Away the lads.

[Bennyand the Blades]

It was a spur of the moment thing when we decided to go to the F.A. cup game against NEW CASTLE UNITED. back in 1961. A couple of the lads went down to get the tickets for five or six of us ? but apparently there was only a few left and we all wanted to be together so they grab what they could get.
When we got off the coach we all trotted off to find the gate we had to go through, and when we got inside found our selves standing on the NEWCASLE KOP feeling very much on our own in the middle of a crowded all standing KOP.
Naturally BILLY RUSSELL had scored 3 goals by half time and the main body of Blades supporters over on our left were belting out "ON IIKLEY MOOR BA TAT at the top of their voicers, while we sort of quietly mumbled along.
Don't get me wrong the fans around us were nice as pie, and their team actually pulled one back, but it was a relief to get back on that SUT coach...
There must a million stories out there about about away games.....

 

[Silent Blade]

It was a spur of the moment thing when we decided to go to the F.A. cup game against NEW CASTLE UNITED. back in 1961. A couple of the lads went down to get the tickets for five or six of us ? but apparently there was only a few left and we all wanted to be together so they grab what they could get.
When we got off the coach we all trotted off to find the gate we had to go through, and when we got inside found our selves standing on the NEWCASLE KOP feeling very much on our own in the middle of a crowded all standing KOP.
Naturally BILLY RUSSELL had scored 3 goals by half time and the main body of Blades supporters over on our left were belting out "ON IIKLEY MOOR BA TAT at the top of their voicers, while we sort of quietly mumbled along.
Don't get me wrong the fans around us were nice as pie, and their team actually pulled one back, but it was a relief to get back on that SUT coach...
There must a million stories out there about about away games.....

Post in thread '60 years ago this month...'

Mar 2, 2021

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[Bennyand the Blades]

If I remember rightly Billy Russell was a school teacher and would have had to give up his job to turn professional, so he never did....

 

[Houston_Blade]

Post in thread '60 years ago this month...'

Mar 2, 2021

• HodgysBrokenThumb

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How did the formations used to work when they show 2-3-5? Was it actually like that or was the ‘centre half’ in this formation actually a centre back with the 2 ‘full backs’ either side?

I’ve read ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ (boring in my opinion despite the hype!) so can see where it all started but it seems miles away from today’s game of sitting in and passing the ball around waiting for the right opportunity.

 

[Isaw Joeshaw]

How did the formations used to work when they show 2-3-5? Was it actually like that or was the ‘centre half’ in this formation actually a centre back with the 2 ‘full backs’ either side?

I’ve read ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ (boring in my opinion despite the hype!) so can see where it all started but it seems miles away from today’s game of sitting in and passing the ball around waiting for the right opportunity.

It was exactly as you suggest .

Virtually every team at the time played with the same formation , but contrary to the positional layout shown on every programme throughout the land , the so called centre half almost always played between the fullbacks in a back three.

The wing halves supported the defence when facing attacks but were also expected to assist the forwards when attacking in the way that wingbacks do in some modern formations .

These were unheard of at the time , since every team had dedicated wingers who ideally had the ability both to go past defenders and deliver crosses into the box and to score a significant number of goals themselves .

In that respect , in my early days of watching the Blades we were truly blessed with with the likes of Ringstead , Hawksworth and particularly Colin Grainger being shining examples . The latter is still the only English player to have scored two goals against Brazil and I was fortunate enough to see him do it live on a black and white 14 inch T V !

 

[Houston_Blade]

It was exactly as you suggest .

Virtually every team at the time played with the same formation , but contrary to the positional layout shown on every programme throughout the land , the so called centre half almost always played between the fullbacks in a back three.

The wing halves supported the defence when facing attacks but were also expected to assist the forwards when attacking in the way that wingbacks do in some modern formations .

These were unheard of at the time , since every team had dedicated wingers who ideally had the ability both to go past defenders and deliver crosses into the box and to score a significant number of goals themselves .

In that respect , in my early days of watching the Blades we were truly blessed with with the likes of Ringstead , Hawksworth and particularly Colin Grainger being shining examples . The latter is still the only English player to have scored two goals against Brazil and I was fortunate enough to see him do it live on a black and white 14 inch T V !

It makes sense as to why I was brought up with my dad calling a central defender a ‘centre half’ and it’s something I use now when coaching and kids look at me gone out

It fascinates me that football was played with this offensive mentality and although there are some technically superb players nowadays it would be good to see whether they could survive in such a system!