Guest Iron Hunter Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 it was carnage on the kop that day but i wasnt to worried as i was sat in the north shouting encouragment to the couragous few of our brave boys ...... Must admit, would be seriously scared if summat like that happened nowadays.Hard to believe it was the norm back then.Going back to the book, the guy said the Man U fans at every away match was like an invasion force.Know its Man U, but very good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauli Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I was on the Kop, wearing colours and cheered all our goals like mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kernow_Blu Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I was only a kid , But i'd never seen anybody numbers like they did to Hillsborough that day . They had the kop and the Lep .... but they were stunned when ' The Wednesday ' cry went up before the kick off from the north and the south . Our support was on the decline .... they were playing at being in the 2nd division . It was a great game . Before the game they were singing .... Six foot two .... Eyes of blue .... Big Jim Holten's after you ... Unlucky for him he broke his leg ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nethertonowl Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I was there with my dad and older sister. We were sat on the back row of the lower south about half way between leaps and half way line. Carnage, everywhere I looked , kop was full of Man u . Loads of Wednesday came on the leaps and it all kicked off. I remember standing up and looking down at the gangway , which at that time ran between the upper and lower section of the south. Fans running up and down , covered in blood, as they ran from the kop to leaps and vice versa. I still remember a guy in Doc martins ,high ones with a shaved head and white T shirt, covered in blood all over the white T. We came out early and , had just got to the chippy on Penistone road before the roundabout, , thinking we had won 4-3 only for them the make it 4-4. Think it was Lou macari( could be wrong though). Didn't they have a centre half break his leg as well. Jim Holton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nethertonowl Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Kernow , beat me too it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHOwl Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I was there. Remember it very clearly. There was definitely fighting on all 4 sides. Like others I'd never seen that many away fans at a a game. Even so there were still lots of Wednesday fans in every stand although not so many on the Leppings Lane end. I also remember the chanting from both sets of fans with Wednesday fans making just as much racket as the United fans. Scary at the time - I was eleven - but I'm glad I was there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Royds Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Is this a time when Man Utd was a proper Manchester Club? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerwyldesmullet Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Ruddy fantastic game. Heard a Man U fan on Talkshite extolling it as the complete football experience. Man U were running away with the league Coppell and Hill down the wings etc. when we went 3:1 up - a Colin Harvey piledriver - I'm not sure I've ever been so excited. "You ain't seen nuthin yet" by BTOverdrive blared out at half time and it proved prophetic. The East Bank (Kop to younger viewers) had been swamped by Reds so a detachment of East Bank Boot Boys surged across the Leppings to at least claim some territory back. The Mancs fled except for one hardo who looked like the lead singer from Mud. He stood his ground and Im afraid to say it turned the tide. In the ensuing confusion a bunch of mates from De La Salle got thrown out as the fighting spilled onto the pitch. When the ludicrously good looking Dave Sunley headed us 4:3 up, revels and fighting broke out again. My mate got thumped and we decided to slide out. As we were leaving a kindly Manc said "lads - this is fantastic - don't you like fooootball" and it still haunts me that I left early. It was probably all too much to be honest. One game like that per decade is enough for anyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Sl-OWL-ly Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Yep and some wonder why fences went up in the 80's and blame the government... People forget (or aren't old enough to remember) what the trouble was like back then, fights kicking off were a regular thing, taking the other teams Kop or home end was a pre requisite.... TBF I listened to tnis one on the radio with my then Manure supporting girl friend, still not sure why I married her, must be that I forgave her cos her Grandad played for us in the 30's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerwyldesmullet Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 And somewhere in the middle I think Jim Holton broke his leg which effectively ended his career. PS Back in those days when things got boring we used to sing a song for a kid called Sammy. ( I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles). Anyone know what happened to him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarnOwl55 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 What ?..Tony Toms. Remember the two games against United well was in the upper west for both. Still think that stand takes some beating for watching the game, just needs knocking down and re-building. I was in the Upper West too for that game. Pretty hairy when Manu fans came to join us - where and how they got there I don't know. Great game but the memory that lingers was the horses coming on the pitch from the corner between the Kop and the North. We had gone 3-1 up and the whole place seemed to go crazy. I thought the Man U supporters were trying to get the game abandoned. Agree with Glynnb - Upper West was a great place to see the game - remember seeing us whip Chelsea 6-1 from there - John Ritchie hat-trick?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plonk Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Hmmm unless you don't consider a pitch invasion with a few thousand mancs fighting 3 or 400 police with horses, dogs and perspex riot shields 'bother' :-) As i remember they invaded pitch just before half time when we went 3-1 up. Theres some terrific memory failure on here! Perspex riots shields! the cops were still using bin lids (metal ones) in them days. Still think that game stands as the most arrests at a South Yorks ground, and made the front page of Mondays Telegraph. Still might have it in the attic somewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soultime Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I think most people are missing out some vital information from this day, manure fans arrived very early (in their thousands) for the match, cos of the large numbers syp put em on the kop, by the time Wednesday fans started arriving the kop was almost full with manure, and Wednesday fans were not being allowed in. Instead they wer sent to the lep lane end. I remember quite clearly having to hide my scarves and badges so I could get on the kop. So yes they took the kop, but it wer given to em with no Wednesday there at the time, bit like the claims of the pigs when they took the legions pub in the early hours, when only the cleaners were there to stop em Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffjohnsonmyhero Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Was told there was a small group among them Butlab who stood there ground and Manure fans were at em all the way through game but could not move em.As i always say about wednesday fans QUALITY NOT QUANTITY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerwyldesmullet Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Did not know that important info soul time. My recollection was that there were constant battles down left side of Kop and also a lot of aggro on the left side south uncovered seats throughout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
September65 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 So many away fans in the ground that day. I remember us driving back towards town afterwards and literally thousands of Man U fans walking back, presumably to the train station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adelphi1867 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 That was the 1st time I witnessed the "Steaming" phenomenon at football, where a group of fans put so much pressure on one entrance that the officials opened the gate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
31Dec1966 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I went in the corner on LL as I took a younger cousin with me . It was a fantastic game and astonishing as we were bottom and they were top and we kept scoring. there was trouble everywhere but the kop was a constant distraction as it looked like a war zone. I took the cousin because he "followed" Man Utd like kids do. He's now a season ticket holder at Wednesday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarquin Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I was a season ticket holder on the uncovered terrace and remember this match well . Even before the match there were fights all over , the narrow gennel behind the terrace was like Waterloo. During the match all sorts of scrimmaging going off as "mancs" made themselves known among our supporters. One funny thing was when they tried a pitch invasion and one of them near us tried to join in and as he ran down the gangway fell over (tripped? ) and bashed his head. He was ignored by everyone as the game went on and he must have been spark out for 5mins and all of us just left him there . He eventually staggered back up the steps and into the gennel where I heard he was taken into "protective custody" by a St johns man and a copper who had been stationed there. Happy days-- my arris We were absolutly garbage all season- thats what I remember most . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Owl Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 They took 3 sides of the ground. I was in the North and there were fights breaking out everywhere around us. There were pockets of our fans on the Kop and the Lep battling away with them throughout the game. Think it broke the record for arrests at one game and horses had to come into the ground. We were pretty crap then and they were just visiting the second division and romping away but I was still embarrased at how easily they had took the ground. People forget how Man Utd were the worst for causing trouble then due to their massive travelling numbers. Oh, and it was a great game.......... I remember it like it was yesterday. Yes, they took three sides of the ground....by the simple tactic of totally filling them before any Wednesday fans got there. They started arriving about mid-day and by the time we got to the ground about 2pm it was pretty much full of them, about 24000 is not bad for an away following you have to give them that. Trouble broke out everywhere, in the ground, outside the ground, in the city centre, bus station, train station, you name it. We were on the kop for a while, bottom left hand corner as you face the pitch. Then forced off onto the pitch. I vividly remember somebody throwing a bag on the ground and shouting 'bomb'. Everybody legged it and dived back on to the kop. Bedlam everywhere, amazed the game went on with all the trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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