Football fan travelled 4,000 miles for non-league Wakefield AFC match - before game was abandoned

Ian Webb, 28, was “crushed” after flying from his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to see non-league side Wakefield AFC take on Shirebrook Town in a league game on Saturday, October 21, but the game was postponed as Shirebrook had a cup game that day.

He then hoped to see his team play away at Parkgate FC in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Tuesday, October 24, but that fixture was also postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

He became ‘obsessed’ with the Northern Counties East Football League Division One team two years ago – after playing as them on the Football Manager video game.

And he’d then spent 18 months saving up £4,500 for a trip with his wife Megan Webb, 27, so he could watch the side play a game at their stadium in West Yorkshire.

The recruitment manager said: “I was certainly crushed. It was one of those things where you get a pit in your stomach. It had been raining most of the day, and it was coming down really hard.

“I think the disappointment was spread out of a few hours. As it kept raining more and more, I could tell that the game was definitely going to be postponed.

“It was really hard when I told my wife and got back to the hotel, saying ‘We are not going to be going to the game’. I felt a little bit emotional in that moment, but we had to move past it.”

Ian’s love of Wakefield AFC started when he began playing as them on Football Manager on his computer – a simulation game where you take charge of a club.

The side was only established in 2019 and was saved from ruin a few years later following investment from US wealth management firm VO2 Capital.

And Ian said the obscure, semi-professional outfit, who play at level ten of the English football pyramid, had piqued his interest when he found them online.

He said: “I thought what’s the biggest city in England without a professional team? I thought maybe there’s a little club that can maybe fill some big boots.

“I Googled it and Wakefield came up. I saw there was a team there, which was semi-professional and founded in 2019, and I looked into that.”

Ian later became engrossed in the club’s fan culture and was invited to appear on a local podcast dedicated to them, ‘All Wakey Aren't We’, to talk about his support.

He added: “I fell in love with it… That’s how Wakefield became my favourite club.”

His wife then agreed to fly out with him to the UK in October this year, where they’d made plans to see a game while visiting York, Bath and London.

Ian said: “There was a Saturday game that the trip was planned around. We had built our trip around being in Wakefield for that weekend to see that home game. And then we heard that it was postponed because the other team made it to the next round of the cup. So they had to call it off.

“Then I moved my trip to Wakefield to the Tuesday for the away game, and then that one was waterlogged."

Despite his setbacks, Ian still loved seeing the club’s premises during a tour with staff and said there was something magical about grassroots football in England.

He said: “In America, big NFL stadiums with 60-80,000 seats are a dime-a-dozen. There’s something exciting about being in a huge, packed stadium and the energy that brings.

“But it’s an incredible corporate league, and you’re a customer, and it’s about ‘how many butts can we fit into these seats?’ and ‘how much can we charge?’

“Ultimately, what has always been attractive about Wakefield is it’s more of a local, authentic experience.”

Ian added that he was hoping to come back to the UK to see a crunch Wakefield AFC fixture.

He said: “The plan is to come back in a couple of years. The dream is to see Wakefield play in a pivotal game while they’re challenging for promotion.

“That would be incredibly exciting.”