Your favourite 70's Blades moments

[Groucho Blade]

So many fab memories on here already. Thanks everyone. Happy days.

One of my favourite away games in the 70s was at a very very wet White Hart Lane (75 I think...) The rain bucketed down all morning. When we got down to London loads of lads thought that there was no chance of the game being on so they went to the boozer all afternoon instead. I hung around the ground and was amazed when I heard that the match was on. We went 1-0 down and I wondered if I should have gone to the pub as well. But what a second half. We destroyed a very good Spurs side. Goals from TC, Keith Eddy and Woody (who was absolutely brilliant that day) sealed an epic 1-3 victory for the red and white wizards. There was much joy and leaping about...I may even have hugged Shred.

 

[JJ Sefton]

It was the norm for decades to predict the first 11 in the match programme! Squads weren’t very big in those days and teams generally picked themselves. Non of this squad rotation and “too many games, we need a rest” bollocks. Football was played by real men in mud baths!

When Villa won the European Cup in the early 80s I think they used summat like 13 players all season.

 

[JJ Sefton]

So many fab memories on here already. Thanks everyone. Happy days.

One of my favourite away games in the 70s was at a very very wet White Hart Lane (75 I think...) The rain bucketed down all morning. When we got down to London loads of lads thought that there was no chance of the game being on so they went to the boozer all afternoon instead. I hung around the ground and was amazed when I heard that the match was on. We went 1-0 down and I wondered if I should have gone to the pub as well. But what a second half. We destroyed a very good Spurs side. Goals from TC, Keith Eddy and Woody (who was absolutely brilliant that day) sealed an epic 1-3 victory for the red and white wizards. There was much joy and leaping about...I may even have hugged Shred.

Skip to 15:40...

 

[Guesty]

When Villa won the European Cup in the early 80s I think they used summat like 13 players all season.

And only a couple were internationals, I think.

 

[Groucho Blade]

Skip to 15:40...

Thanks Walthamstow. That was a cracking season. One of the best ever in my time as a Blade. A wonderful team.
Gawd knows where it all went wrong the following season.

 

[JJ Sefton]

Thanks Walthamstow. That was a cracking season. One of the best ever in my time as a Blade. A wonderful team.
Gawd knows where it all went wrong the following season.

I could post that video if you like?

 

[Groucho Blade]

I could post that video if you like?

Nooooo! Thanks for the offer Wathy but this thread is supposed to be about happy memories!

 

[super_pig]

Skip to 15:40...

'the' team..

 

[benn5712]

Trevor Hockey's Triumph car covered in blue velvet type material. Used to park it just off John st match days, everybody would touch it in passing.

 

[Barney]

Learnt a lot so far, cheers everyone.

Did Ken Furphy have the same set of players as John Harris?

 

[Silent Blade]

Learnt a lot so far, cheers everyone.

Did Ken Furphy have the same set of players as John Harris?

Yes, the players he signed weren't 1st division class. Cant think of any of his signings that really improved the team. Jim Brown, perhaps?

 

[benn5712]

Yes, the players he signed weren't 1st division class. Cant think of any of his signings that really improved the team. Jim Brown, perhaps?

Terry Garbutt, sadly way out of his depth
Keith Eddy, Dave Bradford I seem to remember were'nt too bad.
Tony Field. In the late 80's early 90's, a sales rep used to visit a company I worked for, he was ex pig player. Graham - didn't get a surname. Said
Field could not get into their reserve side at Barrow, and they called him Flipper, aptly. Scored a good few goals for us though.

 

[Speedracer]

I wasn't a massive fan of Tony Field either, but he did score some good goals for us. I remember an interview with TC after the 7-0 thrashing of Ipswich & "that" goal, that he was unbelievable in training all the time but seemed to go into his shell during games, suggesting it was a mental thing.

 

[Silent Blade]

Terry Garbutt, sadly way out of his depth
Keith Eddy, Dave Bradford I seem to remember were'nt too bad.
Tony Field. In the late 80's early 90's, a sales rep used to visit a company I worked for, he was ex pig player. Graham - didn't get a surname. Said
Field could not get into their reserve side at Barrow, and they called him Flipper, aptly. Scored a good few goals for us though.

Eddy was signed by Harris in summer 1972

Field wasnt really a good player, he did score a few vital goals though

 

[benn5712]

I wasn't a massive fan of Tony Field either, but he did score some good goals for us. I remember an interview with TC after the 7-0 thrashing of Ipswich & "that" goal, that he was unbelievable in training all the time but seemed to go into his shell during games, suggesting it was a mental thing.

Think it was a 4 - 1 vs Ipswich, and he was up and down like Basil Fawlty's moose. The 7 -0 was an earlier game under John Harris' tenure.

 

[Silent Blade]

I wasn't a massive fan of Tony Field either, but he did score some good goals for us. I remember an interview with TC after the 7-0 thrashing of Ipswich & "that" goal, that he was unbelievable in training all the time but seemed to go into his shell during games, suggesting it was a mental thing.

Field didnt play in the 7-0 thrashing in November 1971. We didnt sign him until March 1974. That goal he scored against Ipswich was his second in the 3-1 win in August 1974

 

[benn5712]

Eddy was signed by Harris in summer 1972

Field wasnt really a good player, he did score a few vital goals though

Thanks for that. Eddy was half decent.

 

[Speedracer]

Silent Blade & Benn, sorry you are right, I was focusing on TC's quote & forgot the goal was in a different game.

 

[SW12 to S12 to S18]

The squad size was very small back then, compared to now. There was only 1 substitute allowed. The number on the shirt meant something. 1 was goalkeeper. 2 was right back. 3 was left back. etc. We knew who the first 11 would be every week, it was rare for it to change. The only thing I noticed was that John Harris would sometimes alternative Barlow with Flynn, as the home crowd didn't seem so keen on Frank Barlow. 12 was substitute. It was the same for most teams, so it was easy to know the team when the programme was printed a few days before the game. Back then, an "injury" usually meant a broken leg, something serious that would keep someone out of the team. None of this "hamstring" and "calf-strain" nonsense. Players played 3 times a week regularly, on pitches that resembled ploughed fields at times. They didn't get "tired" and need to be "rested". Squad rotation wasn't an option.

I'd say the team listed in the programme was accurate more often than not, however, it was routine to take a pen to the game, buy a programme, and cross out the names of any player who wasn't playing, and write in the name of the substitute.

The programme was worth buying back then. It wasn't a mass produced multi-paged glossy thing full of adverts - it was a simple journal of the events of our club as the season unfolded. And in addition to the team sheet, it had a list of all that days fixtures in the back, and each one had a letter. Sheffield Wednesday's fixture was always "A". If you bought a programme you would be able to check the scores as they came in by referring to your programme and watching the man carry the numbered tiles to the manual scoreboard at the Bramall lane end.

I'm not going to say football was better then, because I think the standards of football are much higher today and the footballers are more athletic. But some things were better. It was certainly much more atmospheric, with bigger crowds. The way the game was played was very different back then. Tackles and punches were flying in all over the place. It was a more gladiatorial and engaging experience and very unrefined compared to today. The toilets at the top of the kop were often swimming 6 inches deep in urine at half-time. We learned to walk on the side of our shoes in order to go for a piss. There was little or no choice in terms of half-time food, apart from pies. There were no telly's to watch, no mobile phones to check. It was all about being there and being totally involved in the experience.

All that and you could have a beer whilst you watched the match. Pigs have a lot to answer for!