1982/3 season currently playing on ITV4. Unfortunately it starts in February so misses the New Years Day Shrewsbury v Chelsea match shown in the Midlands and probably LWT area as well. Interesting comparing it to the 1978/9 run. Crowds are clearly well down, and there are a lot more and taller fences in the grounds. Recently watched the FA Cup fifth round episode, back when that was a big deal. Villa v Watford. Only 34,000 at Villa Park and a poor looking travelling support (2-3,000) for a comparatively easy journey. European Cup holders Villa looked very good (especially Gary Shaw, Gordon Cowans and Tony Morley). Nigel Spink was a really good keeper as well. A very enjoyable game won 4-1 by Villa. Future Shrews players: Gary Shaw. Everton v Watford. Looked like a big crowd (40,000 plus*) only a week or so after Everton attracted their lowest division one gate (14,000 v Notts). Everton, a team on the up beat the holders 2-0. Future Shrews - I'm sure Alan Irvine played for the Town plus manager Kevin Ratcliffe. Middlesbrough v Arsenal. Feeble travelling support for the gunners, who were given the whole of the seated stand behind the goal which was empty. Brief highlights saw Boro equalise in the last minute. Arsenal in their green and blue kit. Anyway, it was all very entertaining, and although clearly in a very bad way football could also be a lot more fun back then than it is now (and the shorts looked a lot better). Anyone else watching this series. *just looked it up - 36494. Seemed a lot bigger.
Is interesting watching football back then and comparing it to todays games. Only one sub, goalkeepers not wearing gloves, no shirt advertising and players with socks around their ankles with no shin pads. Watched one a few months back from the late 70's and Wrexham were home to Sunderland. Sunderland needed a win to gain promotion to Division One which was the top tier. Bloody hell the Mackems brought thousands down for the match. They won BTW.
I saw that a few weeks back. Joey Jones (for all the hype he was) makes most of our defence look like footballing gods
I watch it whenever i see it's on for nostalgic reasons.Half the tackles you see on there would result in a red card today but back then they were legal challenges.The thing that made me smile was Brian Moore reading out viewers letters giving out their full address including house number,more innocent times back then i guess.And by the way Moore was my favourite commentator as i was growing up and if i remember correctly was a Gillingham fan.
Joey was a legend, the ultimate cult legend Joeys eaten Frogs Legs Made the Swiss Roll Now he's Munchen Gladbach Best banner ever.
Is great that the Liverpool fans still remember him as he was not there that long. 72 matches he played and that is a stat i had known well before Google was thought of.
That few? Thought he'd played a lot more to be honest. Cracking fella and what enthusiasm for the game he had. I don't, as it usually means you're turning us over, I remember Brighton being a bad jinx of a side for us.
Joey Jones still gets his name chanted ( Oh Joey, Joey..... Joey, Joey , Joey, Joey Joey Jones ) at home games and he does that clenching his fist thing. The fans still love him over 20 years after he finished playing. If my memory is fine then didn't Jimmy Case score against you in an FA Cup match. He played for us and whenever he got the ball no matter where on the pitch everyone would shout " SHOOT " as he had a hell of a kick on him.
One thing I notice, apart from the football itself, was just how much better they were at making highlights than they are now. You can watch those highlights, with the commentator setting the scene during the kickabout, and giving a summary at the end, and it was like watching a whole match that's been condensed almost seamlessly into 15-20 minutes. Highlights now just feel like a succession of scoring chances slapped together in a way that puts them just slightly ahead of a youtube compilation.
One thing I do like about todays coverage is that you can come into a match having missed a portion of it and see how long has gone and what the score is. Years ago you would have to wait for the commentator to say the score to have any idea who is winning.
The Norwich FA Cup quarter final was brilliant, the celebrations behind the North Stand goal when Jimmy Case scored were incredible. The atmosphere at the Manchester United Everton quarter final was like nothing you get today as well. One thing that is missing today, with sell-out crowds every week in the Prem, and a lack of interest in the FA Cup lower down, is the genuine sense of excitement you used to get on big match days. Ordinary league games could be quite low key back then (for instance, the other week Liverpool v Stoke at Anfield, barely 30,000 in attendance and empty seats and spaces in the Kop evident). But that made the games with big crowds much more special. One still gets this to an extent in the third and fourth divisions, but even there crowds fluctuate less than they used to, and bigger crowds are usually down to large away supports. The small crowd for a rearranged fixture on a Tuesday night in March was also a part of the supporting experience that I miss.
Also good for when you've recorded the whole match because you're out but then can't be bothered/find the time to watch the game so you watch it on fast forward until you get to the goals etc or when the captions come up for a red card etc!
Yeah I did that when Spain beat Tahiti 10-0. Not going to sit through 90 minutes of a one sided match so just got the times of the goals and went straight to them. Love it when the physio would come onto the pitch to tend an injury armed with nothing more than a bucket and sponge. Break your leg..... get the sponge on it, been winded with a ball hitting you in the bollocks...... get the sponge on it.
Just seen the West Ham United v Stoke City game and a brilliant own goal from 19 year old full-back Stephen Bould. Clearly an Arsenal centre-half in the making even then. Alas Lee Dixon had not joined the potters by that point.
