Graham Taylor

[dave.woodhall]

I was at that game!

Not in the Shelf after blagging in for nothing though.

[PeterWithesShin]

Top of the league for the first time since '81, 7 league wins on the bounce for the first time since '81, the omens were all there. And then along come sodding Wimbledon to VP.

[saunders_heroes]

I was at that game!

Not in the Shelf after blagging in for nothing though.

I wouldn't have had the nerve!

[saunders_heroes]

I actually thought we should have won the league that year even more so than 92/93. Love every minute of that season, and I remember feeling gutted but proud that Taylor was taking over the England job.

[dave.woodhall]

I was at that game!

Not in the Shelf after blagging in for nothing though.

I wouldn't have had the nerve!

Our bit was sold out. That was a weird season - it was like some armstice had happened and opposition fans were okay with each other. I stood on the Kop when some old Scousers had somebody thrown out for having a go at us and the Trent End with about fifty of us in the corner going mad when we scored.

[saunders_heroes]

I was at that game!

Not in the Shelf after blagging in for nothing though.

I wouldn't have had the nerve!

Our bit was sold out. That was a weird season - it was like some armstice had happened and opposition fans were okay with each other. I stood on the Kop when some old Scousers had somebody thrown out for having a go at us and the Trent End with about fifty of us in the corner going mad when we scored.

I've stood on the Kop several times and in the home end at loads of clubs over the decades and never had any trouble, but I can honestly say I'd never do it now.

[TopDeck113]

I loved that team and that season.  We've had better, certainly before, but there was something about the way it all came together so unexpectedly and at period when I had the time, money and independence to travel home and away unhindered by the obligations of later life, that mean I will always look back at 1989/90 and smile.  Those three victories over the Christmas period, the Cup run until we had to play on the plastic, Spurs away, Chrissie Price at Highbury and of course the season finale at Goodison.  Genuinely happy days.

[dave.woodhall]

We've had this debate before; in the old days of more violence you could often sit together with no problems. Do it now and it's "STEEEEWAARRRDDD!!!"

[Dave]

We've had this debate before; in the old days of more violence you could often sit together with no problems. Do it now and it's "STEEEEWAARRRDDD!!!"

I wonder how much might be the costs involved as well.

Pay £6 to get in and if you're thrown out it's nothing more than a bit annoying. Pay £40 for your seat, and it becomes a risk not worth financially taking.

[saunders_heroes]

We've had this debate before; in the old days of more violence you could often sit together with no problems. Do it now and it's "STEEEEWAARRRDDD!!!"

What was the catalyst for that to start, was it all seater stadiums?

I'm not for one minute saying it was all sweetness and light back in the day. I remember my older brother in hospital in Liverpool in the 70s when some scouse nutter smashed a milk crate over his head inside the bloody ground. Imagine someone casually taking a milk crate into a football ground these days, but I remember it happening all the time in the Holte when I was a kid. Ha!

[PeterWithesShin]

We've had this debate before; in the old days of more violence you could often sit together with no problems. Do it now and it's "STEEEEWAARRRDDD!!!"

I reckon it's down to a few things, easier to spot now it's all-seater for a starter, which also makes it harder to move and melt into the home fans like you could if sussed in the old days, and so many now want to act like 'lads' that they'll be mouthing off from rows away at the 'offender' safe in the knowledge that they aren't actually involved, but by mouthing off etc it will often escalate the situation.

[dave.woodhall]

The internet doesn't help, either. All this scum and The Shit stuff raises the temperature.

[Bad English]

I always thought Ormondroyd was quite skillful for a bloke of his size and build.  I liked him.

And he scored some cracking goals as well.

And he had a rousing song:
Or-mon-droyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd,
 Ormondroyd, Or-mon-droyd!

[Chris Harte]

I always thought Ormondroyd was quite skillful for a bloke of his size and build.  I liked him.

And he scored some cracking goals as well.

And he had a rousing song:
Or-mon-droyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroyd, Ormondroy-oyd,
 Ormondroyd, Or-mon-droyd!

I'd have joined in with that but I'd forgotten the words.

[Bad English]

See also "Tony, Tony Daley!" "Sid, Sid, Sid!", and the complexity of "Kent Nielsen, la, la, la!"

Then it was Joycean stream of consciousness with "Chris Price, Chris Price, Chrissy, Chrissy Price! He's got no hair but we don't care, Chrissy, Chrissy Price!"