How It Was 1970's Style

[graham]

This was originally posted in the legends section on the old TR site, 
Trys managed to save it and posted it on the new board, 
I don’t give a stuff about their copyright rules I wrote it  so it’s mine.

I can’t say I’m proud of some of the things we did in those days, what you have to remember about the seventies was it was a time of rebellion and a time of change for Britain. 
We had strikes by miners and power workers, a three day working week, petrol was rationed for months, 
but we had our football, and the fans had begun to hate being treated like cattle and the rebellion spread. 
Yes there were all out pitched battles and people did get hurt, 
but you still went to see a game of football, 
standing on a sometimes cold windy terrace, 
sipping a boiling hot cup of real Bovril, 
singing and chanting week in week out and loving it.




HOW IT WAS 1970's STYLE
 
I wake up with a start, my alarm clock is rattling on the bedside table, 
I knock it on the floor and after several minutes stumble out of bed and struggle to the bathroom, the house is freezing cold,(No Central Heating in our council house) 
I clean my teeth and splash some lukewarm water on my face waking me up properly. 

Getting back to my room I start to find my clothes.
I find my Wrangler drainpipes, Ben Sherman original check shirt , Wrangler jacket and red braces (If you were well off you bought Levi denims). 

Dad was already up getting ready for work and a bit surprised to see me, where are you off to he says 
Birmingham I replied pouring myself a cup of tea, and finding some cereal in the cupboard 
I settled down to a bowl full of cornflakes and what could only be described as very cold milk, 
I knew the next five minutes would be like University Challenge and sure enough the questions came 
My answers were the same most weeks. 
How are you getting there? 

Train 

Who are you going with? 

Paul 

You’ve no money, so who’s paying? 

Paul 

You going to pay him back? 

Yes 
Will you please stay away from the trouble makers (He knew I didn’t) 

Yes 
I don’t want you being brought home by the Police do I? 

No 

I finished my food and found my DM’s (Doc Martins) they stood out from the rest of the families shoes, 
Ox blood red, 18 lace holes and they shone with a deep lustre that could only be achieved by literally hours of brushing and buffing, 
we all wore them, they were comfortable for standing on the terraces, they kept your feet warm, and they were easy to run in. 
My jeans were cut short to the top of the DM’s mainly to show off that I could afford 18 hole ones, 
some lads could only manage 10 hole DM’s, but you got more respect by wearing the 18 holers. 

I took a look outside there was frost on the ground, forgoing the Wrangler jacket 
I decided to wear my Crombie, most of us wore Navy blue ones but me being short they didn’t have one in my size so I had to settle for a black one,it had cost me a cool £65, a lot of money, almost three weeks wages so I treated it with real care, 
I had a joker badge on the breast pocket, most of us wore a type of badge which was a reflection on ourselves. 

We all met up at Pauls place, there was six of us in all, knowing British Rail it would be long cold journey,
if we were lucky the train would have a corridor and buffet car, but normally they herded us into compartment carriages, 
where you couldn’t even get to a loo on a three hour journey, 
but you just had to manage, they used to call us cattle, hooligans, scum and worse, because we relieved ourselves in the carriages, and rebelled at the way were treated, we wrecked carriages but we justified it by thinking well they are the ones treating us like cattle, we were paying top prices for sub standard (standards were low in those days anyway) and gave us no other choice it made us behave the way we did. 

This time it was better, we found ourselves in one of the newer type of carriage’s with a corridor and toilets, but no buffet. 
When we got to New Street there were already quite a few United fans milling around, as we got off the train we were greeted with a chorus of: 

UNITED! UNITED! 

We replied with WE ARE THE BUSBY BOYS!!!!! 

Gradually as more trains arrived our numbers began to swell, 
BR officials and the public started to look nervous, the police were called and arrived in numbers, 
our reputation had obviously preceded us, 
I think they were worried we would start something, then the specials started to arrive from Manchester, 
they literally poured off the train in their thousands no doubt Lawfan and Rawsthorn were among them somewhere, 
an army of fans all dressed in crombies and a mixture of denim.

A  lot of the older fans were dressed in working clothes 
and if you got talking to them they would tell you stories of the babes and United in the early sixties, 
I revelled in those tales, and could listen to them all day as we met them around the country. 

WE ARE THE PRIDE OF ALL EUROPE started up, 
the noise was deafening as it rang around the station which seemed to amplify the sound, 
people moved out of the way as we walked out of the station, staring at us. 

United had come to town, some looked terrified as we approached them, but we were in high spirits and just made our way around them, 
as we left the station the Police started to escort us, they were on horses and tried to keep us to pavements and walkways, but they were too few and found it hard to deal with what was an unorganised organisation on our part,
it was like sixth sense, you were a cog in a machine and knew exactly what to do, we gradually spread out walking on the road, holding up traffic singing and chanting , 
at the moment it was all good natured, 
even the police were having a joke with some of us, 
but that could soon change. 

I looked around me, we must have been 10 or fifteen across filling the whole width of the road, we seemed to walk for hours, and it was getting quite warm in the winter sun, some of the lads were just wearing jeans, shirts and braces, we knew them as the leaders, they would be the ones who would start the chants, they were really in control, and if there was trouble they would invariably be at the centre of it, it was us the foot soldiers who had to stop the rivals getting to them by any means fair or foul and mostly it would be foul.

Boos and hisses and chants of COME AND HAVE A GO started up, 
we must have been getting close to St Andrews, blue and white scarves had been spotted, 
we could hear them trying to out-sing us but we must have been more, in those days sometimes ten thousand united fans or more would merge from all parts of the country on an away day, you paid on the gate so we were herded once more like cattle to the turnstiles, my role was soon coming up I felt for the wedge in my pocket. 

You got the wedge said Paul pushing me in front of him 
Yep ready I said 
I crouched low as the bloke in front of me put his pound note on the turnstile, reaching down I waited, as the operator put his foot on the ratchet release I shoved a wooden wedge under it stopping it from engaging in the cog, 
GO!! I shouted, we poured in through that turnstile, by the time the operator realised what was happening and the police closed the outer gate about fifty or more of us were through, 

I was getting pats on the back all round**, people who knew me were saying well done Walt, others just said well done mate. 

We stood for well over four hours, singing and chanting, struggling to find your mates again if you went to the loo, which in those days consisted of a concrete wall with a bit of guttering held up by some wire draining into a hole in the ground, 
the scousers used to pee where they stood because toilets didn’t exist at Anfield, women just didn’t go, to football matches in those days or the loo if they did brave a match, 
I never once saw a female toilet behind the terraces. 

The food was by today’s standards better, real meat in the pies, and real sausages in the hotdogs, and the Bovril at some grounds was to die for, really thick and meaty not like today, you still got ripped off price wise but at least it wasn’t full of preservatives and other muck.

The game was a disaster United lost 4-1, Joe Jordan scoring our only goal, what with St Andrews being a dump and a long cold journey home to look forward to  it was no wonder we all got from there as quickly as we could.

We had been held back because the police were expecting trouble, when we were eventually allowed out the majority of the Birmingham fans had dispersed, we were escorted all the way back to the station, there wasn’t a lot of trouble, a few minor scuffles with fans who broke the ranks but that was it, no-one was in the mood. 

That was my Saturdays, so when you go to a ground today and sit in your little plastic bucket seat, and enjoy your unhindered? View, think of us who paved the way, and when you do sit there talk to the person next to you, find out who they are, where they are from, I knew more than a hundred of the army by name and they me by mine, can that be said of today’s prawn sandwich brigade, there’s more to supporting a team than buying a replica shirt, but hey that’s football today


EDIT

** Since posting this John (Lawfan) and I did some talking, and what with checking dates and games attended he is 100% sure that he was one of those who got in for free through that turnstile, he can even remembering patting a bloke about his age on the back!!! 

[/font][/size][shadow=red,left,300][/shadow]

[REdBloodED woMan]

Thank You Graham!!!!!! Really appreciate!!!

[td]

Well done mate. Copyright?? You're having a laugh surely?

[graham]

td said:

Well done mate. Copyright?? You're having a laugh surely?

Not according to their terms and conditions, once posted it's theirs according to them, but not according to my solicitor

[td]

LOL. That's ridiculous mate. Sock it to them ;D ;D

[Matthew(muziq)]

so you were a skinhead Graham?

[steven18maher]

excellent post

[graham]

muziq said:

so you were a skinhead Graham?

If you mean did I have short hair and wore Doc Martins then yes I was, but we didn't call ourselves that, we were members of an army, a fairly well organised army, we did all without mobile phones and the Internet, we were the Red Army, one of the most feared gangs of supporters in the country, But were those who had long hair and wore much the same gear and did the same things, but we got the blame for all of it, because we looked like we were trouble makers

[Matthew(muziq)]

Stories about trouble makers and vandalism regarding football always end up blaming skinheads(by this I mean shaved heads or short hair and not as a title) which was unfair and still is, I shave my head nearly every week and some people always think i'm some kind of racist or trouble maker, which is bull duty, but I accept it as I choose to shave it. can't imagine the amount of stick you guys got back then

[Jazz 16]

Great read Graham. Thanks for the insight and fair play with that wedge ;-)

[dc]

Graham Walters, the legend
Great story, 2nd time I've read it now but still as good as it was the first time, kinda makes me wish I was part of that generation just to feel the buzz and atmosphere. I can imagine it was a lot better than that of today

[anci]

excellent read, graham! really appreciate you posting it!

[graham]

dc said:

Graham Walters, the legend
Great story, 2nd time I've read it now but still as good as it was the first time, kinda makes me wish I was part of that generation just to feel the buzz and atmosphere. I can imagine it was a lot better than that of today

it's not a period I would like to see or take part in again, i was only on the real fringe, there were some quite horrific times back then, times when you didn't wear a scarf to certain places, times when you didn't speak if you were on your own, times when Manc wouldn't think twice about beating up another manc

[anci]

why did one manc want to beat up another manc? was there a rivalry between people supporting the same club?

[pornoheft]

graham said:

muziq said:

so you were a skinhead Graham?

If you mean did I have short hair and wore Doc Martins then yes I was, but we didn't call ourselves that, we were members of an army, a fairly well organised army, we did all without mobile phones and the Internet, we were the Red Army, one of the most feared gangs of supporters in the country, But were those who had long hair and wore much the same gear and did the same things, but we got the blame for all of it, because we looked like we were trouble makers

What were mobile phones and internet back then? Good post, Graham.

[graham]

anci said:

why did one manc want to beat up another manc? was there a rivalry between people supporting the same club?

No anci despite the fact we claim there is only one team in Manchester there are in fact two, many mis -guided united fans saw Denis's goal as the one that sent us down to Div 2,truth was we were already down unless we won something like 4-0 and all the other teams in the relegation battle lost

That was the only goal in his career that Denis didn't salute, after scoring he walked straight off the pitch, retired and never kicked a ball in anger again

[Siamak Khaledi]

nice behaviour by him

[BayernUnited]

Great read Graham!

[Siamak Khaledi]

I came straight to the second page so I didn't see the page 1 first. hadn't read it on TR either.

I've read it now. typical older member post: just BRILLIANT. thank you Graham.

[kingcantona]

i think this is the 5th time i've read this article if not more.......loved it at TR and am glad more and more ppl read abt it.........i too wish i was there at that time.........it must have been very exciting to be an utd fan.....altho i can see graham's point abt not wanting sth like that again..........the football sure was great tho'...