by gateman49 » 15 Oct 2014, 20:52
Me too, I was there as a spotty teenager.
I vividly remember news of the third round draw filtering into school one day in December 64 and the place went mad. I was already a committed fan as my maternal grandfather first took me to see the likes of Don Mills, Sammy Collins and Ronnie Shaw (I sat next to his daughter, Susan at primary school!) in the fifties. Grampa was a lifelong fan having played for Babbacombe (one of the two sides to amalgamate and form United) so I didn't really have much choice!
I recall getting to the ground mid morning so I was one of the first people in the queue outside the old 'greenhouse' gates at the Babbacombe end of Marnham Road. Of course, that meant waiting for hours but when I got in I sprinted to the railing exactly half way along the pop side and I got my place right at the front!
Then the crush began. There was a level area all along the front of the pop side a bit like the one there now but the difference from today was that anybody could stand anywhere. In normal matches the crowd might be two or three deep at the front, then there was a gap and then the terraces would house the rest. Of course, that gap was filled for the Spurs match so anybody on the level and at the back of this part of the pop side wouldn't have seen too much.
On a separate subject, in those days some fans used to bring in wooden orange boxes to stand on to improve their view and nobody batted an eyelid. A lot of the younger ones had wooden rattles (I think based on bird scarers). The club mascot, Norman? used to make batches of them and hand them out to us lads every now and then. Imagine someone coming to a match now with a wooden box and a wooden hand implement designed to be violently rotated either to the front or above the head. Security would have a field day.
Some older fans still wore trilby hats too so I had to be careful in choosing my vantage point until I reached six foot tall!
I'm afraid to admit that I was one of the invaders after the third goal but I didn't get far as I quickly realised that I might lose my place and climbed back over the fence. At the final whistle it was bedlam and I remember wandering around Cary Park afterwards talking to anybody and everybody.
Then came the replay and our headmaster had given stern warnings about not 'mitching' off (not his words!) to go to White Hart Lane so with that and my parents breathing down my neck at home, I had no chance of being there - ah well.
Yes, Stubbs was a legend although he couldn't match Sam Collins' goal scoring record so I'll leave that one there. I saw nearly all his home goals and many away ones too and the one that sticks out for me was a curler into the far top corner away at Luton (we still lost 3-2).
Me too, I was there as a spotty teenager.
I vividly remember news of the third round draw filtering into school one day in December 64 and the place went mad. I was already a committed fan as my maternal grandfather first took me to see the likes of Don Mills, Sammy Collins and Ronnie Shaw (I sat next to his daughter, Susan at primary school!) in the fifties. Grampa was a lifelong fan having played for Babbacombe (one of the two sides to amalgamate and form United) so I didn't really have much choice!
I recall getting to the ground mid morning so I was one of the first people in the queue outside the old 'greenhouse' gates at the Babbacombe end of Marnham Road. Of course, that meant waiting for hours but when I got in I sprinted to the railing exactly half way along the pop side and I got my place right at the front!
Then the crush began. There was a level area all along the front of the pop side a bit like the one there now but the difference from today was that anybody could stand anywhere. In normal matches the crowd might be two or three deep at the front, then there was a gap and then the terraces would house the rest. Of course, that gap was filled for the Spurs match so anybody on the level and at the back of this part of the pop side wouldn't have seen too much.
On a separate subject, in those days some fans used to bring in wooden orange boxes to stand on to improve their view and nobody batted an eyelid. A lot of the younger ones had wooden rattles (I think based on bird scarers). The club mascot, Norman? used to make batches of them and hand them out to us lads every now and then. Imagine someone coming to a match now with a wooden box and a wooden hand implement designed to be violently rotated either to the front or above the head. Security would have a field day.
Some older fans still wore trilby hats too so I had to be careful in choosing my vantage point until I reached six foot tall!
I'm afraid to admit that I was one of the invaders after the third goal but I didn't get far as I quickly realised that I might lose my place and climbed back over the fence. At the final whistle it was bedlam and I remember wandering around Cary Park afterwards talking to anybody and everybody.
Then came the replay and our headmaster had given stern warnings about not 'mitching' off (not his words!) to go to White Hart Lane so with that and my parents breathing down my neck at home, I had no chance of being there - ah well.
Yes, Stubbs was a legend although he couldn't match Sam Collins' goal scoring record so I'll leave that one there. I saw nearly all his home goals and many away ones too and the one that sticks out for me was a curler into the far top corner away at Luton (we still lost 3-2).
