I miss the Eighties...

[Superjack]

...when yes, we were on the verge of non-existence.

When yes, football wasn't 'safe' and sanitised.

When yes, we didn't have a shiny, sky high stadium.

But when the 'board'room windows were just above the car park, and we more inclined to make our voice heard.

[Robbored]

I don’t miss the 80’s at all. It was a depressing time slipping down the leagues with gates of 4-5k until TC and then JJ  stabilised the club,

AG was run down on three sides. Overpriced food, piss filled bogs.

Since the redevelopment AG is now a very decent Championship stadium.

All we need now is a decent team managed by a decent manager.

[Slacker]

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

I don’t miss the 80’s at all. It was a depressing time slipping down the leagues with gates of 4-5k until TC and then JJ  stabilised the club,

AG was run down on three sides. Overpriced food, piss filled bogs.

Since the redevelopment AG is now a very decent Championship stadium.

All we need now is a decent team managed by a decent manager.

I think we have a fairly decent team.

[Redstart]

I miss Riley, Neville and Walsh for sure. 

[Superjack]

2 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I don’t miss the 80’s at all. It was a depressing time slipping down the leagues with gates of 4-5k until TC and then JJ  stabilised the club,

AG was run down on three sides. Overpriced food, piss filled bogs.

Since the redevelopment AG is now a very decent Championship stadium.

All we need now is a decent team managed by a decent manager.

Yes, thanks. I was there. 

We had a decent team under a decent manager thirteen months ago. 

If that was sabotaged in the Eighties, the board would have to barricade themselves in.

[IAmNick]

You miss being younger.

[Robbored]

2 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

You miss being younger.

Don’t we all……..….

[Back of the Dolman]

22 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I don’t miss the 80’s at all. It was a depressing time slipping down the leagues with gates of 4-5k until TC and then JJ  stabilised the club,

AG was run down on three sides. Overpriced food, piss filled bogs.

Since the redevelopment AG is now a very decent Championship stadium.

All we need now is a decent team managed by a decent manager.

The food is still overpriced !

so at least that’s still the case from the 80’s

Edited Sunday at 21:26 by Back of the Dolman

[richwwtk]

56 minutes ago, Superjack said:

...when yes, we were on the verge of non-existence.

When yes, football wasn't 'safe' and sanitised.

When yes, we didn't have a shiny, sky high stadium.

But when the 'board'room windows were just above the car park, and we more inclined to make our voice heard.

City spent most of that decade in the bottom two divisions.

Football in general was dying on it's arse with plummeting attendances and severe underinvestment.

The government hated football and did what they could to make life difficult, along with the police.

Yes there was an 'edge' about going to matches, but that was due to hooliganism and I woud be quite happy to never see that rear it's head again.

A return to the old terraces might be fun, but we all know why that will never happen, and safe standing just isn't a substitute in my eyes.

You call it sanitised, yet all that has happened is things that would be completely unacceptable in any other walk of life have been removed from the game, be it violence, racism or whatever.

Yes, the board were more accessible (mainly due to there being less money), but I don't really ever remember them coming under much pressure from the fans, if anything they were supported more by the fans as there was an 'all in it together' atmospehere around the place following '82.

Throw in the fashions of the era, a Thatcher government and the bloody godawful music that made up the charts and it was a pretty terrible time, all things considered.

Edited Sunday at 21:33 by richwwtk

[TDarwall]

17 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

You miss being younger.

I'm not saying this is the case with this post/ the original poster,  but I see loads of stuff on Social Media about the 60s, 70s or 80s being better & I agree entirely that what people miss is the excitement of youth, the prospect of one's best days still ahead of them.

Anecdotally it seems men are worse with this than woman, but men may just be louder online.

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, TDarwall said:

I'm not saying this is the case with this post/ the original poster,  but I see loads of stuff on Social Media about the 60s, 70s or 80s being better & I agree entirely that what people miss is the excitement of youth, the prospect of one's best days still ahead of them.

Anecdotally it seems men are worse with this than woman, but men may just be louder online.

Nyyyyyeeeh, I remember when it was all fields!!!!!

[GrahamC]

1 minute ago, TDarwall said:

I'm not saying this is the case with this post/ the original poster,  but I see loads of stuff on Social Media about the 60s, 70s or 80s being better & I agree entirely that what people miss is the excitement of youth, the prospect of one's best days still ahead of them.

Anecdotally it seems men are worse with this than woman, but men may just be louder online.

Isn’t there also a lot of selective memory stuff, too?

It never seemed to rain when I was at primary school & I only remember playing a lot of football, not all the shit bits.

I watched City for virtually all of the 70s & definitely all of the 80s.

There was a lot of violence, sexism & overt racism, most of the grounds were crap & borderline dangerous to watch it in.

I did enjoy the football (it has totally changed now) but it was a very different experience, neither better or worse, just not the same one.

[TDarwall]

Just now, Davefevs said:

Nyyyyyeeeh, I remember when it was all fields!!!!!

The songs all had a melody & you could hear the lyrics.

[TDarwall]

Just now, GrahamC said:

Isn’t there also a lot of selective memory stuff, too?

It never seemed to rain when I was at primary school & I only remember playing a lot of football, not all the shit bits.

I watched City for virtually all of the 70s & definitely all of the 80s.

There was a lot of violence, sexism & overt racism, most of the grounds were crap & borderline dangerous to watch it in.

I did enjoy the football (it has totally changed now) but it was a very different experience, neither better or worse, just not the same one.

Yup it's the Bowie quote about nostalgia for a time that never really was 

[GrahamC]

Just now, TDarwall said:

Yup it's the Bowie quote about nostalgia for a time that never really was 

How do you think the Reform Party got all those votes?

As often, David nailed it in one.

[EX8 Red]

In the 80’s,I lived 8 miles from the ground having.been Bristol born and bred. By then,I had 2 kids,a wife that wasn’t working and money was bloody tight,leaving little over rarely to pay for football.

Today,I am a season ticket holder living 85 miles away. My current wife is too and I feel safe taking her.Facilities are much better than they were in the 80s.

My son,who had little choice in who he supported,comes occasionally and sometimes brings his son,who,like most 8 year olds,follows another City that play in sky blue.

Just a shame about the manning ball football we get today

[JAWS]

89/90 my most memorable in terms of football watched so I guess I do miss the eighties. Plus the music was great.

And I do agree fans were more vocal with the board as Super points out, the boardroom was literally at 1st floor level above the turnstiles. You could imagine them peering through net curtains when fans gathered in the car park to voice their displeasure.

I can remember joining in with a 'sack the board' chant but can't remember what it was about! 

Weirdly I also enjoyed the smell of cigarettes and cigars especially on night matches. Had more of an atmosphere.

It's all a bit vanilla nowadays 

[JAWS]

19 minutes ago, JAWS said:

89/90 my most memorable in terms of football watched so I guess I do miss the eighties. Plus the music was great.

And I do agree fans were more vocal with the board as Super points out, the boardroom was literally at 1st floor level above the turnstiles. You could imagine them peering through net curtains when fans gathered in the car park to voice their displeasure.

I can remember joining in with a 'sack the board' chant but can't remember what it was about! 

Weirdly I also enjoyed the smell of cigarettes and cigars especially on night matches. Had more of an atmosphere.

It's all a bit vanilla nowadays 

Actually, think they were vertical blinds not net curtains. My bad! And obviously smoke stained.

I also remember doing a ground tour & being disappointed by the 'trophy' room (cabinet).

Not much has changed in that regard!

[Oh Louie louie]

We may have been in the third division but something exciting happened almost every year under TC and ji, two very good housekeepers

[wheretheheartis]

I've watched back, when we played forest in the semi final of the cup in 89, wow what a difference between football then and now. Much more exciting, atmosphere was 10 times better. There were so many characters. Watching football now you can't even tackle, some of the tackles back then created the atmosphere. Much better back there imo.

[Robbored]

9 hours ago, Slacker said:

I think we have a fairly decent team.

City have some decent players but aren’t managed well. Even now after many months and many matches none of us can see what method/style Manning is trying to implement.

[Slacker]

2 hours ago, Robbored said:

City have some decent players but aren’t managed well. Even now after many months and many matches none of us can see what method/style Manning is trying to implement.

I wouldn’t argue with you there RR.

[supercidered]

12 hours ago, Robbored said:

I don’t miss the 80’s at all. It was a depressing time slipping down the leagues with gates of 4-5k until TC and then JJ  stabilised the club,

AG was run down on three sides. Overpriced food, piss filled bogs.

Since the redevelopment AG is now a very decent Championship stadium.

All we need now is a decent team managed by a decent manager.

Ahhhh yes.

The piss filled concrete trough at the side of the old East End. Happy Days indeed. If I close my eyes I can still smell it.

[MattWSM]

12 hours ago, Redstart said:

I miss Riley, Neville and Walsh for sure. 

mark gavin

[2015]

Football matches were at their peak in the 90s/00s where that was a healthy balance between matches having an edge and also a safer place for families to attend.

It has gone too far in the 'safe' direction now, and feels very sanitised and flat.

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, supercidered said:

Ahhhh yes.

The piss filled concrete trough at the side of the old East End. Happy Days indeed. If I close my eyes I can still smell it.

Back then we didn’t know any better and accepted it as a normal part of a matchday. I used to think that all lower stadiums were the same.

[BigTone]

3 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Back then we didn’t know any better and accepted it as a normal part of a matchday. I used to think that all lower stadiums were the same.

I recall that if you stood right down at the front of the terrace at Wembley it was akin to standing in a piss filled trough.

Edited Monday at 09:50 by BigTone

[Superjack]

12 hours ago, IAmNick said:

You miss being younger.

Can't argue with that.

[supercidered]

2 minutes ago, BigTone said:

I recall that if you stood right down at the front of the terrace at Wembley it was akin to standing in a piss filled trough.

Absolutely right.

Blokes used to stand on the terraces and piss against a newspaper rather than walk to the bogs. I hasten to add that I've never done it.

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

11 minutes ago, supercidered said:

Absolutely right.

Blokes used to stand on the terraces and piss against a newspaper rather than walk to the bogs. I hasten to add that I've never done it.

Me neither. Never bothered with the newspaper.

[Oh Louie louie]

Tim Sherwood was talking on the radio the other day, fans didn't care if we were training on the local park, and the ground was dilapidated as long as we were winning games, they were happy.

[BigTone]

17 minutes ago, supercidered said:

Absolutely right.

Blokes used to stand on the terraces and piss against a newspaper rather than walk to the bogs. I hasten to add that I've never done it.

Crossword gets too soggy

[cotswoldred2]

It was a traumatic decade ....three sons born, living in Swindon, City sinking to the depths of div 4, but the sheer excitement of just existing, and the fantastic teams we had that would run through walls. 

 

[archie andrews]

3 minutes ago, cotswoldred2 said:

It was a traumatic decade ....three sons born, living in Swindon, City sinking to the depths of div 4, but the sheer excitement of just existing, and the fantastic teams we had that would run through walls. 

 

2 divorces and labour through the thatcher years?.... 

[REDOXO]

I miss the punch ups. The abuse, crappy grounds and in particular trips to Eastville. 
 

Perhaps not so much!

[Harry]

15 hours ago, richwwtk said:

City spent most of that decade in the bottom two divisions.

Football in general was dying on it's arse with plummeting attendances and severe underinvestment.

The government hated football and did what they could to make life difficult, along with the police.

Yes there was an 'edge' about going to matches, but that was due to hooliganism and I woud be quite happy to never see that rear it's head again.

A return to the old terraces might be fun, but we all know why that will never happen, and safe standing just isn't a substitute in my eyes.

You call it sanitised, yet all that has happened is things that would be completely unacceptable in any other walk of life have been removed from the game, be it violence, racism or whatever.

Yes, the board were more accessible (mainly due to there being less money), but I don't really ever remember them coming under much pressure from the fans, if anything they were supported more by the fans as there was an 'all in it together' atmospehere around the place following '82.

Throw in the fashions of the era, a Thatcher government and the bloody godawful music that made up the charts and it was a pretty terrible time, all things considered.

All that, and yet it was STILL the game we fell in love with. 
Anyone aged between 45-55 will have most likely started following City in the 80’s. 
 

I have a feeling you are somewhere in that demographic, maybe? 
 

I’m not one for nostalgia, looking at either good or bad, but it can’t be denied that I started my support for City in the 80’s and the reason I fell in love with it was because all those things mentioned in your post were part of the experience. As well as many more 

Edited Monday at 12:35 by Harry

[SecretSam]

I don't. Keeping it purely on football, I don't miss appalling racism and sexism, really serious violence on a regular basis, awful facilities, being treated like cattle (home and away), fences, getting searched all the time, rotten pitches, shocking tackles, lumpen football, zero media coverage beyond Bristol. Oh, and players like Mickey Droy, whom I recall the Bountyhunter describing as:

Quote

"having the appearance and footballing ability of a fur-covered Land Rover"

Although I wouldn't mind 1980s admission prices.

[SecretSam]

2 hours ago, Robbored said:

Back then we didn’t know any better and accepted it as a normal part of a matchday. I used to think that all lower stadiums were the same.

Just because it was 'accepted', doesn't mean it was 'good. Racism was 'accepted'; sexism was 'accepted'; Glyn Riley's hair was 'accepted'...

[SecretSam]

15 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Nyyyyyeeeh, I remember when it was all fields!!!!!

Oi, @Davefevs, that's my line (see my sig)...oh, I changed it...

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

2 hours ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Tim Sherwood was talking on the radio the other day, fans didn't care if we were training on the local park, and the ground was dilapidated as long as we were winning games, they were happy.

The main criteria, I'd say. There were some right shacks in the 80s (I remember Halifax in '84), but I didn't think twice about it.

Edited Monday at 12:48 by Mike Hunt-Hertz

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

2 hours ago, BigTone said:

Crossword gets too soggy

Impossible to read Marjorie Proops' agony column.

[Harry]

9 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

I don't. Keeping it purely on football, I don't miss appalling racism and sexism, really serious violence on a regular basis, awful facilities, being treated like cattle (home and away), fences, getting searched all the time, rotten pitches, shocking tackles, lumpen football, zero media coverage beyond Bristol. Oh, and players like Mickey Droy, whom I recall the Bountyhunter describing as:

Although I wouldn't mind 1980s admission prices.

When was your first game? 

[glynriley]

25 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

Just because it was 'accepted', doesn't mean it was 'good. Racism was 'accepted'; sexism was 'accepted'; Glyn Riley's hair was 'accepted'...

Oi..cheeky ****

[richwwtk]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

All that, and yet it was STILL the game we fell in love with. 
Anyone aged between 45-55 will have most likely started following City in the 80’s. 
 

I have a feeling you are somewhere in that demographic, maybe? 
 

I’m not one for nostalgia, looking at either good or bad, but it can’t be denied that I started my support for City in the 80’s and the reason I fell in love with it was because all those things mentioned in your post were part of the experience. As well as many more 

Only one year older so not a bad guess!

I'm not sure it's the 'sanitisation' of football that has spoiled things. For me what has ruined football in later years (since 1992) is money and in the 20-30 years leading up to that hooliganism.

People fell in love with football before the sixties and didn't feel the need to belt ten lumps of shit out of each other so I don't think the old thugs can say, as they often try to do, that the exciting atmosphere that made football fun was because of them.

I think what made it really exciting, apart from the football, was the feel on the old terracing that you were part of a larger amorphous living and breathing being. The crowd would surge this way and that, you just went with it.

There were, of course, still people that preferred to sit and watch the match. You had the choice.

What hooliganism did was lead to those terraces being caged in and desperately controlled more and more by the authorities, until eventually Hillsbrough gave them the excuse to get rid of it completely. I do not blame hooliganism directly for that, but it certainly created the conditions that allowed it to happen.

At the same time people felt a 'part' of their club, they really were supporters and not customers. It gave everyone a feeling of community and everyone could identify with the players they watched on the pitch week in week out.

That is the football I fell in love with. The crumbling dangerous stadiums that stank of piss had nothing to do with it, though nostalgia does funny things to people.

Then in the 90s when the money started to flood in the clubs morphed into businesses, the players became multi millionaires. It became increasingly difficult to find that connection with any part of your club and that is where we have ended up today. The general experience can be replicated at a lot of leisure activities these days, and all we have left is the football itself which, thankfully, is better than the majority of fans will have ever witnessed at Ashton Gate (you have to be 60+ to remember the div one days now) and yes it is still the lot of football fans to moan incessantly about what they see on the pitch and I really don;t mind that. Moan when it's shit, cheer when it's great.

I can't help but feel that all the people moaning about the Lansdowns owning the club are actually just being nostalgic for what we used to have, and it wouldn;t really matter what owners we had. There is a price to pay for looking upwards rather than down, and the disconnect between club and fan is all part of it.

[CyderInACan]

1 hour ago, SecretSam said:

I don't. Keeping it purely on football, I don't miss appalling racism and sexism, really serious violence on a regular basis, awful facilities, being treated like cattle (home and away), fences, getting searched all the time, rotten pitches, shocking tackles, lumpen football, zero media coverage beyond Bristol. Oh, and players like Mickey Droy, whom I recall the Bountyhunter describing as:

Quote

"having the appearance and footballing ability of a fur-covered Land Rover"

Although I wouldn't mind 1980s admission prices.

Whatever happened to the Bountyhunter I wonder???

[Harry]

7 minutes ago, richwwtk said:

Only one year older so not a bad guess!

I'm not sure it's the 'sanitisation' of football that has spoiled things. For me what has ruined football in later years (since 1992) is money and in the 20-30 years leading up to that hooliganism.

People fell in love with football before the sixties and didn't feel the need to belt ten lumps of shit out of each other so I don't think the old thugs can say, as they often try to do, that the exciting atmosphere that made football fun was because of them.

I think what made it really exciting, apart from the football, was the feel on the old terracing that you were part of a larger amorphous living and breathing being. The crowd would surge this way and that, you just went with it.

There were, of course, still people that preferred to sit and watch the match. You had the choice.

What hooliganism did was lead to those terraces being caged in and desperately controlled more and more by the authorities, until eventually Hillsbrough gave them the excuse to get rid of it completely. I do not blame hooliganism directly for that, but it certainly created the conditions that allowed it to happen.

At the same time people felt a 'part' of their club, they really were supporters and not customers. It gave everyone a feeling of community and everyone could identify with the players they watched on the pitch week in week out.

That is the football I fell in love with. The crumbling dangerous stadiums that stank of piss had nothing to do with it, though nostalgia does funny things to people.

Then in the 90s when the money started to flood in the clubs morphed into businesses, the players became multi millionaires. It became increasingly difficult to find that connection with any part of your club and that is where we have ended up today. The general experience can be replicated at a lot of leisure activities these days, and all we have left is the football itself which, thankfully, is better than the majority of fans will have ever witnessed at Ashton Gate (you have to be 60+ to remember the div one days now) and yes it is still the lot of football fans to moan incessantly about what they see on the pitch and I really don;t mind that. Moan when it's shit, cheer when it's great.

I can't help but feel that all the people moaning about the Lansdowns owning the club are actually just being nostalgic for what we used to have, and it wouldn;t really matter what owners we had. There is a price to pay for looking upwards rather than down, and the disconnect between club and fan is all part of it.

1 - you mention the sanitisation in the 90’s. Not relevant to the 80’s. 
2 - you mention that people fell in love with football in the 60’s. Not relevant to the 80’s. 
3 - you mention hooliganism leading to caged terraces. Fences were put up in the 70’s. 

You mention that you enjoyed feeling part of a crowd, or feeling part of a club but that you didn’t appreciate the stinky piss walls. 
You fell in love with the game in the 80’s - caged terraces, stinky piss walls, muddy pitches, high tackles, moustaches aplenty, tight shorts, queues for awful food, smoking in the ground, shouty sweary old men surrounding you, celebrity status for players, corruption in boardrooms etc etc. 

 

The 80’s, with all the crap that surrounded it, were when you fell in love with the game. 

Personally speaking, if I was 10 years old now and attending my first match, I honestly don’t think I’d be as passionate about my football club as I was back in the 80’s. 
It may well have been shitty times, but they were shitty times that made me fall in love with my club. 

[supercidered]

One of my biggest memories of the 80's were the thugs in Police Uniforms.

The SPG were bloody terrifying screeching to a halt in their banged up old Ford Transits and piling out the back doors. 

I think we had Liverpool at home once and the SPG came out of nowhere and just battered anyone who happened to be in their way. My old man scooped me up and ran to safety. I was only about 7 years old at the time. We still talk about those times now.

[NSFF]

The football we older chaps all fell in love with has been cleaned up and resold to us by sky, it’s changed for the worse in my opinion the money the players kissing badges people filming on their phones total rubbish.

The meeting up at temple meads for an away day not knowing how many we had still sends a shiver down me spine.

Cashless soulless stadia your welcome to it but when you’ve all finished with it I will gladly have it back . 
 

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, supercidered said:

The SPG were bloody terrifying

 

[richwwtk]

34 minutes ago, Harry said:

1 - you mention the sanitisation in the 90’s. Not relevant to the 80’s. 
2 - you mention that people fell in love with football in the 60’s. Not relevant to the 80’s. 
3 - you mention hooliganism leading to caged terraces. Fences were put up in the 70’s. 

You mention that you enjoyed feeling part of a crowd, or feeling part of a club but that you didn’t appreciate the stinky piss walls. 
You fell in love with the game in the 80’s - caged terraces, stinky piss walls, muddy pitches, high tackles, moustaches aplenty, tight shorts, queues for awful food, smoking in the ground, shouty sweary old men surrounding you, celebrity status for players, corruption in boardrooms etc etc. 

 

The 80’s, with all the crap that surrounded it, were when you fell in love with the game. 

Personally speaking, if I was 10 years old now and attending my first match, I honestly don’t think I’d be as passionate about my football club as I was back in the 80’s. 
It may well have been shitty times, but they were shitty times that made me fall in love with my club. 

I agree with you almost entirely, but because I became a fan in the 80s it doesn't necessarily mean I have to love everything about the game then. I tried to explain what it was about it I loved then, and why it has now changed and we're not going to be going back.

I mentioned other eras to try and demonstrate that it wasn't necessarily just football in the 80s and some of the shittiness that went with it that made people fall in love with it in the first place.

The experience is entirely different now, some things better, some things worse. But I think you'll find that young kids can still fall in love with what it's all about when stripped down to the essentials, the football itself. Everything else is just window dresing really.

[temp]

70`s were by far the best, ended up playing in the top div, started going to AG in 67 a great time to have been with this club; great days at the footie; Galley, Garland, Gow, Gibson etc, from one Alan to another Alan "thank you for those Days".... as the song goes

Edited Monday at 15:00 by temp

[SecretSam]

2 hours ago, Harry said:

When was your first game? 

1979

[Bowlegchicken]

64

[Harry]

27 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

1979

In which case the same response to Rich above would be my response to you too. 
You fell in love with football during the period where there were fences, fights, fumes, bigotry, bad bogs etc. 

Whilst these things were not good, we can’t look back on that time and say “I didn’t like it”, because it was what you fell in love with. 

I honestly can’t imagine that people went to the football in the 70’s and 80’s purely because they wanted to study the football match and the football match only. 
The love for the game and the club will have been formed not only because of what was happening on the pitch for 90 minutes but would have been the whole experience - the good and the bad.

The football experience was all of it. Not just the players kicking the ball about. I think we’d be hypocrites if we look back and say “it was shit and I hated it but yet somehow I kept going, every game”. 

[Sleepy1968]

5 hours ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Tim Sherwood was talking on the radio the other day, fans didn't care if we were training on the local park, and the ground was dilapidated as long as we were winning games, they were happy.

I remember walking home from school in the early/mid 80's and some of the players were having a 5 a side in the carpark in front of the EE turnstiles/Enclosure corner.

Can you imagine that happening now?

 

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

I may miss the football and those wonderful first trips to Hartlepool, Halifax, York, Doncaster, Rochdale and Chester but I don't miss the UK music charts of the 80sthe absolute nadir of British pop music. 

[TV Tom]

24 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I may miss the football and those wonderful first trips to Hartlepool, Halifax, York, Doncaster, Rochdale and Chester but I don't miss the UK music charts of the 80sthe absolute nadir of British pop music. 

What was wrong with Matt Bianco? 

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

What was wrong with Matt Bianco? 

According to a caller into Saturday Superstore - they’re a bunch of…..

[archie andrews]

10 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

What was wrong with Matt Bianco? 

Give me half a minute an ill tell you... 

[SecretSam]

47 minutes ago, Harry said:

In which case the same response to Rich above would be my response to you too. 
You fell in love with football during the period where there were fences, fights, fumes, bigotry, bad bogs etc. 

Whilst these things were not good, we can’t look back on that time and say “I didn’t like it”, because it was what you fell in love with. 

I honestly can’t imagine that people went to the football in the 70’s and 80’s purely because they wanted to study the football match and the football match only. 
The love for the game and the club will have been formed not only because of what was happening on the pitch for 90 minutes but would have been the whole experience - the good and the bad.

The football experience was all of it. Not just the players kicking the ball about. I think we’d be hypocrites if we look back and say “it was shit and I hated it but yet somehow I kept going, every game”. 

I didn't say I hated it. It was all I knew.

I had a Ford Escort back in the day. It was a perfectly good car, for its time. Now, it's hopeless. I wouldn't go back.

I had a decent bike back in the '80s. Loved riding it. Now, it's hopeless. Shit brakes, stupid gears, terrible lights, rotten tyres. Would I trade in my carbon fibre bike? Would I ****. 

Same with football. I look back at being scared sh1tless when Millwall kicked off down at AG, or when I went to a night match at the old Den on my own (I was young and foolish). I recall crowd crushes; the racism and sexism (both always upset me); being searched and herded by plod. At the time, it was normal, I didn't like it, but it was part of the game. I put up with it. I don't look back on it, all misty-eyed.

The pitches were crap, the challenges often dangerous. I don't miss that. 

I loved City. I do now, I did then. I loved them before I watched them.

Then I started watching them. Liking something doesn't mean that I loved everything that came with it. 

Nostalgia? It's just selective memory, most of the time.

[SecretSam]

41 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I may miss the football and those wonderful first trips to Hartlepool, Halifax, York, Doncaster, Rochdale and Chester but I don't miss the UK music charts of the 80sthe absolute nadir of British pop music. 

I don't miss Chester (the only one of those I've been to). The town's nice, the ground...hmmm

As for 1980s music, the Stone Roses, The Pixies, The Chameleons, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order at their pomp, the British Indie scene...some wonderful stuff. 

There was some absolute shi-ite, for sure. But there always is. 

[Harry]

4 minutes ago, SecretSam said:

I didn't say I hated it. It was all I knew.

I had a Ford Escort back in the day. It was a perfectly good car, for its time. Now, it's hopeless. I wouldn't go back.

I had a decent bike back in the '80s. Loved riding it. Now, it's hopeless. Shit brakes, stupid gears, terrible lights, rotten tyres. Would I trade in my carbon fibre bike? Would I ****. 

Same with football. I look back at being scared sh1tless when Millwall kicked off down at AG, or when I went to a night match at the old Den on my own (I was young and foolish). I recall crowd crushes; the racism and sexism (both always upset me); being searched and herded by plod. At the time, it was normal, I didn't like it, but it was part of the game. I put up with it. I don't look back on it, all misty-eyed.

The pitches were crap, the challenges often dangerous. I don't miss that. 

I loved City. I do now, I did then. I loved them before I watched them.

Then I started watching them. Liking something doesn't mean that I loved everything that came with it. 

Nostalgia? It's just selective memory, most of the time.

A crap car and a heap of a bike are choices likely made on lifestyle / cost / necessity.

Following your football team would have been about more than that. And would be a choice  

All those things you mention are rotten, of course. But you put up with it. Appreciate you didn’t have to like everything that came with following football, but ALL of it was part of the whole experience. If people didn’t like it then they wouldn’t have kept going back. 

Edited Monday at 16:44 by Harry

[SecretSam]

10 minutes ago, Harry said:

A crap car and a heap of a bike are choices likely made on lifestyle / cost / necessity.

Following your football team would have been about more than that. And would be a choice  

All those things you mention are rotten, of course. But you put up with it. Appreciate you didn’t have to like everything that came with following football, but ALL of it was part of the whole experience. If people didn’t like it then they wouldn’t have kept going back. 

I didn't like the things that went with football but I went back despite that. Because that was all there was. And they weren't just part of football, they were part of life. Racism, sexism, police crap, being treated like dirt, that was pretty average back in the day. 

It was no different to cars, bikes, anything. That was what there was, it was all we knew. And people then banged on about how good stuff used to be.

I just can't get nostalgic for the 1980s. And the football now is better. It just is. It would be wonderful if we could re-create some of the likes of Gow in today's world, on decent pitches, with proper training, diet, medical care...who knows, in today's world, Paul Cheesley would possibly have made a full recovery and gone on to have a glittering career.

But he didn't, and that's shit. The past. It mostly sucks.

Edited Monday at 16:55 by SecretSam

[Maltshoveller]

Miss being in my teens/ early 20s

miss my MG BGT

miss the style of football

miss seeing the flood lights when walking to the ground

[Mendip Broadwalk]

80's were brilliant if you had money. Different world couple of quid got you half way across the country on the train to see City less with persil tickets. no tickets for the Boogie Squad!! no crap pre booking for anything just go. couple of quid for cans on the train pints in the pub and the sip back. Game in London enough change from a tenner for a night out back in the centre. 

Dont miss the actual football. That would be one weird sketch to watch now keepers belting the ball from end to end!!

Edited Monday at 17:13 by Mendip Broadwalk

[Yozzarian]

20 hours ago, richwwtk said:

City spent most of that decade in the bottom two divisions.

Football in general was dying on it's arse with plummeting attendances and severe underinvestment.

The government hated football and did what they could to make life difficult, along with the police.

Yes there was an 'edge' about going to matches, but that was due to hooliganism and I woud be quite happy to never see that rear it's head again.

A return to the old terraces might be fun, but we all know why that will never happen, and safe standing just isn't a substitute in my eyes.

You call it sanitised, yet all that has happened is things that would be completely unacceptable in any other walk of life have been removed from the game, be it violence, racism or whatever.

Yes, the board were more accessible (mainly due to there being less money), but I don't really ever remember them coming under much pressure from the fans, if anything they were supported more by the fans as there was an 'all in it together' atmospehere around the place following '82.

Throw in the fashions of the era, a Thatcher government and the bloody godawful music that made up the charts and it was a pretty terrible time, all things considered.

I agree with all of this accept the music. Music in the 80s was often incredible. New Wave, Synth Pop, the big 4 of Thrash at their peak. I could go on.

Edited Monday at 17:42 by Yozzarian

[Superjack]

The Eighties were absolutely the best decade for music. 

There was a lot of shite. Because there was a lot of everything.

[TV Tom]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

According to a caller into Saturday Superstore - they’re a bunch of…..

Haha, I can still see Mike Read’s face now, the caller wasn’t wrong though 

[Harry]

2 minutes ago, Superjack said:

The Eighties were absolutely the best decade for music. 

There was a lot of shite. Because there was a lot of everything.

Great decade for films too. 
They don’t make anything great any more. 80’s has more iconic films than any decade I’d wager 

[Mad Cyril]

Oh for the good old days when even the diseases were better.

 

Screw COVID, I raise you polio, consumption, tuberculosis, septicemia, and lice. Great days, COYR.