I remember that 3-3 draw with Chesterfield. 73/74 was the first season I started going to every home game with my dad. Before that season he took me to some games.
I've only missed 6 home games since 73/74, including at Selhurst & Upton Park.
I remember that 3-3 draw with Chesterfield. 73/74 was the first season I started going to every home game with my dad. Before that season he took me to some games.
I've only missed 6 home games since 73/74, including at Selhurst & Upton Park.
I can recall being amongst the 3,000 on those huge terraces that once held 60 thousand + .. CAFC has been through some bad bad times .. my advice to y'all .. enjoy the good times (oh yes they are) while you can .. mumble mumble moan moan .. ((:>)
I can recall being amongst the 3,000 on those huge terraces that once held 60 thousand + .. CAFC has been through some bad bad times .. my advice to y'all .. enjoy the good times (oh yes they are) while you can .. mumble mumble moan moan .. ((:>)
Interesting to focus on this dismal period today, when another thread recalls this being the anniversary of the dreaded 'Message to supporters' about moving to Selhurst.
I know there was talk of having to move in the mid 70s, well before Fryer & co., and this article sums up why. The club appeared to be dying a long slow death, and the decline appeared to be impossible to stem. As i've often said, we owe Andy Nelson our eternal thanks for at last stopping the rot and bringing some success. Even though it didn't last, it kept the wolf from the door for a few years, because a Div 3 team having to move is a helluva lot worse prospect than one on the verge of promotion to Div 1
Attendances generally were low then though weren't they? When you look at our team there are names there that are still "cherished" to this day. Powell, Peacock, Horsfield and others. That doesn't really stack up with 5000 odd through the gate.
Attendances were tumbling in the 70s but still had a way to go. We, however, were in serious trouble. We ranked 64th out of 92 for attendances in 73-74, our 2nd worst ranking ever, the worst being in 23-24 and the other ill-fated move, to Catford (so much for history being bunk..)
The best thing that happened back in those days (with crowds of 5-6,000) was when it pissed down with rain...made the atmospere in the Covered End much better (as loads on the East Terrace would come and join us).
The biggest crowd I've seen at the Valley was the first game I attended, 27,372 saw Wolves beat us 2-0 on March 24th 1956. Two weeks earlier there were over 40,000 to see Sam Bartram play his last ever game when we beat Arsenal 2-0. Not sure of the smallest crowd I've been amongst, but no matter how cold it was on the famous East Terrace the grass never seemed to stop growing, (and the karsi stinking to high heaven). And thanks to the late Colin Cameron for providing the precise details.
The biggest crowd I've seen at the Valley was the first game I attended, 27,372 saw Wolves beat us 2-0 on March 24th 1956. Two weeks earlier there were over 40,000 to see Sam Bartram play his last ever game when we beat Arsenal 2-0. Not sure of the smallest crowd I've been amongst, but no matter how cold it was on the famous East Terrace the grass never seemed to stop growing, (and the karsi stinking to high heaven). And thanks to the late Colin Cameron for providing the precise details.
Smallest I can recall was just under 4,000 can't remember who we were playing though or exactly when.
The season before we left we had a run of midweek/Friday games and just about topped 4000 for most of them. I missed one through having an exam one night against Sheffield United, and I think that was just over 3000. Grim days....
Thanks for sharing, absolutely love any pieces on the club from before my time. I seem to remember some of the players from that era commenting that the team was a lot better going forward than in defence.
Had a little look through the results archive and saw that we did win the two subsequent matches as the article predicted 2-1 away at Southport and 5-2 at home to Halifax.
Ah, just saw that he predicted draw at Southport and a win against Halifax.
I remember going to southport for that match , I won the lucky programme number in the half time draw what did I win, two tickets for their next home game ,I swapped programmes with the man next to me .
Thanks for sharing, absolutely love any pieces on the club from before my time. I seem to remember some of the players from that era commenting that the team was a lot better going forward than in defence.
Had a little look through the results archive and saw that we did win the two subsequent matches as the article predicted 2-1 away at Southport and 5-2 at home to Halifax.
Ah, just saw that he predicted draw at Southport and a win against Halifax.
I was still playing at weekends myself during that decade so could only get to weekday games and used to take a lot of stick from fellow team member, armchair supporters of the more fashionable clubs
Thanks for sharing, absolutely love any pieces on the club from before my time. I seem to remember some of the players from that era commenting that the team was a lot better going forward than in defence.
Had a little look through the results archive and saw that we did win the two subsequent matches as the article predicted 2-1 away at Southport and 5-2 at home to Halifax.
Ah, just saw that he predicted draw at Southport and a win against Halifax.
Hales scored a hat trick in that 5-2 win IIRC. Killer Killer.
Started watching in the 50's, so have seen large crowds and slowly getting smaller in the 70's and then increasing during Curbs time. I used to stand at the open end, and took my 2 sons there in the 70's, where it was nearly empty. I would love to say what a good time the 70's were, but they were not.
Friday night games were brilliant back then. Atmosphere was always better and as you say we used to win most. I can remember the Southampton game 6.2 and the crackers against Forest and West Brom which we won both 2.1. There were some uneventful games too, a 1.1 draw against Hereford springs to mind.
Attendances generally were low then though weren't they? When you look at our team there are names there that are still "cherished" to this day. Powell, Peacock, Horsfield and others. That doesn't really stack up with 5000 odd through the gate.
That's because 5,000 was the number recorded to reconcile with the cash entered into the accounts.
You could easily estimate the crowd by the size of the gaps on the less popular parts of the terraces, unlike now where seating is more random. The numbers you saw in the paper hardly changed from week to week but the gaps on the terraces could change quite dramatically for an attractive match.
We used to try and guess the gate and get excited when we had a good crowd only to see the same low shit attendance figure against us on Sunday morning. We knew for sure the figures were being fiddled.
Definitely, one of the worst examples of fiddling the crowds was the Tottenham game in 77-78. The official capacity of The Valley at that time was supposed to be 66,000. The crowd against Tottenham was given out as 30k. The ground was packed to the rafters and I would love to know where exactly they could have got another 36,000 in there that day.
Definitely, one of the worst examples of fiddling the crowds was the Tottenham game in 77-78. The official capacity of The Valley at that time was supposed to be 66,000. The crowd against Tottenham was given out as 30k. The ground was packed to the rafters and I would love to know where exactly they could have got another 36,000 in there that day.
Yes, I remember that one. Definitely something wrong with the counting that day!
Comments
I've only missed 6 home games since 73/74, including at Selhurst & Upton Park.
I know there was talk of having to move in the mid 70s, well before Fryer & co., and this article sums up why. The club appeared to be dying a long slow death, and the decline appeared to be impossible to stem. As i've often said, we owe Andy Nelson our eternal thanks for at last stopping the rot and bringing some success. Even though it didn't last, it kept the wolf from the door for a few years, because a Div 3 team having to move is a helluva lot worse prospect than one on the verge of promotion to Div 1
http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/chaa.htm
is the site, useful for reminding Millwall that they weren't as well-supported historically as they sometimes believe, bar the odd freak season
Two weeks earlier there were over 40,000 to see Sam Bartram play his last ever game when we beat Arsenal 2-0.
Not sure of the smallest crowd I've been amongst, but no matter how cold it was on the famous East Terrace the grass never seemed to stop growing, (and the karsi stinking to high heaven).
And thanks to the late Colin Cameron for providing the precise details.
Had a little look through the results archive and saw that we did win the two subsequent matches as the article predicted 2-1 away at Southport and 5-2 at home to Halifax.
Ah, just saw that he predicted draw at Southport and a win against Halifax.
You could easily estimate the crowd by the size of the gaps on the less popular parts of the terraces, unlike now where seating is more random. The numbers you saw in the paper hardly changed from week to week but the gaps on the terraces could change quite dramatically for an attractive match.
We used to try and guess the gate and get excited when we had a good crowd only to see the same low shit attendance figure against us on Sunday morning. We knew for sure the figures were being fiddled.