England in Wanderers kit. But that's by-the-by.

 

I thought our pitch was always a raised surface. If my eyes are deceiving me then this picture says different.

 

Before  my time but wasn’t it raised when we were the first to put under soil heating in?

Edited April 2, 20206 yr by tomski

I thought it had always been raised.

When undersoil heating was installed it was said they'd found all manner of stuff under the pitch that they had to clear out.

My grandad told me that they'd installed hundreds of Magee's wooden beer barrels under the pitch when it got raised. Not sure why that helps though???

I'm struggling to name two players on the England photo - second player in from the left on both the front & back row.

Back row,  in between Armfield & Flowers, front row, in between Connelly & Clayton.

Left to right: Jimmy Armfield (Blackpool); Slater (Wolverhampton Wanderers); Flowers (Wolverhampton Wanderers); Springett (Sheffield Wednesday), goalkeeper; Parry (Bolton); and Wilson, (Huddersfield Town). Front row, left to right: Connelly (Burnley); Broadbent (Wolverhampton Wanderers); Clayton (Blackburn Rovers), captain; Baker (Hibernian); and Bobby Charlton (Manchester United).

 

Pitch raised many moons before under soil heating .

Couldn’t find a picture of the surface but never new there was what looks like a seated stand on the embankment in the 1920 S picture of Harry nuthall 

Dont think its our kit...Certainly not the first England team 

11 minutes ago, Farnywhite said:

Couldn’t find a picture of the surface but never new there was what looks like a seated stand on the embankment in the 1920 S picture of Harry nuthall 

That's when Warbies first mobbed up...😀

52 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Dont think its our kit...Certainly not the first England team 

I don't know what the story is behind the photo. It says it's from 1960. Like you said it's definitely not Englands 1st, and it isn't the U23 team because Banks and Greaves were in the U23 about that time.

Edited April 2, 20206 yr by Underpants

16 minutes ago, Underpants said:

I don't know what the story is behind the photo. It says it's from 1960. Like you said it's definitely not Englands 1st, and it isn't the U23 team because Banks and Greaves were in the U23 about that time.

It may be a Football League team.

There used to be  games between the English Football League, Scottish FL, Welsh FL etc. & it was usually a mix of players that weren't first choice internationals/older than U 23's/ established internationals.

These games were played around the country rather than at Wembley & full caps weren't handed out to players.

3 minutes ago, Steejay said:

It may be a Football League team.

There used to be  games between the English Football League, Scottish FL, Welsh FL etc. & it was usually a mix of players that weren't first choice internationals/older than U 23's/ established internationals.

These games were played around the country rather than at Wembley & full caps weren't handed out to players.

I thought that. But the problem with that is that one plays in Scotland. Turns out he was the first player to play for England who had never played for a team in England.

2 minutes ago, Underpants said:

I thought that. But the problem with that is that one plays in Scotland. Turns out he was the first player to play for England who had never played for a team in England.

They were a kind of 'trial' game for some players so perhaps they bent the rules a bit for Baker.

Did he go to Arsenal soon after or to Italy first?

This is the list of players england had from that year. They are all there. So they were 1st teamers.

 

All I can think is that none in the picture played for teams South of Wolverhampton. So maybe Bolton was more convenient for them to meet 🤔

Edited April 2, 20206 yr by Underpants

9 minutes ago, Underpants said:

This is the list of players england had from that year. They are all there. So they were 1st teamers.

 

All I can think is that none in the picture played for teams South of Wolverhampton. So maybe Bolton was more convenient for them to meet 🤔

Possibly, yep.

Southern meet up must have been 3-a-side.

Looking at that list, so many of the players were Northern based.

A picture of the pitch drop down , not sure of year , early 60's.

It actually could be pre 1957 because I can't see any floodlights , unless they are lost in the gloom.

Edited April 2, 20206 yr by dusan nikolic

One of my earlies memories of first going to a game (73 ish) was the blue invalid cars coming up the tunnel from below Burnden Paddock and turn left at top to drive around the pitch. I reckon such was the height of the pitch that the drivers could only have had a 6" or so view of the play.

5 hours ago, Good Knee said:

Pitch raised many moons before under soil heating .

My dad has just said the same but can’t remember when.

8 hours ago, Underpants said:

England in Wanderers kit. But that's by-the-by.

 

I thought our pitch was always a raised surface. If my eyes are deceiving me then this picture says different.

 

 

Your dads right I've been going on since 1965 and pitch was risen then can't remember when heated pitch was put down guessing 70s .Was on the piss in Portugal years ago and got talking to a couple of Canadians on finding out I supported the whites one of them asked me if I new of the nickname for the ground, being fairly confident that my knowledge would be better than his I said I'd never known a nickname he said it was "the billiard table " on account of the pitch being raised up ! I'd never heard that before or since. 

6 hours ago, Farnywhite said:

Couldn’t find a picture of the surface but never new there was what looks like a seated stand on the embankment in the 1920 S picture of Harry nuthall 

It’s a Magees Ales bar, think I remember my Dad telling me there was one there and one on the Manchester Road side adjacent to the police control box, where I know there was a bar in the 70s and 80s.

Cracking pic of the oil undersoil heating going in here >> https://harry-mcguire.pixelrights.com/p/Ww66b  

It seems that the picture was taken before a training game of 20 minutes each way with England running out 2-0 winners against us.

 

And the pitch level issue seems to be a camera trick because the pitch was raised just before WW1. And it's not an urban myth, the pitch was built on top of barrels. There you have it.

 

Thanks  to Simon Marland at the club for clearing this head Scratcher up.

The newly built Burnden Park included a cycle track which was soon under used. As the popularity of the Wanderers increased the two side paddocks were extended over the track. The site lines must have been a problem as, even with the ditch, the front row fans only had a worm's eye view. The pitch was also cambered so they could not see the feet of the wingers on the opposite touch line. The former velodrome also explains the position of the nets in relation to the front rows of the Embankment and Lever Ends. Burnden Park was a big site - plenty of room for a modern stadium and a superstore.

Light the blue touch paper and retire to a safe distance !

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, Underpants said:

It seems that the picture was taken before a training game of 20 minutes each way with England running out 2-0 winners against us.

 

And the pitch level issue seems to be a camera trick because the pitch was raised just before WW1. And it's not an urban myth, the pitch was built on top of barrels. There you have it.

 

Thanks  to Simon Marland at the club for clearing this head Scratcher up.

Ah, Grandad was right all along...

26 minutes ago, Steejay said:

Ah, Grandad was right all along...

You certainly were 😂