saints v Crystal Palace 1976 semi

Was there behind the goal with a load of mad loonies at the back of the terrace.

Remember John Mc Grath directing fans on the way in.

Went up with Lordshill/Aldermoor boys on a coach arranged by a working mans club (not sure which one) , they had booked into a club opposite the shed end turnstiles , absolute bedlam , the singing was awesome . Could not believe the pish cascading the steps when we got in . Pedro was right , a few Chelsea at the back started but soon scarpered . Found ourselves at Waterloo late at night and came back by train , best day ever .

Sod the roche moutonees,

Never seen them mentioned on a football forum before, but I see you remember your geography too! Did you stay at the YHA at Harlech: I was traumatised by my field trip a few years before. The weather and the food, both appalling..

But you've just reminded me that I probably didn't go to the Villa replay: it was West Brom I went to in the midlands.

Just found this on youtube. Some fantastic scenes here especially at the end of the players and fans celebrating. Who was there?

 

nice bit of nostalgia there, Turkish and a good chance for younger fans to see the '76 Cup side in real action, (especially as the Final itself was a bit of a nervous affair).

Great performance from David Peach, whose record of 35 (?) career penalties is still a Football League record. Missed only 2 of 26 for Saints.

I went to all the home games in the cup run despite playing on Saturday afternoons in the Southampton Senior League but the Semi was a different proposition. I didn't have the voucher required to secure a ticket but my mate had one. We decided the best way to get round this; two tickets needed from one voucher by a cunning ruse. We lightly sprayed the voucher with a silicon type varnish, he presented it at the box office, they duly stamped it and issued his ticket. Back to work we applied a little solvent on cotton wool and removed the stamp. I reappear at the box office and got my ticket...job done.

Never seen them mentioned on a football forum before, but I see you remember your geography too! Did you stay at the YHA at Harlech: I was traumatised by my field trip a few years before. The weather and the food, both appalling..

 

But you've just reminded me that I probably didn't go to the Villa replay: it was West Brom I went to in the midlands.

We stayed at a youth hostel in Dolgellau. Unfortunately its not about remembering my geography from those A level days as I have a B.Ed degree in the subject and have been teaching it in secondary schools in Berkshire for a substantial part of the last 35 years. As far as the stay in the youth hostel I don't remember much about the food, but the weather was great. It was 1976 and it didn't rain once in Wales while we were there. In fact returning back south we came through the Elan valley, The reservoirs which were at there lowest levels ever and the inter-connecting streams were dried out.

Will ask next time I see them Mike, but they do still go

I was on Jewitt's coach also, I do remember Pete Wilson's detour. I went into a bar with Glenn Baker and Colin Taylor before the game. Walking to the Shed before the game I remember seeing faces I hadn't seen for years! By the time we got in, we could just fit against the wall at the back, The Shed was so crowded. The sound and atmosphere was electric, most of us were too young to have seen the 1963 semi-final, so this was our biggest game up to then. I think everyone was surprised that we had got to the semi's, especially after the Bradford match. Being allocated the Shed was a massive help, it was like the complete Dell being dropped into one end. The atmosphere was better than the Cup Final, and the relief of winning, I remember being on a high for days. It was the biggest thing to have happened to us, that we knew, we would be going to Wembley to play Man U in the final! I remember the buzz on the coach going back, I think they dropped us off at The Painted Waggon. Then we started to celebrate.

nice bit of nostalgia there, Turkish and a good chance for younger fans to see the '76 Cup side in real action, (especially as the Final itself was a bit of a nervous affair).

 

Great performance from David Peach, whose record of 35 (?) career penalties is still a Football League record. Missed only 2 of 26 for Saints.

Do you continually make up your own stats? Or do you own the most inaccurate reference book?

Graham Alexander? Phil Neal? Geoff Hurst? Francis Lee?

I went to all the home games in the cup run despite playing on Saturday afternoons in the Southampton Senior League but the Semi was a different proposition. I didn't have the voucher required to secure a ticket but my mate had one. We decided the best way to get round this; two tickets needed from one voucher by a cunning ruse. We lightly sprayed the voucher with a silicon type varnish, he presented it at the box office, they duly stamped it and issued his ticket. Back to work we applied a little solvent on cotton wool and removed the stamp. I reappear at the box office and got my ticket...job done.

Really... No one? Great work

It was 1976 and it didn't rain once in Wales while we were there. .

Lucky b*****d!

I can't mention where I was living otherwise Turkish will give me grief suffice to say that I remembered all my glaciation stuff from 50 years previously. Erratics, moraines, roches, cirques: you name it, all local to me. Bit too expensive for a school field trip, but you could combine it with skiing - now there's an idea!

Do you continually make up your own stats? Or do you own the most inaccurate reference book?

 

Graham Alexander? Phil Neal? Geoff Hurst? Francis Lee?

I think the record that David refers to is that Peachey became the highest scoring full back in the history of the Football League (not penalties) when he scored a pen against ManU in 1979. Not sure whether that record still stands, he scored a few more after that date for us, Swindon and Orient, What I had not realised was that the penalty against Palace was his first (of many) for us. We must have got a lot of pens in those days if he racked up 26 in 4 seasons.