Why is a Hastings Town fanzine called Ghost of United? Why to celebrate Hastings United of course, though they folded in 1985 and this fanzine didn’t even start until 1990. However here we are, this fanzine was a support vehicle for Hastings Town with this issue appearing in 1999…they clearly take a while to forget things down 1066 way and in 2002 Town changed their name back to United…Confused? Well, there is another twist which will have to wait for another day as this is #FloodlightFriday.

I’ve recently managed to get hold of 7 copies of this tremendous fanzine and as I hungrily flicked through the fanzines I came across one of the greatest “floodlight” photos yet, with a sidebar of “manager sent to the stand” ie about 3 rows behind the dugout.

The action happens at an FA Trophy game which the U’s (yes, really, why are they not called The Harolds or The Normans?) won 2-0 despite being down to 9 men by the end as well as having a mildly inconvenienced manager. The match report suggests that neither the referee of Ashford’s Stuart White will be on the christmas card list any time soon.

Can I confirm that this is indeed a floodlight pylon? Why yes, as always the trusty internet comes to the rescue with this photo at Ashford from 2022…not much seems to have changed as you can clearly see if you squint at the original.

Marvelous stuff and we’ll return, this is an incredibly passionate fanzine which documents the sorry tale of the unraveling of a small club that had begun in 1893 under the unlikely name of Rock-a-Nore.