On The Road: The wonderful world of a football nomad… and how his dream fixture is in the Outer Hebrides!

It is autumn in the Mugdock estate, near Milngavie. Here he stands, shrouded in mist, and peering towards the action on Staney Brig park.

It is summer in Munich. Here he stands, surrounded by frenzied fans and crates of beer in the Marienplatz as Scotland’s Euros calamity has yet to unfold and optimism can still be indulged between sips of lager.

Here he stands. David Stoker can be found on most Saturdays — and regularly throughout the week — on the sidelines of football pitches. He travels extensively to watch a game. He could be dubbed King of the Road but he would gently demur.

‘I know people who go to 300 games a year,’ he says. ‘I am not on that level. I have gone to about 170 to 200 for the past ten years and perhaps 100 a year before that for the previous ten years. The years before that would be typical of any football fan. I started going to games at the age of ten.’

Stoker, 47, is an office worker, father, grandfather and football nomad. He is also aide, companion and informal advisor to those who just fancy taking in a match on a Saturday or those whose obsession runs deeper.

He compiles a definitive Scottish fixture list on his website and has just published a book, Scottish Non League Record, that records every result in the 2023-24 season from the Highland League to the Lowland League and down the pyramid. There are also amateur and welfare league tables.

A trip to see Livingston Utd take on Burghead in Junior Cup action gave Stoker his weekly fix

His most high-profile fixture this year was the most painful, Scotland’s 5-1 defeat in Munich

His interest in the game was sparked watching Meadowbank Thistle as a boy.

‘I could have gone to Hibs as Easter Road was near my home but those were the days when the odd CS canister was being lobbed in Leith and my mum wanted me to head somewhere safer,’ he recalls.

It is a sign of the times that as a 10-year-old he was dropped off at Meadowbank and picked up after the game. He followed the Meadowbank remnants to Livingston and eventually became the supporters’ trust representative on the board. He left that role 10 years ago, though he still returns on a regular basis. In football supporter terms, he hit the road.

He is careful to dilute his passion with an element of sober balance. ‘I have a family, I have a job, I have a partner. I have to fit football in with other stuff in my life,’ he says.

His older son is 24, the younger, who goes to many games with him, is 10. He met his partner four years ago. The conversation with her quickly turned to what were Stoker’s interests. ‘I told her I liked going to football matches and that can be several times a week,’ he says. ‘The expectation level was set there.’

He is well-known to the band of football fanatics. My life on the fitba’ road has criss-crossed with his on a couple of occasions. The first at Staney Brig for an amateur match involving Milngavie Wanderers and the second in Munich where he was attending a match somewhat higher up the football pyramid.

Stoker cites Morton’s Cappielow as one of his favourite grounds due to its ‘old school’ feel

So how does he decide what match to watch? A long-standing supporter of the national team, the decision to travel to Germany was easily made. Other journeys are made after due deliberation.

‘People can sometimes see me on social media talking about going to three games a day,’ he says. ‘But that only happens if the opportunity is there and there is space and time to do it.’

Normally, he scans the fixture list for the week and comes to a decision. ‘I have to have a reason to go to a game. I have to have an interest in it at some level,’ he says.

‘Sometimes it is about visiting a place I have never been to. Sometimes it’s just an interesting game, sometimes it’s just a level I have not seen. Generally, I prefer watching cup ties. There are also grounds I just like to go to. I would go once a season to Somerset Park, Cappielow, old-school places. These are the places that interest me.’

Stoneyburn in West Lothian is the scene of an annual jaunt. Livingston remain in his heart. ‘I like to go along there just to keep in touch with my pals,’ he says. But he started his football odyssey because the routine of being a regular attender at one club began to tax him.

‘I wasn’t enjoying it as much,’ he says. The tyranny of a fixture list that repeated games against certain clubs on an annual basis left him seeking something fresh.

As a Livingston fan, Stoker cites their 2004 League Cup triumph as his greatest day as a fan

Yet Livingston provided him with his most memorable game of the thousands he has witnessed.

‘The League Cup final in 2004,’ he replies in questions about the best match. Livingston defeated Hibernian 2-0. ‘I never anticipated winning a cup as a Livingston fan. It was not a great game of football but it will always live with me,’ he says. 

‘Being in Munich in the summer was memorable too. I love to watch Scotland so getting to watch the team in a major championship was a big thing for me, even though we lost 5-1.’

He also recalls the Scotland match against Israel at Hampden in 2021 when a goal in time added on settled the game 3-2 in favour of the home side. ‘I had just started taking my younger son to Scotland games and that one meant a lot,’ he says.

‘My dad wasn’t into football so I was keen for my son to enjoy it. When you are trying to immerse a kid into football it can be difficult. But that night there was drama, there was atmosphere and a switch went on in him. That’s special.’

He travels regularly to England for matches but the bucket list has already been drawn up and Boca Juniors v River Plate sits at its head. ‘But I have been fortunate,’ he says. ‘I have done most of what I wanted to do.’

Scott McTominay’s late winner in a 3-2 defeat of Israel at Hampden meant a lot to him

He would also like to watch a match on that incredible pitch on Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. ‘I did a Hebridean football road trip from Barra to the tip of Lewis and I visited the Eriskay ground but they were not at home.’

This journey reinforced in him the bond between football and community.

‘What does it give me?’ he asks of his travels. ‘I appreciate the sense of community, connecting with people. There is nothing like football to unite a community.

‘Look at the Scottish Junior Cup. The final is an unforgettable day out for people in villages or towns. There are photographs in committee rooms all over Scotland of the day the cup came home to a certain town. 

‘There are places where the community doesn’t really exist without the football team. There are villages or towns in Scotland you visit and think: “There is nothing really here except the football club”.’

Forget Madrid or Milan, Stoker’s dream fixture would be getting to see Eriskay FC play at home

He adds: ‘That’s not a statement of disrespect. But football doesn’t just put some places on the map, it keeps them going.’

His magnum opus on the results of last season has just been published. He is open about its purpose. ‘It’s just to put down a matter of record. I set up the website ten years ago when I was looking for a game and had to visit various websites. I decided to put them all together in one place for anyone like me who was just looking for a game. 

‘It is a bit of work but I have become quicker over the years. The book is there for people to look at a period of time and see what precisely was going on. I laugh when I think of someone finding it a hundred years on and wondering what it is all about.’

It is, of course, a record of how thousands of people spent their Saturday. It can be cold, the journey wearying, the game dull and the pie overcooked but Stoker reflects the simple joy of matches far from the madding crowds.

Stoker is a football obsessive and has released a book detailing every result from last season

‘I was at Stoneyburn once and bought a half-time draw ticket. The guy came around shouting out the numbers and I realised I had won. I was quite loud in celebrating. The guy said: “Calm down, son, it’s only four quid”.’

Stoker returned the prize money. His rewards from football come in another form.

Scottish Non League Record, priced £10, can be bought via Stripe or by contacting scottishfootballfixtures@gmail.com