Fifty Years Ago Today- Something Amazing Happened! (1 Viewer)

Irish Sky Blue said:

Wonderful memories for me and especially sad when you see where we are today. PUSB.

Fifty years ago today "The Midlands match of the century" as Jimmy Hill called it , took place at Highfield Road. What a day and what a game! The official attendance was 51400 but no one knows how many were really there as some of the gates, closed half a hour before kick of, were broken down and thousands more got in for free! Fans were everywhere. on the roof of the West End terrace, on top of the tea bars, up the floodlight pylons and sitting all around the perimeter of the pitch. There must have been thousands of Wolves fans there but in those days there was no segregation. City fans and Wolves fans all watching the game together.
My dad got me up early that morning as he had to work a morning overtime shift at the GEC in Stoke and I wanted to get a free rosette which the Telegraph was giving away with the paper that day. I went with him on the No 11 bus from Binley Village and while he carried on to work, I got off at the newsagents at the Craven Arms on Binley Road to get the paper. The rosette was a garish affair, basically a sky blue piece of card! I thought it was great however.
As soon as my dad got in from work, off we went again on the bus, getting off at Gosford Green, across the park and into the West End on the Thackall Street side. We only just made it before they shut the gates.
Both teams were already promoted but the title was still up for grabs. City came back from a goal down at half time to win with 3 second half goals. After the first two, there were huge pitch invasions. The referee issued a warning that if there were any more, he would abandon the game. Legend has it that when City scored their third no one ran onto the pitch. However this is not quite true as from our vantage point on the West Terrace we could see one lad who did run onto the field. However, he quickly retreated when no one followed.
This is a day I will never forget. it was part of an era when it felt that our club was on the verge of greatness and that there really wasn't anything that we could not have achieved. If JH had stayed, who knows what we would have gone on to win. I think that instead of one FA Cup in 87 we would be looking back on a catalogue of triumphs.

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Irish Sky Blue said:

Fifty years ago today "The Midlands match of the century" as Jimmy Hill called it , took place at Highfield Road. What a day and what a game! The official attendance was 51400 but no one knows how many were really there as some of the gates, closed half a hour before kick of, were broken down and thousands more got in for free! Fans were everywhere. on the roof of the West End terrace, on top of the tea bars, up the floodlight pylons and sitting all around the perimeter of the pitch. There must have been thousands of Wolves fans there but in those days there was no segregation. City fans and Wolves fans all watching the game together.
My dad got me up early that morning as he had to work a morning overtime shift at the GEC in Stoke and I wanted to get a free rosette which the Telegraph was giving away with the paper that day. I went with him on the No 11 bus from Binley Village and while he carried on to work, I got off at the newsagents at the Craven Arms on Binley Road to get the paper. The rosette was a garish affair, basically a sky blue piece of card! I thought it was great however.
As soon as my dad got in from work, off we went again on the bus, getting off at Gosford Green, across the park and into the West End on the Thackall Street side. We only just made it before they shut the gates.
Both teams were already promoted but the title was still up for grabs. City came back from a goal down at half time to win with 3 second half goals. After the first two, there were huge pitch invasions. The referee issued a warning that if there were any more, he would abandon the game. Legend has it that when City scored their third no one ran onto the pitch. However this is not quite true as from our vantage point on the West Terrace we could see one lad who did run onto the field. However, he quickly retreated when no one followed.
This is a day I will never forget. it was part of an era when it felt that our club was on the verge of greatness and that there really wasn't anything that we could not have achieved. If JH had stayed, who knows what we would have gone on to win. I think that instead of one FA Cup in 87 we would be looking back on a catalogue of triumphs.

Click to expand...

Irish Sky Blue said:

Fifty years ago today "The Midlands match of the century" as Jimmy Hill called it , took place at Highfield Road. What a day and what a game! The official attendance was 51400 but no one knows how many were really there as some of the gates, closed half a hour before kick of, were broken down and thousands more got in for free! Fans were everywhere. on the roof of the West End terrace, on top of the tea bars, up the floodlight pylons and sitting all around the perimeter of the pitch. There must have been thousands of Wolves fans there but in those days there was no segregation. City fans and Wolves fans all watching the game together.
My dad got me up early that morning as he had to work a morning overtime shift at the GEC in Stoke and I wanted to get a free rosette which the Telegraph was giving away with the paper that day. I went with him on the No 11 bus from Binley Village and while he carried on to work, I got off at the newsagents at the Craven Arms on Binley Road to get the paper. The rosette was a garish affair, basically a sky blue piece of card! I thought it was great however.
As soon as my dad got in from work, off we went again on the bus, getting off at Gosford Green, across the park and into the West End on the Thackall Street side. We only just made it before they shut the gates.
Both teams were already promoted but the title was still up for grabs. City came back from a goal down at half time to win with 3 second half goals. After the first two, there were huge pitch invasions. The referee issued a warning that if there were any more, he would abandon the game. Legend has it that when City scored their third no one ran onto the pitch. However this is not quite true as from our vantage point on the West Terrace we could see one lad who did run onto the field. However, he quickly retreated when no one followed.
This is a day I will never forget. it was part of an era when it felt that our club was on the verge of greatness and that there really wasn't anything that we could not have achieved. If JH had stayed, who knows what we would have gone on to win. I think that instead of one FA Cup in 87 we would be looking back on a catalogue of triumphs.

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Voice_of_Reason said:

I was there! Fantastic!

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Irish Sky Blue said:

With JH anything was possible. It was also a time when any team in the top flight could win the league, Ipswich and Derby for example.

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Irish Sky Blue said:

Yeah, Leicester certainly popped out of nowhere. Exception that proves the rule I am afraid.

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olderskyblue said:

Was there with a few school mates. In the ground at least 90 minutes early, against the wall in the west end. Eventually got moved by coppers onto the grass, and watched the game from there.

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Broken Hearted Sky Blue said:

The west end didn't exsist then

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olderskyblue said:

Geographically, it was always the "west" end...

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Broken Hearted Sky Blue said:

It was the covered end and as a lad it had a reputation probably in my head but it scared me that's why I went in the kip till much later

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olderskyblue said:

It wasn't called the "kip" then....

I remember going up a couple of years after that match, and it being the west end... A skinhead from Cally was always there fighting the oppo fans...

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Broken Hearted Sky Blue said:

It was in our house we've all got lisps

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Skyblueweeman said:

I think you mean 'lithps'
Was it the same in your house?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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olderskyblue said:

It wasn't called the "kip" then....

I remember going up a couple of years after that match, and it being the west end... A skinhead from Cally was always there fighting the oppo fans...

Click to expand...

Irish Sky Blue said:

Fifty years ago today "The Midlands match of the century" as Jimmy Hill called it , took place at Highfield Road. What a day and what a game! The official attendance was 51400 but no one knows how many were really there as some of the gates, closed half a hour before kick of, were broken down and thousands more got in for free! Fans were everywhere. on the roof of the West End terrace, on top of the tea bars, up the floodlight pylons and sitting all around the perimeter of the pitch. There must have been thousands of Wolves fans there but in those days there was no segregation. City fans and Wolves fans all watching the game together.
My dad got me up early that morning as he had to work a morning overtime shift at the GEC in Stoke and I wanted to get a free rosette which the Telegraph was giving away with the paper that day. I went with him on the No 11 bus from Binley Village and while he carried on to work, I got off at the newsagents at the Craven Arms on Binley Road to get the paper. The rosette was a garish affair, basically a sky blue piece of card! I thought it was great however.
As soon as my dad got in from work, off we went again on the bus, getting off at Gosford Green, across the park and into the West End on the Thackall Street side. We only just made it before they shut the gates.
Both teams were already promoted but the title was still up for grabs. City came back from a goal down at half time to win with 3 second half goals. After the first two, there were huge pitch invasions. The referee issued a warning that if there were any more, he would abandon the game. Legend has it that when City scored their third no one ran onto the pitch. However this is not quite true as from our vantage point on the West Terrace we could see one lad who did run onto the field. However, he quickly retreated when no one followed.
This is a day I will never forget. it was part of an era when it felt that our club was on the verge of greatness and that there really wasn't anything that we could not have achieved. If JH had stayed, who knows what we would have gone on to win. I think that instead of one FA Cup in 87 we would be looking back on a catalogue of triumphs.

Click to expand...