On This Day 3rd May 1998: Stoke City (A) Relegation Heartbreak.

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Sat in the Stoke end and kept my head down. It kicked off a few times round me when Blues got weeded out at various points. I managed to stay until the end. Was a weird mix of emotions that the edginess and danger associated with where I was sat definitely played a huge part. Winning and going down on the same day (which we’ve never done on any other occasion) also added to that cocktail of emotions, as did the real sense of entering the unknown. It was a day where reality and surreality collided, but I didn’t hate it and was certainly glad I was there.

Wonder how we’d have fared the following season if we’d stayed up. More of the same, I expect. For many reasons a single season in the third tier did us the world of good - although it was a close run thing! Difficult to see things conceivably ending up better than they ultimately have. Quite possibly the most serendipitous sliding doors moment in football history - and very much part of the amazing journey we’ve been on.

 

[Eccles Blue]

Sat in the Stoke end and kept my head down. It kicked off a few times round me when Blues got weeded out at various points. I managed to stay until the end. Was a weird mix of emotions that the edginess and danger associated with where I was sat definitely played a huge part. Winning and going down on the same day (which we’ve never done on any other occasion) also added to that cocktail of emotions, as did the real sense of entering the unknown. It was a day where reality and surreality collided, but I didn’t hate it and was certainly glad I was there.

Wonder how we’d have fared the following season if we’d stayed up. More of the same, I expect. For many reasons a single season in the third tier did us the world of good - although it was a close run thing! Difficult to see things conceivably ending up better than they ultimately have. Quite possibly the most serendipitous sliding doors moment in football history - and very much part of the amazing journey we’ve been on.

Love that last sentence @gordondaviesmoustache it really resonates. It has been an amazing and roller coaster of a journey. And still it continues. :-)

 

[dennishasdoneit]

The Stoke fans were absolute twats that day, they were behind a fence with the bricks so could’nt be stopped. If it wasn’t for peripheral vision and quickly ducking a half brick would have caved my head in.
Kinky’s last game for us as well.

I dodged a few bricks that day but saw a blue go down when one hit him on the head.straight down blood everywhere.A crazy end of season day . Ugly atmosphere all day from start to finish.it kicked off all over the ground.
It was just surreal being pissed up ,in a fenced off area after the game,the coach park..there was no where to go... with house bricks sailing through the air,madness.