The long road back 1999-2022; Your memories of 23 years in the football league | Vital Football

The long road back 1999-2022; Your memories of 23 years in the football league

Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

Vital Football Legend
Would love to hear some of our collective memories from these last 23 years

Just talking to a Coventry fan online earlier and it reminded me of our game there in 2001 when we drew at their place with 9 men and beat them at the CG with 10- both times it was the same referee (Phil Dowd). That away game at Highfield was immense, felt like we'd won a cup.

It was also the first time I ever had a bet on football- backing Stern John to score. He did, but Dowd disallowed it and then sent John off.

The second time I ever bet on football was a two way bet- Swansea to win and Forest to lose, 2020; I liked this bet because in theory I could win it and we still make the playoffs. That was actually on for a little bit of that disaster.

We all have so many memories like that from these years- would love to hear the ones that stick out for you

Here's a reminder of the permanent managers who have all had a crack at doing what Cooper finally achieved, in order, remind me if I miss any

Platt
Hart
Kinnear
Megson
Calderwood
Davies
McClaren
Cotterill
O'Driscoll
McLeish
Davies
Pearce
Freedman
Montanier
Warburton
Karanka
O'Neill
Lamouchi
Hughton

Cooper was the 20th man to sign a contract with us to get us back to the Premier League.

When you look at it, this is a right bunch of clowns in places but quite a few had promotions and big time experiences before.

Chances are, we'll be back in the football league again before long; but whatever happens, it is the end of an era and the start of a new one now.

Let's hear your memories from these years
 
Not at all!

I remember my first away match- at Oakwell, a 4-3 win in a thumping game. I think Chris Bart Williams scored two and I think Robbie Blake scored one too. He was on loan with us at the time and brilliant, but the club claimed we couldn't afford him- and then bought David Johnson for £3m, who had a nightmare 18 months before getting into form.

I also remember my last away game- 2013 I think, away at Huddersfield. Abdoun and Djebbour played, and I think it might have been the one where some fans declared it a "thank Fawaz day"- not something I was into at all. We won 3-0 and Paterson scored the third- I remember thinking he'd taken to many touches and blown it, only for him to blast it in
 
For some reason I always remember singing "Can we play you twice a week?" to Brentford, after beating them in the cup on a Wednesday and again in the league on the Saturday. There's loads, but it's some of the more humourous ones that stand out. A lot of the rest were too painful 😬
 
my comment was tongue-in-cheek duck cos they haven't exactly been the rosiest of years, have they?
 
I remember putting 6 past Stoke at the City Ground with Marlon scoring 4 before half time!
A great season under Paul Hart that was before the playoff heartache!!
It still hurts me that Doughty and Arthur didn’t invest in that squad and sign Huckerby in the summer. Build on that squad and you expect automatic promotion but not Marthur and cronies. Interestingly though after putting 6 past Stoke they eventually ended up in the premier league and we dropped down into Div 1! God how depressing those years were. I’m away from this Fred (pmsl) from here on in, way to depressing
 
JC21 said:
my comment was tongue-in-cheek duck cos they haven't exactly been the rosiest of years, have they?
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I don't know really JC- for some of us it's all we've ever known so I can't really say whether life in the top flight is better. My only experience of the Premiership is getting relegated from it and that wasn't fun.

I've had a season ticket for over 22 years now and been going week in week out for nearly 25. Personally, I've always found the championship a blast, so long as we don't have a really boring team that can't score (Hughton).

League one can fuck off though, and when it's fucked off, it can fuck off some more.

But the championship is awesome

I remember an away game at Birmingham under Platt, when they were in the playoffs every season.

We won 2-0 with one shot on target. They missed a penalty, hit the bar twice and the post three times. It was daylight robbery and we had coins thrown at us on the way out. I remember an ancient old bloke at the bus stop flipping our coach the bird

One of the best was winning at Pride Park for the first time ever. Earnshaw's goal....
 
John Rotten said:
I remember putting 6 past Stoke at the City Ground with Marlon scoring 4 before half time!
A great season under Paul Hart that was before the playoff heartache!!
It still hurts me that Doughty and Arthur didn’t invest in that squad and sign Huckerby in the summer. Build on that squad and you expect automatic promotion but not Marthur and cronies. Interestingly though after putting 6 past Stoke they eventually ended up in the premier league and we dropped down into Div 1! God how depressing those years were. I’m away from this Fred (pmsl) from here on in, way to depressing
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That game was our playoff season- it actually was a turning point for them. They had just come up and were looking at going straight back down. Their manager said after the season that it was that result that galvanised them into staying up.

Marlon did score 4 in the half.

I remember a few of the dickings we have dished out.

We beat Swindon 7-1 at home when even Wes scored. Literally every time we went forward it looked like we would score. That was L1.

Anyone remember beating Burnley 5-0 when they had first come up to old Division one as it was then?

Didn't we batter Huddersfield 6-0 once too?

And of course, 5-2 against Derby and 5-1 against Leicester (and 4-1 more recently).

Also remember getting murdered 6-0 at Ipswich when we were relegated
 
Pope John XXIII said:
Would love to hear some of our collective memories from these last 23 years

Just talking to a Coventry fan online earlier and it reminded me of our game there in 2001 when we drew at their place with 9 men and beat them at the CG with 10- both times it was the same referee (Phil Dowd). That away game at Highfield was immense, felt like we'd won a cup.

It was also the first time I ever had a bet on football- backing Stern John to score. He did, but Dowd disallowed it and then sent John off.

The second time I ever bet on football was a two way bet- Swansea to win and Forest to lose, 2020; I liked this bet because in theory I could win it and we still make the playoffs. That was actually on for a little bit of that disaster.

We all have so many memories like that from these years- would love to hear the ones that stick out for you

Here's a reminder of the permanent managers who have all had a crack at doing what Cooper finally achieved, in order, remind me if I miss any

Platt
Hart
Kinnear
Megson
Calderwood
Davies
McClaren
Cotterill
O'Driscoll
McLeish
Davies
Pearce
Freedman
Montanier
Warburton
Karanka
O'Neill
Lamouchi
Hughton

Cooper was the 20th man to sign a contract with us to get us back to the Premier League.

When you look at it, this is a right bunch of clowns in places but quite a few had promotions and big time experiences before.

Chances are, we'll be back in the football league again before long; but whatever happens, it is the end of an era and the start of a new one now.

Let's hear your memories from these years
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Incredible list of managers

I could be wrong but didn't Mick Harford, Gary Brazil and then a double act of Charlie McParland and (someone else I've forgot) have a go as well?

I realise they were caretaker managers. But had they done well they would have probably all got 3 year contracts with us!!

Did I imagine Harford and Brazil having the poison chalice?

It's all a blur!!!
 
I remember playing Gillingham at the end of the season when we were relegated to league one.

They were chanting ‘Going down, going down’ at us all game until we scored a late goal which relegated them and we started chanting ‘so are you, so are you…’.

About the only fun I had that season.
 
Pope John XXIII said:
That game was our playoff season- it actually was a turning point for them. They had just come up and were looking at going straight back down. Their manager said after the season that it was that result that galvanised them into staying up.

Marlon did score 4 in the half.

I remember a few of the dickings we have dished out.

We beat Swindon 7-1 at home when even Wes scored. Literally every time we went forward it looked like we would score. That was L1.

Anyone remember beating Burnley 5-0 when they had first come up to old Division one as it was then?

Didn't we batter Huddersfield 6-0 once too?

And of course, 5-2 against Derby and 5-1 against Leicester (and 4-1 more recently).

Also remember getting murdered 6-0 at Ipswich when we were relegated
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Dont forget that west brom game under billy, one of the few games to match coopers team. The leeds thrashing with o driscoll.

Not too many highlights to be fair although i came to appreciate the championship after the our stint in L1

Still think the mighty megson allowing fans to give the half time team talk is both a high and low light.
 
Thewolf/jimmygordon said:
Incredible list of managers

I could be wrong but didn't Mick Harford, Gary Brazil and then a double act of Charlie McParland and (someone else I've forgot) have a go as well?

I realise they were caretaker managers. But had they done well they would have probably all got 3 year contracts with us!!

Did I imagine Harford and Brazil having the poison chalice?

It's all a blur!!!
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Hartford had 6 games post Kinnear and won one of them- he was a disaster; it was his 6 games that left us 6 points adrift, after an absolute shocker at Ninian Park (another shocker I was there to "enjoy"
 
Thewolf/jimmygordon said:
Incredible list of managers

I could be wrong but didn't Mick Harford, Gary Brazil and then a double act of Charlie McParland and (someone else I've forgot) have a go as well?

I realise they were caretaker managers. But had they done well they would have probably all got 3 year contracts with us!!

Did I imagine Harford and Brazil having the poison chalice?

It's all a blur!!!
Click to expand...

Just checked Harford was caretaker manager between Kinnear and Megson. And Brazil (poor bastard) has been our caretaker manager 3 times!!
 
radfordinlondon said:
Dont forget that west brom game under billy, one of the few games to match coopers team. The leeds thrashing with o driscoll.

Not too many highlights to be fair although i came to appreciate the championship after the our stint in L1

Still think the mighty megson allowing fans to give the half time team talk is both a high and low light.
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That was away at Yeovil, I think we lost 3-0 and had Gareth Taylor sent off.

I was there for that one- alas, i was not invited to the dressing room and I don't think my team talk would have been motivational if I had
 
Basha73 said:
I remember playing Gillingham at the end of the season when we were relegated to league one.

They were chanting ‘Going down, going down’ at us all game until we scored a late goal which relegated them and we started chanting ‘so are you, so are you…’.

About the only fun I had that season.
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Grim wasn't it?

Marlon King scored a late equaliser and it was "your coming down with the forest" and that was as good as things got at the time.

And it meant we had three years of having to traipse to that shit hole again
 
radfordinlondon said:
Dont forget that west brom game under billy, one of the few games to match coopers team. The leeds thrashing with o driscoll.

Not too many highlights to be fair although i came to appreciate the championship after the our stint in L1

Still think the mighty megson allowing fans to give the half time team talk is both a high and low light.
Click to expand...
The 3-1 at the Hawthorns in the snow was incredible.

My best ever away game, alongside the 3-0 away at Man City the season before in the FA cup (and unless you count Sunday as an away game)
 
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