25th December 1957...

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I definitely went to a game on Xmas Day, probably that one. Big crowd, almost all men, even more so than usual. No transport as I remember, seemed strange with hordes of people walking toward the ground in a sort of subdued quiet. Lot of cigars and hip flasks in the ground, bon-ami all around. Most fans smoked then. Looked forward to Xmas dinner walking back up Shrewsbury Road.
 
finlaytheblade said:
Beat Blackburn 4-2 boxing day and the great Doc Pace made his debut scoring 2 ,he had been signed from Aston Villa,no one or only a few new of this signing and came as a big suprise when we found out the team news before kick off..A great signing by John Harris
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Too early for John Harris. It must have been Joe Mercer.
 
Woodwardfan said:
I definitely went to a game on Xmas Day, probably that one. Big crowd, almost all men, even more so than usual. No transport as I remember, seemed strange with hordes of people walking toward the ground in a sort of subdued quiet. Lot of cigars and hip flasks in the ground, bon-ami all around. Most fans smoked then. Looked forward to Xmas dinner walking back up Shrewsbury Road.
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Bet you needed it by the time you’d walked back from Blackburn. ;-)
 
finlaytheblade said:
Beat Blackburn 4-2 boxing day and the great Doc Pace made his debut scoring 2 ,he had been signed from Aston Villa,no one or only a few new of this signing and came as a big suprise when we found out the team news before kick off..A great signing by John Harris
Click to expand...
Harris joined us in April 1959. Mercer signed Pace in December. A year later Mercer went to Villa, Archie Clarke tppk temporary charge from December 1958 to April 1959
 
Fabulous programmes. I have vague memories of matches on Xmas Day, I imagined they finished as a regular fixture in the early 1960s, obviously wrong. Apparently Blackpool v Blackburn was a traditional fixture that continued into the early 1960s due to the “ socioeconomic” circumstances of the two towns, eg lots of folk used to holiday in Blackpool at Xmas
 
We also used to play matches back to back at Easter, monday and tuesday. Although Silent will be along to put me right. Sure we played Leeds around 1967
 
The Xmas day home match was one I never went to as a kid. I suppose it was a combination of not messing up family gathering and lack of public transport. So it was for me a good thing that it disappeared. One thing I can't remember - how did we find out the result? I don't remember the scores flashing up on the screen during the Queen's speech...
 
cahill said:
We also used to play matches back to back at Easter, monday and tuesday. Although Silent will be along to put me right. Sure we played Leeds around 1967
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Think the last time was 1973-74 when we lost 4-1 at Derby, drew at L**ds 0-0 and lost at home to L**ds on Easter Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. The following season was Good Friday, Easter Monday and Tuesday (Coventry (a) 2-2, Arsenal (a) 0-1 and L**ds (h) 1-1
 
finlaytheblade said:
Beat Blackburn 4-2 boxing day and the great Doc Pace made his debut scoring 2 ,he had been signed from Aston Villa,no one or only a few new of this signing and came as a big suprise when we found out the team news before kick off..A great signing by John Harris
Click to expand...

Yes, was there and it was a great day for us Blades.

The Noble Doctor as we called him was an instant success and went on to become one of the best loved players ever at the Lane. Rarely had a bad game but seemed to reserve his very best for when we played the Grunters - I used to love watching him make a complete arsehole Peter 'the Poser' Swan. Happy days.
 



Blade56 said:
To bloody right they were unhappy, we lost 1-0 :mad:
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Any excuse:


cahill said:
We also used to play matches back to back at Easter, monday and tuesday. Although Silent will be along to put me right. Sure we played Leeds around 1967
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On April 23rd 1962 (Easter Monday) we won 1-0 (Pace) at Manchester United (my first-ever Blades match!) We played them the next day at Bramall Lane and - true to form - lost 2-3 in the top tier. Crowd? 25,324 - less than we'll get on Tuesday v Villa.
 
Than
grafikhaus said:
Any excuse:




On April 23rd 1962 (Easter Monday) we won 1-0 (Pace) at Manchester United (my first-ever Blades match!) We played them the next day at Bramall Lane and - true to form - lost 2-3 in the top tier. Crowd? 25,324 - less than we'll get on Tuesday v Villa.
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Thanks for that Silent at least I didn’t imagine it. We played Leeds back to back I went unfortunately with a load of Leeds fans, think that was in 1967
 
cahill said:
Than


Thanks for that Silent at least I didn’t imagine it. We played Leeds back to back I went unfortunately with a load of Leeds fans, think that was in 1967
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Yest lost all three matches on Saturday Monday and Tuesday. 2-0 at Arsenall, 1-4 at home to L^^ds and then 2-0 at L**ds respectively
 
grafikhaus said:
Any excuse:




On April 23rd 1962 (Easter Monday) we won 1-0 (Pace) at Manchester United (my first-ever Blades match!) We played them the next day at Bramall Lane and - true to form - lost 2-3 in the top tier. Crowd? 25,324 - less than we'll get on Tuesday v Villa.
Click to expand...

It is difficult to appreciate how much crowds have changed. That crowd at home v ManU was one of the bigger ones that season, and at Old Trafford the crowd was not much above 29,000. Except for local derbies, or key promotion/relegation matches, league crowds were much lower than now. And with 2 up/2 down, no play-offs, only 1 place in the European Cup, 2 points for a win, most teams had little to play for in the second half of the season. By contrast, the Cup pulled in big crowds: in that same season, the 3rd round replay v Bury got a crowd of 25043, and the second replay, at Hillsborough, got 26941. We wouldn't get 10000 for those games now.
 
21st, 24th, 25th, 28th December and 4th January.

Can you imagine that today, makes me laugh that the young players today training with all the best fitness coaches, dietitians and lightweight kits are knackered if they have to play 2 games a week.

UTBFTP
 
Silent Blade said:
Yest lost all three matches on Saturday Monday and Tuesday. 2-0 at Arsenall, 1-4 at home to L^^ds and then 2-0 at L**ds respectively
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That’s right 1-4 and 2-0. The 1-4 always stays in the memory. I lost contact with the Leeds fans i went with to that game around 1970. Twenty five of us had a reunion just before last Christmas, I’d not seen 23 of them for 48 years.
Had a good time, none of them ever go to Leeds games whereas yours truly kept the Blades faith.

Truth be told I couldn’t tell you why !

Something to do with identity and a sense of belonging I think ?
 
Isaw Joeshaw said:
Yes, was there and it was a great day for us Blades.

The Noble Doctor as we called him was an instant success and went on to become one of the best loved players ever at the Lane. Rarely had a bad game but seemed to reserve his very best for when we played the Grunters - I used to love watching him make a complete arsehole Peter 'the Poser' Swan. Happy days.
Click to expand...
Your right I think it was 1961/62 season we had just got promoted and we played the pigs at Swillsborough we won 2-1 but it was Doc Paces goals that had us 2-0 up. Only ever went there once more in 1963 as my hatred grew for the piggies I vowed never to set foot on their ground again and I never have, So only ever went there three times in total boy am I lucky UTB FTP
 
Blade&Snuff said:
21st, 24th, 25th, 28th December and 4th January.

Can you imagine that today, makes me laugh that the young players today training with all the best fitness coaches, dietitians and lightweight kits are knackered if they have to play 2 games a week.

UTBFTP
Click to expand...


Woodbines were good for you back then though......
 
So what was the atmosphere like for a Christmas Day match? Below is reproduced the recollections of a Sheffield United supporter who attended his first Christmas Day match in 1948 as a nine-year-old when Bolton Wanderers visited Bramall Lane in a First Division fixture.

"The match kicked off in the morning and, as there were no trams running, my dad and 1 made an early start and walked to Bramall Lane from Millhouses. Once inside the ground it was clear this was no ordinary occasion, for the atmosphere was something special - particularly to a nine-year-old. The band played Christmas carols and many of the crowd sported their presents. New scarves and gloves were much in evidence, whilst the aroma of cigar smoke hung everywhere. Spirit flasks were passed among groups of friends and swigged with a slightly furtive air."

The attendance was 39,676 and the match ended 1-1.
 
Sean Thornton said:
So what was the atmosphere like for a Christmas Day match? Below is reproduced the recollections of a Sheffield United supporter who attended his first Christmas Day match in 1948 as a nine-year-old when Bolton Wanderers visited Bramall Lane in a First Division fixture.

"The match kicked off in the morning and, as there were no trams running, my dad and 1 made an early start and walked to Bramall Lane from Millhouses. Once inside the ground it was clear this was no ordinary occasion, for the atmosphere was something special - particularly to a nine-year-old. The band played Christmas carols and many of the crowd sported their presents. New scarves and gloves were much in evidence, whilst the aroma of cigar smoke hung everywhere. Spirit flasks were passed among groups of friends and swigged with a slightly furtive air."

The attendance was 39,676 and the match ended 1-1.
Click to expand...
So that's why I wasn't allowed to go to a Xmas Day game - 'swigging a spirit flask with a furtive air' was off-limits at age 8.
 



originaltrueblade said:
Your right I think it was 1961/62 season we had just got promoted and we played the pigs at Swillsborough we won 2-1 but it was Doc Paces goals that had us 2-0 up. Only ever went there once more in 1963 as my hatred grew for the piggies I vowed never to set foot on their ground again and I never have, So only ever went there three times in total boy am I lucky UTB FTP
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Last game i went to at S6, was the Asaba and Djaffo game, might never go again. Leaves a nasty smell
 
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