Does anyone remember the League Ladders you used to get in comics back in the 1960s. This one below has to be 1965/66 given Northampton are in the First Division.

Yes I do.
But not from the 60's.
I got them as a kid in Shoot in the 80's. And my son had at least one, maybe 8 years ago.

halfmanhalfbiscuit wrote:Yes I do.
But not from the 60's.
I got them as a kid in Shoot in the 80's. And my son had at least one, maybe 8 years ago.

Now I've learned something - didn't think they'd lasted as long as that. I had one every season as a kid and meticulously moved the teams up and down each week.

I assume this is above your mantelpiece Tony?

Same here. Used to look forward to them every year from the late 70's into the mid 80's. Came with Shoot Magazine didn't it?

I imagine he saw it on Twitter. I saw it earlier this morning.

There was another posted a couple of weeks ago from 1971 I think?

'...This one below has to be 1965/66 given Northampton are in the First Division...'

thought it was from half-time on Saturday - as Burnley were 'top of the league'!

just talking about these the other day...we used to keep them up to date for about two weeks then left them alone.

great to see a picture again of how they looked.

could be 2017 IF Swansea and Rovers swap places

Where are there only 23 teams in the 3rd division?

duncandisorderly wrote:Where are there only 23 teams in the 3rd division?

The last one must have dropped out - should be Oxford

Think I have one from the late 70s knocking round in the loft somewhere! Interesting to see Workington in the 3rd division on this one. Also, I note that Hartlepool are called Hartlepools. When did they drop the "s"? Can't help getting nostalgic looking at this. Times seemed much simpler. Not even photographs, just some hand drawn pictures of a few players at the bottom.

Makes me wonder what the internet and message boards have done to the psychological well being of the football fan........how did some of these clowns vent their spleen in those days?!!!

welsbyswife wrote:Think I have one from the late 70s knocking round in the loft somewhere! Interesting to see Workington in the 3rd division on this one. Also, I note that Hartlepool are called Hartlepools. When did they drop the "s"? Can't help getting nostalgic looking at this. Times seemed much simpler. Not even photographs, just some hand drawn pictures of a few players at the bottom.

Makes me wonder what the internet and message boards have done to the psychological well being of the football fan........how did some of these clowns vent their spleen in those days?!!!

They were Hartlepools United until 1968 and then became Hartlepool (no s, no United) from 1968 to 1977 when they restored the United.

The reason for losing the S was due to the two towns Hartlepool & West Hartlepool becoming one town.

I had them in the early/mid 90s

Workington 9th in Division 3? Blimey!

I thought they were always at the bottom of Division 4 along with Bradford Park Avenue and Hartlepool.

Thanks Tony, you learn something every day!

I loved those! They were like magic in 'our day'. The only problem was pressing out the slots for the tabs without tearing. That led to meticulous work with tine bits of sellotape.

Happy days........

Imagine the trip from Swansea to Workington in those days! Would have been quicker by boat!

Quiz Time!

There's one team missing from Division 3. Which is it, and a possible reason why?

I loved these in the early 90s. Like someone mentioned above, you got them at the beginning of the season in magazines like Match and Shoot.

Interesting to see Bradford City and Bradford in the same division - Didn't know a team called 'Bradford' existed...is this Bradford Park Avenue in today's money?

It's the 64-65 chart, based on the league champions of the various divisions which are from 63-4. Someone was clearly too tight to buy the 65-66 update!

'...is this Bradford Park Avenue in today's money?..'


Yes!

Hipper wrote:Quiz Time!

There's one team missing from Division 3. Which is it, and a possible reason why?

Oxford - see post 10

claretblue wrote:'...is this Bradford Park Avenue in today's money?..'


Yes!

They were always Bradford but were often referred to as Bradford Park Avenue. So those who refer to the current league club Bradford City without the City have it wrong.

I'm sure, if I'm wrong, either DCWat or MDWat will put me right.

from Wiki:

'...Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an English football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Its name derived from the club's old stadium on Horton Park Avenue in Bradford (designed by Archibald Leitch), and was used to avoid confusion with Bradford City. However the club is traditionally known simply as Bradford, with the letters BFC adorning Leitch's grandstand...'

It says ©1964 in the bottom right and looking at the sketches of the captains they should sack the cartoonist.
Three hard men in Yeats, Collins and Curtis. Even though Bobby Collins was only 5'4".

Brilliant 1970's memory ! They came with the Tiger and Scorcher comic.

Brilliant seeing that again. Note Scottish second division the famous third Lanark at the top . Great name!

I had them from Shoot and Match magazines in the 90's. I didn't use the wall chart, but put all the teams in a bag and used to do my own cup competitions, complete with cup draws and magic FA cup storylines.

I presume Scottish football was stronger for Rangers/Celtic and Aberdeen not being near the top?

Quickenthetempo wrote:I presume Scottish football was stronger for Rangers/Celtic and Aberdeen not being near the top?

Queen's Park must have been stronger. They were 7th in the Scottish 1st and 19th in the 2nd.

I think the 19 teams in the Scottish second is right, however. From memory, they had 19 teams in there for years until Ferranti Thistle, renamed to Meadowbank Thistle because of anti-advertising rules, came in in the seventies.

piston broke wrote:It says ©1964 in the bottom right and looking at the sketches of the captains they should sack the cartoonist.
Three hard men in Yeats, Collins and Curtis. Even though Bobby Collins was only 5'4".

It does, and I suspect that's when that particular ladder appeared in the comic although the league tables are from 1965/66. It can't be any other season with Northampton in the first division.

ClaretTony wrote:It does, and I suspect that's when that particular ladder appeared in the comic although the league tables are from 1965/66. It can't be any other season with Northampton in the first division.

Since the 92 clubs seldom changed in those days, the same chart would do for year after year. Blackburn could usefully have been placed in division three, for example. Wait - someone's already done that!

dsr wrote:Since the 92 clubs seldom changed in those days, the same chart would do for year after year. Blackburn could usefully have been placed in division three, for example. Wait - someone's already done that!

Gateshead had just gone when I started watching and then Accy Stanley folded. But the only changes from then until the new automatic promotion/relegation changes in 1987 were the loss of Barrow Bradford, Southport and Workington who all failed to win re-election. Their replacements were Cambridge, Hereford, Wigan and Wimbledon

Notts F.

ClaretTony wrote:Gateshead had just gone when I started watching and then Accy Stanley folded. But the only changes from then until the new automatic promotion/relegation changes in 1987 were the loss of Barrow Bradford, Southport and Workington who all failed to win re-election. Their replacements were Cambridge, Hereford, Wigan and Wimbledon

The start of the swing to the South.

Seem to remember having them as far back as mid/late fifties. Pretty sure Tiger was the first to give them out. Would be impossible for todays youngsters to understand how much pleasure kids got from league ladders

Why were Hartlepool ever called Hartlepools?

ClaretTony wrote:Does anyone remember the League Ladders you used to get in comics back in the 1960s. This one below has to be 1965/66 given Northampton are in the First Division.

League Ladder.jpg

Just looked through the English 4 divs as listed. I have been on all grounds except 4. They were Aldershot Newport, Oxford and Workington. No doubt many on here can beat that ? Anybody been to all ? Only been on 17 of the Scottish including gems like Albion Rovers !

ClaretTony wrote:Does anyone remember the League Ladders you used to get in comics back in the 1960s. This one below has to be 1965/66 given Northampton are in the First Division.

League Ladder.jpg

Remember? Of course I've still got mine from the 60's.

FCBurnley wrote:Just looked through the English 4 divs as listed. I have been on all grounds except 4. They were Aldershot Newport, Oxford and Workington. No doubt many on here can beat that ? Anybody been to all ? Only been on 17 of the Scottish including gems like Albion Rovers !

Never did Bradford or Workington and only got Barrow in five years ago for a dev squad friendly.

Workington was the end of the World, although I was at Ewood when they beat Rovers if that counts

Aah! League ladders.
Those were the days. brilliant fun with them.

... and from a time when you knew which colours every team wore when playing in at home. It was so much simpler back then, apart from Goal Average as it was pre calculator so needed a pencil and paper

I'd like to see Forrest fans reacting to seeing their club as Notts F!

ClaretTony wrote:Does anyone remember the League Ladders you used to get in comics back in the 1960s. This one below has to be 1965/66 given Northampton are in the First Division.

League Ladder.jpg

God yes!
I loved them!

Craigyp01 wrote:I'd like to see Forrest fans reacting to seeing their club as Notts F!

Why do people insist on putting the extra r in the middle - even the Nottingham Forest official site calls them FOREST!

bfcmik wrote:Why do people insist on putting the extra r in the middle - even the Nottingham Forest official site calls them FOREST!

Probably because they get so wound up about a pretty standard abbreviation of Nottingham, that we might as well wind them up a bit further by misspelling Forrest?

Not much change in the top division - 12/22 teams are currently playing in the PL, 7 in the Championship and 3 in League 1.

Replacements have come in with 4 from the Championship and 4 from League 1.

I liked the Scottish League best when it was just 2 divisions, before the greed of the Old Firm took over.

I think that the general decline in Scottish football can be traced back to the decision to go to a four-division format. When the only games that really matter are played by just 2 teams, it's not a good thing.