[Football] Football. In the olden (but not that olden) days

boik said:

Seem to remember Wrexham away on the first day of 79? season as being horrendous. Long tedious drive up there through endless roadworks, parking in a field and running to the ground and then not getting anything to eat. Boiling hot day, boring 0-0 with zero chances either end, and my sister feinting. Everyone fell asleep on the way home. I was driving, missed a junction in the roadworks and added another hour to an already horrendous journey.

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I was at that game, travelled up on coach run by Jim Dixon at the Evening Argus. Remember one fella drinking the whole way to Wales, where he promptly fell asleep on the terraces, shirtless, and ended up looking like a lobster. He was then woken at full time and poured back onto the coac to resume his drinking!

10 hours travel and didn’t see one minute of the game, but he did top up his tan!

Back in the day there were two truisms regarding ground finding.

1. The ground was always close to a railway station.

2. Always look for the floodlights.

These two rules went down the shitter when we spent ages trying to find Northampton’s County Ground back in the 1980s.

A cautionary tale boys and girls - always check your fixture list. During the 1980/90s five Newcastle fans drove down to Highfield Road for the league match with Coventry. Arriving in good time at “Cov” they got to the ground to find out that the fixture was indeed against Coventry City - only that it was being played at St.James’ Park.

Stat Brother said:

My MO was to get into 'town', stop for petrol and ask for directions.
At Huddersfield, the night Flash Walker scored, we did the usual and received the reply:-

"There"

a the bloke pointed out of the window, to the floodlit ground no more than 100yds away!!

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My strategy as well.
Got to Mansfield on a Monday night!! Pulled into a garage on the edge of town. Attendant came out to fill up our car ( for the younger ones on here, thats what used to happen ) Asked him where the football ground was, to which he replied...." what the effing hell do you want to go there for? "
( Lost 1-0 and witnessed the best sending off in BHA history. Sammy Morgan rose to head a goal kick and was sandwiched/poleaxed by the two centre halves, who flattened him ( and that wasn't easy! ) Morgan rose, spitting blood and thunder, decked the first one with the sweetest left hook you have ever seen, spun and did the second player with his right. He was half way to the tunnel before the ref even arrived on the scene.)

Hardly any games had television cameras there.

So when Gary Nelson scored the wonder goal at Brentford only those of us who were there know how really special it was!

And every time someone describes it on here it’s answered by people saying it can’t have been that good!