Mike Bamber - hero or villain?

[Leonknight84]

Mike Bamber was a hero. Before he arrived ambition was a dirty word in our club. Nuff said!!!

 

[Brovion]

Also let us not forget the really boring football that Mike Bailey's team dished out - which, while being very effective and right for the time, drove lots of people away (me included) who had been used to the "Up and at 'em" attitude of Mullery's teams which wouold just win and win and win and win.

Blimey, you're exactly one of the fans I was talking about. Do you know WHY Mullery's teams would just 'win and win and win and win'? Because they were playing in the second and third divisions. When we got into the First Mullery's teams did NOT 'win and win and win and win' - they 'lost and lost and lost and lost'. This was because the first division teams were better than those we had being playing previously. People had deserted the club (not 'driven away') long before Bailey arrived.

 

[Ernest]

To me Mike Bailey was a hero too, to go to places like Liverpool who were virtually unbeatable and win was unbelievable. If people hadn't started moaning about his style of football we would have qualified for Europe and whilst there would have been no FA Cup Final I doubt there would have been a relegation either. Grinding out 1-0 wins might not have been pretty but it was effective, just ask the Arsenal fans years later.

 

[Danny-Boy]

This is a very fair comment, up the road the cockney wannabes thought all was cool when Tangoman took over didn't they ?

Sadly yes, though I thought someone who made a fortune out of mobile phones was not likely to have the "level-headedness" of some of our former prinicipal backers.

Errr... like Ron Noades....(Excuse me -- heave)

 

[backson]

I kept my cup final ticket in a scrap book for years, I remember it was £5, and £4 for the replay. This is the early 80's we're talking about.

Multiply that by the capacity of Wembley, take out costs of staging, and split the remainder between the two clubs.

Anyone who thinks there were millions missing can't do maths.

 

[ezzoud]

Do you know WHY Mullery's teams would just 'win and win and win and win'? Because they were playing in the second and third divisions. When we got into the First Mullery's teams did NOT 'win and win and win and win' - they 'lost and lost and lost and lost'. This was because the first division teams were better than those we had being playing previously. People had deserted the club (not 'driven away') long before Bailey arrived.

Again I agree with you. The drop off in attendances seems to have kicked in from season 1980/81 onwards (i.e 2nd season in Div 1).

Here are the published gates for the home match against Nottingham Forest (champions of Europe for some of that time) for our four seasons in Div 1:

Mar 1980 : 25128
Oct 1980: 17391
Feb 1982: 17175
Jan 1983: 10402

As I mentioned before , not just an Albion issue : March 1980 Liverpool v Albion Att: 42747, October 1982 Liverpool v Albion Att: 27929.

Make of that what you will.

 

[heavyweightsrbest]

Blimey, you're exactly one of the fans I was talking about. Do you know WHY Mullery's teams would just 'win and win and win and win'? Because they were playing in the second and third divisions. When we got into the First Mullery's teams did NOT 'win and win and win and win' - they 'lost and lost and lost and lost'. This was because the first division teams were better than those we had being playing previously. People had deserted the club (not 'driven away') long before Bailey arrived.

Correct. Great as it was in the 2nd and 3rd divisions the cavalier play under Mullery did not work in the First Division. Bamber sacked Bailey as his defensive style was not attracting the crowds but we did achieve our best ever position of 13th under him.

The Bamber out campaign was led by the Kruger's. Howard was mates with Steve Foster and recorded a record with the squad in 1982. He also managed a number of snooker players.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Again I agree with you. The drop off in attendances seems to have kicked in from season 1980/81 onwards (i.e 2nd season in Div 1).

Here are the published gates for the home match against Nottingham Forest (champions of Europe for some of that time) for our four seasons in Div 1:

Mar 1980 : 25128
Oct 1980: 17391
Feb 1982: 17175
Jan 1983: 10402

As I mentioned before , not just an Albion issue : March 1980 Liverpool v Albion Att: 42747, October 1982 Liverpool v Albion Att: 27929.

Make of that what you will.

There was a recession in the early 1980s, with the Tories' monetarist policies attempting to limit the money supply in the economy. Whatever your politics, I'm sure that had an impact, along with the admission rises.

 

[Danny-Boy]

Correct. Great as it was in the 2nd and 3rd divisions the cavalier play under Mullery did not work in the First Division. Bamber sacked Bailey as his defensive style was not attracting the crowds but we did achieve our best ever position of 13th under him.

The Bamber out campaign was led by the Kruger's. Howard was mates with Steve Foster and recorded a record with the squad in 1982. He also managed a number of snooker players.

Which snooker players? Was he the bad-boys manager i.e Higgins/White/Knowles? They made a record called "The Wanderer" I think

 

[arfer guinness]

Greatest chairman we've ever had. Will be over the moon if TB can give us either an FA cup final or top teir football, MB gave us both.