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Anyone Remember Sheff U Away Xmas '73?


TijuanaTim
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Ouch I remember that one as well, VERY hostile and a couple of the lads from our coach got caught on the way out the tunnel from the "End".

We went to help get them out and the cops fnally came. Thought that was it but they'd seen the whole thing and got us back to the bus in one piece.

 

Jeez was that '73?

 

Before the game it all seemed fine I recall we were even allowed into their club at thr ground for a few beers.

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Ouch I remember that one as well, VERY hostile and a couple of the lads from our coach got caught on the way out the tunnel from the "End".

We went to help get them out and the cops fnally came. Thought that was it but they'd seen the whole thing and got us back to the bus in one piece.

 

Jeez was that '73?

 

Before the game it all seemed fine I recall we were even allowed into their club at thr ground for a few beers.

 

 

Coombsie's Commandos in their end, all sorts of shenanigans, not quite as bad as Bradford away (which I only heard about), but still a very memorable Yorkshire day out. Another crazy one was Leeds away in the LC semi...funny really as I think Curry was great in both games.

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I remember Saints v Birmingham, first year at St.Mary's I think it was. 0-0 **** all happened.

 

I was there at that one. There was quite a big crowd of us that day, not much going on on the pitch, but some great banter with a couple of mates. I think I've still got some socks I bought that day.

 

Am I right in thinking it started ****ing it down later?

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I was there ... We went straight into the middle of their kop end before the start of the game.

 

I remember going up to this Sheffield Utd Skinhead chick and having a good snog with her !

 

I am sure at the time Bramall lane was an odd shape with a cricket pitch leaving one of the side stands a long way from the pitch ?

 

We got into a bit of strife in some of those under street subways after the game

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I was there ... We went straight into the middle of their kop end before the start of the game.

 

I remember going up to this Sheffield Utd Skinhead chick and having a good snog with her !

 

I am sure at the time Bramall lane was an odd shape with a cricket pitch leaving one of the side stands a long way from the pitch ?

 

We got into a bit of strife in some of those under street subways after the game

 

Hey Breeny...that's right mate, Yorks played there in those days - strange set up. Do you go up on the Glen Giles/Coombsie coach...there was another one as well out of the Warrens or Lord Louis or somewhere. We got pretty high on their end, like you said monkey business after....

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Coombsie's Commandos in their end, all sorts of shenanigans, not quite as bad as Bradford away (which I only heard about), but still a very memorable Yorkshire day out. Another crazy one was Leeds away in the LC semi...funny really as I think Curry was great in both games.

 

And the rest of the Wimpson Lads.

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I remember this but through a bit of a drunken haze. Was on a coach that left Bedford Place after midnight. Remember waiting outside a pub in Sheffield to open at 10. Drinking loads of Youngers Tartan then a big bundle as we we went round the ground to their end before the kick off. A couple of lads lifted by old bill didn't make the coach back.

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we need more detail tim.what happened in their end.forget about being pc.

 

About 100 Saints fans (2 coaches) decided to go into the Sheffield end soon after the turnstiles opened. So in effect when all the locals turned up they were not best pleased to see "their end" inhabited by intruders.

I never forget all of a sudden there was a large chant "you're gonna get your effin head kicked in" and thinking they are right I am. The Saints mob stood thei rground surrounded by about 1000 United fans and I remember looking for a convenient escape route :)

 

Fortunately the old bill intervened as as far as I can remember we were all sheperded to another part of the terrace.

 

I seem to remember Clint Hodder being there - I often wonder what happened to him, way ahead of his time fashion wise - one of the first skinheads in Southampton and then one of the first to grow his hair and get into Bowie. Talented artist and a nice guy too. Had a brother who's name I can't recall.

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Coombsie's Commandos in their end, all sorts of shenanigans, not quite as bad as Bradford away (which I only heard about), but still a very memorable Yorkshire day out. Another crazy one was Leeds away in the LC semi...funny really as I think Curry was great in both games.

 

Remember the Semi Final at Elland Road went up in a mini bus that had a dodgy heater it had been snowing and so it was bloody freezing, because of the weather we only had about 300 fans there who had to spend the entire match dodging the ice balls that the Leeds boys were throwing our way,got attacked on the way out and were well outnumbered when this Fookin Great police horse came and saved the day this coupled with a Steve Williams equalizer 2-2 made it worth the trip. Happy Days! hey we are going to the New Wembley our club is on the UP! Still Happy Days!

 

Saint till I die!

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This was McMenemy's first game as manager not team manager designate if memory serves me right. We changed tactics and entertained the crowd instead of putting the wall up which had served us well up to then

 

He had been Manager for at least a month by then. His 1st or 2nd game was the afternoon k.o against Norwich in the league cup.

 

By the time of the Sheff. Utd game we were 5th and were winning all our home games, but couldn't win away. (Sound familiar) We had got done 4-0 at Chelsea and only drawn 0-0 at ManUre, which was the 1973 equivalent of drawing at Wycombe.

 

My memory of the game was that we were getting a right stuffing up until we scored with our only attack of the half. We then equalised in the 2nd before Alan Woodward scored one of his many 30 yarders against us. As stated earlier Currie ran the whole game.

 

Remember we were 5th then and ended up getting relegated. Might have been different if Micky Channon hadn't missed a last-minute penalty against the Gooners in the next match on Boxing Day.

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Hey Breeny...that's right mate, Yorks played there in those days - strange set up. Do you go up on the Glen Giles/Coombsie coach...there was another one as well out of the Warrens or Lord Louis or somewhere. We got pretty high on their end, like you said monkey business after....

 

I was with the Warrens crew.We were all as drunk as lords and straight into the middle of their kop which was a bloody big one !!

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what other ends have we invaded?ones that spring to mind or ive heard of -oxford in 76, mansfield 77,qpr 79 brighton 78.what about other teams in the milton?does anyone remember poopey given half the milton in 74?

 

I remember us going straight into the Boothen end at Stoke. Around the same era Again maybe three coach loads at the most fueled with loads of larger !!

 

That was a massive end in those days and we stood our ground !

 

Brighton friendly.Cant remember the year but it was a friendly and we broke into the Goldstone ground knocking over this huge wooden gate !

I remember before the game walking along Brighton seafront with thousands of Saints fans looking back as far as the eye could see.......

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what other ends have we invaded?ones that spring to mind or ive heard of -oxford in 76, mansfield 77,qpr 79 brighton 78.what about other teams in the milton?does anyone remember poopey given half the milton in 74?

 

We invaded the Reading end once.

 

That really confused the feck out of them as they were playing Palace.

 

We'd reached Fleet on the coach when we heard our game was off - pretty certain it was Orient.

 

That was a calm and relaxing evening

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what other ends have we invaded?ones that spring to mind or ive heard of -oxford in 76, mansfield 77,qpr 79 brighton 78.what about other teams in the milton?does anyone remember poopey given half the milton in 74?

 

I remember them getting half the milton in 74 about 500 or, I dont think they were given it. They just got in there really early. They were on the left hand side facing the pitch. They tried to take the middle bit behind the goal but failed. Anyone remember the following season when they charged along the west stand before the game to try and get in the Milton. They suddenly stopped for no reason. I've heard all sorts of rumours as to why, but none of them have been confirmed.

 

Anyone remember when Pompey turned up in the Milton around 77/78 when we played millwall and their game was called off at Swindon, about 3 coach loads turned up. They definitely bit off more than they could chew that day.

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what other ends have we invaded?ones that spring to mind or ive heard of -oxford in 76, mansfield 77,qpr 79 brighton 78.what about other teams in the milton?does anyone remember poopey given half the milton in 74?

 

Probably one of the most famous was the FA Cup match at Forest in the late 70's something like 10000 Saints fans up there .... think it may have been a police decision for us to go in there .... but the locals weren't best pleased :D

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Probably one of the most famous was the FA Cup match at Forest in the late 70's something like 10000 Saints fans up there .... think it may have been a police decision for us to go in there .... but the locals weren't best pleased :D

 

 

 

I went there and just stood under the stand with my young lady friend, seemed aok to me, don't remember any trouble at all. Highlight of the day was a little container of mushy peas that got hoicked out of the stand right onto a copper's helmet.Plus our goals of course

 

Wish I could remember the girl's name though, it's about the only 1 that I can't.

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what other ends have we invaded?ones that spring to mind or ive heard of -oxford in 76, mansfield 77,qpr 79 brighton 78.what about other teams in the milton?does anyone remember poopey given half the milton in 74?

 

Yeah, lots of times...one funny one we tried was at Palarse of all places back in October 1970. We had gone on BR with Stan 'the man' (Millbrook, not Fair Oak) Bev and the Weston lads, Danny Brennan, Philly Gibbs was with us. There were also all the Saints 'crombie' girls that used to go Ruthie, Pat and Karen Bailey etc

 

As we came down the hill and approached the ground feeling fairly confident their lot appeared from everywhere, totally knew what they were doing. There were loads of them and fracas broke out all over...hardly OB anywhere. Being severely outnumbered some were bundled into the safety of the ground by the few police that were there and the others retreated back up the hill. There was a car park up there where all the coaches were unloading...'Keystone Kops' time, as all the Saints fans now outnumbering the CP lot and chased them back to where they came from.

 

We lost the game 3-1, I think they had a CF called Gerry Queen that did the damage. All through the game cops escorted Southampton fans from all different parts of the ground to over behind the goal where the bulk of Saints were.

 

The trip back to Waterloo (which was an adventure in itself in those days) was eventful, random fans taking random routes looking for excitement. Not so much for us, but some West Ham lads apparently had been running amok and some innocent and inocuous Forest fans that had been at Highbury had taken a pretty bad pasting, one had been 'cut'. Crazy-crazy days, horrible really - no 'code' in those days that scarfers were free from the trouble. To most of those London clubs everyone was game.

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I remember them getting half the milton in 74 about 500 or, I dont think they were given it. They just got in there really early. They were on the left hand side facing the pitch. They tried to take the middle bit behind the goal but failed. Anyone remember the following season when they charged along the west stand before the game to try and get in the Milton. They suddenly stopped for no reason. I've heard all sorts of rumours as to why, but none of them have been confirmed.

 

Anyone remember when Pompey turned up in the Milton around 77/78 when we played millwall and their game was called off at Swindon, about 3 coach loads turned up. They definitely bit off more than they could chew that day.

 

Yup also the Salisbury .v. Millwall game 'The Warren's Last Stand'...also pomps tried to team up with United one time - early 70s, Mancs turned on them, not a pretty site, but FAF. United frequently took the Milton, tbf not many did, but do remember Leeds once, when they won the league in 74. West Ham f'sure at Xmas in the early 70s and strangly enough Stoke in August 72. They had just won their first trophy (league cup) and travelled well. I worked in the town at Squires and got in the Milton about 6.30, they were everywhere...bad, bad memory for me.

 

Arsenal, WHU, MU, Spurs, Chelsea and Liv always came in the Milton to try to 'take it' or whatever...pretty well always ended up at the high end with a line of bobbies between us...it would always go off when someone scored.

 

A really impressive following one year was Villa...they were down with Andy Lockhead and Chico Hamilton in the old Third Div and we played them in some cup. They brought shedloads, all over the ground.

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Yup also the Salisbury .v. Millwall game 'The Warren's Last Stand'...also pomps tried to team up with United one time - early 70s, Mancs turned on them, not a pretty site, but FAF. United frequently took the Milton, tbf not many did, but do remember Leeds once, when they won the league in 74. West Ham f'sure at Xmas in the early 70s and strangly enough Stoke in August 72. They had just won their first trophy (league cup) and travelled well. I worked in the town at Squires and got in the Milton about 6.30, they were everywhere...bad, bad memory for me.

 

Arsenal, WHU, MU, Spurs, Chelsea and Liv always came in the Milton to try to 'take it' or whatever...pretty well always ended up at the high end with a line of bobbies between us...it would always go off when someone scored.

 

A really impressive following one year was Villa...they were down with Andy Lockhead and Chico Hamilton in the old Third Div and we played them in some cup. They brought shedloads, all over the ground.

It was the best half time entertainment when I was 10 watching the fighting stood at the front of the Archers. I remember one time the police threatening to empty the milton unless the fighting stopped. The fans and police always seemed to love the bother.
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not sure if i should be proud or ashamed that i was at virtually all the games mentioned above.

fought of United with Mr Coombes on the steps of Wembley, shared a locker at college with Clint Hodder(mentioned in Fitzhugh's post)

went to the same school as Karen Bailey, although i was 4 years older.

life was certainly different then but friendships have lasted a long time and many of us old boys still sit near each other in the Chapel.

Funny thing was there were some bl*ody good footballers who supported the club in an "active" way.

better shut up or the PC boys will be after me

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not sure if i should be proud or ashamed that i was at virtually all the games mentioned above.

fought of United with Mr Coombes on the steps of Wembley, shared a locker at college with Clint Hodder(mentioned in Fitzhugh's post)

went to the same school as Karen Bailey, although i was 4 years older.

life was certainly different then but friendships have lasted a long time and many of us old boys still sit near each other in the Chapel.

Funny thing was there were some bl*ody good footballers who supported the club in an "active" way.

better shut up or the PC boys will be after me

 

Have been a teammate with a few of them Dave Stroud, Mark Fulham and Philly Watts just t'name three,

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Yup also the Salisbury .v. Millwall game 'The Warren's Last Stand'...also pomps tried to team up with United one time - early 70s, Mancs turned on them, not a pretty site, but FAF. United frequently took the Milton, tbf not many did, but do remember Leeds once, when they won the league in 74. West Ham f'sure at Xmas in the early 70s and strangly enough Stoke in August 72. They had just won their first trophy (league cup) and travelled well. I worked in the town at Squires and got in the Milton about 6.30, they were everywhere...bad, bad memory for me.

 

Arsenal, WHU, MU, Spurs, Chelsea and Liv always came in the Milton to try to 'take it' or whatever...pretty well always ended up at the high end with a line of bobbies between us...it would always go off when someone scored.

 

A really impressive following one year was Villa...they were down with Andy Lockhead and Chico Hamilton in the old Third Div and we played them in some cup. They brought shedloads, all over the ground.

 

Salisbury v Milwall. Remember that one well, we had the Black & White colours on for a change. Loads of Saints fans in and around us. Millwall fans came in with their surgical masks on and woosh we were all left on our own. (Always remember thinking - thanks guys). They were actually fine with us but the few pockets of Saints fans they found.....

 

Remember one group of about 4 or 5 Millwall who came past had pushed razor blades into the front of the soles of their Doc Martins.

 

Such nice chaps.

 

If I remember the game I think Paul Christopher almost had a shot for the Whites.

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not sure if i should be proud or ashamed that i was at virtually all the games mentioned above.

fought of United with Mr Coombes on the steps of Wembley, shared a locker at college with Clint Hodder(mentioned in Fitzhugh's post)

went to the same school as Karen Bailey, although i was 4 years older.

life was certainly different then but friendships have lasted a long time and many of us old boys still sit near each other in the Chapel.

Funny thing was there were some bl*ody good footballers who supported the club in an "active" way.

better shut up or the PC boys will be after me

 

The walk up the stairs at the tube station at West Ham was a bit naughty can't remember the year.

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Like 70's Mike, I was there for most games and for me the real buzz of going to games was the aggro. It all seems so stupid and pathetic now but at the time it was the norm.

 

Sheffield Utd was a real cracker. I remember we were all at the back of their end and when the stand was nearly full we all charged forward and their fans scattered everywhere. However, once they'd regrouped we were forced to one side of the end nearest the cricket pitch. The real fun started in the big underground roundabout in the centre of town. Their fans were coming from different directions into the main circle and each time we fought them off. It was like the Alamo!

 

Anyone remember the Swindon away game? We took their end but there was some bloke who resembled Giant Haystacks who just wouldn't budge.

 

Also Chelsea. About fifty of us went into the Shed. A massive brawl broke out, I was nicked so don't know what the outcome was.

 

Happy Days!

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. Might have been different if Micky Channon hadn't missed a last-minute penalty against the Gooners in the next match on Boxing Day.

 

 

 

I soke to Bob Wilson about that penalty save when I met him a few years ago.

 

He said it was all down to Bally as up to that penalty Bob was useless at saving them but Bally started telling him what to do and it worked

 

Could not believe when Channon missed as I was in one of those box things at top of the Milton Road End

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When I first started going in the late 60s / early 70s, I seem to remember that there was a bloke called ?Dougall? who was the Milton road aggro co-ordinator. If I recall correctly he wore 2 scarves crossed acoss his chest. Later there was a rumour that he had been killed by fans from another club. Am I remembering this correctly or not?

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When I first started going in the late 60s / early 70s, I seem to remember that there was a bloke called ?Dougall? who was the Milton road aggro co-ordinator. If I recall correctly he wore 2 scarves crossed acoss his chest. Later there was a rumour that he had been killed by fans from another club. Am I remembering this correctly or not?

 

 

I certainly remember Dougal. Couldn't say whether he was killed by rival fans or not. I'd think it was unlikely but I did hear that he supposedly threw the Spud's leader, Sammy, off a train bridge in London.

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Like 70's Mike, I was there for most games and for me the real buzz of going to games was the aggro. It all seems so stupid and pathetic now but at the time it was the norm.

 

Sheffield Utd was a real cracker. I remember we were all at the back of their end and when the stand was nearly full we all charged forward and their fans scattered everywhere. However, once they'd regrouped we were forced to one side of the end nearest the cricket pitch. The real fun started in the big underground roundabout in the centre of town. Their fans were coming from different directions into the main circle and each time we fought them off. It was like the Alamo!

 

Anyone remember the Swindon away game? We took their end but there was some bloke who resembled Giant Haystacks who just wouldn't budge.

 

Also Chelsea. About fifty of us went into the Shed. A massive brawl broke out, I was nicked so don't know what the outcome was.

 

Happy Days!

 

going on to the shed in the 70s sounds like madness.lol

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