I reckon it is. The picture probably wasn't taken from pitch level but from the walkway which was a third of the way up. From memory there was a tea hut type thing roughly where the NEQ is now
[cite]Posted By: Valley McMoist[/cite]I reckon it is. The picture probably wasn't taken from pitch level but from the walkway which was a third of the way up. From memory there was a tea hut type thing roughly where the NEQ is now
There used to be a programme hut in the corner, next to the base of the floodlight pylon. I remember being able to buy away match programmes, as well as the match that day. That was 1968/69 or thereabouts, so there is a good chance that it was still there in the late 70's.
But I think the match was the Easter Monday of the previous season versus Chelsea. The Chelsea mob demolished that hut after that match and it was no longer there for the Spurs game in the October.
[cite]Posted By: Addickted[/cite]Deffo the East Terrace.
But I think the match was the Easter Monday of the previous season versus Chelsea. The Chelsea mob demolished that hut after that match and it was no longer there for the Spurs game in the October.
The Chelsea game was an evening match, I remember the fires around the ground glowing in the "dark".
The Spurs game was played in warm sunshine. Confident it's the Spurs game.
Doesn't look anywhere near crowded enough to be the East Terrace at the Spurs game to me. If you look at the Les Berry pic that featured on the front of the programme that season, the East Terrace was jammed.
[cite]Posted By: Airman Brown[/cite]Doesn't look anywhere near crowded enough to be the East Terrace at the Spurs game to me. If you look at the Les Berry pic that featured on the front of the programme that season, the East Terrace was jammed.
Certainly not as crowded as I remember it. On the other hand with people looking the other way, maybe it was before kick off?
I was on the East on that day near the half way line just below the gangway. It was certainly pretty crowded where I was.
There was a lot of fighting going on in that corner...you can see a few fellas running up the terrace as well...also the old bill look to be heading towards a ruck or disturbance...
I was on the East terrace that day. It was ths biggest 30k crowd I have ever been in.
Strange thing is that the east terrace had a capcity of round about 32k. With all the seats in the "grand stand" taken there must have been about 500 people at the ends.
Picture was probably taken when most of the spuds fans had left the building after the humiliation - I remember a lot of the supporters were very dubious about the attendance on that day. I'm quite sure you could add 10,000 to that official record. We were packed like sardines, in every standing area around the ground.
The old football attendance tax dodge. My old man always used to say that clubs were on the fiddle and not declaring the full attendance. I believe Millwall were done in the late fifties for having a turnstile or two that wasn't registering numbers as people went through and the directors were pocketing the dough. Then there was the extra bung to the turnstile operator to pass kids over the turnstile. My early games at the Valley when I was 6 and 7 were all over the turnstile arrangements. So dont believe any of the attendances for the big games in the 60s, 70s & early 80s. I remember a QPR league cup tie in the late 70's being so far out it was laughable.
There was a game against Arsenal in the 1930s where the unofficial attendance was more than 80,000.
Whilst the ground was technically smaller due to the shortening of the JS terrace, its capacity was still over 60,000 at the time of that game in 1977. It is hard to see where another 30,000 could have been accomodated. People were bigger then than in the 1930s, 40s and 50s but could/would that have made the difference?
Airman is the best person to comment because I think he talks about it in his book.
As for turnstyle fiddles well I am sure they went on. Any large cash generating operation was open to that. Whether it was the operator themselves or the club or both is unclear.
It wasn't so much fiddling by the turnstile operators for themselves but for the club as there was a very high entertainment tax to be paid (around 50%). This was abolished in 1950.
Plus, the receipts from league games were split between the clubs. It wasn't until the early 1980's that clubs were allowed to keep all the receipts from home matches. So the less you declared as the official attendance, the less money you gave the oppositon as their cut of the gate.
I got to the Spurs game about 15 minutes before KO, the only place you could squeeze onto the East terrace was behind the south east floodlight pylon. I was at the QPR and West Ham cup games which were both 32000 and the crowd at the Spurs game was way bigger.
Comments
But I think the match was the Easter Monday of the previous season versus Chelsea. The Chelsea mob demolished that hut after that match and it was no longer there for the Spurs game in the October.
The Chelsea game was an evening match, I remember the fires around the ground glowing in the "dark".
The Spurs game was played in warm sunshine. Confident it's the Spurs game.
Theres a few more pics of the same game I'll post later!
3 Years before my first game but I have read and seen what happened at this game! Not the for the faint hearted!!
No one wearing surgical masks there :-)
Certainly not as crowded as I remember it. On the other hand with people looking the other way, maybe it was before kick off?
I was on the East on that day near the half way line just below the gangway. It was certainly pretty crowded where I was.
Seems pretty crowded in the East in this pic.
Strange thing is that the east terrace had a capcity of round about 32k. With all the seats in the "grand stand" taken there must have been about 500 people at the ends.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/valley_old_gallery.shtml?3
There is a small patch of ground that could be where the tea hut was also?
I'm quite sure you could add 10,000 to that official record. We were packed like sardines, in every standing area around the ground.
Then there was the extra bung to the turnstile operator to pass kids over the turnstile. My early games at the Valley when I was 6 and 7 were all over the turnstile arrangements.
So dont believe any of the attendances for the big games in the 60s, 70s & early 80s. I remember a QPR league cup tie in the late 70's being so far out it was laughable.
Whilst the ground was technically smaller due to the shortening of the JS terrace, its capacity was still over 60,000 at the time of that game in 1977. It is hard to see where another 30,000 could have been accomodated. People were bigger then than in the 1930s, 40s and 50s but could/would that have made the difference?
Airman is the best person to comment because I think he talks about it in his book.
As for turnstyle fiddles well I am sure they went on. Any large cash generating operation was open to that. Whether it was the operator themselves or the club or both is unclear.