Smallest Blades following?

[BladeFisher]

After best and worst matches, I wondered what was the smallest Blades following you recall at a game?

Now I don't include friendlies here, but of course the ZDS, Associate Members Cup etc are fair game and it is these competitions that bring my entry.

It was Leeds (A) in the Full Members Cup and I recall half a bus load of us made it up to Fellons Road. Amazingly I can't remember the game although it was 1-1 but the size of the crowd and 20 odd Blades!

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Remember going to Stoke in the Full Members Cup in 86-87 season there was about 50 Blades on the away end that night. And not much more at Leeds in the FMC in 87-88. BF I take it the one you're on about was the one at Leeds in 85-86?

One of the smallest following's I've been too in a league game was a re-arranged mid-week match at Charlton in 1985, maybe a couple of hundred Blades that night.

 

[S64 Blade]

For a league game for me, it would probably be Gillingham in around 2004. It was the Sunday afternoon game that was on Sky (think we won 3-0...). There was only 3-400 there I think.

 

[TAMUS]

You can not always tell how many away fans attend , some grounds it is best to keep your gob shut . Smallest Blades choir would have been a Better question .

 

[OllyBlade]

QPR away in 2011. We were pretty much certs for relegation, it was on Monday night, it was on Sky, the ticket cost 30 quid. Surprisingly there weren't many of us there!

 

[BladeFisher]

Remember going to Stoke in the Full Members Cup in 86-87 season there was about 50 Blades on the away end that night. And not much more at Leeds in the FMC in 87-88. BF I take it the one you're on about was the one at Leeds in 85-86?

One of the smallest following's I've been too in a league game was a re-arranged mid-week match at Charlton in 1985, maybe a couple of hundred Blades that night.

Yeah it was! Looked it up in my old SUFC scap book (sad git), I put an asterisk against the games I saw. We must have won on pens or something as we played Citeh in the next round and lost 1-2 at home.

 

[Bedrock Blade]

As I recall there must have only been 40 or 50 of us at Portsmouth when that silly twat ran down the touch line and decked the linesman.

 

[pommpey]

Rearranged Pompey vs SUFC 01 Feb 1988. It had been fucking it down all weekend and the cup game was postponed from Saturday to the following Tuesday night. It was still fucking it down on the Tuesday and I believe fixture pile-up was a factor in forcing the game (Bassett's first) to go ahead.

I was meant to meet my mate, another matelot Blades fan but he stood me up. Another couple of mates, both Royal Marines, passed by on their way and persuaded me to stand with them in the Fratton End rather than on the open Milton End. Expecting a pasting from Pompey and nowt much to cheer about, I stood with them.

Tony Philliskirk scored in the Fratton End on about five minutes. I jumped in the air celebrating amongst the Mushers and, feeling my mates hands pulling me down and the Mushers looking at me for some violent retribution, stopped cheering. There must have been about twenty people over on the other end jumping up and down as it siled down. The centre of the pitch was a fucking lake and this helped Pompey because the equalised and then took the lead, the second being a ball the was played across the park, held up in the lake and Mick Quinn stole in, rounded the keeper and scored. We also had an injury in the penalty area by the Mushers and when Harry came over to see, the Mushers jeered him with "You'll get the sack again, Bas-sett, Bas-sett."

He didn't of course.

pommpey

 

[Northyorksblade]

As I recall there must have only been 40 or 50 of us at Portsmouth when that silly twat ran down the touch line and decked the linesman.

Many more than that

 

[pommpey]

Many more than that

You're right. About 350-400. My lad was mascot (with his mate from school, his dad was a Palace fan and wasn't impressed both with his lad, our fans or us, in general)

It states in the Miscellany book that Trace fouled their player outside the area, but as I recall he handled outside, and the ref missed this, only to be snitched on by the lino, which prompted our Brighton-living cockend to sprint up the touchline and spark out said lino as Trace trudged down the tunnel after being carded. Mark Halsey was the ref.

This was ten years to the day after the match above!

And Pompey were still in the shit back then as well!

pommpey

 

[sitwell]

ninian park is the smallest league following I remember ,about 200 I reckon. Cant remember the score but its the only time ive touched the ball ,headed it in fact

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

1968 away at Anfield on Good Friday - there was no public transport that day and I doubt if there were 6 Blades made the trip over.

A mate and I hitch-hiked there and back (return journey courtesy of the team coach) and we won 2-1!

The reason I say there were about 6 of us is that when the Blades came out of the tunnel (separate entrances of the teams in those days) is we were greeted by a wall of silence and the two of us and a small group of 3 or 4 in another stand were the only Blades I could see applauding

 

[metalblade]

I went to Peterbrough for the night match (Watney's Cup) if there were 50 Blades there that would be stretching it, as seen in the BBC Match of the day video, a few fans behind the away end goal that was us.
Went down in the mates dads Morris 1100 which could only take 3 people due to there being no floor in the back o/s............... a reyt flintstones job that car.

 

[Grecian2000]

Mick Quinn stole in

I'm sure the fat bastard would be well chuffed to have stolen in anywhere. Surely "waddled in" or "blubbered onto the ball" would be nearer the mark.

There were many games in the mid seventies where we regularly took only one or two coaches to the southern games. The day we hot relegated at Spurs (5-0) was a prime example. Arsenal away that same season (1-0, freezing cold, virtualy empty clock end, fucking Chris Guthrie etc.).

When I first started going away in the 60's the whole "away end" hadn't really been established and you could only tell how many fans you had when you scored and see who cheered. As we often didn't score you never really knew how many were dotted around.

 

[Revolution]

It states in the Miscellany book that Trace fouled their player outside the area, but as I recall he handled outside, and the ref missed this, only to be snitched on by the lino, which prompted our Brighton-living cockend to sprint up the touchline and spark out said lino as Trace trudged down the tunnel after being carded. Mark Halsey was the ref.

No, it was a foul. Tracey brought John Aloisi down outside the box.

A couple of things about that game were overshadowed by the linesman incident. There was Shuan Derry keeping a clean sheet of course, but also United's goal, which came when Lee Sandford (I think) swung in a cross which Alan Knight caught but fumbled into his own net. I don't think we'd had a shot on target at that point.

The smallest away following I've ever been in for a competitive game is at Ipswich in the PL in 1994. It was snowing and bitterly cold, and there were only a couple of hundred blades there from memory. There were only about 10,000 there in total.

 

[Deleted member 875]

I think the smallest I can remember being in was about 100 of us for an abysmal 4-2 league cup defeat against Bury in the 94/95 season.

The misery of the night compounded as I went on the train and missed the last one back to Chapeltown as well as the last bus and I had a 3 hour walk back home. It was also the same day OJ Simpson got acquitted.

 

[mattbianco1]

After best and worst matches, I wondered what was the smallest Blades following you recall at a game?

Now I don't include friendlies here, but of course the ZDS, Associate Members Cup etc are fair game and it is these competitions that bring my entry.

It was Leeds (A) in the Full Members Cup and I recall half a bus load of us made it up to Fellons Road. Amazingly I can't remember the game although it was 1-1 but the size of the crowd and 20 odd Blades!

Don't think it'd ever get this bad http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20700529

 

[Bedrock Blade]

You're right. About 350-400. My lad was mascot (with his mate from school, his dad was a Palace fan and wasn't impressed both with his lad, our fans or us, in general)

It states in the Miscellany book that Trace fouled their player outside the area, but as I recall he handled outside, and the ref missed this, only to be snitched on by the lino, which prompted our Brighton-living cockend to sprint up the touchline and spark out said lino as Trace trudged down the tunnel after being carded. Mark Halsey was the ref.

This was ten years to the day after the match above!

And Pompey were still in the shit back then as well!

pommpey

Amazing what time can do to the old memory. I could have sworn there were no-where near that many of us.

 

[grafikhaus]

When I first started going away in the 60's the whole "away end" hadn't really been established and you could only tell how many fans you had when you scored and see who cheered. As we often didn't score you never really knew how many were dotted around.

Good point, Grecian. I remember late '70s at the Lane. Bolton won 5-1 and the away end under the BLUT periodically erupted as it had been 'infiltrated' by Blades even though there were about 5k Trotters there.

(As a side note, after the game me and some mates were stood near Park Square roundabout on the waste ground that now holds Ponds Forge. We were only there to wave to the Bolton fans as their coaches stopped at the lights. Honest. Anyway, one coach stopped and it looked as if they were about to pile off for a ruck. One of our lads (Peggy), a fairly slightly-built bloke and obviously enraged by our drubbing (and about 12 pints) picked up a railway sleeper that was lying on the ground and, like a caber-tosser, launched it at the coach. Awesome.)

Oh, and it always seems that the end behind the right-hand goal at Craven Cottage has no form of segregation.

 

[BusheyBlade]

Wimbledon away in April 2003 just before we played Arsenal in the Cup semi. It was a Monday night and you could hear a pin drop at Selhurst Park.

I also recall a small following for a League Cup match away at Watford in the 90s. Andy Scott scored for us and I think we won the second leg 4-0. There were very few Blades there, a large number in suits having seemingly come straight from work.

 

[Revolution]

Wimbledon away in April 2003 just before we played Arsenal in the Cup semi. It was a Monday night and you could hear a pin drop at Selhurst Park.

I also recall a small following for a League Cup match away at Watford in the 90s. Andy Scott scored for us and I think we won the second leg 4-0. There were very few Blades there, a large number in suits having seemingly come straight from work.

We had 1,000 there for the Wimbledon game, out of an attendance of about 1,300. There were more Blades in suits than casual gear. We'd played Palace at Selhurst on the Saturday. That was the smallest attendance at a United league game since about 1901.

I remember the Watford game - Peter Kennedy scored a direct free kick to equalise Scott's goal - but I can't remember how many of us were there.

 

[GAZBLADE]

For a league game for me, it would probably be Gillingham in around 2004. It was the Sunday afternoon game that was on Sky (think we won 3-0...). There was only 3-400 there I think.

I was there too. Horrendous atmosphere. No singing whatsoever that afternoon. It was 3-1, i remember Leigh Bromby scored an own goal and Morgs had a good battle with Darius Henderson that game.

 

[BusheyBlade]

We had 1,000 there for the Wimbledon game, out of an attendance of about 1,300. There were more Blades in suits than casual gear. We'd played Palace at Selhurst on the Saturday.

I remember seeing that quoted as the official figure. At the time I thought there were never that many there. We had some good banter with Kelvin Davis during the second half.

 

[sitwell]

we had an away game at Southend on a friday night in the late 80s ,lost again I think and there were hardly any of us there. We walked into the board room after the game and told them we were Sheff Utd staff and players and never got challenged.

 

[Maidenhead]

I remember seeing that quoted as the official figure. At the time I thought there were never that many there. We had some good banter with Kelvin Davis during the second half.

That was the game I revived the chat of "who's your father, who's your father, who's your father referee" You could see that he couldn't help laughing. I don't remember there being a 1000 of us in that tiny end though.

 

[Racy]

Mill wall think it was about 1978 1-1 Colin Franks scored about 100-150 Blades I can remember Millwall launching a big piece of timber into the Blades.

5 of us went in the car sat in what we thought was a safe stand wrong! Didnt say a word even when we scored.

 

[WorkingtonBlade]

Oh, and it always seems that the end behind the right-hand goal at Craven Cottage has no form of segregation.

I believe that end is designated for 'neutrals'. The result, of course, is that it fills up with a mixture of home and away fans, and not neutrals at all.

Just checked - the 'Football Ground Guide' site describes it as follows:

"One other item of interest is that Fulham is the only Club that I know of that has a designated area of the ground reserved for 'neutral supporters'. This is located on one side of the Putney End, adjacent to the away fans section. I guess that the original idea was to attract tourists to London to a game. However, for each game there seems to be a good mix, of home, away and neutral fans in this area. Both away fans and neutral supporters use the same entrance and both can access the same facilities at the back of the stand."

In terms of the smallest away following I've been a part of - I remember travelling to Wolves at the height of the "fuel strike" (I'm hopeless with dates, but I think it was around 2000/2001?) I remember it as being about 200 of us there. It felt strange at a time when we had good away followings, and always took a lot to Wolves. We lost, and the atmosphere was pretty dreadful - although I do remember us singing "what a waste of fuel"....

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Wrexham in Sherpa Van trophy 1988 - we actually got all way to Wrexham and game got called off there was 12 of us in minibus, the steward who told us the game was off gave us the pies they were gonna sell that night, we stopped at hotel team were staying in on way home and remember been stood mesmerised as Brian Deane fired about 100 quid in a bandit.

We went to re-arranged match week after and there was about 30 Blades in attendance. We drew 1-1 and Benstead got sent off after match.

 

[sitwell]

Mill wall think it was about 1978 1-1 Colin Franks scored about 100-150 Blades I can remember Millwall launching a big piece of timber into the Blades.

5 of us went in the car sat in what we thought was a safe stand wrong! Didnt say a word even when we scored.[/q


I was there too ,while we were kept behind after despite the cops guarding us at the top of the steps a Millwall fan was walking amongst us brandishing a knife and the cops just told him to move on .The telegraph pole was quite funny if it wasnt so ridiculous ,they were amazingly accurate with coins too. We ran the gauntlet under the bridge out of the car park and were followed for a couple of miles in cars out of the area ,definitely the most worried I have ever been at a football match.
Did have worst experiences at northampton and Chester but the only connection with football was that we had played there.

 

[GlosBlade]

Went to Sunderland 1978/9 season, midweek game, a couple of coaches from the Lane, no obvious 'away' section at th ground, we stood on the terrace with Sunderland fans and kept quiet..I doubt there were more than a couple of hundred blades there that day ..got absolutely hammered on the pitch, 6-1 or 6-2. Strange as our away followings were generally very good.