RichDevoto
Midfield
I started going in 72/73 season with my grandad - RIP old fellah - and the crowds at the start of the season were around the 10 000 mark. Unbelievable what happened later that same season!
D
Deleted member 37458
Guest
Yes you are right, first, I stand corrected. I am not sure about Sancho as I thought he played for Man City. I will check my Wikipedia
Kborom
Striker
Started supporting the lads in the previous relegation season, remember a few games with seemingly big crowds but only in the 20K's, didn't know any different.
Couple of seasons before the cup winning year I recall as dull, low crowds and little entertainment. 72/73 started the same way but the second half of the season, obviously the cup win and rocketing up the table provided a stepping stone to the following couple of years. They were good, but that team got up a year or two too late and we ended up with an old team in the top flight.
Couple of seasons before the cup winning year I recall as dull, low crowds and little entertainment. 72/73 started the same way but the second half of the season, obviously the cup win and rocketing up the table provided a stepping stone to the following couple of years. They were good, but that team got up a year or two too late and we ended up with an old team in the top flight.
OLDROKERENDER
Winger
Good point. Was there a case for bringing the likes of Rowell & Arnott in earlier in 76/77 ? Wonder what effect it would have had.
Johnap
Winger
Martin Harvey was a great player. If he had not been injured at Norwich in Mar 72 I would not have been surprised if he would have captained the Cup side of 73. The malaise around the club was lack of investment. The Board struggled to find the money for Watson. The overdraft was very nearly at it's limit. The addition of new directors, Alan Martin, Maurice Bewick and Fred Stewart and the retirement of Stanley Ritson and Jack Cooke gave the club more finance through a change of bank and the overdraft limit was doubled and a bit more. Tom Cowie was also asked but declined - a bullet missed there but he came back to haunt us later. Before that at times it was not sure that the cheque for the groundstaff wages would be accepted at the bank on the Thursday morning. The first thing the new Board did was not renew Alan Brown's contract - Billy Elliott was put in temporary charge. Crowds did not improve but Watson was moved to No 5. Jackie Milburn was held in high regard by all the NE clubs. He was asked about Bob Stokoe and the Directors made an approach with them making a well-publicised trip to Blackpool and waiting in the Hydro Hotel for permission to speak to Bob after agreeing terms with Blackpool. It was said that they had actually met with Bob the weekend before at Jack Ditchburn's house. Bob agreed and came over as manager. The momentum from the start of the Cup run was enough to increase the crowds - over 40000 at home v Oxford for example.
jcrossan
Striker
No line up for pies in those seasons.
yet despite all the shite a 2-2 draw at Man City and we were lined up around Roker at 6 in the morning wanting tickets. Glad we did as well.
Sometimes you keep the faith and the faith actually f***ing works. Not often mind you. But sometimes.
yet despite all the shite a 2-2 draw at Man City and we were lined up around Roker at 6 in the morning wanting tickets. Glad we did as well.
Sometimes you keep the faith and the faith actually f***ing works. Not often mind you. But sometimes.
alanturing
Midfield
My first game v Coventry 69/70 26000 and second one in the same season v Spurs 13000 (we won 2-1) so the writing was on the wall about low crowds then.
If I remember correctly the club decided to spend in the late sixties a lot of dosh on the then training facilities at Washington thus depriving the team of investment.
And yes I was at the 5-2 Swindon game and I also went to see us play the British 11 Olympic team. All amateurs. We lost.
If I remember correctly the club decided to spend in the late sixties a lot of dosh on the then training facilities at Washington thus depriving the team of investment.
And yes I was at the 5-2 Swindon game and I also went to see us play the British 11 Olympic team. All amateurs. We lost.
Johnap
Winger
Yes it was a voucher game. The decision was taken to use a lucky voucher system, once Season Ticket Holders had been able to purchase tickets. Oxford took home more than what they made in a home game with their share of the gate receipts. That was the beginning of 13 hour days and matches to be played as usual. Great times. Total admin staff at the time - 5 - supplemented by Fred Bailey (Charge hand at the time) and the head of the matchday staff. How many work in the ticket office these days? We didn't have a ticket office and tickets had to be printed, checked and then set up for sale.
Grumpy Old Man
Striker
Pretty much as I remember it. While McColl clearly had to go, with hindsight bringing Brown back and expecting him to repeat what he'd done before was a mistake, and even then (58-64) we were out of the top flight for 6 years before getting back. They stuck with him far longer than they should have, and it was really only the very real prospect of relegation in 1972/3 that finally decided it. In the interim, many people had decided they couldn't hack it, and it was only the Cup run under Stokoe that brought people back in large numbers.
D
Deleted member 6830
Guest
McColl was a disaster.
The board made a mistake in not giving job to George Hardwick after he'd saved us in 67 ?
Am sure theres footage of the Spurs game. Did Gordon Harris score a penna ?
Grumpy Old Man
Striker
Allegedly, he was caught bending a secretary over the boardroom table (I make no claim as to the veracity of this allegation), which made his position, as it were, untenable.
D
Deleted member 6830
Guest
So all the board members were paragons of virtue eh ?
Didnt McColl get rid of King Charles plus the catholic element or was it just speculation ?
Grumpy Old Man
Striker
I think if Hardwick had taken the secretary to a hotel he'd have been OK; it was not so much what he did as where he did it. McColl did indeed drop all the Catholics in the team (Monty, Charlie and Nick Sharkey at least), and, as this was before the days of freedom of contract under the old retain and transfer system, they had to moulder in the reserves as the board were at least sensible enough not to transfer them out.
D
Deleted member 6830
Guest
Didnt he sign the like of Ralph Brand and George Kinnell ?
brir
Striker
Apparently at that time we had Prod and Catholic factions in the changing room which lead to CH playing in the reserves
Grumpy Old Man
Striker
Yep. Also Neil Martin (good) and Sandy McLaughlin (Camp-esque)
D
Deleted member 6830
Guest
Martin was brilliant in the air apparently.
Think we might actually have sold him on for a profit ?
Grumpy Old Man
Striker
Bought for 45, sold for 90. He was pretty good all round, but very good in the air. Scored 46 in 99 appearances, which is a bloody good ratio in a struggling side.
