Rochdale 3rd May 1972

[Gregory2Smith1]

i know it's a big ask to cast your mind back 40 years,but i would like to hear the memories of people who were at that game

i wasn't myself,but i've just been reading the programme,pat saward talking about us needing a point for promotion,which we duly got,who scored first?

looking at the league table,we were pretty much already up,cherries couldn't catch us,but mathematically notts county still could,but realistically our goal difference was 5 goals better off than theirs,was there a sense of apprehension in the crowd?

also noticed jack taylor was the referee,he had already been in charge of the 1966 cup final and the 1971 european cup final and of course went on to officiate the 1974 world cup final,a very high profile referee for a 3rd division match

certainly had a fantastic run in,unbeaten in the last 12 games,4 of the last 5 being at home

blackburn 23k
bolton 25k
rotherham 27k
rochdale 34k ?

well over 100,000 fans going through the turnstiles in the space of 2 weeks,not bad for the 3rd division!

this was my first season out the albion,but i was far too young to appreciate just exactly what was happening,pat saward mentions that brighton had scored a few vital goals in the last minute of matches,must of been a fantastic run in to the season

would be great to hear your memories

 

[Czechmate]

Yes think i remember ! Wasn't it 1-1 and Rochdale needed a point also to gaurantee staying up ? Everybody was on the pitch after the whistle , great days ! The game was pretty avaerage as it may of been an arranged result , allegedly

 

[fattyjohn]

Yes i remember going to this one and not getting in ,had to watch from a front garden overlooking the chicken run,was great after the game at the old stiene loads going into the fountain,it was a fantastic season with as mentioned a lot of late goals ,ken beamish what a player,not sure if this was the season we had a pretty good league cup run,beating portsmouth and birmingham before coming up against derek dougan and john richards for wolves ?

 

[perseus]

I think Kit Napier scored in the last minute at Spotland 2-1 (The terrace was still a slag heap at the time) and two Rochdale fans ran on the pitch to try to attack him. But they were stopped by stewards.

In the home game, I arrived at six o'clock but the queues were so long that I went into the north-west corner under the floodlights because the queues were shorter (but not as long as for the Notts County reserve match for the Chelsea tickets). I was seriously worried about being locked out which is why I arrived early, but so were 30 thousand others. It was more crowded than any other match before and since by quite a large margin (the nearest was the League Cup match against Derby County). From the north-west terrace we could see the queue to Sackville Road four deep at seven o'clock but then it got too crowded and we could not see, but it was getting longer rather than shorter. There were fans outside when the gates were closed. We could not clap because we packed in like sardines.

There was no room left in the ground. This is strange because with the record gate against Fulham, older people (not many left now) said there was room for more. And even the capacity crowd of 35,000 against Chelsea I had room to breathe. It was possible that with the thousands outside at kick-off the gates may have been opened and people let in for free? It was getting a little panicky. But I think in all probability, people saw the queues, realised that they were not going to get in and went home. I thought it was going to be dodgy getting in a six o'clock.

The match was an anti-climax. Ray Train scored a spectacular goal for Rochdale and nearly spoilt the night. The games was a really dull draw by agreement after the Ray Train goal. Neither side even attempted and then it was just waiting for the final whistle. Then it was a relief because it was really too crowded to breathe properly.

 

[Sir Norman Gull]

I was gutted as I was away in Oxford on the day of the game at school. I do recall the Electric Light Orchestra were playing at the Dome the same night and I think the attendance was under 100 due to the Albion v Rochdale game!

 

[LamieRobertson]

i was there....hot summers evening...capacity crowd...started queueing ages before kickoff...i was in south stand...well..because it was so packed i was the other side of the wall...3rd minute free kick by john templeman i think into the south goal...crowd went mad...the game itself was nothing much to write home about...1/1 if memory serves me right...rochdale played in yellow....just a fantastic night

 

[LamieRobertson]

Yes i remember going to this one and not getting in ,had to watch from a front garden overlooking the chicken run,was great after the game at the old stiene loads going into the fountain,it was a fantastic season with as mentioned a lot of late goals ,ken beamish what a player,not sure if this was the season we had a pretty good league cup run,beating portsmouth and birmingham before coming up against derek dougan and john richards for wolves ?

o i remember that cup run...i think we lost 3/2 to wolves...werent we 2/1 up at one stage...i saw the birmingham and portsmouth games as well

 

[Gblocksouthstand]

o i remember that cup run...i think we lost 3/2 to wolves...werent we 2/1 up at one stage...i saw the birmingham and portsmouth games as well

No that was two years earlier

 

[raymondbriggs]

North Stand Boot Boy and proud of it,we got there early to be in the middle of the singing mob,massive crowd surges an hour before kick off but still room to dive to my right to avoid a stray warm up shot that would have taken my head off if I had stood my ground.
Pat Saward was an albion LEGEND who believed if they score 2 we only need to get 3 to win and set his team up to score plenty.
But this day we believed that an unofficial arrangement stood to give both teams what they needed.

Magic game,wonderful times.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Albion - Powney, Murray, Spearritt, Templeman, Gall, Goodwin, Napier K (Lutton), Beamish, Irvine, Bromley, O'Sullivan

1-1 - Templeman (Att 34,766)

Not sure who scored first but we ended up 3 points ahead of both Bournemouth and Notts County to seal promotion, so presumably one or both of them did not get the result needed to make things interesting.

 

[sams dad]

Yes i remember going to this one and not getting in ,had to watch from a front garden overlooking the chicken run,was great after the game at the old stiene loads going into the fountain,it was a fantastic season with as mentioned a lot of late goals ,ken beamish what a player,not sure if this was the season we had a pretty good league cup run,beating portsmouth and birmingham before coming up against derek dougan and john richards for wolves ?

That League Cup run was in 1969/70.
Getting back to the Rochdale match, I don't remember much about the game, but I can remember getting rat-arsed in the William Tell pub, and ending up in the fountain in the Old Steine.

 

[AnotherArch]

It was Kenny Beamish who had scored the late winner at Spotland. That had been another season epitomised by late goals - three games in 5 days over that Easter all had late key goals. Night games in those days always left you wondering wny the reported attendance seemd low compared to the lack of space one had. it was thought to be due to cash being taken at the turnstiles and avoiding the taxman. Also the away team used to get a cut of any League gate.
As someone else said, for the last 20 minutes it is the closest that we have ever come to replicating (or pre-empting) the Saints-Spurs stitch-up. I think Pat Saward was even in their trainer's box doing the deal (NB Trainer's box is what we used to call the 'dug-out'. Trainer and one or two subs sat in with the manager normally in the stand or sometimes 'away scouting')

 

[raymondbriggs]

Albion - Powney, Murray, Spearritt, Templeman, Gall, Goodwin, Napier K (Lutton), Beamish, Irvine, Bromley, O'Sullivan

1-1 - Templeman (Att 34,766)

Not sure who scored first but we ended up 3 points ahead of both Bournemouth and Notts County to seal promotion, so presumably one or both of them did not get the result needed to make things interesting.

And we always thought that shirley(Templeman)got our first(and last) goal that season compounding our theory the game had a convenient outcome for both teams.

 

[GT49er]

Hitch hiked down from Uni in Liverpool to see the game - and hitch hiked back afterwards! Lovely summer night - Rochdale in yellow - I'm pretty sure they scored first, but we equalised - we went up, Rochdale stayed up! All on the pitch afterwards.

Odd thing was, being a long haired student at the time, I was wearing some rather nice elastic sided boots - and a policeman stopped me at the gate and wouldn't let me in - "No boots allowed!" -the thick git obviously didn't realise the ban was on the Doc Martins the skinheads were wearing (although I dare say a fair few of those managed to get in, too!). Nipped round to another gate and got in no prob!

 

[LamieRobertson]

No that was two years earlier

the cup run re wolves/portsmouth/birmingham was same year...i admit i am not sure which one...but was same one...we lost 3/2 to wolves

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

Albion - Powney, Murray, Spearritt, Templeman, Gall, Goodwin, Napier K (Lutton), Beamish, Irvine, Bromley, O'Sullivan

1-1 - Templeman (Att 34,766)

Not sure who scored first but we ended up 3 points ahead of both Bournemouth and Notts County to seal promotion, so presumably one or both of them did not get the result needed to make things interesting.

is that the 2nd highest gate at the goldstone?

was at the derby league cup game 33,600 and there's been a fair few 32k

my nan god bless her used to tell me about a game against west ham in the 30's,anyone know the gate for that one?

 

[LamieRobertson]

No that was two years earlier

.......

 

[LamieRobertson]

Albion - Powney, Murray, Spearritt, Templeman, Gall, Goodwin, Napier K (Lutton), Beamish, Irvine, Bromley, O'Sullivan

1-1 - Templeman (Att 34,766)

Not sure who scored first but we ended up 3 points ahead of both Bournemouth and Notts County to seal promotion, so presumably one or both of them did not get the result needed to make things interesting.

templeman ..3rd minute south stand direct from free kick

 

[perseus]

It was Kenny Beamish who had scored the late winner at Spotland. That had been another season epitomised by late goals - three games in 5 days over that Easter all had late key goals.

Arguably the most electric game in the last 50 years was the prior home game against Rotherham before 28,000 supporters when we won 2-1. If the last six games this season went with four wins and two draws we would have 77 pts, good enough the play-offs but nowhere good enough for automatic promotion. No play-offs in those days. And the Albion fans were not tolerant of paying in advance.

 

[Gblocksouthstand]

The Rotherham game.........we had drawn at home to Bolton on the Saturday and on Wednesday night another massive crowd was watching the game teeter towards another point lost, and with it a blow to our hopes. Into the last minute we went, and Ken Beamish, our latest hero signed for a record fee just a few weeks earlier, got the ball on the edge of the penalty area in front of the North Stand and swivelled towards us, up at the top of the North East chicken run terrace, and hit a hopeful right-footer towards the far post......the Rotherham goalkeeper dived comfortably to his left but the ball somehow escaped him and squeezed into the net!!!! Cue pandemonium on the terraces - that remains to this day the biggest surge of adrenaline I've ever experienced at the Albion, the desperation for the win, the running down of time and the status of the scorer combining unforgettably.....my heart rate has doubled just writing this post.....after that the Rochdale game was a bit of an anti-climax!