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yellow 63

old barclay boys

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i was wondering if any old barclay boys had any good stories to post from the sixties and seventies songs trips away pubs you used to drink in etc

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my dad used to tell me when away fans came through norwich ,the barclay boys stood on a bridge and threw fishing nets on them the kicked there heads in!!!!they were called the trawler men

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know a lot of us used to meet in the kings head, (now body shop) and go down to thorpe station and wait for any trains to come in or we would meet up at the pubs on the other side of carrow bridge and go down in a dam great crowd. there used to be some real hard lads in the b/boys. our main objective was not to let the barclay end be taken.....and clearly fights with opposing teams was a common occurance..especially away from home....we took the rookery..

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Yellow. I have loads of stories from the 70''s being a former Barclay boy myself. Looking back on it now, a lot of it I will admit to not being very proud of. Suffice to say that a lot of it was not as good as you have heard stories about and is probably well left in the past.

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well put meeky..me and fatty have discussed this many times and think the details are better left for private.....some of the old songs were good....
bill shankly said to bertie mee....etc

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Aahh the old days of the Barclay. They say that the experiences you have when you are growing up are the strongest and most vivid in your memory.

I think it is safe to say that supporting your team from the terraces in the 70''s and 80''s (the time that I was growing up) was something that had a raw  passionate edge and an atmosphere that has now disappeared from the game forever.

To be honest the experience of supporting your team then seems a world away from what it is now. Things have changed almost beyond recognition. Much of it is for the better and as others have said there were things that happened then that really are best left in the past. However, with the passing of terracing and the introduction of all seater stadiums there is no doubt in my mind that football in general and fans in particular really have lost something unique.

 

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I Really miss the old Barclay, I think its a shame youngsters today will never experience atmosphere like that for themselves, made loads of friends down there.

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The "Barclay Boys" come from a different era and are probably best left there

Norwich had a lot of cliques in those days - "The Purdy Boys"; "The Gala Boys"; "The Bedford Boys"; "The 3 C''s"; Mods and Grease - with a fair amount of unecessary violence centred around those cliques.

The "Barclay Boys" were all part of that culture - I don''t regret being part of it, but I wouldn''t my kids to me similar.

 

As to songs, I would agree with KeenyFoggo that probably the best was "Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly...."

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leading on from my first post my first game in the centre pen of the barclay was colchester in the wilhire cup about 1980 bit scary as the gate at the top was unlocked and about a dozen colchester fans came across no police in sight and my first proper match was arsenal april 1981 what an eyeopener

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nostalgia

i was a barclay girl, and as has been said by both meeky and kenny foggo (both incidentially not your stereotypical barclay boy, hope you won''t mind me saying that chaps!!) some of the stories have been hyped and there were incidents in the city (as well as around the ground) which should never happen again!! life and civilisation has moved on!

but with the bad there was a lot of good, there will never be atmosphere like it again at FCR!! however hard we try, you just cannot recreate it in seating areas

the day they took our old barclay away was a sad day, yes, i still yearn for terracing and being jammed packed like sardines - there were no faclities to speak of, just people, loud passionate people

 

boy do i miss it

 

 

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It actually started in the South Stand! Prior to the Barclay Boys was the South Stand Choir- in the days when football crowds (of young men) were a rarity. I remember ''pinching'' the bell from the Birmingham fans (they soon took it back). A trip to Hull that left Castle Meadow at midnight on Friday-  first smack in the mush at 8am as we tried to ''take'' a cafe near Hull docks! Running along the Thames embankment avoiding Chelsea fans because we (Hugh Curran) had the audacity to almost score at Stamford Bridge. The very early Barclay had its characters like- Stumpy, Steve Ward, Hippo and Barry Gudgeon. Hard boys but then we were nearly always outnumbered (even at home). Thanks for the memories and how I miss the Gala!

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replying to laurie sheffields post i can remember big bernie and a character called i think stanley who used to climb up the fences every home match and taunt the police and away fans

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gazza.. i could never afford stereo always in mono 

 do you remember after a league cup game with the 1st division southampton, there was a riot all over the city, which went on for hours.

I remember staning in the middle of the south stand, and someone said that all the top clubs had their choirs behind a goal, and as the river end had no roof. the barclay boys was started....can''t rember the match will ask a mate who was there with me.  I remember Paddy, Whiffy, Chris and Kenny Dawson who I knocked around with.

also two policemen stand out in my mind,  handlebars & harry bulldog. had many a kick up the jaxi from them sometimes a little bit more when no one saw them...

the gala....what a place..brilliant and a hard place anyone remember seeing arthur brown there...

 

o the memories....what days

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thanks to kenny foggo and all the other people who have posted very interesting was there a wooden hut used as a bar next to the toilets i vaguely remember that would be an eyeopener for todays young barclay boys but as you say kenny friendships formed on the football terraces stay forever the lads i went away with in the eighties i still see for a drink matchdays

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70''s were before my time, but the 80''s were great - sneaking through the under 16''s turnstile by bending at the knees (despite being 6ft plus) - the coin chucking was fantastic - unless you got hit by the sharpened 50p''s!

Me and a mate used to trawl the terrace at the end of a game - you could easily make a few quid! And the King''s Head - what a disaster getting rid of that place was - THE meeting place before the game...

I used to tell my Dad that I was in the South Stand - he never questioned once why I couldn''t hardly speak after a game - shouting and singing myself hoarse



Ah sweet memories...you''ve made me really homesick for the place!

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Great photo Kenny - looks like it''s even before the cages went up.

I was a centre section lad myself(back right as you looked at the pitch) in the late 70''s and early 80''s, travelling up from London then with the fledgling Capital Canaries: membership of this was the best Xmas present my mum and dad ever gave me!! Only trouble was the train trips could be quite hairy at times especially when travelling with a London team to your a Home game!!

Best memories from that centre section were Fash''s goal of the season (until Fairclough did for us in the last 5 mins), coming back from 3 down to draw with Man U and Keith Bertschin''s early winner against the scummers in the FA Cup. God alone knows how we all stayed on our feet - must have gone at least 20 rows forward!!

Happy teenage memories, but as a Dad who takes his 11 year old son all over the country now (it''s still a 200 mile trip to home games), I think the fact that he and I can quite happily wear team shirts walking to and from grounds like Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago is undoubtedly a good thing for the game: having done a fair bit of "running" around away towns and cities in the past I''m glad to think he doesn''t have to!!

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no he didnt have a beard but him and another old policeman used to walk between the south stand corner and barclay and like you say haul people out of the queue if they looked a bit dogdy

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Yep the good old days never forgotten , i remember it cost me 50p to get in when i first started going, and i used to love it when we scored getting thrown around the Barclay as others would climb the fence to take the **** out off the opposition. You just can''t beat the atmosphere that was created in there sadly now just a distant memory, as for trouble around the ground this seemed to happen on a regular basis thankfully disappearing now.  

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reading these posts has been quite enlightening a faded memory that came to me today did the stewards used to wear white coats i am not to sure when probably pre1975

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Im sure the stewards did wear white coats, it was amazing how quickly the Barclay would empty out in those days. takes forever to get out of the ground these days.

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