Football
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09 May 16
08:55
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Date Joined:
26 May 07
Being right down the front with all the other kids, standing on a small wooden crate, peering over the wall, eye level being about the same as the pitch level. Harry Redknapp flying past me down the wing as I look up in awe. Game ends and being lifted into the air and passed back over the heads of all the other Dads to be re-United with my own Dad.
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i dont go to football anymore but always looked forward to our trips to upton park fantastic atmosphere, if i remember rightly my last visit was the year they opened the bobby moore stand a 2-2 draw paul ince got plenty of stick on his return there that day ,last fa cup game and last ever game both against united i think most west ham fans would have liked that.
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My father first took me to the ground in the early 1950s and my fondest memories of that era was the Division 2 winning team of 1957/8. At that time all players at the club had to attend the FA coaches course at Lilleshall and many of that team went on to become managers. John Bond, Malcolm Allison, Ken Brown, Frank O'Farrell and Dave Sexton all attended the course.
So many great memories of that ground and such wonderful players as Moore, Hurst, Peters, Devonshire, Byrne, McAvennie, Cottee, Ward and many others. |
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Baines' free kicks. An 88th-minute winner in a League Cup quarter-final. Getting coins thrown at me from fans in the home end. So many happy memories.
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1972 pop robson 2 spuds 2 ,boxing day.
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Remember seeing Toshack and Keegan tear West Ham a new one in about 1976 - 4-0 I think it was. Went to a lot of West ham games at the time, and they weren't the worst team in the world, think it was the same season they made the Cup-Winners Cup final against a real good Anderlecht team. Liverpool just ripped them to pieces. Was the first of many hideous beatings they dished out to Spurs and West Ham at games I went to. Upton Park was amazing in those days, been there with 40,000 in there. Not sure how they're going to get on in the Olympic Stadium, hope they do OK but not sure the fans are going to enjoy being so far away from the pitch.
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and I think billy bonds saved a penalty one night in the league cup after he had to take over duties when the goalie was sent off.
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Sure I was at Spurs one time when Hoddle had to go in goal. Might be the old memory playing tricks because it does sound implausible.
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my thoughts also jed about been so far away from the pitch.
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I think that factor has been underestimated foxy. Several examples of
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...new stadia being disliked and sparsely attended for that reason.
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Anyway, more memories - Gascoigne v Ince in about 1990, both young men with an obvious bright future. Spurs won 2-0, and Gascoigne made Ince look a total mug, repeatedly and deliberately. Mitchell Thomas, who later played for West Ham, scored the other Spurs goal.
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and clive best deserves a word ,one of the first coloured players to play English football.
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Got chucked out of the south bank one year for scrapping with another spurs fan whose bird got a bit mouthy for no reason, miss about half hour of the game being processed, Fairclough scores for Spurs, I watch the last twenty minutes at the back of the West ham end, keeping my emotions firmly under control under pain of immediate death.
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The west ham fans used to chuck bananas at clyde best themselves!!
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Talking of famous players taking over in goal. I was at Old Trafford in 1972 for a League Cup Semi Final when West Ham played Stoke and Bobby Moore had to go in goal following an injury to our goalkeeper. He actually saved a penalty but they scored from the rebound.
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Must have happened a lot in those days sparrow I guess.
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Not really in this case,jed. Ferguson the goalkeeper was only off the field 20 minutes before returning.
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Not been to Upton Park since January 1996... cup game against Southend... first game was May 1977 v Derby... like most fans spanning that era the 1985-86 season was epic particularly after a poor start... the two games in mid-April standout... the 8-1 v Newcastle when Alvin Martin scored a hat-trick against three different 'keepers'... but more so the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea a few days earlier... even with plenty of games to go it felt like that defeat cost West Ham the title... I blame Neil Orr...
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That 85/86 side was by far the best ever West Ham side, especially when you consider that the 60s teams with all those great players never finished higher than 8th.
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i remember that game sparrow bobby moore going in goal obviously stoke went through as they went on to beat chelsea in the final george eastham.
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one very famous game from upton park which is forgotten by many was the fa cup tie against non league hereford who had just knocked newcastle out of the cup {john motsons first game}it was played midweek in the afternoon it seemed from the pictures on the news the entire town of hereford made the trip to london.
anybody tell me why it was an afternoon game ? |
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It was due to the government emergency regulations regarding the power cuts, foxy.
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thats correct sparrow some how i knew you would know that.
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Too many memories to pick just one...
Loved the old North Bank. Wherever you stood in those days you were incredibly close to the players. That created an atmosphere and tension that modern fans will sadly never know. I've still enjoyed going in recent years but it's a new stadium on 3 sides and is far removed from the old Upton Park. As for Stratford, there's talk we may sell 50k season tickets  60k capacity. |
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You can read all about it here, foxy.
http://theyflysohigh.co.uk/who-turned-the-lights-out/4577640274 |
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The faces and characters over the years who I would talk to , have a beer with or just nod to , but that I did'nt really know . Would not see them at any other time than at football . They were still my friends however.
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pop robson flicking on a near post corner with his hand for a team mate to head in v wrexham, dai davies nearly killed the ref.
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'Game ends and being lifted into the air and passed back over the heads of all the other Dads to be re-United with my own Dad.'
____ Real Social dads back then  |
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funny how we get to feel about stadiums/racecourses i have never been a west ham fan but still feel sad that the ground will no longer be with us,only today i read in the post that with the councils decision the last rites have been given to folkestone ,although living in manchester i had many happy times at folkestone and will really miss the place.
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Just read it back Coachbuster - not my best description or grammatical moment. In my head it made perfect sense!! Hope you understood what. I meant!!
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Alladin ,made perfect sense to me ...just threw in the Sociedad bit
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Speaking of Spanish sides, who was it that we played in a European tie behind closed doors?
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It was Castilla
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The second leg of West Ham’s European Cup Winners Cup first round tie against the Spaniards, Castilla C. de F., has become part of West Ham’s folklore and is fondly referred to as the “Ghost Match”, so called because it was played behind locked doors. Apart from a handful of club officials and administrative staff, no one else was allowed to enter the Boleyn Ground to watch the game.
This ghost game is remembered for many reasons including by Roger Hillier the 262 official attendance is the club’s lowest for a competitive first team home match an entertaining game with West Ham recovering from a two goal deficit to win on aggregate after extra time a hat-trick by David Cross for the Hammers only ever hat-trick in European competition, and the main recollection of the Hammers playing in a virtually empty stadium devoid of the usual match atmosphere. |
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That's it! Thanks Sparrow - appreciate your help...
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I'd virtually forgot about it myself, Aladdin.
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Castilla - yes , i remember them.
On google it says Real Madrid's reserve team  |
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You can read about it all on this link.
http://theyflysohigh.co.uk/castilla-ghost-match/4577286094 |
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some of those mid week afternoon matches attracted some pretty hefty crowds ,much larger than normal .
West Ham almost attracted a record crowd (just 51 short) for that Midw/Aftn K.O against Hereford of all games |