Christmas day football Memories!

[kenred]

Christmas Day fixtures were once a regular occurrence,and I can remember in 1957 ,on the aforementioned day,Wednesday it was, attending Old Trafford to watch United V Luton Town.I was a mere young lad of 14 then ,but I still remember the game well.United won 3-0 Charlton ,Duncan Edwards,and Tommy Taylor scoring.I think the weather was similar to today ,wet ,and gloomy.Luton had Syd Owen ,Alan Brown ,and Ron Baynham notable players appearing for the Hatters.Local bus Company North western ran a coach to Old Trafford for the match.It was sad too ,as it would be the last Christmas many of Uniteds players would have ,as two months later it was the fateful Munich Disaster.
Boxing Day United travelled down to Kenilworth Rd,for the return fixture,and drew 2-2. Other 1st Division games that Christmas Day were Burnley v Man City,WBA v Birmingham (not much travelling there)Everton V Bolton W.Sheff Wed.V Preston ,Chelsea v Portsmouth ,Newcastle v Forest ,and Blackpool v Leicester.The trains ran on Boxing Day as I went on an excursion from Manchester Central to Luton setting off @8.32am ,and returning @6.04pm.Would anyone want Football on Christmas day nowadays?

[nozer]

Personaly i think there should be no footbal on that day , and people nead to get back to the real meaning of the day , the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ.
Although i am in my mid 60s i have never been to a game on Christmas Day been to several on Boxing Day though.
I have the programme for the Chelsea v Portsmouth 57/58 in my collection Chelsea winning 7-4 , wonder how many fixturs this Christmas holliday
B/D will approach that score.
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"Some people say Wolves best days are gone i prefer to think the best are yet to come" Derek Dougan on joining Wolves from Leicester City 1967.

[martino]

Looking through the Christmas Day fixtures and the return on Boxing Day it is amazing how far teams, and any supporters, were required to travel. I suppose there was an attempt to make these fixtures "local" but you still ended up with the following Division One fixtures in 1954/5:

Blackpool v Portsmouth
Bolton v Tottenham
Charlton v Sheffield Wednesday
Wolves v Everton

Now what would Fergie have said to that!

The best year for players was 55/56 when Christmas Day fell on a Sunday and so no matches but I expect the Football League got their revenge sometime!

M