Bernard Halford

[The Lightbowne Cowboy]

I was confusing the Taylor Report (Hillsborough) with the Poppelwell Inquiry which had followed the Bradford Fire
Either way, I agree.that the Maine Road Capacity had been significantly reduced by the Bournemouth game,. particularly as the Liverpool Cup defeat had been a sellout the previous season yet nowhere near.52,000

Just watched the derby from 81-82 season and it was the last time Maine Road seen City get 52'000 plus( other games like league cup scousers etc did but not City) and although full, the Kippax was absolutely nothing like the Charlton game where it was just pin heads squashed together. The old bill that day opened up the old corner away bit to ease congestion and also opened the gates to let fans come closer to the pitch, again to ease congestion.(he deserves a medal when you consider what happened 4 years later) It was fuckin mental and you really couldn't move. 47k was the biggest fucking myth of all time. 52'500 plus about 10-12'000 jibbers or let ins by gatemen etc.

 

[philiph20]

Just watched the derby from 81-82 season and it was the last time Maine Road seen City get 52'000 plus( other games like league cup scousers etc did but not City) and although full, the Kippax was absolutely nothing like the Charlton game where it was just pin heads squashed together. The old bill that day opened up the old corner away bit to ease congestion and also opened the gates to let fans come closer to the pitch, again to ease congestion.(he deserves a medal when you consider what happened 4 years later) It was fuckin mental and you really couldn't move. 47k was the biggest fucking myth of all time. 52'500 plus about 10-12'000 jibbers or let ins by gatemen etc.

And they were pilling in after kick off because the corner bit between the Kippax and Platt Lane had space at the start of the game it didn't later on.

There were two shockers in the 88-89 season as well, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, they used to estimate the crowds in the pink and the Palace one was estimated at 40000, it was given as 33,000 and the Bournemouth game seemed to be full or close to it apart from the Platt Lane, the official attendance was given as 30,000.

Swales and this cronies were as corrupt as hell.

 

[philiph20]

Maybe they were in on the deal too ha ha who knows!
Anderton was too busy bothering the gay community and the Door Wars

On another note, anyone recall the match day programme that the front page picture was replaced with a letter - pretty sure it was signed from Halford - scathing about City fans after a hooligan incident?
I'm also sure he was quoted in the MEN as an advocate for bringing the birch back......

Or am I making this up?

Pitch invasions after full members cup games , might have been the semi-final.

 

[blue by birth]

Over 11 hours for me.

Yeah same for me..I arrived at 8.45 and got my tickets ( mine and sons ) at 8.15..
Nightmare as no mobile phones to let people know and bring you a drink and something to eat.
But it was worth it in the end

 

[blue by birth]

Howard Yates

Didn't his dad use to run the travel club?

 

[paulchapo]

Well. This thread is an eye opener.
His widow was on the Ian Cheeseman vlog a couple of weeks back and Cheesy was all about cuddly Uncle Bernard with her.
I always thought the anti Bernard stuff was tongue in cheek to be honest - bloody hell I always thought it was down to that twat swales and him alone.
Every day’s a school day.

I saw the vlog and enjoyed it. Obviously his widow and family loved him and miss him. Cheesy gets to know these people better than us and the guy was probably a nice bloke. To most fans he was in charge of a hopelessly inept and not fit for purpose ticket office. At a time when we were mainly shit on the field dealing with them just added to the pain and stress. It's mad looking back, that at a time they were begging us not to desert them, in the clubs darkest hour, they treated us with contempt. They're lucky we stuck around.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Maybe they were in on the deal too ha ha who knows!
Anderton was too busy bothering the gay community and the Door Wars

On another note, anyone recall the match day programme that the front page picture was replaced with a letter - pretty sure it was signed from Halford - scathing about City fans after a hooligan incident?
I'm also sure he was quoted in the MEN as an advocate for bringing the birch back......

Or am I making this up?

I remember the letter on the front of the programme, but can't recall from which game without checking

It was definitely as a result of the pitch invasion following the FMC Penalty Shootout victory over Sunderland, so would have been from one of the next home games (Ipswich/Newcastle/Coventry)

 

[BringBackSwales]

I was also in the queue for the semi final v Wigan in the play offs.

For some unknown reason tickets were on sale at 4/5pm and so the queueing started at 8/9 am. To all those in the queue they handed out raffle tickets and so it was presumed if you had a raffle ticket you were going to get a ticket.

There were hundreds who had queued for 6/7 hours, holding a raffle ticket, and the first they knew they were out of luck was when the shutters went down on the ticket kiosks..

Yeah but the issue was pal that loads and loads arrived later on and jibbed into the queue. It was a lot later, and already too late for many, when the raffle tickets were handed out. Halford should have put stewards on but couldn’t give a fuck about the fans. Given there were 1k tickets and limited to 2 per person, something like 500 should have been ok (less those given for players). It was just one of many cock ups by PS, BH etc. Putting it kindly, absolute fucking amateurs

 

[The Lightbowne Cowboy]

And they were pilling in after kick off because the corner bit between the Kippax and Platt Lane had space at the start of the game it didn't later on.

There were two shockers in the 88-89 season as well, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, they used to estimate the crowds in the pink and the Palace one was estimated at 40000, it was given as 33,000 and the Bournemouth game seemed to be full or close to it apart from the Platt Lane, the official attendance was given as 30,000.

Swales and this cronies were as corrupt as hell.

Yes pal,that's what I meant, the old bill opening the away fan corner, I think because there was only about 100 Charlton they took the decision to do that.. A fantastic decision by who ever made it and could even of saved lives because I was 12 years old and right at the bottom where Kippax met the North stand and it was a bit scary to say the least. I was also at the other 2 and they were absolute whoppers too! It seemed the Bald twins really did fuck up our statistical average attendances in the 20 or so years they were at it. And it's weird when you watch the Charlton game, game starts and the away section is empty, 25 minutes in and it's rammed! Crazy day.

 

[Corky]

And they were pilling in after kick off because the corner bit between the Kippax and Platt Lane had space at the start of the game it didn't later on.

There were two shockers in the 88-89 season as well, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, they used to estimate the crowds in the pink and the Palace one was estimated at 40000, it was given as 33,000 and the Bournemouth game seemed to be full or close to it apart from the Platt Lane, the official attendance was given as 30,000.

Swales and this cronies were as corrupt as hell.

Chelsea at home was the fullest that season in the Kippax, massive away following too in the Platt Lane. The 40k sounds correct if Bournemouth had 30k, but if they were all falsified then what are they being compared to?

Every club used to say the same when attendances were announced in the terraced years.