Goldstone Memories - 1995/96

[Spencer Vignes]

Howdy,

Just to let you know that Friday night's edition of Seagull for the visit of Leeds will be focusing on the 1995/96 season when Albion's off-field plight started making the news way beyond Sussex borders.

Highlights on the field were few and far between as Albion were relegated to the fourth tier (although the memory of that cheeky George Parris goal versus Bristol Rovers at the Goldstone still makes me smile). No, it was the supporters who were the stars of this particular campaign. Build a bonfire indeed. Peter 'Buzz' Smith will also be sharing his recollections in our question and answer section.

Feel free to share your own memories of the 1995/96 season on here. York City at home anyone?

Just to recap, to mark the impending 20th anniversary of the Goldstone's demise we are remembering stand-out seasons from our time at the old place in each edition of the programme throughout this season.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the retro pieces in Seagull.

All the best,
Spencer (Albion fan, sports writer & author)
[MENTION=23620]Spencer[/MENTION]Vignes

 

[Notters]

I used to sit on the bar at the front of the north-west terrace (was 13 at the time) and I always remember the friendly steward by the gate there saying to me, as the pitch invasion happened, "this is the end of this football club"...

 

[Spencer Vignes]

.....which seemed like fair comment at the time. But how wrong he was. I think we all ought to stop and think occasionally about just how far we've come over the past 20 years. That steward was right - it did seem like everything was collapsing around us. And yet here we are, in a much healthier position than I can probably ever remember (although I do miss the Goldstone, terribly).

 

[bhafc99]

Hands up if you did both York City games - the abandonment and the rearranged fixture!

 

[dejavuatbtn]

I'll always remember the day that Smudger turned up at the carpark at Priestfield with his shorn off dreads in a plastic bag! (I know it wan't that season!)

 

[AZ Gull]

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I used to sit on the bar at the front of the north-west terrace (was 13 at the time) and I always remember the friendly steward by the gate there saying to me, as the pitch invasion happened, "this is the end of this football club"...

Err how friendly was this steward

 

[big nuts]

I think we finished that season already relegated away at Walsall. Remember Byrne & Myall saying their farewells to the fans that day.

Swindon away was a cracking match lost 3-2 I think Zeke Rowe may have scored one possibly two but we lost and soon after we got relegated.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Hands up if you did both York City games - the abandonment and the rearranged fixture!

And afc Wimbledon this week?

 

[Hiney]

Difficult to write about this season without mentioning the *******s in charge. You can't ignore it, but it's hard to give them even negative copy. It really is incredible to see how far we have come, given the absolute cluster**** we experienced back then.

 

[Codner pharmaceuticals]

1) Ian Baird at the far post - and 2) getting a bloke deliberately (allegedly) sent off vs Barnet so we won

3) Not being able to breathe on the terraces because of such jammed crowds - yet the official attendances were a tax man beating 9K or so - kind of the opposite to now!

4) Getting my sleeves covered in spit where some hoodlum had been gobbing on the bars

 

[Robert Codners Nostrils]

Some very dark days that season. I remember Chesterfield at home on 22nd December. Lowest post-war league attendance at the Goldstone at that point in time of around 3600. Awful performance; lost 2-0. Highlights that season included the sneaky George goal, Dean Wilkins' cross shot winner at brentford on Boxing Day, and trouncing hull 4-0.


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[Cesar Chavez]

Hands up if you did both York City games - the abandonment and the rearranged fixture!

Hands Up


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[Insel affe]

Bournemouth away live on tv.

 

[Spencer Vignes]

My stand-out moment didn't actually occur inside a football ground. It was the Saturday night of the York 'riot'. I was in London, came out of the theatre around 11pm and picked up the first edition of one of the Sunday papers.....and there was the Goldstone all over the front. I must admit my heart sank, primarily because the line taken was that a riot had taken place (Euro '96, if you remember, was just around the corner and sections of the press were clamouring for English-related hooligan stories).

I was heading to Andover that night by train with a girlfriend and all the way there I kept glancing at the paper thinking 'That is bad, really bad'. It was only the following morning when I saw the flip side. The crisis engulfing our football club wasn't just Sussex news anymore - it had gone nationwide. Would people rally round our cause? The short answer was yes, they would. But if they hadn't, well, our job would have been so much harder. We should never forget that; the Fans United ethic, at least in my book, undoubtedly played a major part in saving our club.

 

[Biscuit Barrel]

Some very dark days that season. I remember Chesterfield at home on 22nd December. Lowest post-war league attendance at the Goldstone at that point in time of around 3600. Awful performance; lost 2-0. Highlights that season included the sneaky George goal, Dean Wilkins' cross shot winner at brentford on Boxing Day, and trouncing hull 4-0.


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Direct from a corner if my memory is correct.

 

[Spencer Vignes]

A slightly different season, I know, but does anyone else remember John Crumplin scoring direct from a corner up at Wrexham in a 3-1 win? Slips over as he takes it, ball careers off at a spectacularly fast angle/speed, and ends up in the far corner. Then again he was the football genius.....