Villa v Liverpool FA Cup 1988 (and the old Holte End)

[The Man With A Stick]

Were we any worse than Sunderland at Wembley four years later against a much poorer Liverpool side? One that knocked us out in 1992 and really shouldn't have. That BFR team of '91/'92 should have made a great cup side.

We'd have won it that year if only we'd won that quarter final.
 
Liverpool beat the mighty Pompey and Sunderland after us, I know BFRs first season was a bit hit and miss but we'd have pissed it.

[joe_c]

My first full house too and I think the only time we stood on the left side.

I'd entirely forgotten about Doug's attempt to drum up a bigger crowd against Ipswich by putting the tickets on sale afterwards.

A random memory has just come to mind, when we played Ipswich, inexplicably, the visitors warmed up at the Holte End before the game and were roundly booed for their impudence.

[dcdavecollett]

What season was that?

[Martyn Smith]

I remember leaving the Ipswich game early to get a ticket for this as they went on sale immediately after the match, no under 16 concessions as I recall so had to pay the full £3.50 which wiped out my pocket money for the week.

As for the game itself, I didn't realise there were different ticketing rules for cup games and was appalled at the vast number of Liverpool fans who had infiltrated the Witton Lane stand that day and the stewards did nothing about it...

Exactly the same here. I think it was my first proper full house at Villa Park, it was a crackling atmosphere, one born of having nothing to lose really where promotion was the priority.

There wasn't really that sense of priorities back then IIRC. I remember our not really being expected to win which was the main reason for not feeling too disappointed. First game I ever went to where you couldn't just pay on the door, with our tickets being on the left; we usually stood on the right

Had a Sunday job at Halfords in Sutton and had to seriously blag the afternoon off. The gaffer conceded there probably wouldn't be many customers anyway... Sold a few car horn canisters that morning...

[rob_bridge]

My first full house too and I think the only time we stood on the left side.

I'd entirely forgotten about Doug's attempt to drum up a bigger crowd against Ipswich by putting the tickets on sale afterwards.

A random memory has just come to mind, when we played Ipswich, inexplicably, the visitors warmed up at the Holte End before the game and were roundly booed for their impudence.

I remember John Wark having what seemed like a good header narrowly miss equalising and fog descending fast in 2nd half