60 years ago this month...

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

What a fantastic thread this is HodgysBrokenThumb and this is my first ever match. I was 9! Thank you.

Yep. Great stuff. You beat me by 12 months. My first was August 1960 v Plymouth Argyle. I was 9 then as well.

 

[Harrisblade]

As I didn't get into watching the Blades until 6 years later than you was it usual to follow your club away from home regularly, were their designated coaches etc ? I'd got it into my head that following your team away was a mid to late 1960s phenomenon.

And you're right about cricket, it was as all consuming in summer as football was in autumn and winter. It just seemed natural and life seemed clearly demarcated into seasons. I was as mad Yorkshire as I was United.

I'm not sure what happened to my interest in cricket ?

The coaches I used to travel on were 'designated' but commercially run by SUT - 'Sheffield United Tours' (don't think they were anything to do with THE Sheffield United.)
They had a ticket office on the far side of Pond St bus station and you got on the coaches outside the office.
Straight to the ground and back straight afterward with smoking, drinking and eating all allowed on the coach
A "football special" on 4 wheels.
Fairly sure that there were still supporters club coaches going from particular pubs, WMC's and of course the Lane as well!
Always happy days going, but not always on the way back!
EDIT!
Sorry may have misread your post, I was talking about the '60's - didn't read you 1st para properly

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

What a fantastic thread this is HodgysBrokenThumb and this is my first ever match. I was 9! Thank you.

That was some occasion for your first game. No wonder you were hooked. Shame about the result, though...

 

[cahill]

The coaches I used to travel on were 'designated' but commercially run by SUT - 'Sheffield United Tours' (don't think they were anything to do with THE Sheffield United.)
They had a ticket office on the far side of Pond St bus station and you got on the coaches outside the office.
Straight to the ground and back straight afterward with smoking, drinking and eating all allowed on the coach
A "football special" on 4 wheels.
Fairly sure that there were still supporters club coaches going from particular pubs, WMC's and of course the Lane as well!
Always happy days going, but not always on the way back!
EDIT!
Sorry may have misread your post, I was talking about the '60's - didn't read you 1st para properly

I used SUTTY tours as well, I was just curious as to when away travel became a mass phenomenon ?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Yep. Great stuff. You beat me by 12 months. My first was August 1960 v Plymouth Argyle. I was 9 then as well.

You won’t have long to wait before re-living your first-ever match. As you will see, I will need some help for this one - I trust you have a good memory!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

As I didn't get into watching the Blades until 6 years later than you was it usual to follow your club away from home regularly, were their designated coaches etc ? I'd got it into my head that following your team away was a mid to late 1960s phenomenon.

And you're right about cricket, it was as all consuming in summer as football was in autumn and winter. It just seemed natural and life seemed clearly demarcated into seasons. I was as mad Yorkshire as I was United.

I'm not sure what happened to my interest in cricket ?

Travelling to away matches was less common in general than it is now, but in the late 50s and early 60s there were always away supporters (as we were then) at games. I went to my first away game aged 9 (Notts County), with my brother (4 years older than me), and mother and grandmother (they went shopping). We went by train, there was heavy snow by the time we got back, and we had to walk home from the station. They never went with us again, and for the next 6 or so years the two of us travelled all over by train, with a good number of others of all ages.
Supporters’ club coaches were available, and I recall going to evening matches at places like Port Vale and Stoke that were difficult to get to and back by train in an evening. But generally, train was cheap and flexible, and had the advantage of a bit of train-spotting, and to places like Bristol, travelling there and back with the players. I assume the Beeching cuts from 1963, and motorway building at the same time, led to a huge change. The really big followings to away matches were in Cup matches more than league games.
It may be romanticising, but at the time travel to away matches seemed safe. You paid at the gate, and went where you wanted. We generally went behind the goal, and the 60-61 season was the first time I felt uncomfortable, on a couple of occasions. But generally it was fun mixing with the home crowd, and if there is one thing I miss from the ‘old days’, it is not having to plan a visit to a football ground with great precision, to ensure that you get home in one piece. The pleasure of being with football people, whoever they support, is something that has sadly been lost.
That’s probably more detail than you were asking for!

 

[cahill]

Travelling to away matches was less common in general than it is now, but in the late 50s and early 60s there were always away supporters (as we were then) at games. I went to my first away game aged 9 (Notts County), with my brother (4 years older than me), and mother and grandmother (they went shopping). We went by train, there was heavy snow by the time we got back, and we had to walk home from the station. They never went with us again, and for the next 6 or so years the two of us travelled all over by train, with a good number of others of all ages.
Supporters’ club coaches were available, and I recall going to evening matches at places like Port Vale and Stoke that were difficult to get to and back by train in an evening. But generally, train was cheap and flexible, and had the advantage of a bit of train-spotting, and to places like Bristol, travelling there and back with the players. I assume the Beeching cuts from 1963, and motorway building at the same time, led to a huge change. The really big followings to away matches were in Cup matches more than league games.
It may be romanticising, but at the time travel to away matches seemed safe. You paid at the gate, and went where you wanted. We generally went behind the goal, and the 60-61 season was the first time I felt uncomfortable, on a couple of occasions. But generally it was fun mixing with the home crowd, and if there is one thing I miss from the ‘old days’, it is not having to plan a visit to a football ground with great precision, to ensure that you get home in one piece. The pleasure of being with football people, whoever they support, is something that has sadly been lost.
That’s probably more detail than you were asking for!

I travelled to away games from 1966 onwards and there always seemed to be trouble. Teenagers eh ?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

August 1960: Pre-season

As I said above, pre-season was not the event it is now. No internet, no local radio, county cricket at the Lane, few transfer deals, etc., all meant that until the first match was about to kick off, there was not the same obsession with every little detail of the preparations for the new season. And amongst the bits and pieces missing from my programmes and scrapbooks (I do hope others will fill in details, add memories, etc), the pre-season was a total mystery to me. There were 2 Friendlies, apparently (some details in a minute), but fortunately, and very appropriately, Hodgy has come to he rescue, as his autobiography has masses of detail, about 60-61, which I will plunder (with acknowledgement, of course). And like all great keepers, he makes one great blunder, about one of the biggest matches of the season, which I will come onto next year.

Hodgy reports that in August 1960 there was great confidence in the squad. That does not surprise me - since relegation in 1956, we had finished 7, 6, 3, 4, and in the previous 3 seasons in the Cup we had got to rounds 5 (replay), 6 (replay), and 6. That was quite an over-achievement in the Cup, as there were 22 top league teams, all of them regarding the Cup as the glamour competition. We were generally regarded as a good footballing side, in many ways better able to deal with the top-league teams rather than robust lower-league sides. We had a settled squad, with an obvious player for each position except right-wing, as we had just sold Kevin Lewis to Liverpool, and did not get a replacement until spring (sounds familiar?).

We also had a reassuringly sensible manager in John Harris, except that Hodgy tells the story of pre-season in a way which would have caused alarm had we known what was going on. As a student of the game, Harris understood that most goals are scored in the last 15 minutes, and decided that improving fitness would improve results. He brought in an ex-army sergeant major, who treated the players like new recruits and had them running up and down the Kop carrying rucksacks full of sand. One day Joe Shaw brought in a sharpened file, and made a hole which let the sand out gradually; he passed it round to the others, which resulted in the sergeant major going ballistic. He stormed off, and Joe Shaw took it upon himself to go and speak to Gentleman John. By the end of the day Harris had apologised to the players for his mistake, and agreed a different fitness programme with them. I don't think that story became public at the time.

According to Denis Clarebrough, we had 2 pre-season Friendlies, both in Holland. On August 11, we beat Sparta (Rotterdam, I assume), in Amsterdam, 5-3 (Hamilton, Pace, Simpson, Summers, Hodgson), and on August 14, Vollenden 5-1 (Pace, Shaw G., Hodgson, and Nibloe[2]). I have no idea who they are; there is a club Volendam, founded in 1977. Hodgy does mention various Friendlies abroad, but not these 2. Anyway, after sand-carrying on the Kop and a week in Holland, we were ready to go at Norwich on August 20th. Watch this space.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

August 20th 1960: Norwich 1-1 Utd

This is one of the matches I have to rely on Hodgy’s autobiography for details. He reports a big crowd (31000) in warm sunshine for Norwich’s first game in League 2 following promotion. The weather will have mattered to me, as we were on our travels, but to Butlin’s Holiday Camp, not Norwich, for a week of football, cricket, swimming, table-tennis, etc. We probably won’t have found out the Utd result until Sunday morning, but I would have gone to bed happy if I managed to survive the preliminary round of the junior table-tennis. I would have had more chance of a medal had I entered the knobbly knees competition.
The United camp were clearly optimistic for the new season, and the team was almost entirely predictable- Hodgy, Coldwell, Shaw G, Richardson, Shaw J, Summers, Russell, Hamilton, Pace, Hodgson, Simpson. Hodgy gives the team, to point to the back 6, who were all regulars for about 7 seasons. Times have changed, but Wilder and John Harris both like to keep a settled back 6 (different formation now, of course). In the last 2 years Henderson, Baldock, Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Stevens has become as automatic as the back 6 of 60 years ago. Further forward on the pitch, the only doubt was who would replace Lewis on the right-wing; for the moment, Russell moved to right-wing, and the talented, but enigmatic, Hamilton, played inside-right. Hodgy reports an exciting game, goal-less but end-to-end in the first half, with United going behind early in the second-half (Hodgy came for and missed a corner), but then we dominated, and eventually Simpson played the ball across from the left, and Hamilton ghosted in at the far post to score. 1-1 was felt to be a decent result against an experienced newly-promoted side, and set us up well for a promising home fixture v Plymouth on Tuesday.
Did anyone on here go to the Norwich game? Anyone got photos of it? In the absence of photos of the game, I add in the post below a wonderful pic of the famous 6. I should add that where the caption says ‘me’, that is not me, but Hodgy himself!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

August 20th 1960: Norwich 1-1 Utd

This is one of the matches I have to rely on Hodgy’s autobiography for details. He reports a big crowd (31000) in warm sunshine for Norwich’s first game in League 2 following promotion. The weather will have mattered to me, as we were on our travels, but to Butlin’s Holiday Camp, not Norwich, for a week of football, cricket, swimming, table-tennis, etc. We probably won’t have found out the Utd result until Sunday morning, but I would have gone to bed happy if I managed to survive the preliminary round of the junior table-tennis. I would have had more chance of a medal had I entered the knobbly knees competition.
The United camp were clearly optimistic for the new season, and the team was almost entirely predictable- Hodgy, Coldwell, Shaw G, Richardson, Shaw J, Summers, Russell, Hamilton, Pace, Hodgson, Simpson. Hodgy gives the team, to point to the back 6, who were all regulars for about 7 seasons. Times have changed, but Wilder and John Harris both like to keep a settled back 6 (different formation now, of course). In the last 2 years Henderson, Baldock, Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Stevens has become as automatic as the back 6 of 60 years ago. Further forward on the pitch, the only doubt was who would replace Lewis on the right-wing; for the moment, Russell moved to right-wing, and the talented, but enigmatic, Hamilton, played inside-right. Hodgy reports an exciting game, goal-less but end-to-end in the first half, with United going behind early in the second-half (Hodgy came for and missed a corner), but then we dominated, and eventually Simpson played the ball across from the left, and Hamilton ghosted in at the far post to score. 1-1 was felt to be a decent result against an experienced newly-promoted side, and set us up well for a promising home fixture v Plymouth on Tuesday.
Did anyone on here go to the Norwich game? Anyone got photos of it? In the absence of photos of the game, I add in the post below a wonderful pic of the famous 6. I should add that where the caption says ‘me’, that is not me, but Hodgy himself!

Great stuff Hodgy and , like you , I missed that match by being on holiday .

I took my then girlfriend to Spain , my first trip overseas which involved taking off on a grass runway at Lymm Airport in Kent in a converted ex WW 2 Dakota , flying to Beauvais Airport near Paris and then a 36 hour coach journey to Lloret de Mar .

It all seemed very exciting at the time - now I shudder at the very thought of it !

Lovely photo of our back six btw .

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Great stuff Hodgy and , like you , I missed that match by being on holiday .

I took my then girlfriend to Spain , my first trip overseas which involved taking off on a grass runway at Lymm Airport in Kent in a converted ex WW 2 Dakota , flying to Beauvais Airport near Paris and then a 36 hour coach journey to Lloret de Mar .

It all seemed very exciting at the time - now I shudder at the very thought of it !

Lovely photo of our back six btw .

Never mind all that. Did you marry her ... and when did you find out the result of the Norwich match?
Only time I’ve taken off from a grass runway is from Lands End, going to Scilly. First time we went, it had rained all day and I assumed we were going to sink into the bog. Had even less confidence when I realised the engine noise was exactly the same as our lawn mower...

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

Never mind all that. Did you marry her ... and when did you find out the result of the Norwich match?
Only time I’ve taken off from a grass runway is from Lands End, going to Scilly. First time we went, it had rained all day and I assumed we were going to sink into the bog. Had even less confidence when I realised the engine noise was exactly the same as our lawn mower...

Probably got the result the following Wednesday when the Sunday newspapers finally arrived in Spain !

As for the lady in question , sadly for her she just missed the cut when the time came for me bring an end to my wild bachelor days .

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

August 23rd, 1960: Utd 3-0 Plymouth

I am relying on hidesbehindapseudonym having a good memory to help with recollections of his 1st game. I was still on holiday at Butlin’s, by now knocked out of individual sports competitions, but making up numbers for adult football and cricket teams. I don’t have the match programme, and Hodgy’s autobiography just mentions the score, but at least I kept the following day’s Daily Mail to take home for the scrapbook:

I know it was the Daily Mail, because that must have been one of the first reports for the Mail by Frank Taylor, the only journalist to survive the Munich disaster. He was badly injured, but survived to write a book about it, and in time to get back to work before the Evening Chronicle closed. Hence his move to the Mail. He seems to have been favourably impressed by United, tips them for promotion, and picks out Joe Shaw, and Hodgy making saves in a white jersey. I never saw him wear white - what was that about?
It seems to have been a decent game, but the crowd was low (16364), which I think wasn’t unusual in August, with families like ours away on holiday. Few season tickets then, so the absences showed up in the figures. And they didn’t count cats then... Apologies for the lack of detail for this game - perhaps anyone who was there can tell us if the scores for individual players seem fair!

 

[Silent Blade]

August 20th 1960: Norwich 1-1 Utd

This is one of the matches I have to rely on Hodgy’s autobiography for details. He reports a big crowd (31000) in warm sunshine for Norwich’s first game in League 2 following promotion. The weather will have mattered to me, as we were on our travels, but to Butlin’s Holiday Camp, not Norwich, for a week of football, cricket, swimming, table-tennis, etc. We probably won’t have found out the Utd result until Sunday morning, but I would have gone to bed happy if I managed to survive the preliminary round of the junior table-tennis. I would have had more chance of a medal had I entered the knobbly knees competition.
The United camp were clearly optimistic for the new season, and the team was almost entirely predictable- Hodgy, Coldwell, Shaw G, Richardson, Shaw J, Summers, Russell, Hamilton, Pace, Hodgson, Simpson. Hodgy gives the team, to point to the back 6, who were all regulars for about 7 seasons. Times have changed, but Wilder and John Harris both like to keep a settled back 6 (different formation now, of course). In the last 2 years Henderson, Baldock, Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Stevens has become as automatic as the back 6 of 60 years ago. Further forward on the pitch, the only doubt was who would replace Lewis on the right-wing; for the moment, Russell moved to right-wing, and the talented, but enigmatic, Hamilton, played inside-right. Hodgy reports an exciting game, goal-less but end-to-end in the first half, with United going behind early in the second-half (Hodgy came for and missed a corner), but then we dominated, and eventually Simpson played the ball across from the left, and Hamilton ghosted in at the far post to score. 1-1 was felt to be a decent result against an experienced newly-promoted side, and set us up well for a promising home fixture v Plymouth on Tuesday.
Did anyone on here go to the Norwich game? Anyone got photos of it? In the absence of photos of the game, I add in the post below a wonderful pic of the famous 6. I should add that where the caption says ‘me’, that is not me, but Hodgy himself!

Peter Howard's first away match reporting for the Green Un!

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

The coaches I used to travel on were 'designated' but commercially run by SUT - 'Sheffield United Tours' (don't think they were anything to do with THE Sheffield United.)
They had a ticket office on the far side of Pond St bus station and you got on the coaches outside the office.
Straight to the ground and back straight afterward with smoking, drinking and eating all allowed on the coach
A "football special" on 4 wheels.
Fairly sure that there were still supporters club coaches going from particular pubs, WMC's and of course the Lane as well!
Always happy days going, but not always on the way back!
EDIT!
Sorry may have misread your post, I was talking about the '60's - didn't read you 1st para properly

I was too young to remember SUT buses but do remember going to a number of away games in the mid 80s on National Travel 'football special' buses from Pond Street. Did National take over SUT at some point? They were generally not full and you'd more often than not get a double seat to yourself.

 

[Harrisblade]

I was too young to remember SUT buses but do remember going to a number of away games in the mid 80s on National Travel 'football special' buses from Pond Street. Did National take over SUT at some point? They were generally not full and you'd more often than not get a double seat to yourself.

Apparently became/taken over by National Travel in 1974

Sheffield United Tours Ltd. 1935-1974 - petergould.co.uk

Arthur Kitson was one of a number of early charabanc operators that had commenced trading in the Sheffield area following the end of World War 1, a limited company being formed on the 31st December 1926. Competition amongst these operators was fierce and in order to increase efficiency and...

www.petergould.co.uk

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

August 27th 1960: Utd 1-0 Charlton

Another home victory, another clean sheet, and Utd moved top of the league after just 3 matches. Another disappointing crowd (18288), and it is noticeable that Utd’s crowds for league games had dipped considerably following relegation in 1956. Again, 3 people missing were my family, as we were on our way back from holiday, and it will have probably been Sports Report on the radio at 5.00 where we found out the score and worked out the good news about the league position.
The report is from the Sheffield Telegraph, and reflects quite a few common features of Utd’s play at the time. We played good football, did not score enough goals, were looking good for a promotion challenge, and the crowd had mixed views about inside-forward Hamilton and his inconsistency. And Pace scores headers! Again, I would welcome contributions from anyone who went to the game to fill in the gaps.
One reason I will have been annoyed to miss this game is that Johnny Summers was on the left-wing for Charlton. He was an improbable legend at the time, mainly because of 1 incredible game which made a huge impression. He was an average player when, the Saturday before Xmas 1957, in front of some 12000 fans rattling around in the huge Valley ground, he found himself in a 10-man Charlton team losing 5-1 to Huddersfield, wearing boots he had had to change into at half-time because one of his old ones had fallen apart. The crowd was drifting away, reckoning that Xmas shopping was a better bet than watching their team get thrashed at home. How wrong they were! In an unbelievably short period of time, the score went from 1-5 to 7-6, and Summers scored 5 of those second-half goals, in addition to making (assisting, in modern parlance) the other 2 goals. A legend was born, and I always looked forward to seeing him at the Lane. In fact, I don’t remember seeing him do anything, and indeed I don’t think Charlton scored a goal in any of the games he played here. And very sadly, within 2 years of this game, he died of leukaemia. A remarkable story.
As for Utd, they were soon due back in action, and the twists and turns of an intriguing season began.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

August 31, 1960: Plymouth 2-0 Utd

The matches came thick and fast, with 10 league games in 5 weeks, so I am trying to keep slightly ahead. I am sure I didn’t go to this match (I have never been to the Plymouth ground), but I have the match programme with some notes about the game, so I assume my older brother went. The random scribblings on the front cover are presumably by an errant child left unsupervised some time...
I have few details on the game, as I was often mardy enough not to include match reports in the scrapbook when we lost. We made our first change of the season, with Hodgson replaced by the promising Nibloe, and the crowd of 24873 was much higher than for the match at the Lane the week before. We lost to a goal in each half, and as the programme for the next home game gives no comment on the defeat, that is all I know.
For Plymouth, Jim McAnearney was one of the brothers who played for Wednesday, and later was coach there, and even later managed Hallam. He ran his own company in Sheffield, and seems to have been well thought of. Did anyone on here come across him?
The other familiar name was George Kirby, scorer of the opening goal. I remembered he scored lots of goals, but I had forgotten that he had an achievement similar to that of Johnny Summers, referred to in the previous post. On December 27, 1960, Kirby scored 5 goals for Plymouth... against Charlton! What was it about Charlton and matches around Xmas? I wonder if Summers played that day - 2 players on the pitch who had scored 5 goals must be unique?
The programme is largely given over to United, and is generous; though there are enough references to ‘Sheffield’ to irritate the sensitive. And the range of merchandise captures the spirit of the age - I wonder if any Blades brought back an Argyle golliwog for their kids!
Anyway, that was Utd off the top of the league, with a visit to bogey team Leyton just 3 days later ...

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

To make matters worse on August 31st, it appears that I went to Hillsborough that evening, as Wednesday took a further step in their challenge to be league champions. They beat Cardiff 2-0, with the other McAnearney brother playing for them. I was clearly so traumatised by the United defeat and Wednesday victory that all memory of the evening has been erased from my mind.

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

August 23rd, 1960: Utd 3-0 Plymouth

I am relying on hidesbehindapseudonym having a good memory to help with recollections of his 1st game. I was still on holiday at Butlin’s, by now knocked out of individual sports competitions, but making up numbers for adult football and cricket teams. I don’t have the match programme, and Hodgy’s autobiography just mentions the score, but at least I kept the following day’s Daily Mail to take home for the scrapbook:
View attachment 89234
I know it was the Daily Mail, because that must have been one of the first reports for the Mail by Frank Taylor, the only journalist to survive the Munich disaster. He was badly injured, but survived to write a book about it, and in time to get back to work before the Evening Chronicle closed. Hence his move to the Mail. He seems to have been favourably impressed by United, tips them for promotion, and picks out Joe Shaw, and Hodgy making saves in a white jersey. I never saw him wear white - what was that about?
It seems to have been a decent game, but the crowd was low (16364), which I think wasn’t unusual in August, with families like ours away on holiday. Few season tickets then, so the absences showed up in the figures. And they didn’t count cats then... Apologies for the lack of detail for this game - perhaps anyone who was there can tell us if the scores for individual players seem fair!

Thanks for this. To be fair its so long ago I cant remember much (to my shame) except we thumped them and my grandad, who was there in the halcyon days of the 1890's and 1900's, took me. I also remember thinking it was weird for a whole team to play in green and white. Brilliant stuff and really grateful for sharing this.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

We didn’t play Plymouth often, so the green shirts looked odd. Hodgy in a white jersey (according to the report) must have looked odder. I thought he wore yellow if he had to change, though that is perhaps remembering him playing for England? Come to think of it, the tv and film for that was black-and-white!
Did you get to many other games in 1960-61?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

September 3, 1960: Leyton Orient 1-4 Utd

And so the 2nd away match in 3 days saw United away at their bogey team. If you are ever bored by an older Blade telling you how wonderful the United team of that era was, just say the words ‘Leyton Orient’, and he will fall silent, with a haunted look in his eyes. Add the name ‘Tommy Johnston’, and he will run away screaming. Playing against Leyton turned a generation of Blades into pessimists - no matter how much we enjoyed watching the team and respected the manager, we knew that if we were to win promotion (only 2 teams then), you had to beat teams like Orient. Since relegation in 1956, our record against Orient at home was:
P4 Won 0 Drawn 0 Lost 4 For 4 Against 10
How to explain that? Fortunately, the away record was different, and we had won 2 and drawn 2, and this record was improved further on September 3rd when, with help of a couple of controversial refereeing decisions, we won convincingly.
T
The star of the show was young Joe Nibloe, who briefly looked like a youngster heading for the top, but whose career never really took off. 2 facts about him I don’t think I knew until recently: his father won a Cup winner’s medal with Wednesday in 1935; and young Joe, who was playing for Stockport, was killed in a road accident on the Woodhead pass in 1964.
The whole team seem to have played well that day, obeying orders to shoot on sight. The orders must have been strong for Coldwell to have been on the edge of the Orient penalty area having a shot! And 2 details from the photo of Hodgy punching the ball. If you look hard, you can see a bandage on Johnston’s left arm (like Jostein Flo) - this was protecting an injury from a mining accident. And the caption says Hodgy had played for England the previous Wednesday. How can that be? He played at Plymouth that evening. The local press was ever thus!
The news from S6 was mixed. Wednesday beat West Ham 1-0, and remained unbeaten in their pursuit of Spurs for the league title. But United beat Wednesday in the reserves match at the Lane 5-1. I can’t find the programme, unfortunately.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

September 6, 1960: Utd 3-1 Huddersfield

United made it 2 wins in 3 days, and the promotion push was back on track. As the report says, this was very much Simpson’s match, with the curse of the former player coming back to spoil Huddersfield’s evening. Even though it was at the other end of the ground, I do remember Simpson’s goal, hit, as he often did, hard and low and true. He couldn’t tackle or head a ball, but when he was on the wing he crossed the ball well, and when he was more in the centre, he could really hit a ball. I can also picture Pace’s first goal though I don’t remember it - Simpson crosses, Pace has a yard of space and heads it in - it happened frequently. The report also highlights United’s willingness to shoot, and Joe Shaw’s domination of their expensive new centre-forward,by good positional play and anticipation.
The programme provokes a few thoughts. There is concern about the poor crowds (only just over 14000 for this game), and concerns that we would be following Huddersfield in selling players (they had sold Dennis Law to buy floodlights). And the Lines from the Pavilion reveal that the kinds of arguments that go on here were around then - should we play long or a short passing game, should we shoot on sight or try to create the clear chance? And similar answers: ‘Trust in Harris’, ‘Trust in Wilder’.
Huddersfield had interesting staff and players. The manager, Eddie Boot, was sold by United to Huddersfield, and played in the 1938 Cup final. Ray Wilson, who got a bad knee injury in the game at the Lane, went on to be a World Cup winner, and goalkeeper Ray Wood was a key ManU player in the 50s. They also had 2 cricketer/footballers - Ken Taylor and Chris Balderstone. Balderstone had interesting careers. He scored a goal against Spurs in the 1974 which sent Carlisle top of the old Division 1 for the first and last time. He played for England at cricket and was an international umpire. And most remarkably, in 1975, he played cricket for Leicester at Chesterfield (51 not out at close of play), and in the evening played football for Doncaster. That takes some doing!
So, Utd were going well again, and as it says in the programme, struggling Stoke was next game up - what could possibly go wrong?
Pictures follow in next post.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

 

[Silent Blade]

HodgysBrokenThumb , did you think at the time that Willie Hamilton would be a regular that season and would have done well in the 1st division the following season?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

View attachment 90892View attachment 90893View attachment 90894View attachment 90895View attachment 90896View attachment 90897

I have 100's of these in the loft, are they worth anything?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

HodgysBrokenThumb , did you think at the time that Willie Hamilton would be a regular that season and would have done well in the 1st division the following season?

He divided opinion. My brother was an admirer of Hamilton, I preferred Russell and Hodgson at inside-forward, as they were more consistent, if less talented. He did fade quickly. We were typical brothers - he preferred Buddy Holly, I preferred Elvis. Don’t tell him, but I prefer Buddy Holly now.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I have 100's of these in the loft, are they worth anything?

My facetious comment is that they are worth reading. I doubt they have much monetary value, especially mine, as they are dog-eared, written on, and not in complete sets. There are others on here who know about the prices they sell for.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

My facetious comment is that they are worth reading. I doubt they have much monetary value, especially mine, as they are dog-eared, written on, and not in complete sets. There are others on here who know about the prices they sell for.

I read am as a kid but they are sat gathering dust now. I have loads going back to the 30's.