By Supporters Coach

This is the best & easiest way.  For full details of Away Travel go to FGR Away Travel – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)  You should book your coach ticket from FGR and you should book by phone or in person to get your Supporters Club discount (by phone on 0333 123 1889 Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3pm – closed Wednesdays).  Or go to Tickets | WE ARE FGR  Please try to book as early as you can.

By Train

This is a Boxing Day game and it doesn’t look as though there are any rail services that day.

By Road

The journey is just over 90 miles from Nailsworth and is likely to take just over 2 hours in reasonable traffic.  Tamworth is just a few miles off the M.42, not far to the north-east of Birmingham.  There is a fair sized car park at the ground or there is street parking reasonably close.  The address & post code for the ground is Kettlebrook, Tamworth, B77 1AA.

The Lamb Ground (or the CR MOT Centre Community Stadium at The Lamb) is Tamworth’s home.  It’s a 4,065 capacity stadium with 518 seats.  The pitch is artificial.  Away fans are usually in a partly covered terrace behind a goal (the Meadow Street end) with some 90 seats made available in the Main Stand nearest to the Meadow Street end.

The Meadow Street terrace is quite low, but has the advantage of being very close to the pitch.

The Lamb, according to some reports, is somewhat uninspiring from the outside but is well maintained and has a certain charm when you’re inside.

The Meadow Street end at the Lamb.

Tamworth are in 14th position in the league.  They have 8 wins, 9 losses & 5 draws so far.

They have some good home wins against Maidenhead, Aldershot, Gateshead, Woking & Dagenham.  Two of their away defeats catch the eye – 7-0 at Barnet and 4-0 at Oldham.  Tamworth’s strength so far this season has been their home form.

The Lambs don’t score that many goals (just 25 goals in 22 games).  Defensively, Tamworth have conceded 38 goals in 22 matches.  However, if you ignore the 11 goals conceded against Barnet & Oldham, their stats look better.  They have only had one 0-0 draw (at home to Yeovil).  But the Yeovil game is the only game where Tamworth have kept a clean sheet this season.  Their most recent home game saw a comeback in the final minute to hold York City to a 1-1 draw.  They then lost 3-0 away at Rochdale before beating Sutton 2-1 away in their most recent game.

Dan Creaney is Tamworth’s top marksman with 7 goals this season.  Now 30 years old, he’s a local – born in Nuneaton.

Forward Nathan Tshikuna has journeyed around a number of clubs at this level and below.  The 25 year-old Londoner wears number 20 and has converted to a striker’s role from his earlier position of midfield.  He has 5 goals for Tamworth so far.

Nathan Tshikuna is Tamworth’s 2nd leading scorer.

A Tamworth favourite is Jordan Cullinane-Liburd who is a defender who wears number 18.  Jordan (29 years old) returned to his hometown club in the summer of 2023 and was voted Supporters Player of the Year last season.

Tamworth FC (nickname The Lambs) have had a great couple of years.  In 2022/23 they won the Southern League Premier Division Central on goal difference.  They followed this up with another promotion in 2023/24 when they won the National League North title with 2 games to spare.

Tamworth have previously spent time in the 5th tier (between 2002 – 2007 and again between 2009 – 2014) so they aren’t strangers to this league.  They have never achieved league status since they were formed in 1933.  They have played at The Lamb Ground since 1934.  The ground is named after a pub which no longer exists.

Mark Cooper (remember him?) managed Tamworth between Apr 2004 and Jan 2007.  This was Cooper’s first managerial role.  Cooper was sacked with Tamworth having a bad season in the 5th tier.  The sacking wasn’t enough to prevent Tamworth being relegated that season.  Cooper managed FGR between 2016-2021 and, after a brief spell at Barrow, has been manager at Yeovil since 2022.

Current manager, Andy Peaks, has been in charge since 2022.

Mark Cooper began his managerial career at Tamworth.

Paul Merson was Tamworth’s most high profile signing in 2006, after his dismissal as manager of Walsall.  But Merson only played 1 game for The Lambs.

Tamworth is 14 miles north-east of Birmingham.  It’s in Staffordshire, on the river Tame (which is where the town’s name comes from).  The town was big in Anglo-Saxon times and the Normans built a castle which you could visit.  Local coalfields boosted the town in the Industrial Revolution.  Fans of industrial canal architecture will find plenty to look at around Tamworth.  Robert Peel (a Lancashire cotton mill owner) moved to Tamworth and became a big benefactor of the town in the 18th & 19th century.  His son, Sir Robert Peel, rose to become one of the most famous Prime Ministers of the Victorian era, and served as the town’s Member of Parliament from 1830 until his death in 1850.   He is credited as the founder of the modern day police force (whose officers are still sometimes called Bobbies or Peelers).

Evidence of coal mining activity has nowadays largely gone

Reliant Motors were based in Tamworth.  The Reliant Robin was manufactured there for 30 years – made even more famous by Del Boy and Jeremy Clarkson.

There are 2 massive attractions, both very close by.  The Snowdome is actually next door to The Lamb Ground.  Boasting 2 real snow indoor slopes plus pool, ice rink and ice track, the attraction is hugely popular.  Even bigger, and just a few miles away, is the Drayton Manor Theme Park – find out more at https://www.snowdome.co.uk/ and  https://www.draytonmanor.co.uk/events/christmas.  Both attractions seem to be open on Boxing Day.

If cathedrals are your thing, Lichfield is only 6 miles away.