Who remembers League Division 4?

[ozzie]

Some big games today in the past,two in the fourth and one putting us back there..29.april
1972...Gillingham v SUFC...last away game of our promotion season.
White coats and all,went with Leigh Comm i think 3 coaches??,left the Elms.poor game,0-0 i think?
1976...the game that put us back into the fourth..Sheffied Wed V SUFC
Was there with my father,who was a season ticket holder(SWFC),i think there was over 30,000 at the game,winner stays up,we lost 2-1?
1978...Newport Co v SUFC,last away game of the season,we went up(promotion) the friday before(21.4).Kevin K and myself ran a coach to the game,lots of Blues fans went.The Nelson(i think) took a coach as well,came back half empty!!
All memorable game supporting the mighty Blues,next season back in the fourth,there will be plenty more

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Some big games today in the past,two in the fourth and one putting us back there..29.april
1972...Gillingham v SUFC...last away game of our promotion season.
White coats and all,went with Leigh Comm i think 3 coaches??,left the Elms.

Afternoon Ozzie,
Hope your all well & safe in Germany?. It was 4 coaches from Leigh Comm to Gillingham, & it rained for most of the day!.

 

[Stuart W]

Some big games today in the past,two in the fourth and one putting us back there..29.april
1972...Gillingham v SUFC...last away game of our promotion season.
White coats and all,went with Leigh Comm i think 3 coaches??,left the Elms.poor game,0-0 i think?
1976...the game that put us back into the fourth..Sheffied Wed V SUFC
Was there with my father,who was a season ticket holder(SWFC),i think there was over 30,000 at the game,winner stays up,we lost 2-1?
1978...Newport Co v SUFC,last away game of the season,we went up(promotion) the friday before(21.4).Kevin K and myself ran a coach to the game,lots of Blues fans went.The Nelson(i think) took a coach as well,came back half empty!!
All memorable game supporting the mighty Blues,next season back in the fourth,there will be plenty more

What memories. Like you I was at all three of those Ozzie, but the one that will always resonate with me was 1976 at Hillsborough.
I was studying at Bradford University at the time and had the first of my "finals" examinations the following morning.
I went by train which was straightforward enough, but by the time I got back to Sheffield Midland station after the game, I could only get a slow train to Leeds (via Barnsley), and missed the final connecting train to Bradford.
I recall shelling out a considerable sum to get a cab back to my hall of residence, which seemed to take in all of the "delights" of West Yorkshire. Suffice to say my e.t.a. was around 1.15am, and my exam commenced less than 8 hours later.
Amazingly I had more success than the Blues did, securing a 2.1 degree which I was chuffed with.

One other point about that night; I would reckon it had the lowest ratio of Southend fans in all the away games I have ever been to.
In a crowd of just over 25,000 I doubt if there were many more than 50 of our supporters there. From what I have been told, there was no official supporters coach.
Would be interested in knowing who else went that night?

 

[Green Wizard]

I remember going to Port Vale on the coach in the late sixties with around 12 others for a Monday fixture. I think the score was 1-1 with a late Southend goal. All I can remember was playing football in the car park and a disgruntled Port Vale supporter unhappy about the result.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I went to primary school with one of John Kurila’s sons and was very happy when I got offered a lift home from a school footie match one evening. Not so happy tho when the said John Kurila’s car ran out of petrol at the fire station by Blenheim Park. !

Ha! He was a bit of a walking disaster area I think (although I loved his slide tackles).Remember him puting up a bookshelf in my bedroom,which promptly fell down the next day.

 

[ozzie]

Afternoon Ozzie,
Hope your all well & safe in Germany?. It was 4 coaches from Leigh Comm to Gillingham, & it rained for most of the day!.

was that the game(or the one a few years later) that the groundsman attack a Southend fan with his pitchfork? If so,was he not from Leigh comm?
All is well here thanks,hope you and family are fine,looking good for football here to start up again(behind closed doors) in about 3 weeks

 

[B.B.The Legend Lives On.]

I remember going to Port Vale on the coach in the late sixties with around 12 others for a Monday fixture. I think the score was 1-1 with a late Southend goal. All I can remember was playing football in the car park and a disgruntled Port Vale supporter unhappy about the result.

Yes I was on that coach as well Nov. 2nd 1968 with my good friend Mick a 1-1 draw with our goal being scored by Sammy McMillan. This match also marked Gary Moore's debut for the club having just been signed from Grimsby Town for about £8,000 in what turned out to be the start of his prolific partnership with fellow striker Billy Best who together in just the next nine matches in league and F.A.Cup scored a total of 18 goals together.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

was that the game(or the one a few years later) that the groudsman attack a Southend fan with his pitchfork? If so,was he not from Leigh comm?
All is well here thanks,hope you and family are fine,looking good for football here to start up again(behind closed doors) in about 3 weeks

Yes that was the game we all swarmed across the pitch around 1pm, after the gates had been knocked down!. As you correctly say, there was an old groundsman on the pitch with his pitchfork, who lunged at Leigh Commite B.H with it!.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Yes that was the game we all swarmed across the pitch around 1pm, after the gates had been knocked down!. As you correctly say, there was an old groundsman on the pitch with his pitchfork, who lunged at Leigh Commite B.H with it!.

He held it up against anyone that ran across the pitch near him. He tried to stab about 8 with it in separate lunges. I was right behind Carl C. and he just missed Carl. I saw what happened and gave him a wider berth.

 

[Mick]

What memories. Like you I was at all three of those Ozzie, but the one that will always resonate with me was 1976 at Hillsborough.
I was studying at Bradford University at the time and had the first of my "finals" examinations the following morning.
I went by train which was straightforward enough, but by the time I got back to Sheffield Midland station after the game, I could only get a slow train to Leeds (via Barnsley), and missed the final connecting train to Bradford.
I recall shelling out a considerable sum to get a cab back to my hall of residence, which seemed to take in all of the "delights" of West Yorkshire. Suffice to say my e.t.a. was around 1.15am, and my exam commenced less than 8 hours later.
Amazingly I had more success than the Blues did, securing a 2.1 degree which I was chuffed with.

One other point about that night; I would reckon it had the lowest ratio of Southend fans in all the away games I have ever been to.
In a crowd of just over 25,000 I doubt if there were many more than 50 of our supporters there. From what I have been told, there was no official supporters coach.
Would be interested in knowing who else went that night?

A 2.1 ? Same as the score - if only you could have got a 1.2

Yes, I was there too. A late decision when an opportunity of a lift from some guys living near me arose. They were doing the Youngs Brewery passport mission of that year whereby visiting every Youngs pub (there were a lot!) qualified you for a barrel of beer and they had a party looming.

I say a lift, I remember I did at least my share of the driving. We set off early and headed for North London where a couple of pubs in the Willesden/Harlesden area needed ticking off (Grand Junction Arms was one). We arrived in Sheffield in good time and once in the ground saw no other supporters from Southend, from the minute we arrived to the minute we left.

The game itself is well documented elsewhere. On leaving we felt the need to stop for a consolation pint in a pub just outside Sheffield. I guess it must have been a warmish evening as we drank outside in the garden – giving me an ideal opportunity to acquire a bit of football memorabilia that I have “owned” exactly 44 years today. (If you're reading this Ray, thanks for the trip.)

 

[ozzie]

When Kev & myself ran now and then coaches to away games,i use to take my 1975 CAMRA real ale guide book and my Egon Ronays Pub Guide book(good,famous pubs).
We would then stop on the way there, back or both,looking at what pub was nearest to the motorway according to which town we were going to.
Tried many a different pub and beers then.Was that a Samuel Smiths beer glass Mick?? Was a nice beer that

 

[llama]

My first AWAY match was Southend United playing at Lincoln City on 1st April 1972.
I went with my friend, David and we were both just 11 years old at the time.
My parents dropped me and David off at Roots Hall Car Park and said goodbye to us as we boarded one of the 3 or 4 away coaches travelling to Lincoln, oblivious to the 'Adventure' that we were going to have that day......

We found ourselves on the coach that contained the notorious North Bank. The coach driver advised us that we sat at the front of the coach.

On arrival at a car park in Lincoln we were greeted by the police, who told us, that for our own safety, they would escort us the half a mile walk to the ground. It was only then that we were told that the Lincoln supporters were the most violent of all the supporters in the land.

We were also told to take off our scarves and leave them in the coach. It was that dangerous.

The police told us to stay close to their escort to the ground as they could not guarantee our safety if we had become detached from the escort.

The match itself was an uneventful 0-0 draw.

On leaving the ground, their was NO escort waiting for us. We were told to just keep our heads down and head back to the coach as quickly as possible.

Unbeknown to us we were being followed by the home fans.

Our coach had just started its engine when a number of Lincoln fans appeared with bricks in hand. We were all told to stay as low as possible. Fortunately they aimed their bricks at the back of the coach where our North Bank supporters were seated. I heard a smash as one of the bricks smashed through the back window.

Mayhem now occurred as I remember our North Bank crowd jumped out the now smashed window in pursuit of the Lincoln fans.

The police arrived and if anything, we were deemed to be the guilty ones as we had incited the Lincoln fans.

One by one we were all searched. I remember being thoroughly frisked by a young WPC, although I was only 11 years old, it was probably the highlight of my day.

After about a couple of hours, using a blanket, makeshift repairs were made to boarder up the gap where the window had been smashed.

To cap it all off, at the end of our journey, just outside Rayleigh Weir, our coach experienced a punctured tyre on the A127.

As we waited for a recovery vehicle to arrive, the pleasing sight of my father appeared at the coach door. My father had been told of the tyre problem when he went to pick us up at Roots Hall.

It was now 11:30pm, way past my bedtime.

I remember the coach driver telling my father as we got off the coach, that we all had "A Smashing Time".

Was anyone from this forum on that coach?

 

[Shrimper in France]

llama, yes I was on that coach too! Sitting near the back on the right hand side we stopped at a set of lights just after leaving the ground when I saw the lad throw the brick. I automatically pushed my then girlfriend Pat to the floor as the brick came through our window. I'd only met Pat a few weeks earlier at the Darlington away match! She and a friend came down to London for the Easter weekend and, as you did then, Pat stayed with me in Southend as my parents were away for the weekend. I still remember her address in Darlington!
A few of us charged out of the coach and chased the Lincoln blokes - I ended up running for what seemed like ages along a river bank but unfortunately never did find any of them. When I got back to the coach they had started to tape up the window. I seem to remember a chilly trip home.
Don't remember the puncture tbh but was probably rather the worse for wear by then.

 

[Mick]

When Kev & myself ran now and then coaches to away games,i use to take my 1975 CAMRA real ale guide book and my Egon Ronays Pub Guide book(good,famous pubs).
We would then stop on the way there, back or both,looking at what pub was nearest to the motorway according to which town we were going to.
Tried many a different pub and beers then.Was that a Samuel Smiths beer glass Mick?? Was a nice beer that

Indeed it is ...... and it was.

 

[ozzie]

was also on a coach,cannot remember how many went.
As i wrote,the Police searched some and warned all of us at Roots Hall,before leaving for Lincoln,that they expected trouble because Southend lads had "taken" the Lincold end a few years before.
Im sure other lads remember why and what happened that year,but i was not there.
That LCFC away game,71-72,i was 15.
I remember coach leaving the place it was parked,then being bricked, Micky .B jumped up and got of the coach and chased people who he thought had bricked us.A few of us followed Mick.
Mick caught one and punched him in the face...but sadly for the other lad,he had nothing to do with it.He was going to do his evening paper round. Mick said "sorry" and gave him his SUFC metal badge!!
It was a poor day all round

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

they expected trouble because Southend lads had "taken" the Lincold end a few years before.
Im sure other lads remember why and what happened that year

The game your referring to was in 68 ( i think? ). I wasn't there, but several who post on here were. I've obviously heard the story of that day, but will leave it to those who were there to tell it, if they want to.

 

[LCBB72]

The game your referring to was in 68 ( i think? ). I wasn't there, but several who post on here were. I've obviously heard the story of that day, but will leave it to those who were there to tell it, if they want to.

1969 was the year of revenge .

 

[ozzie]

Yes ,i was told what happened by someone who was at both games.
The first season,some SUFC girls were attacked,so the next season,the PAK,let them know ..dont do that again.
I cannot remember everything that i was told,too much beer,but as you wrote,other people who were there know the full story

 

[B.B.The Legend Lives On.]

Yes ,i was told what happened by someone who was at both games.
The first season,some SUFC girls were attacked,so the next season,the PAK,let them know ..dont do that again.
I cannot remember everything that i was told,too much beer,but as you wrote,other people who were there know the full story

That story has been told a few times over the years on Shrimperzone what I can say is that the two girls involved were the daughters of the Southend United Manager Ernie Shepherd and the Clubs Secretary Mr.Keith Holmes. I was there and thankfully life has moved on from that dark August evening in 1968.

 

[mfurok]

A 2.1 ? Same as the score - if only you could have got a 1.2

Yes, I was there too. A late decision when an opportunity of a lift from some guys living near me arose. They were doing the Youngs Brewery passport mission of that year whereby visiting every Youngs pub (there were a lot!) qualified you for a barrel of beer and they had a party looming.

I say a lift, I remember I did at least my share of the driving. We set off early and headed for North London where a couple of pubs in the Willesden/Harlesden area needed ticking off (Grand Junction Arms was one). We arrived in Sheffield in good time and once in the ground saw no other supporters from Southend, from the minute we arrived to the minute we left.

The game itself is well documented elsewhere. On leaving we felt the need to stop for a consolation pint in a pub just outside Sheffield. I guess it must have been a warmish evening as we drank outside in the garden – giving me an ideal opportunity to acquire a bit of football memorabilia that I have “owned” exactly 44 years today. (If you're reading this Ray, thanks for the trip.)

View attachment 12070

Better late than never.........

You were and remain very welcome Mick.

A very memorable game - I still get a chill when I recall the hateful atmosphere at that game and the kicking the Wednesdayites gave to Tony Hadley at the end of the game before Dave Worthington rescued him.

Hope they get a points deduction that relegates them.