Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air on October 09, 2010, 10:06:15 AM
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Not just losing, but everything that can go wrong does go wrong.
Boxing Day 1976 Middlesbrough away.
My Mom and Dad are going in his nice big fancy Datsun hes just got. I could go and do the driving but no, I have to travel up with a mate in my mini 850 and be independent. Who wants to go with their parents when your 19 ?
The games lost 3-2, getting out of town Im actually behind my Dad at the traffic lights as they change, he moves off and I stall. Bye dad ! The car wont start and the headlights are flickering as I try to get going, I pull the choke out to see if that does the trick. Oops, in my temper Ive really pulled the choke out, as in I now have a a button with a piece of loose cable in my hand. Thats an added problem as the car wasnt ticking over right before and for a few days Ive been driving with the choke just ever so ever so slightly out so it didnt cut out. Ok I get out we need to get help, now its started to snow, real snow. I find a garage and the guy comes out and tows us in, charges us about £30 to charge the battery up and get us going. As long as I drive and keep my foot on the gas a bit at all times it wont cut out, sort of improvise using my other foot to the brake. About 30 miles down the lights are starting to dim, it dawns on me that the battery isnt charging so if I stop and I wont get started again. So now, as long as I drive non stop to Birmingham through the snow with the headlights getting dimmer and keep my foot on the gas at all times so it doesnt cut out we will be ok. Dont forget there was no fast road from the M1 then, so Ive got to negotiate down through Ashby and Measham when you come off at Castle Donnington. I nearly made it, I very nearly made it. 2/3 miles from home I stall at a set of traffic lights. After walking through snow drifts in Walmley at 2 in the morning I get to a phone box and the old man comes out to the rescue (they were back at about 8pm).
"Thats its dad, I aint ever going to an away match again!"
"Calm down son, you will you will"
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Marvellous!
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Surprised this hasn't got more responses.
My worst would be the infamous Nottingham Forest season opening game about twenty years ago - despite it being warm, sunny and being back in Brum about 6pm.
A creditible mention to Pompey in March 2008 - lost 2-0, it pissed down all day, a friend got into fistycuffs with some old codger and the whole atmosphere on the coach travelling back was just horrible.
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FA Cup 3rd round replay at Plough Lane in 1991.
120 minutes on an open terrace in the driving rain, for the privilge of seeing Villa lose it to a long punt upfield in the 119th minute.
Three things always stick with me from that night.
(1) En route from the Tube station to the ground, I passed an ambulance treating a Villa fan who had been knocked down on the bridge that crossed over the railway lines. I don't know how serious it was, but I did think during the course of the game that I would gladly change places with him, if only to be warm and dry and tucked up in a hospital bed.
(2) I'd gone straight to the game from the job I then had in London. My suit and shoes got ruined.
(3) The strange feeling of relief when Wimbledon scored. It had already been announced that should a second replay be necessary, then it would also be played at Plough Lane. It was like, thank goodness I won't have to come here again next week.
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My worst would be the infamous Nottingham Forest season opening game about twenty years ago - despite it being warm, sunny and being back in Brum about 6pm.
What was infamous about it? Should probably remember but I don't.
Was just a year or so before I started to go away regularly, had only been to a handful of away games before that.
IIRC it wasn't a bad game -if it's the 89/90 one. Mountfield scored for us and they equalised second half.
Purely results and performance wise it would have to be Arsenal away in 1991. 5-0 and Spink off injured. But as often happens in those kind of circumstances we were that bad you could only laugh...for a bit. Cheering David Platt's goal kicks was about as good as it got.
Grimsby away was always fun too. Shit town, shithole stadium and throwback fans still living the 70's dream.
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Not so much infamous for the game or the result, but the 500-or so Villa locked out of the away end (I was one of them) and a few hundred more locked in a cage at Nottingham station without basic facilities.
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Boxing Day 92... Serious championship contenders and we get gubbed 3-0 at Highfield Road... Inexplicable... We made the strike partnership of fat Mick Quinn and lumbering Robert Rosario look like world beaters... Still can't quite believe it really happened.
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Boxing Day 1982. Trounced at The Sty.
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Both of the above....
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Boxing Day 1982. Trounced at The Sty.
That, as a kid scarred me much. We were champs of Europe and they did us 3-0 and celebrated as though they had won the world cup.
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Not so much infamous for the game or the result, but the 500-or so Villa locked out of the away end (I was one of them) and a few hundred more locked in a cage at Nottingham station without basic facilities.
IIRC Charlie Royle of Glaisyers Solicitors represented some of the Villa fans 'illegally' caged, but I can't remember the outcome. Can anyone shed any light on what happened?
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Losing 3-0 at the Valley to Charlton after taking 48 different methods of transport to get to the game wasn't fun.
Also the FA Cup Semi-Final against Chelsea last season, does that count as an away trip? I'd never seen so many fans unconscious, seemed to be loads of fighting before and after the game.
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Wembley 2000, for obvious reasons. Still the lowest, sickest, most gutwrenching feeling i've ever had after a Villa game. Sheff Wed at home in 87 doesn't even come close. Assuming Wembley counts as an away that is.
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No mentions of being beat 3-0 by blose in the league? What was the night actually like aside from horrific shambolic and embarressing? What was it like around the ground before and after? Inside the ground?
Anyways my worst away day was the 3-2 defeat by manure the other year, thought we'd finally done it, then Ronaldo decided he wants to play football and Macheda well, hasnt done much since has he?
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What was the night actually like aside from horrific shambolic and embarressing? What was it like around the ground before and after? Inside the ground?
It was absolutely horrible!
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Boxing day '82 still haunts me. I was twelve and had to go to a family party on the night full of Bluenoses. Big picture of Noel Blake celebrating his goal in front of us with the heading Rejects Revenge next day in the mail. Charlton '87 as well because for me that was the day we knew we were down. For disasters, Highbury '91 - couldn't park, got in just in time for Arsenals first then it ended 5-0. West Ham league cup quarter final '89 and the Forest game later that year were two occasions I couldn't get in, but I had a lot more company at Forest! Losing the Milk Cup semi at Oxford in '86 was pretty grim too.
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Palace away, 1990
Got into North London around half twelve (in the car), followed the coaches, they got lost around kew gardens, scrambled eventually into rougly the right district, couldn't find that shithole for love nor money, eventually parking up and following a man who may have been going to the game (he was, thankfully), greeted by a sign saying £7 to stand (robdogs! :o), paid, walked down the steps at five past three to see Garry Thompson score the games only goal, for them.
And then our kid went the wrong way round the M25 on the way home.
Well it's either that, or the coach that broke down 3 times on the way to and back from Old Trafford, the same season.
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Journeyed to Turf Moor with 4 mates in a borrowed Ford Zephyr, got into the ground to find MOTD cameras there, Burnley put 4 past us, and the car broke down on the motorway going home .. 4 trying to push start the Zephyr uphill on the hard shoulder, but still got back to sit through the pain again on the telly later .. ah those third division days!!
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Journeyed to Turf Moor with 4 mates in a borrowed Ford Zephyr, got into the ground to find MOTD cameras there, Burnley put 4 past us, and the car broke down on the motorway going home .. 4 trying to push start the Zephyr uphill on the hard shoulder, but still got back to sit through the pain again on the telly later .. ah those third division days!!
We never played Burnley in the 3rd division.
Without looking it up, I seem to remember there may have been a game after we were back in the 2nd division and shipping 4 goals. Those were the days when Bob Lord ran Burnley like a dictatorship and the only stand with seats was behind the goal.
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Andy Lochead ... there was a player to watch ...
memories fade in the mists of time, it must have been the 2nd Division I meant, but It was still one of those days, thanks for the memory jog.... any idea of the date?
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It tiurned out to be the best, but for about 45 minutes in 1981 I can remember feeling sick at the thought of throwing away the league title as Arsenal were cruising in the second half and Ipswich were 1-0 up at Middlesbrough.
In the days before mobile phones, it was the pockets of fans with little radios and word spreading across the terrace as Boro's goals went in that sticks in the memory.
Can't imagine what the atmosphere would have been like after the game if Ipswich had won.
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Leicester away mid 80's - 11 am kick off for some reason. Loads of Villa fans arriving late at the old Filbert Street where the view was always bloody awful.
Not that it was worth watching - 4-0 down after 20 minutes. Lost 5-0 eventually. Smith and Lineker scored the goals.
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I remember going to Ipswich for a relegation battle under SGTII I think, one of the worst games I have ever seen was settled by a last minute OG by a guy named Chris Swailes. We had a pint or two and went to catch the connection back to Peterborough only to get on a train going in the opposite direction, went back only to be told we had missed the last train and we could either go to London and maybe make the last train or wait until the morning. Ended up getting a taxi from Ipswich to Peterborough at a cost of £120.00.
Not the best of days.
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Andy Lochead ... there was a player to watch ...
memories fade in the mists of time, it must have been the 2nd Division I meant, but It was still one of those days, thanks for the memory jog.... any idea of the date?
26th August 1972, second away game of the season. As the Special pulled out of Burnley, we got bricked by some kids at the top of the cutting. My mate was hurling abuse at them, only to get hit straight between the eyes on the bridge of his nose with a rock. i've never seen so much blood in my life!. He's still got the scar to this day.
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We played an FA Cup match at Burnley around then, I think. My Dad got me two tickets. They were ten bob each. My mate got one from the club and the tight sod wouldn't have the ticket that I got him. Just as well as that ticket, complete with stub, is worth much more than ten bob now!
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We played an FA Cup match at Burnley around then, I think. My Dad got me two tickets. They were ten bob each. My mate got one from the club and the tight sod wouldn't have the ticket that I got him. Just as well as that ticket, complete with stub, is worth much more than ten bob now!
The cup tie was Feb16 1974, lost 1 - 0.
I caught the last train from Lichfield to Aston on the Saturday and slept in the shelter on the station, ready for when the tickets went on sale on the Sunday morning for this game. Bloody freezing it was too. Got to Burnley and was not pleased to see you could pay at the gate, as we had loads of unsold tickets left!.
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We played an FA Cup match at Burnley around then, I think. My Dad got me two tickets. They were ten bob each. My mate got one from the club and the tight sod wouldn't have the ticket that I got him. Just as well as that ticket, complete with stub, is worth much more than ten bob now!
The cup tie was Feb16 1974, lost 1 - 0.
I caught the last train from Lichfield to Aston on the Saturday and slept in the shelter on the station, ready for when the tickets went on sale on the Sunday morning for this game. Bloody freezing it was too. Got to Burnley and was not pleased to see you could pay at the gate, as we had loads of unsold tickets left!.
I travelled from Croydon to Burnley for that game, a long trip. We fought hard against a team in the top flight, but we just weren't good enough. That was really the story of our season, apart from the heroics against Arsenal the previous round, and Vic Crowe and Ron Wylie were sacked at the end of the season, when it became obvious that they could take the club no further. They were replaced by Ron Saunders, and the glory years were about to begin.
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Got lost on the way to Norwich in Villa's first season back in the First Division after promotion under Ron Saunders and missed the entire first half, we were battered and losing 4-1 I think, eventually losing the game 5-3 with Boyer and McDougall running us ragged. Stopped in Ipswich on the way back for a few pints and were battered there as well !
Was also at Dean Court when Bournemouth beat us 3-0 as mentioned earlier, Boyer and McDougall (before they joined Norwich) again causing us all sorts of problems, we were awful that day, so defensively set up and no 'plan B'.
Losing to Bury 3-1 at Gigg Lane in the Third Division the week before the League Cup Final was pretty crap, too.
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Losing 3-0 at the Sty. I was in a box with John Frain's cousin. as an annoying 18 year old at the time I did nothing but sing The Ozzie Bozzie for 45 minutes. He went mental when they went 1-0 up. As did I for Darius's disallowed goal. When they went 2-0 up he was giving it some in the box to the Villa fans infront as we we're in a box at the back. My Dad decided to punch him in the face during the seccond half, and left shortly after the third.
Doncaster 3-0 in the League Cup is definately another low ebb. Thought we'd cruise that game, and loved the fact we we're on terracing. We all know what happened that night.
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I remember going to Ipswich for a relegation battle under SGTII I think, one of the worst games I have ever seen was settled by a last minute OG by a guy named Chris Swailes. We had a pint or two and went to catch the connection back to Peterborough only to get on a train going in the opposite direction, went back only to be told we had missed the last train and we could either go to London and maybe make the last train or wait until the morning. Ended up getting a taxi from Ipswich to Peterborough at a cost of £120.00.
Not the best of days.
I was at his game for my sins, an awful match with an own goal which was celebrated like the winner..
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It was the winner wasn't it?
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Train strike for the away game at Burnley, about 60 of us marched down to Digbeth coach station and managed, after much arguing, to hire a coach. Chico Hamilton scores to give us a 1-0 lead then we proceed to get hammered 4-1, no stops on the way home cos the driver just wanted 'to do home'
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I remember going to Ipswich for a relegation battle under SGTII I think, one of the worst games I have ever seen was settled by a last minute OG by a guy named Chris Swailes. We had a pint or two and went to catch the connection back to Peterborough only to get on a train going in the opposite direction, went back only to be told we had missed the last train and we could either go to London and maybe make the last train or wait until the morning. Ended up getting a taxi from Ipswich to Peterborough at a cost of £120.00.
Not the best of days.
That’ll be the last time you take my advice on which train to get. Felixstowe was lovely though!
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Trivia fact - Selhurst Park is the only major football stadium that can be flat packed and moved to another location. This is why, no matter how many times you have been previously
A - You can never find it and
B - Even when you are just round the corner from it, whoever you stop to ask has no idea what you are talking about
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Sheffield Wed away, first match of the season 91 - 92 i think. BFR's first match in charge. Crazy day when the old bill showed that they'd learned nothing from the Hillsborough disaster and just generally ran amoc with actions of supreme arrogance/idiocy that would have put the gestapo to shame! Coaches being hijacked by the police and turned away without reason. How there wasn't a riot that day I'll never know.
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Sheffield Wed away, first match of the season 91 - 92 i think. BFR's first match in charge. Crazy day when the old bill showed that they'd learned nothing from the Hillsborough disaster and just generally ran amoc with actions of supreme arrogance/idiocy that would have put the gestapo to shame! Coaches being hijacked by the police and turned away without reason. How there wasn't a riot that day I'll never know.
We were on the special that day from New Street and didn't get in the ground until 35 minutes after kick off, we got delayed by a trackside fire. The old bill didn't have a clue when about 250 of us suddenly turned up at the away turnstiles with tickets demanding to be let in. They eventually opened one turnstile the miserable yorkshire twats.
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Blues away boxing day - lost 3.0, had to go to a party on the night with a well known Zulu in attendance not a pleasant evening!!! >:(
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FA Cup midweek replay at Oldham 0-3, bad evening
Losing 0-4 at West Ham on a Monday night was no disco either
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Blues away when we lost 4-0 was grim, and I had my Villa hat nicked walking back along the Coventry Road to put the icing on the cake.
There was game at Bolton when we were in the Third Divsion and , in addition to a rare loss, we somehow became detached from the main contingent of our fans and were ambushed at the train station and chased all over the place. Ended up getting a bus from somewhere called Swinton. There were loads of Man City fans at the game, and then we bumped into the Man U fans near Picadilly Station.
There were plenty of Villa fans on that train, most of whom said they had also missed the special from Bolton. Fucking nightmare.
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There have been many but a few recent ones are:
Spurs 5 Villa 1 in May 2005? Last away game of the season, stood in the burning sun and seeing our fans get kicked out of WHL for doing the conga. Tossers.
Man City 2 Villa 0. Sometime that season I think. It was a 5.15 kick off and we made SWP look like Ronaldo. Then their fans went on to kick fuck out of us for no reason at Piccadilly after the game.
The Man United FA Cup game where 'tracky pants Kiraly' let them score the winner in the last minute was particularly horrible. Their 'fans' really took the piss afterwards too.
Palace away when we lost 2-0. Johnson got 2 after he had scored at VP and celebrated in front of the Holte and never got booked. (Unlike Hendrie who also scored in that game and DID get booked for doing the same thing but to OUR fans.) Terrible facilities and an awful game.
Almost every away game under DOL. (Except Bolton last minute and the infamous Newcastle 3-0.)
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Wembley 2000, for obvious reasons. Still the lowest, sickest, most gutwrenching feeling i've ever had after a Villa game. Sheff Wed at home in 87 doesn't even come close. Assuming Wembley counts as an away that is.
Remember being at most of those mentioned so far in this thread but I have to agree that Wembley 2000 was the worst by far. After waiting all my life for us to reach an FA Cup final it was such a letdown, mainly because of Gregory's negative tactics that day. I wish now Dean Holdsworth had buried that sitter of a chance he had for Bolton in the semi.
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Although there are 3 trips to Wembley that we'd all rather forget, I don't class them as away games per se.
The 5-0 spanking on our last visit to Highbury wasn't fun. I remember singng "you can have O'Leary back to the gooners as the goals were flying in. What a change it was to go back there 4 months later with O'Neill, Randy and the "bright future"" scenario and come within minutes of beating them. Shame we have seemingly now gone full circle.
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The Chelsea semi last year was no picnic, shit performance, shit traffic, and an expensive waste of time
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FA Cup 3rd round replay at Plough Lane in 1991.
120 minutes on an open terrace in the driving rain, for the privilge of seeing Villa lose it to a long punt upfield in the 119th minute.
Three things always stick with me from that night.
(1) En route from the Tube station to the ground, I passed an ambulance treating a Villa fan who had been knocked down on the bridge that crossed over the railway lines. I don't know how serious it was, but I did think during the course of the game that I would gladly change places with him, if only to be warm and dry and tucked up in a hospital bed.
(2) I'd gone straight to the game from the job I then had in London. My suit and shoes got ruined.
(3) The strange feeling of relief when Wimbledon scored. It had already been announced that should a second replay be necessary, then it would also be played at Plough Lane. It was like, thank goodness I won't have to come here again next week.
Remember it well. Suffered from alcohol related delerium before the game and couldn't find which turnstile to go in. Eventually stumbled into one and ended up in a section with three other blokes next to the rest of the Villa. Asked a steward if I could transfer into the adjacent section and he came back with the classic 'have you read the Taylor report?' which led to the first argument of the evening. By the time their goal went in I was praying for it to end such were the miserable conditions. I was wearing a heavy Crombie that night and it soaked in the rain a treat. Got outside the ground to be stopped by a copper after having another argument with a steward. Eventually got to the train station and as I was getting on the train with all the Villa, got pulled back by another couple of coppers who held me at the station until the train left. Miserable evening all round.
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Charlton (a) when they used to play at palace.
0-3 defeat, Billy McNeill and his team at their lowest ebb and a nightmare trip to and from the ground. Relegation was effectively confirmed on this day.
Arguably the most appalling Villa display Ive ever witnessed
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Charlton (a) when they used to play at palace.
0-3 defeat, Billy McNeill and his team at their lowest ebb and a nightmare trip to and from the ground. Relegation was effectively confirmed on this day.
Arguably the most appalling Villa display Ive ever witnessed
I was there and completely agree with you - I lost all hope and belief that day.
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Charlton (a) when they used to play at palace.
0-3 defeat, Billy McNeill and his team at their lowest ebb and a nightmare trip to and from the ground. Relegation was effectively confirmed on this day.
Arguably the most appalling Villa display Ive ever witnessed
I was there and completely agree with you - I lost all hope and belief that day.
Hold on, the away fans today aren't back home yet.
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for me it is more recent, November 2005, and getting knocked out 3-0 in the league cup at Doncaster... awful o'leary tripe followed by a nightmare journey back to london alone.... trains were screwed and the first train left after midnight, back in the old smoke past two with tubes all closed etc - but blagged a taxi ride home from gner.
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I am compiling a major book about fans memories of all things Villa. I hope to include celebs and current and ex-players, as well as us the fans.
Would anyone mind if I use their postings in the book? If you have any more good stories please contact me at simongoodyear@soccerbiographies.com
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Derby away I think in 75, thousands of Villa turned up and hundreds if not thousands of us locked out. The drive home was no better, listening to a 2-0 defeat.
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How about Portsmouth in the FAC over 10 years ago. Absolutely freezing and raining heavily - no cover in those days. We sneeked a last minute equalizer (Simon Grayson if I remember correctly). Took me hours to dry and thaw out.
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Sheffield Wed away, first match of the season 91 - 92 i think. BFR's first match in charge. Crazy day when the old bill showed that they'd learned nothing from the Hillsborough disaster and just generally ran amoc with actions of supreme arrogance/idiocy that would have put the gestapo to shame! Coaches being hijacked by the police and turned away without reason. How there wasn't a riot that day I'll never know.
Sheffield Wed away, first match of the season 91 - 92 i think. BFR's first match in charge. Crazy day when the old bill showed that they'd learned nothing from the Hillsborough disaster and just generally ran amoc with actions of supreme arrogance/idiocy that would have put the gestapo to shame! Coaches being hijacked by the police and turned away without reason. How there wasn't a riot that day I'll never know.
We were on the special that day from New Street and didn't get in the ground until 35 minutes after kick off, we got delayed by a trackside fire. The old bill didn't have a clue when about 250 of us suddenly turned up at the away turnstiles with tickets demanding to be let in. They eventually opened one turnstile the miserable yorkshire twats.
I was on that train, when we eventually got there they wouldnt let us in the seats so we had the bit of corner terrace to the left of the stand to ourselves . Whilst the train was stopped because of the fire some lads saw the floodlights belonging to the recently built athletics stadium for the student games, thinking we were nearly there they jumped out the train and legged it towards the pylons trying to persuade everyone else in the carriage to join them .We yelled back they were going the wrong way but they either didnt hear or didnt believe us. Didnt see them again, dont know if they got there or not.
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Sheffield Wed away, first match of the season 91 - 92 i think. BFR's first match in charge. Crazy day when the old bill showed that they'd learned nothing from the Hillsborough disaster and just generally ran amoc with actions of supreme arrogance/idiocy that would have put the gestapo to shame! Coaches being hijacked by the police and turned away without reason. How there wasn't a riot that day I'll never know.
Sheffield Wed away, first match of the season 91 - 92 i think. BFR's first match in charge. Crazy day when the old bill showed that they'd learned nothing from the Hillsborough disaster and just generally ran amoc with actions of supreme arrogance/idiocy that would have put the gestapo to shame! Coaches being hijacked by the police and turned away without reason. How there wasn't a riot that day I'll never know.
We were on the special that day from New Street and didn't get in the ground until 35 minutes after kick off, we got delayed by a trackside fire. The old bill didn't have a clue when about 250 of us suddenly turned up at the away turnstiles with tickets demanding to be let in. They eventually opened one turnstile the miserable yorkshire twats.
I was on that train, when we eventually got there they wouldnt let us in the seats so we had the bit of corner terrace to the left of the stand to ourselves . Whilst the train was stopped because of the fire some lads saw the floodlights belonging to the recently built athletics stadium for the student games, thinking we were nearly there they jumped out the train and legged it towards the pylons trying to persuade everyone else in the carriage to join them .We yelled back they were going the wrong way but they either didnt hear or didnt believe us. Didnt see them again, dont know if they got there or not.
They did, when they got over the massive hill that hid the Don Valley Satdium, they managed to get a taxi to Hillsbrough and turned up just after half time!!
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Excellent, at last I can sleep at night again.
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Wimbledon away - FA Cup 3rd round replay, earlky 90's
January , 3 degrees c , absolutely pouring with rain.
Morning, buried my nan. Got coach with two cousins and my now wife. Cousins being sick all over the back seat as they were peed to hell. One cousin then has a pee in an empty can, other cousin then drinks it !
Get to plough lane, no cover, in my best suit, soaked to skin##0-0 at full time.
Xtra Time - 1 minute to go before Pens = Paul Birch Own goal - OUT
Never mind worst match = definately worst day of my life !!
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For me it was Everton away in about 1984. I was stopping with my Evertonian cousin and by chance Villa were playing at Goodison. I d only ever been to a couple of home games by then so I was really excited. Right up until we were beaten 5-0 in the evening kick off!! My Aunty then even bought me an Everton top lol!!
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The boxing day 3-0 defeat at the Sty in 1982 and the the boxing day defeats at Coventry 3-0 and Leicester 5-0 come to mind. Also the 3-0 defeat at Bournmouth in the 3rd division and a 4-1 thrashing at Blackpool in a night game league cup tie. The worst though has to be the 6-0 thrashing at Forest in Graham Turners reign. I remember missing a villa reserve game at villa park in order to go to Forest and when i got the Argus on the evening i found out we had lost either 7-0 or 7-1 .The cup tie on the plastic pitch at Oldham where we were thrashed also brings back bad memories
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For me it was Everton away in about 1984. I was stopping with my Evertonian cousin and by chance Villa were playing at Goodison. I d only ever been to a couple of home games by then so I was really excited. Right up until we were beaten 5-0 in the evening kick off!! My Aunty then even bought me an Everton top lol!!
I went to that game. It was only two years since we'd become Champions of Europe. We were dropping like a stone..