My Favourite Game

[Flaming Pie]

Here's one for Pete ' s Picture Palace and Five and in, who said the Forum is getting a bit sleepy. A little bit of nostalgia.You tube has got very grainy footage of Tranmere v Chelsea FA Cup Jan 1963, one of the coldest winters on record. Most of the third round cup games that day were postponed. The TV cameras turned up at Prenton Park to see 4th Division Tranmere take on Tommy Docherty's ' impressive young Chelsea team, who were riding high in the 2nd Division. To me , these were real stars. We are talking about Venables, Bonetti, Tambling, Bridges . All would become big names in the game. l was a kid standing on the touchline. I swear l was on tele that night!. The game was played in the snow.Chelsea ran out wearing yellow gloves .l had never seen a team wearing gloves before .Tranmere had a few tough guys in their line-up, the hardest of them all was Dave Hickson. The gloves must have tickled them! At one stage in the game Hickson fouls Mortimer and then proceeds to drag him off the pitch, so that Rovers can get on with the game. I remember Johnny King scored early on for Tranmere and then picked up a bad injury. No subs in those days, so he played on.Tambling equalised for Chelsea. Tranmere scored again through Jones, before Bridges made it all square. Chelsea hammered Rovers in the replay.Take a look at this match played in the snow and marvel at the tackles flying in.Looking back ,it is probably my favourite game of all time.

[Pete’s Picture Palace]

You did ask!

Wrexham v Palace, Division III, Weds 11th May 1977.

Both sides going for promotion from Div 3, Wrexham above Palace - Palace's last game of the season, Wrexham with one more home game to come, v champions Mansfield, on the following Saturday. A defeat or draw no good for Palace, dream over. A win by one goal would take Palace above Wrexham but then a draw on the Saturday would be enough to promote Wrexham. A 2-goal win for Palace would mean Wrexham would have to beat Mansfield. It was that close.

18,451 packed into the Racecourse. Dave Swindlehurst gave Palace a half-time lead and then Steve Perrin made it 2. But back came the Reds ferociously and Graham Whittle equalised with not long to go - 2-2. On came Palace sub Rachid Harkouk. As stoppage time approached Palace won a corner, the ball landed behind Harkouk but somehow he hooked the ball over his shoulder and it looped into the top corner. 3-2 up in stoppage time. Surely that was that. But no, almost from the restart Harkouk won the ball and played a superb through ball to Jeff Bourne who clinically drilled the ball into the bottom corner past Lloyd. 4-2.

Pandemonium broke out, delirium everywhere. Behind the Palace goal, I can remember Phil "Noddy" Holder trying to climb over the fencing to get in to us, and rookie keeper Peter Caswell clinging from the fence. A long night-time journey home, Palace team and staff on the same train, arrived in London in the small hours, home at about 5 am, then up for work about 2 hours later.

The following Saturday I was playing cricket but a few guys had radios with them and I was on the field when a cheer went up - Ernie Moss had scored for Mansfield. The Stags hung on for a 1-0 win, Palace went up and have never been back at Div III level since.

That was an unbelievable night and I have shivers down my spine writing about it. I was 21 then and am 61 now but can recall everything. Truly amazing. Thank you Palace.

[Flaming Pie]

Great memories Pete. I remember Palace had this outstanding player, Johnny 'Budgie 'Bryne , in the early 1960's. I think he was picked for England in 1961, while still a 3rd Division player with Palace. Not many caps were awarded those days, so that was some achievement.He later joined West Ham .

[Five and In]

Tough to put anything above attending the 1981 FA Cup Final (Ricky Villa and all that), 1991 FA Cup Semi Final v Arsenal (Gazza's not going to shoot from there is he?...he is!!) or 1984 UEFA Cup Final (Tony Parks heroics),but my personal favourite match attended saw no goals.

29th April 1978 - Division 2 - Southampton 0 Tottenham 0 - The Dell

From being firmly in the promotion spots all season, Spurs had somehow "blown up" from just before Easter losing three and drawing two out of seven games.
Having scraped to a late 1-0 win over Hull in the midweek beforehand, we set off to the Dell needing a point to go up.
The Saints were already up, but a win would give them a chance of pipping Bolton to the title.
An amazing atmosphere was treated to a very nervous game.
We huffed and puffed, but Saints were dangerous, although we were dealing with them ok.
Midway through the second half a low Southampton shot was goalbound. From behind the goal, I could not see the ball as it flew through the penalty area and assumed it was in.
Then we heard the thud of ball against post and it came back into sight before being hacked away to safety.
We held out and were up.
We partied, on the pitch after climbing over the fences and partied all the way back to London and in Tottenham High Road that night.
Magical memories.

The importance of an instant return to the top flight cannot be measured, but without it lots of things could have happened.
Ossie & Ricky would not have signed for a second division club a couple of months later.
Glenn Hoddle would probably have been snapped up by a top flight rival.
Liverpool were reported to be looking to take Steve Perryman if we missed out.
Keith Burkinshaw would probably have lost his job.
Without those five in place the wonderful years to come would not have happened and quite possibly, we could have got stuck in the second division for a long time.

Hence - MY Favourite Game!

[Davee59]

Well as a Spurs fan whose dad was Palace and hence they have been my second team, I get two goes. Strangely they are both FA Cup Semi-Finals, for Spurs it was the 3-1 v le @rse in 1991 with Gazza's goal the icing on the cake. Their fans were really giving it large on the way to Wembley about how they were going to win the double, to the tune by Righteous Brothers of Lovin Feelin. Needless to say on the way back we sang it even louder but with the word Lost instead of Got. For Palace it was that epic 4-3 at Villa Park against Liverpool. I spent most of the game on the base of a floodlight in the Holte End. Having been smashed 9-0 at Anfield earlier in that season nobody was prepared for that outcome. It also meant I was able to take my dad to Wembley to see Palace in the Cup Final, the team he had supported since Div 3 South in the fifties.

[Flaming Pie]

Five and ln,, you are so right about the course of a teams history can be decided by something like a ball hitting the woodwork and not going into the back of the net.Back in 1984, the general concensus was that Howard Kendall was on the verge of being sacked as Everton boss, if Oxford knocked them out of the League Cup at the quarter-final stage. They were on the verge of going out , when Adrian Heath popped up with a late equaliser.They went on to win the cup and the 1980's glory years followed..Kendall is now regarded as the greatest manager in the club's history. lt could have easily been so different!

[littlewiggy]

Impossible to narrow it down to just one for me.

Seeing us play a European Q/final in front of 18,000 (officially!) at Somerton in 1980/81 against Carl Zeiss will always be ultra-special, despite the fact we were cruelly robbed of a place in the semi. Needing just one goal to proceed, three overhead kicks off the goal-line (at least one well behind the line!), a crossbar, and four or five out-of-this-world saves from the inhuman goalie somehow prevented us.
I still to this day don't know how.

After two seasons of being trusted to go to home games alone, I was allowed to go 'away' too when I turned 14, and my first ever away match in 1982/83 at Bristol Rovers is special too. A 3-1 win against fellow promotion hopefuls with Tynan and Aldridge destroying an excellent home side who were hitting regular 4s against visitors to Eastville that year.
I can remember it like it was yesterday, but would struggle to tell you what I ate for dinner last night!

In more recent times, a 3-2 evening win at Hereford in 2012/13, when we conceded three penalties, and were still trailing 1-2 until an 85th min equaliser sent the 1200 County fans rammed behind that goal ballistic. That was nothing though compared to when Robbie Wilmott lobbed in an audacious 96th min winner with the last kick of the game. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack I was so delirious.

Same year, seeing us clinch a place back in the Football League against Wrexham at Wembley - even relegation this year cannot erase the joy of that occasion - with our goals coming in the 86th and 94th minutes. Something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.

There are others too, but if push came to shove, I'd have to narrow it down to those four. Impossible to separate them though.
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[WoodyCAFC]

For me, it would have to be Saturday 5th December 1992, Charlton v Portsmouth at the Valley.

Seven years after the Valley gates closed for the final time, dreams finally came true as Charlton achieved an unbelievable feat by returning home.

It hadn’t been easy – there’d been council election battles and planning decisions to overhaul, not to mention long trips for ‘home’ games at two other grounds. I’d been to various meetings and protests, and was involved in a couple of fan clean-ups at the ground in the late 80s, after it had been announced that we were moving back.

But finally, it was real. We had our Valley back. A very emotional day.

We won 1-0, but the result wasn’t the important thing.

Interestingly enough, not many might know this – but this was actually the second time that Charlton had left the Valley only to return to it. In the 1920s, there was a brief and unsuccessful move to the Mount Stadium in Catford. The slope of the terrace is still there, in what’s now called Mountsfield Park.

Leaving the Valley once was careless. Twice was just silly. Hopefully there’ll never be a third occasion!

In second place for me would be the 1998 play-off final between Charlton and Sunderland (3-3 after full-time, 4-4 after extra time, then 7-6 on penalties with Sasa Ilic saving the all-important 14th penalty). What a day that was – but that’s a story for another time.

[Flaming Pie]

Woody ,nothing at all to do with football, but have some good memories of the Valley. August Bank Holiday 1974.Saw the Who, Lou Reed, Humble Pie and others at Charlton.l think there should have been only 50,000 allowed in, but l reckon there was close on 100,000 packed in there. Saw the Who, for the first time since Charlton, the other night.No Moon or Enthwistle, but still great. I will have to stop this living in the past business! :😁

[WoodyCAFC]

Flaming Pie wrote:

Woody ,nothing at all to do with football, but have some good memories of the Valley. August Bank Holiday 1974.Saw the Who, Lou Reed, Humble Pie and others at Charlton.l think there should have been only 50,000 allowed in, but l reckon there was close on 100,000 packed in there. Saw the Who, for the first time since Charlton, the other night.No Moon or Enthwistle, but still great. I will have to stop this living in the past business! :😁

Well, it was at a football ground, so it definitely football related!

Plus, a young Alan Curbishley was also there that day, selling t-shirts for his big brother's business (his older brother was - or maybe still is? - the manager of the Who).

It's great to hear your memories of the old Valley. I love coming across old photos of the vast terraces - every now and then a new one pops up that I haven't seen before.

Before they announced they were returning, me and school friends broke into the Valley, and spent a very enjoyable afternoon roaming around the abandoned terraces and the overgrown pitch. It was like a giant playground!

I'm really interested in old grounds and terraces now, and wish I'd paid more attention at the time. Like exploring the corners of the terraces, which I think were closed off. And how you'd access the top of the East Terrace from the Floyd Road. The bottom of the East Terrace used to curve round to the Covered End - you can see that in old photos. But the top - and bigger – section, which had been added in the '30s, stopped dead on just beyond the floodlights.

There are lots of photos of the East Terrace, but none from a street/turnstile perspective.

Found an old hut in the ground that day that someone had previously broken into and hundreds of programmes were scattered all around. Sadly they'd all been rained on, and were all mostly mush by that stage.

From the top of the old East Terrace, you could see for miles around.

I took photos that day, but to this day I don't know what happened to them. I live in hope that I'll come across them one day, but probably won't.

[se20blue]

Flaming Pie wrote:

Woody ,nothing at all to do with football, but have some good memories of the Valley. August Bank Holiday 1974.Saw the Who, Lou Reed, Humble Pie and others at Charlton.l think there should have been only 50,000 allowed in, but l reckon there was close on 100,000 packed in there. Saw the Who, for the first time since Charlton, the other night.No Moon or Enthwistle, but still great. I will have to stop this living in the past business! :😁

The actual date was 18th May 1974
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/charlton-1974.html
nearly died of dehydration that day

[WoodyCAFC]

The actual date was 18th May 1974
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/charlton-1974.html
nearly died of dehydration that day[/quote]

Some great pics at that site. Cheers!

[Flaming Pie]

se20blue, could have sworn it was August 1974 for the Who at Charlton. At least l got the the year right! Did see them at The Oval , London Sept 1971.Perhaps I'm thinking of that ? Just checked out the line up.We arrived late, but can't remember Bad Company at all.l remember it was a very hot day, but we had our own flagons of cider in haversacks to keep us going.

[se20blue]

Got very wet two years later 31/5/76
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/who-put-the-boot-in-1976.html

[WoodyCAFC]

Flaming Pie wrote:

se20blue, could have sworn it was August 1974 for the Who at Charlton. At least l got the the year right! Did see them at The Oval , London Sept 1971.Perhaps I'm thinking of that ? Just checked out the line up.We arrived late, but can't remember Bad Company at all.l remember it was a very hot day, but we had our own flagons of cider in haversacks to keep us going.

You know what they say, if you can remember it, you weren't there!

[Flaming Pie]

Woody, l don't know if this item holds any interest, but someone is selling a Charlton FA Cup Final scrapbook on ebay.He is asking £10, but willing to look at offers. The seller is programmepaul. I don't know how to do that getting it up on the screen business.

[Eck]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfRwwY3kWkA

[Davee59]

WoodyCAFC wrote:

For me, it would have to be Saturday 5th December 1992, Charlton v Portsmouth at the Valley. Seven years after the Valley gates closed for the final time, dreams finally came true as Charlton achieved an unbelievable feat by returning home. It hadn’t been easy – there’d been council election battles and planning decisions to overhaul, not to mention long trips for ‘home’ games at two other grounds. I’d been to various meetings and protests, and was involved in a couple of fan clean-ups at the ground in the late 80s, after it had been announced that we were moving back. But finally, it was real. We had our Valley back. A very emotional day. We won 1-0, but the result wasn’t the important thing. Interestingly enough, not many might know this – but this was actually the second time that Charlton had left the Valley only to return to it. In the 1920s, there was a brief and unsuccessful move to the Mount Stadium in Catford. The slope of the terrace is still there, in what’s now called Mountsfield Park. Leaving the Valley once was careless. Twice was just silly. Hopefully there’ll never be a third occasion! In second place for me would be the 1998 play-off final between Charlton and Sunderland (3-3 after full-time, 4-4 after extra time, then 7-6 on penalties with Sasa Ilic saving the all-important 14th penalty). What a day that was – but that’s a story for another time.

Hi Woody, I have played on the old ground at Mountsfield Park many times. My nan lived in Catford just around the corner from the Park and I used to kick a ball about there when I was a younster.

[derby1884]

For sheer atmosphere, it would have to be 82/3 Derby v Forest in the Cup. Clough and Taylor in opposite dugouts, mud galore and Archie Gemmill running himself into the ground more than I've ever seen any player do so before or since.

For drama, though, it would be a game I attended at Gigg Lane circa 1988/89. Bury were 0-4 down at half-time to Huddersfield...came back to draw 4-4 thanks to David Lee having one of those 45 minute periods that a pro footballer dreams of.

After that comeback, the drinks were flowing in the BFC social club that Sat'day night. Happy memories
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[nozer]

St Gabriel's 7 St Columbus 4.
Cup game Columbus had not lost a game for three seasons ,Gabs were a Div below them,made all the more memorable because I played in game and scored two of Gabs goals giving us a five one ht lead.
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