The Saints matchday experience now compared to 1962

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I wrote an article on ex-Saints for the Norwich programme which included a mention of Otterbourne FC's Ian Ritchie (the person responsible for organising the appeal for Kevin Moore). He has just sent me this article which is a nice comparison between football today and 1962. it will probably only appeal to those of a certain age but what is interesting is how the price of football has risen far in excess of the cost of living. Have a look for yourself

 

"I started supporting Saints in 1961/62 when, at the age of 12, I moved to Southampton with my family. Oh the happy days of watching Derek Reeves, George O’Brien, Terry Paine & co from the ‘boys’ chocolate box at the Milton Road end.

Fast forward to the present day and after following Saints for over 50 years, I finally had a mention in the matchday programme for the recent home game against Norwich. That mention was purely a by line in an article by Saints’ historian Duncan Holley, but it nevertheless encouraged me to buy a programme, which I don’t normally do these days.

I have to say that the presentation and look of the current publication reminds me more of the handbook that you get given when you buy a new car, running as it does to 76 pages.

Just out of interest, I decided to have a look back at my programme collection from 50 years ago, when of course, buying a programme was part of the matchday ritual. In looking to get as close to the date of this season’s Norwich game (28th November) I found that Saints were at home to Norwich on Saturday December 1st. Incredibly, like 50 years later, the previous home game was against Newcastle. Amazing coincidences.

Comparisons with bygone years are sometimes a little unfair, but here are a few things that I found. The 76 page compared to the more modest 16 of the 62/63 version. However the present day version cost £3 compared to the sixpence (2 ½ p) of the 62/63. A quick check on inflation rates tells us that if the programme price had only matched inflation, the cost today would be 42p!

I paid £34 for my ticket the other night, in the Itchen stand wings. The equivalent West Stand wing seat back then would have set me back 6 shillings, which with inflation would have risen to £5.05 at today’s value. The Boys gate entry was one shilling, 5p.

Back then the threepence on the ball competition (that’s just over 1p in today’s terms) returned to the winner £25, which would equate to £420.75 today which suddenly looks a lot more attractive than the £75 paid out by the Saints Foundation to the holder of a £1 winning ticket. Oh and by the way, the second prize back then was the match ball. The Norwich programme from 62/63 shows the winner of the £25 as a Mr Hazelton of West Grimstead near Salisbury. I wonder if he is still around? The ball was won by a Mr Diaper of Valentine Road in Sholing. I wonder what happened to it and whether he is any relation to Dave Diaper, today’s Sholing FC manager!

Of the programme advertisers back then, most have gone. The brewers, Brickwoods, Watneys and Strongs have long since been acquired by others. Other old Southampton businesses now disappeared include Toomers, who used to supply Saints’ kit, Perrins Motors, Basticks Mens Shop in Above Bar, Hargroves & Babey, and Criterion, the old Citroen Garage then sited in St Mary’s Road.

Surviving to this day are Beestons Funeral Directors, R H Hammond the builders, The Florida Restaurant in Pound Tree Road, Barfoot & Powell and of course, The Echo!

One advert that took my eye was from the Aldershot District Provost Company seeking recruits to the Territorial Army, describing the ideal candidates as ‘young men of integrity and resource’ to fill the few remaining vacancies.

For me, one of the copouts in today’s programmes and not just Southampton, is the modern style of listing the entire playing squad for each team on the back page, with tick boxes so you can record who was playing for yourself. I suppose in these days of keeping line ups a secret until an hour before kickoff, we will never revert to that form of presentation.

With only 16 pages, there was of course nothing like the editorial coverage that one gets in today’s version. ‘Manager’s notes’ have stood the test of time, with Ted Bates and Nigel Adkins featuring in their respective issues. In the 1962 version there was also ‘From the Boardroom’ with comment from the then chairman, Mr John Barber. Many supporters today I am sure would love to know the views of the current chairman, but we’ll leave that one out there.

Whilst today’s publication provides an interesting magazine, to me it serves little purpose as a match programme, and to a large extent, up to the minute information supply has been overtaken by the internet. I will confess to checking my phone at 7pm on the night of the game to ascertain the starting line up. The other ritual we have lost now is the rush at the final whistle from The Dell back into town, to peer into the shop window of Radio Rentals to see the one and only running of the day’s results. Then it was a question of hanging about in Above Bar until around 5.30 when the Football Echo (to give it its proper name!) came out and you could see all the results and the league tables.

They were much more innocent times. Football Clubs were football clubs and not plcs. I was saddened to hear recently of the demise of the external programme sellers at St Mary’s for no (apparently) good reason and then to learn that the programme booth concession behind the Chapel goal was also given summary notice to quit.

Those at the top need to realise that football, particularly British football is part of our culture and history, otherwise why would I be moved to write an article such as this?

It was not my intention to end this nostalgic article with negative comments concerning the current regime. Much has been achieved since the injection of the Liebherr family cash, and like all Saints fans, I am grateful for that. I fully accept that in today’s tough world a football club has to be run as a business, but I sometimes wish for a bit more openness, and perhaps more ‘football club’ and less plc.

‘Southampton ‘til I die’ but not sure when I will next invest £3 in a matchday programme"!

[derry]

Doesn't that bring back memories. The worst freeze up in living memory. The FA Cup run beaten by Utd in SF, Loads of goals. One of us won the ball once when it was penny on the ball, great to be able to play with a ball that didn't hold the water. Couldn't people belt those old heavy balls!

[derry]

Doesn't that bring back memories. The worst freeze up in living memory. The FA Cup run beaten by Utd in SF, Loads of goals. One of us won the ball once when it was penny on the ball, great to be able to play with a ball that didn't hold the water. Couldn't people belt those old heavy balls!

[Weston Saint]

Was the author Ian Ritchie - Southampton YMCA's Goalkeeper in the early 70's?

[Weston Saint]

Was the author Ian Ritchie - Southampton YMCA's Goalkeeper in the early 70's?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Was the author Ian Ritchie - Southampton YMCA's Goalkeeper in the early 70's?

 

 

Yes Ron, he is now goalkeeping coach at Otterbourne FC who have just celebrated their 50th anniversary.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Was the author Ian Ritchie - Southampton YMCA's Goalkeeper in the early 70's?

 

 

Yes Ron, he is now goalkeeping coach at Otterbourne FC who have just celebrated their 50th anniversary.

[Pedro]

Todays matchday experience is poor and I'm sure the chairman would not tolerate queuing up for poor quality food and drink served by very inexperienced people who take ages to work the till and take your money. Have given up on this now but had to queue for a programme for a friend only to be told there were none left so whether they were 50p or £5 there wasn't one available and this was 10 minutes before kick off.

[Pedro]

Todays matchday experience is poor and I'm sure the chairman would not tolerate queuing up for poor quality food and drink served by very inexperienced people who take ages to work the till and take your money. Have given up on this now but had to queue for a programme for a friend only to be told there were none left so whether they were 50p or £5 there wasn't one available and this was 10 minutes before kick off.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

Todays matchday experience is poor and I'm sure the chairman would not tolerate queuing up for poor quality food and drink served by very inexperienced people who take ages to work the till and take your money. Have given up on this now but had to queue for a programme for a friend only to be told there were none left so whether they were 50p or £5 there wasn't one available and this was 10 minutes before kick off.

 

 

Totally agree Pedro, its not much better than when we were at the Dell where at least the expectation was lower

[Graffito]

Thanks for posting that, I enjoyed reading it. I didn't start attending until the very end of the 60's but I remember things being then pretty much as described in the article. I think the club could more to connect with it's fans, with the wider community and to the club's history and heritage but of course at the end of the day it's football that's changed and taken the club with it.

[OldNick]

i dont think the Florida restaurant is still going

[Badger]

That was a god read. I'm too 'young' to know the 1962 season, but notice the programme cost of 21/2p in 1962. When I started going to matches in 1969 it had risen to a whole 1/- (shilling).Bastards.

 

The matchday then was a far better and more exciting experience than the current conveyor belt of sanitised bland services on offer.

[Piran]

Thanks for that, Fitzhugh Fella, really enjoyed the read and the reminiscing. My first game was 1959, vs Swindon, so we obviously saw many of the same games and players. I found the prices interesting, as I have often wondered just how much it was to go. From the mid-60s to the end of the 70s, I hardly missed a home game, and travelled to many away games too, twice in a week sometimes, and I don't ever remember worrying about the cost. You couldn't afford to do it with the present prices. Well, I couldn't! Probably rose-tinted specs for looking back, but the games were always entertaining; plenty of goals from Reeves, O'Brien, Paine and co., and then the arrival of my all-time hero, Channon. Hard to believe that when he was first in the team, there were plenty on the terraces calling him 'a fairy', just because, at the age of 16 or 17, he'd been dumped on his backside by some hairy-arsed brute with as much talent in his whole body as Channon had in his little finger. And there were some violent bastards playing professional football then! Happy days!

[stanthemanfairoak]

Thanks for that, Fitzhugh Fella, really enjoyed the read and the reminiscing. My first game was 1959, vs Swindon, so we obviously saw many of the same games and players. I found the prices interesting, as I have often wondered just how much it was to go. From the mid-60s to the end of the 70s, I hardly missed a home game, and travelled to many away games too, twice in a week sometimes, and I don't ever remember worrying about the cost. You couldn't afford to do it with the present prices. Well, I couldn't! Probably rose-tinted specs for looking back, but the games were always entertaining; plenty of goals from Reeves, O'Brien, Paine and co., and then the arrival of my all-time hero, Channon. Hard to believe that when he was first in the team, there were plenty on the terraces calling him 'a fairy', just because, at the age of 16 or 17, he'd been dumped on his backside by some hairy-arsed brute with as much talent in his whole body as Channon had in his little finger. And there were some violent bastards playing professional football then! Happy days!

we had a few of r own , walker, hollywood, mcgarth,

[Hamilton Saint]

Thanks for that interesting article.

 

I remember getting into The Dell for 1/- back then. And the Hythe ferry cost 6d. I made the trip by myself (started going when I was about 11) - my father was not interested.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

That was a god read. I'm too 'young' to know the 1962 season, but notice the programme cost of 21/2p in 1962. When I started going to matches in 1969 it had risen to a whole 1/- (shilling).Bastards.

 

The matchday then was a far better and more exciting experience than the current conveyor belt of sanitised bland services on offer.

 

 

Can't argue with that

[70's Mike]

Great read, Great memories, Great Friends

Priveledged to be a Supporter of Southampton Football Club

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

I wrote an article on ex-Saints for the Norwich programme which included a mention of Otterbourne FC's Ian Ritchie (the person responsible for organising the appeal for Kevin Moore). He has just sent me this article which is a nice comparison between football today and 1962. it will probably only appeal to those of a certain age but what is interesting is how the price of football has risen far in excess of the cost of living. Have a look for yourself

 

"I started supporting Saints in 1961/62 when, at the age of 12, I moved to Southampton with my family. Oh the happy days of watching Derek Reeves, George O’Brien, Terry Paine & co from the ‘boys’ chocolate box at the Milton Road end.

Fast forward to the present day and after following Saints for over 50 years, I finally had a mention in the matchday programme for the recent home game against Norwich. That mention was purely a by line in an article by Saints’ historian Duncan Holley, but it nevertheless encouraged me to buy a programme, which I don’t normally do these days.

I have to say that the presentation and look of the current publication reminds me more of the handbook that you get given when you buy a new car, running as it does to 76 pages.

Just out of interest, I decided to have a look back at my programme collection from 50 years ago, when of course, buying a programme was part of the matchday ritual. In looking to get as close to the date of this season’s Norwich game (28th November) I found that Saints were at home to Norwich on Saturday December 1st. Incredibly, like 50 years later, the previous home game was against Newcastle. Amazing coincidences.

Comparisons with bygone years are sometimes a little unfair, but here are a few things that I found. The 76 page compared to the more modest 16 of the 62/63 version. However the present day version cost £3 compared to the sixpence (2 ½ p) of the 62/63. A quick check on inflation rates tells us that if the programme price had only matched inflation, the cost today would be 42p!

I paid £34 for my ticket the other night, in the Itchen stand wings. The equivalent West Stand wing seat back then would have set me back 6 shillings, which with inflation would have risen to £5.05 at today’s value. The Boys gate entry was one shilling, 5p.

Back then the threepence on the ball competition (that’s just over 1p in today’s terms) returned to the winner £25, which would equate to £420.75 today which suddenly looks a lot more attractive than the £75 paid out by the Saints Foundation to the holder of a £1 winning ticket. Oh and by the way, the second prize back then was the match ball. The Norwich programme from 62/63 shows the winner of the £25 as a Mr Hazelton of West Grimstead near Salisbury. I wonder if he is still around? The ball was won by a Mr Diaper of Valentine Road in Sholing. I wonder what happened to it and whether he is any relation to Dave Diaper, today’s Sholing FC manager!

Of the programme advertisers back then, most have gone. The brewers, Brickwoods, Watneys and Strongs have long since been acquired by others. Other old Southampton businesses now disappeared include Toomers, who used to supply Saints’ kit, Perrins Motors, Basticks Mens Shop in Above Bar, Hargroves & Babey, and Criterion, the old Citroen Garage then sited in St Mary’s Road.

Surviving to this day are Beestons Funeral Directors, R H Hammond the builders, The Florida Restaurant in Pound Tree Road, Barfoot & Powell and of course, The Echo!

One advert that took my eye was from the Aldershot District Provost Company seeking recruits to the Territorial Army, describing the ideal candidates as ‘young men of integrity and resource’ to fill the few remaining vacancies.

For me, one of the copouts in today’s programmes and not just Southampton, is the modern style of listing the entire playing squad for each team on the back page, with tick boxes so you can record who was playing for yourself. I suppose in these days of keeping line ups a secret until an hour before kickoff, we will never revert to that form of presentation.

With only 16 pages, there was of course nothing like the editorial coverage that one gets in today’s version. ‘Manager’s notes’ have stood the test of time, with Ted Bates and Nigel Adkins featuring in their respective issues. In the 1962 version there was also ‘From the Boardroom’ with comment from the then chairman, Mr John Barber. Many supporters today I am sure would love to know the views of the current chairman, but we’ll leave that one out there.

Whilst today’s publication provides an interesting magazine, to me it serves little purpose as a match programme, and to a large extent, up to the minute information supply has been overtaken by the internet. I will confess to checking my phone at 7pm on the night of the game to ascertain the starting line up. The other ritual we have lost now is the rush at the final whistle from The Dell back into town, to peer into the shop window of Radio Rentals to see the one and only running of the day’s results. Then it was a question of hanging about in Above Bar until around 5.30 when the Football Echo (to give it its proper name!) came out and you could see all the results and the league tables.

They were much more innocent times. Football Clubs were football clubs and not plcs. I was saddened to hear recently of the demise of the external programme sellers at St Mary’s for no (apparently) good reason and then to learn that the programme booth concession behind the Chapel goal was also given summary notice to quit.

Those at the top need to realise that football, particularly British football is part of our culture and history, otherwise why would I be moved to write an article such as this?

It was not my intention to end this nostalgic article with negative comments concerning the current regime. Much has been achieved since the injection of the Liebherr family cash, and like all Saints fans, I am grateful for that. I fully accept that in today’s tough world a football club has to be run as a business, but I sometimes wish for a bit more openness, and perhaps more ‘football club’ and less plc.

‘Southampton ‘til I die’ but not sure when I will next invest £3 in a matchday programme"!

 

I would reprocate many of your observations but would add that since I have been going to Saints in the late seventies a common theme has been that people have alwasy moaned about the price of the programme. I seem to recall that in the early eighties we did win awards for having the best programme but I may be wrong.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

In fact my memories of the match day experience in the early eighties was;

 

1 Snacks on sale with people with trays

2 The wagon wheel and cherry flavoured sweets

3 Wanting to be one of the people who collected the ball from the roof by the clock

4 The alphabet coded half time scores

5 The supporters shop was always closed

6 Jack (RIP)in his white coat doing the car park

7 The band at half time

8 The St Johns ambulancemen always wore football boots

9 People in the lower west stand with flasks and cushions

10 Every other person seemed to have a small portable radio

11 The stadium announcer always announcing car registration numbers for illegally parked cars

12 Pipe smoke in the West Stand

Edited 1 December, 2012 by Sergei Gotsmanov

[Matthew Le Tissier]

(the person responsible for organising the appeal for Kevin Moore)

 

Top man, however I must correct.

 

One of.

[KK the 2nd]

Not sure if this helps the inflation stats/argument but in the late sixties I had an Evening Echo paper round which I was paid the princely sum of 15/- a week for 6 evenings about an hour an evening. I used to go to the Dell for every home game and I recall the entry was 2/- for a junior. I had to leave early at 4.30 to get the bus back to be in time to do the Saturday round, hugely frustrating at times!

[timayes]

In fact my memories of the match day experience in the early eighties was;

 

1 Snacks on sale with people with trays

2 The wagon wheel and cherry flavoured sweets

3 Wanting to be one of the people who collected the ball from the roof by the clock

4 The alphabet coded half time scores

5 The supporters shop was always closed

6 Jack (RIP)in his white coat doing the car park

7 The band at half time

8 The St Johns ambulancemen always wore football boots

9 People in the lower west stand with flasks and cushions

10 Every other person seemed to have a small portable radio

11 The stadium announcer always announcing car registration numbers for illegally parked cars

12 Pipe smoke in the West Stand

 

13 The police dogs display team

[Graffito]

In fact my memories of the match day experience in the early eighties was;

 

1 Snacks on sale with people with trays

2 The wagon wheel and cherry flavoured sweets

3 Wanting to be one of the people who collected the ball from the roof by the clock

4 The alphabet coded half time scores

5 The supporters shop was always closed

6 Jack (RIP)in his white coat doing the car park

7 The band at half time

8 The St Johns ambulancemen always wore football boots

9 People in the lower west stand with flasks and cushions

10 Every other person seemed to have a small portable radio

11 The stadium announcer always announcing car registration numbers for illegally parked cars

12 Pipe smoke in the West Stand

 

The man who held up the sack for players to try and aim their kick about balls into before kick off.

[ecuk268]

The man who held up the sack for players to try and aim their kick about balls into before kick off.

 

The Albion Band and the big canvas pocket thing they carried round to throw your coins in.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

The man who held up the sack for players to try and aim their kick about balls into before kick off.

 

Brilliant.

 

I would add the physio's spongue and the chewing gum sold in tabs

[Badger]

The man who held up the sack for players to try and aim their kick about balls into before kick off.

 

Wasn't that just for Eric Martin ?

[Badger]

13 The police dogs display team

 

1970's. Norwich at home in particular, (1978) for the one where the Police Ofiicer went onto the pitch, and was informed by the announcer to leave the pitch as this was an organised display.

[Miltonroadboy]

Some fabulous memories here folks and thanks Fitzhugh for starting it off!

 

My earliest recollection though cost absolutely nothing! I was at Springhill School when midweek league games were played in the afternoon -we are talking mid fifties here!,

We would come out of school at 4 and the Dell gates would open just after - quarter way through the second half! Did fans actually leave games that early?!,

Saw some great goals in those final moments of these games - scored by Reeves, Livesey, Paine and O'brien among others.

All for free - great times!

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Did anyone ever watch the games from the block of flats overlooking the Archers?

[Badger]

Did anyone ever watch the games from the block of flats overlooking the Archers?

 

Thought these were Southampton Uni flats ?

[Badger]

we had a few of r own , walker, hollywood, mcgarth, ::

 

John McGrath.

 

Hero of mine & Legend.

[EastleighSoulBoy]

Anyone remember the short guy with a flat cap and thick lens glasses who walked around the perimeter "Fffffffffffffruppence on the ball" he used to shout.

[david in sweden]

started my own " fan-ship " about the same time....and going to watch with a group of school mates from Shirley Warren.

We used our midweek history lesson to "predict " score and scorers, but we were little better than Lawro is today.

 

I agree the £3 MDM is a rip-off, but I recently bought some back to Sweden for my (now) adult sons to read...who cut their teeth on Match of the Day (when shown in Sweden) in that period.

 

However, there is much more input from the players ...and articles on the Academy teams (which didn't exist at that time) and the (then) Reserves sides hardly ever got a mention as I recall.

 

..and then there was the Albion Band .......(which had very mixed reviews from the fans)... but was a regular part of the scene anyway.

[Window Cleaner]

the answer is in the title. In 1962 you went to the football, you did not have a "matchday experience".

Caught the bus, paid at the gate and watched the match with a cuppa at half time.

[Norm]

Some fabulous memories here folks and thanks Fitzhugh for starting it off!

 

My earliest recollection though cost absolutely nothing! I was at Springhill School when midweek league games were played in the afternoon -we are talking mid fifties here!,

We would come out of school at 4 and the Dell gates would open just after - quarter way through the second half! Did fans actually leave games that early?!,

Saw some great goals in those final moments of these games - scored by Reeves, Livesey, Paine and O'brien among others.

All for free - great times!

 

 

Started at Springhill in 1956.

 

Thanks FF for posting, an enjoyable trip down memory lane. Re winning the match ball, I did win it once but the bigger thrill was when I was trying to force open the corner of the big gate in Milton road to sneek in, the match ball came over the wall into the road. I was off down Burlington Road like a sprinter with the ball. (Is it too late to say sorry for not returning it?)

[RedAndWhite91]

Good read, thanks.

 

I grew up in the modern football era of "matchday experiences", SKY, and £3 programmes. Wish I could have experienced football in the 60s/70s, it all seems better, a bit more innocent. Less corrupted by money and greed. That's my take on it anyway, but perhaps I'm just looking at it through the rose tinted glasses of other people's nostalgia...

[Badger]

the answer is in the title. In 1962 you went to the football, you did not have a "matchday experience".Caught the bus, paid at the gate and watched the match with a cuppa at half time.

 

Indeed. We were "fans" who attended matches, rather than customers well into the 1980's.

[Halo Stickman]

When I was a young teenager, in the early 70s, my match day experience would often begin around 10.30am - sometimes even as early as 9am - when my mates and I would join the queue for the West Stand terraces at the Dell. The gates would open at 1pm except for the bigger games when they opened at 12 mid day. So, we would stand around in all weathers waiting for the match to begin for up to six hours! But, at least, this usually guaranteed us a spot down by the wall near to the dugout which, because we were all on the short side, was pretty essential in order to get a good view of the match. Once we were inside the ground there was usually ‘entertainment’ – I use this word very loosely - of one form or other emanating from the Milton and Archers and sometimes from other areas of the terraces.

 

As more and more people poured through the turnstiles and the crush of the crowd began to resemble sardines in a tin, the bloke on the tannoy would complacently announce ‘would the people in the West Stand move forward, there are still thousands waiting to come in’! There was no chance of getting to the food and drinks bar in the corner of the terraces – thank heavens for the guy selling wagon wheels around the pitch – and, woe betide, if you wanted a p i s s, or even worse, if the guy stood immediately behind you wanted one! On more than one occasion ended up with a shoe-full from someone not taking enough care whilst urinating through his rolled up newspaper on to the terraces.

 

When I used to take my young son to St Mary’s, his match day experience compared to mine at his age were simply worlds apart. To be fair, both these different worlds have their pros and cons. For instance, I definitely think the fact that the terraces were often more-or-less full hours before kick-off in the early 70s allowed time for a much better atmosphere to built up prior to kick-off. However, before I lapse into the common trap of mistaking history for nostalgia, perhaps it’s worth remembering that by the mid to late 80s many football fans had tired of the violence and being treated like cattle in and around the grounds; a fact reflected by falling attendances around many parts of the country during that period. It will be interesting to see whether fans will eventually tire of the more sanitised - albeit, more civilised -atmosphere of present times.

 

With regard to the poster who mentioned the cigar smoke, even to this day, I only need the slightest whiff of a particular brand of cigar smoke to transport me instantaneously back to those days under the West Stand .

[Horton Heath Saint]

Where have all the rosettes gone?!!

My Dad bought one on my first match against Wolves 1965 - we won 9 - 3!

Still have my yellow and blue rosette from 1976 FA Cup Final, programme and ticket stub.

Milton Road also let in away supporters with one line of police between the supporters in the sixties.

Everyone played in black and white!!!!

[TopGun]

Times move on. Simple. FF raises nostalgia. If it worked now it would remain. Possibly some parts could be revived. Overall the match day experience is now aimed at families etc and that has to be good.

[Lets B Avenue]

– thank heavens for the guy selling wagon wheels around the pitch – QUOTE]

 

The "legendary" Clive Foley.

[chocco boxo]

With regard to the poster who mentioned the cigar smoke, even to this day, I only need the slightest whiff of a particular brand of cigar smoke to transport me instantaneously back to those days under the West Stand .

 

So weird as only mentioned this the other day to the wife! Mixed with spilt beer...lovely, reminds me of the West Stand and happy times.

[Give it to Ron]

The man who held up the sack for players to try and aim their kick about balls into before kick off.

 

That was a guy named Barry who also used to do the kit at the Dell as well - I was in hospital with him in the early eighties.

[Sour Mash]

Times move on. Simple. FF raises nostalgia. If it worked now it would remain. Possibly some parts could be revived. Overall the match day experience is now aimed at families etc and that has to be good.

Why does that "have to be good"? Most of us started going as kids back then without too much of a problem and the need for a dancing dog.

[Frank's cousin]

Great nostalgia fest, but we should remmebre its not 'Saints' that have driven this change, but Football has changed as someone posted above - you change with it or you end up being an amateur league has been, and our nostalgia would all be about looking back at the 'glory days'. Sure its not for everyone, and there is a great deal about teh modern game and its clubs that leaves us hankering for days gone by, but there are positives as well should we chose to acknowledge them.

[Tom & Gerry]

In 1962 there was no segregation and very little trouble. Can't even begin to imagine that being possible today.

[chocco boxo]

Stewards in white coats who smoked on duty, beer in glasses (HT was only 10 mins then) Lady programme sellers with knitted hats and scarfs. Players driving cars that your Dads boss probably had. The footballs the team kicked in with looked like the one you used to play up the rec with. One sub and that was usually Hughie Fisher or Paul Gilchrist.

[Frank's cousin]

Stewards in white coats who smoked on duty, beer in glasses (HT was only 10 mins then) Lady programme sellers with knitted hats and scarfs. Players driving cars that your Dads boss probably had. The footballs the team kicked in with looked like the one you used to play up the rec with. One sub and that was usually Hughie Fisher or Paul Gilchrist.

 

Jumpers for Goal posts?

[FloridaMarlin]

I honestly can't remember my first Saints game, although my first memory is the 9-3 defeat of Wolves.

Then came the First Division and to ensure I got a spot where I could see me and the old man used to start queueing at 12.30 for 3pm kick-offs.

I only have to close my eyes and the memories return, some of them pretty random.

My abiding memories of winter games were cold feet. The concrete terraces were cold places, and my feet would be frozen numb. I could generally guage how cold by how far we got up Milton Road and turning on to Bedford Place before the pins and needles signalled the return of the flow of blood. Berkeley Road meant not too bad, Holt Road, meant quite cold, St Anne's School was perishing, while the old Pizza Pan restaurant was Captain Oates territory.

I remember not looking when Ron (or was it Terry Paine) took the penalty against Nottingham Forest which ensured our survival in that first top flight season.

I recall Bobby Stokes scoring on his debut against Burnley on an Easter Monday.

The only time me and the old man left a game early was when we got soaked to the bone at a game against Leicester. Saints were 4-1 down and we were halfway up Milton Road when we heard a roar and concluded that Saints had snatched another consolation, only to discover later we had missed Peter Shilton's goal (Campbell Forsyth blamed the hard painted lines of the 18-yard box for the bounce that took the ball over his head.

We always stood at the Milton Road end of the East Stand, where my old man could chew the fat with his fellow dockers.

I began at the front, right by the wall, but as I got older and taller, worked my way back to a cursh barrier.

When it came to getting out up those narrow stairways, my old man would boost me up so I could scramble my way on to the roof of the tea bar and over the low wall at the top of the stairs. I also have a clear memory of how crowded and packed the streets around The Dell were as the crowd poured away.

As I got older, I stopped going with the old man and when I started to play on Saturday afternoons he continued to go on his own. He rarely used to pay to get in as all the gate stewards were dockers who liked my dad (he was a foreman in the docks) and would open the gate to let him in.

When I was a kid he loved taking me to football, and I loved going with him. When he got older I was able to return the compliment and take him to games.

My dad died three years ago and I miss the old bugger every day. As Blokes, we don't really feel comfortable talking about our relationship with our fathers.

At the risk of sounding all Nick Hornby, it's only as you get older that you realise the special bond between father and son and how important a role football can have in sparking and nurturing that bond.