England B International at The Goldstone

[herecomesaregular]

i watched from the east stand, i was 17 and yet to watch most games from the north. remember watching gazza and tony adams in particular. my only international so far...

 

[johnkeeleysgloves]

I was 15 years old.

I watched the game from the packed North Stand. Me and my mates were somewhat tipsy.

What stands out for me is being grabbed by the Old Bill during the game, marched to the back of the Stand and given a bollocking for being too rowdy!

I didn't say much for the rest of the game!!

 

[Legend]

I was there. In a packed North Stand. I seem to remember Gazza getting substitued in the second half and left the field to a huge ovation.

 

[blue'n'white]

I was there - cracking night. Can't really remember too much about it apart from seeing Gascoigne and Schillachi mainly because they played such a big part in the World Cup the next year.
I was working in Croydon at the time and took two work colleagues who were both P*l*ce fans and they were miffed at having to go to the Goildstone for a match !!

 

[oldham gull]

I remember the queues too, for the North Stand. We seemed to take great delight in making donkey noises each time Adams touched the ball....until he scored that was!

 

[Mackenzie]

I've got the programme here. The thing I remember most was how amazing the pitch looked under the floodlights, it almost shone and not a blade of grass out of place....and there were flags!

I was in the South West terrace.

 

[kevtherev]

And there was the u-21 game,where Terry Conner played as a over age player and scored,,,,anyone remember that or was it u-23lol

 

[Skaville]

Yes, I remember getting rather excited about watching Gazza playing for England, but if memory serves me right, he wasn't that great.

I thought he was fantastic that night, as does this account in The Independent...

"If B internationals are the sporting equivalent of B movies, the meeting of England B and Belarus at Reading's Madejski Stadium tonight may have more than a whiff of I Was a Zombie for the FBI or Attack of the Killer Tomatoes about it.
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None of the players who have featured in the 57-year, 53-match history of England B games has managed quite the leap made by Ronald Reagan, "the Errol Flynn of B movies", who acted his way into the White House. Paul Gascoigne and Glenn Hoddle tried their best, while Matthew le Tissier and Brian Clough bowed out with a fruitless attack of killer goals.

Clough, then a raw young striker at Middlesbrough, scored as Scotland B were beaten 4-1 at Birmingham in 1957, though it was not enough to win a place in England's 1958 World Cup squad. For Gazza, however, a virtuoso display against Italy B at Brighton in 1989 did much to book his passage to the finals that made him an icon a year later.

B internationals engage only the most anorakish of football historians; it is almost as if they have been airbrushed from the picture. What we do know is that England's first such match came in 1949. They won 4-0 in Finland, the first of 37 victories in a record completed by eight draws and eight defeats.

The spree Clough spearheaded against the Scots could not persuade the FA to keep B internationals going. After that they disappeared until 1978, when Ron Greenwood took over as manager and reinstated them with a vengeance. One-off matches in West Germany and Czechoslovakia were followed by a five-game tour to New Zealand and the Far East. A year later, the Kiwis played a return fixture at Leyton Orient, where Hoddle impressed sufficiently to be called up for his first full cap a month later.

The Graham Taylor era included eight B matches; Terry Venables' reign had two. Hoddle was in charge when England last played a B international. It came six weeks before the 1998 World Cup and was seen as the last chance for Le Tissier to convince the manager of his merits.

It proved an eventful audition. The Southampton enigma scored a hat-trick, made another goal and twice shook the post in a 4-1 defeat of Russia. He did not make the final squad."

 

[Skaville]

Does anyone remember the Chelsea Headhunter decked out in all the clobber in the North Stand? That man was a proper scary bastard.

 

[forumwayseagull]

I too was there. I remember the black nets..... and the excellent Italian goal infront of the North stand. If I remember Tony Adams scored in the South goal................great night.

 

[Nottseagull]

Had no idea the GG had ever staged a "B" international, due to living so far away with no internet. Went to the U-23 v Norway, though. 6-0 with Wardy hat-trick in front of 18,000, I recall.

 

[Easy 10]

I was there. For some reason, I thought I remembered Roberto Baggio playing for them that night. Then whenever I saw him starring in World Cups and playing for Juve, Milan etc, I would always think "I saw him at the Goldstone once....". But quite clearly, I didn't.

I am shocked and appalled to discover that my brain just totally made that up. I wonder what other "facts" I've been walking around with for years that are also total bollocks.