or Sarfend fall to the might of the County team......Or not as was usually the case.We were permanantly embedded in the bottem half of the old fourth division and our season was usually considered a success if we avoided re-election.Which we usually failed to do along with the likes of Workington,Halifax,Southport and other such great footballing names.
Much to the surprise of virtually everyone and certainly himself our Barney rattled in 19 goals before xmas in the 78/79 season and rumour has it was on a bonus to collect a brand new spanking second hand car if he was the first county player to top 20 goals before xmas.
Unfortunately the goal-scoring touch deserted him sometime in mid December and he hovered on the cusp of greatness for a further 2months before number 20 went in - a desperate shot from our Barney which was heading towards the railway sidings at stockport station took a cruel deflection from a hapless defender and rolled gently over the goal line to the initial disbelief and then joy of the county faithful.We had waited for weeks for this moment and Barney had delivered.
Sort of.
He finished the season somewhat in gloriosly without further troubling the scoreboard and was noticably absent from the side for much of the following season.
But as a thirteen year old he gave me and my friends something to believe in and something to look forward to every other Friday night in those dark unglamourous days.