My 2nd ever away game was at Oldham on boxing day '75. bitterly cold as always up that hole,but i had my new Wanderers scarf and gloves to keep me warm.

it seemed to take an eternity to travel the 15 miles or so to Boundary Park,the motorway was like a total traffic jam from Bolton to Chadderton. The queue for the junction on the A627 was virtually all the way back to the M62,Whites were everywhere.

We ended up in the Chaddy End,along with many Bolton fans. I remember the Wanderers fan planting the flag on the centre spot and it seemed like there was as many Bolton in the ground as Oldham that day.

We lost 2-1,pretty sure we opened the scoring,could have been Neil Whatmore.

My dad cherry picked the away games to take us as youngsters,but they were always superb and always had a huge following of Bolton fans,think the crowd at Boundary Park that particular day was over 25,000.

i'm glad i was young in the 70's era and enjoyed fascinating games,i'd have hated to have been brought up watching us through the dire early to mid 80's,there wasn't much to cheer then

I don't need to remind anyone of the next game v Sunderland...................

 

24,537

 

 

great couple of days

i had me new 'first pair of long keks' on

 

sat on my dads shoulders at the back of our end

 

buggers split and it was chilly to say the least

I remember one game in the 80s a cup game against arsenal at ours

A few if them came in the burnden paddock

And lasted a few seconds one lad hit one with a milk crate

I remember the milk crate episode! Lobbed over the fence straight into his mush! He looked more amazed than hurt!

Barney - thats a blast from the past - definitely someone you wanted on your side - what happened to him?

 

 

saw Barney last week in town him and g oc both live in harwood

i had me new 'first pair of long keks' on

 

sat on my dads shoulders at the back of our end

 

buggers split and it was chilly to say the least

 

And you have been sporting that look ever since.

And you have been sporting that look ever since.

Only in Brighton I heard.

Only in Brighton I heard.

 

Saves time I suppose.

The Pink went shit after they stopped printing them after the Saturday matches and changed to releasing them on Sunday morning like other papers. Used be a decent!

Used to read the pink on my Sunday paper round. Only had one on my round to post to a city fan, proper manc paper.

Remember the old scoreboard (signal box) on the Embankment? The guys would post the half time scores in the corresponding lettered boxes matched in your program.

Example letter (A) would be Arsenal v Liverpool etc: By the time they'd got round to putting them all up the match would nearly be over.

Remember the old scoreboard (signal box) on the Embankment? The guys would post the half time scores in the corresponding lettered boxes matched in your program.

Example letter (A) would be Arsenal v Liverpool etc: By the time they'd got round to putting them all up the match would nearly be over.

Aye, hardly t'internet was it!

Did I dream it, or did the StJohns lot used to go round the perimeter at half time with a blanket to catch charity coins? Bit like "nobbins" at the boxing - or at least used to be at the boxing when I went.

Wonder if these guys paid to get in the ground back then?

re Barney and Gary O'C,who remembers their very good mate,the late Jimmy Godridge ?

Jimmy was a good mate of mine and also a neighbour,absolute top fella and gentleman but hard as nails. He trained with Trev Roberts and Jack McKeown.

Jimmy had never been to a football match all his life even though he was good friends with all the faces.

That changed though in 2001 when i persuaded him to come on the 4 coaches to Derby. He absolutely loved the day especially seeing over 200 lads crammed into the Derby Arms on St Helens Rd at 9 in the morning.

He knew quite a lot of the lads and was buzzing and totally amazed by the number of lads we had out that day.

Jimmy's debut was a memorable one and he said to me in a drunken state later that night ''i thought i'd hate the day as i've no interest in football,but what a top day....i wish i'd have gone to the match all my life now''

He was my guest of honour that day and a honorary Wanderer for the day. RIP Jimmy,top,top fella,very sadly missed

Remember the old scoreboard (signal box) on the Embankment? The guys would post the half time scores in the corresponding lettered boxes matched in your program.

Example letter (A) would be Arsenal v Liverpool etc: By the time they'd got round to putting them all up the match would nearly be over.

 

 

Here it is for those whove never seen it.

 

 

Here it is for those whove never seen it.

 

the embankment looks tiny on that picture.

a couple of thousand must have been knocked off the ground's capacity when they put the walkway to the away fans enclosure at the back of the embankment.

it would have been much easier to just build new turnstiles for the away fans behind their enclosure and they would have been able to have got straight off the coaches and into the away end without any trouble.........................thank god no one thought of that in the 80's as the bastards would have spoilt all our fun on manny road

 

sharp eyed posters will note the ad for the pink final behind the goals(even though the goals aren't there)

Edited December 16, 201213 yr by miamiwhite

by then, the embankment had had the back half chopped off hadn't it?

by then, the embankment had had the back half chopped off hadn't it?

 

older posters may be able to help out more. i thought it was just the introduction of the walkway for the away fans that made it smaller.

you can still see the original advertisement boards at the back,then the newer ones further down

Miami, I remember the steps at the back of the embankment (pre-segregation) were especially steep, and new terracing and barriers were installed probs due to health & safety at same time as that walkway was put in. Deffo shaved a few thou off capacity though. Leeds had two thirds of it as I recall for a LC tie they won 3-1. It rained bottles all night long. How the fuck they got them in is anyone's guess

Miami, I remember the steps at the back of the embankment (pre-segregation) were especially steep, and new terracing and barriers were installed probs due to health & safety at same time as that walkway was put in. Deffo shaved a few thou off capacity though. Leeds had two thirds of it as I recall for a LC tie they won 3-1. It rained bottles all night long. How the fuck they got them in is anyone's guess

 

Salop - in the early 70's they were steep as you rightly say and i'm sure the top part of the embankment was a bit Wigan like with mud and moss in that section.

As a kid the walkway between the two sections of terracing in the embankment was a huge step up. The walkway behind which was introduced later was a disaster waiting to happen. We played Halifax in the cup around 79/80 before Ian Greaves was sacked. Thousands of them turned up but most had Leeds scarves on and were trying to demolish the concrete panels. Every missile imaginable was being launched in both directions.

 

Does anybody remember the big concrete step-up close to the filthy toilets on the Embankment ?

When we played Everton,snow covering the floodlights,our players were like ghosts,etc,etc, and it was abandoned,a friend of my dad's slipped on that step exiting the ground and broke his back. The poor guy suffered complications from this injury and ultimately couldn't work anymore.

He still managed to tinkle the old ivories on the Oddies organ until he sadly died a few years later. Daubhill's finest will know the guy in question.

The most away fans i've seen on the Embankment were Man Utd in 74/75 and Newcastle in the 76 cup game

Originally The Embankment was only concreted half way up, where the Warbies used to stand was gravel, can't remember the name of the movie with Arthur Askey in it, but the story line is about him being a train driver and watching (I think it was his son) playing for Bolton, they filmed it from the train looking over The Embankment and from The Manny Road looking at the train, massive crowd on that day, great clips of the early sixties team, a lot focused on Eddie Hoppy......

S,was it The Love Match ?

Two huge away followings right enough. Plenty of wooluffs there in 77 too when we lost 1-0 in front of 35000. It was Hospital Cup final that night and me and my mate lashed loads of goals in at Lever End when Manny Rd North turned round to see cup presented. Groundsman couldn't believe our enthusiasm after what had happened earlier that day. We were 13

Burnden held the FA Cup semi final in 66 hosting Man U V Everton, Bolton's game against Rotherham was postponed because of it, the filthy, dirty, lousy FA cunts, i wonder how much we got a cut of that 60,000 crowd that day for hosting the match ?

Salop - in the early 70's they were steep as you rightly say and i'm sure the top part of the embankment was a bit Wigan like with mud and moss in that section.

As a kid the walkway between the two sections of terracing in the embankment was a huge step up. The walkway behind which was introduced later was a disaster waiting to happen. We played Halifax in the cup around 79/80 before Ian Greaves was sacked. Thousands of them turned up but most had Leeds scarves on and were trying to demolish the concrete panels. Every missile imaginable was being launched in both directions.

 

Does anybody remember the big concrete step-up close to the filthy toilets on the Embankment ?

When we played Everton,snow covering the floodlights,our players were like ghosts,etc,etc, and it was abandoned,a friend of my dad's slipped on that step exiting the ground and broke his back. The poor guy suffered complications from this injury and ultimately couldn't work anymore.

He still managed to tinkle the old ivories on the Oddies organ until he sadly died a few years later. Daubhill's finest will know the guy in question.

The most away fans i've seen on the Embankment were Man Utd in 74/75 and Newcastle in the 76 cup game

 

Think the back half was formed from railway sleepers

Think the back half was formed from railway sleepers

 

jesus,fine flashback,i think you're right there pal

My dad went to that semi final in 66. He stood in the lever with the everton fans. Dennis law missed a sitter at the embankment end ha!

Went to the newcastle cup tie sat on my dads shoulders it was that packed. That game & the reading play off best games I've ever been too.

Burnden park was just the best reebok is souless.