Really old matches

[marinersawan 1]

I love to hear about the history of the club, especially from people like Ricardo or Tilley. I fear there’s no-one left to tell us about the Nest days, but I’m wondering if there are any tales of some of our great games of the past. I’m thinking Portsmouth cup replay 1949-50 (43000 in Carrow Road, capacity limited to 38000 ten years later), Arsenal FA cup 1951-52 - a 0-5 slaughter but a match against one of the biggest clubs in the country, and Arsenal FA cup away 1953-54 with a 2-1 win away which must have been among the games which made our names as cup giant-killers in the 20th century. I think those are before the times of anyone on here, but I might be wrong, or people might have stories from their older relatives. Any memories?

[nutty nigel 7,902]

I know @daly went to the Portsmouth game. It's way before my time but often gets talked about at Still On The Ball.

 

 

[nutty nigel 7,902]

http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/923

This was my first game in 1967. I must have posted it a dozen times but any excuse🙃

 

[marinersawan 1]

Thanks for posting those nutty nigel. A pity about the results. I know the 58-59 home matches from Man Utd onwards were all ticket with a limit of 38000. We had a 5th round home game with Sunderland in 60-61 which had an attendance of 42000, and our record attendance of 43984 versus Leicester in 62-63. Were those and the Sheff Wednesday game all ticket? I presume the capacity increased because the South Stand was enlarged a bit at the end towards the Barclay when the roof went on - at least that's what I assume from the pictures and film I've seen. Or maybe those games weren't all-ticket and a few thousand more were squeezed in than in 58-59.

[C.I.D 358]

20 hours ago, nutty nigel said:

I know @daly went to the Portsmouth game. It's way before my time but often gets talked about at Still On The Ball.

 

 

My late father often told me about that game ....especially how Pompey's Lindy Delaphena punched the ball into the net to win the match - apparently everyone in the ground saw it .............except the bl**dy referee it seems 😮

[ricardo 8,034]

53 minutes ago, marinersawan said:

Thanks for posting those nutty nigel. A pity about the results. I know the 58-59 home matches from Man Utd onwards were all ticket with a limit of 38000. We had a 5th round home game with Sunderland in 60-61 which had an attendance of 42000, and our record attendance of 43984 versus Leicester in 62-63. Were those and the Sheff Wednesday game all ticket? I presume the capacity increased because the South Stand was enlarged a bit at the end towards the Barclay when the roof went on - at least that's what I assume from the pictures and film I've seen. Or maybe those games weren't all-ticket and a few thousand more were squeezed in than in 58-59.

The capacity was raised to 44k in 1960 after the South Stand improvements so I am not sure if they were all ticket; the 59 cup run certainly was.

At the Leicester match you could barely move and many hardly saw any of the match.

There have only ever been 4 games with over 40k attendance and all were Fa Cup

 

 

 

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

49 minutes ago, marinersawan said:

Thanks for posting those nutty nigel. A pity about the results. I know the 58-59 home matches from Man Utd onwards were all ticket with a limit of 38000. We had a 5th round home game with Sunderland in 60-61 which had an attendance of 42000, and our record attendance of 43984 versus Leicester in 62-63. Were those and the Sheff Wednesday game all ticket? I presume the capacity increased because the South Stand was enlarged a bit at the end towards the Barclay when the roof went on - at least that's what I assume from the pictures and film I've seen. Or maybe those games weren't all-ticket and a few thousand more were squeezed in than in 58-59.

I went to the Sheffield Wed game and it must have been all ticket. You had to go to the previous League game to guarantee a ticket for the Cup game and the attendance against Bristol City was double the norm at 28,000. Sheffield Wed had 10,000 or so shoe-horned into the South Stand so there would have been very few who managed to get in otherwise although I seem to remember there were a few spares floating around the week before the game. The club did of course cash in and my Barclay terrace ticket cost a scandalous 2/6 ( 12 and a half pence )

My father went to Highbury to see the famous 2-1 win and said they almost got into a fight in the pub afterwards with some Irish Arsenal fans who had lost their money with the bookies. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

[nutty nigel 7,902]

I have a book called Great Football Memories where fans, players, managers and officials share a memory of a game. There's at least four posters (that I know of) on this board with contributions in the book. One of these is @Myra Hawtree and her favourite memory is when we won at Highbury in 1954. It's a great little story with her personal memories of the day (the best sort).

This guy, who has amazing goalscoring stats, scored the two goals

Looks like a boxer to me! Was he as good as those stats @ricardo ?

In 1952 we lost 5-0

[ricardo 8,034]

I have no real recollection of him Nutty, I think he left before the '54 season.

I recall my uncles and father talking about him and that Arsenal match.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

I recall queuing all the way up King Street and into Bracondale towards the Pineapple Pub at Trowse for Leicester tickets back in 1963.

[ricardo 8,034]

1 minute ago, TIL 1010 said:

I recall queuing all the way up King Street and into Bracondale towards the Pineapple Pub at Trowse for Leicester tickets back in 1963.

Same here in '59 for semi-final tickets.

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

We were dead lucky in 1963. Dad and I couldn't get tickets but luckily, on the Saturday morning, we got hold of two. 

That is the biggest crush I have been in. I don't think I managed my to get my hands down to get my Spangles out of my pocket.

For that reason, Dad wouldn't let me go during the 58-59 Cup run. He took my Grandad instead. My first game was Sheffield United, our first game back in the second division.

Over the years we have witnessed some real dross, home and away. Standing on wood at Northampton in the rain is not my finest memory.

My greatest game may not be remembered by many. It was against Burnley on an autumn evening in our promotion season in 1971-72. We smashed them 3-0 and I really did believe that we had arrived. Our power and strength just overpowered a very talented Burnley line up. I really saw a new Norwich City that night. 

And although he gets a bit of stick from some quarters, Ron Saunders made it all possible and his contribution to where the club is now should not be forgotten.  I remember Geoff Watling saying we wouldn't take no for an answer when we pinched him from Oxford.

[essex canary 622]

That Burnley game was electric. I believe Kenny Foggo scored a diving header.

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

That Burnley game was electric. I believe Kenny Foggo scored a diving header.

He did. From a Peter Sylvester low cross. I was stood in the Barclay and it was a great team goal finished off by Kenny, who I felt sorry for when he didn't figure in next season plans much.

Burnley had the likes of Dobson, James, Thomas, Kindon and Coates and we sent them home miserable.

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

2 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

That Burnley game was electric. I believe Kenny Foggo scored a diving header.

He did. From a Peter Sylvester low cross. I was stood in the Barclay and it was a great team goal finished off by Kenny, who I felt sorry for when he didn't figure in next season plans much.

Burnley had the likes of Dobson, James, Thomas, Kindon and Coates and we sent them home miserable.

Foggo must have put Ron Saunder's nose out of joint somehow as I think he made only one substitute appearance in the top division for City, against Man City at Carrow Rd.

Surely he was good enough to start some games ?

[dylanisabaddog 6,146]

20 hours ago, ricardo said:

The capacity was raised to 44k in 1960 after the South Stand improvements so I am not sure if they were all ticket; the 59 cup run certainly was.

At the Leicester match you could barely move and many hardly saw any of the match.

There have only ever been 4 games with over 40k attendance and all were Fa Cup

 

 

 

I was born in 1959 so have to rely on other people's memories. A school friends father told me he went to all the cup run games. I asked him about queuing for tickets. He said that he worked at a local printing works and they only needed one standing ticket. He thought they used to make up about 500 for each game 🙄

[ricardo 8,034]

7 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

I was born in 1959 so have to rely on other people's memories. A school friends father told me he went to all the cup run games. I asked him about queuing for tickets. He said that he worked at a local printing works and they only needed one standing ticket. He thought they used to make up about 500 for each game 🙄

😉👍

I can confirm there is an element of truth in this. I was told the same when I was an apprentice a couple of years later.

[Yellowhammer 95]

On 27/04/2020 at 00:14, nutty nigel said:

http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/923

This was my first game in 1967. I must have posted it a dozen times but any excuse🙃

 

It was about this time I went to my first match it was at home to Southampton in a cup match and Ron Davies scored for them after we sold him to them can’t remember the year , had many great memories of them and the 72 season packed crowds and a great atmosphere 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Yellowhammer

[C.I.D 358]

10 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

That is the biggest crush I have been in. I don't think I managed my to get my hands down to get my Spangles out of my pocket.

ROFL .......hope your Spangles recovered fairly quickly 🤣 .............but,by God,it was a crush and a half and as I was of,say,limited stature the only position that I could get to even see the pitch was on the corner area between the Barclay and the South stands just above the entrance tunnel.Biggest drawback was having peer between the pylons of the floodlight on that corner 🙄

[Lord Horn (again) 154]

What a cracking thread - my earliest Cup memory was Blackburn Rovers in '66 - remember being long queues for tickets and there being a bit of an 'outrage' because the club had raised the prices as compared to the normal league prices. Have seen clips of the Sheffield Wednesday game and have tried to spot myself sitting between the goal and the railings at the Barclay - remember being lifted over the railings and sat on the ground behind the goal -pity we didn't have HD video in those days! Yellowhammer mentions his first game being Southampton which I think was a League Cup game - remember that for some argee bargee in the Barclay and one of my mates being hauled out by our friendly PC 'Handlebars'!

[TIL 1010 5,246]

2 hours ago, Lord Horn (again) said:

What a cracking thread - my earliest Cup memory was Blackburn Rovers in '66 - remember being long queues for tickets and there being a bit of an 'outrage' because the club had raised the prices as compared to the normal league prices. Have seen clips of the Sheffield Wednesday game and have tried to spot myself sitting between the goal and the railings at the Barclay - remember being lifted over the railings and sat on the ground behind the goal -pity we didn't have HD video in those days! Yellowhammer mentions his first game being Southampton which I think was a League Cup game - remember that for some argee bargee in the Barclay and one of my mates being hauled out by our friendly PC 'Handlebars'!

PC Ivan Kidgell M'Lud.

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

What a cracking thread - my earliest Cup memory was Blackburn Rovers in '66 - remember being long queues for tickets and there being a bit of an 'outrage' because the club had raised the prices as compared to the normal league prices. Have seen clips of the Sheffield Wednesday game and have tried to spot myself sitting between the goal and the railings at the Barclay - remember being lifted over the railings and sat on the ground behind the goal -pity we didn't have HD video in those days! Yellowhammer mentions his first game being Southampton which I think was a League Cup game - remember that for some argee bargee in the Barclay and one of my mates being hauled out by our friendly PC 'Handlebars'!

I was stood in the Barclay for the Blackburn game your Lordship. We were two nil down in the second half. And with the crowd movement that many will remember, I was in a different spot than where I had started. 

I ended up stood next to a Captain Extra Strong Chain Smoking Scotsman. And he kept shouting "Cmon City, if you get one you'll get two" (did you like my accent there). And blimey, Ron Davies bags a brace and we were off to an unfortunate replay.

And you are right about the tickets. They said no child concessions. There were talks of boycotts etc but it didn't happen.

 

[ricardo 8,034]

1 hour ago, keelansgrandad said:

What a cracking thread - my earliest Cup memory was Blackburn Rovers in '66 - remember being long queues for tickets and there being a bit of an 'outrage' because the club had raised the prices as compared to the normal league prices. Have seen clips of the Sheffield Wednesday game and have tried to spot myself sitting between the goal and the railings at the Barclay - remember being lifted over the railings and sat on the ground behind the goal -pity we didn't have HD video in those days! Yellowhammer mentions his first game being Southampton which I think was a League Cup game - remember that for some argee bargee in the Barclay and one of my mates being hauled out by our friendly PC 'Handlebars'!

I was stood in the Barclay for the Blackburn game your Lordship. We were two nil down in the second half. And with the crowd movement that many will remember, I was in a different spot than where I had started. 

I ended up stood next to a Captain Extra Strong Chain Smoking Scotsman. And he kept shouting "Cmon City, if you get one you'll get two" (did you like my accent there). And blimey, Ron Davies bags a brace and we were off to an unfortunate replay.

And you are right about the tickets. They said no child concessions. There were talks of boycotts etc but it didn't happen.

 

And two cracking goals they were. At the River End and I stood level with the edge of the penalty area in the Souith stand. Ron Davies was a bit special, how we ever let him go for less than the price of that other Davies (Wyn) I will never know. Ron was as good a centre forward as you will ever see.

[marinersawan 1]

From a book I have "On The Ball City" by Ted Bell:

"Things did not go so well, either for Ashman or for his team, in 1965/66. Results were patchy, and the good ones were mostly inspired by Davies. Significantly, when the big Welshman faded towards the end of the season, so did the team as a whole, and the closing matches were played out in front of crowds of less than 10,000.

Nor had the Club improved their image with their approach to their fifth-round Cup-tie with Blackburn Rovers. Although a First Division side, Rovers had done nothing to suggest they would be a star attraction, and City's decision to increase admission prices for their visit caused considerable ill-feeling. The match, in fact, was watched by a 30,000 crowd who paid a record £9947; but the Canaries could do no better than draw 2-2 (thanks to a last-minute Davies penalty, and in losing the replay also lost a large slice of public sympathy. Supporter's Club Chairman, Tom Eastall, later wrote, in his Club's Handbook:

Not for a long time has public enthusiasm for Norwich City Football Club run at such a low ebb.How far playing results, and the controversial increase in prices for the Blackburn Cup-tie, have been the cause is hard to judge..."

[marinersawan 1]

From the same book, re the Portsmouth game in 1950, from the introduction by Aubrey Aitken, later Bishop of Lynn:

"I well remember leaving my Vicarage at Sprowston soon after breakfast, and I only just got into the ground"

And from a book "Norwich City: The Division One Story", also by Ted Bell, in a review of his time reporting on the club since 1945, Peter Roberts:

"...the famous Portsmouth Cup games of 1950 when a 1-1 draw with the then league champions at Fratton brought for the Thursday replay scenes the like of which Norwich had never seen before and will never see again. In fact City were robbed at Portsmouth because Delapenha knocked in the Portsmouth equaliser with his fist and I thought Bill Lewis was going to tear the referee to pieces in his righteous rage.

Came the replay and they were queueing from midnight - queues past Trowse Station, way up Thorpe Road and everywhere else and finally 43,129 got in. It was a fantastic sight. Bog Doug Reid, then the hardest shot in soccer, ended the dream with two goals, one a penalty, but it was an occasion no-one involved would ever forget. There was no trouble, no mayhem, no stabbings, missiles, assaults (poster's notes - the book was written in the good old days of the 70s). My own recollection is that there was only one serious injury. A sailor fell off a tree which used to overlook the Barclay stand-South bank corner and broke his leg. They say he was drunk anyway, but I know not."

 

So it sounds like it was not all-ticket. I think back in those days the South Stand was smaller, but the front of the old Main Stand was terraced. Were people locked out? From the stories of those with links to printing companies back in the day some of our all-ticket attendances may have been a little bigger than we thought...

 

[marinersawan 1]

From the same source re Sheff Utd at home in 59:

"My young son was with me in the stand. When the whistle went his neighbour, a respected alderman of Norwich City Council, now dead, picked him up and just threw him in the air. Thank heaven he caught him on the way down."

I chucked my eldest in the air when we scored in the play-off final against Birmingham - I wasn't even there, was listening on the radio because of health issues with the middle one; I did catch him but I've never been forgiven.

[Myra Hawtree 139]

On 27/04/2020 at 21:32, nutty nigel said:

I have a book called Great Football Memories where fans, players, managers and officials share a memory of a game. There's at least four posters (that I know of) on this board with contributions in the book. One of these is @Myra Hawtree and her favourite memory is when we won at Highbury in 1954. It's a great little story with her personal memories of the day (the best sort).

This guy, who has amazing goalscoring stats, scored the two goals

Looks like a boxer to me! Was he as good as those stats @ricardo ?

In 1952 we lost 5-0

Tommy Johnstone was a bit rough and ready but could score.  This was my first ever away game.  He went on to become a legend at Leyton Orient. Lots of memorabilia in their Supporters club and a stand named after him I think.

[marinersawan 1]

Myra Hawtree - please can you put your memories of Arsenal away in 1954 up on this site? And obviously any other memories.

[Lord Horn (again) 154]

On 29/04/2020 at 10:16, TIL 1010 said:

PC Ivan Kidgell M'Lud.

Thanks Tilly - yes, I remember him well!!!!

[How I Wrote Elastic Man 1,330]

I spoke to my Dad on the phone earlier, he remembers going to some war time games. He remembered Fred Hall in goal, and players like Robinson, Proctor and a few others that I have embarrassingly forgotten. They played against Army and/or RAF 11's. He used to go at Christmas and Easter time, reckoned the crowds would be around 10,000

He spoke about a cup game against Leicester, with the record crowd, but the dates didn't tie in with where he was living at the time. He said it was a midweek game, I'm now thinking he was talking about the Pompey game...I'll ask him again next time I ring him