60 years ago this month...

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

I know the whole footage exists as they put on a special dinner evening showing it all along with having a lot of the City players present (which im kicking myself for not going to since I was stuck working :( )



Yes its rather grainy and done by a local amateur (who still lives in Worcester today!) but somehow that just makes it better as you felt you were right in amongst it rather than from up on a lonely gantry.
 

A few details to add to complete the 4th Round report. The local reporter for the Sheffield Telegraph, Peter Cooper, added one bit of information which shows that mind games are nothing new. United found out on the Friday that Pace was ok to play against Worcester, but that he was suspended for the next league match. They decided to keep the news from him, as they felt it would upset him (suspension carried quite a stigma). One of the Worcester players found out, and went into United's dressing-room and 'commiserated' with him, clearly hoping it would unsettle the 'Doc'. As Peter Cooper comments, the tactic failed miserably.

Excitement was high on the Monday for the 5th round draw - this was getting serious. Several transistor radios were in school for the lunch-time draw, and the draw of Colchester or Arsenal away only increased the excitement. They had drawn 2-2 at Colchester on the Saturday, and the assumption was that Arsenal, 2nd in League 1, would win the replay, which they duly did, 4-0. We were on our way to Highbury!

By the time of the next home match (Barnsley, March 7), Worcester had been almost forgotten (just a couple of lines), and all the talk was of the repeat of the 1936 Final against the mighty Arsenal. The programme reproduced a speech from the great Nudger Needham, as a rallying-call to all Blades:

"Let United remember that we who won the Cup in '99 were not supposed to be a team of stars. It was by working together that we got through. We believed in ourselves. We made up our minds to win whenever we went on the field and although we sometimes got into arrears we never lost heart.'

More than a century later, does that attitude remind us of anyone? UTB
 
4:20...scenes of jubilation after a premature pitch invasion a few minutes before by fans thinking the referee had blown the final whistle when in fact he'd just blown for a free kick.

DfwEjbyWsAA9g4n.jpg

1959Skuse_Liverpool.jpg

FB_IMG_1547552892798.jpg

Dw8L_bfX0AAvHJ7.jpeg

Harry Knowles signing a young school lads ticket..I wonder if that memento is still out there somewhere? download.jpeg


download (2).jpeg

Sadly the occasion was all too much for this poor fellow...
FB_IMG_1547557252130.jpg

FB_IMG_1547552887458.jpg
A nice touch of class, dignity and respect by the Liverpool keeper, Tommy Younger who went into the Worcester dressing room after to congratulate all the players personally.

FB_IMG_1547418562703.jpg

Our local newspaper cartoonist Horace Winwood with his own take and caricatures of the game the day after (only passed away a few years ago and his cartoons appeared in the local sports pages every week for years and years)


CYwDtt2WkAAFwak.jpeg
 
I look forward to your posts on the Worcester v Utd match JonnyRed(WCFC). My excuse for the poor quality of the photos from my scrapbooks is that I was only 11 years old at the time, and that I have spent many years having to guard the books against those who don't understand their importance, if you catch my drift... It was great to see and hear the Worcester fans. I hope they have been interviewed for the Blades game.
 
HodgysBrokenThumb said:
I look forward to your posts on the Worcester v Utd match JonnyRed(WCFC). My excuse for the poor quality of the photos from my scrapbooks is that I was only 11 years old at the time, and that I have spent many years having to guard the books against those who don't understand their importance, if you catch my drift... It was great to see and hear the Worcester fans. I hope they have been interviewed for the Blades game.
Click to expand...

Nothing poor about what youve kept for so long HodgysBrokenThumb , theyre invaluable, priceless pieces of memories we should and need to keep alive for their relevance to our clubs fabric.
I wandered down the 5 minutes to where our ground used to be and its still a painful feeling that tugs at the old heartstrings seeing whats become of it and from how it used to be.

Very few traces remain but a mural under the nearby canal bridge which overlooked the Canal End and a plaque are in place as reminders.

FB_IMG_1547553013186.jpg

index.php



index.php


St Georges Lane today... this plaque is just where you'd enter into the ground through the great old turnstiles.

FB_IMG_1547552936694.jpg

FB_IMG_1547552958606.jpg

And what remnants are left..a bit of wall and the old corrugated iron fence at the flats end of the ground.. that black steel post was part of a gate that was tucked away behind one of the big old floodlights we had but originally it was intended had we been successful in being elected to the football league around the late 50s early 60s, it wouldve been extra turnstiles put in place.

FB_IMG_1547552967539.jpg


Literally behind the goal...many a ball flew over here into the flats car park scaring the resident cats and old ladies hanging their washing out!
FB_IMG_1547552973627.jpg

A friendly reminder of once what was..
FB_IMG_1547553018916.jpg



Not found today by my wanderings but another memento from that glorious bygone age...

FB_IMG_1547419758837.jpg

Maybe it was my imagination but I swear I heard the faint rasping whir of the few thousand of these being twirled around heads at 2:39pm as the 18yr old Tommy Skuse put us into the lead vs Liverpool those 60 years ago! Perhaps it was just the wind. :)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20190114_225301.jpg
    5.3 MB · Views: 181
  • IMG_20190114_225331.jpg
    4.9 MB · Views: 181
Just found this nice surprise someone posted up as not seen it before...

'suspended in time' ... the second before the ball looped up off a deflection from their defender Dick White and drops over the despairing dive and agonizing fingertips of Tommy Younger in the 80th minute as we went 2-0 up

Dw_UI1vX0AUrAt1.jpeg

Whoever took that, its a fantastic moment caught. :)
 
“Maybe it was my imagination but I swear I heard the faint rasping whir of the few thousand of these being twirled around heads at 2:39pm as the 18yr old Tommy Skuse put us into the lead vs Liverpool those 60 years ago! Perhaps it was just the wind.”

JonnyRed(WCFC),

If that’s what you remember mate, that’s what happened. I always carry with me the words of my hero, the greatest storyteller who ever lived:

“There either is or is not, that’s the way things are. The colour of the day. The way it felt to be a child. The saltwater on your sunburnt legs. Sometimes the water is yellow, sometimes it’s red. But what colour it may be in memory, depends on the day. I’m not going to tell you the story the way it happened. I’m going to tell it the way I remember it.”

Great expectations indeed...
 
HodgysBrokenThumb said:
A few details to add to complete the 4th Round report. The local reporter for the Sheffield Telegraph, Peter Cooper, added one bit of information which shows that mind games are nothing new. United found out on the Friday that Pace was ok to play against Worcester, but that he was suspended for the next league match. They decided to keep the news from him, as they felt it would upset him (suspension carried quite a stigma). One of the Worcester players found out, and went into United's dressing-room and 'commiserated' with him, clearly hoping it would unsettle the 'Doc'. As Peter Cooper comments, the tactic failed miserably.

Excitement was high on the Monday for the 5th round draw - this was getting serious. Several transistor radios were in school for the lunch-time draw, and the draw of Colchester or Arsenal away only increased the excitement. They had drawn 2-2 at Colchester on the Saturday, and the assumption was that Arsenal, 2nd in League 1, would win the replay, which they duly did, 4-0. We were on our way to Highbury!

By the time of the next home match (Barnsley, March 7), Worcester had been almost forgotten (just a couple of lines), and all the talk was of the repeat of the 1936 Final against the mighty Arsenal. The programme reproduced a speech from the great Nudger Needham, as a rallying-call to all Blades:

"Let United remember that we who won the Cup in '99 were not supposed to be a team of stars. It was by working together that we got through. We believed in ourselves. We made up our minds to win whenever we went on the field and although we sometimes got into arrears we never lost heart.'

More than a century later, does that attitude remind us of anyone? UTB
Click to expand...

You get a like for the double line spacing for a start!;)
 
another on this day piccy but from 1958...


Football in the snow - Chelmsford City v Worcester City, a 1-1 draw on 22 January 1958. Pictured for Chelmsford are Tony Butcher, who scored their goal, and Arthur Adey. The Worcester players left to right John Kirkwood, John Spilsbury and Eddie Follan. This was sent to me by Chelmsford City historian David Selby. If ou use Twitter search #worcesterfootballheritage for more City photos.

50477470_10217919265997092_5835071396442537984_o.jpg


noone wearing gloves back then bar the keeper..real men!! And i was lucky enough to stand under that cover along the side of Chelmsfords lovely old ground 40 years after this game in 1998, proper old skool ground just like ours was.
 
FB_IMG_1547418830269.jpg

FB_IMG_1548346572917.jpg

The superbly cleverly added colour brings the game very much to life when looking back

FB_IMG_1548346788858.jpg

FB_IMG_1544484474429.jpg

FB_IMG_1544484428050.jpg

20236004466_4d04623e8a_o.jpg

A pic of the ground when conditions werent quite so wintry a few months later!
DfMZoK9W0AAMcX1.jpeg
 

HodgysBrokenThumb said:
60 years ago today, United started 1959 with a 3-1 away defeat at Bristol City, unlike the current team which has just begun the New Year with a 3-0 away win. I am starting this thread (intending to see it through to the end of the season) to make comparisons between then and now, basing it mostly on my chaotic programme collection and disintegrating scrapbooks, started when I was 10 years old. I hope there will be interest and contributions from those who like history, like to know how football has changed, and in what ways the Blades never change, and what it means to follow a club all your life. If it doesn't work out well, I will have at least enjoyed my nostalgic trip, and not wasted much of your time.
A few preliminaries. United started the New Year in 5th place of the 2nd tier of football (then called correctly League Division 2), 5 points away from the 2nd automatic promotion place (only 2 points for a win then, and no play-off places). We had been good but inconsistent in the autumn, but won the last 3 games in December, finishing the year with 2-1 wins home and away against Grimsby. The away match was our last Xmas Day match ever; much as I grumble about Sky messing up fixtures for fans to attend, the authorities were well able to do the same over many years. Imagine working out how to get to Grimsby on Xmas Day by public transport. Has anyone on here ever been to an away match on Xmas Day? The return match was on December 27, in front of a crowd of 27,551, marred by a dodgy referee who sent off a player from each side at a time when you needed to commit GBH to be even spoken to by a ref. And one of the goals was inevitably scored by Pace (before he was sent off), who was scoring goals almost every game (6 in 3 games to end the Year). Almost a carbon copy of the Blackburn game last week?
Whilst things in December were going well on the pitch, off the pitch the club was in melt-down. Manager Joe Mercer and his assistant jumped ship at Xmas and moved to Villa, and the team was being managed by the Chief Scout, Archie Clarke, who continued with the job almost to the end of the season. There were appeals in the first programme of the New Year for everyone to stay calm, as the club had everything under control. Echoes of the present again?
And to finish with for the moment, United's next game was a 3rd round Cup-tie at home to Crystal Palace, a lower league side we had never played before. Wednesday were playing at home v West Brom AT THE SAME TIME, and big crowds were expected at both games, as the Cup was the more glamorous competition then. The weather turned bad, with deep snow in Sheffield, and the clubs appealed for fans to go to the grounds with shovels to try and get the games on. There was no undersoil heating in those days. And on that cliff-hanger, I will leave the story for now.
Click to expand...


Brilliant post.........fantastic memories.........
 
By the end of January 1959, the Worcester City match was out of sight and out of mind (and thanks to JonnyRed(WCFC) for your contributions - I hope more forum members are able to contribute as the season moves on). This month has seen the differences between Utd in 1959 and 2019 grow wider, as the Cup has been and gone this season in the non-event of the match v Barnet, whereas the 1959 team had successfully come through 2 potentially tricky ties to set up a clash with Arsenal. On the other hand, the 2019 side has managed to keep in touch with the automatic promotion places, whereas the 1959 side was 7 points adrift of second-placed Fulham, with a game in hand, but the system of 2 points for a win made it seem like a huge gap. Still, as an 11-year old crazy about football, I trusted a team made up of heroes (Hodgy, the Shaws, Pace, Lewis) and solid players (Coldwell, Richardson, Summers, Russell...). There was no transfer window to make fans neurotic, and for whatever reason I did not worry about transfers, even though I had heard the story from before my time of the Board agreeing to sell Hagan to Wednesday, and I had been disappointed when they sold Grainger and Iley. But replacements had been found, and not even the lack of a manager bothered me in the slightest (we scarcely knew who the manager was in the 1950s). So, full of optimism we set off to Huddersfield (managed by Bill Shankly, though that meant nothing at the time) on January 31st, by train; cheap-day return cost 4 shillings and 7 pence according to an advert in the programme, and that was valid for any train, any day...such simple times! United badly needed a win.

There were several points of note in the background to the game. Over many seasons, Huddersfield had won most of their meetings at the Lane, and United had won most of the matches at Leeds Road. Pace was finally suspended after his sending-off at Xmas, so Dennis Shiels made a rare appearance; he was an interesting signing from Ireland, a trainee accountant, but he never really looked the part in the first team. Hoyland was still deputising for the injured Richardson, and at the last minute, Mason replaced Graham Shaw. On the other hand, Huddersfield were without wonder-kid Denis Law. And of particular interest was the fact that the clubs had swapped Simpson and Hawksworth the previous summer, so this would be Simpson's first return to Leeds Road. No doubt on the train there was talk of the curse of the return of former players, particularly as Hawksworth had scored for United with a penalty in the 1-1 draw at Huddersfield the season before. And a Huddersfield player of note that we knew nothing about at the time was Ray Wilson, England left-back in the 1966 World Cup.

United did win the match 2-0, with Hamilton and Russell the scorers, in front of a crowd of just over 17000. I include some pictures in the next post. Unfortunately, there is no match report in my scrapbook, and my only memory is of Hodgy saving a penalty taken, of course, by Hawksworth; we must have been standing behind the photographer, as I remember we knew as soon as the ball was kicked that it was a routine save for Hodgy. Or perhaps it is the photo I remember, rather than the incident...

So the scene was set for an interesting February, even though United had not gained ground on the leaders. The next match was a comfortable-looking home derby v Barnsley, followed by a trip to Highbury to face the mighty Arsenal, who had beaten Colchester 4-0 three days previously. A Valentine's Day massacre surely awaited the Blades...
 
Silent Blade said:
Less than a year earlier, keeper Ray Wood was in the Munich air disaster, Ken Taylor played cricket for Yorkshire and Bill McGarry later managed Ipswich and Wolves
Click to expand...
Thanks, as ever, for your comments. I was aware at the time of Ray Wood as an ex-ManU player, as Man Utd at the time were my second-favourite team (apologies!). The Busby babes were exciting to watch, and the pioneering campaigns in Europe added glamour. Other than the Cup Finals and internationals, I think the first live match I saw on TV was the 1957 semi-final European Cup game between ManU and Real Madrid. It was also the first time I had seen ITV (the adverts were a novelty), and we had to go to a friend's house to watch it. After this, we got ITV, via a home-made aerial which stood on a tall stool on the table, and sometimes books had to be put on the stool to get the aerial high enough to keep the picture stable. High tech in one sense of the word 'high'!
Ray Wood played in the 1957 Cup Final v. Villa, and if any of you have ever said 'goalies get far too much protection', have a look at the incident in the first few minutes (perhaps somebody clever can put the video up), where Wood collects the ball and is assaulted by the Villa left-winger McParland (a 'shoulder-charge'). Wood was stretchered off with a broken cheek-bone, Jackie Blanchflower went in goal, ManU played with 10 men, and McParland stayed on the pitch and scored the 2 goals which won the Cup for Villa. Wood came back and played the last few minutes out of goal, the year after Man City's Trautmann had played the last 20 minutes with a broken neck. Goalkeepers had to be mad in those days. Wood was replaced by Harry Gregg (signed from Doncaster?) soon after, and both Gregg and Wood walked out of the Munich plane-crash unscathed. Wood had signed for Huddersfield just a few weeks before we played them in Jan 1959.
 
HodgysBrokenThumb said:
60 years ago today, United started 1959 with a 3-1 away defeat at Bristol City, unlike the current team which has just begun the New Year with a 3-0 away win. I am starting this thread (intending to see it through to the end of the season) to make comparisons between then and now, basing it mostly on my chaotic programme collection and disintegrating scrapbooks, started when I was 10 years old. I hope there will be interest and contributions from those who like history, like to know how football has changed, and in what ways the Blades never change, and what it means to follow a club all your life. If it doesn't work out well, I will have at least enjoyed my nostalgic trip, and not wasted much of your time.
A few preliminaries. United started the New Year in 5th place of the 2nd tier of football (then called correctly League Division 2), 5 points away from the 2nd automatic promotion place (only 2 points for a win then, and no play-off places). We had been good but inconsistent in the autumn, but won the last 3 games in December, finishing the year with 2-1 wins home and away against Grimsby. The away match was our last Xmas Day match ever; much as I grumble about Sky messing up fixtures for fans to attend, the authorities were well able to do the same over many years. Imagine working out how to get to Grimsby on Xmas Day by public transport. Has anyone on here ever been to an away match on Xmas Day? The return match was on December 27, in front of a crowd of 27,551, marred by a dodgy referee who sent off a player from each side at a time when you needed to commit GBH to be even spoken to by a ref. And one of the goals was inevitably scored by Pace (before he was sent off), who was scoring goals almost every game (6 in 3 games to end the Year). Almost a carbon copy of the Blackburn game last week?
Whilst things in December were going well on the pitch, off the pitch the club was in melt-down. Manager Joe Mercer and his assistant jumped ship at Xmas and moved to Villa, and the team was being managed by the Chief Scout, Archie Clarke, who continued with the job almost to the end of the season. There were appeals in the first programme of the New Year for everyone to stay calm, as the club had everything under control. Echoes of the present again?
And to finish with for the moment, United's next game was a 3rd round Cup-tie at home to Crystal Palace, a lower league side we had never played before. Wednesday were playing at home v West Brom AT THE SAME TIME, and big crowds were expected at both games, as the Cup was the more glamorous competition then. The weather turned bad, with deep snow in Sheffield, and the clubs appealed for fans to go to the grounds with shovels to try and get the games on. There was no undersoil heating in those days. And on that cliff-hanger, I will leave the story for now.
Click to expand...
I don't go back quite that far. My first game was in August 1960 when we thumped Plymouth Argyle 3-0. UTB
 
sunday
Silent Blade said:
Interesting that the paper report had ratings for each player! Didnt realise that there were reports with ratings as far back as 1960!
Click to expand...
The report on the Palace match also had player ratings. The reports I kept came from the Mail, Sunday Express or Sheffield Telegraph. The Sheffield Telegraph used to award a bouquet or brick for good/bad performances. I suspect the ratings came from the Sunday Express reports. I think Frank Taylor, who wrote the Plymouth report, and was the only journalist to survive the Munich crash, did write for the Express as well as other papers. In view of the fact that my parents always bought the Mail and the Sunday Express, I am now glad that I was so sport-obsessed as a kid that I never looked at any other sections of the newspapers!
 
HodgysBrokenThumb said:
60 years ago today, United started 1959 with a 3-1 away defeat at Bristol City, unlike the current team which has just begun the New Year with a 3-0 away win. I am starting this thread (intending to see it through to the end of the season) to make comparisons between then and now, basing it mostly on my chaotic programme collection and disintegrating scrapbooks, started when I was 10 years old. I hope there will be interest and contributions from those who like history, like to know how football has changed, and in what ways the Blades never change, and what it means to follow a club all your life. If it doesn't work out well, I will have at least enjoyed my nostalgic trip, and not wasted much of your time.
A few preliminaries. United started the New Year in 5th place of the 2nd tier of football (then called correctly League Division 2), 5 points away from the 2nd automatic promotion place (only 2 points for a win then, and no play-off places). We had been good but inconsistent in the autumn, but won the last 3 games in December, finishing the year with 2-1 wins home and away against Grimsby. The away match was our last Xmas Day match ever; much as I grumble about Sky messing up fixtures for fans to attend, the authorities were well able to do the same over many years. Imagine working out how to get to Grimsby on Xmas Day by public transport. Has anyone on here ever been to an away match on Xmas Day? The return match was on December 27, in front of a crowd of 27,551, marred by a dodgy referee who sent off a player from each side at a time when you needed to commit GBH to be even spoken to by a ref. And one of the goals was inevitably scored by Pace (before he was sent off), who was scoring goals almost every game (6 in 3 games to end the Year). Almost a carbon copy of the Blackburn game last week?
Whilst things in December were going well on the pitch, off the pitch the club was in melt-down. Manager Joe Mercer and his assistant jumped ship at Xmas and moved to Villa, and the team was being managed by the Chief Scout, Archie Clarke, who continued with the job almost to the end of the season. There were appeals in the first programme of the New Year for everyone to stay calm, as the club had everything under control. Echoes of the present again?
And to finish with for the moment, United's next game was a 3rd round Cup-tie at home to Crystal Palace, a lower league side we had never played before. Wednesday were playing at home v West Brom AT THE SAME TIME, and big crowds were expected at both games, as the Cup was the more glamorous competition then. The weather turned bad, with deep snow in Sheffield, and the clubs appealed for fans to go to the grounds with shovels to try and get the games on. There was no undersoil heating in those days. And on that cliff-hanger, I will leave the story for now.[/QUOTe
Cockerel and Pace sent off ?
Click to expand...
 
The scribbling on my programme for the Grimsby match says that the right-back, Donovan, was the Grimsby player sent off. My memory (more from talking with my brother and my Dad afterwards, I suspect) is that the 2 players collided, ended up on the floor for a while, and though nothing obvious went on, both were sent off. Sendings-off were rare at the time, which is why it was the subject of much discussion. Were you at that match as well, by any chance?
 

HodgysBrokenThumb said:
The scribbling on my programme for the Grimsby match says that the right-back, Donovan, was the Grimsby player sent off. My memory (more from talking with my brother and my Dad afterwards, I suspect) is that the 2 players collided, ended up on the floor for a while, and though nothing obvious went on, both were sent off. Sendings-off were rare at the time, which is why it was the subject of much discussion. Were you at that match as well, by any chance?
Click to expand...
No Hodgy only managed home games at that time,my first away game was Lincoln city the promotion year I was just 14 and wagged the afternoon off school we scored 5 that match , we mauled them in the 2nd half.
You may remember Emmanuel Jeffcock who was chairman of supporters club at that time ,he had a small coach company I made the trip with them.His garage was on the road where I lived (Balaclava rd ) might say door to door service.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom