Were you here...?

Man of Kent · Post by **Man of Kent** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:15 pm

4 November 1986: Colchester United (H) 2–1 Grewcock 29', Hoskin 43' Attendance: 1,696

or maybe here?:

24 January 1987: Hereford United (H) 0–6 Attendance: 1,961

Possibly as bad as it got?

bartons baggage · Post by **bartons baggage** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:29 pm

Man of Kent wrote:4 November 1986: Colchester United (H) 2–1 Grewcock 29', Hoskin 43' Attendance: 1,696

or maybe here?:

24 January 1987: Hereford United (H) 0–6 Attendance: 1,961

Possibly as bad as it got?

Yes and yes,we took more to a few away games.

bfcmik · Post by **bfcmik** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:35 pm

That Hereford game was probably the worst I ever saw. I was certain the club was dead after that.

cricketfield73 · Post by **cricketfield73** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:38 pm

I love how the replica shirt from this season has a 'Glory Years' tab in the back.

Oh, and count me in, I was on the Bee Hole End.

todclaret · Post by **todclaret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:41 pm

I was at both games. I've had a season ticket ever since 1974/75 season

RammyClaret61 · Post by **RammyClaret61** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:52 pm

Yes & yes. Think it was after the Hereford game that there was a protest on Brunshaw Rd. But could be wrong?

fatboy47 · Post by **fatboy47** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:54 pm

must have been about 15,000 there.

PaintYorkClaretnBlue · Post by **PaintYorkClaretnBlue** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 8:57 pm

bfcmik wrote:That Hereford game was probably the worst I ever saw. I was certain the club was dead after that.

Yes to both, Hereford was painful!!

Jimmymaccer · Post by **Jimmymaccer** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:05 pm

Yes.....and yes....

Beggars belief really that we are where we are now after those days like Hereford.........

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:11 pm

Yes I was there for both. A lot on here if truth be told weren't, but its hard even for those who were to remember just how dire a time it was for BFC

Vegas Claret · Post by **Vegas Claret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:13 pm

yes to both and the protest outside afterwards lol.

I don't have a word to describe how I felt after the Hereford game.

randomclaret2 · Post by **randomclaret2** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:17 pm

Yes and No for me ...and here we are 30 years on turning our noses up at the likes of Tom Cleverly ! They were truly grim times. bcfmik is spot on, it really felt like it was all over. Football in general in this country was on it's arse at the time . Some of the attendances in the mid 80s might shock younger fans.

Longside4evr · Post by **Longside4evr** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:19 pm

Yes them upstairs office blinds were twitching at the site of us baying our pitchforks

dougcollins · Post by **dougcollins** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:21 pm

I'm Brian.

And so is my wife.

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:24 pm

and just think we hadn't even got our Sherpa Van minibus at that point!

ashtonlongsider · Post by **ashtonlongsider** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:26 pm

I attended the Colchester game but was fortunate enough to miss the Hereford match for some reason. It was bleak, very bleak and it did get a whole lot worse.

ralph · Post by **ralph** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:28 pm

Yes I was at both .. started going on in April 1973 and missed maybe half a dozen games at home since August 1978 .. there were worse games than Hereford and lower gates then Colchester in the good old associate members cup and I saw all the home games in that too ... different world !

ralph · Post by **ralph** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:30 pm

Longside4evr wrote:Yes them upstairs office blinds were twitching at the site of us baying our pitchforks

Don't know how anyone had the energy to protest I just went straight home bewildered

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:32 pm

Nothing can ever prepare for that Tuesday Night at Gresty Road when the final whistle went. The only time I've been physically sick at a football match. And people will be devastated if (in the unlikely event) we go down. One game to go and out of our hands, needing a miracle and the badly kept secret that the ground would be signed over to ASDA if we didn't beat Orient and have God on our side (and Tommy Hutchinson!) with the other results.

ralph · Post by **ralph** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:34 pm

mmm Scunthorpe and Crewe were bad ... I remember a bloke sitting on the terrace at Scunthorpe in floods of tears ...

1968claret · Post by **1968claret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:35 pm

Yes and yes. There were some positives though. Such as, in the middle of the match, I could shout to my mate across in theBob Lord stand ( I was in the Longside) and arrange where we would meet for a pint after the game. For the younger ones on here, mobile phones hadn't been invented!!

mdd2 · Post by **mdd2** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:36 pm

Rumours were circulating at Gresty Road that we were already down but that proved to be untrue and a wind up.

ralph · Post by **ralph** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:41 pm

mdd2 wrote:Rumours were circulating at Gresty Road that we were already down but that proved to be untrue and a wind up.

Common problem that during important games caused by an inability of the panicked to complete basic maths tasks

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:42 pm

mdd2 wrote:Rumours were circulating at Gresty Road that we were already down but that proved to be untrue and a wind up.

It wasn't that much of a wind up.... we pretty much where. It was nothing short of a miracle that Lincoln ended bottom, it took some outrageous results for us to beat the drop.

ralph · Post by **ralph** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:45 pm

1968claret wrote:Yes and yes. There were some positives though. Such as, in the middle of the match, I could shout to my mate across in theBob Lord stand ( I was in the Longside) and arrange where we would meet for a pint after the game. For the younger ones on here, mobile phones hadn't been invented!!

It was bloody freezing on the Longside that winter .. it's quite difficult to tell people what 2000 folk looked like in a ground which until the reduction had a capacity of @ 41000 ...Sparse isn't the word.

Somethingfishy · Post by **Somethingfishy** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:46 pm

I was at both. I remember being sat in the Bob Lord for the Colchester game and looking across at a very sparsely populated longside. As for the Hereford game..i had a cracking view of their goals being sat in the Cricket Field. Ray Deakin and Joe Gallagher had a shocker..as for Tony Woodworth..the least said the better.

The thing is it looks really bad now but at the time it wasn't all that surprising. Was just the poorest performance of many poor performances.

ralph · Post by **ralph** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:51 pm

Rochdale at home was bad we'd hammered Crewe in the previous home game ... Preston at home made fools of us after we'd had a couple of decent results .. Wolves we were 2-1 up at home lost 5-2 and they brought half the crowd with them ... miserable times

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:59 pm

I think the people who turned up week in week out during that season cannot fail to have an affinity to the club others just cannot understand. Nor I hope and prey will they ever experience anything even approaching that in order to realise it.

slw · Post by **slw** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:00 pm

Hereford game, someone told me afterwoods that taffy who was having a sticker of a game, was getting flak off the bob lord regulars, so he turned around and gave them all a V sign.

THEWELLERNUT70 · Post by **THEWELLERNUT70** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:01 pm

No and yes

I've only ever been to Colchester once,it was at Layer Rd with Glenn Keeley making his debut for utd. He scored an own goal after 5 minutes

Colburn_Claret · Post by **Colburn_Claret** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:19 pm

Kudos to you all. My first child was born in 85, I felt guilty going regular, being skint and so much to buy. A blessing in disguise no doubt. Caught a couple of games that season and Orient of course. The stuff of fairy tales since then.

Q. Do you think if it hadn't been so close, if we had finished say 4th bottom and not had the media hype and that final day show of emotion, that things could have turned out completely different.

Spike · Post by **Spike** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:20 pm

I was at both games! I seriously couldn't believe the players were trying! I found it unbelievable that we paid wages to such, with a few exceptions, woefully bad individuals

I have had a season ticket since 1973/74 but made friends for life during the bad times

RammyClaret61 · Post by **RammyClaret61** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:39 pm

On the protest, didn't Jack Simmons the Lancashire cricketer come out and talk to us?

Spike · Post by **Spike** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:41 pm

Dobber protesting- classic photo!

MrTopTier · Post by **MrTopTier** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:47 pm

Brilliant photo, saw Dobber at Stoke and Chelsea this year.
His mate Andy next to him.

box_of_frogs · Post by **box_of_frogs** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:54 pm

Possibly, was 9 years old and went to random matches on and off. I do remember assorted protests on Brunshaw Rd over the years. And most were about as successful as the current ones by the horse botherers........

Excellent!!!

RingoMcCartney · Post by **RingoMcCartney** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:23 pm

Yes and yes!

Didn't we get tanked 5 nil by wolves at home around that time as well?
Seem to remember singing "Bulls**t" at Steve bull till he got a hat trick!

I was on against Northampton on a Tuesday night with me dad. It was freezing and there were big gaps all around us as we stood on the Longside near the railings near no man's land.

Northampton were top of the league I think and we beat em!

Unhappy days!

Stan Tastic · Post by **Stan Tastic** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:29 pm

I was at Crewe and remember their fans dancing on the pitch at the end laughing at us as they, like us, thought we were going down.

I thought we'd win the last game but couldn't see the other two slipping up. It was an awful feeling knowing it was out of our hands.

NRC · Post by **NRC** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:46 pm

Yes to both. I remember that I couldn't be arsed to join in with the protest, instead going to collect my car from my favorite parking spot in one of the terraced house alleyways entrances. Never had difficulty "grabbing" that spot. Used to on with a bloke called Dave I knew from the 18 months I actually lived in Burnley in 81-82. Think the street he lived on was called Huffing Lane?

BurnleyPaul · Post by **BurnleyPaul** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:54 pm

Yes to both....

I was 10 years old, it was my first season going on the turf and it was all thanks to my neighbour Bernard Darwin who worked at the club. I got in for free.

I spent every game that season sitting on the front row of the Bob Lord stand between the 100 Club area and the bee hole end.

To my naive mind it was a brilliant experience- looking back now though I realise just how foul the football really was. And more to the point just how much of a miracle it was that we escaped relegation.

Guitargeorge · Post by **Guitargeorge** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:56 pm

Yes to both. We had season tickets in the Cricket Field stand. Got them in the 70's and could only get seats way to the right hand side as you look from the pitch. Nearest to the Celtic fans at THAT match. As years went on we could gradually renew nearer the centre until we finished up right behind the goals. Stayed there until the James Hargreaves stand was built and now have ST's on the front row of the upper section. Brilliant seat and brilliant football. I have been on the roller coaster since 1959!! The 80's were the pits really. We at he'd some tosh didn't we?

Buxtonclaret · Post by **Buxtonclaret** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:12 am

Was at the Hereford game but, as you can tell by the attendance, not on for the Colchester game.

Was a bit bad back then, wasn't it.

JimmyRobbo · Post by **JimmyRobbo** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:12 am

Yes to both. I attended all home games that season. A few away too.I used to stand on the Bee-hole with a few mates. We used to switch where we wanted to stand as there wasn't much competition for the spaces!

I don't recall the protest after Hereford. I remember the loss to Wolves 2-5, perhaps as much as anything for a single Wolves fan walking along Yorkshire Street proudly wearing his Gold and Black shirt...thought it brave...moments later he was lying on the floor with sirens blaring.

Funnily, I was very defensive about our team that year. I suppose we all love an underdog!

Dazzler · Post by **Dazzler** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 12:46 am

I can't recall being on the Colchester game but I decided to go on the Hereford game at the last hour.
Spent most of the following 12 hours in the Derby pub.

Great pic btw,I'm sure I recognise Micky Gorton who I was on with that day.He Is to the left of the guy who looks a bit like Ashley Hoskin.

hoskinsgoalatswansea · Post by **hoskinsgoalatswansea** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:55 am

Didn't miss a home game that season so yes to both. The colchester game was quite good. Can still remember Hoskins volleyed goal at the bee hole end, cracking goal. The only bright lights we had that season were hoskin, grewcock, Britton and James.

rosegroveclaret · Post by **rosegroveclaret** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 6:37 am

Yes to both. Very bad. And upsetting.

NottsClaret · Post by **NottsClaret** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:30 am

The Colchester game followed a 0-0 v Peterborough a few days earlier. I can't believe anyone who sat through that went to the next one. I don't remember a single pass being completed.

It's not surprising so many fans at the Hereford game are still following and posting on here. It'd be odd to endure that season and then toss it off now we're back in the big time.

Zom Zom · Post by **Zom Zom** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:27 am

I can't recall being on the Colchester game, but the Hereford one still gives me nightmares.. I was on the Bee Hole End that afternoon.
I seem to remember the following season there were 6 goals scored again in the relative fixture, although this time a slightly more acceptable 3-3 draw.

IndigoLake · Post by **IndigoLake** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:43 am

I was in my mother's womb on both of those dates. So you'll forgive me for not attending

Herts Clarets · Post by **Herts Clarets** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:04 am

Yes to Colchester, no to Hereford. I did a work colleague a favour and played for Cliviger Res that day. Won 3-1 and really did wonder if some of the blokes i played with could have done any worse....