Old Maine Road photos thread

Christ, look at that turf! By spring it would be like that every year. Don't know when they stopped having the horse of the fucking year show on it. After that, I think. Because it so happens I was at Wembley for the Leeds-Chelsea final, first match. The pitch was the proverbial badger's arse. (Still a cracking match, mind).
Like a billiard table these days.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
Christ, look at that turf! By spring it would be like that every year. Don't know when they stopped having the horse of the fucking year show on it. After that, I think. Because it so happens I was at Wembley for the Leeds-Chelsea final, first match. The pitch was the proverbial badger's arse. (Still a cracking match, mind).
Like a billiard table these days.
Click to expand...
It didn't muck up the pitch as much but the Cup Final's half-time marching display by the massed bands of the Coldstream Guards etc. wouldn't go down well nowadays either. When did they stop having those, I wonder?

The other (FOC) thing I noticed in that Wembley photo is the home-made banners in the crowd, two sticks and mum's bedsheet with "City for the Cup" daubed on in blue paint.

Going further back, my first international at Wembley was England v. Spain in November, 1960, Spain with Di Stefano, Gento and Del Sol I believe. Pitch was a morass for that too, rain pissing down, got soaking wet in the open end behind the goal.
Afterwards had chicken & chips in a posh restaurant in Leicester Square and thought it was luxury.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
No that picture is of the main stand and the streets which faced it directly.

I grew up on 20 Wykeham Street (the terraced Street in this picture.

We used to have an entry which people used to stash your bike but that was well before my time in the late 70s and 80s.

It was an incredible place to grow up and played football every night on the croft above the Man City mosaic next to H Block..
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My dad taught me to play on that Croft mate. That one and the one at the bottom of the entry between Rosedale and Horton where all the old lock ups were.
 
johnnytapia said:
Genuine question: why wouldn’t Swift have been “called up”?
He could hardly claim he was flat-footed.
Click to expand...
Although he’s not mentioned in this article there is a section about Raich Carter joining the Sunderland Fire Brigade and being booed by the home crowd as they saw joining a reserved occupation a way of avoiding conscription. Something that resonates with me as my Grandad was refused by the army due to medical reasons and had to join the Home Guard sadly receiving so much abuse from ignorant locals that he never really recovered and felt a failure for the rest of his life.

The situation for footballers probably wasn’t helped by Bolton Wanderers players enlisting almost en masse, so it feels like these pictures were deliberately taken to show they were a legitimate part of the war effort. That said, it seems some players (including Matt Busby, Joe Mercer and Swift) took advantage of becoming an army physical trainer at Aldershot so never went abroad in action, although Swift did end up in the RAF in France according to Wiki. Plus the government did see the benefit of having football still played to give the population a distraction.

spartacus-educational.com

Football and the Second World War

Football and the Second World War. Last updated: 28th December, 2024
spartacus-educational.com spartacus-educational.com

Maybe some players WERE conscientious objectors or just got lucky, difficult to say. I also read somewhere that some players DID fail the army medical too!
 
Citizen of Legoland said:
Although he’s not mentioned in this article there is a section about Raich Carter joining the Sunderland Fire Brigade and being booed by the home crowd as they saw joining a reserved occupation a way of avoiding conscription. Something that resonates with me as my Grandad was refused by the army due to medical reasons and had to join the Home Guard sadly receiving so much abuse from ignorant locals that he never really recovered and felt a failure for the rest of his life.

The situation for footballers probably wasn’t helped by Bolton Wanderers players enlisting almost en masse, so it feels like these pictures were deliberately taken to show they were a legitimate part of the war effort. That said, it seems some players (including Matt Busby, Joe Mercer and Swift) took advantage of becoming an army physical trainer at Aldershot so never went abroad in action, although Swift did end up in the RAF in France according to Wiki. Plus the government did see the benefit of having football still played to give the population a distraction.

spartacus-educational.com

Football and the Second World War

Football and the Second World War. Last updated: 28th December, 2024
spartacus-educational.com spartacus-educational.com

Maybe some players WERE conscientious objectors or just got lucky, difficult to say. I also read somewhere that some players DID fail the army medical too!
Click to expand...
Cheers for that pal, very interesting.
 
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