Traveling to away games in the 1970s

[BillyMC]

Some great stories here lads. I remember a game at Sheff Utd. Come out of the station and you could see their lads waiting outside that pub on the hill. Got a police escort to the ground, all of a sudden the Sheff lads come out from the alley and the police had gone...bastards.All i heard next were "they've got blades" that was enough for me I was off like a shot. Ran myself into a dead end car park, luckily the footsteps I heard behind me were other City fans.
Talking of Arsenal had a good mate who liked to get involved with the Gooners. They had this big black guy called Denton who was considered one of the top boys. Anyways i tagged along with my mate to Southampton away once and we were sitting in this pub when a little scrote comes up to me and said Denton wants a word with you, looked round and his crew are sitting at the bar. I was shitting myself but I went up there and had to convince him I was a gooner. He said something like "thats alright, I recognise your mate but not you just wanted to make sure".

Denton died the other year..touring Russia with the Pet Shop boys. Arsenal had a massive turnout for him against Sunderland...hundreds at the funeral. A legend in London. His main man at the time was Miller....aright tattoed hard nut with the latest Fila track suit...sure a few City lads remember him.

PS was your mate from the Chaddy area who followed Arsenal?

 

[Balti]

The Scousers were the worst they would pinch your Watch as well as give you a kicking

Liverpool the season we came second. Possible Title decider. Coach late cos of the traffic. About 8 of us walk up together.Ground full. Turnstiles closed. Little scousers hands in your jacket. Give us your scarf la. Anyone who reacted and they called over the gangs of bigger lads watching from the sides. All kicked off round me. I see one lad being 'rescued' and taken off by a guy in a Celtic shirt. City scatter. I leg it round the park. There's a Black guy ahead of me. There's 8 of them about ten yards behind me roaring threats. Get him! Kill him! I run for my life. They drop off one by one, I keep running. There's none left after a while. I keep running following the guy in front cos I'm lost now. Eventually I catch the Black guy who is exhausted and stops. 'Don't hit me' he says!! (He's a Blue too). Then we collapse laughing relieved as hell and make our way back to the coach. Listen to the game on the radio. Open tinnies. One by one people come back to the coach. Several had taken a beating. One guy gets on the coach robbed, minus his trousers, and slashed with a stanley knife down his back, blood all over his shirt. Just to add insult to injury, we lost as well. Undeservedly (from the commentary anyway)!

what did u do if u got asked the time?
leg it or try an put on an accent

Both!

Not read all the thread so i may be repeating something someone already mentioned. Remember when people used to go on the hill at the back of the kippax and get bricks. Take them inside the kippax and launch the bricks through the stand at the opposing fans. you would occassionaly see the sparks as the brick hit the metal stantions or girders, police escorting people out with their head pouring in blood, them were the days, not.

Anyone else remember this? My memory is that when the cage first went up they hadn't concreted the slope between the steps up to the back of the Kippax properly. So those nearest the cage with the opposing fans in clear view on the adjacent steps the other side of the fence could (and did) nip under the rail, collect some stones/ lumps of concrete and hurl them at the away fans. Some would take them into the Kippax and throw them 'blind' from there. Bottle (of piss)/ cans/ fruit and all sorts would be flying. Those bloody kung fu stars were in fashion for a while.

Last one. Kippax left hand side nearest the cage two thirds of the way up. The chant went up 'Beat 'em on the 'ead, 'Beat 'em on the 'ead, 'Beat 'em on the 'ead with a baseball bat, oh yeah, oh yeah'. I'd heard it from the Cool Cats often before but this time a small army of black arms were raised carrying baseball bats. They left the ground early. Always wondered who got it. Think it was Leeds that day.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

I'm not ususally nostalgic but the antiseptic dullness of today's premiership matches is getting to me.

There are too many drab, boring people at matches these days. I wish football was unfashionable like it was 30 years ago.

Indeed!

Im 27 so was not around for the madness of the 70's, but i have thought many many times that todays footy fans are really dull and a lot just have a seasoncard as a fashion accessory, they sit there and dont sing or even give it a; "GO ON!" when we're on the attack or nowt! Rubbish!


Ive met a few guys over the years and got some contrasting views of how City were perceived in the old days! Met an older bloke, was about 60, on holiday last year who was a Brum fan and said he never minded coming to Maine Road in the 70's because he always felt fairly safe and it was Old Trafford he avoided because it was "too moody!"
but then i also spoke to a few West Ham fans when we went there a few years ago who were saying that City were a force back in the day and Maine Road was a scary place to go!
So what were we like compared to other fans everyones mentioned? (Liverpool, Leeds, West Ham!??)

 

[Deleted member 14625]

I travelled to loads of City away matches in the 1970s. The worst that happened to me was having my City bobble hat pinched off the top of my head by a young Liverpool fan as I walked back to the car from Anfield with my dad.

Even in the 70s it was fairly easy to avoid getting involved with trouble though I never enjoyed being kept waiting behind closed gates after the match at Elland Rd while Leeds fans lobbed bricks over the wall at us.

Kin hated that at leeds [hope they never see the prem again]

vouch for that 'kin nightmare i still hate them as much today

My Dad went there in the 70's, he will have been about 18! He got seperated from his mates by taking the wrong side of a fence that ran along (barely) seperating Leeds from the away fans on the way out of the ground! He got battered in fornt of his mates eyes who were on the other side of the fence, then loads piled in and me Dad has a mess! He then had to get up and walk to the hospital (which was miles away) and get himself sorted out! It took him a full day to get home, swore he'd never go back to Leeds again!

 

[cyberblue]

Loads of grounds were scary if you did not have your wits about you & City were as bad as they come

 

[onelife]

had a quick read. and some good storys.
started going aways in the mid 70s (without dad) was 13 when three of us went to o.t the famous law back heel. did i shit it when utd came in our end, after the game never saw hardly any blues outside. and 30 odd years later its still the same!
being young we had to rely on sneaking on trains or with the thumb. my first and not the last kicking comes at leeds!

anyway looking back at some of your storys bring it all back.
was on the bus trip to hampden park remember it very well. it was organiised from "the clarence pub" west ham were looking for utd that day and most of you will be pleased to hear that they did later find utd in a nearby pub. the rest is history. .
late 70s and early 80s we never took manyto west ham. but when we did decide to take plenty of lads it was to be the end of the govners. yes the end. some may reply bullshit. we went to london around 200 lads (last game when we were going down). when we were on the tube one of our lads pulled the cord fuckin about -some knob on one site says we did it because our bottle went- so whoever you are, your full of shit. we so wanted to meet the icf. anyway we never got our chance. we were nearly all sent in groups to police st all over london. they then take all our details.let us go after the match.. start of the new season police collect there evidence.then on the thurs before plymouth away they dawn raid. months later we are sent down. thats why i said the end. going in the 70s to that day was one hell of a fuckin ride. i know sone of you will disagree. been there and done it,

 

[Steveo]

Some great stories here lads. I remember a game at Sheff Utd. Come out of the station and you could see their lads waiting outside that pub on the hill. Got a police escort to the ground, all of a sudden the Sheff lads come out from the alley and the police had gone...bastards.All i heard next were "they've got blades" that was enough for me I was off like a shot. Ran myself into a dead end car park, luckily the footsteps I heard behind me were other City fans.
Talking of Arsenal had a good mate who liked to get involved with the Gooners. They had this big black guy called Denton who was considered one of the top boys. Anyways i tagged along with my mate to Southampton away once and we were sitting in this pub when a little scrote comes up to me and said Denton wants a word with you, looked round and his crew are sitting at the bar. I was shitting myself but I went up there and had to convince him I was a gooner. He said something like "thats alright, I recognise your mate but not you just wanted to make sure".

Denton died the other year..touring Russia with the Pet Shop boys. Arsenal had a massive turnout for him against Sunderland...hundreds at the funeral. A legend in London. His main man at the time was Miller....aright tattoed hard nut with the latest Fila track suit...sure a few City lads remember him.

I remember Dainton well Billy. There was one time when we went looking for Arsenal at Piccadilly station. They were already there, drinking in the buffet bar. Dainton came out on his own, filling the doorway, and said 'right, who's first'!! There were no volunteers!!
One of his right-hand men was a black guy called Jenkins, another hard lad. Here's a link about Dainton's funeral.

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/2007/ ... 07_01.html

PS was your mate from the Chaddy area who followed Arsenal?

 

[tony coleman]

Some of these stories take be back a bit. You cant beat the good old days for laugh.

One incident that I remember well is a trip to Soke in about 76/77 season.

I think it was a friday night game ! But I may be wrong.

We were scrapping all evening with stoke before and after the game, the police had a right job trying to deal with it.

On the way home the special got well smashed up by CITY fans. Doors pulled off, all windows smashed, seats ripped up, every light bulb taken out, fire extinguishers set off.

It was sheer bedlam. The police on board could do nothing to stop it.

Whenthe train arrived in piccaddilly there were loads of police waiting on the platform, all the doors were locked so no CITY fan could get off.

Some lads climbed through the broken windows on to the tracks, me included, and crawled under 3 or 4 other trains to the furthest platform. Pretty dangerous thing to do thinking back !

I was caught along with a few more and taken to the police room. there were was a long line of blues all being searched and questioned and our names taken. We were there hours.

It was the early hours when we let out. No buses, just a very long walk for us.

If my lads were to get up to this sort of stuff, I,d have their guts for garters !!

 

[mcfcbird]

IF YOU WENT ON THE "Foot Ball Speciall " what a horrible experince that was .& when you arived at the train station you were met by police with giant dogs & "escorted to the ground"

But not escorted back to the station after the game, which at Anfield, Highbury, Upton, Anfield etc, was a larf and a half. And at these places there'd usually be about 3 or 4 hundred of us with little or no segregation on the terraces. Course they usually got it back when they came to ours.

 

[Mr Blue Sky]

.City congregated in the bottom right hand corner as you look at the pitch. Me and me pal (Fat Sharpy from Hadfield!) were only about 14 at the time. Legged it the length of the pitch...

Fuck me Sharpy running bet he's never run since ha ha