| Attendances in the mid to late 80s 00:41 - Feb 4 with 5222 views | Illinoisblue |
Villa getting just 8k at home for a top flight game. We pulled in just 20k for Liverpool and that was one of the biggest of the day.
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 00:57 - Feb 4 with 4784 views | gainsboroughblue |
That also would have been a good 8,000 on top of our average attendance as well. Grotty day, remember it well. Swirling wind and rain.
Looking through that list though! 10k at massive Leeds, 4k at Boro, 12k Chelsea. Arsenal at 22k would've been a third empty.
Everton at 33k looks a massive attendance in context. Probably the best team in the country at that point and may well have been champions of Europe if not for the ban on English clubs. |  |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 00:59 - Feb 4 with 4764 views | Illinoisblue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 00:57 - Feb 4 by gainsboroughblue |
That also would have been a good 8,000 on top of our average attendance as well. Grotty day, remember it well. Swirling wind and rain.
Looking through that list though! 10k at massive Leeds, 4k at Boro, 12k Chelsea. Arsenal at 22k would've been a third empty.
Everton at 33k looks a massive attendance in context. Probably the best team in the country at that point and may well have been champions of Europe if not for the ban on English clubs. |
Some incredibly low numbers. Rough economic times, shabby stadiums, hooliganism… guess that all played a part. | |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 01:03 - Feb 4 with 4756 views | gainsboroughblue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 00:59 - Feb 4 by Illinoisblue |
Some incredibly low numbers. Rough economic times, shabby stadiums, hooliganism… guess that all played a part. |
Yep. Incidents at Bradford, Luton would've been around that time.
Just looking through the scores. Nice to see Alan Brazil, Mogga, David Linighan on the score sheet among the other games! | |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 02:33 - Feb 4 with 4656 views | TrumptonBlue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 01:03 - Feb 4 by gainsboroughblue |
Yep. Incidents at Bradford, Luton would've been around that time.
Just looking through the scores. Nice to see Alan Brazil, Mogga, David Linighan on the score sheet among the other games! |
And John Deehan, Kevin O’Callaghan, Mark Stuart and George Hirst’s dad. |  | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 03:34 - Feb 4 with 4578 views | TrumptonBlue |
And Paul Cook! | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 03:49 - Feb 4 with 4558 views | burnbudgiesburn |
2 goals in 1 game was a miracle that season! Think we were battered first half and pulled a performance in the 2nd out of our arse.
1985-6 relegation still annoys me as much as 2002. We were not a great watch with goals at a premium but you got the feeling that the likes of Dozzell & Brennan were really starting to develop and would have flourished in the higher league.
We'd have kept Butcher & Putney for another few seasons i'm sure.
Would also have loved to have seen Wark back around 1988 in the top flight for us before his legs went and he moved back to defence, [Post edited 4 Feb 2023 3:54]
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 07:30 - Feb 4 with 4299 views | franz_tyson |
I know the Premier League and SKY gets a lot of stick and it is out of control financially... but football needed to be kick-started again in this country. It was dying a slow death.
Oh....And Sunday afternoons down the pub became meaningful for once watching the footy.Alive and Kickng. | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 07:52 - Feb 4 with 4210 views | Pendejo |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 03:49 - Feb 4 by burnbudgiesburn |
2 goals in 1 game was a miracle that season! Think we were battered first half and pulled a performance in the 2nd out of our arse.
1985-6 relegation still annoys me as much as 2002. We were not a great watch with goals at a premium but you got the feeling that the likes of Dozzell & Brennan were really starting to develop and would have flourished in the higher league.
We'd have kept Butcher & Putney for another few seasons i'm sure.
Would also have loved to have seen Wark back around 1988 in the top flight for us before his legs went and he moved back to defence, [Post edited 4 Feb 2023 3:54]
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IIRC
That's Liverpool's last league defeat of the season. |  |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 07:53 - Feb 4 with 4204 views | ITFC_Forever |
8k at Villa Park would have looked pretty empty… the Holte End held twice that on its own. |  |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:06 - Feb 4 with 3968 views | Bluespeed225 |
It hammered down that day, but we somehow dug out the win! Pitch was a mire. | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:43 - Feb 4 with 3858 views | Radlett_blue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 00:59 - Feb 4 by Illinoisblue |
Some incredibly low numbers. Rough economic times, shabby stadiums, hooliganism… guess that all played a part. |
1986 wasn't rough economic times in the South East, although things would have been very different in the industrial North, while football was still then a largely working class sport, although ground admission was still very cheap.
Yes, hooligansim & crumbling stadia were a factor & then football didn't attract anything like the media attention it gets now. |  |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:51 - Feb 4 with 3820 views | patrickswell |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 07:52 - Feb 4 by Pendejo |
IIRC
That's Liverpool's last league defeat of the season. |
Not so, they lost to Everton at Anfield on 22 February.
I remember Alan Hansen being interviewed about the 85-86 season once and him saying to Kenny Dalglish after a defeat that it was the worst Liverpool side he'd known. I always wonder if it was after they had lost to us, he said that.
85-86 was the first season in which I started following Town so it was a bummer to be relegated. More widely though, the game was in a very bad way. As well as the factors already mentioned, there was a dispute between the Football League and the TV companies which meant there was no football on TV until January. It also felt as though the obsession with the Big Five which dominated ITV's coverage once they got the live rights in the late 80s was starting to pick up pace then too, which made for some very tedious watching. |  | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:59 - Feb 4 with 3798 views | Radlett_blue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:51 - Feb 4 by patrickswell |
Not so, they lost to Everton at Anfield on 22 February.
I remember Alan Hansen being interviewed about the 85-86 season once and him saying to Kenny Dalglish after a defeat that it was the worst Liverpool side he'd known. I always wonder if it was after they had lost to us, he said that.
85-86 was the first season in which I started following Town so it was a bummer to be relegated. More widely though, the game was in a very bad way. As well as the factors already mentioned, there was a dispute between the Football League and the TV companies which meant there was no football on TV until January. It also felt as though the obsession with the Big Five which dominated ITV's coverage once they got the live rights in the late 80s was starting to pick up pace then too, which made for some very tedious watching. |
In the Football League, up until 1983 the home & away club shared the gate receipts from each league game, after expenses, while the League also charge a levy which I think was redistributed across the board. That ceased in 1983 after pressure from the big clubs (Liverpool, Everton, Man U, Spurs & Arsenal) who threatened a break-away "Super League". Sounds familiar, eh? This was the first step towards big club domination. The appeasement only delayed the process. | |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 11:13 - Feb 4 with 3777 views | gainsboroughblue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:06 - Feb 4 by Bluespeed225 |
It hammered down that day, but we somehow dug out the win! Pitch was a mire. |
A ridiculous amount of 1-0 defeats that season. Something like 12. Nobody really hammered us, we just couldn't score. | |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 11:14 - Feb 4 with 3768 views | Bluespeed225 |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:43 - Feb 4 by Radlett_blue |
1986 wasn't rough economic times in the South East, although things would have been very different in the industrial North, while football was still then a largely working class sport, although ground admission was still very cheap.
Yes, hooligansim & crumbling stadia were a factor & then football didn't attract anything like the media attention it gets now. |
In our case it was also 'After the Lord Mayors show', 4 years earlier we were up there with the very best, then that team dispersed very quickly, Butcher, Cooper and McCall hanging on, so a degree of apathy crept in. Having said that, 8k at Villa who'd somehow been European Cup winner in 82' is nuts! Wind must have howled round Villa Park! | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 11:25 - Feb 4 with 3735 views | blueprint |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 07:53 - Feb 4 by ITFC_Forever |
8k at Villa Park would have looked pretty empty… the Holte End held twice that on its own. |
More like nearly 3 times that much. Only Wolves’ South Bank held more before they knocked a third off it. |  | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 11:54 - Feb 4 with 3671 views | EastTownBlue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 03:49 - Feb 4 by burnbudgiesburn |
2 goals in 1 game was a miracle that season! Think we were battered first half and pulled a performance in the 2nd out of our arse.
1985-6 relegation still annoys me as much as 2002. We were not a great watch with goals at a premium but you got the feeling that the likes of Dozzell & Brennan were really starting to develop and would have flourished in the higher league.
We'd have kept Butcher & Putney for another few seasons i'm sure.
Would also have loved to have seen Wark back around 1988 in the top flight for us before his legs went and he moved back to defence, [Post edited 4 Feb 2023 3:54]
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32 goals that season, 6 of those were in two 4-3 defeats. | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 12:14 - Feb 4 with 3607 views | patrickswell |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 11:54 - Feb 4 by EastTownBlue |
32 goals that season, 6 of those were in two 4-3 defeats. |
10th best defence (55 goals conceded) 20 points dropped from winning positions. We won more games than 3 of the sides who stayed up ahead of us including Leicester who managed to double Everton and beat Man Utd at Filbert Street, unfortunately they also doubled us as well.... | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 12:24 - Feb 4 with 3542 views | rgp1 |
Also worth remembering there is little or no footage of games in the early part of that season due to a TV dispute. | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 12:27 - Feb 4 with 3515 views | Radlett_blue |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 12:24 - Feb 4 by rgp1 |
Also worth remembering there is little or no footage of games in the early part of that season due to a TV dispute. |
Yes & I think the lack of TV exposure adversely affected attendances, whatever the likes of Alan Hardaker might have thought. | |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 13:41 - Feb 4 with 3357 views | rgp1 |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 12:27 - Feb 4 by Radlett_blue |
Yes & I think the lack of TV exposure adversely affected attendances, whatever the likes of Alan Hardaker might have thought. |
Yes the fare on offer was pretty poor. Lost early days at home to Manure when captain marvel scored. Very hard to find any footage. Do remember running on the pitch though when Atkins scored off kevin Wilsons backside against Oxford. | | | |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 13:44 - Feb 4 with 3340 views | DJR |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 10:43 - Feb 4 by Radlett_blue |
1986 wasn't rough economic times in the South East, although things would have been very different in the industrial North, while football was still then a largely working class sport, although ground admission was still very cheap.
Yes, hooligansim & crumbling stadia were a factor & then football didn't attract anything like the media attention it gets now. |
I'd put it down to hooliganism more than the state of the stadiums because we knew no different. And there was a lot of media but all of it negative relating to hooliganism. At that time, it sometimes felt a bit like being a pariah to be a football fan.
Incidentally, I remember going to a few England games in the mid-80s at Wembley and the atmosphere was toxic with very few there who weren't hooligan. [Post edited 4 Feb 2023 13:45]
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 13:53 - Feb 4 with 3294 views | Trequartista |
English Football was at an all-time low in popularity then, with our current gates we'd have been one of the Big Four!
And for only £5 seat (standing would have been cheaper)
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 13:58 - Feb 4 with 3263 views | Trequartista |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 11:13 - Feb 4 by gainsboroughblue |
A ridiculous amount of 1-0 defeats that season. Something like 12. Nobody really hammered us, we just couldn't score. |
And a 3-0 lead at Oxford thrown away. To be honest though we'd scraped survival in the two previous seasons, we were directly replacing internationals with lower tier standard players, it was pretty much inevitable | |
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| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 14:45 - Feb 4 with 3152 views | Bluespeed225 |
| Attendances in the mid to late 80s on 13:44 - Feb 4 by DJR |
I'd put it down to hooliganism more than the state of the stadiums because we knew no different. And there was a lot of media but all of it negative relating to hooliganism. At that time, it sometimes felt a bit like being a pariah to be a football fan.
Incidentally, I remember going to a few England games in the mid-80s at Wembley and the atmosphere was toxic with very few there who weren't hooligan. [Post edited 4 Feb 2023 13:45]
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I went to England v Scotland in 86'. Night game, looking around all game just to see where/who was steaming in next! Thought I'd stand where I did for 78' Final, top tier behind goal to the right. Bad choice. Even as the anthems were played it kicked off, and it seemed to be Chelsea everywhere. | | | |
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