Away day **** up

[SS5]

Linking from the the subject of memorable away league wins, just wondered if anyone has any funny stories of away games that have gone tits up, 1 way or another. I remember grimsby away a few years ago in league 2 when we thought we was up, then down, then we couldnt get a result, and we herd on the radio that kazim-richards had scored for bury against swansea to send us up automatically, then that got disallowed, and the 4 hour round trip to find out we had to go through to the play-offs, and all the grimsby fans getting on the pitch 15 minutes before the game had finished! Also i remember burnley away in the Championship, big journey, big expectations, 0-0 draw and a long drive home

 

[Dave of the Match]

I can imagine the disappointment of the Scunthorpe fans travelling to Roots Hall on a cold Tuesday evening, arriving then being informed that the game was called off.

Oh well.

 

[HudsonNo1]

Must of been about two or three years ago no that on of the ST coaches broke down at reading services after a evening game at swansea... leaving us all stuck there untill 5am... turned out to be a good laugh though.

 

[Lord Football]

Tranmere..... so many times.

1. Concede after 6 seconds, lose 3-1 and get home to find my car smashed up in the Roots Hall car park.

2. Arrive at half time. Could have been worse, the other coach broke down on the way home.

3. Arrive at half time.

4. Almost get arrested (though this is Tranmere v Cambridge) for being drunk and not from Cambridge (in away end).

5. Arrive during the second half and still charged to get in.

I don't go to Tranmere away anymore.

 

[SUFC_Al]

Chester away 28th December 1989. Two coaches of Shrimpers. The coach we were on broke down, not sure where but it must have been half-way or over. We all had to go on to the other coach. My dad and Ian (6 at the time) had a seat and me and Rich (10 and 12) had to sit on the stairs leading to the toilet! Not a very comfortable journey and we lost to a 90th minute goal, we were top and they were bottom/near the bottom.

 

[Hazey]

Not really Southend but my stepdads cousin took him up to see Liverpool vs West Ham at anfield when he was a nipper, they got the train all the way up there, got to the station and asked some bloke about that nights game only to find out it was the next day.

 

[overseas shrimper]

I always use this as my worse away day... Walsall away in the Leyland DAF Cup, on a stormy night on January 30th 1990.

We travelled up by car (my old black Cortina in those days) and arrived in windy, cold and rainy Walsall, trying to find a suitable pub to have a pre-match drink in. The few pubs we found and tried, we were met with unfriendly looks from Asians. For once, this bunch of white boys from Essex felt what it's like to be in an ethnic minority!

We decided to get some chips instead, so we made our way through the driving rain - wind getting stronger and stronger - to a chippy we finally found. By now the weather was so bad our legs were stinging, hands trembling and mouths were numb.

Once in the old open end of the ground, we waited for the game to begin. A wooden tour / gantry above us was creaking and swaying in the wind, seemingly about to topple over and crush us at any moment. The match was a nightmare. Southend were awful. Stuart Rimmer ripped us apart. Walsall 4 Southend 1.

The drive home would have been long and miserable enough, but the torrential rain and near hurricane force winds blowing a tank like Cortina from one lane to another made it all the more crappy.

 

[jassyfa1]

Derby away in some league cup game. we were doing crap in the league and Derby won't doing much better. Won the home leg 1-0 and the away leg was midweek.
Usually this wouldn't be a problem but as I had a new car (XR2) I thought I would drive. After finishing work at 2pm (although starting at 5am) I picked up Mat Pepper (RIP) and Libertine and off we went.
Uneventful journey on the way up there although once there we get offered out by a few Derby fans, drove miles for a McDonalds, then nearly got involved in a fight with the Southend top lads.
As for the game it finished 7-0 to Derby, with the Derby fans wanting to kill us all for the entire match. One the way home I started to fall asleep while driving and my alternator light come on causing the car to pack up the next day.

 

[shrimperman]

Torquay a good few years ago now.

We were running early on the ST coaches so decided to take a longer break at the services. Soon as we get out, some old lady decided it would be a good idea to run infront of a lorry. Standstill traffic for 3/4 hours. Missed the first half, missed the goals and lost. Think we lost 3-1

 

[A Century United]

Posted this before, apologies to those who have already read it:

Living in Leicester in 1981, my girlfriend and I decided to go to the match (which was either Mansfield or Chesterfield) got 10 miles from the ground and my 1500 Cortina MkII (with a newly-fitted head) blew a core plug, temp guage instantly hard over against the stop. I killed the engine and coasted to a halt in a layby. Had to walk into town and find a spares shop. He gave me a plug to try, walked back, wrong size, back to shop. He phoned around and a shop on the other side of town had one the right size, and kindly agreed to send it over but couldn't deliver it for at least an hour. I parked myself next to the Audio display, tuned into local radio, listened to us win (2-0 I think). Wept quietly.

Eventually core plug arrives, walk back to car, it fits! Start engine. It runs! head back towards Leicester. Getting dark, about 2 miles from the next village engine dies, won't start, water pouring out of the exhaust.... Blown the head again. Just then police car pulls up I think "Brilliant, they can 'phone the garage for us". Mr Plod sticks head out of window and says "Are you on fire?" Bloody silly question which he realises and he shoots off down the road to look for the flamer. So we have to walk the 2 miles into the village - no garage, but a pub. Getting late so get a room for the night. In the morning decide that best thing is to go back to Leicester and round up someone to come out and tow me back. Ask the Landlord about buses. Sunday. No buses. Nearest train station Derby - 7 mile walk. At least it wasn't raining. New head set me back £115, nearly two weeks wages then...


My girlfriend forgave me in the end, but she took a terrible revenge - she married me.....

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

I always use this as my worse away day... Walsall away in the Leyland DAF Cup, on a stormy night on January 30th 1990.

We travelled up by car (my old black Cortina in those days) and arrived in windy, cold and rainy Walsall, trying to find a suitable pub to have a pre-match drink in. The few pubs we found and tried, we were met with unfriendly looks from Asians. For once, this bunch of white boys from Essex felt what it's like to be in an ethnic minority!

We decided to get some chips instead, so we made our way through the driving rain - wind getting stronger and stronger - to a chippy we finally found. By now the weather was so bad our legs were stinging, hands trembling and mouths were numb.

Once in the old open end of the ground, we waited for the game to begin. A wooden tour / gantry above us was creaking and swaying in the wind, seemingly about to topple over and crush us at any moment. The match was a nightmare. Southend were awful. Stuart Rimmer ripped us apart. Walsall 4 Southend 1.

The drive home would have been long and miserable enough, but the torrential rain and near hurricane force winds blowing a tank like Cortina from one lane to another made it all the more crappy.

Blimey, I was at that game. We are all singing "call it off" when they went 2-0 up, then we got 1 back and everyone was singing "keep it on". There was a hole in the roof where we were sitting and we got soaked, might as well have been on the terrace :)

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I recall going to Burnley on New Year's Eve 1994, a mate of mine drove and we underestimated how long it would take us to navigate throught the snowy Pennines. We arrived in the welcoming bosom of Burnley on the stroke of half-time, already two (maybe three?) down and not particularly hopeful that we would turn things around based on our form away from home that year. We ended up losing 5-1 (the legendary Roger Willis on target for the Blues), and I believe Grids and the Bress were both sent off. I didn't see any of that as we were told by the northern monkey at the turnstile that we couldn't come in at half-time for 'elf and safety' reasons. What a delightful way to see in the new year.

I was reminded of this story last night whilst listening to Durham and Wrighty on Talksport - they reported the tale of four Darlo fans who were turned away at HT at Aldershot after traffic problems. I would like to think this wouldn't happen to away fans at RH.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

I'll second Grimsby away in 2005. Horrible, horrible day. Coach broke down, had to get a taxi to the ground, arrived just before half-time, thought we'd gone up when some idiot texted his mate at the ground saying Bury had equalised or something, then the pitch invasion, realising we hadn't gone up and having to wait for a replacement coach in that dump. Definitely my worst.

 

[Suffolk Blue]

... ah Grimsby; a name to conjour up bad memories for Shrimpers of all ages.

I've endured a Car Crash, being spat at, rained-on (more than once), and fogged-off, as well as failing to get a result on any occasion that I've been there.

Pick any Grimsby away match and you'll probably get my vote for the worst time I've had.

 

[manor15]

One of mine was a trip to Cardiff for 1 of the LDV finals, gutted that we lost and then the train broke down and didn't get home until very late after getting up very early to go.

 

[Welly7]

Went to Newcastle on the opening day of the 92-93 season and got held up in traffic on the way. Not only did we miss the kick off, we were stuck in the hold up alongside a car full of Newcastle fans who took great pleasure in telling us that Paul Bracewell had made it 1-0.
Eventually arrived just a minute or two before half-time only to find the turnstiles were shut. After a heated row with a jobsworth steward who was standing the other side of a gate a policeman came along and told him to let us in...full price, obviously!!
We lost the game 3-2 and at the final whistle, Southend fans all got kept in St.James Park for longer than the duration we got to see any football...and it rained heavily on an open terrace!!!!

 

[DTS]

Wont bore of with this too much but....

Went to go to Regiana away with my mates. We decided the club were charging too much so we did our own trip which involved going by train. Got to Paris and waiting for train to Milan (and waited,and waited,and waited,and waited).

****ing French were on a two day train strike. Four of us stuck in Paris with about £10 worth of French Francs between us as we were only meant to be there an hour or two.

Ended up missing the game and got stuck in Paris for two days. Got back to Dover at 7.45pm just as the game was kicking off in Reginana. Gutted.

 

[djcotez]

I recall going to Burnely on New Year's Eve 1994... We ended up losing 5-1

Not to mention that we had to wear Burnleys away kit as our kits clashed and we didnt have alternatives... i have never been so cold at a game, thought id warm up with some nice hot food from the decrepid refreshments portacabin... all that was on offer was pie and bovril, got a pie and then realised why there was a pile of half eaten pies on the floor!... Bovril had never tasted so nice!

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Not to mention that we had to wear Burnleys away kit as our kits clashed and we didnt have alternatives...

I recall that we could see on to the pitch from outside the ground and that the Shrimpers seemed to be wearing some green monstrosity. As we didn't get in, we had no knowledge of why we might be playing in this lurid kit, and we were left to conclude it was a dreadful third kit that we knew nothing about - it was another reason to be in a festive mood as we returned south after being turned away. Burnley - what a bunch of ****houses you are. I hope you get absolutely ****ed up in every game you play in the Prem.

 

[Firestorm]

Gillingham , Altough not far, letting in 8 made it a S*** day
Grimsby, not winning automatic promotion was bad enough but getting the car broken into at the hotel and having to stay an extra day in that **** hole took the biscuit