West Ham game

[Villa Lew]

Clue no 2, nothing to do with the actual match, but what happened on that occasion has not happened since.

[Dave P]

Is it something to do with the amount of home grown players in the squad?

[Exeter 77]

Was it our last 3pm Saturday first game of the season st home?

[Villa Lew]

Was it our last 3pm Saturday first game of the season st home?

95% right it was the last time we played the opening game of the season at home, since then all the games have been away.

[SoccerHQ]

Missed that game as went to a wedding in Oxford. Sadly the groom is no longer with us.

Was getting text updates from someone at the game and was surprised at the ease at which we won given we were in turmoil at the time with MON walking out. Thought we'd go onto to have another decent season and then Newcastle happened a week later!

[dave.woodhall]

Was it our last 3pm Saturday first game of the season st home?

95% right it was the last time we played the opening game of the season at home, since then all the games have been away.

One of the more hysterical outbursts on the old mailing list was that four aways on the opening day of the season in a row was proof of an FA conspiracy against us.

[Damo70]

Was it our last 3pm Saturday first game of the season st home?

95% right it was the last time we played the opening game of the season at home, since then all the games have been away.

One of the more hysterical outbursts on the old mailing list was that four aways on the opening day of the season in a row was proof of an FA conspiracy against us.

Four consecutive away games in row is harsh but surely that means it must even itself out with consecutive home games at a later point in the season. Sorry, just realised you were not talking about a run of away games, just a run of opening away games.

[Virgil Caine]

My lad was one of the mascots at that game and told John Carew in the tunnel that he had named his goldfish after him. Do I win?

[curiousorange]

Milner's performance was not overrated. He went off to a standing ovation.

And that thunderstorm was biblical. I was grateful I was well under the Holte End roof. Although I had just been chucked so maybe would have welcomed being struck by lightning.

[MorrisNielson]

Looking at the last 30 odd years, we do appear to go through spells......
2011-2016 started 0 out of 6 at home
2002-2010 started at 7 out of 9 at home
1989-2001 started 3 out of 13 at home
1981-1988 started 6 out of 8 at home

[cdward]

Clue no 2, nothing to do with the actual match, but what happened on that occasion has not happened since.

Was it that I got pissed in a bar with a load of dodgy scousers in Tenerife, cos that hasn't happened since.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Twenty pages of hope.

Exactly what you want from the first game of the season.

[SoccerHQ]

Twenty pages of hope.

Exactly what you want from the first game of the season.

It's easy to say now but I would've given McDonald the job until a decent manager during that season had become available (not Houllier in my mind as he was past it). Yes we had Newcastle and Vienna car crashes but we were picking up points, 7 from 5 games so I'm pretty sure we would've been ticking over nicely in mid table given we still had good quality in the squad.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Was it the last time we won our first game of the season?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Twenty pages of hope.

Exactly what you want from the first game of the season.

It's easy to say now but I would've given McDonald the job until a decent manager during that season had become available (not Houllier in my mind as he was past it). Yes we had Newcastle and Vienna car crashes but we were picking up points, 7 from 5 games so I'm pretty sure we would've been ticking over nicely in mid table given we still had good quality in the squad.

That thread almost brings me to tears. The level of optimism on there, everybody could see it. There's some wonderful quotes on there, including Paulies "That was what I imagined it was like for people who managed to escape East Germany in the 1970s".

Wonderful stuff.