1963-64 (60 years ago) match reports and photos

[Johannesburgblade]

Apologies for messing up the time sequence, but I thought you might be interested in 3 programmes from a range of seasons:
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And finally, one from the end of the Big Freeze, where I would welcome your view on whether your father’s autograph is genuine. I have no memory of getting these autographs, so whether my brother got them, or someone gave us this programme, I have no idea. To add to the mystery, the extra signature (on the Everton team sheet) bears a strong resemblance to the signature of a 15-year-old me!
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Thanks for posting these, I much appreciate it. Regarding the signature I must say it doesn’t look like my Dad’s.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Thanks for posting these, I much appreciate it. Regarding the signature I must say it doesn’t look like my Dad’s.

Interesting to know. I will not pass that programme on to the family as an heirloom. I was probably trying to work out if I had a potential career in forgery Many thanks - there are a few more programmes to come.

 

[Johannesburgblade]

Great, looking forward to seeing them.

 

[bornablade]

Interesting to know. I will not pass that programme on to the family as an heirloom. I was probably trying to work out if I had a potential career in forgery Many thanks - there are a few more programmes to come.

Tony Wagstaff seems to have added an ''e'' to the end of his name/signature.

That was more in line with David Wagstaffe of Wolves.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Tony Wagstaff seems to have added an ''e'' to the end of his name/signature.

That was more in line with David Wagstaffe of Wolves.

Good job I didn’t go for a career in forgery…

 

[ancientblade]

Just before I started going, used to go to first team with dad and some with a mate, county cup etc

mick jones was my hero as a 16 year old in 67 i was devastated when wraggy the idiot sold him to leeds still the best centre forward ive seen in a blades shirt

 

[Silent Blade]

30/11/1963

Blades 1 (Docherty pen) Man U 2 (Law 2)








Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-11-30

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

30/11/1963

Blades 1 (Docherty pen) Man U 2 (Law 2)

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Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-11-30

And so ended a bad November, as we continued to slide down the League. Lots of talk of bad luck (Gaskell, the ManU reserve keeper, had recovered from injury, and played, but we had no such luck), and even of results not mattering when a game is so good (I have never fully subscribed to that view). I was well on the way to believing that our chances of a league title were beginning to disappear, and by the next time a similar situation arose (1971) I was a confirmed pessimist, and knew that top position would not last. Law in 1963, Best in 1971, brilliant goals by both, but which Blades fan could enjoy them?
One extra confession: I was wrong about so many things. From the reports of the last 2 weeks, it seems that I maligned Des Thompson unfairly, and so far he has not been to blame for defeats. And over the last year or so, I have come to realise that Brian Richardson, who I thought of as a great defensive midfielder, but with little to offer in attack, was scoring cracking goals (occasionally), or hitting the woodwork with powerful shots. I have no direct memory of either his goals or any of the near misses. The tricks our memories play…

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Hodgy was second in line to have a page in the programme, unfortunately on the day he missed his first home match for a long time. My bias shows here, but I think this is a brilliant statement of his principles in sport and life. I identify very easily with them to this day, having loved goalkeeping, fancied myself as a striker, collected programmes, made videos, have no false teeth, and done plenty of ‘standing and staring’. And I’m still smiling. I just wish I had had a little bit of his natural talent…

 

[Silent Blade]

7/12/1963

West Brom 2 (Kaye, Clark) Blades 0





Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-07

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

7/12/1963

West Brom 2 (Kaye, Clark) Blades 0

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Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-07

The decline continued. The injuries to key players meant a weakened team with several players playing in unfamiliar positions (Allchurch on the left-wing, Matthewson was not an inside-forward), and at the end of what appears to have been a dull match, we were down to 8th in the League, below Wednesday (a blow in itself), and no longer looking like contenders for the League title. The change in fortunes had been very sudden, and showed no sign of improving.
I presume I was at the Reserve match that day, which ended in a 1-1 draw, also v. WBA. Four items of interest I note:
1. The full-back pairing of Badger as a youngster and England international Graham Shaw returning from injury is probably the best pair of full-backs to have played for Utd in the post-war era.
2. The name Woodward as a young reserve player is a reminder of things to come.
3. We obviously failed to record team-changes in the programme. The WBA player Fudge presumably did not play simultaneously at Bramall Lane and the Hawthorns
4. Note the name of United’s goalie: Brian, grandfather of Olly Arblaster

 

[Silent Blade]

14/12/1963

Blades 1 (Allchurch pen) Blackpool 0









Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-14

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

A win at last, but as the cartoons and reports make clear, the low crowd (under 14000) watched a poor game, decided by a penalty given away by a young man making his debut, Neil Turner, who also missed a great chance. That was his only appearance that season, and he made just 11 appearances in total. At least we nudged back 2 places up the league to 6th place, and went back above Wednesday. Small pleasures for a typically low pre-Xmas crowd; Saturday afternoons were the only times most working men could get the Xmas shopping done - no Internet, no Sunday opening, no flexible working…

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

(Blackpool match continued)
The programme has plenty of interest.
1. The plans to improve the ground are explained in detail, and the costs involved perhaps help explain the failure to spend money on strengthening the squad - the forward-line that day was a particularly weak one, missing players through injury, and in the case of Pace, loss of form.
2. The Blackpool line-up, accurately corrected in my dad’s illegible hand-writing, contained 2 players less than 3 years away from becoming World Cup winners. We may have watched a poor game, but how many people can now say that they have watched 2 England World Cup winners play?
3. And coincidences? Next match up, Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge, and United with a squad weakened by injuries. I am struggling to find a good omen for the 2023 fixture!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Again, I have waited a little before posting the programme page written by a player. Today’s is by 18-year-old Bernard Shaw, playing his 19th game of the season. Appears to be very much written from the heart (no media training then), and I found it very interesting on life in football, brotherly support, the Canary Islands 60 years ago, and what presents a young man brings home for his mum when he’s travelled abroad!

 

[Silent Blade]

.

 

[Silent Blade]

21/12/1963

Chelsea 3 (Hinton, Bridges, Venables) Blades 2 (Summers, Jones)










Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-21

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

21/12/1963

Chelsea 3 (Hinton, Bridges, Venables) Blades 2 (Summers, Jones)



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Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-21

Loved the pre-match video. A reminder of how empty grounds were pre-Xmas Saturday, how awful pitches used to be, and what strange ideas we had then of entertainment! It appears to have been a good performance from a young team, with Mick Jones again showing what a fine prospect he was. Unfortunately, the enthusiastic write-up of Mick Ash was not matched by his career, which consisted of 3 Blades appearances, and a later move to the Americas. Reportedly he spent 2 years with River Plate, but I have not found the details. The following photo and write-up are from an earlier Reserve programme:

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

While The first-team was losing at Chelsea, I was giving my dad an excuse to avoid Xmas shopping by going to watch the Reserves draw 1-1 against Blackburn. And no doubt in agony watching the evolving updates from Stamford Bridge on the pavilion scoreboard. Some names in there for possible selection in best-ever Blades players (Woodward, Pace, Graham Shaw), a goalkeeper with a link to today (best wishes to his grandson Olly, injured recently), and Mr Reliable at full-back, Roy Ridge (another one for Johannesburgblade ). I also include a brief piece on Roy Ridge from an earlier programme:

 

[Silent Blade]

26/12/1963

Nottingham Forest 3 (Wignall, Vowden, Storey-Moore) Blades 3 (Jones 2, Allchurch (pen))

We were losing 3-0 after 17 minutes, we didnt score until the 60th minute and then it was 3-3 at the final whistle. My Uncle Ronnie said it was one of his first away games with his friends rather than with my dad and he ran on the pitch with many others after the final whistle









Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-26

 

[ancientblade]

26/12/1963

Nottingham Forest 3 (Wignall, Vowden, Storey-Moore) Blades 3 (Jones 2, Allchurch (pen))

We were losing 3-0 after 17 minutes, we didnt score until the 60th minute and then it was 3-3 at the final whistle. My Uncle Ronnie said it was one of his first away games with his friends rather than with my dad and he ran on the pitch with many others after the final whistle

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Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-26

remember that 3 - 3 draw but look at some of those incredible scorelines on that caption

 

[Silent Blade]

28/12/1963

Blades 1 (Ash) Nottingham Forest 2 (Storey-Moore 2)







The Boxing Day scores were


Look at the surprising results 48 hours later! Blackburn who won 8-2 at West Ham lose 3-1 at home to West Ham, Burnley who won 6-1 at home to Man U lose 5-1 at Man U, Ipswich who lost 10-1 at Fulham win 4-2 at home to Fulham!



Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-28

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

28/12/1963

Blades 1 (Ash) Nottingham Forest 2 (Storey-Moore 2)

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The Boxing Day scores were
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Look at the surprising results 48 hours later! Blackburn who won 8-2 at West Ham lose 3-1 at home to West Ham, Burnley who won 6-1 at home to Man U lose 5-1 at Man U, Ipswich who lost 10-1 at Fulham win 4-2 at home to Fulham!

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Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-28

A poor Xmas left us in mid-table, and the heady days of being top of the league seemed a long time ago. Clearly, we were not going to be League Champions in 1964. Unusually, we were scoring goals, with 2 of the youngsters, Mick Jones and Mick Ash both scoring. But suddenly the defence had started leaking goals, and much as I would like to blame the signing of Des Thompson, it appears that this not the reason, or certainly not the whole reason.
The programme for the Boxing Day match was uninspiring. The Xmas front cover was less than cheerful, and the Lines from the Pavilion had little interest, largely because they were written before the 2 preceding matches. And the crowd of under 25000 was poor for the return match of the Xmas programme, suggesting that the crowd’s confidence was not high.
Of much greater interest are the scores in the matches of Boxing Day and the 28th. Many things have changed in football, for good or ill. I would not necessarily wish to return to the incredible number of goals scored on Boxing Day (in any case, VAR would doubtless have turned Fulham’s 10-1 into a 1-0 victory). But football was much better for the unpredictability where a heavy defeat could be reversed so dramatically just 2 days later. There was no need to resort to trying to scrape a desperate 0-0 draw.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

The piece written by a player in the Forest programme is by Des Thompson. My teenage anger at United’s decline in recent weeks was entirely focussed on him, and it has taken a long time, and seeing the match reports from 60 years ago, to realise that he was not the cause of decline. In fact, reading the piece below, I very much warm to the guy, and love his attitude to sport. A voice very much from a past era, but a timely reminder that sport is a leisure activity to be enjoyed. Sport, including football, has improved in many ways, but I am not sure that most people get much pleasure out of it currently - or is that just an impression created on social media?
Meanwhile, this is by way of apology to Des Thompson:

 

[ancientblade]

28/12/1963

Blades 1 (Ash) Nottingham Forest 2 (Storey-Moore 2)

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The Boxing Day scores were
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Look at the surprising results 48 hours later! Blackburn who won 8-2 at West Ham lose 3-1 at home to West Ham, Burnley who won 6-1 at home to Man U lose 5-1 at Man U, Ipswich who lost 10-1 at Fulham win 4-2 at home to Fulham!

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Scores, scorers, line ups and league tables in below link

1963-12-28

had those 2 pictures in my scrapbook silent

 

[Silent Blade]

4/1/1964

FA Cup 3rd round

Lincoln 0 Blades 4 (Wagstaff, Hartle, Jones 2)

 

[ancientblade]

4/1/1964

FA Cup 3rd round

Lincoln 0 Blades 4 (Wagstaff, Hartle, Jones 2)


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remember this one anall silent didnt we play in orange shirts ?

 

[Silent Blade]

remember this one anall silent didnt we play in orange shirts ?

Yes, it says in the reports that we wore tangerine shirts

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I’m ashamed to say that I don’t have the programme for this game, and indeed I have few for the next 18 months. Somewhere in life’s rich journey most of them have disappeared, and I can only think that they are lurking somewhere in a dark corner of one of the places I have lived in. Such is life.
I did go to this game, one of my few away matches in 63-64. There was no school football (Xmas holidays), I was still fully enthusiastic about the Cup, and Lincoln were a team we always seemed to win against, often by big margins. I remember very little about the game, except for thinking ‘Here we go on another great Cup run’ (how things were about to change!), and ‘Things are improving again, with Hodgy back in goal and that lad Jones looking like he will score loads of goals for us in the coming years’. If 63-64 taught me that we were never going to be League Champions, it was not long before I also learnt that developing a good young player was no guarantee that they would spend a career with Utd. But I did retain my optimism that we could at the very least get to a Wembley Cup Final. It is the one thing in my years of following the Blades that has really left me feeling disappointed: we have under-achieved with regard to League and FA Cup finals.
But at least this win meant that the red and white rosette did not need to be put away, and school on Monday would include gathering around a portable radio to listen to the draw for the 4th Round. Simple pleasures!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

A small, but possibly interesting fact from the Lincoln game (probably bears repeating, as it has been mentioned before): the Lincoln left-back was Jeff Smith, who came up through the Oaks Fold route, was at the Lane for several years, but played just 1 league game. As the Joe Mercer era was going down the Wayne Rooney route, he selected a strange team for the away match at Liverpool on December 1st, 1956. He played Graham Shaw, England international left-back, on the right-wing, and junior left-back Jeff Smith on the left-wing. Nowadays full-backs, wing-backs and wingers have much in common, but in those days the full- back rarely ventured over the halfway line, and most wingers would have gone on strike if ordered to track back into their own half. So I assume we played an 8-man defence; either way we lost 5-1. Two weeks later was the traumatic 7-2 defeat at home to Rotherham. Jeff Smith played 1 more game for United, in the Cup, before moving to Lincoln, where he played 315 games for them.
And as a footnote to this footnote, it is worth recalling that in contrast with Mercer’s tactical cockup, a few years later, when we carelessly ended up without a right-winger for most of the season, John Harris provided a tactical stroke of genius by playing reserve left-back Cliff Mason on the right-wing, and we ended up winning promotion. It’s a funny old game…