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Post by dabigfella on Jan 20, 2011 22:24:04 GMT
LR that is a game that I will never forget for many reasons. Firstly being crammed into the London Road where you either had to stand with your arms at your side or above your shoulders because there was so little space. I think it was one of the biggest home crowds in all of the time that I have been following the club at just under 14,400.Then that fantastic goal from Dave Langan who confused Pat Jennings and instantly became a hero by beating the Arsenal. I consider Spurs to be my second team so that was special. I met Pat at a prize giving at half time on the White Hart Lane pitch a few years ago but resisted the temptation to remind him of that errror. I also remember dodging the bottles being thrown into the London Road by Arsenal "fans" who had left early and walked straight into our part of the ground. (The TVP seem to have learned little in the subsequent 27 years) Then being surrounded by 20 Arsenal fans on the Windmill Road whilst on my own and avoiding eye contact until I got past them. Thats what I call entertainment. Our home league average was 10,500 that season and since 1970 that was only beaten by 500 the following season when we were in Division One. The crowd for that game was the largest of the season and has not been beaten at home since because the following season the Manor capacity was reduced when additional seating areas were installed on the Osler Road. If to think that was crowded try to imagine 23,000 crammed into the same ground in '64(?). And that was the official figure! There were probably at least another couple of thousand that gate crashed the ground over the Osler Road wall!!!!
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Post by scoob on Jan 21, 2011 1:17:35 GMT
LR that is a game that I will never forget for many reasons. Firstly being crammed into the London Road where you either had to stand with your arms at your side or above your shoulders because there was so little space. I think it was one of the biggest home crowds in all of the time that I have been following the club at just under 14,400.Then that fantastic goal from Dave Langan who confused Pat Jennings and instantly became a hero by beating the Arsenal. I consider Spurs to be my second team so that was special. I met Pat at a prize giving at half time on the White Hart Lane pitch a few years ago but resisted the temptation to remind him of that error. I also remember dodging the bottles being thrown into the London Road by Arsenal "fans" who had left early and walked straight into our part of the ground. (The TVP seem to have learned little in the subsequent 27 years) Then being surrounded by 20 Arsenal fans on the Windmill Road whilst on my own and avoiding eye contact until I got past them. Thats what I call entertainment. Our home league average was 10,500 that season and since 1970 that was only beaten by 500 the following season when we were in Division One. The crowd for that game was the largest of the season and has not been beaten at home since because the following season the Manor capacity was reduced when additional seating areas were installed on the Osler Road. If to think that was crowded try to imagine 23,000 crammed into the same ground in '64(?). And that was the official figure! There were probably at least another couple of thousand that gate crashed the ground over the Osler Road wall!!!! To be honest I can't imagine it! Was the LR stand built then, I was not around as I still had a couple of month left in my mother's womb!! I believe that some of the other permanent stands were not built then and some large temporary stands were built? I am sure that they could not have crammed any more into the section of the LR stand that I was in for the Arsenal match because we were synchronised breathing at times due to the lack of space . My Dad talks about watching Headington United sat on grass banks at the edge of the pitch and I guess that was in the early 1950s though. The Blackburn and PNE crowds were huge compared to anything I witnessed at the Manor and most of the ground looked jam packed for some of the big games of the 1980s with less than 2/3 of those record crowds.
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