Outside the ground afterwards was bedlam. One fan was kicked into a coma. The Daily Mirror put his photo on the front page, unconscious and receiving treatment. Police tactlessly vowed to 'put the boot into the bovver boys'. I still have the press cutting but chose not to post it. Not a great memory for someone.
Outside the ground afterwards was bedlam. One fan was kicked into a coma. The Daily Mirror put his photo on the front page, unconscious and receiving treatment. Police tactlessly vowed to 'put the boot into the bovver boys'. I still have the press cutting but chose not to post it. Not a great memory for someone.
Thank god football (or society) has changed from those days. It’s strange that in general I think things are more dangerous today in terms of violence outside of football but clubs all around seem to have done a good job in making football a much safer experience
I worked with an ex pro who was at the match . He was so upset by the level of violence that night that he never went to another game. On a lighter note his claim to fame was that a long haired centre forward in the Arsenal double side ran rings round him in training and told him he'd never make a footballer. He was subsequently released and found his real level at our dear neighbours before scaling the heights of Erith & Belvedere.
I was there as a 10 year old youth with the bloke over the road and his dad. Being a child and an OAP we had to go to a different turnstile. It was absolute carnage outside the covered end . Police horses raring up the lot. I’d never seen a crowd so big or so menacing. I lost the old boy and couldn’t get in. They shut the turnstiles in the end, being a resourceful chap I walked to the lower road , into a petrol garage and asked to borrow their phone, rang home to tell my mum what had happened. Stayed with the nice lady there until I got picked up. A memorable evening indeed
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On a lighter note his claim to fame was that a long haired centre forward in the Arsenal double side ran rings round him in training and told him he'd never make a footballer. He was subsequently released and found his real level at our dear neighbours before scaling the heights of Erith & Belvedere.