Upton Park memories

[Irons Forever]

Manchester City-Fantastic club with real fans. Look forward to the game on Saturday at Upton Park. Spent a good 4 years up in Manchester mid 90's, city supporters quality then too. Hope you win the league.
West Ham fan

 

[badge]

left it too late to get tickets for this game; would have loved to have gone. won't ever get the chance to go to what's one of my favourite away grounds. me n blueballs were at the famous pitch invasion game and we both admit we were shitting ourselves at first. can see west ham becoming a bigger force though with the move to the olympic stadium, and good luck to 'em (not for this weekend though).

 

[BringBackSwales]

Manchester City-Fantastic club with real fans. Look forward to the game on Saturday at Upton Park. Spent a good 4 years up in Manchester mid 90's, city supporters quality then too. Hope you win the league.
West Ham fan

Nice one pal, classiest fans in London by absolute miles

 

[Bluekiwi]

My last visit was May 1967 when we dew 1-1.
I'd parked my car in an underground park in the centre of London as I didn't want it vandalised by parking near the ground as I had lots of City stuff in it.
Drove back to Manchester, parked outside my girlfriend's house around midnight (now my wife) in Failsworth. And some pillocks stole the car.
Fortunately the police found it a couple of days later undamaged but everything inside had been taken.

 

[goatinho]

I cannot believe this will be our last ever visit to this ground. Been twice - once under Sven and once when Colin hendry scored in the last minute. Great old ground.

Anyone got any other happy memories!

Hope we go out with a bang there. We should buy the hammers a goodbye gift or flag.

this was my 1st time i think as a 14 or 15 year old with all my mates...didnt stevie redmond slip on his arse but still scored the penalty? and colin hendry scored in the last minute and i was shitting myself because for some stupid reason i wore a city top as it was a warm day and the west fans were going fucking mental singing youll never make the station , i was shitting myself....luckily we had an escort all the way back to the station.

i never wore a city top for an away game again!

 

[paulchapo]

Still has me shaking my head in disbelief............

I was behind that goal getting piss wet through,Jimmy Greaves debut for West Ham I think he scored twice. I remember Corrigan walking back with his head down in a world of his own as the ball sailed over his head,we were screaming at him to watch out and at the last minute he saw us,looked back and ran back but he was too late. I think we signed MacRae not long afterwards.

 

[simonk]

this was my 1st time i think as a 14 or 15 year old with all my mates...didnt stevie redmond slip on his arse but still scored the penalty? and colin hendry scored in the last minute and i was shitting myself because for some stupid reason i wore a city top as it was a warm day and the west fans were going fucking mental singing youll never make the station , i was shitting myself....luckily we had an escort all the way back to the station.

i never wore a city top for an away game again!

We were put in the police escort to the tube, then had to leave it to find the car. Squeaky bum time.
Saw the Marcus Beasley win, and the SWP header for a draw. 4th time and not seen us lose.

 

[M18CTID]

It seems that that relegation game in 1987 was a watershed moment in terms of fan relationship between the 2 clubs. Before that there are numerous stories of City and West Ham fans getting into numerous rucks with each other - by all accounts Upton Park in the 70's in particular was one of the most frightening grounds in the country for visiting fans. I remember watching Match of the Seventies on the BBC in the mid-90's and one of the games featured was a night match between West Ham and City in around 1972. I think we won and I seem to recall Franny scoring a penalty but you could hear a pin drop when he scored and my first thought was that there must've been only a handful of blues in the ground.

These days things are a lot more friendly between us of course but there have still been a few unsavoury incidents following that 1987 game, and younger fans from both clubs probably don't have a big an understanding of the friendship that built up as a result of that game. However, we do get on in the main and I found it amusing when doing some random Googling of away friendly pubs near Upton Park the other week. I ended up on VillaTalk and a thread from a couple of years ago where some Villa fan said they went in the Queens and ended up being verbally abused and spat on. When we were in the Queens some years back, there wasn't anything like that kind of animosity towards the small number of City fans in there.

 

[mancunial]

My first trip was 1967, 20 mins into the game a few hundered West Ham made their way into the city end, no trouble just singing at each other and having the crack, city won 3/2, when we got to the coach their were about 30 west ham stood near the coach no animosity no trouble whatsoever, I got the impression they were fascinated with city fans, maybe because they have always hated United.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

First visit - start of the 77/78 season, Joe Royle got a late winner and the coach had half its windows put through.

Other happy memories, Tony Cunningham sliding home the winner in a League Cup replay around 84-ish. More recently a superb Yaya strike under Mancini and those goals by Sergio and Silva in Pellegrini's title-winning season.

And who could forget alan ball bringing on Guiseppe Mazzarelli as an impact sub...

Although we don't know each other, me, Rammyblues our best mate Nigel Boddy we were all on the same coach with you for that 77/78 game. Long way back I seem to remember..lol