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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Big Match Revisited Heads Up


dusan nikolic

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27 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

Ha, i was at that one & it was great fun.  There were only a couple of hundred Bolton there, mostly lads, we were that hopeless most people had given it up. From the start we were under siege with us just defending & hacking the ball away anywhere ( in comparison, the 0-0 at Derby a few years back, was free flowing ,attacking football ) & we just waited for the inevitable goals to come.......after about an hour of survival somehow though, their fans got subdued & we started celebrating every clearance & every tackle, until the final whistle when we went into way over the top celebrations. The locals didn't see the funny side of it.

Sadly, I think we still went down & they went up.

Yes, they went up by a point and we went down, but had survival in our grasp after that draw.  We had 3 games left, and if we'd won any of them we would have finished above that team, even 2 draws would have done it.  Home games v Grimsby (0-0) and Chelsea (0-1) who both finished 3 pts above us; took the lead at Charlton and would have finished above them too if we held on.  And so began 11 years in the bottom 2 divisions.

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1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Yes, they went up by a point and we went down, but had survival in our grasp after that draw.  We had 3 games left, and if we'd won any of them we would have finished above that team, even 2 draws would have done it.  Home games v Grimsby (0-0) and Chelsea (0-1) who both finished 3 pts above us; took the lead at Charlton and would have finished above them too if we held on.  And so began 11 years in the bottom 2 divisions.

Horrible day that at Charlton, Ian Moore’s goal gave us false hope, from the highs of the mid to late 70s this relegation felt like the end of the world.

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11 minutes ago, Casino said:

My first big away on my own

Booked on TC on the Friday night

Think I was travel club that day. As also on the TC a few years later at Charlton night match when couple off our coach we’re arrested and held at Greenwich police station and we had to wait for them to be released, that was a late return home. We took about 150. 

Edited by Mounts Kipper
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My dad dragged me to Gigg Lane the day we were at Charlton.  Several Wanderers fans in the crowd started celebrating when word got out we'd taken the lead.  Heard we'd lost just as Bury fans started celebrating promotion despite them losing 1-3. Got in the car and heard they'd actually stayed down.  Someone had given the wrong score of their rivals to Bury's manager and he'd set the celebrating off. 😄

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10 hours ago, bolton va va said:

Ha, i was at that one & it was great fun.  There were only a couple of hundred Bolton there, mostly lads, we were that hopeless most people had given it up. From the start we were under siege with us just defending & hacking the ball away anywhere ( in comparison, the 0-0 at Derby a few years back, was free flowing ,attacking football ) & we just waited for the inevitable goals to come.......after about an hour of survival somehow though, their fans got subdued & we started celebrating every clearance & every tackle, until the final whistle when we went into way over the top celebrations. The locals didn't see the funny side of it.

Sadly, I think we still went down & they went up.

Yeah we still got relegated. It was the one that ended with the 4-1 defeat at Charlton. Great tale though. I think that was the side if theirs with Lineker and Lynex. Maybe Jim Melrose too.All prolific.

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12 hours ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Yes, they went up by a point and we went down, but had survival in our grasp after that draw.  We had 3 games left, and if we'd won any of them we would have finished above that team, even 2 draws would have done it.  Home games v Grimsby (0-0) and Chelsea (0-1) who both finished 3 pts above us; took the lead at Charlton and would have finished above them too if we held on.  And so began 11 years in the bottom 2 divisions.

Went on train to that Charlton match. Also caught the tube. A bus and a ferry to the Valley and still missed kick-off. We went round Soho before KO. Pocket full of 50p and did what two lads would do. We also went in to a topless bar and, being a bit green and naive, we got well and truly rinsed in the there. £5 for half a lager 🙄. She let us have a touch though. Obviously felt sorry for us.

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13 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

My dad dragged me to Gigg Lane the day we were at Charlton.  Several Wanderers fans in the crowd started celebrating when word got out we'd taken the lead.  Heard we'd lost just as Bury fans started celebrating promotion despite them losing 1-3. Got in the car and heard they'd actually stayed down.  Someone had given the wrong score of their rivals to Bury's manager and he'd set the celebrating off. 😄

I was at Gigg Lane too.  In them days I always went to a local game on a Saturday, if Bolton weren't playing in the NW.  Bury needed to beat Wimbledon to go up and had a decent crowd on, they were well beaten.  Highlights were on The Kick Off Match, I saw it repeated recently, Martin Tyler commentated.  I remember those premature celebrations, Scunthorpe went up instead so we had the pleasure of playing them a few months later, the away game was my first on travel club.

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On 27/09/2021 at 17:07, dusan nikolic said:

This Saturday at 10.30 am on the big match revisited, it is showing West Ham v Bolton from October 1980 .

Watched that this evening.  Couple of hundred, hard core Wanderers could be spotted in the away end.  Great strike from Kidd for our goal.  Mike Graham didn't last long at our place did he? Presumably ended up in the lower divisions not long afterwards. 

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1 hour ago, Casino said:

Graham and burke made their home debuts at left and right back v chelsea in a league cup game

Looked brilliant that night

beat them 2-1 ,chelsea fans banned , still about 100 in the lever end.

 

can't remember what i had for tea this evening.

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3 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

Watched that this evening.  Couple of hundred, hard core Wanderers could be spotted in the away end.  Great strike from Kidd for our goal.  Mike Graham didn't last long at our place did he? Presumably ended up in the lower divisions not long afterwards. 

He did , looking at Google he played 400 games for Swindon , Mansfield and Carlisle.  He played against us along with Whatmore in 1986 for Mansfield , I'm sure Ian Greaves managed them also.

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On 04/10/2021 at 20:25, Duck Egg said:

Watched that this evening.  Couple of hundred, hard core Wanderers could be spotted in the away end.  Great strike from Kidd for our goal.  Mike Graham didn't last long at our place did he? Presumably ended up in the lower divisions not long afterwards. 

I finally watched that.  If anyone wants to search for it, its series 6 episode 6.  Long highlights, about 25 minutes.  Should have lost about 6-1, loads of near misses and saves by Terry Poole.  Whatmore, Reid and Gowling (playing right midfield) looked half decent, the rest looked like they didn't want to be there.  No rapport or connection between team and fans, in those days you didn't even get a wave from any players when they sloped off.  Very low key.  The match after, Sheff Wed v Orient, Ian Moores scores a good 'un. 

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On 20/11/2021 at 13:11, Johnnyrotten said:

I finally watched that.  If anyone wants to search for it, its series 6 episode 6.  Long highlights, about 25 minutes.  Should have lost about 6-1, loads of near misses and saves by Terry Poole.  Whatmore, Reid and Gowling (playing right midfield) looked half decent, the rest looked like they didn't want to be there.  No rapport or connection between team and fans, in those days you didn't even get a wave from any players when they sloped off.  Very low key.  The match after, Sheff Wed v Orient, Ian Moores scores a good 'un. 

Very good West Ham team that they’d just won FA cup,  we could have nicked draw in the end, thought we battled on well and stuck at it showing a lot of character except Cantello who was awful. 

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