1986/87 attendances

[3-GBlade]

My dad said he'd almost completely lost interest in United at this point. We were a club going nowhere with no hope until Bassett came in.

I am not your dad, but I think he and I thought alike, along with a lot of other people! I think it was the 30 to 40 year stalwart attendees and not many others that kept going just 'cos its "what they did"

 

[3-GBlade]

I had a season ticket throughout the 80's.

Surely I should get loyalty points for being there when we were shit?

Me too, and even as a young 'un there was not any massive discounts, though my dad did his duty and paid for mine mostly.
I think those of us of that era often do the hate Wednesday thing to excess cos we remember those times!

 

[Lower Drop Blade]

Fairly interesting reading. Wednesday averaged 23,147 in Div One, United 9,991 in Division Two. The gap has closed considerably in the years since and it could/should turn full circle this year. We’re the 80s that bad?

Were

 

[stringer]

Were

iPhone

 

[blade too long]

fans were treat like cattle in the mid eighties, wasnt a family experience , hospitality in those days meant not being bricked

 

[Fanny magnet]

Some of the posters on here would have got the living shit kicked out of them for their moany whines about the road not being loud enough

 

[super_pig]

wasn't that around the time that the attendance figures were a standing joke?

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I had a season ticket throughout the 80's.

Surely I should get loyalty points for being there when we were shit?

Did you get counted in attendance when you didn’t go?

 

[blade too long]

imagine the looks youd have got watching souness and dalglaish at anfield if someone asked for a prawn sandwich at the food stall

 

[Fanny magnet]

Did you get counted in attendance when you didn’t go?

I did and I didn't even have a season ticket

 

[Ricky]

Good article here about the new stadiums damaging the atmosphere and authenticity in English football.

http://www.wsc.co.uk/features/13976...dern-grounds-is-hurting-the-game-s-atmosphere

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Good article here about the new stadiums damaging the atmosphere and authenticity in English football.

http://www.wsc.co.uk/features/13976...dern-grounds-is-hurting-the-game-s-atmosphere

I agre with a lot of the comments on new stadiums and the lack of atmosphere, which is all the more disappointing given the size of the crowds. But don't look to the 70s and 80s for a model of atmosphere and authenticity, unless you want to stand in a decrepit shed, caged in, and treated like a criminal. There are many improvements which can be made, but the long-term creation of atmosphere in my view depends on reaching a situation where rival football fans are trusted not to beat each other up. The best atmospheres I can recall came from a balance of 2 to 1 home to away fans, most in large groups, but some totally mixed. 6th round Cup, Newcastle away, 18,000 (?) Blades in a crowd of 54,000, with Ilkey Moor sung from all 4 sides of the ground, along with the Blayden Races, until United went 3 up. Now that was atmosphere.

 

[Isar]

fans were treat like cattle in the mid eighties, wasnt a family experience , hospitality in those days meant not being bricked

Standing on the away end at Boltons old ground, with bricks flying over the wall from the car park into where the away fans stood. Stoke were also brick happy.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Highlight of that season was beating Portsmouth 1-0 with four players sent off. It was the first match report on Sports Report on Radio Two.

Remember it like yesterday also I went down to Fratton Park on last game of season when we won 2-1 , they invaded pitch and came over to the away end and some of our lot were climbing the fence to get at the 4000 approaching Pompey !

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Here are our home attendances from 1986-7:

Shrewsbury (1-1) 9,865
Millwall (2-1) 8,010
Birmingham (1-1) 10,297
Grimsby (1-2) 9,840
Reading (3-3) 8,816
Huddersfield (0-0) 9,243
Sunderland (2-1) 12,317
Stoke (3-1) 11,177
Brighton (0-1) 8,840
Portsmouth (1-0) 9,523
Hull (4-2) 11,296
WBA (1-1) 9,240
Leeds (0-0) 12,494
Plymouth (2-1) 6,982
Barnsley (1-0) 8,971
Palace (1-0) 6,647
Bradford (2-2) 9,679
Blackburn (4-1) 7,762
Oldham (2-0) 11,336
Derby (0-1) 19,166
Ipswich (0-0) 8,324

21 games, and only 7 of them in five figures: Derby, Leeds and Sunderland brought a lot of fans (Derby at least 7,000), the Oldham and Stoke games were both after we'd won a couple of games in a row and were doing comparatively well (and Oldham were pushing for promotion) and Hull was Boxing Day. Birmingham was the other game that scraped above 10,000.

I saw 17 or 18 of these games. I missed Ipswich (family Bank holiday trip took priority), Leeds (not allowed to go after it became all ticket after the trouble in 1985) and Palace, our lowest home league crowd since 1935, when I think my Dad had a work commitment and couldn't take me. We were down to the real diehards then, and if some of the diehards like us miss the game, you're going to get a low crowd. I can remember something about all of these games except Millwall, so I think I may have missed that one as well.

There were some good games: we were excellent against Stoke (funny Lee Dixon own goal and a classic Beagrie back post header), Blackburn (that Andy Kennedy goal!) and Oldham. Hull saw Beagrie score twice from 25+ yards. The Portsmouth game with 4 sendings off was a weird game to say the least. Bradford was memorable for a first minute own goal from Andy Barnsley and our comeback from being 2-0 down after 10 minutes. The WBA game featured good goals from Peter Withe and, for WBA, Garth Crooks. The last minute Frain winner against Sunderland was a great moment, as were all the Beagrie backflips.

Bad moments? Seeing all those Derby fans celebrate after they got the winner. That shocking performance against Brighton. And the Reading nightmare - 3 up after an hour, 3-3 5 minutes later. Took me months to get over that. I still tremble when I see Trevor Senior's name.

Despite the mediocrity and low crowds I have fond memories of that season. Mind you, I didn't go to any away games: we only won 4.

I went to every home game in 86-87 and like you have fond memories it was such an innocent time where as a boy I loved watching the Blades.

The Brighton game we lost they went down this season and a week previously we beat Blackburn 2-0 Tony Daws getting 2 on his debut and then missed a sitter against Brighton

RE Derby didn’t they beat us year previously in Cup with a huge following also?

The Boxing Day game was awesome and I thought Beagrie and Stan were legends

 

[John Street West Terrace]

I went to every home game in 86-87 and like you have fond memories it was such an innocent time where as a boy I loved watching the Blades.

The Brighton game we lost they went down this season and a week previously we beat Blackburn 2-0 Tony Daws getting 2 on his debut and then missed a sitter against Brighton

RE Derby didn’t they beat us year previously in Cup with a huge following also?

The Boxing Day game was awesome and I thought Beagrie and Stan were legends

Yeh Derby did beat us 1-0 season before in FA cup the season they came up out of the 3rd division filled lane end and prob brought 7-8 k , we were shite that day never turned up . Went to loads home and away this era even when we were shit we had some great times with the lads ... yeh we had our ups and downs in 80s but enjoyed it all the same ,,, character building

 

[Ricky]

I agre with a lot of the comments on new stadiums and the lack of atmosphere, which is all the more disappointing given the size of the crowds. But don't look to the 70s and 80s for a model of atmosphere and authenticity, unless you want to stand in a decrepit shed, caged in, and treated like a criminal. There are many improvements which can be made, but the long-term creation of atmosphere in my view depends on reaching a situation where rival football fans are trusted not to beat each other up. The best atmospheres I can recall came from a balance of 2 to 1 home to away fans, most in large groups, but some totally mixed. 6th round Cup, Newcastle away, 18,000 (?) Blades in a crowd of 54,000, with Ilkey Moor sung from all 4 sides of the ground, along with the Blayden Races, until United went 3 up. Now that was atmosphere.

I don't think anyone's asking for a return to the 'old days' but many of the traditional aspects should be applied to modern designs.

It should not be beyond stadium designers to produce proper football stadiums instead of generic 'one stand' arenas. FFS, they're building stadiums for football and nothing else - so maybe take that into consideration? Maybe listen to the people who'll be filling these stadiums? The majority of them will want it to have character and individuality. What they certainly don't want is a soulless replica of so many others. But they just take the 'safe' and lazy option, and now tens of these shitty things have been built and clubs are stuck with them for generations.

English football has thoughtlessly shot itself in the foot with this. I hope it doesn't continue to.

 

[Cheets]

Me too, and even as a young 'un there was not any massive discounts, though my dad did his duty and paid for mine mostly.
I think those of us of that era often do the hate Wednesday thing to excess cos we remember those times!

Another factor is that IIRC there were no student and unemployed discounts in those days. When I turned 16 in 1986 I started having to pay full price even though I was still at school.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Another factor is that IIRC there were no student and unemployed discounts in those days. When I turned 16 in 1986 I started having to pay full price even though I was still at school.

It has taken a long time, but at last United (and some other clubs) have developed sensible policies on pricing. There is still room for improvement, but United have done a lot to get young people into the Lane.

 

[WorkingtonBlade]

Here are our home attendances from 1986-7:

Shrewsbury (1-1) 9,865
Millwall (2-1) 8,010
Birmingham (1-1) 10,297
Grimsby (1-2) 9,840
Reading (3-3) 8,816
Huddersfield (0-0) 9,243
Sunderland (2-1) 12,317
Stoke (3-1) 11,177
Brighton (0-1) 8,840
Portsmouth (1-0) 9,523
Hull (4-2) 11,296
WBA (1-1) 9,240
Leeds (0-0) 12,494
Plymouth (2-1) 6,982
Barnsley (1-0) 8,971
Palace (1-0) 6,647
Bradford (2-2) 9,679
Blackburn (4-1) 7,762
Oldham (2-0) 11,336
Derby (0-1) 19,166
Ipswich (0-0) 8,324

21 games, and only 7 of them in five figures: Derby, Leeds and Sunderland brought a lot of fans (Derby at least 7,000), the Oldham and Stoke games were both after we'd won a couple of games in a row and were doing comparatively well (and Oldham were pushing for promotion) and Hull was Boxing Day. Birmingham was the other game that scraped above 10,000.

I saw 17 or 18 of these games. I missed Ipswich (family Bank holiday trip took priority), Leeds (not allowed to go after it became all ticket after the trouble in 1985) and Palace, our lowest home league crowd since 1935, when I think my Dad had a work commitment and couldn't take me. We were down to the real diehards then, and if some of the diehards like us miss the game, you're going to get a low crowd. I can remember something about all of these games except Millwall, so I think I may have missed that one as well.

There were some good games: we were excellent against Stoke (funny Lee Dixon own goal and a classic Beagrie back post header), Blackburn (that Andy Kennedy goal!) and Oldham. Hull saw Beagrie score twice from 25+ yards. The Portsmouth game with 4 sendings off was a weird game to say the least. Bradford was memorable for a first minute own goal from Andy Barnsley and our comeback from being 2-0 down after 10 minutes. The WBA game featured good goals from Peter Withe and, for WBA, Garth Crooks. The last minute Frain winner against Sunderland was a great moment, as were all the Beagrie backflips.

Bad moments? Seeing all those Derby fans celebrate after they got the winner. That shocking performance against Brighton. And the Reading nightmare - 3 up after an hour, 3-3 5 minutes later. Took me months to get over that. I still tremble when I see Trevor Senior's name.

Despite the mediocrity and low crowds I have fond memories of that season. Mind you, I didn't go to any away games: we only won 4.

Interesting to see those figures. The 2-1 win over Plymouth was my first United game. The 4-1 win over Blackburn was my second. Having nothing to compare it with, I didn’t particularly notice the size of the crowd, but it’s strange to look back now and think that there were as few as that there.

The thing I do remember is that, from a distance, the crowd in the standing areas of the ground (Kop, John Street and Bramall Lane Lower) appeared predominantly blue. Few people wore football shirts at the time, and most people wore blue jeans, so we played in front of a sea of blue.

Then followed a period when half the crowd wore the shirt of the team they supported, and balloons and other items in your team’s colours were the thing. Now that period’s passed and once again there’s little visual difference between a stand full of United fans, Wednesday fans or Leeds fans. I don’t think I could have imagined that happening when I looked at the cacophony of red (or at away games, luminous yellow/green) which made up the United support 20 years ago.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

I am not your dad, but I think he and I thought alike, along with a lot of other people! I think it was the 30 to 40 year stalwart attendees and not many others that kept going just 'cos its "what they did"

Don't know about that, the 80s was my era as far as growing up watching United was concerned, started going from 1975 and it was all downhill for the next 6 years, til we hit rock bottom, div 4. I was 12 then and for the rest of the decade missed virtually no home games, and from 1984 on wards didn't miss too many away games either, attendances wise that was probably the worst post WWII. Plenty of my mates did the same. 3-GBlade it's funny you should say about those 30-40 year olds "it's what they did", that's what I thought about us young 'uns going back then,"it's what we did" lol I probably think the same now, especially the years in the 3rd tier pre-Wilder !

 

[8lade]

Another factor is that IIRC there were no student and unemployed discounts in those days. When I turned 16 in 1986 I started having to pay full price even though I was still at school.

I had a funny feeling it was 14 it took all my paper round money anyway

 

[DifferentClass]

How shit must Wolves have been back in 85-86?

 

[100% part time blade]

I've got a programme from around that time when I went with a Wendy mate. You're right, I remember something like 13,000 v Coventry and over 40,000 v Liverpool/Man U. I wonder what the away followings were like?

I was at the Liverpool one (if it’s the season I’m thinking of). There was some sort of special inter schools football competition and we were one of I don’t know how many primary schools that played matches against the Scouser kids in the morning and then we all got free tickets for the match in the afternoon. We were in the away end, and I remember it being full. Dreadful game. Nil nil.
Next time I went there the crowd was similar, but the atmosphere was better, and thanks to Dane Whitehouse and B.Davison the whole thing was a lot more enjoyable to watch.

 

[Revolution]

How shit must Wolves have been back in 85-86?

They had a crowd of under 3,000 for a league game that year, and Rotherham beat them 6-0 in the Cup. Wolves' decline between 1983 and 1986 - 3 straight relegations - was spectacular.

They had some decade:

1980 - win league cup
1981 - lose FA Cup semi final
1982 - relegated from division 1
1983 - promoted from division 2
1984 - relegated from division 1
1985 - relegated from division 2
1986 - relegated from division 3
1987 - lose division 4 playoff final, lose 3-0 to Chorley in the Cup
1988 - win division 4 and Sherpa Van Trophy
1989 - win division 3

Then they had 14 straight seasons in the second tier...

 

[goatherder]

in the 80s, going to any ground, including the Lane, all were treated as potential criminals, including those of us going with young children.

I clearly remember my first away game at Bolton in 1984 when I was 14, went on the train with my brother who was 19. We walked out of the station not knowing where the ground was & made the mistake of asking some nearby police for directions. They said we must be looking for trouble then pushed me on the floor & belted my brother on the arm with a truncheon, then sent us in the opposite direction. We missed the first 20mins, blades lost & my brother went home with a big bruise on his arm that he had to hide from mum & dad.

He explained that's just what away games were like, I accepted it & carried on going for years.

 

[diode_blade]

Less than ten years earlier they also had very poor gates, circa 11k. Violence was the norm in the 80s and many stayed away from the Lane. Lots of clubs had very poor attendances. We were also shit in the mid 80s

Yup spot on Seven of nine....

the dark ages period for me
stood on a kop with perhaps only 8-9000 on it horrible...lots of blades infighting...dark days indeed

 

[goatherder]

...dark days indeed

But for those of us living our teenage years in the 80's we didn't know anything different & just accepted that's how things were. Blades were usually shit, it was freezing cold & at away games you were lucky if you didn't get a smack in the mouth or at least get chased down the street by some local idiots.

At least we had great music, great fashion & could head down to the Limit on West St on a Saturday night to forget all about it... no-one would dare wear eyeliner to the football these days.

I remember those days with a strange fondness...

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I clearly remember my first away game at Bolton in 1984 when I was 14, went on the train with my brother who was 19. We walked out of the station not knowing where the ground was & made the mistake of asking some nearby police for directions. They said we must be looking for trouble then pushed me on the floor & belted my brother on the arm with a truncheon, then sent us in the opposite direction. We missed the first 20mins, blades lost & my brother went home with a big bruise on his arm that he had to hide from mum & dad.

He explained that's just what away games were like, I accepted it & carried on going for years.

Just to say that I gave your post a like because it is a good illustration of the 'pleasures' of going to football at that time, and not because I liked the idea of you and your brother being assaulted. Did your brother invent the expression 'to add insult to injury'?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

But for those of us living our teenage years in the 80's we didn't know anything different & just accepted that's how things were. Blades were usually shit, it was freezing cold & at away games you were lucky if you didn't get a smack in the mouth or at least get chased down the street by some local idiots.

At least we had great music, great fashion & could head down to the Limit on West St on a Saturday night to forget all about it... no-one would dare wear eyeliner to the football these days.

I remember those days with a strange fondness...

Welcome to the world of nostalgia. We sometimes forget how resilient young people can be, because they have something the rest of us can never have - youth.