Footy Nostalgia

[owl sees all]

 

Football related. Personal experiences. Interesting facts or surprising occurrences. Anything football related; anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[owl sees all]

I'll kick it off with 1974/75 season. League Division One.

 

Don't get seasons like this any more. Seven different clubs led the pack. Starting with Liverpool. But on their heels were Man City, Ipswich and an unexpected far North club; Carlisle.

 

It was close at the top all the way through, especially after 18 matches, when only 2 points separated the to 10.

 

The eventual winners came from the pack to lead after 39 matches and they stayed there until the very end.

 

Leader -------------- Second spot

 

Liverpool ----------- Wolves
Man City ------------ Carlisle
Carlisle ------------- Ipswich
Ipswich ------------- Liverpool
Liverpool ----------- Ipswich
Ipswich ------------- Liverpool
Ipswich ------------- Man City
Ipswich ------------- Liverpool
Liverpool ----------- Man City
Liverpool ----------- Ipswich
Man City ------------ Liverpool
Ipswich ------------- Liverpool
Man City ------------ Liverpool
Stoke --------------- Ipswich
Stoke --------------- Everton

 

Half way 21 games

 

Everton ------------- Liverpool
Ipswich ------------- Everton
Liverpool ----------- Middlesborough
Ipswich ------------- Middlesborough
Everton ------------- Ipswich
Stoke --------------- Everton
Stoke --------------- Burnley
Everton ------------- Stoke
Everton ------------- Burnley
Everton ------------- Ipswich
Everton ------------- Liverpool
Ipswich ------------- Everton
Everton ------------- Ipswich
Derby --------------- Liverpool

 

Winner's finishing stats: Derby County: P42, W21, D11, L10

8 points between Derby and 10th place Burnley.

One of the early leaders Carlisle were relegated along with Chelsea.

What a season!

 

[owl sees all]

The Leyton Orient dream. Part one of two.

 

In 1960/61, just a couple of miles way from us. across the reservoirs, Spurs were taking all the accolades. But when you are a footy supporter you are only really interested in your club. And although Spurs were good; very good even, I was more concerned with the 'O's. Or Leyton Orient.

 

Myself and Colin stood on our favourite cinder North Terrace for the first game of the 1960/61 season. Which we lost against Ipswich, and TBH, we were dismal. Five losses on the spin in September and the fear that we were not anywhere near good enough to challenge the top boys woke us up. And so it proved to be. Finished 19th, and didn't deserve any better. Ipswich won League Division Two and Super Spurs - as they were known in my area - did a fantastic double in the top flight.

 

What then was the following season - 61/62 - gonna hold? Another mid-table place, or a relegation battle. We stood at our favourie place on the cinders and we were somewhat hopeful. We had held Toon to 0-0 away, in our first match, and were ready to demolish the opposition in the first home game. Saints were the visitors, and they comfortably beat us 1-2. "Same season as last year Col." "Yea, looks like it Owl." Five days later we were back. Middlesbrough the visitors. We were victorious 2-0. Me and Colin made the trip down to Saints ground - The Dell - on August 30th. And we got our revenge by winning 1-2. We won a couple more, and then went on the familiar win, lose, win, lose story that we were so accustomed to.

 

Played at Rotherham on 30th October and drew 1-1. Next up was Liverpool away. Not the Mighty Liverpool of today, as Everton were the better of the two Mersysiders then, but still a stiff challenge. Came away with a creditable 3-3.We moved up to 7th. Liverpool were 8 points clear of us, with Saints in 2nd only 3 points ahead. These two matches started a run of 13 undefeated, including 9 wins on the trot. Up to 2nd, 2 points behind Pool, but more importantly 5 clear of Saints.

February was a bad month. Three losses and one win. Still 2nd though, but now it was Plymouth breathing down our necks. Only one defeat in March kept us in second spot. Only just though, as Plymouth also had a good month and were just a point behind. The last month of the season was upon us. Could we do it? Six games left.

 

Won away at Seagulls' ground on the 5th April. Liverpool were well clear, and Saints had faltered. The second match in April saw a loss to the fast improving Scunthorpe. And Sunderland had come for nowhere to challenge also.

 

With 4 games to go:

 

Liverpool -------- 53 pts
Leyton Orient --- 48
Sunderland ------ 46
Scunthorpe ------ 45
Plymouth -------- 45
Southampton --- 42

 

We were in there with every chance. Could we hold it together? Four games left. Luton twice, Norwich and Bury. We did hold it together; won two and drew two.

 

Final top 6 placings:

 

Liverpool -------- 60 pts
Leyton Orient --- 54
Sunderland ------ 53
Scunthorpe ------ 49
Plymouth -------- 46
Southampton --- 45

 

Promotion!!! Alongside Liverpool!! Yea!

 

"What do you reckon Colin?"

 

"Ipswich has won the top flight first time up. We can do the same. "What you think Owl? Can we do an Ipswich?"

 

I was enthused by the moment. "Just think about it Col; Fist Division Champions;;;;; The Orient!!! And into Europe."

 

Part two: ----- Up with the big boys for the 1962/63 season.

[KannikaP]

I remember Man City playing Macclesfield Town in the Third Division.

[owl sees all]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

I remember Man City playing Macclesfield Town in the Third Division.

Indeed! Good memory. Won 0-1 away and 2-0 at home.

 

Went their different ways after that 1998/99 season. City up and The Silkmen down.

[owl sees all]

The Leyton Orient dream. Part two of two.

 

"What ya reckon then Col?"

I asked,  as we walked the short distance from Leyton Midland Station; looking forward to Arsenal's visit.
"Well those 'Tractor Lads' did it last season. Champions at first time of asking. We can do it for sure. Just have to get off to a good start. Make those northern clubs, especially, feel physically sick at the thought of visiting us. Today? I'll settle for 3-0 Owl. What about you?"
"I'll not worry too much about winning by lots of goals,. I'll settle for 1-0 Colin. To be honest. Don't like playing London teams."
"Make you right there. Me neither, We don't seem to do any good against the locals."

 

We queued at our favourite North End for ages. It was evident that there was gonna be a big crowd in. Seemed like thousands of Gooner supporters had come to see their beloveds put to the sword. Once on the terrace , we manoeuvred past lots of away fans. to our special spot almost behind the goal.

 

26,300 roared as the teams came out together, Towards the end of the promotion year we were getting just over the 20k. But this was a big, raucous crowd we were in with.

 

Our wingers Deeley and Musgrove (ex- Wolves and ex-WHU) both had chances, but it was the away team that scored first. We equalised, but they added another in the second half a: 1-2.

 

We were quite subdued on the North London line back to Barking. Didn't say that much to each other. That night in the 'Robin Hood' we cheered up a bit. The pub was split three ways. About a quarter for the 'O's, with Spurs and The Irons sharing the rest of the support. It was just the North Londoners who were happy for the opening August in that 1962/63 season. They stood third, with 6 points from 8, while we were equal bottom with West Ham on just one point.

 

The Hammers gradually pulled away but we didn't. It was sad to see the support gradually drifting away. Towards the latter part of the season we were getting around 10,000.

 

With 5 left we could have escaped the dreaded drop if only we could win them all. Only 8,000 saw us defeat Liverpool 2-1 next game. Four games left. A ray of hope? Alas it was not to be. Four straight losses to end the season.

 

Our six wins:

 

Home games:

 

2-0 - West Ham
1-0 - Man Utd
3-0 - Everton --- league winners
2-1 - Liverpool

 

Away games

 

0-2 - Fulham
0-1 - Bolton W

 

Final tally: P42::: W 6; D 9; L 27::: 21 points.

 

The dream ended. Turned into a bit a of a nightmare really. Relegated with Man City. Back to crowds well under 10 thousand, but we managed to consolidated our Div 2 place; just! In the next season 64/65. we crashed down to the third tier. Winners of the Second Division that same year, Man City.

 

It's a cruel, cruel footy world.

 

But onward and upward. We top Div 3 (4th div down) and look forward to playing the biggies before too long.

 

The Brisbane Road ground is unrecognisable to me. The cinder North Terrace is only remembered by a few. Don't even hold 10,000 supporters now. What will happen when we get into Europe? Have to share The Iron's ground, just down the road!

 

 

 

 

Pics courtesy of footballgroundsguide.com

 

[owl sees all]

Those were the days.

 

Are the players of today wrapped up in cotton-wall? Perfect pitches!? Just the correct moisture content in the grass!? Grass the perfect height etc. Well it wasn't always like it is today.

 

It took a lot of bad weather to see a match postponed. Fog!!! The ref would go out and stand on the centre circle, and if he could see the goals and the touchlines then it was go, go go.

 

 

Mud!? Never a match postponed because of mud in the 1960s or before. Have a Saturday off for a bit of mud? Unheard of!

 

 

 

Surface water. No problem!

 

 

 

 

Frozen pitches!? As long as the ref wasn't too cold, the game went ahead.

Snow!?

 

 

Get the ground-staff out with their shovels, before the fans were let in, and make sure all the lines could be seen.

 

 

Oh yes! A bright orange ball helped out too.

 

 

Drop of the wet stuff! Frozen wet stuff even!?

 

 

Those were the days alright!? Where did they go?

 

[sammieuk1]

Easy one for me as my Dad got me a ticket for the wrong Arsenal end and I in a Swindon shirt ended with a fat lip ????

 

1969 Football League Cup Final - Wikipedia

[owl sees all]

5 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Easy one for me as my Dad got me a ticket for the wrong Arsenal end and I in a Swindon shirt ended with a fat lip ????

 

1969 Football League Cup Final - Wikipedia

 

I remember it well. Gunners 1 - Robins 3 --- 98k.

 

I had a read up on the link you provided. Thanks for that bud.

 

Found a pic.

 

 

.

[xylophone]

On 1/12/2023 at 1:44 PM, sammieuk1 said:

Easy one for me as my Dad got me a ticket for the wrong Arsenal end and I in a Swindon shirt ended with a fat lip ????

 

1969 Football League Cup Final - Wikipedia

I wonder if you travelled to Horsham town in 1966 to watch Horsham FC play Swindon Town in the first round proper of the FA Cup......I ask because I was playing for Horsham in those days, although for that game I was in the reserves, and Swindon deservedly won 3-0, without really breaking into a sweat, but it was a major event for Horsham and the ground was full (8000 people).

 

Whilst we are on the subject of "footy nostalgia" I also played in pre-season friendlies against Chelsea and Crystal Palace (and Crystal Palace gave us a hiding) and later on in my career when I was playing for the reserves I had the pleasure of playing alongside Marvin Hinton, the former Chelsea player, and he was great, even at the age of 42, and he could read the game so very well, he was pure class.

 

PS. You wouldn't have got a fat lip on your visit to Horsham, because they were lovely supporters, and I am still in touch with a few of them even now!

[sammieuk1]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

I wonder if you travelled to Horsham town in 1966 to watch Horsham FC play Swindon Town in the first round proper of the FA Cup......I ask because I was playing for Horsham in those days, although for that game I was in the reserves, and Swindon deservedly won 3-0, without really breaking into a sweat, but it was a major event for Horsham and the ground was full (8000 people).

 

Whilst we are on the subject of "footy nostalgia" I also played in pre-season friendlies against Chelsea and Crystal Palace (and Crystal Palace gave us a hiding) and later on in my career when I was playing for the reserves I had the pleasure of playing alongside Marvin Hinton, the former Chelsea player, and he was great, even at the age of 42, and he could read the game so very well, he was pure class.

 

PS. You wouldn't have got a fat lip on your visit to Horsham, because they were lovely supporters, and I am still in touch with a few of them even now!

No I wasn't there but I so remember the final gates opened at 11am I had no idea until about 12.30 that I had a ticket to the wrong end so no cheering Don Rogers for me the fat lip came from a Swindon supporter on the coach home.

I even remember his name Micky Fitzgerald .. only about 5 years ago I met his sister who was one of my dads careers I asked to meet up with him to return the lip but my message was declined ???? 

[owl sees all]

Liverpool v Arsenal

 

Been a lot of great rivalries down the years. Most are between local clubs. But there are others that stand out. One of these is the North-south Liverpool v Arsenal fixture. The stats say The Reds have the edge over The Gunners, but this gives us an incomplete picture. A story of twists and turns over 100 plus years.

 

Total matches between the clubs 238

 

Liverpool wins - 94
Arsenal wins -. - 82
Draws -----.----.- 62

 

First match between them took place on 29th October 1893.  Arsenal was known as Woolwich Arsenal back then - due to their location south of the river near a large military compound. The first four matches were all comfortably won by Pool.  Arsenal's first win came in the following century 1905.

 

WW1 arrived, and the teams did not play each other again until 1919; a break of six years. Woolwich Arsenal had moved from their Plumstead Manor Ground to Highbury in North London , and were now called Arsenal. The matches were pretty even through the 1920s to 1931, when Arsenal had a good run of 10 games; winning eight. Some big scores too. November 1931 6-0, and September 1934 8-1, were the two standouts.

 

After WW11 Liverpool had the edge; winning the first league in 1946/47; although Arsenal took the title the following season. From November 1952 Arsenal had a decent set of results. Plenty of goals too; including a couple of fives.

 

Liverpool went down a division in 1954 and they didn't meet again for eight years. Pool were promoted in 1961/62 along with Orient (had to get that one in). But Unlike the 'O's (who went straight back down), they consolidated, under Shanks, Paisley and Fagan, and won the title the following season 1963/64. From November 1964 they started playing in all red and 'The Reds' became their calling. They then went undefeated against the North Londoners for 13 matches.

 

Again it was even-stevens in the early 1970s until 1976 when Pool went on a run of 25 matches with just three defeats. Since then The northerners have had slightly the better of proceedings.

 

The Arsenal's most celebrated hour was Friday 26th May 1989; the very last match of the season. Liverpool were top with 76 points. Gunners were second with three points fewer. The game was at Anfield, and the Londoners had to win by two or more clear goals to draw level on points, and take the title with superior goal difference or goals scored. The odds were firmly on Liverpool retaining the title. They had only two defeats at home, and none that year. The previous 13 home games had all been wins.

 

Table directly before the game

 

 

The Gunners held the home side to 0-0 at half time. A Liverpool goal would surely put the challenge too far away. Both teams had chances in the second half, and it was Alan Smith who found the net on 52 minutes; 0-1. Time was ticking away, and as the game went past the 90 minutes it looked like Liverpool were about to retain the title. But into stoppage time, Michael Thomas sent the visiting fans into raptures by slotting home a second. The final whistle went less than 60 seconds after the restart. Arsenal had done the seemingly impossible. The title left Liverpool and went to London.

 

Final top six positions

 

 

An amazing finale? Arsenal won by scoring more goals, as goal difference was equal.

 

Centenary Cup.

 

Another interesting match took place that season. And it was unique; a once in a hundred years competition. The top eight clubs in the First Division (standings as the the end of previous year), contested the knock-out trophy. It turned out to be a bit naff. The fans didn't really latch onto it, and gates were poor. Only the match between Arsenal and Pool at Highbury had a 'decent' attendance of 30,000. The home team won 2-1, and they won the cup by the same score against Man Utd, next game, in the final at Villa Park.

 

One of the most exciting matches that I can recall between the two, was played at Anfield on 30th October 2019.

 

For Gunner's fans.

 

 

For Liverpool fans.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ImKDNA8zY

Both clubs have graced the EPL with some great football, and before that the old League Division One.