Worst away days

[ROBFLECK 135]

Swansea and I was at the Muscat game too...Molineux , ... I've never enjoyed going to Crystal Palace either, bad for away supporters...

[benchwarmer 673]

In the late 1960s we were in the same division as Carlisle United, and some bright spark scheduled the away fixture for mid-January.  We had proper winters in those days, and it was dry but well below zero. 

The coach left Carrow Road around midnight, just after the pubs closed, and we had to pull over three times this side of King's Lynn so that those in dire need could relieve themselves in freezing darkness.   

After a more or less sleepless night we reached Carlisle by 9am.  We found a cafe with steamed up windows and a fog of cigarette smoke which served huge breakfasts for 25p - just what we were looking for, so we stayed in there playing three-card brag until it was time to go to the ground.

The away section at Brunton Park was a terrace open to the elements.  Recent snow had frozen hard, so it was glassy underfoot.  Like cash machines and the Sony Walkman, health and safety hadn't yet been invented, so we hung on to the rails for dear life as we watched our team surrender 3-0 to the mighty Us . . .

Edited September 15, 2024 by benchwarmer

[Robert N. LiM 6,435]

2 hours ago, benchwarmer said:

Like cash machines and the Sony Walkman, health and safety hadn't yet been invented, so we hung on to the rails like grim death as we watched our team surrender 3-0.

Is this the best sentence ever posted to this forum? Magnificent stuff

[Lord Horn (again) 154]

On 09/09/2024 at 17:23, shefcanary said:

In a "it was so bad it was quite good really" way, I quite enjoyed that one as we ended up taking the **** out of everything going on around us. It was also because we were kept in for a good 45 minutes after the final whistle for our own safety, so had nothing to do but sing lots of silly songs, which you can hear in the background of the TV interviews after the match that are online. We saw John Bond getting interviewed (no-one could miss his hair and the gabardine mac he was wearing), the one where he told the story of how he broke a rib jumping down from the directors' box to console his son Kevin, our captain for the day, at the end of the match. Our coach (not club cabbage) got home alright, stopped in Newmarket for a few pints and some nice fish n chips as consolation.

For probably the only time in 60 years, I left the game early at 5-0 so didn't get held back!

[pete 375]

I agree with Shef re Villa Pk on the day of Hilsboro.  Holte End was too full that day.  Got in ground a little late and had to balance on edge of a terrace towards the back.  All it would have taken was the merest push in the back to bring about another catastrophe.  A frightening experience not enjoyed for the jeopardy and the result and performance.

[FenwayFrank 2,718]

1 hour ago, Lord Horn (again) said:

For probably the only time in 60 years, I left the game early at 5-0 so didn't get held back!

I remember leaving portaloo road early when 4-0 down, it was a Tuesday night in the early seventies, when we got to the train station a copper told us it was 5-0

[A K Narey 257]

I was at the West Ham game and the Villa Park semi-final and agree that they were horrible experiences.

I will add the Baseball Ground for an FA Cup game where I was pressed up against a barbed wire covered floodlight pylon. Sometimes the goid old days were not that great!

OTBC 

[Europe_93 51]

Some real competition here, such is our cross… in no particular order:

4-1 defeat at Swindon in the Zenith Data Systems Cup 1990ish, I was stood on an open terrace with about 20 or so other people stupid enough to go on a bitterly cold January night, only top layer was my Norwich shirt.  Still not quite sure how I avoided hyperthermia.

4-1 QPR in 2018, with my 5-year crying “can we just go home daddy…”

3-1 @ Ipswich as we capitulated in the title charge, never forget the finish, my dad put his cap in his pocket and said “let’s go son”, I stood their in my Norwich shirt and said I think I’ll wait for more than 2 police to arrive, they never did.  The vitriol & venom I experienced in Portman Rd that night has been unsurpassed.

3-1 Defeat at Liverpoo in the FA Cup 1990l, nothing exceptional there… but on the walk to the ground I bit into the best bit of cod I have ever eaten, only to drop it on the ground within 20 seconds.  Held in the ground for 20mins post-match, then revisited the chippy on the way back to the car, tucking into my fish and chips we then got ambushed by tooled up Liverpool fans.  Needless to say, I lost my second bit of cod that day.  I loved Jerry Goss for spoiling their day a few year later.

 

7-0 @Chelsea and being relieved of enough money for them to buy 52 international players and put them on a contract for 10 years, as well as some teenage girl giving it the big unless than 10 yds away.

I’m sure Wolves deserve a mention, but generally the results have been ok when I have visited.  Which reminds me, I should throw in WBA away, leaving home on a pleasant sunny day, journeying to the highest ground in England.  Leaving J1 of the M5 to “WBA vs Norwich has been postponed because of snow” and heading all the way back to Chepstow, where the sun was still shining.

Edited September 12, 2024 by Europe_93
update on detail

[g00se 33]

Midweek away at Brentford in 2009 - we lost, just before Lambert started. The train back broke down, as did it's replacement - we got back around 7am...

Or in terms of just the game, then being relegated at Fulham, 6-0 in 2005

Edited September 12, 2024 by g00se

[Ward 3 497]

Went to Sunderland a few years ago now just before Christmas I think it was and watched a stupidly **** 0 0 game. Was freezing left early in the morning got back to CR about midnight.. only good thing from the day was curry sauce and chips they served our of a van near the stadium 😂

[Europe_93 51]

1 hour ago, Ward 3 said:

Went to Sunderland a few years ago now just before Christmas I think it was and watched a stupidly **** 0 0 game. Was freezing left early in the morning got back to CR about midnight.. only good thing from the day was curry sauce and chips they served our of a van near the stadium 😂

I journeyed there in the mid 90's and was sold "a cowboy and chips"....  consited of a chips, fish cake, burger in batter, suasage and curry sauce if I recall correctly.  The trip also allowed me to stop off at St James's Park, walk out the tunnel... though still waiting to see a match there.

[Robert N. LiM 6,435]

Cabbage from Norwich to Swansea and 0-1 down after four minutes to a comedy own goal does seem like the emblematic NCFC away day experience