First ever AWAY game with your mates?

[sitwell]

Remember an away game at Hull (early 80's?) and being chased over dual carriage way streets that were in the centre of council estates.
I bet a lot of the time it was Blades chasing Blades as we never got caught anyone, nor got caught.

I also seem to remember that there were quite a few of these dual carriage ways in the centre of estates.

We used to go on the train about 9 in the morning and met up in Hull with a load of other lads off Norfolk Park in a pub ,I think it was the Manchester arms ,Hull tried to storm it but the were some pretty handy lads amongst the Blades and it was a major scrap for about 10 minutes until the cops came ,we then proceeded on the longest escort to a game ever ,it seemed like miles to Boothferry Park with Hull fans on both sides of the road the entire way.

 

[sitwell]

Do you remember the Blades fan who climbed up the floodlight?

I was there you had to walk across field full of cows to get to the game ,hence cowshit fights , and then Haslam came out to pacify the crowd to what you could call a mixed reception.
Do you remember the floodlight climber at Huddersfield too ?

 

[blade too long]

Bet you had the small kids jumpers as posts to make the goal wider!

no lamp post at either end as post/floodlight and 2 gas board cones wed seconded , the kerb was the line and the penalty area was smaller at the pointed end of the pitch , obviously so we turned round at half time around 6.30 to 7 ish depending on time of year
jumpers for goal posts is misleading as most of us wore v neck vest cardigans,
up to passing your 11 plus you went to school in short trousers

on Sunday wed kick off at 11am have dinner around 1 then play till 4 , tea and battenberg and the third half 5 till 8 ish, was more like test cricket than football.

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

My first away game ever was at Wednesday on March 12, 1966, a 2-2 draw. I was seven and went on my own!

It seems unbelievable now but my dad (who had virtually stopped going to matches by then) took me to the ground in the car and we went to a South Stand turnstile together. He paid for me to go in and then he went off to Firth Park to visit his mother, my grandmother. He told me where to be after the match and he picked me up there.

We did exactly the same thing later that year on September 24, another 2-2 draw.

The next Hillsborough Derby was on January 6, 1968. I was nine by this point and clearly didn't need any more mollycoddling because he just ran me down to Meadowhead, gave me the bus fare and the price of entry and told me to take care, and then I got either a 42 or 53 bus straight through to the ground. I sat in the stand behind the Leppings Lane goal and saw another draw, this time 1-1. Eleven days before this, on Boxing Day 1967, I'd gone with my uncle to Hillsborough to see Leeds play Wednesday. He lived in Leeds by then and did some work for Radio Leeds and some one had given him a stand ticket. He asked if I wanted to go and paid for me to stand on the Leppings Lane end in a crowd of 51055. It ended either 0-0 or 1-0 to Leeds but I remember being as interested in the electronic scoreboard regularly flashing up goals from our game at Southampton, a 3-3 draw. Again, he simply told me where to be after the game but, looking back, I'm a bit surprised my dad hadn't taken me down to Pond Street and given me the fare to Southampton instead.

My first away game anywhere other than Hillsborough was that FA Cup quarter-final at Leeds on March 30, 1968. It was my tenth birthday. I went with a bloke from across the road who took me to all our home games at the time. His son, about four years older than me, also went together with a schoolmate of his. We all had tickets to different parts of the ground so we split up and simply arranged a place to meet afterwards. I can't remember much about the match itself but I do have a recollection that I was on a really massive bank of terracing and I struggled to see one end of the pitch. The crowd was 48322.

I appreciate I'm beginning to sound like a bit of a Billy No Mates but I don't think any of the other kids who I used to stand with at home matches were allowed to go to away matches at this stage. If my parents were ever worried about me going, I certainly wasn't aware of it.

The first away game I remember going to where any of my own friends were there was Mansfield away in the FA Cup third round on January 4, 1969. Another neighbour took me and three or four others in his car. Tudor put us a goal up but Mansfield came back to win 2-1. Dudley Roberts scored at least one of their goals. I remember a wall collapsing at one end and United supporters spilling on to the pitch and I also remember Tony Currie was the sub as he was coming back from illness/injury and the fans were calling for him to come on for what felt like ages.

Finally, I got to go to an away match outside Sheffield with no adult involvement on February 24, 1973. I went with a lad from school to Leicester City, a 0-0 draw. Jim Bone made his debut. Tom McAlister made a brilliant save from an Alan Birchenall shot and Peter Shilton took an enormous amount of stick from United supporters on the away end, which was very close to the pitch. We were singing "the monkey wants a banana" to the tune of "for he's a jolly good fellow" and he didn't like it one bit.

As others have said, I would never have let my own kids go to matches on their own at the same age. They were very different times.

 

[Tyger tyger...]

Hull away in the early 80s I think it might've been when we lost 4-1. Would've been 15 & went by train and have two abiding memories of the day. The first was on the train as it pulled into the Boothferry station that was alongside the side terrace where all the Blades were. There was only about 10 mins to kick off everyone was hanging out the windows cheering going mental as the Blades already in the ground greeted us. The second was off the train and outside the turnstiles - it was complete mayhem and had a fleeting glimpse of two Utd fans with blood all over their faces and laughing maniacally. The actual match is a blur but remember reading after the match that the crowd had produced then record receipts for a Hull City game.

Went to that one myself, hell of a match, crowd surges all through the game spilling onto the pitch on both sides, Blades and City fans in the same stand separated by a wooden fence swapping coins, lumps of terracing and even hot pies all through the match, they put more secure segregation in shortly after this match, mental days they were, H+S people would have a heart attack if they saw anything like that now, think the crowd was just shy of 18k, a massive one for us at that time

 

[super_pig]

Hull away in the early 80s I think it might've been when we lost 4-1. Would've been 15 & went by train and have two abiding memories of the day. The first was on the train as it pulled into the Boothferry station that was alongside the side terrace where all the Blades were. There was only about 10 mins to kick off everyone was hanging out the windows cheering going mental as the Blades already in the ground greeted us. The second was off the train and outside the turnstiles - it was complete mayhem and had a fleeting glimpse of two Utd fans with blood all over their faces and laughing maniacally. The actual match is a blur but remember reading after the match that the crowd had produced then record receipts for a Hull City game.

that was my first away game as well. we booked a coach seat with the Sportsman but we ended up on a bus for some reason .i think that they were out of coaches or something.. i have an abiding memory of some bloke filling an entire carrier bag with piss .. incredible.. then he lobbed it out of the window on the M18

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

We used to go on the train about 9 in the morning and met up in Hull with a load of other lads off Norfolk Park in a pub ,I think it was the Manchester arms ,Hull tried to storm it but the were some pretty handy lads amongst the Blades and it was a major scrap for about 10 minutes until the cops came ,we then proceeded on the longest escort to a game ever ,it seemed like miles to Boothferry Park with Hull fans on both sides of the road the entire way.

Same game I was referring to was the first time I've seen police horses on the terracing, in amongst the Blades.

Only other time was I'm sure at the Lane, Chelsea fans before seats were installed on the lane lower.

 

[Rollerball]

Almost ALL of the away games when we were in the old 4th division, one that really stands out Torquay away, the amount of blades travelling to away games in that season broke most if not all home teams records, scoring for fun, and because the only way was up it was almost a carnival every game, absolutely loved it.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Do you remember the Blades fan who climbed up the floodlight?

Remember Happy Harry Haslam , coming over trying to calm us down as certain elements of our fans started trying to rip down the fencing and smash up anything that they could be , only time I remember anyone climbing up the floodlights was at Uddersfield , then rushing the doors to stop the cops from nicking him .
If it happened at Cambridge it must have been your good self , you naughty chappie ,

 

[sitwell]

The one at Cambridge only got so far it wasn't really a big deal ,I remember a Blade wrapping a scarf around Haslams neck ,I wanted him to wrap it harder Dinky Dawosn at Huddersfield was quality ,the coppers came to nick him and he showered them with water then went higher ,he was up for ages ,then the blades created decoys and wouldn't let the cops anywhere near the floodlight and he got down and go away.
Torquay was one of my favourite away games ever ,15 of us met in the Old Harrow at Gleadless on Friday teatime for a steady drive down. We got to Alfreton and stayed until chucking out time getting to Torquay about 4 in the morning and sleeping on a picturesque hill in the open air over looking Torquay. had a brilliant weekend ,great memories.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Hull away in the early 80s I think it might've been when we lost 4-1. Would've been 15 & went by train and have two abiding memories of the day. The first was on the train as it pulled into the Boothferry station that was alongside the side terrace where all the Blades were. There was only about 10 mins to kick off everyone was hanging out the windows cheering going mental as the Blades already in the ground greeted us. The second was off the train and outside the turnstiles - it was complete mayhem and had a fleeting glimpse of two Utd fans with blood all over their faces and laughing maniacally. The actual match is a blur but remember reading after the match that the crowd had produced then record receipts for a Hull City game.

Went to the game when Keith Edwards , scored against us , think it was 3-1 to them , hassle all through the game , when the fighting started on there end loads of us ran over the pitch onto there end and chased em over to one side , also couple of my mates were sat in the stand directly above em , one of whom was stabbed in a chipper in Toytown a few years later but that's another tale .

 

[cahill]

Not that I doubt you Cahill , but why were you at a Chester vs Hull game?
I thought you were a blade?

eh ? Just assumed that tha were talking about a Blades match. Just saw the word "Chester" and assumed it was the one I went to. WTF are you talking about Hull for on a Blades board ? Pretty please

 

[dublin 10 blade]

that was my first away game as well. we booked a coach seat with the Sportsman but we ended up on a bus for some reason .i think that they were out of coaches or something.. i have an abiding memory of some bloke filling an entire carrier bag with piss .. incredible.. then he lobbed it out of the window on the M18

Was on one of those double decker buses myself along with 7-8 mates , won a trip to millwall on one of the raffles they used to run , but lost ticket and they wouldn't give me the trip . Norfolk park /city road /park hill and MG from Halfway that was our little squad . Or as we used to spray on the walls S2 away crew , oh dear .

 

[Barry Butlin]

Does anyone remember the Millwall away game when Steve Neville made is debut I think we won 4-1 must have been around 1980 our Coach got smashed to bits and we limped back to Sheffield about twenty miles an hour!!!

 

[Silent Blade]

eh ? Just assumed that tha were talking about a Blades match. Just saw the word "Chester" and assumed it was the one I went to. WTF are you talking about Hull for on a Blades board ? Pretty please

Tyger Tyger went to a match at Chester in 1978. Our match at Chester was in August 1979. We drew 1-1 and I went there

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Does anyone remember the Millwall away game when Steve Neville made is debut I think we won 4-1 must have been around 1980 our Coach got smashed to bits and we limped back to Sheffield about twenty miles an hour!!!

Yep at that one , they used to attack every other coach at that time didn't they , no CCTV at that time , through the little bridge the trains went over , and more fencing than the Great Wall of china . 4-1 indeed .

 

[bornablade]

Does anyone remember the Millwall away game when Steve Neville made is debut I think we won 4-1 must have been around 1980 our Coach got smashed to bits and we limped back to Sheffield about twenty miles an hour!!!

Remember this one. I was working in North Yorkshire and went down by train. Went in a pub near the ground. Full of Millwall fans. Ordered a pint and gave over a 50p piece (type of price we were paying at home). This Phil Mitchell look-a-like shouts 'Oi mate. 60p!' I feel the whole pub goes silent and all these Millwall skinheads giving me the evils thinking 'Northern bastard.'

Outside the ground I have never seen before or since such blatant support for the National Front. Leaflets being handed out and being accepted by all their fans.

Inside the ground Derek Richardson was given some heavy racial abuse.

After the game I got on the train and some of those skinheads from the pub were wandering up and down the aisles looking for 'Northern bastards.'

 

[brownie4583]

I also remember away games at Reading,Carlisle,Chesterfield,Mansfield,Stockport,Chester and Donny in League cup around 1980 ish.

Just looked them up....1-1 at Chester,won 4-3 at Mansfield,lost 0-1 at Carlisle,lost 1-2 at Chessy,0-4 at the sty ,lost 1-2 at Reading,Rotherham won 2-1 when wall fell down,all 1979-80 season.

 

[blade too long]

Edwards having a field day in a 5-1 win at Notts county is one I always remember fondly and I believe we only had 10 men ,
was the most joyous ,boisterous day on an open end , other than when Marcello equalised in the FA cup tie that was never was

 

[Kenilworth]

Does anyone remember the Millwall away game when Steve Neville made is debut I think we won 4-1 must have been around 1980 our Coach got smashed to bits and we limped back to Sheffield about twenty miles an hour!!!

I was at that one too. I remember one of our lads scoring with what seemed to be a sliding tackle from the edge of the Millwall box. It would have been either Len DeGoey or Pedro Verde - can't remember which. Got a great connection to it and it curled just inside the opposite far post. Did Neville score twice that day?

The away end at the Old Den was on a split kop with a metal cage in between the two sets of fans - not just a single barrier - I seem to recall the barrier acted as a passageway for plod to fill during any trouble. Just after the first goal went in I remember we got pelted with coins from those nice people dressed in white coats on the opposite side of the cage. 10p and 50p pieces - probably as they carried the most weight (10p was a much bigger coin in those days) were hurled over. I made about £3.70 at the end of it

Our coach also got bricked before we got onto it with at least one window smashed in. As we struggled to move in the traffic jam on the way out the street corners were full of menacing faced youf giving us all the evils and showing us their concealed weapons for effect. What a thoroughly depressing place that was.
It was a windy journey home that evening. They must have saved the worst coaches for that trip and I bet the drivers dreaded it.

I remember going to the Old Den another time - 1-1 was the result but I cant remember if it was the season before or after our 4-1 win - I suspect it was the one before - probably was Len DeGoey who scored the equaliser that day - cue our mate Darren with the definitive answers.

 

[Darren]

I was at that one too. I remember one of our lads scoring with what seemed to be a sliding tackle from the edge of the Millwall box. It would have been either Len DeGoey or Pedro Verde - can't remember which. Got a great connection to it and it curled just inside the opposite far post. Did Neville score twice that day?

The away end at the Old Den was on a split kop with a metal cage in between the two sets of fans - not just a single barrier - I seem to recall the barrier acted as a passageway for plod to fill during any trouble. Just after the first goal went in I remember we got pelted with coins from those nice people dressed in white coats on the opposite side of the cage. 10p and 50p pieces - probably as they carried the most weight (10p was a much bigger coin in those days) were hurled over. I made about £3.70 at the end of it

Our coach also got bricked before we got onto it with at least one window smashed in. As we struggled to move in the traffic jam on the way out the street corners were full of menacing faced youf giving us all the evils and showing us their concealed weapons for effect. What a thoroughly depressing place that was.
It was a windy journey home that evening. They must have saved the worst coaches for that trip and I bet the drivers dreaded it.

I remember going to the Old Den another time - 1-1 was the result but I cant remember if it was the season before or after our 4-1 win - I suspect it was the one before - probably was Len DeGoey who scored the equaliser that day - cue our mate Darren with the definitive answers.

Some mixed memories there...

We had a good record at the Den in the late 70's/early 80's - which probably accounts for the memories of rough treatment there:

27/11/76 W1-0 (Woodward)
22/10/77 D1-1 (Hamilton)
14/10/78 D1-1 (Calvert)
8/3/80 D1-1 (Verde)
25/10/80 W4-1 (Charles, Ryan, Neville, Sitton og)
12/3/83 W2-1 (Trusson, Cusack og)
1/10/83 W2-1 (Edwards, Morris pen)

 

[Kenilworth]

Some mixed memories there...

We had a good record at the Den in the late 70's/early 80's - which probably accounts for the memories of rough treatment there:

27/11/76 W1-0 (Woodward)
22/10/77 D1-1 (Hamilton)
14/10/78 D1-1 (Calvert)
8/3/80 D1-1 (Verde)
25/10/80 W4-1 (Charles, Ryan, Neville, Sitton og)
12/3/83 W2-1 (Trusson, Cusack og)
1/10/83 W2-1 (Edwards, Morris pen)

Thanks Dazzler - getting too old and other stuff keeps pushing the important stuff out.
I used to remember every Blades goal I ever witnessed in quite fine detail but that stopped long ago.

So the two matches were in consecutive seasons and the Verde goal was probably the one that I described in the 1-1 draw.

 

[super_pig]

Some mixed memories there...

We had a good record at the Den in the late 70's/early 80's - which probably accounts for the memories of rough treatment there:

27/11/76 W1-0 (Woodward)
22/10/77 D1-1 (Hamilton)
14/10/78 D1-1 (Calvert)
8/3/80 D1-1 (Verde)
25/10/80 W4-1 (Charles, Ryan, Neville, Sitton og)
12/3/83 W2-1 (Trusson, Cusack og)
1/10/83 W2-1 (Edwards, Morris pen)

i reckon you should put this stuff on a website Darren.. perhaps even Foxy has some bandwidth?? come on .. show us the bible. you know you want to

 

[Kenilworth]

i reckon you should put this stuff on a website Darren.. perhaps even Foxy has some bandwidth?? come on .. show us the bible. you know you want to

It's all in his head - none of it is written down
He's collated it from various sources - as well as eye witness stuff and remembers it all.

He is the site Oracle

 

[Darren]

It's all in his head - none of it is written down
He's collated it from various sources - as well as eye witness stuff and remembers it all.

He is the site Oracle

The long story short is that I memorised United scores to keep my mind off the pain when I started running about 15 years ago. After 15 years and probably around 3000 runs I can now do all the results back to 1961. A kind of mantra if you will.

 

[super_pig]

The long story short is that I memorised United scores to keep my mind off the pain when I started running about 15 years ago. After 15 years and probably around 3000 runs I can now do all the results back to 1961. A kind of mantra if you will.

un be fucking levable
i still think you should write them down.. you could dictate them to me.. i can touchtype