Just seen on the OS that the club have backtracked on not offering discounts to west stand central seats and everything is as before. I wonder whether sales were not as good or there was a backlash from non-adults wanting to sit in the best seats (or bring non-adults to sit next to them in the best seats) but not pay the full amount. An opportunity missed, which is unlikely to return.

OI - re coffee, apparently it’s this [Link] although I would never have known that without googling it 😂

It is still my day.

Anyone interested in aviation Bigjet tv is on YouTube now with a couple of B1 bombers going up now

cw - re your 14.13.41 - I think you may be mistaken - in OIs day, terraces as such did not exist.

In OI’s day the terraces were so packed that you needed a rolled up Guardian to have a wee in as there was no way you could get to the loos

I have been taking the Guardian to football stadia around the country since the 1970s ;)

a4e whatever way you look at it, Millwall playing either Spurs or West Ham next season, twice, is a nightmare for the Met Police. As you say, Millwall always have ‘intent’. Surely still after all these years and decades, they remain the mob of all mobs.

Back in the 80s I was a woody womble.

The only time I’ve seen real violence at football first hand was seeing someone stabbed in the Hammersmith end when watching Fulham vs Millwall, probably 1973 or 1974 - away fans had come in through the home turnstiles with intent, it wasn’t pleasant…

Real working class affordable football back then not your Guardian reading Biscoff latte drinking snobs we have now days:-)

6m-just looked it up on YouTube. I too have PTSD from those days and never wear colours away and still amazed when our fans bowl into town openly sporting our colours

Thanks CW. I've never seen that before. How did you find it as it looks like some production Chelsea did themselves. Lots of happy memories of that day, although being locked in with no lights while the home support protested against John Hollins and everything else wasn't fun.

Woody Womble just won the 12.18 dog race at Central Park at 9/1.

6M$D - Rougvie, yes

It's certainly much safer (sanitised) to watch football now than in the the 70s & 80s.

[Link]

26 years ago yesterday WFC was relegated from the Premier League (a far more unpleasant day than the one 12 years earlier). It feels like only yesterday. That day was another nail in the WFC coffin. I remember queuing for 90 minutes at Wembley in 1988 in the boiling hot sun to get in because they only had a few turnstiles open and I only got in at 2.45 pm. Whether things were better or worse back in the 1970s and 1980s is a matter of opinion. My view is they were just different. Games were more value for money. Stadiums had more character but were far less comfortable to watch a game. Being squeezed into pens with half the view obscured was not fun. Standing on cold terraces with no cover was not fun in the rain. I remember that Chelsea game. It was in 1986 (WFCs first season in the first division) and Fairweather scored a great solo goal. The 22 man brawls were hilarious. Was that the game Doug Rougvie lost his mind and got sent off for headbutting Fashanu? No TV highlights of the game to check. Ambitions of owners and supporter expectations has resulted in spiralling player salaries and admission prices. That will never change.

I think it was going to some of the throwback grounds in the CCL/Ryman that made me think what football watching was *really* like back in the 80s and before, and it suddenly wasn't so rose tinted. Mind you, people love the "character" of Kenilworth Road.

The alley behind Oxford’s away end at the old ground was pretty dodgy too, especially when we won 3-0 on the last day and they home fans invaded the pitch trying to get to us, luckily there was a fence

Memories of the rat-run/tunnel behind Aldershot's stand

last two, but one

Jolly, even by WUP standards, those last two posts...

It was cheaper to get in relatively in the old days but the facilities were pretty basic. Memories of driving snow onto uncovered seats at Barnsley, also being held back for an hour after the game on a freezing afternoon at Chelsea when we won 4-0, the lights went out at 5.30pm so we had to leave the ground in darkness

Yes Carshalton and many are dead too,