Cheltenham Town’s stadium will be rocking and rolling when Forest Green Rovers come calling on Saturday 2nd November.

A crowd of around 6,000 is expected to cram into the appropriately named Jonny-Rocks Stadium as Gloucestershire’s big two footballing clubs go head to head.

They’ve met before in the Football League – four times in fact – but this is the first time that they will do battle with both teams in the upper reaches of League Two.

It’s great for the clubs, the players and the fans to have two sides doing so well in the professional game, of course, and it’s even more special for those diehard supporters for whom a place in the Football League – for either club – seemed like a pipedream back in the day.

Lest we forget, this is only Forest Green’s third season in the fourth tier of English football.

Cheltenham Town have been playing at the level for longer – they won promotion back in 1998/99 – but they did have a season out of the league and this is only their fourth campaign back.

Roger Burden, the long-serving chairman of the Gloucestershire FA who has been in and around the game for much of his 70-plus years, can certainly remember the days when the two clubs were very definitely outside the 92 Club.

“When I joined the GFA in 1986 we had Bristol City and Bristol Rovers affiliated to us as our two senior clubs,” he said.

“Cheltenham were probably in the Conference and Forest Green were probably in the Southern League, that was the way it had been for many years.

“It was a real boost for football in this area when Cheltenham got into the League and then we’ve watched as Forest Green have climbed the pyramid too.”

That culminated in Forest Green’s promotion at the end of the 2016/17 season since when they have held a slight edge when the two clubs have gone head to head in the league, winning one – 1-0 at Cheltenham in April 2018 – and drawing three.

“They are both very ambitious clubs,” continued Burden. “For both of them to be in the Football League is a great achievement and a place in League One would be incredible.
“Cheltenham have got into League One a couple of times. I think League One is the ceiling for both clubs, not because of any lack of ambition but because of the size of their grounds.

“You don’t get many clubs going into the Championship with crowds of 7,000 or 8,000. You always want clubs to be the best they can but you have to be realistic.”

Burden, who lives in Cheltenham, is a Cheltenham Town fan and like so many other supporters has enjoyed some great days with the club over the past 20-plus years.

“I follow them enthusiastically,” he said, “but I always look out for Forest Green’s result. I went over and watched them last year and I was at Wembley when they got promoted to the Football League. I was invited as chairman of Forest Green’s county FA. I would have gone anyway but it just meant I was in the posh seats!”

He will be supporting Cheltenham when they play Forest Green but added: “Wearing my Gloucestershire FA hat, I want both clubs to do well.”

And the men at the helm – Michael Duff at Cheltenham and Forest Green’s Mark Cooper – are certainly doing very well.

“Mark Cooper has done a fantastic job, he’s done really well,” added Burden. “He had a difficult first season in the Football League but he took them to the play-offs last season.

“He was obviously under a bit of pressure in that first season – the manager is always under pressure when results are not going well – but the club stood behind him, gave him time to shape his team and he’s repaid that loyalty.”

Duff isn’t as experienced as Cooper in terms of management but he has certainly had a massive impact in his 12-plus months at the helm at Cheltenham Town.

“He’s transformed the club,” said Burden of the one-time Cheltenham and Burnley defender. “I assumed he’d be pretty good at sorting out the defence but the team are playing really good football as well, some of the best I’ve seen for a good while.

“I admit that has been a pleasant surprise but then he has got a pretty good CV.”

The game on Saturday 2nd November kicks off at 3pm.