What do you miss the most | Vital Football

What do you miss the most

BobHatton

BobHatton

Vital Champions League
About watching football in days gone by?
I was watching some classic 70's and 80's matches on YouTube and suddenly realised what I miss about football today. Yes, there seemed to be more passion and excitement; men were hard and referees too, but the one thing which brought it home to me that I miss?

PLAYERS WEARING 1 - 11 NUMBERED SHIRTS!

Never mind all this squad number crap, players favourite numbers etc etc.

1-11 is the way to go! At least I could then instantly tell which position they were meant to be playing in and, more importantly, if they were playing OUT of position.

I miss that........
 
I miss the sportsmanship non of this learning how to fall down how to earn a penalty....Matthews never got carded today they collect them like cigarette cards....No or very few Prima Donnas then......
 
Standing on a packed Kop watching toilet rolls unfurl over the opposition keeper.Knowing that the mighty would be in tangerine barring a colour clash when they would be in white with tangerine shorts for away games.
 
My first match at BR that I went to, aged 11, without any relatives, but with my friends from Baines. For the first time, i climbed up the steps and in at the back of the packed old Kop. I had always been in the West before with my relatives. We had just been promoted back to to the top flight and the adrenaline rush of being there with so many people singing and chanting was tremendous. We sometimes sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' with scarves held above our heads. And there was always the slight feel of excitment when a scrap broke out, usually in the top left corner of the Kop. It never quite felt the same after they split the Kop and I subsequently moved to the Scratching Sheds. A different experience there with the smell of the pipe smoke, the smell of Bovril from the kiosk at the end and you could also hear many of the jokes and banter.
In those days the gatemen in the East allowed young children to be lifted over the turnstiles and in for nothing and you also had the football special buses running from Fleetwood through Thornton (where we lived).
Of course I would want to forget the archaic and pretty disgusting toilets
 
Transit vans, back roads into towns, double deckers, Beaties away days, standing at games.

Walking back down Central Drive to the bus station escorting the away fans to the train station. Standing in the East or Scratchers and moving to the end we attack at half time

The young Scottish lad who sold programmes and took all the abuse.

Smoking and being young
 
premier 1 said:
I miss the sportsmanship non of this learning how to fall down how to earn a penalty....Matthews never got carded today they collect them like cigarette cards....No or very few Prima Donnas then......
Click to expand...

Nah, don't agree prem. Think it's always been there, but the video quality/replays/scrutiny is so much more now that every time it happens its everywhere.

Same for the "prima donna" element, social media and the like has again just made all of that more visible.
 
inside_man said:
Nah, don't agree prem. Think it's always been there, but the video quality/replays/scrutiny is so much more now that every time it happens its everywhere.

Same for the "prima donna" element, social media and the like has again just made all of that more visible.
Click to expand...
You are probably a youngish man but in the 50/60s when players used to collect sensible wages etc it was a more hard but sporting game....I knew Bill Perry well no airs or graces a genuine person like all Pool players.
 
You are on to something about wages Prem. Players deserve a better share but the game is all about money now
 
Last edited:
My first time at Bloomers was against Manure back in the late 1950's and as a seven year old, I was filled with anticipation and excitement. My Pop took me into the Kop and my excitement ended there and then. I wasn't going to see a thing-- being knee high to a grass-hopper. Talk about a crammed in crowd-- Pop led the way, slowly creating a path for me behind him and eventually we made it to a transfer gate that joined the East Stand and we slipped through the turnstile into a better world. It's a miracle, I could see a little bit better but then I was lifted up over the wall and placed on the grass that surrounded the pitch. I could see everything--no need to get up on tippy toe now. Five feet from the side line and only a few yards from the half way line and me and my unknown buddies had the best view in the world. :clown:
 
Last edited:
aussie1 said:
My first time at Bloomers was against Manure back in the late 1950's and as a seven year old, I was filled with anticipation and excitement. My Pop took me into the Kop and my excitement ended there and then. I wasn't going to see a thing-- being knee high to a grass-hopper. Talk about a crammed in crowd-- Pop led the way, slowly creating a path for me behind him and eventually we made it to a transfer gate that joined the East Stand and we slipped through the turnstile into a better world. It's a miracle, I could see a little bit better but then I was lifted up over the wall and placed on the grass that surrounded the pitch. I could see everything--no need to get up on tippy toe now. Five feet from the side line and only a few yards from the half way line and me and my unknown buddies had the best view in the world. :clown:
Click to expand...
The good old days are you a Fylde lad you appear to be the same age as my younger sister she was born in 63.....
 
Used to be a great thrill sitting on the wall around the ground so near to the action. There used to be a small concrete area at the bottom to one side of the kop that they used to call the Police box, I never saw a copper sitting in it but it added to the fun.
The Kopite chanting "Gab-gab-gabble"
 
Do people remember the big removals van that used to take Pool fans to some away matches in the 1970s? I remember it arriving at both Burnley and Huddersfield and the back was lowered like a ramp on a landing craft, allowing hordes of Pool fans out. The look on the face of the locals and the police was priceless. No seat belts or health and safety in those days!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.