| Away support 16:50 - Feb 9 with 3534 views | blueislander |
It is generally thought that MK Dons last year was our biggest away following in the league, but I would suggest , and unfortunately there is no way to collaborate this, it may have been at Layer Road in the 1950s. Both teams were near the top of Division 3 South. I remember there was an attendance of 18,000 crammed in with no segregation, but I would say that around half were Town supporters. The match was a dreadful 0-0 and Benny Fenton hit the bar with a penalty. Any more old timers remember that? |  | | |  |
| Away support on 16:54 - Feb 9 with 2892 views | noggin |
On a related subject, what is out biggest ever away following, cup or league? Not including Wembley of course. |  |
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| Away support on 16:56 - Feb 9 with 2874 views | Illinoisblue |
| Away support on 16:54 - Feb 9 by noggin |
On a related subject, what is out biggest ever away following, cup or league? Not including Wembley of course. |
10,000 at Inter
6k at Swindon in the Burley years
Cup semis back in the day were 20k - 25k I guess? Certainly the Town fans at Villa in 81 are packed in like sardines. Fk you Paul Power btw. |  |
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| Away support on 16:59 - Feb 9 with 2844 views | noggin |
| Away support on 16:56 - Feb 9 by Illinoisblue |
10,000 at Inter
6k at Swindon in the Burley years
Cup semis back in the day were 20k - 25k I guess? Certainly the Town fans at Villa in 81 are packed in like sardines. Fk you Paul Power btw. |
I remember cup games at Forest and Luton with thousands of Town fans. I recently read a Luton fan saying our support was huge that day. | |
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| Away support on 17:00 - Feb 9 with 2821 views | ArnieM |
We regularly used to take between 7-8k to carrot roood games when it was standing in the Barclay
(and anywhere else that we could get into the ground). I’m those days you didn’t need “ match tickets”, you just went to a game. It used to be a 45mile long bumper to bumper traffic jam on match day up that A140. But I doubt you’ll find it recorded anywhere . |  |
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| Away support on 17:05 - Feb 9 with 2816 views | blueislander |
| Away support on 17:00 - Feb 9 by ArnieM |
We regularly used to take between 7-8k to carrot roood games when it was standing in the Barclay
(and anywhere else that we could get into the ground). I’m those days you didn’t need “ match tickets”, you just went to a game. It used to be a 45mile long bumper to bumper traffic jam on match day up that A140. But I doubt you’ll find it recorded anywhere . |
That is also very true. Back in the day a fair few regularly went to Portman Rd. and Carrot Rd. on alternate Saturdays. | | | |
| Away support on 17:39 - Feb 9 with 2678 views | Pendejo |
| Away support on 16:54 - Feb 9 by noggin |
On a related subject, what is out biggest ever away following, cup or league? Not including Wembley of course. |
One of the FA Cup semi finals then - would be comfortably over 20,000 maybe nearer 25,000 |  |
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| Away support on 17:52 - Feb 9 with 2617 views | gainsboroughblue |
| Away support on 16:54 - Feb 9 by noggin |
On a related subject, what is out biggest ever away following, cup or league? Not including Wembley of course. |
There was 9,000 at the Emirates for the League cup semi second leg. Certainly the largest domestic away following I've been part of (not counting Wembley obviously) |  |
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| Away support on 18:01 - Feb 9 with 2574 views | BarcaBlue |
| Away support on 16:59 - Feb 9 by noggin |
I remember cup games at Forest and Luton with thousands of Town fans. I recently read a Luton fan saying our support was huge that day. |
The away support for the Forest quarter final felt huge. That was probably my favourite away day. A cracking game of football. |  | | |
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| Away support on 18:06 - Feb 9 with 2553 views | floridablue |
The 2nd leg away at Carrow Road for the Texaco Cup final, estimated to be around 15,000 Town fans inside. Unbelievable to think that was a pay on the night game. I was there, on the pitch with Bobby's Blue army to see Mills hold up the cup!
Edit.... 50th anniversary approaching in May for anyone that was there! [Post edited 9 Feb 2023 18:45]
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| Away support on 18:25 - Feb 9 with 2480 views | Sharkey |
As you say, difficult to know how many Town fans were there, but Colchester got 12,500 a week or so later against Torquay. |  | | |
| Away support on 18:25 - Feb 9 with 2484 views | Beattie78 |
The game against Colchester was in the 1956-57 season when we finished top of Div 3 South on goal average (as it was then calculated) from Torquay with Colchester a point behind. If Colchester had scored that penalty they would have been promoted instead of us.
If we had missed out on promotion then no league title in 1962? No appointment of Sir Alf to the England job? No England vistory in 1966? Who knows? |  |
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| Away support on 18:33 - Feb 9 with 2439 views | Sharkey |
| Away support on 18:25 - Feb 9 by Beattie78 |
The game against Colchester was in the 1956-57 season when we finished top of Div 3 South on goal average (as it was then calculated) from Torquay with Colchester a point behind. If Colchester had scored that penalty they would have been promoted instead of us.
If we had missed out on promotion then no league title in 1962? No appointment of Sir Alf to the England job? No England vistory in 1966? Who knows? |
The official Colchester Utd site describes it like this. (Imagine being the Colchester players having to wait for the results to come in a day after they'd won their last game.)
"During this spell United hosted third-placed rivals Ipswich at Layer Road. Colchester had a seven point advantage, although Town had a game in hand. A record crowd for a Layer Road League game - 18,559 - witnessed a 0-0 draw.
Over 4,000 were turned away and 120 fans watched from the Popular Side roof (Barside as is now).The game went down in United folklore when Fenton missed a 21st minute penalty.
The notion survived well into the next century that Fenton deliberately missed the penalty because United could not afford to compete at Second Division level.
In fact, Town keeper Roy Bailey magnificently turned the spot kick around the post. A 2-1 win over second-placed Torquay, who trailed by four points as a result, put United in pole position in front of yet another bumper Layer Road crowd of 12,555.
But then the loss of Bob Dale and Chic Milligan dented United's run-in. Three consecutive draws allowed Torquay to close the gap to one point with Ipswich five points adrift.
Then disaster struck. Over Easter 1957, United lost three away games at Millwall, Walsall and Swindon.
Colchester won their final game of the season 2-0 against Watford to go top, but both Ipswich and Torquay's final games were 24 hours later. Both won, United slipped to third and Ipswich went up as champions level with Torquay and a point ahead of The U's.
The next 50 years of professional football either side of the Essex/Suffolk border was determined from that point on." | | | |
| Away support on 18:33 - Feb 9 with 2433 views | gtsb1966 |
| Away support on 16:56 - Feb 9 by Illinoisblue |
10,000 at Inter
6k at Swindon in the Burley years
Cup semis back in the day were 20k - 25k I guess? Certainly the Town fans at Villa in 81 are packed in like sardines. Fk you Paul Power btw. |
I was 15 at that cup semi at Villa Park. It was nice being packed in especially as I was behind a young lady with an hourglass figure and she was wearing tight leather trousers. And yes, fk you Paul Power. |  | | |
| Away support on 19:18 - Feb 9 with 2280 views | xrayspecs |
| Away support on 17:00 - Feb 9 by ArnieM |
We regularly used to take between 7-8k to carrot roood games when it was standing in the Barclay
(and anywhere else that we could get into the ground). I’m those days you didn’t need “ match tickets”, you just went to a game. It used to be a 45mile long bumper to bumper traffic jam on match day up that A140. But I doubt you’ll find it recorded anywhere . |
We took a lot to one of those nothing competitions, possibly the Simon Cup, where iirc the police cleared the stand to the left of the way section up to halfway, as an overspill area for Town fans.
It was a pay on the day not all-ticket game, probably the last one we had at Carrot Road. | | | |
| Away support on 19:26 - Feb 9 with 2260 views | gainsboroughblue |
| Away support on 19:18 - Feb 9 by xrayspecs |
We took a lot to one of those nothing competitions, possibly the Simon Cup, where iirc the police cleared the stand to the left of the way section up to halfway, as an overspill area for Town fans.
It was a pay on the day not all-ticket game, probably the last one we had at Carrot Road. |
I was among about a thousand locked out. | |
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| Away support on 19:35 - Feb 9 with 2230 views | benrhyddingblue |
| Away support on 17:05 - Feb 9 by blueislander |
That is also very true. Back in the day a fair few regularly went to Portman Rd. and Carrot Rd. on alternate Saturdays. |
That was still going on in the 1980s. My first home game was talking to a guy in the North Stand who said he did that. | | | |
| Away support on 19:42 - Feb 9 with 2200 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
| Away support on 18:06 - Feb 9 by floridablue |
The 2nd leg away at Carrow Road for the Texaco Cup final, estimated to be around 15,000 Town fans inside. Unbelievable to think that was a pay on the night game. I was there, on the pitch with Bobby's Blue army to see Mills hold up the cup!
Edit.... 50th anniversary approaching in May for anyone that was there! [Post edited 9 Feb 2023 18:45]
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Yep. Probably my fave match of all time. |  |
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| Away support on 20:34 - Feb 9 with 2040 views | Coastalblue |
| Away support on 18:33 - Feb 9 by gtsb1966 |
I was 15 at that cup semi at Villa Park. It was nice being packed in especially as I was behind a young lady with an hourglass figure and she was wearing tight leather trousers. And yes, fk you Paul Power. |
I was 14 and yes it was very packed, though I seem to have missed my allocation of hourglass figures and tight leather trousers.
The one for me in that run though was Shrewsbury away, no idea how many of us there were in the away end and would guess probably not that many in a small ground, but I've never felt so tightly packed in anywhere. At half time I was about 6 feet away from the crate I took to stand on, but was still at the same height.
and yes, fk you Paul Power |  |
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| Away support on 20:51 - Feb 9 with 1958 views | gtsb1966 |
| Away support on 20:34 - Feb 9 by Coastalblue |
I was 14 and yes it was very packed, though I seem to have missed my allocation of hourglass figures and tight leather trousers.
The one for me in that run though was Shrewsbury away, no idea how many of us there were in the away end and would guess probably not that many in a small ground, but I've never felt so tightly packed in anywhere. At half time I was about 6 feet away from the crate I took to stand on, but was still at the same height.
and yes, fk you Paul Power |
I went to both the Shrewsbury away games. Thought I was cool with a silk scarf tied to my wrist and a rubettes style blue and white hat. TWTD. | | | |
| Away support on 20:56 - Feb 9 with 1946 views | Fearon |
| Away support on 19:18 - Feb 9 by xrayspecs |
We took a lot to one of those nothing competitions, possibly the Simon Cup, where iirc the police cleared the stand to the left of the way section up to halfway, as an overspill area for Town fans.
It was a pay on the day not all-ticket game, probably the last one we had at Carrot Road. |
I was there sitting in the stand just along from our 1,000s of fans on the terrace singing and swaying, quite a sight to behold for a 15 year old! I have been to 100s of away games since including Milan, Wembley play off and Arsenal league cup semi but that night at Carrot Road sticks in my memory. | | | |
| Away support on 20:56 - Feb 9 with 1946 views | Pinewoodblue |
| Away support on 19:18 - Feb 9 by xrayspecs |
We took a lot to one of those nothing competitions, possibly the Simon Cup, where iirc the police cleared the stand to the left of the way section up to halfway, as an overspill area for Town fans.
It was a pay on the day not all-ticket game, probably the last one we had at Carrot Road. |
For some reason they didn't make it all ticket. Thousands turned up ticketless. Had tickets but couldn't get passed Police cordon, Ipswich refunded cost of tickets and arranged for Norwich city to send us a match programme. |  |
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| Away support on 21:19 - Feb 9 with 1869 views | longtimefan |
| Away support on 16:56 - Feb 9 by Illinoisblue |
10,000 at Inter
6k at Swindon in the Burley years
Cup semis back in the day were 20k - 25k I guess? Certainly the Town fans at Villa in 81 are packed in like sardines. Fk you Paul Power btw. |
Coincidentally I saw a photo of the Holt end at that game on twitter recently. It was really noticeable how more packed our side was compared to City’s. Being in the crowd on the day though I don’t really remember it being that cramped. But them my abiding memory of the day though was the disappointment of losing. Oh, and the Villa fans getting in the back of the stand towards the end of the game! | | | |
| Away support on 21:36 - Feb 9 with 1797 views | Illinoisblue |
| Away support on 21:19 - Feb 9 by longtimefan |
Coincidentally I saw a photo of the Holt end at that game on twitter recently. It was really noticeable how more packed our side was compared to City’s. Being in the crowd on the day though I don’t really remember it being that cramped. But them my abiding memory of the day though was the disappointment of losing. Oh, and the Villa fans getting in the back of the stand towards the end of the game! |
It does look really jammed. Assume we had a side of seats too? The only bit of action I’ve seen from the game is the free kick. Did Man City have the terracing at the other end as well as their section of the Holte end? | |
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| Away support on 23:11 - Feb 9 with 1552 views | jontysnut |
| Away support on 16:59 - Feb 9 by noggin |
I remember cup games at Forest and Luton with thousands of Town fans. I recently read a Luton fan saying our support was huge that day. |
I recall lots of Ipswich at the 1980 6th round cup game at Everton |  | | |
| Away support on 23:17 - Feb 9 with 1543 views | gainsboroughblue |
| Away support on 23:11 - Feb 9 by jontysnut |
I recall lots of Ipswich at the 1980 6th round cup game at Everton |
Seen that repeated on ITV a couple of times. That tie at Soton in 1991 was bloody large as well. Never seen any official figures but I can recall home fans being cleared from that Archer Road end to make room for our lot who just seemed to keep coming and coming as we approached kick off. | |
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