Memories of the 1990 Wembley play off final v Swindon.

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Bus from Concord left midnight Sunday ..

Back Midnight Monday

Got pissed in Chester. Dropped a couple of Purple Ohms on the bus and smoked a load of weed.

Held the bus up at Leicester Forest service station as a few of us stood on the bridge watching the tracking from the lights from the cars.

Started on the cans when the off license opened, then joined a protest march for an hour or so drinking and smoking dope.

Went to the match and the last memory was a bloke giving me six bottles in a carrier of that low alcohol Hofmeister as he couldn't take it to his seat.

Went to sleep and the St Johns carried me out.

Back to Trafalgar Square afterwards and we chased some punks off one of the plinths, mate got arrested.

There were about 20 in our group and stayed together the full 18 hours or so, without mobile phones!

Think it was a hot day..
 


JL1985 said:
I'm too young to remember this game but was there any indication before the match that Swindon might not get promoted because of the illegal payments.

Maybe we knew this and the players didn't need to play well or probably we just played badly on the day and got lucky afterwards.
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Bob Murray said he knew we were getting promoted a few days before but he’s adamant the players and manager never knew, he didn’t even tell his wife !

The Hunter said:
Not doing the Billy Big Bollox but just for info... it was my year-long investigation into Swindon Town for The People that got them into this mess - and, with respect to the Swindon posters, rightly so.
I think there is something in Bob Murray having his firmly card marked - but he could not have known for absolute certain until the Football League passed judgment. I was fairly sure they were in the shit because I uncovered the evidence.
I understand the comparisons between "little" Swindon and Spurs, who had a similar problem over finances - and indeed Chelsea - but I think what made Swindon different was a) they built the core of a very good side using the tribunal system where wages where a key "multiplier" on deciding a fee when the clubs could not agree. Swindon secretly made side contracts with players, or paid them cash bungs, so attracting a player on £300 a week, say, who was actually getting £500 or more - at a knockdown transfer price. It cheated all the other clubs in the league. On top of that, because they were paying bungs, they cheated the tax authorities.
And b) there was the aggravating circumstances of the betting shame. Macari and his chairman put a bet on Swindon (who were flying at the time) to lose at Newcastle (who were struggling badly). Newcastle won the game 5-0 and Macari and the chairman pocketed £5,000.
Apart from the football punishments, the chairman, Brian Hillier, was sent to jail and Macari was censured - and West Ham sacked him.
When I started my digging into this story I could never have made up the final twist that so benefitted my beloved.....:lol:
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The YouTube channel Roker Rapport has the Bob Murray video on it ... if my memory serves me right he claims some senior figure of the football league told him the Thursday or Friday ? before the game .... he went into detail about the day and how he felt sorry for the Swindon fans dancing and crying in the stadium and outside as he knew they weren’t going up. He talked as though he was 100% sure we were promoted before a ball was kicked at Wembley.
 
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0321safc said:
Bob Murray said he knew we were getting promoted a few days before but he’s adamant the players and manager never knew, he didn’t even tell his wife !


The YouTube channel Roker Rapport has the Bob Murray video on it ... if my memory serves me right he claims some senior figure of the football league told him the Thursday or Friday ? before the game .... he went into detail about the day and how he felt sorry for the Swindon fans dancing and crying in the stadium and outside as he knew they weren’t going up. He talked as though he was 100% sure we were promoted before a ball was kicked at Wembley.
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To this day I didn’t know any Swindon fan who was aware that we were going to be demoted. The scenes back along the M4 were magnificent.
The tears would have been of joy.
Ffs the news hit home like a sledge hammer.
FTFL.
 
I was at this game. I have very little / no recollection of the game at all.

4 of us spent the previous night drinking, dancing, drinking, swimming in Trafalgar Sq, then off to some club. Taxi back to an absolute shithole of a hotel in the Elephant & Castle (I have no idea why!) which had a moving floor of cockroaches. No amount of drink would have been enough for any of us to sleep in that.

Left the hotel about 7 and were pointed to an offy open early. Can't remember much after that. Cracking weekend.
 
dad and brother drove down to my place in coventry i drove to wembley.... we were f***ing awful...shed a tear at the rendition of wise me say at the end, then drove to hartlepool via cov to pick up the 1st ex
 
Apart from the busways bus going down, the only other memory is the rivers of pisa on the concourse. The queues for the boys were massive, me and my grandar had a piss against some bins like hundreds of others.
Cant remember the match but do remember we were sat near the back behind the goal and the kids footy and balloons before the match.
 
0321safc said:
Bob Murray said he knew we were getting promoted a few days before but he’s adamant the players and manager never knew, he didn’t even tell his wife !


The YouTube channel Roker Rapport has the Bob Murray video on it ... if my memory serves me right he claims some senior figure of the football league told him the Thursday or Friday ? before the game .... he went into detail about the day and how he felt sorry for the Swindon fans dancing and crying in the stadium and outside as he knew they weren’t going up. He talked as though he was 100% sure we were promoted before a ball was kicked at Wembley.
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That's interesting as it took a bit of time to for the football league to decide.

I can remember when it was announced Swindon weren't going up, me and my brother had been to a gig and has just got back in the car and stuck the radio on and they were talking about fans of Swindon who were kicking off after it was announced they weren't being allowed to get promoted. We just looked at each other in silence for a few seconds before going mental in the car.

I'm not sure if it was the next week when it was decided but I remember that the league were having a meeting to decide who went up. The mags were contesting that as the playoffs hadn't produced a winner then everything should go back to the finishing league positions and as they had finished 3rd they would go up.

Thankfully the league decided to stick with the playoff format and decided it should be us.

I can remember being at work and the whole office was tense as we were all waiting for a phone call from someone to tell us what the decision was. I think it was 75% to 25% mag split. I can still remember my phone ringing and my dad, god rest his soul, saying 'well son, are we going to Manchester United then'.
I just put the phone down beaming and all the mags saw my face and just slumped in their chairs. Happy happy days.
 
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skullmeister said:
That's interesting as it took a bit of time to for the football league to decide.

I can remember when it was announced Swindon weren't going up, me and my brother had been to a gig and has just got back in the car and stuck the radio on and they were talking about fans of Swindon who were kicking off after it was announced they weren't being allowed to get promoted. We just looked at each other in silence for a few seconds before going mental in the car.

I'm not sure if it was the next week when it was decided but I remember that the league were having a meeting to decide who went up. The mags were contesting that as the playoffs hadn't produced a winner then everything should go back to the finishing league positions and as they had finished 3rd they would go up.

Thankfully the league decided to stick with the playoff format and decided it should be us.

I can remember being at work and the whole office was tense as we were all waiting for a phone call from someone to tell us what the decision was. I think it was 75% to 25% mag split. I can still remember my phone ringing and my dad, god rest his soul, saying 'well son, are we going to Manchester United then'.
I just put the phone down beaming and all the mags saw my face and just slumped in their chairs. Happy happy days.
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Meanwhile in a small rural village a young man said “are we going to f***ing Port Vale then.”
Sad sad days mate.
:lol::lol:
 
Swindon On Tour said:
Meanwhile in a small rural village a young man said “are we going to f***ing Port Vale then.”
Sad sad days mate.
:lol::lol:
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To be fair though, the only reason you had such a good team was you bent the rules, awful for the fans who suffered and agree you were treated differently to Spurs but you wouldn’t have even been close to a play off spot if you hadn’t ripped other clubs off.
 
Stortford said:
To be fair though, the only reason you had such a good team was you bent the rules, awful for the fans who suffered and agree you were treated differently to Spurs but you wouldn’t have even been close to a play off spot if you hadn’t ripped other clubs off.
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Clearly you are not fully aware of the allegations.
How did we rip other clubs off?
It was payments made to players and not declared.
So many other clubs later came out and said similarities were being made.
Unfortunately little old Swindon were made an example of.
Nor saying the club didn’t do wrong but it was us the fans who were hurt the most.
 
Swindon On Tour said:
Clearly you are not fully aware of the allegations.
How did we rip other clubs off?
It was payments made to players and not declared.
So many other clubs later came out and said similarities were being made.
Unfortunately little old Swindon were made an example of.
Nor saying the club didn’t do wrong but it was us the fans who were hurt the most.
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See post a few pages back by The Hunter who broke the story, he obviously knows more than both of us, understated wages meant lower fees at tribunals so you got players on the cheap. Hence my point about ripping off other clubs.
Not denying fans suffered and that it wouldn’t have happened if you were a big club but you wouldn’t have been able to field that quality of team against us if you hadn’t cheated financially.
 
Swindon On Tour said:
Clearly you are not fully aware of the allegations.
How did we rip other clubs off?
It was payments made to players and not declared.
So many other clubs later came out and said similarities were being made.
Unfortunately little old Swindon were made an example of.
Nor saying the club didn’t do wrong but it was us the fans who were hurt the most.
Click to expand...
If you read my first post on this thread, you will find the answer. The crucial element in terms of cheating other clubs was how Swindon manipulated the tribunal system by getting players on the cheap. The tribunal used wages as a key multiplier in determining fees when the buying and selling club could not agree terms. Swindon would have a secret side agreement with players but declare a much lower wage. Hence they were able to buy very decent players for a huge discount on their true value. Back in the day a £600-a-week player would sign for £350 a week - knowing he was getting the rest through a side deal. That cheated the selling club who got a lower fee and, also, cheated the tax man. It cheated rival teams who were not competing on a level playing field in terms of the cost of team building.
Terribly rough on fans but the club were clearly seriously at fault. And then there is the separate, but very naughty, matter of Hillier and Macari betting against their own team - and Swindon losing that match 5-0!
 
The Hunter said:
If you read my first post on this thread, you will find the answer. The crucial element in terms of cheating other clubs was how Swindon manipulated the tribunal system by getting players on the cheap. The tribunal used wages as a key multiplier in determining fees when the buying and selling club could not agree terms. Swindon would have a secret side agreement with players but declare a much lower wage. Hence they were able to buy very decent players for a huge discount on their true value. Back in the day a £600-a-week player would sign for £350 a week - knowing he was getting the rest through a side deal. That cheated the selling club who got a lower fee and, also, cheated the tax man. It cheated rival teams who were not competing on a level playing field in terms of the cost of team building.
Terribly rough on fans but the club were clearly seriously at fault. And then there is the separate, but very naughty, matter of Hillier and Macari betting against their own team - and Swindon losing that match 5-0!
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Betting against the team was wrong.
But Mirandina And Gazza ripped us apart that game.
Cracking day out all the same and we took a fair few up to Newcastle.
St James Park was absolutely rocking though. At that time the loudest away ground I had ever witnessed. Terracing as well which added to the atmosphere. The Gallowgate End was packed.
Gazza came to the Swindon fans at the end and remember shaking the lads hand.
Unplayable the term used for his performance.
 
Swindon On Tour said:
Betting against the team was wrong.
But Mirandina And Gazza ripped us apart that game.
Cracking day out all the same and we took a fair few up to Newcastle.
St James Park was absolutely rocking though. At that time the loudest away ground I had ever witnessed. Terracing as well which added to the atmosphere. The Gallowgate End was packed.
Gazza came to the Swindon fans at the end and remember shaking the lads hand.
Unplayable the term used for his performance.
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Yep, betting against their own side was wrong but, in terms of the relegation punishment, it was pretty irrelevant. That was down to the fiddling of the transfer system by using those secret side agreements. Those same cash side payments led to the tax irregularities, too.
As for the game in the betting scandal (the first part of my investigation to be published) - it was the FA Cup fourth round in 1988 and, yes, Gazza was on fire and arguably playing as well as he did for anyone in his career. But Newcastle were not setting league on fire that season and few would have predicted a 5-0 result.
Incidentally, Newcastle's average gate that season (87-88) was 28,796. Yes, 28,796. Ahhh...those golden days before Sir John, Special K and the celebrated Geordie Nayshun.
 
The Hunter said:
Yep, betting against their own side was wrong but, in terms of the relegation punishment, it was pretty irrelevant. That was down to the fiddling of the transfer system by using those secret side agreements. Those same cash side payments led to the tax irregularities, too.
As for the game in the betting scandal (the first part of my investigation to be published) - it was the FA Cup fourth round in 1988 and, yes, Gazza was on fire and arguably playing as well as he did for anyone in his career. But Newcastle were not setting league on fire that season and few would have predicted a 5-0 result.
Incidentally, Newcastle's average gate that season (87-88) was 28,796. Yes, 28,796. Ahhh...those golden days before Sir John, Special K and the celebrated Geordie Nayshun.
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Secret side agreements sums it up perfectly.
Swindon guilty absolutely yes but as were so many other clubs, including some of the bigger ones who came out later to confess. Conveniently brushed under the carpet.
Poor old Spurs slapped wrist and fine. Why?
You know the answer.

That game made me open up my eyes and certainly my ears.
Singing in every stand. It was loud for sure and we played our part.
 
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