The Darkest Day - 20 years today

[hammocity]

Was my birthday, decided against going due to family pressures.

Ended up sat in the garden drinking & crying.

We share the same birthday, I was at the game, had a bet on us, Port Vale, Portsmouth and Stockport in an accy and won over £500 but couldn't have felt worse. Stopped at a boozer in Bucklow Hill and Uwe and Dickov got dropped off there from the team bus. They came in the pub, shook the hand of every City fan and apologised for the season.

Ended up back at a pub in Ashton, bladdered singing Up the Junction at a karaoke which fitted the mood, next day, never felt so bad, twas a dream I think.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

We share the same birthday, I was at the game, had a bet on us, Port Vale, Portsmouth and Stockport in an accy and won over £500 but couldn't have felt worse. Stopped at a boozer in Bucklow Hill and Uwe and Dickov got dropped off there from the team bus. They came in the pub, shook the hand of every City fan and apologised for the season.

Ended up back at a pub in Ashton, bladdered singing Up the Junction at a karaoke which fitted the mood, next day, never felt so bad, twas a dream I think.

Life's a bit better now ;)

 

[hammocity]

Ce

Life's a bit better now ;)

Certainly is, hopefully you are well enough to celebrate on Sunday!!

 

[hammocity]

I was there can't believe it was 20 years ago, really bad year family party after getting back Mum told me Dad had been diagnosed with mesothelioma what a shite weekend that was one I'll not forget. At least he lived to see us back in the Championship he'd be well chuffed now though.

Put the footy in perspective that, your dad would be chuffed to bits and you keep the blue light going for him, good post fella, brought a tear to my eye that one .

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Ce

Certainly is, hopefully you are well enough to celebrate on Sunday!!

I might be ;)

Having a warm up funnily enough at Ashton cc today sitting in the sun with a few drinks being an ex Ashton lad myself try and make the odd game when we've got no match & the sun shines.

 

[hammocity]

I might be ;)

Having a warm up funnily enough at Ashton cc today sitting in the sun with a few drinks being an ex Ashton lad myself try and make the odd game when we've got no match & the sun shines.

Do you know Gary Coles and Stan Adshead?

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Do you know Gary Coles and Stan Adshead?

I know Coles by sight I think, chunky guy had a bust foot a couple of years ago?

 

[hammocity]

That's the fella, played in goal for my school team, Hartshead in the 70's, talented cricketer in his younger days, if you see him tell him Mark Hammond sends his regards, cheers.

 

[york away to this!]

I was there in the stoke stand. Quite how we survived the trip back to the car unscathed is one of the mysteries of the world. Just car after car after car smashed up by those heathens.

 

[M18CTID]

So many memories flooding back after reading this thread and so many posts resonate with my own feelings.

While I agree that it was arguably the worst season in our history, I don’t believe - the last couple of months or so of the season apart - that it was as inevitable as some think. Much is made of how useless Frank Clark was and how he epitomised the club at the time but it’s largely forgotten that when he first took over the season before that he presided over an unbeaten run of something like 11 league games, easing us away from the drop zone and actually giving us an outside chance of getting in the play-offs. During that run, a wave of optimism gripped the fans. I recall a 3-0 win away to Bradford where our goals were greeted with utter pandemonium amongst the away support. During that run, we went down 1-0 at home to ‘Boro in the 5th round of the FA Cup but have a very good account of ourselves.

Results ultimately tailed off towards the end of the season and we finished comfortably in mid-table but there was an expectation going forward that we’d mount a serious challenge for promotion the following season and the bookies agreed, making us favourites to go up IIRC. We had an excellent pre-season and I never in a million years expected us to struggle to the extent that we did. While there were many abject displays, it was a weird season in that these were punctuated with some impressive results: 3-1 away to Forest (who were promoted), 2-0 at home to ‘Boro (who were promoted), 6-0 at home to Swindon (who were doing well at the time). But it seemed that whenever we got a decent result we couldn’t follow it up. Hardly anybody gave us a battering though, save for the first half hour at Edgeley Park and a 3-0 defeat at Reading. And this was reflected in the goal difference - we went down with a GD of minus 1. To put that into perspective, only 2 teams in the history of English league football have been relegated with a positive goal difference. Sheffield United in 1981 with a GD of +2, but another team went one better and got relegated with a GD of +3 back in 1938. The same team who that season also happened to be the only side ever to be relegated after winning the top flight title the season before....