rooney2
Well-Known Member
Memories of my first ever visit to Old Trafford
My first game @ 12 yrs old was
Saturday 1 March 1975
League Division Two
Man Utd 4 - 0 Cardiff City
Attendance (43,601)
The team that day was
Alex Stepney
Alex Forsyth
Stewart Houston
Brian Greenhoff
Steve James
Martin Buchan
Willie Morgan
Sammy McIlroy
Stuart Pearson
Lou Macari
Gerry Daly
Sub Steve Coppell
Goal scorers
Macari
McIlroy
Houston
Pearson
I got the train from Altrincham to Warwick road with my big brother which we jibbed as he apparently did this every week by keeping a wad of old tickets he collected off the line to hand in, when we got to Warwick road there was too many of us for the ticket collector to deal with and they couldn’t be arsed checking & just let us through, this was something I carried on doing right through the 70's.The first thing I remember was all the United fans wearing red doc martins and wearing scarfs one on each wrist, denim jackets and jeans oh and red bobble hats without the bobble and the 70's style hair classy lol. First stop meat & potato pie 20p at the top of Warwick road, which I remember trying to eat while a strong smell of horse shit drifted around my nostrils, this was a familiar smell in those days as there was always police horses around the ground. As we got near the ground crossing the bridge fans were jumping up and down, I said to my bro whats going on, he said there looking to see if tv cameras are here as they used to park up outside where the away fans enter now and this was next to the old souvenier shop. In those days it was either BBC for MOTD or Granada(ITV) the Sunday Match with Gerald Sindstat the scouse & citeh lover, used to hate him with a passion. Any way we wernt on & I continued my walk to the ground just bursting with excitement, almost jogging now as I couldnt wait to get into the ground. We made our way around the back dodging more horse shit towards the Stretford End to be hit with large queues waiting to get in. I remember everyone was pushing and shoving & my bro sort of trying to make sure I didn’t get crushed, as more police horses tried to form seperate queues by backing into fans, hated those big bastards nobody got in there way. Finally we get in 30p junior what a bargin bro paid lol not even spent a pound and the programme was 5 or 10p I think ,with the magic token attached which my bro took off me straight away, just incase we got to wembley. Now I just couldnt contain the excitement and legged it up the middle stairs to see my first view of the pitch and stadium,which was just awesome. By now I was pumping adrenelin and as soon as we got to our spot halfway up to the left of the tunnel, I was singing my head off, as my brothers had already taught me every song going lol. As the clock was ticking nearer to kick off the ground was filling up nicely & I was getting pushed nearer the crash barriers so I jumped under and stood in front of them just incase. Then the aromas kicked in around me much worse than horse shit, stong smells of pies, chips, beer and the horrible bitter farts, honest unbelievable. I'm sure others of my age on here can relate to experiencing them ! all I can say is they were evil especially as you couldn’t move away in those days with all standing terraces and packed together like sardines. Finally 2.55pm the teams walk out from the old tunnel beneath SAF dugout to loud cheers and chants of United United, by now the hairs just stood up on my neck sort of half cheering and just looking in amazement and thinking I’m actually seeing my heroes in the flesh for the first time. The players just ran out straight to the Stretford End ,Alex Stepney throwing something in to the back of the net and a quick look up and acknowledgement to the United fans met with cheers & a quick Stepney chant, Stuart Pearson then began warming Alex up sidefooting shots at him. The song then went up oh Stuart Stuart I’d walk a million miles for one of your goals oh Stuart, with thousands of fists in the air singing it, that was my favourite song at the time, Pearson waves to the crowd and we move on to the next player.Then I hear behind me who the feck is that at sub Kopel (Coppell) that was how it was spelt in the programme & lol somebody behind me said he’s from Liverpool a fecking scouser, he better be good which was met with laughter, which at 12yrs old went right over my head. Bubbling now and standing on my tiptoes the game finally kicks off and to be honest I cant remember too much about it as I was just overawed mainly with the crowd and atmosphere just brilliant. Laugh now but the only goal I can remember was Sammy Mcllroy’s who ran from the half way line to slot it into the net at the Stretford end que everyone going mental and I ended up halfway down the terraces being hugged by other fans and looking back to where I was originally stood seeing my bro pissing his sides at me & me just grinning back at him. Also that day I was priviledge to see Stevie Kopel the scouser come on in the 2nd half for his debut and he played very well beating the fullback on many occasions instantly winning over all the fans. What a day totally hooked and couldn’t wait to go again.
My first ever blog and would like to know other fans memories of their first game and anyone else who enjoyed going in the 70’s.
My first game @ 12 yrs old was
Saturday 1 March 1975
League Division Two
Man Utd 4 - 0 Cardiff City
Attendance (43,601)
The team that day was
Alex Stepney
Alex Forsyth
Stewart Houston
Brian Greenhoff
Steve James
Martin Buchan
Willie Morgan
Sammy McIlroy
Stuart Pearson
Lou Macari
Gerry Daly
Sub Steve Coppell
Goal scorers
Macari
McIlroy
Houston
Pearson
I got the train from Altrincham to Warwick road with my big brother which we jibbed as he apparently did this every week by keeping a wad of old tickets he collected off the line to hand in, when we got to Warwick road there was too many of us for the ticket collector to deal with and they couldn’t be arsed checking & just let us through, this was something I carried on doing right through the 70's.The first thing I remember was all the United fans wearing red doc martins and wearing scarfs one on each wrist, denim jackets and jeans oh and red bobble hats without the bobble and the 70's style hair classy lol. First stop meat & potato pie 20p at the top of Warwick road, which I remember trying to eat while a strong smell of horse shit drifted around my nostrils, this was a familiar smell in those days as there was always police horses around the ground. As we got near the ground crossing the bridge fans were jumping up and down, I said to my bro whats going on, he said there looking to see if tv cameras are here as they used to park up outside where the away fans enter now and this was next to the old souvenier shop. In those days it was either BBC for MOTD or Granada(ITV) the Sunday Match with Gerald Sindstat the scouse & citeh lover, used to hate him with a passion. Any way we wernt on & I continued my walk to the ground just bursting with excitement, almost jogging now as I couldnt wait to get into the ground. We made our way around the back dodging more horse shit towards the Stretford End to be hit with large queues waiting to get in. I remember everyone was pushing and shoving & my bro sort of trying to make sure I didn’t get crushed, as more police horses tried to form seperate queues by backing into fans, hated those big bastards nobody got in there way. Finally we get in 30p junior what a bargin bro paid lol not even spent a pound and the programme was 5 or 10p I think ,with the magic token attached which my bro took off me straight away, just incase we got to wembley. Now I just couldnt contain the excitement and legged it up the middle stairs to see my first view of the pitch and stadium,which was just awesome. By now I was pumping adrenelin and as soon as we got to our spot halfway up to the left of the tunnel, I was singing my head off, as my brothers had already taught me every song going lol. As the clock was ticking nearer to kick off the ground was filling up nicely & I was getting pushed nearer the crash barriers so I jumped under and stood in front of them just incase. Then the aromas kicked in around me much worse than horse shit, stong smells of pies, chips, beer and the horrible bitter farts, honest unbelievable. I'm sure others of my age on here can relate to experiencing them ! all I can say is they were evil especially as you couldn’t move away in those days with all standing terraces and packed together like sardines. Finally 2.55pm the teams walk out from the old tunnel beneath SAF dugout to loud cheers and chants of United United, by now the hairs just stood up on my neck sort of half cheering and just looking in amazement and thinking I’m actually seeing my heroes in the flesh for the first time. The players just ran out straight to the Stretford End ,Alex Stepney throwing something in to the back of the net and a quick look up and acknowledgement to the United fans met with cheers & a quick Stepney chant, Stuart Pearson then began warming Alex up sidefooting shots at him. The song then went up oh Stuart Stuart I’d walk a million miles for one of your goals oh Stuart, with thousands of fists in the air singing it, that was my favourite song at the time, Pearson waves to the crowd and we move on to the next player.Then I hear behind me who the feck is that at sub Kopel (Coppell) that was how it was spelt in the programme & lol somebody behind me said he’s from Liverpool a fecking scouser, he better be good which was met with laughter, which at 12yrs old went right over my head. Bubbling now and standing on my tiptoes the game finally kicks off and to be honest I cant remember too much about it as I was just overawed mainly with the crowd and atmosphere just brilliant. Laugh now but the only goal I can remember was Sammy Mcllroy’s who ran from the half way line to slot it into the net at the Stretford end que everyone going mental and I ended up halfway down the terraces being hugged by other fans and looking back to where I was originally stood seeing my bro pissing his sides at me & me just grinning back at him. Also that day I was priviledge to see Stevie Kopel the scouser come on in the 2nd half for his debut and he played very well beating the fullback on many occasions instantly winning over all the fans. What a day totally hooked and couldn’t wait to go again.
My first ever blog and would like to know other fans memories of their first game and anyone else who enjoyed going in the 70’s.
Had loads of favourites in the 70s tbh Pancho Pearson, Gerry Daly the penalty master,Gordon Hill king of all cockneys and Joe snarling Jordan with his front teeth missing scaring the life out of defenders.