3rd Division Champions 1973

[woolli]

20 hours ago, Casino said:

brentford and york were my first 2 games

 

end of that season

 

liverpool

burnley

bolton

southport

won their divisions, i think - only doubt is burnley, but can't be anybody else

Only time in history 4 Lancashire clubs won there respective league. And yes, it was Lancashire then.

[Dr. Feelgood]

16 hours ago, bwfc2003 said:

Remember JB getting the equaliser  in stoppage time ? after a ball boy got chinned for wasting time

Fckg rightly too.

He offered JB the ball then threw it away. It wasn't the first time either. Brilliant ending. ... except for the absolute avalanche of house bricks that rained down on us.

[jayjayoghani]

47 minutes ago, woolli said:

Only time in history 4 Lancashire clubs won there respective league. And yes, it was Lancashire then.

1997? 

[woolli]

7 minutes ago, jayjayoghani said:

1997? 

1972/73, not sure about 1997?

[paulhanley]

12 minutes ago, woolli said:

1972/73, not sure about 1997?

I think it was the rags, Bolton, Bury, Wigan that season. 

[woolli]

17 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

I think it was the rags, Bolton, Bury, Wigan that season. 

If so  i stand corrected mate.

[Rival Son]

Even though I detest the entity, all four champions were from Greater Manchester!

[paulhanley]

8 minutes ago, Rival Son said:

Even though I detest the entity, all four champions were from Greater Manchester!

Probably best to say they were all within a 15 mile radius of each other than to use that dreadful phrase. 

[woolli]

21 minutes ago, Rival Son said:

Even though I detest the entity, all four champions were from Greater Manchester!

Yes, was just going to say that, not Lancashire.

[bolty58]

On 11/04/2025 at 18:23, gonzo said:

Never heard much about this season other than Jimmy Armfield was manager.

Where did we clinch it?

Any duffers on here there?

Went to over 75% of games that season with the 'halfway liner' lunatics.

Tremendous season. Can't recall where we clinched the championship? 2-2 draw at Port Vale? (John Byrom is God).

[athywhite1958]

There were only 2 of us at our school (in Leigh) who supported Bolton, the rest were Leigh rugby or United/Liverpool, we were 15 that season and our dad's had let us go on our own to home and away matches, we had a ball

[Dr. Feelgood]

3 hours ago, woolli said:

If so  i stand corrected mate.

The Rags don't count.

[jayjayoghani]

Yeah I'll admit it's debatable and didn't want to open that fucking can of worms, again.  

[bolty58]

19 hours ago, woolli said:

Only time in history 4 Lancashire clubs won there respective league. And yes, it was Lancashire then.

Liverpool, Burnley, Bolton, Southport?

[bolty58]

19 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Fckg rightly too.

He offered JB the ball then threw it away. It wasn't the first time either. Brilliant ending. ... except for the absolute avalanche of house bricks that rained down on us.

Could here them rattling about in the structural steelwork above our heads 

[bolty58]

On 11/04/2025 at 23:28, Take Hunt Off said:

We were 2-0 down & they were kicking us all over the park. They needed to win to go up (dependant on Notts County losing their last match) 

Our players didn’t seem that arsed at first but the more they kicked us the better we played .Not sure who got the first of our goals but the ref (Styles ) played a lot of injury time & JB put one in the top corner in about the 94th minute , cue pitch invasion at the end by the travelling contingent .One of their players actually spat at me as I offered my sincere condolences.

As we approached the players tunnel two big blokes blocked off referee Styles & pole-axed him to the ground. Nothing reported in the papers about it although it was pretty viscous.

Needless to say two of us were ambushed in a subway when we came off the ground at the wrong side. One of theirs hit my mate with a snooker ball right on his bonnet , anyway the police arrived in the nick of time & they scapperd .

Always feisty in Burslem.

My mate bought a brand new Austin 1100 drove us to the match , drank about six pints before the game , drove back to Horwich & took the car back to the showroom the day after & got his old Simca banger back.

We'd taken over a pub and had a good round of pool table challenges going on. Doors flew open and (what I presume was) a Stoke City fan rushed in with a red and white balaclava on with eye holes cut into it. "Come on then ya bastards...............oh shit", turned and rushed back out again with pint glasses, pool balls, a pool cue, a stool and some other stuff flying after him 

The whole day was tasty with the house bricks, Bolton in their end causing mayhem, all sorts of skirmishes going on in the car park afterwards.

[bolty58]

19 hours ago, woolli said:

We only lost one home game in our promotion season, at home to Blackburn, think there was 33,000 on.

Hated that defeat. One abiding memory - a few Blackburn were in the Manny Rd North (down at the front right behind the dugout) incognito until they scored. Everybody weighed down on them from behind and I was right behind madman Nelli when he knocked one of them out by coming down hard on the top of his head with his elbow. Poor bastard then got trampled in the rush and he was stretchered out by St Johns.

Besides these memories, the season opener against Bournemouth sticks in my mind. Glorious sunny day and we played like Brazil in their pomp. We just knew right there that a great season was ahead.

Same season as the Luton Clockwork Orange FA Cup match. Another 30k+ crowd on?

[woolli]

3 hours ago, bolty58 said:

Hated that defeat. One abiding memory - a few Blackburn were in the Manny Rd North (down at the front right behind the dugout) incognito until they scored. Everybody weighed down on them from behind and I was right behind madman Nelli when he knocked one of them out by coming down hard on the top of his head with his elbow. Poor bastard then got trampled in the rush and he was stretchered out by St Johns.

Besides these memories, the season opener against Bournemouth sticks in my mind. Glorious sunny day and we played like Brazil in their pomp. We just knew right there that a great season was ahead.

Same season as the Luton Clockwork Orange FA Cup match. Another 30k+ crowd on?

Yep first game of season, won 3-0, around 7,000 on.  Yes Luton 39,000 on, lost 1-0

[Dr. Feelgood]

1 hour ago, woolli said:

Yep first game of season, won 3-0, around 7,000 on.  Yes Luton 39,000 on, lost 1-0

As the match ended a fur-coated 50 odd year old female Luton fan was stood up clapping in the front row of the Manny Road stand about 10 in from the Lever End.

I was watching her as a pie hit her straight in the face.

[bolty58]

On 13/04/2025 at 16:20, Dr. Feelgood said:

As the match ended a fur-coated 50 odd year old female Luton fan was stood up clapping in the front row of the Manny Road stand about 10 in from the Lever End.

I was watching her as a pie hit her straight in the face.

Just found this. Scroll down to the photos and get a load of that crowd.

Amazing days under Amazing Jim.

https://hattersheritage.co.uk/matches/bolton-wanderers-vs-luton-town-fc-24-feb-1973

[Zico]

6 minutes ago, bolty58 said:

Just found this. Scroll down to the photos and get a load of that crowd.

Amazing days under Amazing Jim.

https://hattersheritage.co.uk/matches/bolton-wanderers-vs-luton-town-fc-24-feb-1973

looks ace that

[Johnnyrotten]

13 minutes ago, bolty58 said:

Just found this. Scroll down to the photos and get a load of that crowd.

Amazing days under Amazing Jim.

https://hattersheritage.co.uk/matches/bolton-wanderers-vs-luton-town-fc-24-feb-1973

Loved looking at those pictures, a few years before I started going, thanks for posting.

The match report is comedy gold, "Bolton, bucking for promotion in the 3rd division"; loo rolls being thrown at Charlie Wright, John Aston getting booed throughout, "his only crime was that he used to play for Man U", all the references to crowd violence just reported routinely.  Glorious. 

[boltonboris]

Brilliantly presented website that. Fair play to the guy! 

[bolton va va]

20 minutes ago, bolty58 said:

Just found this. Scroll down to the photos and get a load of that crowd.

Amazing days under Amazing Jim.

https://hattersheritage.co.uk/matches/bolton-wanderers-vs-luton-town-fc-24-feb-1973

Great pictures those.(pity there's none of the Luton fans with warpaint on, getting a kicking in the Lever End 🙂)

[Dr. Feelgood]

1 hour ago, bolty58 said:

Just found this. Scroll down to the photos and get a load of that crowd.

Amazing days under Amazing Jim.

https://hattersheritage.co.uk/matches/bolton-wanderers-vs-luton-town-fc-24-feb-1973

Excellent.

I also remember it as the day Johnny Aston shithoused for 90 minutes & became hated for a decade, often by fans who could not possibly have been there. Fckg Manc reject.