Cheating bastards 1 v Villa 0 FA Cup QF 1980

[bertlambshank]

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[The Left Side]

I just don't like west ham

[asgpaul]

Was gutted that day, wasn't at the game, had to put up with Tony Butler that afternoon.  If memory serves, didn't we look more like a team playing for a draw that day?  or is my memory failing me!!

[villan from luton]

Was at the game, shouldnt have lost but stupid penalty at the death and Ray Stewart didnt miss penalties. West Ham fans were nutters that day, even though they had won the bloody game

[silhillvilla]

From memory we didn't play particularly well
Weren't west ham in the old div 2 at the time ?

[Dave Clark Five]

A dreadful game to be at. The hooliganism was as bad as it gets; aided and abetted by stewards and turnstile operators.

[willywombat]

Gutted to lose the game when I was convinced it truly was our year and one of only a handful of games where I remember being truly frightened

[Pat McMahon]

No cheating in it, just a stupid penalty by Ken McNaught. It did lead to him settling into the side properly though, as his name was sung before the next home game (home to Wolves midweek I think) and he seemed to come on leaps and bounds after that.

West Ham was an eye opener for anybody who thought they were hard.

[Damo70]

I was only nine but I can still remember turning the radio off to watch the wrestling thinking we had drawn and then seeing the score come up at the bottom of the screen. It is my earliest memory of being totally gutted by a defeat.

[pestria]

My bro works with a West Ham supporter who wasn't even born when this game was played and he knows from their folklore about this game and the malicious atmosphere.

Easily the most malevolent game I've ever been ... The only time I've ever been glad to see us lose and get the hell out of there.

[George E]

Went to that game in a minibus full of mates - getting from where we parked to the to the ground was touch and go and was pretty relieved to have got in the away end which had been long sold out to us only to immediately realise it was full of them. To give you some idea - that goal was scored in font of the away end.

With no idea who was who, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife and there was serious trouble throughout the game.

I remembering wondering how I was going to get out the ground as the their lot had got the exits blocked but luckily I managed to slip past them after - on the back of a roar of 'Steamers' - they got attacked and kicked down the concrete flight of steps leading out the ground.

We got back to the minibus in dribs and drabs and everyone, to one degree or another, had had to battle there way back.   

There were a handful of nutters on the minibus who'd had a great day but for the rest, Like Pertria says, it was good to get the hell out of there.     

[Pat McMahon]

We played W Ham at home in October 1981 after winning the league and to this day it remains the most violent, blood crazed mob of Villa fans I have ever seen (I never got back for the infamous March 2003 game v Blues). I think everybody who had been attacked in the FA Cup quarter final was thirsting for revenge and brought every nutter in Brum with them, so a massive mob was outside the Holte waiting for the W Ham boys heading back towards the Serpentine.

Their fans took a real hiding, doubtless including many innocent ones, and the police had a real struggle to keep on top of things. Without the police it would have been carnage. - a bit like W Ham away in fact.

I remember reports in the Mail and Mercury with around 70 arrests, 90% of which were Villa fans.

Strange, but despite the evil atmosphere I don't think  this was ever referred to in the Villains book.

We won 3-2 by the way.

[Richie]

Pat

I remember the 3-2 game in October 81 and the violence. As you say, it was obvious that a lot of people were out for revenge that day.

I was only a kid and was walking back to the car with my Dad and Brother when a mob of about 200 Villa fans ran past us chasing one bloke who was screaming "I'm a Villa fan !"

Don't know if he managed to convince the mob or not. Dark days.

[JD]

Pat

I remember the 3-2 game in October 81 and the violence. As you say, it was obvious that a lot of people were out for revenge that day.

I was only a kid and was walking back to the car with my Dad and Brother when a mob of about 200 Villa fans ran past us chasing one bloke who was screaming "I'm a Villa fan !"

Don't know if he managed to convince the mob or not. Dark days.

Richie, that sounds like me after a Villa v Spurs game when I was trying to meet up with some mates who were Spurs fans after the game to get a lift back to London. A mate and me got chased by a group of about seven or eight Villa fans when they heard my London accent. I didn't try to explain that I was a Villa fan, even though I had a Villa top on under my sweatshirt. It was easier to run.

[ADVILLAFAN]

From memory we didn't play particularly well
Weren't west ham in the old div 2 at the time ?

Yes, they won the Cup that year and remain the last team outside the top flight to have done so.