60 years ago this month...

[1066blade]

The first game I went to was in 1959, was it West Brom.. 0-0? Can't remember, help please

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

The first game I went to was in 1959, was it West Brom.. 0-0? Can't remember, help please

We didn’t play West Brom much around then, other than 5th round of the Cup in 1958, which was a 1-1 draw, with over 56000 attendance. 0-0 draws were not frequent- there was one v Portsmouth in April 1960, played on an awful pitch of baked mud. It was certainly forgettable. Any of that ring a bell?

 

[ancientblade]

The first game I went to was in 1959, was it West Brom.. 0-0? Can't remember, help please

my first game was a 2 - 0 win against charlton 1959 stood on lane end with dad but next one i went to should be on this thread about march went on kop with mum and dad for night game against ipswich which we lost 1 -3 think ronnie simpson got our goal remember us taking a fold up chair which i was stood on lol overiding memory of that night is of being crushed on wall on shoreham street queing to get in bit frightning for a 9 year old lad

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

my first game was a 2 - 0 win against charlton 1959 stood on lane end with dad but next one i went to should be on this thread about march went on kop with mum and dad for night game against ipswich which we lost 1 -3 think ronnie simpson got our goal remember us taking a fold up chair which i was stood on lol overiding memory of that night is of being crushed on wall on shoreham street queing to get in bit frightning for a 9 year old lad

Obviously glory seeking for the Ipswich game - 3 days after the win at Newcastle in the cup 6th round. No wonder you were crushed queuing- crowds suddenly went from 16000 to over 35000. Presumably vouchers for semi-final tickets were being given out.

 

[ancientblade]

Obviously glory seeking for the Ipswich game - 3 days after the win at Newcastle in the cup 6th round. No wonder you were crushed queuing- crowds suddenly went from 16000 to over 35000. Presumably vouchers for semi-final tickets were being given out.

haha can remember we joined queue right at the top of shoreham street and seemed to take ages to get in ground good 5 months coming up on this thread fantastic cup run and promotion

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

my first game was a 2 - 0 win against charlton 1959 stood on lane end with dad but next one i went to should be on this thread about march went on kop with mum and dad for night game against ipswich which we lost 1 -3 think ronnie simpson got our goal remember us taking a fold up chair which i was stood on lol overiding memory of that night is of being crushed on wall on shoreham street queing to get in bit frightning for a 9 year old lad

An early Xmas present for you - some bits and pieces from the Charlton game. It seems you were at the right end of the ground for the Pace goal pictured. The programme doesn’t appear to welcome any young kids to their first match!

 

[ancientblade]

haha can remember we joined queue right at the top of shoreham street and seemed to take ages to get in ground good 5 months coming up on this thread fantastic cup run and promotion

An early Xmas present for you - some bits and pieces from the Charlton game. It seems you were at the right end of the ground for the Pace goal pictured. The programme doesn’t appear to welcome any young kids to their first match!
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thanks for that hodgy it was me mum that was the big blades fan in our household bless her and was a big jimmy hagan and doc pace fan

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

thanks for that hodgy it was me mum that was the big blades fan in our household bless her and was a big jimmy hagan and doc pace fan

Your mum clearly had excellent taste, then. I only saw Hagan towards the end of his career, and I was probably too young to appreciate his skill. He was a legend - I have said before on here that when I was 7 or 8, and carrying a leather case ball around, our local ‘Bobby on the beat’ used to always greet me with ‘Na then, ‘Agan’. Not many footballers have had their surnames used like that, I think.

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

An early Xmas present for you - some bits and pieces from the Charlton game. It seems you were at the right end of the ground for the Pace goal pictured. The programme doesn’t appear to welcome any young kids to their first match!
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With Boxing Day fast approaching and seeing that photo of the Noble Doctor sliding one in on a frozen pitch , I was reminded of one of my all time favourite Blades watching experiences , the wonderful 4-2 win against a strong Blackburn Rovers side on Boxing Day ‘ 57 .

As many will know , this was Doc’s debut match and it took him all of 20 mins. to win the hearts and minds of the Bramall Lane faithful . Does anyone have any photos / memorabilia / memories of that great occasion ?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

With Boxing Day fast approaching and seeing that photo of the Noble Doctor sliding one in on a frozen pitch , I was reminded of one of my all time favourite Blades watching experiences , the wonderful 4-2 win against a strong Blackburn Rovers side on Boxing Day ‘ 57 .

As many will know , this was Doc’s debut match and it took him all of 20 mins. to win the hearts and minds of the Bramall Lane faithful . Does anyone have any photos / memorabilia / memories of that great occasion ?

A couple of weeks too early. My scrapbooks begin withe 3rd round Cup v Grimsby, I’m afraid.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

With Boxing Day fast approaching and seeing that photo of the Noble Doctor sliding one in on a frozen pitch , I was reminded of one of my all time favourite Blades watching experiences , the wonderful 4-2 win against a strong Blackburn Rovers side on Boxing Day ‘ 57 .

As many will know , this was Doc’s debut match and it took him all of 20 mins. to win the hearts and minds of the Bramall Lane faithful . Does anyone have any photos / memorabilia / memories of that great occasion ?

The best I can do are pics of the couple of paragraphs from the Grimsby programme outlining Pace’s immediate impact; and the earliest pic of a Pace goal for United that I have, and a famous one it is - the early goal that set us on our way to a famous 3-0 giant-killing at Spurs in round 4 of the Cup.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Dec 23, 1960 Wednesday 1-1 Arsenal
A reminder of times when it was possible to travel to football matches without worrying about pandemics or having to buy tickets before the game. With no school and matches at different times, I had freedom to roam, and Xmas began for me with a visit to a Hillsborough experiment - they brought the match forward from Xmas Eve (always a bad day for crowds), to the evening before, with some success - a crowd of almost 30000 wasn’t bad.
My previous match there had been the victory over the mighty Spurs, but like Utd, Wednesday had had a bad December, with only 1 win in 5 games. They had dropped to 5th in the League, so I turned up for an evening on the Kop expecting to see them struggle against Arsenal. My 1 memory of the game is the celebrations of the Wednesday goal followed immediately by the disappointment of an Arsenal equaliser straight from the kick-off; not quite a match for Duffy’s goal many years later, but satisfying nevertheless.
I love the details from old programmes, and this one is no exception. The Club Notes (pic below) want optimism from the fans, despite the bad run; chunter about the switch in the fans’ mood at the previous home game, when from 5-1 up at half-time they struggled to hold on for 5-4 against Blackburn; and the excitement about a 19-year-old lad making an impressive debut. Football fans don’t change.
And from Men and Matters, I have picked out 3 items that I found fascinating. The prediction that football was going to be dominated by big-city clubs; the 9-0 victory of Stoke over Plymouth, with a crowd of just 6479; and reports of a Sheffield-born goalkeeper working his way into the professional game, a certain Gordon Banks.
And the following day I was off to Maine Road. Happy days.

 

[Darnall Siam Blade]

Yes, Doc Pace was one of my favourites for the Blades. I don't remember his debut game but remember many of his goals. He was on the small side for a centre forward but could shoot with either foot and was a brilliant header. Many years later , after " Doc" died (only 57 ) I sat next to a lady , in the stand , who was a relation (maybe wife) but had remained a Blades' supporter.
Joe Mercer was the manager who signed him and I remember reading that Villa had offered their other, current, centre forward but Joe insisted he wanted Derek. The other centre forward was Billy Myerscough who played in that year's cup final against Man U, which Villa won 2-1. That final is remembered for the incident whereby Peter Mcparland, Villa winger, accidentally crashed into the Man U. goalkeeper, Ray Wood, who sustained a fractured cheekbone. He played on as subs were not permitted then.
What a great decision by the manager, as Myerscough was ahead of Doc, at the time I reckon it was one of our best ever signings. Subsequently massive favourite of the The Blades. 140 goals in 253 games.

 

[Silent Blade]

That final is remembered for the incident whereby Peter Mcparland, Villa winger, accidentally crashed into the Man U. goalkeeper, Ray Wood, who sustained a fractured cheekbone. He played on as subs were not permitted then.

Jackie Blanchflower took over in goal. A groggy Ray Wood (right in below photo) came back from the dressing room to play on the right wing

 

[Darnall Siam Blade]

Thanks Silent. Vaguely remember now memory jogged.

 

[kevreedy]

Brilliant stuff thanks.Doc Pace is my uncles favourite player.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Dec 24, 1960: Man City 3-2 Fulham
Attendance: 18469

Xmas Eve, neither Sheffield team playing, no school football, so it was the kind of football outing I loved. Grab some sandwiches (thanks, mum, you’ve only got Xmas dinner to prepare), down to the Victoria station, train to Manchester, walk to Maine Road, pay at the turnstile, and a top-division match to enjoy. Man City were struggling in the bottom half of the league, Fulham mid-table. Fulham had the better-known players (Haynes, an England regular, Leggatt, a Scot who was a good winger who could also score goals from centre-forward, as he did on this day, and Mullery, already making a name for himself in midfield). George Cohen was a young right-back I had never heard of, and it is only by looking at something like an old programme that you later realise that you had seen an England World Cup winner in the making.
But the player who for me was worth the travelling to see was Bert Trautmann in the Man City goal. Watching him on tv in the 1956 Cup Final, playing on with a broken neck and getting a winner’s medal, made him a boyhood hero for me, and opened my eyes to a view of the world totally different from that of all the war films we watched at the time -here was a German who was not an evil villain, but brave, talented, reliable, modest. I am pretty sure this was the first time I had seen him live, and I regretted my choice of turnstile, which had me standing on one side of the pitch, not behind the goal where I would have been able to hero-worship at close quarters. Fortunately, I was able to see him at the Lane the following season- Hodgy and Trautmann on the same pitch. Life was good.
I don’t remember anything else from the game, but it must have made a good impression, despite the low pre-Xmas crowd, because I always looked forward to going to Maine Road.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Dec 26, 1960: Utd Reserves 2-1 Hudders

Boxing Day afternoon was spent anxiously at the Lane watching the score put up every 15 mins on the Pavilion scoreboard, ending with a 1-1 draw for the 1st team at Sunderland. Not bad, but more of that in the next post. The Reserves won 2-1, with a team containing just 1 player I have no knowledge of - Taylor at left-back.
By coincidence, after the previous post with focus on a goalkeeper injured in a Wembley Cup Final (Trautmann), Huddersfield Reserves featured Wood, the keeper carried off in the following Final, playing for Man Utd (see also post 344 above).
For some reason, the front of the programme is disfigured by my brother practising his scrawny signature- it is still the same today!
On a sad note, I remember celebrating Wednesday’s defeat at Arsenal. On the coach journey home, a young player on the team coach was seriously injured in a crash, and had his leg amputated. Doug MacMillan’s career ended that day before it had started, and celebrating Wednesday’s defeat suddenly felt very wrong.

 

[Silent Blade]

Chris Balderstone started his football career at Huddersfield. Played cricket for England in 1976 against West Indies

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Chris Balderstone started his football career at Huddersfield. Played cricket for England in 1976 against West Indies

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Wasn't it Chris Balderstone who played for Derbyshire or Notts (think he'd moved on from Yorkshire by then) in the day, then turned out for Donny Rovers on the same night?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Wasn't it Chris Balderstone who played for Derbyshire or Notts (think he'd moved on from Yorkshire by then) in the day, then turned out for Donny Rovers on the same night?

1975. 51 not out for Leicestershire at Chesterfield, then played an evening match for Donny v Brentford.

 

[Silent Blade]

Wasn't it Chris Balderstone who played for Derbyshire or Notts (think he'd moved on from Yorkshire by then) in the day, then turned out for Donny Rovers on the same night?

Leicestershire.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Dec 26, 1960: Sunderland 1-1 United
Attendance: 46,009

I can imagine the scene at The Lane, where I was watching the Reserve match, but like everyone else, more interested in the Pavilion scoreboard and what was going on in front of a bumper crowd at Roker Park. After 15 minutes, the man (who was he?) came out from the Pavilion, put 0-0 up against the Letter A top row (red indicator), walked the length of the platform to put up 15 (minutes played), and walked all the way back to go inside again. Relief all round, as United were still top of the League, despite an awful run of results in December. 15 minutes later, same ritual, but as he passes the 0-0 (occasionally after pretending he was going to change something), this time he changes the second number, so it reads 0-1. Cheers all round, and everyone suddenly gets behind the reserve team, no matter what the game is like. ‘The scorer for United: Pace.’ I am correct that they used to announce the scorer, aren’t I? There would be excited chatter about what the goal was like - header from a Simpson centre would be the usual consensus.
This carried on through 45, 60, 75 minutes, the Reserves won 2-1, and then at the end of the game out he comes - and turns the Sunderland 0 to 1. Groans all round, a bit of ‘1-1 is ok, good point, we’re still top’, but still not the best outcome to give you an appetite for cold turkey.
Hurley had scored for Sunderland, and again, I have no scrapbook material on the game. I do have the programme, but by the time I got it, we presumably had forgotten what the crowd was.
And that, I am afraid, is all I know, except that Hodgy in his autobiography gives the interesting detail that United and Sunderland travelled to Sheffield on the same train after the game, ready for the return match the following day. It’s a good job Sunderland had had a big crowd- as they travelled the day before the match, they won’t have been able to buy cheap-day returns!

 

[Silent Blade]

Was it the same scoreboard man we had in the early 1970s? Grey hair and glasses. Anyone in here know his name?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Was it the same scoreboard man we had in the early 1970s? Grey hair and glasses. Anyone in here know his name?

I never looked at his face - only his hands to see if he was moving them towards United’s score!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Dec 27, 1960: Utd 0-1 Sunderland
Attendance: 28525

22 hours after finishing the game at Roker Park, United and Sunderland kicked off at the Lane in front of a crowd larger than for any league match for a long time. United were suffering from injuries and loss of form: Graham Shaw was still out injured, Richardson and Kettleborough were also unable to play, Hodgson was dropped, and we still had no proper right-winger. Young Wilson made the last of his 4 appearances, before other solutions were finally sought.
This was another match wiped from my memory bank. I always liked Anderson and Hurley, and can picture them at the Lane, but have no idea whether it was this particular game. The Lines from the Pavilion seek to spread a little positivity, but a 1-0 defeat will have done nothing to cheer Blades fans up, as this defeat saw us for the first time in months lose our position as league leaders. There will have been little confidence in anyone going to Charlton for the last league match of the year - Charlton at the time scored lots of goals, but did not always win. After that came the Cup at super-rich Everton, and the programme notes suggest that we went there more in hope than expectation. But football is a funny old game, as someone once said, and the last day of December gave us a pleasant return to winning ways, and a performance at Everton set us off on a 3-month journey which was a joy to be involved in. At the bottom of the Lines from the Pavilion it asks if we have tickets for the Everton game. ‘Yes’ was the answer, and boy are you going to hear about it! Fasten your seatbelts...

 

[Silent Blade]

It was Willie Hamilton's last match for us and he left us for Boro 2 months later. Was this unexpected to you? My dad said Willie had a lot of talent but his lifestyle let him down. John Harris must have had enough of him?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

It was Willie Hamilton's last match for us and he left us for Boro 2 months later. Was this unexpected to you? My dad said Willie had a lot of talent but his lifestyle let him down. John Harris must have had enough of him?

There was little discussion of transfers in the press. We were aware he was out of favour, and I think I assumed it was partly injuries and partly inconsistency. With the success in the early part of 1961, I don’t think his departure was a great topic of discussion. His later career passed me by, and I don’t think I knew he had died young until recently. On his day, he was wonderful to watch, always capable of the unexpected. But he could also disappear, and perform in a way that nowadays would have had him subbed at half-time.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Dec 31, 1960: Charlton 2-3 United
Attendance: 15912

After a miserable run through almost all of December (4 defeats, 2 draws), New Year’s Eve saw United start the process of getting the promotion push back on track. Charlton were a side which scored lots of goals, but were highly unpredictable. Incredibly, on Boxing Day they beat Plymouth at home 6-4, and the following day lost at Plymouth 6-4. And they had already drawn 6-6 with Middlesbrough, and beaten Portsmouth 7-4.
I know I missed the game, because I never made it to the Valley. New Year’s Eve for me always involved a party at the neighbouring home of a Scottish family. We would go about 9 in the evening, and stay until 3 or 4 in the morning. Like all good Scots, our neighbour loved Scotch; unlike some Scots, he was very keen to share it, and by the time I was 13 he would include me in the offers of a few glasses. They say now that alcohol damages the young brain; well, it never did me any harm. It may have encouraged me to miss a United victory, but it did start me off on a love affair with whisky!
In his autobiography, Hodgy gives great credit to manager John Harris for the change of fortune. Before the game at Charlton he read out match reports of 2 of the games from earlier in the season, and emphasised if they played with confidence, they would again show their natural quality. He then spoke individually to each player, detailing why they were good players, and then brought it back to the need to play as a team, to bring out the best in each other. There was no focus on Charlton’s attacking strengths, and his final words were to attack from the first minute. If ever a team-talk did the trick, it was this one; after 9 minutes we were 2-0 up, and the season was back on track. We won 3-2 in the end, but the report in the scrapbook (my enthusiasm had obviously returned) makes it clear that United deserved a bigger margin of victory.
But if the team-talk shows Harris as a great man-manager, his team selection left him potentially exposed to ridicule. A TV comedy sketch by Charlie Drake had him as manager (of Chelsea?) moving players into positions they were totally unsuited for, and in our house this sketch was frequently referenced. Had we known that reserve left-back Cliff Mason was going to play on the right-wing at the Valley, the Charlie Drake sketch would have been quoted all day - indeed, in the comments on the team changes scribbled in the programme, you can perhaps see (!) against Mason’s name, indicating disbelief. But Mason scored after 9 minutes, and for several weeks did pretty well as an emergency winger. Was Harris a genius, or just lucky?
So the year ended well, and gave us enthusiasm for the trip the following week to one of the glamour teams of the period, Everton, in the 3rd Round of the Cup. Before half-time, Ilkla Moor bah ‘Tat was ringing out loud all around Goodison Park...

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

FA Cup 3rd Round
January 7, 1961: Everton 0-1 United
Attendance: 48595

In this miserable January of 2021, it is a pleasure to bring some good news, even if it is 60 years out-of-date. The Everton cup-tie is one of my favourite matches of all time, and it is a pleasure to recall the day. It is not that this was the greatest football match of all time, but context can be everything. United had had a wretched December (not by 2020-21 standards), but had just managed to cling on to a promotion place, and finally won a game on New Year’s Eve. The Cup 3rd round was always one of the big days of the season (no media hype necessary), and United had a glamour tie away to millionaire club, Everton, near the top of the old First Division, and one of the big-spenders. We had had several good Cup runs for a Division 2 side, but based mainly on home matches - here was a chance to go and watch United away at a big club. I would guess Utd took 12 to 15 thousand fans, most paying 11/6 for the football special trains, according to Hodgy’s book. The crowd of 48595 felt huge to me; most crowds larger than that I had experienced at the Lane, where the extra numbers were spread right out round by the cricket Pavilion, and didn’t add much to the atmosphere. My memory is that Goodison was packed, but the programme notes that the previous match (Dec 27, v Burnley) had a crowd of 74867. Perhaps others have a more accurate memory of Goodison, but I can’t imagine where 16000 more people would have fitted in. United fans were spread out in different parts of the stadium.
And before anyone points out that Wednesday had played there a couple of weeks before (and lost) in front of over 50000, it should be said that Liverpool played at home in the Cup the same afternoon as Everton v Utd, which will have reduced the crowd.

United had just 1 change from the last match, with reserve left-back Mason still on the right-wing! The famous back 6 were playing together again, and that game must have been one of their very best performances. Big signing Alex Young was out injured, but star forwards Collins, Vernon and Bingham, along with the powerful Wignall, represented a serious threat, and elsewhere in the team, Gabriel and Labone were top players.

United defended well from the start, and it wasn’t long before we had the confidence to attack, making the first-half end-to-end football. We took the lead after 20 minutes. Hodgson put Russell clear into the penalty area, and as goalie and defender dived in, he kept his footing and poked the ball past Dunlop. The goal was nothing like Heap’s cartoon in the Green ‘Un. Two pictures from the scrapbook pick it up well - one where he plays the ball past the keeper, the other as he runs with arms aloft following the ball as it rolls into the net. We were on the terracing shown behind in the first of those photos, able to enjoy the moment as the ball took its time to cross the line; and the picture suggests a crowded terrace, in line with my memory.

Again, if memory serves me well, it was from that moment that Ilkla Moor started to be sung from all parts of the ground, and it is the first time I had that great feeling of singing (out of tune) as a way of helping the team see through a great victory, sharing the experience with great numbers of other Blades. I still have no idea when Ilkla Moor became a Blades song, and why a song about West Yorkshire was our chosen anthem, but long before Greasy Chip Butty, You’ll Never Walk Alone, etc., we had our anthem, and especially on big FA Cup away days, it created a unique atmosphere. The report on the match in the scrapbook is from the Liverpool Echo and Evening Express, and their reporter was impressed!
The second half was a mix of great defending and dangerous counter-attacking, and Everton got increasingly frustrated and physical, and eventually ran out of steam. We felt great pride at the end, and sensed that if we could win promotion, we would not look out of place in the top division. The League and Cup came together, and success in one seemed to rub off on the other competition. Momentum, perhaps?

One small downer at the end of the game. As we were leaving the ground, a small group of young Evertonians came up clearly not intent on wishing us well in Round 4, and as we were all born Devote Cowards and had no intention of changing religion, we sprinted away down side streets at a speed I had never previously achieved. At the time I did not realise, but this was a foretaste of football hooliganism, and we had a similar incident at Leeds towards the end of the season. I read people on hear speaking with pride of battles fought in the 70s and 80s; for me, it was a huge cloud over the game I love, and it is still not fully solved.
It was then back to the station, buy the local paper, and enjoy reading and discussing the report all the way home. Which is probably why the scrapbook report is a bit the worse for wear. I hope it’s legible.
Pictures of the (not very impressive) programme below; I will add the scrapbook and other pics in a separate post.