Gary James
Well-Known Member
On another thread Didsbury Dave talked of the City prog from 1985-86 whose entire front page was a warning to fans about pitch invasions.
"A Major Concern" (14/12/85 V Coventry) gave the impression that City fans were constantly causing problems etc. It actually followed a celebratory pitch invasion by 200 in the Northern semi-final of the FMC!
The warning explained that perimeter fencing - already at 2.4m - would be increased to 4.4 metres in height (at least!) if fans continued to invade the pitch.
This was way over the top of course - and shows how football chairmen viewed fans in the days before Hillsborough. I felt it deserved its own thread as the way fans were treated was appalling.
I know some of us get carried away today with our treatment, but the 1980s in particular were bad for fans. Our loyalty back then was treated with higher fences; poor facilities and so on.
Segregation and fencing started to appear at Maine Road in the mid 70s (some temporary segregation occurred for one or two high profile games earlier) but by 1989 every stand had a 2.4m fence in front of it (or at least a combination of perimeter wall with fence on top).
I covered all of this in one of my books "Farewell To Maine Road" a few years back. The book's been out of print for a few years now, but I've posted some images of the section on Crowd Control on my facebook page:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.facebook.com/GaryJames4#!/photo.php?fbid=10150209171272816&set=pu.289818652815&type=1&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.facebook.com/GaryJames4#!/ph ... =1&theater</a>
It provides an interesting comparison with today - one image shows the vast no mans land between City & Utd fans in the 1990 derby.
"A Major Concern" (14/12/85 V Coventry) gave the impression that City fans were constantly causing problems etc. It actually followed a celebratory pitch invasion by 200 in the Northern semi-final of the FMC!
The warning explained that perimeter fencing - already at 2.4m - would be increased to 4.4 metres in height (at least!) if fans continued to invade the pitch.
This was way over the top of course - and shows how football chairmen viewed fans in the days before Hillsborough. I felt it deserved its own thread as the way fans were treated was appalling.
I know some of us get carried away today with our treatment, but the 1980s in particular were bad for fans. Our loyalty back then was treated with higher fences; poor facilities and so on.
Segregation and fencing started to appear at Maine Road in the mid 70s (some temporary segregation occurred for one or two high profile games earlier) but by 1989 every stand had a 2.4m fence in front of it (or at least a combination of perimeter wall with fence on top).
I covered all of this in one of my books "Farewell To Maine Road" a few years back. The book's been out of print for a few years now, but I've posted some images of the section on Crowd Control on my facebook page:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.facebook.com/GaryJames4#!/photo.php?fbid=10150209171272816&set=pu.289818652815&type=1&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.facebook.com/GaryJames4#!/ph ... =1&theater</a>
It provides an interesting comparison with today - one image shows the vast no mans land between City & Utd fans in the 1990 derby.