Traveling to away games in the 1970s

[Anonymous]

I went to practically all the away fixtures from the early 70's - mid 90's , and i've got plenty of memories from them.

Leeds was probably the worst in the 70's .... after Donachie equalised for us in a 2-2 draw and we had a 3 mile 'gauntlet' run back to the station ........ no fuckin' coppers anywhere, and hundreds , maybe thousands of Leeds yobs ....... what a day that was , nearly everyone on the train home was injured in some way or other!

A cup match at Forest in 73 was bad too ...... we lost 4-1 and there were battles everywhere , inside the ground and outside ....... also the rags away in their relegation year was unforgettable for all the trouble.

But you knew what to expect if you turned up at Chelsea , Newcastle , WHU , Boro , Liverpool , Everton , Wolves , Spurs or the like ........ and in later years at Cardiff , Millwall or Portsmouth etc ....... the scousers were fuckers with their stanley knives , shithouses.

 

[urmston]

Thank God those days are over,i would not be taking my my sons if it was still like it was back in the day.I remember going with my Dad in the late 70's and it always kicked off.

Those days were not nice though no harm came to the vast majority of normal, peaceful fans even then.

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.

 

[blue1969]

Anybody remember when city joined up with the rags and went to Leeds last game of the season, early 80s. Leeds had battered a city fan and his 11 year old at maine rd and so word went round we were going with the rags. Very few Leeds were seen that day. They were not good days despite what's been said, it was living on the edge. Personaly I'm glad those days are gone.

 

[piffy on a rock bun]

Wolves away! I hated the place, Narrow escapes a few times including me & a mate late as usuall Parking the car up a side street & legging it to the ground, The only safe way out of the ground was being herded with other blues by the police to the train station, we decided to break away when it looked fairly safe (despite police advice) only problem was we had no idear where the car was & only found it after about a hour of searching, wolverhampton was (probably still is) a dump!
Also remember being in a group of blues having to take cover in gardens, sheds & hedges at cardiff (probably in the 80s?)

 

[Anonymous]

Wolves away! I hated the place, Narrow escapes a few times including me & a mate late as usuall Parking the car up a side street & legging it to the ground, The only safe way out of the ground was being herded with other blues by the police to the train station, we decided to break away when it looked fairly safe (despite police advice) only problem was we had no idear where the car was & only found it after about a hour of searching, wolverhampton was (probably still is) a dump!
Also remember being in a group of blues having to take cover in gardens, sheds & hedges at cardiff (probably in the 80s?)

I hated going to Wolves too ......... particualry in the days when we had to stand unsegregated with them on the South Bank , some of them were armed with knives .... it was a threatening atmosphere to say the least!

There was also a night match there when two Wolves fans were stabbed , so they ambushed our special train as it left the station with bricks ...... a couple of City fans were very badly hurt in that incident.

 

[Blue Streak]

Bill Gardner who was a very respected face at West Ham for years talks in his book of Maine Road being one of the very worst grounds to visit in the 70's.

I've also read accounts from Villa fans of a trip of terror to Maine Road for a night match in the 70's. And what happened outside the ground being bedlam.

Anyone have any thoughts on these?

 

[Flixton is blue]

Thank God those days are over,i would not be taking my my sons if it was still like it was back in the day.I remember going with my Dad in the late 70's and it always kicked off.

Those days were not nice though no harm came to the vast majority of normal, peaceful fans even then.

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.

Have you got any kids Urmston?

 

[piffy on a rock bun]

I think of those days like it was all an adventure but apart from getting cornered & beaten by 2 rags out of a group of 7 (I gave as good as I got untill some seriously old bloke came, told them to "piss off" & they did!) I suppose looking back I was a bit lucky?

 

[Flixton is blue]

Always,always kicked off with utd at Maine Road

 

[bluemanc]

We went to Coventry in the 70's & we went over a flyover which was above Cov fans going to the game,we gave them a load of shit then watched in horror as the fuckin coach driver took a wrong turning & went back over the flyover.
We turned up at the ground looking like we'd been hit by a wrecking ball,they'd bricked the coach when they saw us coming back.
A mate of mine was on a coach in the 60's that took a fookin 6ft butty cabinet from a service station,they got 5mile down the motorway before a police car stopped them & told them to take it back,bizzare but that was the matter closed.
Coming back from liverpool on the special who can ever forget the thuds as bricks & pieces of concrete were thrown onto the roof of the carriages from bridges.
As someone said earlier a lot of the stuff was the biggest amount of fans chased the smaller group of fans,BUT like today you had complete fuckin maniacs that wanted to see someone bleed or put someone in hospital,that will never change i'm afraid.