Roughest grounds you've been too and biggest scraps!

[garymj]

being a 56 year old travelling showman, iv seen some real tearups on the fairs around manchester and salford .but all the so called scraps at footymatches iv seen were more like monkey dancing to be honest.

 

[Anonymous]

Leeds away 75,walking to the station was like Zulu.14 years old.

I'll second that .... that day was absolutely horrendous , my worst in 44 years of watching City ...... i don't know to this day how i managed to get back home in one piece !

 

[Pigeonho]

Absolute bollocks. Should have put that in the 'Porky Pies' thread.

If you knew the guy you wouldn't be surprised. Not all there in the head.

Haha I'm not having it.

I think someone's been watching ID.

'Facking lav you Gumbo'

 

[BringBackSwales]

St James Park in the FA Cup about 1977 I think, we won 3-1 and it was the first big following we took to St James Park after taking the place over in 1968 (which I was too young to have been at) - there was an overflow from the Gallowgate end so the coppers in their infinite wisdom let some young Geordies into our end - cue the masses of hard blokes (and I do not mean that sarcastically) pouring into our end and kicking fuck out of us. Worst violence inside an away ground I can remember. First ever police escort for me was after that match - we fucking needed it, it was murders. Think it was third round, early Jan, freezing - you could spot us Blues, we were all wearing coats, the Geordies just had short sleeved Newcastle tops on

Was there for that though we were cowards and had seats. We hired a minibus and were mortified when he couldn't drop us outside the ground but had to park some way away. We jumped on a bus but obviously opening your mouth was a dead giveaway so we pretended we were all deaf mutes.

Leeds was always bad but the worst was West Ham. Only went down once in the 1970's and we got in, saw the ICF had infiltrated the City fans end so got out and went back into London even before the kick off.

But the worst was Old Trafford in 1974 when Denis Law scored. Genuinely thought I wasn't going to come out of there alive. With a mate yesterday after the game who locked himself in a toilet that day and wouldn't come out till the coast was clear.

1974 was my first away derby and you are right, it was terrifying (seem to remember they invaded the pitch to get to our end in a league cup game at the swamp a couple of years later as well?) LOL at the deaf mutes thing at Leeds - we used to practice Yorkshire accents before going there in case we got asked the time or similar

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

St James Park in the FA Cup about 1977 I think, we won 3-1 and it was the first big following we took to St James Park after taking the place over in 1968 (which I was too young to have been at) - there was an overflow from the Gallowgate end so the coppers in their infinite wisdom let some young Geordies into our end - cue the masses of hard blokes (and I do not mean that sarcastically) pouring into our end and kicking fuck out of us. Worst violence inside an away ground I can remember. First ever police escort for me was after that match - we fucking needed it, it was murders. Think it was third round, early Jan, freezing - you could spot us Blues, we were all wearing coats, the Geordies just had short sleeved Newcastle tops on

Was there for that though we were cowards and had seats. We hired a minibus and were mortified when he couldn't drop us outside the ground but had to park some way away. We jumped on a bus but obviously opening your mouth was a dead giveaway so we pretended we were all deaf mutes.

Leeds was always bad but the worst was West Ham. Only went down once in the 1970's and we got in, saw the ICF had infiltrated the City fans end so got out and went back into London even before the kick off.

But the worst was Old Trafford in 1974 when Denis Law scored. Genuinely thought I wasn't going to come out of there alive. With a mate yesterday after the game who locked himself in a toilet that day and wouldn't come out till the coast was clear.

1974 was my first away derby and you are right, it was terrifying (seem to remember they invaded the pitch to get to our end in a league cup game at the swamp a couple of years later as well?) LOL at the deaf mutes thing at Leeds - we used to practice Yorkshire accents before going there in case we got asked the time or similar

It was Newcastle we did the deaf mutes thing as you couldn't practice a Geordie accent (though you could do a passable Yorkshire & Scouse one) but you reminded me about going over to Leeds one time and waiting outside the ground for the mates I was meeting who'd travelled separately. I only knew one Leeds fan, who was one of my uni flatmates. He was a good guy but was completely unpredicatable when he'd had a few. So I'm just stood there and a bus pulls up and he's first off. Normally I'd have said hello but knowing he was more than likely pissed up and probably would have set the whole bus on me, I dodged round a corner and hid before he saw me.

 

[Anonymous]

Was that Oldham one around 97/98 ish? I was at an Oldham away game and remember it being full of Blues, with silly rumours that Hibs were coming down for a fight and they were helping Oldham. Blues were indeed everywhere that day, and I recall it being a midday kick off too..

I reckon it was more like late 1980's mate (drank too much in those days to be sure!) but someone on here will know for sure

-- Mon May 20, 2013 1:34 pm --

All I can say is that I saw lots of immature thuggery and violence in the 70s and 80s - Stretford, Elland Rd, Millwall, Anfield, Newcastle etc- and even walked through some of it. I never suffered as much as a scratch, and I was just average height and average build just as I am now.

Real fans did sometimes get caught up in the hooliganism, but 99% of it was between consenting, pathetic idiots.

I disagree, then as now a lot of violence was larger groups picking on smaller groups, individuals etc - football fans are generally not that brave and usually kick off when it suits then numbers wise - just look at how united fans STILL behave today. Newcastle was the only place I got a kicking, but Leeds, Chelsea, Millwall, Everton, Liverpool were all places where you had to be very warey in the 1970's and up to the late 1980's. To suggest you could just wander through blissfully unaware at these places and in those times is frankly wrong.

Correct,re my earlier post I saw a bloke and his son get the shit kicked out of them coming out at Ayresome Park in 1980,to my shame I could do nothing about it,there were loads of them joining in.Coppers just watched,scared themselves.

Just to point out that we certainly had our yobs though ..... the biggest beating i ever saw was dished out to three Middlesbrough supporters who were punched and kicked senseless by 30/40 City fans as they lay in the road near the Maine Road souvenir shop ..... they had seemingly left the ground five minutes early to avoid any trouble and unfortunately (for them) had walked straight into it !

Only the late intervention of other City fans saved them ......

 

[BringBackSwales]

I reckon it was more like late 1980's mate (drank too much in those days to be sure!) but someone on here will know for sure

-- Mon May 20, 2013 1:34 pm --




I disagree, then as now a lot of violence was larger groups picking on smaller groups, individuals etc - football fans are generally not that brave and usually kick off when it suits then numbers wise - just look at how united fans STILL behave today. Newcastle was the only place I got a kicking, but Leeds, Chelsea, Millwall, Everton, Liverpool were all places where you had to be very warey in the 1970's and up to the late 1980's. To suggest you could just wander through blissfully unaware at these places and in those times is frankly wrong.

Correct,re my earlier post I saw a bloke and his son get the shit kicked out of them coming out at Ayresome Park in 1980,to my shame I could do nothing about it,there were loads of them joining in.Coppers just watched,scared themselves.

Just to point out that we had our yobs though ..... the biggest beating i ever saw was dished out to three Middlesbrough supporters who were punched and kicked senseless by 30/40 City fans as they lay in the road near the Maine Road souvenier shop ..... they had seemingly left the ground five minutes early to avoid any trouble and unfortunately (for them) walked straight into it !

Only the late intervention of other City fans saved them ......

yes a lot of fans of other clubs used to say that Maine Road was a very dodgy ground for away fans

 

[citytill1die84]

FA Cup final against Wigan kicking off all over. On a serious note Leeds is my worst.

 

[Pigeonho]

I reckon it was more like late 1980's mate (drank too much in those days to be sure!) but someone on here will know for sure

-- Mon May 20, 2013 1:34 pm --




I disagree, then as now a lot of violence was larger groups picking on smaller groups, individuals etc - football fans are generally not that brave and usually kick off when it suits then numbers wise - just look at how united fans STILL behave today. Newcastle was the only place I got a kicking, but Leeds, Chelsea, Millwall, Everton, Liverpool were all places where you had to be very warey in the 1970's and up to the late 1980's. To suggest you could just wander through blissfully unaware at these places and in those times is frankly wrong.

Correct,re my earlier post I saw a bloke and his son get the shit kicked out of them coming out at Ayresome Park in 1980,to my shame I could do nothing about it,there were loads of them joining in.Coppers just watched,scared themselves.

Just to point out that we had our yobs though ..... the biggest beating i ever saw was dished out to three Middlesbrough supporters who were punched and kicked senseless by 30/40 City fans as they lay in the road near the Maine Road souvenier shop ..... they had seemingly left the ground five minutes early to avoid any trouble and unfortunately (for them) walked straight into it !

Only the late intervention of other City fans saved them ......

Seen something similar happen to a couple of Leicester fans in the early 2000's in Piccadilly. One was sparko'd at the end.
All clubs have dickheads.

I used to work with a so-called head guy of this kind of thing, (he was a self-proclaimed head guy). At a game at Maine Road v Wolves in the late 90's, I saw him start some trouble near the chippy on the corner of Claremont Road, (opposite the souvenir shop). Verbals at first, then he went in with a dig. Who did I then see legging it away for others to kop the flack for? That's right, the so called 'head guy'. I said to him on the Monday that i'd seen him running away, and asked what he was running from. Nothing that made any sense came out of his mouth. He had it in for me from there on in because i'd embarrassed him in front of the boys at work.

He later got sacked for theft in the work place. An utter fucking nob head.

 

[Anonymous]

Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup , early 70's at their place , was a real bad one too ....... Forest had a nasty crew in those days and they were well up for trouble ..... we lost 4-1 and the Forest fans surrounded us in one corner of the ground , very intimidating ..... plenty of trouble outside after the game.

In the following round they went to Newcastle and the game was held up because of serious crowd trouble , a few fans were stabbed.