Terraces - your memories and recollections

[Striker 2]

This Saturday will be the first time for nearly 3yrs that Norwich supporters have been able to watch the team play from a terraced stand (Bristol Rovers away being the last time). It will be a case of spectating how it used to be.

I will be there, and for me the previous occasion was Fulham v Norwich 13/1/2000, so a very long time. My terrace days date back to the early 80''s and standing on a milk crate in the River End, and later on I also got to savour the Barclay terrace. For many, their first experience will go back a lot further.

Terraces have a special atmosphere all of their own, and Saturday will be no exception. Who knows when the next time will be after Saturday, it could even be the last time ever.

Please add you own thoughts and recollections, good or bad - cracking atmospheres or treated like cattle (or both) ?

[spencer 1970 207]

"milk crate in the River End".

Great post Striker. My first Cara memories were just that, only in the Barclay (near where the snake pit is now) with my Dad on a crate in the 70''s. Great times.

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,415]

As teenagers in the mid 70''s we would always make our way to near where Bernie of the Barclay and his cohorts would position themsleves, towards the top of the terrace near the away fans fence (when they filled the extra section up anyway).

Remember vividly West Ham and Spurs invading the home terrace and causing huge surges. Fun then as a youngster but highly dangerous getting crushed against the barriers.

I''m pretty sure you had to get in position what seemed like hours before kick off.

Remember thinking that the North East fans made more noise than anyone else when they visited.

I remember one or two occasions when the terrace steps in the exposed bit of the Barclay towards the City stand would literally be ice bound, something that would probably get the game cancelled these days.

Other memories are of the red army ripping the back of the Barclay stand, walking past policeman covered in gob and the procession of little blue invalid cars making their way round the pitch before kick off.

[Oz Canary 0]

My fondest memories are of me standing on the terraces at the Barclay End during the three years I lived in Norwich (1990-93).

Watching arguably the best team in our history beat the likes of Man Utd in the FA Cup, Notts Forest in the league and the Ipswich derby in the Zenith Data Systems Cup.

Happy Days

[percy varco 198]

Oh happy days!

Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly " Have you heard of The North Bank Highbury?"...........................

Loved it, great atmosphere and decent paced singing.

[K Lo 224]

First stood in the early/mid ''80s with my dad in the River End. I candistinctly remember a very icy cold match against Oxford United in some FA Cup match. It was SO cold. I think the attendance was about 10000 or so.Towards the mid-end of the ''80s, I was going into the Barclay with my freinds (would have been 14 or so then). The banter with the away fans was funny; Chelsea being the one I remember most:"You can stick your f***ing celery up your ar** !!"and then, singing in a very high pitched voise, we''d sing "We love you Chelsea, we do!"There was always someone who would randomly scream "ooooooo eeeeeeeeee aaaaaaaaaaa oooooooo" or something. Odd.I also remember, on a sunny afternoon, sitting on the terrace during half time when the anouncer told us that we''d signed Ian Butterworth and we all cheered !!Finally, the boiled burgers (?), the Barclay-End brew tea and the toilets with no roof. All awful.

[Oz Canary 0]

Also used to love the goal celebration from Dale Gordon when he scored in front to the Barclay, with the acrobatic flipping etc.

Fantastic

[Ketts Rebel 0]

River end Milk cup semi Norwich v Ip5w1ch in ''85. I was 15 right at the front beside goal, and still this it was  my one and only pitch invasion at full time. Ahh happy days.

[Bobert 0]

The very best memory cannot be told.

[Yellow Rose of Texas 0]

Milk Cup semi final 1973 v Chelsea, River End: almost 35,000 in the ground.. we were winning 2-0 at halftime, fog billows in - cant see a thing - match abandoned... darn cold it was too....

fortunately we won the rematch.

And relegation battle 1973 v Crystal Palace, South Stand almost 37,000 in the ground.. Early penalty but Sugget and Stringer score... place goes completely bonkers.. couldn''t see a darm thing, just carried on a himan wave back / forward / back again. Fantastic.

and we also stayed up, Palace went down.

[Mr Brownstone 0]

Used to stand in the Barclay on a milk crate back in the late 80''s / early 90''s with my Dad. We always used to get there early and get a spot right at the front by the right hand goal post. Despite seeing some fantastic football and some brilliant players my overriding memory will always be of 2 older ladies who used to stand in the same area, if anyone on here used to stand around there they''ll know exactly what I mean! 

[crabbycanary 2]

Late 70s early 80s, used to stand to the right of the Barclay, very near to two sisters, and their Dad. I spent a lot of any spare time watching the older sister (similar age to me)!

Football and girls in the same afternoon, heaven!!

[Shack Attack 0]

Stood in the River End in the mid-eighties with my Dad and then just as I started getting on the bus with my mate to stand in the Barclay they made it all seater! I think I may have only stood in the Barclay once (or it may have been twice at most). I have a vague recollection of an FA Cup game against Notts County and Chris Sutton scoring but my rapidly ageing mind might be playing tricks on me.Last time I stood was away at Reading in 1998 in what was the last game at Elm Park. Flecky was playing for Reading if I recall correctly. Wish I was going tomorrow but don''t get to many games these days.Would love to see safe standing brought in like they have in Germany. But sadly I don''t think it will ever happen.

[First Wizard 0]

Beating Stoke and Stanley Matthews 6-0, with Jim Oliver hatrick.

 

6d ''transfer'' from the River End if it rained''

 

''Sweets''/......... Elvis Presley''s ''Its now or never''.

 

Club mascots walking around pitch/ground with string puppets.

 

River End uncovered toilets.

 

Bunny Larkin.

 

On the ball City sung correctly by 40,000+[:#]

 

Cushions thrown on pitch by angry fans.

[Mr Brownstone 0]

[quote user="Shack Attack"]Stood in the River End in the mid-eighties with my Dad and then just as I started getting on the bus with my mate to stand in the Barclay they made it all seater! I think I may have only stood in the Barclay once (or it may have been twice at most). I have a vague recollection of an FA Cup game against Notts County and Chris Sutton scoring but my rapidly ageing mind might be playing tricks on me.

Last time I stood was away at Reading in 1998 in what was the last game at Elm Park. Flecky was playing for Reading if I recall correctly. Wish I was going tomorrow but don''t get to many games these days.

Would love to see safe standing brought in like they have in Germany. But sadly I don''t think it will ever happen.
[/quote]

 

I was at that game, don''t remember Flecky playing that day but I do remember the most pathetic pitch invasion I''ve ever seen by the Reading fans after the game.

[Sussexyellow 55]

For me it''s going to the home evening game against Bristol City at the end of the 71/72 season. This was when promotion to the old first division for the first time was so close you could almost touch it.

 

Naievely I got into the River End around 15 minutes before quick off as was my normal routine, only to find we had grown another 10,000 supporters for that game. I think there were 36,000 at CR that night - we had startred the season with gates of around 15,000. As the place was rammed finding somewhere with any sort of view was an issue, so I manouevred my way to the old disused press box. This was a sort of shed on stilts in the corner between the River End and South Stand. I climbed a few steps up the ladder and had a pretty good view. Well for about 90 seconds until the boys in blue moved me along. Health and safety not such a new fad after all!

 

We drew that game 2 - 2 conceding two late goals when it had all been so comfortable, and I was absolutely distraught at the loss of that point (those were the days when you only got one point for a win).

 

OTBC

[The 12th Devine 0]

Mr Brownstone – I do remember two old women in the Barclay, behind the goal pressed up against the old high fencing and if they''re the same pair they were bloody abusive. I couldn''t believe it when one of them started shouting, "Biggins, you''re a c***''"!! Now I wasn''t Wayne Biggins'' biggest fan but blimey.

K Lo - I think that Oxford game was in the league cup with so much fog you couldn''t see the other goal? Midweek evening game?

My first match was at the front of the River End terrace, towards the end of the 1982 season, in between the advertising hoardings and the steel bar which kids could be protected by – a 2-0 win against Orient (they weren''t called Leyton Orient at that time) ... Keith Bertschin scored one of them. Used to avail myself of a Mars bar from the old bloke who used to sell the drinks and sweets from the trolley going round the ground during the match, a real legend ... nicknamed "Sweets" by some for the way he appealed to people to buy his wares in a fairly high pitched voice. "Sweeeets, chocolate, hot drinks, cold drinks!"

God I sound like I''m about 78.

[Mr Brownstone 0]

[quote user="The 12th Devine"]

Mr Brownstone – I do remember two old women in the Barclay, behind the goal pressed up against the old high fencing and if they''re the same pair they were bloody abusive. I couldn''t believe it when one of them started shouting, "Biggins, you''re a c***''"!! Now I wasn''t Wayne Biggins'' biggest fan but blimey.

[/quote]

 

Yup, that was them! As a 9/10 year old I learned a lot of new words from them!

[Swollen ankles 0]

As a young to middle aged man I haven''t been to many terraced games. More recently I can remember Layer road and exeter. Layer road was fantastic remember many people as it wasn''t far went up without a ticket and some fans with tickets helping the others over the wall. It was absolutely packed and made for one of the best atmospheres i have ever heard. One toilet mind and considering everyone was bladdered after drinking all day a few let themselves go on the terraces. I''m guessing this was how it was back in the old days Nutty?

[marvin the martian 0]

Getting to the ground around 1.45-2.00, finding the perfect spot only for some lanky bloke to stand in front of me at one minute to three. I''m in the seats tomorrow [;)]

[City penguin 0]

Being a member of the "Sky Generation" only memory is Brentford a few seasons back. Not for the game that was god awful but for the journey we were about to go on, none of us would of dreamed of over the next four seasons.

Brentford is probably one of my favorite away grounds, four pubs each on the corner of the ground old school stadium.

[Sussexyellow 55]

Apologies for error in my previous post which should have said:

 

We drew that game 2 - 2 conceding two late goals when it had all been so comfortable, and I was absolutely distraught at the loss of that point (those were the days when you only got two points for a win).

[shefcanary 2,407]

Started in 1970 (as a 6yo) on a folding stool with me dad in the South Stand.  We stood about half way up just to the left of centre.  We used to get there at 12.30 to make sure of our spot (bloody stupid we must have been but by kick off all the crush barriers were taken so it was one way of me dad ensuring I got a safe view).  Used to then be entertained by the marching bands and the crackly tinny tannoy playing all the old favourites in the build up to kick off.  No players warming up on the pitch in them days until the teams came out for kick off.

 

Then me dad got p8ssed off with modern football in the promotion year so me mam took over the mantle of accompanying me.  She preferred the River End for some reason - we stood half way up just left of the goal.  Again we used to get there early, but probably a little later as I started to get autographs of the players outside the ground - so probably 1.30 to 1.45.  Great memories of the promotion season (Blackpool 5-1 stands out in my memory).  Stood there for quite a few seasons, remember the Chelsea abandoned semi-final when you couldn''t see owt from about 10 minutes into the match and the infamous wrecking of the Barclay by southern ManUre fans (never a hint of violence at all in the River End - at least not in my memory).

 

Next I got a bit of independence by being allowed to stand alone in the children''s area at the front of the South Stand that was created in the mid-70''s.  This was probably a complete waste of space really, as although about four terrace steps were allocated to it, as the kids that used it were generally no taller than the pitch fence surround, only one row was ever filled.  Used to stand to the right of the half way line, sometimes right up against the away end - I was beginning to gravitate towards the Barclay.  I can''t remember too much about the football in those games other than Tony Currie swearing at me because I was slow giving him the ball back once. 

 

I also remember watching Justin Fashanu''s goal from the middle of the South Stand - I was directly in line with the direction the ball took in flying past Ray Clemence.  My memory is pretty unclear as to why we were there that day, because I think by that time I was a regular in the Barclay End, albeit standing directly behind the goal.  By the late 70''s / early 80''s I think the police were generally on top of the violence that occurred on the terraces - this was restricted to flying coinage (some sharpened), the odd dart or two.  Not nice if you were on the recieving end!  Oh and a lot of piss swilling around on the floor - thank god my DM''s never leaked.

 

To be honest by the early 80''s the lack of visibilty of the pitch caused by the fencing and netting, the crowd surging as well as the generally lacklustre football on the pitch (the period between Fash leaving and me moving up to Sheffield was kind of treading water time at Carrow Road) meant that I have very few memories of matches then.  It was more about the rituals and the singing.  My memory of away matches (I hardly missed one from 78 to 82) is much stronger, probably because of the novelty of it all. 

 

Whatever you say about bringing terracing back, it can only ever be a limited amount for a big club (and I place Norwich in that category due to the crowd being always close to capcity).  As a result I see no monetary benefit for any club to pursue it, indeed it will probably cost more because the Police will use it as a reason to push up their fees and / or insist on more paid stewarding. Also having an allocated seat will probably allow the club to generate more in secondary spend - the issue over fighting to keep your space at a crush barrier meant I never spent any money once I was in the ground in those days.   Provision has to be ensured for youngsters to be able to see the match.  I currently have to hold my 8yo son up all the way through at away matches as we stand all the time.  Can''t wait for him to grow a couple of feet more in height. 

[yellow 63 23]

Stood in that South Stand bit a few times,if you weren''t at the front no chance of seeing much action,as for the River End can recall some lively afternoons in there early 80s circa Steins era notably Spurs and Everton