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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Trouble on the terraces


BoltonBoy80

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1 minute ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

I remember that game. Was it sterland who bagged for them?

Seemed to have loads on the embankment.

Can't remember the goalscorer. Did Gowling score for us?

One thing I do remember is the dog's abuse from the Manny Road terrace towards their winger Terry Curran. Who to be fair was an obnoxious twat and deserved it. Years later I was at a Horwich RMI match. I think they were playing Goole Town. Curran was their manager. And he was still an obnoxious twat - and the small gathering of Horwich fans behind the dugouts were also giving him abuse! 

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4 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

I love reading these old tales from the 70s. Some scenes that I witnessed as a kid and others that I missed because I was too young to be going then.  One game that I've never seen referred to is Man U away in that 74/75 season.  We lost 0-3? Did anyone off here go? Was there trouble then?

Aye, i went & it was grim. It was a night match before segregation meaning there was no safe area & we had to keep our heads down.

After, we had to go to Victoria for Bolton trains & the whole station, the subway to the platforms & the platforms were heaving with munichs. The last train back was also full of them ( probably a Blackpool train ) & about 20 Bolton yoof had to get on but fortunately the police also got on. Once we were safely back on Bolton platform, we got brave again 🙂 & a couple of munichs made the mistake of sticking their heads too far out of the windows but it was a difficult night & a warning of what was to come in the return match.  

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3 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Can't remember the goalscorer. Did Gowling score for us?

One thing I do remember is the dog's abuse from the Manny Road terrace towards their winger Terry Curran. Who to be fair was an obnoxious twat and deserved it. Years later I was at a Horwich RMI match. I think they were playing Goole Town. Curran was their manager. And he was still an obnoxious twat - and the small gathering of Horwich fans behind the dugouts were also giving him abuse! 

Chandler , Gowling and Henry for us , Curran scored for Wednesday .

Attendance 13,656

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1 hour ago, paulhanley said:

Does anybody remember there being trouble with Sheff Weds on the last day of 81/2? They turned up with thousands after promotion and we needed the win to stay up. We won 3-1. 

Right the way through the 80s we had late season home games on which something hinged for us or the opposition and on each occasion it kicked off. 82 v Sheff Weds; 83 v Chelsea; 84 v Sheff Utd; 85 v Bradford; 87 v Boro; 90 v Bristol City.

I may be wrong but I think it was them that got in the Manny Rd North early & were attacking our lads coming through the turnstiles. 

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1 minute ago, RONNIE PHILLIPS said:

I may be wrong but I think it was them that got in the Manny Rd North early & were attacking our lads coming through the turnstiles. 

I don't remember that but you may well be right. I do remember them appearing in the Manny Road North Stand during the game - right at the top in the last block of seats before the Embankment. 

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7 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

Aye, i went & it was grim. It was a night match before segregation meaning there was no safe area & we had to keep our heads down.

After, we had to go to Victoria for Bolton trains & the whole station, the subway to the platforms & the platforms were heaving with munichs. The last train back was also full of them ( probably a Blackpool train ) & about 20 Bolton yoof had to get on but fortunately the police also got on. Once we were safely back on Bolton platform, we got brave again 🙂 & a couple of munichs made the mistake of sticking their heads too far out of the windows but it was a difficult night & a warning of what was to come in the return match.  

Didn’t we have the central section only of the scoreboard, seem to remember fences either side and think we only took a few hundred. Or maybe mists of time clouded my memory. 

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2 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

Didn’t we have the central section only of the scoreboard, seem to remember fences either side and think we only took a few hundred. Or maybe mists of time clouded my memory. 

You might be right, it 's a long time ago,  but we were definitely down the side for some reason & had to keep quiet.

We were certainly on the scoreboard end for the Frankie Worthy night though.

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23 hours ago, Mounts Kipper said:

That Boro game at theirs was the only time I’ve ever seen the gate open at end of the game and no one step outside the dimly lit terrace street was packed with Boro waiting for us, the police closed the door and gave it 20 minutes for them to clear off. Thank fuck they did. 

I forgot about that.  It was always worse when we were kept in if we didnt have a big following, all the home fans had time to congregate on corners waiting for their targets to appear without the benefit of blending into the masses.

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3 hours ago, paulhanley said:

Does anybody remember there being trouble with Sheff Weds on the last day of 81/2? They turned up with thousands after promotion and we needed the win to stay up. We won 3-1. 

Right the way through the 80s we had late season home games on which something hinged for us or the opposition and on each occasion it kicked off. 82 v Sheff Weds; 83 v Chelsea; 84 v Sheff Utd; 85 v Bradford; 87 v Boro; 90 v Bristol City.

That's one of my all time favourite games, and Tony Henry was a class act in that game and many others.  Gowling's last goal for us having also scored 4 days earlier v Derby when we won in last minute after I'd left, I was so gutted that we were relegated (or so I thought).  5k on v Derby, 13k v Sheff W, that's how crowds fluctuated in the pre-season ticket days.  It was the first of 2 after match pitch invasions at Burnden I've done, Wigan in Freight Rover Semi was the other.  They brought about 4k but they hadn't been promoted, they needed a result which made it even more surprising we won, they didn't go up that season, I went to Hillsbrough for our 2nd away game in August 82 (we beat Keegan's Newcastle in our 1st home game).  So much for taking mobs, there were about 250 of us on the Leppings Lane!  Lost 3-1 (Henry scored again).

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2 hours ago, paulhanley said:

I bet 6000 of those were from Sheffield! 

 

Definitely not that many, they only had at most half the embankment, Bolton were in the usual home bit of the embankment.  Burnden Paddock was packed out that day (relatively).  Probably 10k Bolton which was a rarity in the 80s.  Although we invaded the pitch, we weren't guaranteed to stop up.  It was between us and Cardiff to go down, they played Grimsby a week later, won 1-0, so it went to their last game, with us on our holidays. Home to promoted Luton in a night game 2 days later, the only way I could keep track was to tune into the sports news once an hour.  Imagine that now, you find out if you're relegated by listening to an hourly news bulletin that just tells you the score and no detail!  They lost 3-2,  Brian Stein scored 2, I went to bed absolutely buzzing but had nobody to share it with, hardly knew anyone that cared!  Different world.

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12 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

That's one of my all time favourite games, and Tony Henry was a class act in that game and many others.  Gowling's last goal for us having also scored 4 days earlier v Derby when we won in last minute after I'd left, I was so gutted that we were relegated (or so I thought).  5k on v Derby, 13k v Sheff W, that's how crowds fluctuated in the pre-season ticket days.  It was the first of 2 after match pitch invasions at Burnden I've done, Wigan in Freight Rover Semi was the other.  They brought about 4k but they hadn't been promoted, they needed a result which made it even more surprising we won, they didn't go up that season, I went to Hillsbrough for our 2nd away game in August 82 (we beat Keegan's Newcastle in our 1st home game).  So much for taking mobs, there were about 250 of us on the Leppings Lane!  Lost 3-1 (Henry scored again).

I went Fulham away the following game, hardly any Bolton fans there. lost 4-0

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4 minutes ago, leigh white said:

I went Fulham away the following game, hardly any Bolton fans there. lost 4-0

Definitely different times.  If that was now, after giving ourselves a great chance to stop up and it being last game of season, we'd have taken at least 3k to Fulham.  There seemed to be so little interest in our games in the early 80s.

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3 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Definitely different times.  If that was now, after giving ourselves a great chance to stop up and it being last game of season, we'd have taken at least 3k to Fulham.  There seemed to be so little interest in our games in the early 80s.

Funny times but we would turn up in great numbers at times

People these days always make excuses for not making the effort but look how many Bolton took to Arsenal replay when we beat them 3-1 and the Southampton replay.

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9 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Definitely different times.  If that was now, after giving ourselves a great chance to stop up and it being last game of season, we'd have taken at least 3k to Fulham.  There seemed to be so little interest in our games in the early 80s.

The crowds at most clubs dropped dramatically in the early 80s, our away games at Leeds & Chelsea in 82/83 only attracted 16,180 & 6903 respectively.

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35 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Definitely not that many, they only had at most half the embankment, Bolton were in the usual home bit of the embankment.  Burnden Paddock was packed out that day (relatively).  Probably 10k Bolton which was a rarity in the 80s.  Although we invaded the pitch, we weren't guaranteed to stop up.  It was between us and Cardiff to go down, they played Grimsby a week later, won 1-0, so it went to their last game, with us on our holidays. Home to promoted Luton in a night game 2 days later, the only way I could keep track was to tune into the sports news once an hour.  Imagine that now, you find out if you're relegated by listening to an hourly news bulletin that just tells you the score and no detail!  They lost 3-2,  Brian Stein scored 2, I went to bed absolutely buzzing but had nobody to share it with, hardly knew anyone that cared!  Different world.

Aye

News on the hour

Think radio manc provided em

Had a little radio out with me

Think we were cricketing

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2 hours ago, bolton va va said:

We were certainly on the scoreboard end for the Frankie Worthy night though.

Ha ha I certainly remember that night

Mate’s dad had two STs in the stand opposite the cameras. Let his lad and my brother have the seats. Took me on the paddock with him just below them. I went fucking mental each time Frankie scored. Remember it going off big time under the scoreboard and the locals not being happy with me in the paddock. He told my mum he’d never take me to a Man U/Man C game ever again (weirdo had STs at both). Made the mistake of taking me to Maine Road when we lost 2-1 (Tony Henry?). Same thing happened again. This time it was for real. Never took me again into the home section at either club 😎

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Interesting for me Re Forest in the 70s, my dad’s mate used to run the rose hill tavern in those days , my dad in the day used to do unofficial door man , security on match days, it was the 70s, so this entailed drinking Saturday afternoon and kicking out anyone who caused trouble as opposed to an official position. 

Hes from Ireland and had/ has no allegiance or historical dislike for any particular city or town in England, likes Bolton because he’s lived here since 67 , and is vey parochial in that regard, and the reason I grew up supporting Bolton even though he had no tradition of doing so, home town rules . however, he always says, of all the fans he had “ dealings” with in that period in the 70s , which he has loads of tales about,  he has a pathological dislike of Nottingham Forest, he’s not really into football as such, but there could be something on the news about Forest drawing against Charlton or equally mediorcre tonight and the whole “ nothing but a shower of scamp bastards them, good for nothing scum” would be trotted out . I went to Nottingham racecourse a few years back and he was at it then, “watch yourself in that town, bad bastards them. “

Given the tales he tells of incidents in the Rose Hill , glassing, pool balls people pinching tills ,and all sorts from other fans, there must have been a serious incident with Forest for him to hate them so much but never has said 

 

 

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7 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Definitely not that many, they only had at most half the embankment, Bolton were in the usual home bit of the embankment.  Burnden Paddock was packed out that day (relatively).  Probably 10k Bolton which was a rarity in the 80s.  Although we invaded the pitch, we weren't guaranteed to stop up.  It was between us and Cardiff to go down, they played Grimsby a week later, won 1-0, so it went to their last game, with us on our holidays. Home to promoted Luton in a night game 2 days later, the only way I could keep track was to tune into the sports news once an hour.  Imagine that now, you find out if you're relegated by listening to an hourly news bulletin that just tells you the score and no detail!  They lost 3-2,  Brian Stein scored 2, I went to bed absolutely buzzing but had nobody to share it with, hardly knew anyone that cared!  Different world.

Hugely different world. I didn't know that level of detail. I did know that Sheff Weds needed a result for promotion but thought the win made us safe. There was a result bulletin on Radio 2 at 9:55pm back in the day and unless there'd been top flight games it could be the only way you'd find out key results. Local radio often didn't bother if the big clubs weren't playing! 

In your previous post you mentioned that Derby game a few days before the Sheff Weds one. That was an incredible finish with the late winner. Five minutes before that I think we thought we were all dead and buried and in Div 3. We dug ourselves out of a massive hole that year - it was a great escape very much the equal of the win over Forest a couple of years ago.

The other thing I remember about that Derby game  was the Manny Road North terrace. It was absolutely rammed full of bikers and blokes with mohicans that night. Don't ever remember it that way before or since! 

I also remember Sheff Weds away at the start of 82/3. Lots of optimism after that 3-1 over Keegan's Newcastle. We'd a midfield of McGovern and Reid. The radio 2 bulletin at 9:55  on crackly medium wave said 3-1 for Sheff Weds. Our season degenerated from there and we finished 82/3 with a midfield of Joyce, Thompson, Redfearn and on loan Stuart Gray. Heading for Div 3.

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12 hours ago, Mounts Kipper said:

Have to agree up there as a shady away game with the Millwall at the old den, the one where some Bwfc wag painted GMC around the ground antagonising the locals. 

:D Wasn't that the same one where we were escorted back to the train station and, after being pelted with half house bricks where those houses had been knocked down had dustbin lids skimmed at us like frisbee's by a couple of old women on tenement flat balconies shouting 'fackin' norvern monkeys'.

Cold Blow Lane was just about the most unwelcoming place you could go. Nutters in the stadium leaning over the fence screaming "Millwaw, Millwaw!' and never looked at the game once.

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11 hours ago, paulhanley said:

Does anybody remember there being trouble with Sheff Weds on the last day of 81/2? They turned up with thousands after promotion and we needed the win to stay up. We won 3-1. 

Right the way through the 80s we had late season home games on which something hinged for us or the opposition and on each occasion it kicked off. 82 v Sheff Weds; 83 v Chelsea; 84 v Sheff Utd; 85 v Bradford; 87 v Boro; 90 v Bristol City.

On the pitch after that one. Photo on the back page of the Sunday Express with me congratulating Alan Gowling. Only remember a little bit of a battle at that one. Nowt major?

Edited by bolty58
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15 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

I love reading these old tales from the 70s. Some scenes that I witnessed as a kid and others that I missed because I was too young to be going then.  One game that I've never seen referred to is Man U away in that 74/75 season.  We lost 0-3? Did anyone off here go? Was there trouble then?

Me. Went with me old man and a couple of his mates. We were in that paddock in front of that big stand opposite the players tunnel. Got a bit hairy as me Dad was with a couple of big buggers who were giving it some after a few sherberts. Anyone remember Big Dennis from L/H? Knew a lot of the DMB's and came over and calmed things down before it kicked off.

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1 hour ago, bolty58 said:

On the pitch after that one. Photo on the back page of the Sunday Express with me congratulating Alan Gowling. Only remember a little bit of a battle at that one. Nowt major?

I honestly can't remember. Too young really. I just recollect bother in the Manny Road. I don't really remember the pitch invasion either. How the hell did they all get on with the permiter fences in place by then?

I remember bits about the game - we played really well that day. Seemed to be camped in Sheff Weds half in the first half. Tony Henry was a good player - often forgotten now in the history of BWFC.

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