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]

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Have to say from the report I do not remember anyone wearing a bowler hat .

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Success, f**k knows how i did it?. 2nd pic, me, Jaffa, Simon C, Dave C, all in pic. Anyone else with a good memory recognise themselves?.
OB on front line certainly earned their O/T that night!.

I was there, but a little further back I think, so not in the 2nd photo.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Have to say from the report I do not remember anyone wearing a bowler hat .

Nor do i!.

 

[ozzie]

i remember later the "PAK" ran down Southend High st and caused some trouble.Some windows were smashed and one front window some "drink" was stolen.
The next night it was in the E.Echo front page.They wrote Blues fans wearing "white coats" were involved....my mum,God bless her..found mine and hid it from me.
She thought maybe the "PAK" only were about ten strong and i was one.She did not know they were at least 400-500 lads ..

 

[ozzie]

Must write a GREAT BIG thanks to LBBLUE...thanks for all the work you put in for this thread..its been great,such happy but sometimes sad memories.
Like my hair !! where has all those 50 years gone..half a century.
You started this"thread"about 10 months ago.Those days ten months felt like ten months.
TBH, since you started then,its gone so quick...it feels like at most now 6 months ago..
As my nan once said to me"enjoy life now because the older you get,the quicker it passes you by"..
Promotion 71-72 was the "bizz",but strangely for me it did not make up for the 67-68 season disappointment.
I wonder who would win if the 67-68 attacking (imo) most entertaining blues team i ever saw, would play our 71-72 "promo" team....King Billy would have to play 45 mins for both teams.
Again LBBLUE...as SLADE sang..thanks for the memories

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

one of the many Hockley lads i knew was big Les Baker.. Have not seen him since early 80s.A great lad,someone you would not want to argue with...had a bad accident and i was told by him or another Hockley lad that if he had not been so big and strong he would not have survived.Top,top lad

'Ginger' Les was in a bad car accident in Leigh, & you are correct with the info you were given. His younger brother told us the same thing.
From the 90's onwards he used to drink sometimes in Rayleigh, but mainly in his Hockley local 'The Spa'.
Haven't seen him for at least 15 years, but last time i did, he must have weighed at least 22st!.
My partners son in law used to drink in The Spa, & he mentioned him about 5 years ago, so he was still alive then!.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

i remember later the "PAK" ran down Southend High st and caused some trouble.Some windows were smashed and one front window some "drink" was stolen.

That was a small supermarket type of shop, next to the old Peter Brown's menswear shop, & it was bottles of whisky pilfered. Wasn't me, as i cant stand the stuff!.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Looking at that final league table: note how high Workington finished.
It's somewhat sobering to see Bury, Chester, Darlington and Southport there too.
I wonder whether new grounds really do improve fortunes, or were Brentford and Reading always destined for the two top tiers?

 

[HUMBLEPIE]

Dean Court or what ever its called now hasn’t held Bournemouth back, mind you having a very wealthy owner might have something to do with it.

 

[LCBB72]

'Ginger' Les was in a bad car accident in Leigh, & you are correct with the info you were given. His younger brother told us the same thing.
From the 90's onwards he used to drink sometimes in Rayleigh, but mainly in his Hockley local 'The Spa'.
Haven't seen him for at least 15 years, but last time i did, he must have weighed at least 22st!.
My partners son in law used to drink in The Spa, & he mentioned him about 5 years ago, so he was still alive then!.

He used to wear a pair of Gary Glitter boots , remember seeing him at West Ham wearing them .

 

[LBBlue]

Looking at that final league table: note how high Workington finished.
It's somewhat sobering to see Bury, Chester, Darlington and Southport there too.
I wonder whether new grounds really do improve fortunes, or were Brentford and Reading always destined for the two top tiers?

New grounds worked for a few more:

Swansea, Cardiff, Wigan, Huddersfield, Hull, Bolton

but then there a few where it didn’t - probably because the catchment area and the ground is not big to support a team in the Championship or higher

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

New grounds worked for a few more:

Swansea, Cardiff, Wigan, Huddersfield, Hull, Bolton

but then there a few where it didn’t - probably because the catchment area and the ground is not big to support a team in the Championship or higher

...and come to think of it; the aforementioned Darlington and the George Reynolds Arena, poor souls!

 

[LBBlue]

...and come to think of it; the aforementioned Darlington and the George Reynolds Arena, poor souls!

A 25,000 seater stadium for a town with a population of 90,000…..

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

A 25,000 seater stadium for a town with a population of 90,000…..

Not suggesting that's a (possible) recipe for disaster are you,by any chance?

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Echoing what others have said this has been a great thread - top memories from my first full season as a Shrimper, tho only aged 9 at the time what I do recall is a bit hazy.

From a SUEPA perspective, EVERY player that season who is still alive is a SUEPA member with the exception of Brian Myton who we have yet to trace

Sadly in the years since we have lost Brian Albeson, Joe Jacques, Keith Lindsey, Peter Woods and most recently Gary Moore.

Of the rest we've seen back at Roots Hall as a SUEPA guest in the last four years Derek Bellotti, Dave Barnett, George Duck and Peter Hunt. We almost got Dennis Booth, Spud and Alex Smith down to Roots in March but that failed at the last minute, and we hope at long last to sort something out with Bill Garner when the 22/23 fixtures are out. Billy Best was a club guest shortly before SUEPA started up. Dave Elliott and John Roberts live overseas whilst Bernie Lewis, Terry Johnson and Ray Ternent have a fair way to travel.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Echoing what others have said this has been a great thread - top memories from my first full season as a Shrimper, tho only aged 9 at the time what I do recall is a bit hazy.

From a SUEPA perspective, EVERY player that season who is still alive is a SUEPA member with the exception of Brian Myton who we have yet to trace

Sadly in the years since we have lost Brian Albeson, Joe Jacques, Keith Lindsey, Peter Woods and most recently Gary Moore.

Of the rest we've seen back at Roots Hall as a SUEPA guest in the last four years Derek Bellotti, Dave Barnett, George Duck and Peter Hunt. We almost got Dennis Booth, Spud and Alex Smith down to Roots in March but that failed at the last minute, and we hope at long last to sort something out with Bill Garner when the 22/23 fixtures are out. Billy Best was a club guest shortly before SUEPA started up. Dave Elliott and John Roberts live overseas whilst Bernie Lewis, Terry Johnson and Ray Ternent have a fair way to travel.

Noble effort!
The SUEPA initiative is a fine piece of work, and I'm guessing the players themselves must enjoy being remembered this way.
Thanks for all the labour!

 

[LCBB72]

Echoing what others have said this has been a great thread - top memories from my first full season as a Shrimper, tho only aged 9 at the time what I do recall is a bit hazy.

From a SUEPA perspective, EVERY player that season who is still alive is a SUEPA member with the exception of Brian Myton who we have yet to trace

Sadly in the years since we have lost Brian Albeson, Joe Jacques, Keith Lindsey, Peter Woods and most recently Gary Moore.

Of the rest we've seen back at Roots Hall as a SUEPA guest in the last four years Derek Bellotti, Dave Barnett, George Duck and Peter Hunt. We almost got Dennis Booth, Spud and Alex Smith down to Roots in March but that failed at the last minute, and we hope at long last to sort something out with Bill Garner when the 22/23 fixtures are out. Billy Best was a club guest shortly before SUEPA started up. Dave Elliott and John Roberts live overseas whilst Bernie Lewis, Terry Johnson and Ray Ternent have a fair way to travel.

My dream would be to have all the 1971/72 promotion team back together at Roots Hall for one last time .

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Not suggesting that's a (possible) recipe for disaster are you,by any chance?

Would suggest the difference is the surrounding area.
Darlo have M'Boro, Hartlepool, and Sunderland, with Newcastle a bit further on, for competition.
Essentially, we have Spammers - more than 40 miles away.
The area population for Basildon alone is 175,000.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Would suggest the difference is the surrounding area.
Darlo have M'Boro, Hartlepool, and Sunderland, with Newcastle a bit further on, for competition.
Essentially, we have Spammers - more than 40 miles away.
The area population for Basildon alone is 175,000.

I'm sure you know (as I do) plenty of people who work in London and use their rail season tickets to watch other clubs at the weekend.

Unfortunately I doubt if Basildon is much of a catchement area for us though I imagine it is for the Spammers you mention.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

I'm sure you know (as I do) plenty of people who work in London and use their rail season tickets to watch other clubs at the weekend.

Unfortunately I doubt if Basildon is much odf a catchement area for us though I imagine it is for the Spammers you mention.

Interesting you should say that.
Having been at Basildon Station a few times on match days, there are clearly more West Ham fans going east, but more than you might think going west to our beloved Hall.
Have on occasion got the other line to Prittlewell, and those in blue get on from as far afield as Shenfield.
The point is there are more than a few surrounding areas from which potential supporters come beyond the obvious Southend.