Just to show you that I can talk about something other than politics, let me just give a brief mention to the passing of an institution – the Gay Meadow.

No longer will English football have a resident fisherman ready to retrieve lost footballs from the River Severn and football addicts will have to find a new candidate for most sniggered at football ground for today marks the end of an era – the last game ever has been played at Shrewsbury Town’s Gay Meadow stadium.

The game against MK Dons – televised on Sky Sports 1 – ended in a 0-0 draw and a good old fashioned pitch invasion.  Not the best score for the last ever match at the ground but it wasn’t a defeat.  The second leg is on Friday at Milton Keynes.

Only one ball was lost during the match – the resident fisherman legged it through the side door with his net and pole to try and get it back but it succumed to the currents of the swollen River Severn which laps at the doorstep of the stadium.

The New Meadow will be ready for next season.  It’s located on the outskirts of the town so it will once again be safe to enter Shrewsbury when Wrexscum are paying a visit and it’s nowhere near the river so that should save a few quid on replacement balls.