Memory Lane 50 Years ago Today- 1971-72 Promotion Season - Wednesday 3 May 1972 - We finish as runners up! - Southend United 2 Gillingham 2

[LCBB72]

Going down to Bournemouth there was a feeling of optimism like there was in the 68/69 cup run . Travelling down on the coach you had Ernie by Benny Hill , Cos I luv You by Slade , Jeepster by TRex amongst other coming out of the coach radio , the papers were saying how were Southend going to cope with McDougall and how were Bournemouth going to cope with Bill Garner . Getting of the coachs a quick count up said there was about 20 odd Southend and Leigh Com chaps altogether there . The police put Southend in the open North Bank end 'although some Leigh had tried to get into the covered Bournemouth end before being marched round the North end as that was were some Leigh Com who were hitch hikeing down were told Leigh would be' . During the warm up before the game Southend were wearing white tops which looked very nice , during the kick about plenty of waves from the players to the Southend supporters behind the goal . The game kicked of with Bournemouth kicking towards there supporters covered end , there was nothing between the two teams really but Bournemouth were having trouble handling Bill Garner and Gary Moore in the air all that was needed was one of Terry Johnsons or Bernie Lewis's cross's be nodded down to King Billy to put in the goal . About 15 minutes into the game a rumpus broke out in the Bournemouth end the Leigh boys who hitch hike down had arrived . The police marched the up to the North Bank to were all the Southend were . Sadly Boyer scored to put Bournemouth one up before half time . You always had the feeling that Southend could score in the second half . About 15 minutes into the second half the gates at both ends of the ground were open as like all grounds at the time .About 200+ Bournemouth started to mob up on the left of the 20 Leigh Com and Southend and you knew this was going to be big . The order stay together and dont run went round , and then bang it went off , there were chains iron bars and razors floating around . Southends goalkeeper John Roberts said 'he did not remember the Villa game much but remembered the Bournemouth game' his goal was right in front of the Southend and a couple of times it looked like he was going to jump in and give Leigh Com a hand . The worst trouble came whem McDougall scored his goal and stood in the goal sticking his two fingers and laughing at the Southend and bang it went of again but even worse . A well known Leigh chap had a razor put down the back of his sheepskin , not a chap to upset . When the final whistle went it was a case of if only we could of scored first the result could of been different . Coming out the ground The Bournemouth mob seemed to back off as they knew these few Leigh and Southend were than a match for them . All in all it was a good day out . Great Times , Great Memories and Great Mate's . PS , I am sorry if you were one of the supporters who got on the coach to come home and could not find a seat , it was because when we arrived at Bournemouth we were all given tickets to get back on the coach to come home . Knowing that some Leigh boys had hitch hiked down as we got off we managed to get tickets for the home trip for them Sorry . RIP Bob Jennings Al Vincent and Ian Southgate .

 

[ozzie]

Great stuff LCBB 72.
I was as ive written a 15 year old and it was mental.
Remember the B&Bafc "mascot",who was Englands as well..Ken Bailey ?? walking around the pitch with his top hat and holding his board up,smiling at everybody,but when he came to our end..not sure if it was the first or second time..then walking onto the pitch coz our fans tried to knock his tophat off and pinch it.
Off subject (from this game),he sat a few row`s in front of me,on the right, at the Hungary v England game(1981)..and according to the papers was splattered with blood on his England jacket because of the trouble and rock throwing at the game by the Hungarian fans.

 

[ozzie]

In the Southend end at this game,three maybe a couple more B&BAFC fans in came and stood about two yards from me.They looked like Hells Angels wearing Bmouth scarfs and then started to sing.."Bournemouth Boot Boy`s ru"...i was pushed aside and a minor scuffle...they were not seen again..other than maybe at Bmouth general.
Chris.D.took a coach,which i went on.it was only at best half full,but leaving the ground somewhere in Bmouth..something went through the coach window and exited the other side.It was lucky,whatever it was did not hit someone on the head.

 

[ozzie]

Or that song we sung
Super Mac
Super Mac you`re a load mucking cr-p
But it proves,the North Bank/PAK knew...he was,but Man Utd paid big money for him...please,listen to the PAK...we know a good player

 

[sufc_statto]

Saturday December 11, 1971 - FA Cup (R2)
AFC Bournemouth (0) 2 (Boyer 69', MacDougall 80')
Southend Utd (0) 0
Venue: Dean Court, Bournemouth. KO: 3.00
Attendance: 14,643

AFC Bournemouth: F Davies, M Machin, K Miller, J Benson, B Kitchener, T Powell, M Cave, T MacDougall, P Boyer, J De Garis, T Scott.
Southend Utd: J Roberts, R Ternent, A Smith, D Elliott, J Jacques, B Albeson, T Johnson, B Best, B Garner, G Moore, B Lewis. Sub: P Taylor.

Match Report
THE fingertips of Fred Davies and a “blunder” by referee Charles Nicholls robbed Southend United of a place in the third round F.A. Cup draw.

That was the verdict of disappointed Blues manager Arthur Rowley after Saturday’s tense battle at Dean Court.

Davies’ moment of glory came midway through the opening half.

A quick break down the right wing by Terry Johnson ended with Billy Best powering in a great header.

It looked a certain goal as the ball arrowed towards the far post, but somehow the Bournemouth ‘keeper hurled himself across his line to turn the shot away.

“It was a brilliant save and one which turned the match,” said Rowley. “If we had scored then I’m certain we would have earned at least a replay.”

There was no such praise from the United boss for Nicholls. Rowley was left fuming over the home side’s opening goal in the 69th minute.

It arrived after Gary Moore’s headed clearance from a corner struck Keith Miller and rebounded to Ted MacDougall.

The striker’s shot was going well wide when Phil Boyer dived full length to deflect the ball past a stranded John Roberts.

“It was never a corner in the first place,” stormed Rowley. “as far as I’m concerned it was just one of several bad decisions made by the referee,”

To say the least, some of Nicholls’ rulings, were strange. He booked Bernard Lewis for a hard tackle on Boyer early in the game, but took no action as Bill Garner and Terry Johnson were hacked down from behind later in the game.

The result was that the match gradually slipped from his control. The climax, if you can call it that, came just before the end, when the game was held up for three minutes.

Alex Smith and Tony Powell clashed and within seconds players from both sides were squaring up to each other and punches were exchanged.

In the melee Powell was apparently knocked out, but no names went Into the referee’s book.

That the match ended on such a sour note was a great shame, particularly after an absorbing first hour.

In that period everything went well for Blues. True, Bournemouth did most of the pressing, but the clear-cut chances arrived at the other end.

Ten minutes after Davies had produced that magnificent save, Best suffered more cruel tuck when Miller kicked the ball away a couple of yards from the line with the goalkeeper stranded.

The player I feel sorry for is United’s Brian Albeson. The records will show that MacDougall, rated in the £200,000 class, found the target yet again.

But until that 80th minute when he rose to head home Miller’s cross, the Bournemouth ace had been completely outplayed by the Blues defender.

Bill Garner looked a much more skilled forward at the other end.

Yet head and shoulders above him and everyone else was Boyer, surely a player destined to reach the top.

Elusive and quick thinking, he bore out Rowley’s “he’s the man to watch” pre-match forecast.

He was always found in space, providing the speed and inspiration to keep Bournemouth surging forward. And there was simply nothing Blues could do about It.

 

[sufc_statto]

Saturday December 18, 1971 - Division 4
Bury (0) 2 (Connelly 70', Jones 82')
Southend Utd (0) 0
Venue: Gigg Lane, Bury. KO: 3.15
Attendance: 3,176

Bury: K Hancock, H Tinney, M Saile, D Holt, J Robson, T McDermott, J Connelly, B Rudd, G Jones, J Murray, G Hamstead.
Southend Utd: J Roberts, A Smith, R Ternent, D Elliott, B Albeson, J Jacques, T Johnson, B Best, B Garner, G Moore, B Lewis (B Myton 73').

Match Report
Nobody expects Southend United to win all their matches! They must be allowed to lose some of them! But if they want promotion, which I am sure they do, then they must start putting the Burys of the Fourth Division in their places, writes Alf Smirk.

in the brief intervals during which they “clicked” last Saturday, they were by far the better side, but they clicked far too rarely and paid the penalty. Bury, as was to be expected from the home side, dominated the attacks, but they were well held for 70 minutes by a United defence which, up till then, had hardly put a foot wrong.

Then, struggling for the one point which it is always difficult to win away from home, United conceded two goals.

Don’t blame the defence entirely! They had done wonders up to the first Bury goal by keeping a blank score-sheet, but their help from the middle of the park and the front-runners was practically non-existent.

United, to all appearances. were happy to settle for a point right from the opening whistle, but once they had fallen one goal behind their task was made doubIy difficult. In the end, it proved too much.

They took a fair old battering in the first half but, thanks to the alertness of goalkeeper John Roberts and the shortcomings of the home finishing, there was a blank score-sheet at half-time.

Bury redoubled their efforts after the interval but, apart from Roberts dropping a high ball and Ray Ternent clearing off the line, the Blues’ defence still played it off the cuff and were rarely in difficulties. A few minutes’ absence as Brian Albeson was attended to after being kicked on the head may or may not have made all the difference.

After 70 minutes, Bury took the lead. Ternent was penalised for a foul on the touch-line and Bill Rudd’s free-kick was nodded in by John Connelly who was given far too much room to pick his spot.

United’s best, and probably only, chance came 10 minutes later. Dave Elliott flighted a free-kick into the Bury penalty area. Bill Garner headed it on and Gary Moore, admittedly with Terry Johnson in close attendance, completely missed his kick right in front of the posts.

That was the end of United. Two minutes later the result was all nicely wrapped up. Terry McDermott floated across a centre from the left, the United defence missed the cross and George Jones had all the time and space in the world to head past Roberts.

While the result was important to United’s promotion hopes, the manner of their defeat must cause manager Arthur Rowley some concern. Quite frankly, while always in with a chance of one point up to that first Bury goal, the possibility of getting two was extremely remote. While blaming the defence for both goals (no well-organised defence would have conceded either) it must be admitted they had little help from the other departments.

There was a distinct lack of communication between midfield and forwards, the cohesion was missing for long spells. Yet, as half-a-dozen local season ticket holders sitting behind remarked, United were the best side to visit Gigg Lane this season. This only goes to prove how bad the others must have been.

In their rare moments of togetherness. Blues definitely looked the better footballing side, but these moments were so few and far between, they were really only isolated instances.

Brian Myton, on loan from Middlesbrough, made his United debut when called on for Bernie Lewis after 73 minutes. It was not enough to evaluate his potential but at least he didn’t suffer in comparison with the others.

Bury were hard but orthodox and were nothing to write home about. But if United want to gain promotion, then they have got to start murdering sides like these

League Table

 

[LBBlue]

Saturday 18th December 2-0 defeat at Bury.

Away to Bury, the Saturday before Christmas was probably going to be an anticlimax after the previous Saturday's cup tie.

The second return fixture of the season Bury (0-0 at home in September) were to become the only side that we didn't score against in the League all season. Keith Lindsey had been transferred to Port Vale and we had brought in Brian Myton on loan from Middlesborough where he had played 10 first team games.

We were unchanged (again). Myton came on for Bernie Lewis for his one and only appearance for us and actually his last one in the Football League.

Former Burnley, Man Utd, Blackburn and England World Cup Squad member John Connelly scored the first goal and George Jones the 2nd. Young Terry McDermott appeared for them - next time he played against us was for Liverpool in the FA Cup in Jan 1979.

Two away games and only 1 point, we'd now slipped down to 4th place with the next game up on 27th December at home to 6th place Lincoln City.

 

[ozzie]

Sadly today...19.12.02....the "BOSS" Arthur Rowley passed away. Think he is still the record goalscorer in British football ??And his first name was not Arthur but George !!RIP "BOSS"

 

[LCBB72]

Sadly today...19.12.02....the "BOSS" Arthur Rowley passed away. Think he is still the record goalscorer in British football ??And his first name was not Arthur but George !!RIP "BOSS"

The Guvnor .

 

[sufc_statto]

Monday December 27, 1971 - Division 4
Southend Utd (1) 2 (Lewis 21', 83')
Lincoln City (1) 1 (Trevis 42')
Venue: Roots Hall KO: 3.00
Attendance: 15,430

Southend Utd: J Roberts, R Ternent, A Smith, D Elliott, B Albeson, J Jacques, T Johnson, B Best, B Garner, G Moore, B Lewis. Sub: P Taylor.
Lincoln City: J Kennedy, M Bloor, G Taylor, T Cooper, J Kurila, D Trevis, J Worsdale, A Mansley, P Freeman, A Gilliver (T Branston 53'), D Smith.

Match Report
In front of their biggest League gate for many seasons, 15,430, United collected two valuable points at Roots Hall on Monday afternoon to keep up their promotion challenge.
While they were always going just that little better than their fellow contenders who are also looking for the Fourth Division exit, they made things all the more difficult for themselves after a twice-taken penalty incident in the 14th minute, and missing both of them, writes ALF SMIRK.

Lincoln’s John Kurila, the former United favourite, had already been penalised a couple of times for his keenness in stopping Bill Garner. Then when a free-kick was floated into the Lincoln penalty area, Kurila’s arms were around Garner’s neck and lpswich referee Russell Morphew, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Garner, himself, took the kick and his first shot was straight at ‘keeper John Kennedy, who saved easily, but the kick was ordered to be retaken, apparently for Kennedy moving. Garner tried to place his second attempt, but it was so slow and near the ‘keeper that Kennedy had an easier task in saving than he had the first time.

But the miss hardly seemed to affect United as they continued to power forward and It was no surprise when Bernie Lewis gave them the lead after 21 minutes after Billy Best had laid off a ball from Dave Elliott.

For a long time it appeared to be a case of just how many United would win by, but Kennedy was in brilliant form, although he should have been left with no chance on at least a couple of occasions when Blues had chances teed up for them a few yards in front of goal.

The almost inevitable, happened three minutes before half-time when Lincoln equalised. Dave Smith, just about the best player on the park, took a left-wing corner and Derek Trevis was allowed sufficient space to out-jump the United defenders and head into the net.

This was Lincoln’s danger man and found bags of space for himself. He did most of the prompting from mid-field and also followed up to make a nuisance of himself in the box.

Even when Lincoln lost Alan Gulliver eight minutes after the interval following a collision with goalkeeper John Roberts and City were forced to bring on substitute Terry Branston, they refused to commit themselves entirely to defence, Branston’s strongest position.

Branston slotted in up front and the result was always in the balance, but whereas City’s defence had been riddled at will in the first half, they tightened up so well in the second that United found it more and more difficult to find a way through.

There were surprisingly few unpleasant incidents for such a needle game, although Kerry Cooper was booked near the end after an incident with Elliott.

Best was the one player who never stopped working and it was one of his most workmanlike displays of the season. But once United reached the Lincoln penalty area they either ran out of ideas or ran into a brick-wall defence.

Sheer guts and persistence brought them the winner seven minutes from the end of nomal time, with six minutes being added on for stoppages. It was in the 83rd minute that Elliott floated a free kick Into the Lincoln area and Garner headed on for Lewis to force his way through and slot the ball just inside a post.

Justice, in the end, was seen to be done, but most of the fans, and players and management, of course, would have been much happier if it had been done much earlier and much more conclusively.

Two points are two points, whatever the circumstance, and that is all that matters when the Promotion places are allocated at the end of the season.

League Table

 

[LBBlue]

Bank Holiday Monday 27th December 1971

50 years ago we didn’t have football on a Sunday, we didn’t have to Premier League and Sky Sports , BT Sport or Amazon Prime and if you wanted to watch a game of football you had to actually attend a game. So after 2 days indoors, a rather large crowd of 15,430 (including a few from Lincoln) turned up at Roots Hall. This was actually our largest League Crowd at Roots Hall since 5 October 1959 when 16,568 watched the game against Norwich City and was the sixth highest league crowd at the ground since it opened. A winning team was always going to bring the crowds in especially at a bank holiday. Brentford actually had an attendance of 18,240 for their game against Crewe. Large crowds for 4th tier football – the previous week in Division 1, Huddersfield v Southampton had pulled in just 10,436!

As we went into the game just 5 points covered the top 8 sides with Lincoln in 6th place with us in 4th, one point above them. So, one of the many 4 pointer games that season.

Lincoln were managed by David Herd, the former Scotland, Arsenal and Manchester United forward who was part of that forward line Best, Law, Charlton, Herd, Aston which won the league in 1966/67, scoring 16 times in 28 games. Aged almost 33, he broke his leg in March 67 and was never the same player again. He scored 228 goals in 430 games.


John Kurila had joined Lincoln from Colchester and made his debut for them in their previous game and after that game they had sold their leading goalscorer and a decent footballer, Phil Hubbard to Division 2 leaders Norwich for £22,000. They were going through a strengthening process mid season, so it was a bonus for us that they were a bit light on the goalscoring front, especially after Gilliver went off injured as well.

Left back for them was Graham Taylor (he who broke John McKInven's leg) who took over as manager from David Herd a year later and on the bench for us was Peter Taylor -who would have thought there were two future England managers involved in the game!

The game itself, we were unchanged of course, was quite tense in front of such a big crowd. The match report brings back to me that retaken penalty and how poor Bill Garner’s second attempt was. We won the game with two goals from an unlikely source, Bernie Lewis – the only player to score for us in December. A good two points and Lincoln dropped to 8th.

Lincoln used the money they got for Hubbard to sign Northampton’s leading scorer Richard (Dixie) McNeill and after losing to us didn’t lose again until 12 games later 2-0 at Brentford a run that had seen them lose just 2 games in 20 and had taken them up to second place. Like we did in 68, they then fell way despite McNeill scoring 13 times in 20 games. Dixie, the king of goalhangers, went on to score 239 goals in 532 games in his career.

Another 4 pointer for us coming up on New Years day at Grimsby and the last time the ”Unchanged Team” played together…

 

[LBBlue]

 

[sufc_statto]

Saturday January 01, 1972 - Division 4
Grimsby Town (1) 4 (Thomson 13' (pen), Lewis 77', Brace 79', Hickman 89')
Southend Utd (1) 1 (Garner 17')
Venue: Blundell Park, Cleethorpes. KO: 3.00
Attendance: 9,137

Grimsby Town: H Wainman, D Worthington, A Campbell, J Thomson (D Boylen), C Wigginton, S Gray, S Brace, J Lewis, M Tees, M Hickman, R Smith.
Southend Utd: J Roberts, R Ternent, A Smith, D Elliott, B Albeson, J Jacques, T Johnson, B Best, B Garner, G Moore, B Lewis. Sub: D Barnett.

Match Report
It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to convince anyone who was not at Blundell Park on Saturday that this was one of the Blues’ best away performances of the season. Or at least it was for the first 70 minutes, at which point they were on level terms at 1-1 and going so well that two points to help their promotion challenge looked a distinct possibility, writes ALF SMIRK.

But having thrown away four reasonable chances of going in front, they then disintegrated at the back, were shocked by a two-goals-in-two-minutes Grimsby spurt and were finally nailed well and truly when they conceded another goal in the last minute.

While professionally it might be said “that’s football”, it is not the sort of football that looks good either on paper or in the League table.

It is difficult to know where to start the sympathy and end the praise, or vice versa, but the blame in the end must be attributed to those missed chances.

United survived the fire of Grlmsby’s first 10-minutes onslaught and fought back to equalise after going one down from a dubious 13th-minute penalty. Once Bill Garner levelled again four minutes later, it was Blues who called most of the tune.

Even a five-minute punch-up just before half-time which seemed to involve everyone except the local fire brigade failed to disturb them. It was from this incident which added, eight minutes to the first half that Billy Best was booked by Crook referee Derek Mapp.

Best had been floored by a kick on the head and all hell was let loose as punches were slung. With players, referee and officials crowding the ‘touchline opposite the incident, it became difficult to work out which players were scrapping and which were trying to stop It.

When some sort of peace had been restored, it was to the amazement of most of the 9,137 spectators that Best was taken aside and his name put in the book. Of all the players on the park, he was probably the only one at that time unable to take part in the proceedings as he was lying spark out due to the kick on his cranium.

The fact that the referee afterwards admitted he had “misunderstood” his linesman and would recommend that no action be taken against Best is purely of academic interest.

What really mattered were those missed chances, all of which came to Blues while the scores were still level. Even if one forgives three of the four, the third, 10 minutes after half-time, was really the turning point in United’s fortunes.

Garner stabbed back a Terry Johnson centre which had drawn home keeper Harry Wainman out of his goal, and Bernie Lewis, with an empty net in front of him, chipped his effort over the crossbar from about 10 yards out.

The last chance went begging in the 72nd minute when Lewis belted the ball high and wide after Billy Best had left him clear on the left. Five minutes later, Grimsby went in front through Jack Lewis and two minutes afterwards Stuart Brace killed off United’s hopes.

Bill Garner had equalised Jimmy Thompson’s penalty to keep United on terms but all the fight was knocked out of them with those two quick goals. Mike Hickman’s completion of the scoring a minute from the end mattered little to anything but goal averages.

United must still be wondering how it happened and what hit them. Joe Jacques and Brian Albeson tied up the middle of the back four once they had settled down and the Grimsby attack was less threatening than United, where Garner was winning most of the high balls into the box.

Add Gary Moore’s drive in mid-field as he put on his best display of the season before his ex-fans and United were really going well. But you can’t miss chances as they did and still expect to get away with it.

Neither can Garner expect to get away with it! Less than a minute after the game had been restarted following the all-in incident, he was booked as he hooked a Grimsby player’s legs from under him.

With a 14-days suspended sentence hanging over him since March, waiting for sentence on three confirmed bookings since then, an appeal pending against another booking and now this one, the FA. Disciplinary Committee may not take too kind a view when they pass their verdict.

League Table

 

[LBBlue]

New Years Day - Saturday 1 Jan 1972 - 4-1 defeat at Grimsby.

Even 50 years ago Grimsby was becoming on of those places where you know we weren't going to get a result however well we played - the difficulty in getting there and the closeness to the North Sea on a January day was always going to give them an advantage.

Until the Milton Keynes game in 2006 - this was the coldest game ever, especially walking back to Cleethorpes Station along the sea wall after the game! Our 10th game there - we had already lost 6 and drawn only 3 and the next 50 years didn't get much better.

The Grimsby side was managed by young manager Lawrie McMenemy who had gone to Grimsby in May 1971 aged 34 having already won a 4th Division Championship 2 years earlier at Doncaster. According to Wiki he is rated in the Guinness Book of Records as being one of the 20 most successful managers in post war England. He had never played a game at Football league level in his playing career. Without making any signings he had turned the side that had finished one place behind us in 19th position in 1970/71 into eventual champions.

They did of course have Stuart Brace who was in his prime at the time scoring 19 goals from the right wing, Matt Tees who had done well at Charlton then in Division 2 scoring 27 goals and our future captain Dave Worthington. One player for them, who I always admired, was on the bench that day was Dave Boylen. Boylen was just 5ft 3in tall and a very clever footballer who eventually played nearly 400 games for them. Players were, in general, a lot shorter 50 years ago and a lot more skillful. I don't think he would get a game these days.

So for the last time we lined up Roberts, Ternent, Smith, Elliot, Albeson, Jacques, Johnson Best, Garner, Moore and Lewis. As the match report says we gave as good as we got until 77th minute and then got a bit of a battering. We didn't get a lot of breaks our way on the day. This XI that had started 15 of the last 18 league and cup games and got us in to the promotion places was not going to start another game together.

Grimsby only dropped 12 more points after playing us ending 3 points above us as Champions - clinching the title in their last game in front of a mammoth crowd of 22,484.

 

[ozzie]

Went to this game in a mini-bus driven by DoDTS i think he once wrote..in the van (i think) was Micky.B,so if he was there im sure Gus was as well.Also Billy.P and Simon.C ..
After the game i was walking alone to the van when about 20 "Fishhead fans"came running towards me. Luckily they all ran passed me and carried on down the street...all rather happy.
I was rather impressed by the Pontoon end which, IMO,was the second best "end" in Div 4.
After the PAK...
Remember going back to Southend thinking "i hope this is not going to be another 67-68 season".

 

[DoDTS]

Went to this game in a mini-bus driven by DoDTS i think he once wrote..in the van (i think) was Micky.B,so if he was there im sure Gus was as well.Also Billy.P and Simon.C ..
After the game i was walking alone to the van when about 20 "Fishhead fans"came running towards me. Luckily they all ran passed me and carried on down the street...all rather happy.
I was rather impressed by the Pontoon end which, IMO,was the second best "end" in Div 4.
After the PAK...
Remember going back to Southend thinking "i hope this is not going to be another 67-68 season".

I was certainly on the mini-bus but I wasn't driving (I don't drive). Several of us were suffering from a really heavy New Years Eve and the bus had to make frequent stops while one or other of us were "unwell". Frankly I would have preferred to stay in bed From memory Gus, Mick B, Richard Pasola,, Richard Fugl and Mick? were there.

This was in the days pre segregation and we were trying to keep a low profile and our stomachs in tact but when the scuffle on the pitch happened feelings were let loose and we fsoon ound a group of Grimmo fans around us trying to intimidate us. There was one really large bloke and loads of smaller younger ones, but they obviously weren't sure of their chances. Near the end they decided they would get us as we got on the coach. We boarded our mini-bus and waved goodbye to them as we drove bye.

 

[Billy is the best]

I was also on that mini bus and remember it nearly overturning on the way back. Was it driven by Fertie?Our friend from Exeter university who once appeared on university challenge.
Difficult to remember much about the game, probably due to alcohol drunk, but I do remember the huge Grimsby fan waving fists at us as we left the ground and the smell of fish around the town.
Happy new year to all my Old Friends. ( 3 who were on that bus are no longer with us, but still thinking of you. RIP).
Brian

 

[The Big Dady]

the smell of fish around the town.

Reminded me of Old Leigh Cockle Sheds,, that fishy smell was everywhere including inside the ground.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Went to this game in a mini-bus driven by DoDTS i think he once wrote..in the van (i think) was Micky.B,so if he was there im sure Gus was as well.Also Billy.P and Simon.C ..

I remember Gus, (R.I.P.) Billy P & Simon C, haven't seen them for many years. Micky B, i can't recall?.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I remember Gus, (R.I.P.) Billy P & Simon C, haven't seen them for many years. Micky B, i can't recall?.

Guys, are you talking off Billy Pr++++++ ? If yes, he's still about in Southchurch. And is Micky B..Mick B++++ ?