Forty years ago today

[Revolution]

Have you watched Withnail & I?

An Uncle Monty lookalike then?

 

[Geordie Blade]

The season before? The game we lost 2-1, near the end of the season and thought we'd blown promotion, there was a bus strike that day as well. Likely more sunnier in April/May and needing to wear a cap than October.

Yes, Beasant wore a cap in the 1983-4 game, played in bright sunshine. I can see him in my mind’s eye, looking over his shoulder, as Morris’ great consolation goal enters the top corner.

Thank you both (and your ridiculously good memories!) - that must've been one of my earliest games then. I'm pretty sure that my first ever game was the 5-0 win against Bolton on New Year's Eve that season.

 

[programmechap]

I had no real memory of the few games I’d seen before 1982 so it was exciting to me to see the likes of Man City, Leeds and Wolves (who were crap in the second of 3 straight relegations).

We looked like we’d had a great start: we drew at relegated Wolves after coming back from 2 down, beat Cardiff, drew at Oldham despite finishing with 9 men, and beat relegated Notts County 3-0, to give us 8 points in 4 games.

It turned out that 3 of these 4 teams ended up relegated, and we won 1 of the next 15 as I said above.

We were pretty shit all round that season and only stayed up because 3 teams were even shitter. The only bright spark was the signing of Mel Eves in mid Dec. Between then and the end of March our record was a respectable P15 W7 D4 L4 it's 25. Eves scoring 9 .

Eves was then injured and our last 9 games saw no wins, 3 draws and 6 defeats.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

I was pretty much an ever present that season , as said above it was great visiting grounds like Maine Rd , Elland Rd & Goodison Pk in the League Cup after 5 years in the bottom 2 tiers .

 

[programmechap]

I was pretty much an ever present that season , as said above it was great visiting grounds like Maine Rd , Elland Rd & Goodison Pk in the League Cup after 5 years in the bottom 2 tiers .

I was a season ticket holder that season.
Highlights:
1. The 2-1 win.over Leeds in March, a stunner long ranger from Eves being the winner. Leeds fans smashed up the BL upper tier in response.
2. The unexpected 4-1 win over promotion chasing Portsmouth just after Xmas. Their goal was a last minute pen which United fans greeted with ironic cheers.
3. 3-1 win over Barnsley in Feb. We went 2-0 up and Phil Thompson got clean through and shot straight at the goalie ("he should have used his nose" said the bloke next to me). Barnsley then got one back and it was squeaky bum time, before Eves sealed. Famous also for Roger Wylde's elbow breaking Dennis Mortimers nose.

 

[programmechap]

I was a season ticket holder that season.
Highlights:
1. The 2-1 win.over Leeds in March, a stunner long ranger from Eves being the winner. Leeds fans smashed up the BL upper tier in response.
2. The unexpected 4-1 win over promotion chasing Portsmouth just after Xmas. Their goal was a last minute pen which United fans greeted with ironic cheers.
3. 3-1 win over Barnsley in Feb. We went 2-0 up and Phil Thompson got clean through and shot straight at the goalie ("he should have used his nose" said the bloke next to me). Barnsley then got one back and it was squeaky bum time, before Eves sealed. Famous also for Roger Wylde's elbow breaking Dennis Mortimers nose.

Another memorable game was on New Years day game against Birmingham. Two nil.up at HT, then Birmingham made the inspired decision to target out of position Bob Atkins at left back. Their right winger terrorised him and they looked like scoring on every attack.

Half way through the second half, they were 4-2 up. United, then woke up, got one back through a Morris pen, and piled on the pressure for an equaliser, but it wasn't to be.

 

[1973Blade]

I was a season ticket holder that season.
Highlights:
1. The 2-1 win.over Leeds in March, a stunner long ranger from Eves being the winner. Leeds fans smashed up the BL upper tier in response.
2. The unexpected 4-1 win over promotion chasing Portsmouth just after Xmas. Their goal was a last minute pen which United fans greeted with ironic cheers.
3. 3-1 win over Barnsley in Feb. We went 2-0 up and Phil Thompson got clean through and shot straight at the goalie ("he should have used his nose" said the bloke next to me). Barnsley then got one back and it was squeaky bum time, before Eves sealed. Famous also for Roger Wylde's elbow breaking Dennis Mortimers nose.

I remember the Leeds game, I dint think Mel Eves was a great success with us but that was a great goal.

 

[programmechap]

I remember the Leeds game, I dint think Mel Eves was a great success with us but that was a great goal.

He had a great spell between Dec 84 and Mar 85 where he scored 9 goals and the 7 wins and 4 draws from 15 games in that period saved us from relegation.

 

[Revolution]

He had a great spell between Dec 84 and Mar 85 where he scored 9 goals and the 7 wins and 4 draws from 15 games in that period saved us from relegation.

Slight correction: he scored 8 in that spell. The 9th was in the game v Blackburn towards the end of the season after he was back from injury. We took the lead in the 79th minute and Jimmy Quinn then scored a hattrick in the last 10 minutes and we lost 3-1.

Eves was great in that spell and had a huge role in us staying up (the other key factors being Glenn Cockerill and the ineptitude of the 4 teams below us). I still remember his magnificent winner against Leeds vividly. Shame he hardly played the year after due to injury.

 

[Sithblade]

Viewing from John Street Mel had the habit of bending his back forward and falling over whenever a defender was behind him to gain a free kick.

 

[SE1Blade]

I was a season ticket holder that season.
Highlights:
1. The 2-1 win.over Leeds in March, a stunner long ranger from Eves being the winner. Leeds fans smashed up the BL upper tier in response.
2. The unexpected 4-1 win over promotion chasing Portsmouth just after Xmas. Their goal was a last minute pen which United fans greeted with ironic cheers.
3. 3-1 win over Barnsley in Feb. We went 2-0 up and Phil Thompson got clean through and shot straight at the goalie ("he should have used his nose" said the bloke next to me). Barnsley then got one back and it was squeaky bum time, before Eves sealed. Famous also for Roger Wylde's elbow breaking Dennis Mortimers nose.

That Barnsley game if I remember right was the quickest goal I’ve ever seen United score. Peter withe headed in an Edwards cross from the left. I think it was timed at 18 seconds.

 

[Revolution]

That Barnsley game if I remember right was the quickest goal I’ve ever seen United score. Peter withe headed in an Edwards cross from the left. I think it was timed at 18 seconds.

That was the same fixture the following season: same result as well, 3-1. I think 18 seconds is right. It was particularly impressive as Barnsley had kicked off. Really good header from Withe.

Edwards scored the other 2 goals, part of 9 goals he scored in 4 games.

That's the joint fastest I've seen for us, tied with Deano's goal in the 4-2 win at Oxford in 1997-8.

 

[programmechap]

Slight correction: he scored 8 in that spell. The 9th was in the game v Blackburn towards the end of the season after he was back from injury. We took the lead in the 79th minute and Jimmy Quinn then scored a hattrick in the last 10 minutes and we lost 3-1.

Eves was great in that spell and had a huge role in us staying up (the other key factors being Glenn Cockerill and the ineptitude of the 4 teams below us). I still remember his magnificent winner against Leeds vividly. Shame he hardly played the year after due to injury.

Oh yes, you're absolutely right. Didn't Blackburn have a chance of promotion , whilst our safety had finally been confirmed when Cardiff lost the day before?

I remember us looking safe when we won at Palace in late March, but our utter inability to win or score in the next 6 games (only Cockerills consolation at Birmingham on Easter Monday) meant we were left hanging on until May.

 

[programmechap]

That was the same fixture the following season: same result as well, 3-1. I think 18 seconds is right. It was particularly impressive as Barnsley had kicked off. Really good header from Withe.

Edwards scored the other 2 goals, part of 9 goals he scored in 4 games.

That's the joint fastest I've seen for us, tied with Deano's goal in the 4-2 win at Oxford in 1997-8.

I vividly remember that goal. Barnsley kicked off and knocked it down the right wing. Joe Bolton picked it up and knocked it down the wing to Edwards. He made paces down the left and crossed to Withe at the back post who nodded in.

I'm also now reminded of the great headed goal Andy Barnsley scored straight from the kick off against Bradford in March 87. Unfortunately it was in his own net. They kicked off towards the kop end, took it down the right, crossed and there was Barnsley rising like the proverbial salmon to bullet head it into the top corner. Burridge never moved.
Bradford later went 2-0 up, but we fought back to 2-2

 

[Revolution]

Oh yes, you're absolutely right. Didn't Blackburn have a chance of promotion , whilst our safety had finally been confirmed when Cardiff lost the day before?

I remember us looking safe when we won at Palace in late March, but our utter inability to win or score in the next 6 games (only Cockerills consolation at Birmingham on Easter Monday) meant we were left hanging on until May.

We were safe 2 days before when Cardiff and Boro both lost on the Saturday. The Blackburn game was on the May Day holiday.

Blackburn were indeed still in for promotion. They finished 5th, a point behind Man City who went up in 3rd place.

 

[programmechap]

S

We were safe 2 days before when Cardiff and Boro both lost on the Saturday. The Blackburn game was on the May Day holiday.

Blackburn were indeed still in for promotion. They finished 5th, a point behind Man City who went up in 3rd place.

Strangely Blackburn seemed to be playing for a draw. I remember time wasting by them when it was 0-0 in the second half and a feeling of self satisfaction when Eves put us one up with about ten mins to go.

Unfortunately, that woke Blackburn up and they realised we were, in fact, shit and they could easily. As you say, they scored 3 in that last 10 to win 3-1

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Another memorable game was on New Years day game against Birmingham. Two nil.up at HT, then Birmingham made the inspired decision to target out of position Bob Atkins at left back. Their right winger terrorised him and they looked like scoring on every attack.

Half way through the second half, they were 4-2 up. United, then woke up, got one back through a Morris pen, and piled on the pressure for an equaliser, but it wasn't to be.

Think their winger was Bobby Hopkins

 

[Stoney Blade]

My Grandad’s penultimate Blades match. My main memory of the game is Burridge doing a backflip after the final whistle.

The Wimbledon team was:

Dave Beasant
Kevin Gage
Nigel Winterburn
Steve Galliers
Mark Morris
Stephen Hatter
David Martin
Steve Ketteridge
Alan Cork
Andy Sayer (replaced by Stuart Evans)
Glynn Hodges

So that’s 6 ex Blades, Evans (who never played a first team game for us), Gage, Morris, Cork, Sayer and Hodges

That was the week after we were hammered 5-1 at Oxford when Porterfield made a number of unenforced changes (most notably dropping Joe Bolton, Keith Waugh and Colin Morris). It was rumoured he had done that to show Reg Brealey how weak the squad was. Burridge was signed in the intervening week and Mel Eves, Phil Thompson and Dennis Mortimer soon followed him.

We had been awful in losing the previous home game 3-0 to Middlesbrough and we hadn’t won in 7 games so the easy win v Wimbledon - Arnott, Cockerill and Edwards scoring after HT - was a pleasant surprise. We didn’t win for the 7 games after this either but won 7 of 14 between late December and late March.

P

 

[Stoney Blade]

That Eves goal against Leeds was a thing of beauty. Remember it curling in to this day. Lot of trouble that day in town....think Silks got smashed up?

 

[ZLB]

So it is

The win over the wombles was a good game ‘o footy. The way we stuck the ball in the onion bag was sublime.

 

[programmechap]

Think their winger was Bobby Hopkins

That's the one