[Football] Memories of Withdean

[sydney]

I used to sit in the SS behind the benches, the guy next to us was a retired cop didn't rate Muzza from the beginning. All friendly, I tried to persuade him otherwise. At some point in the last 18 months, he turned round to me and said "You were right all along, what a player".

Separately, you could shout out at useless players such as Hoyte and they heard you. "WAKE UP HOYTE"

i remember a boxing day match v southend .....it was fecking baltic.....their no7 looked like limahl out of kajagoogoo ....he got roasted... not even shouted at ,just normal speaking volume .....comments about hair products , fake tan and his skill level being basic......you had to be there.

 

[Oscar]

Take away the fight for a Falmer, the struggle to hold on to decent players/managers*and the lingering concern about going bust, the Withdean years were a helluva lot of fun.

I'll always remember Cullip's bullet header vs Cheaterfield to win Div 3. That also happened to be my last match as a free man as I got married that summer.

Charlie finding a hole in the pitch was funny and a home match vs Plymouth I think when Chippy slid in and tackled two players at once, it was that wet.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Don't think anything will ever beat seeing the stewards trying to eject a punchy drunk from H block and pulling his leg off. Literally. It was a false leg. Mind you, the fan invading the pitch in his invalid car comes pretty close. Marvellous scenes!

 

[Horsham Gull]

COMEDY OWN GOALS

Cant decide which was worse Hawkins or Hinsh's one



oh and an honourable mention to the bacon baguettes they made getting wet worth it every week

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

My sons first game was at Gillingham - so when we returned to Withdean we both got season tickets.

Yes we got wet, but the days of Watson/Zamora, Danny C, Chippy & Charlie, FDM , OGH etc made up for it.

Pints in the Sportsman, decent Chips on sale in the ground and let's not forget we got promoted to the Championship whilst there.

Happy Days - but I'm glad we're not there any more! Makes going to The Amex even more special every time we go there..........

 

[Oscar]

This thread just shows how much we all miss going to the footy - we even miss going to Withdean!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

COMEDY OWN GOALS

Cant decide which was worse Hawkins or Hinsh's one



oh and an honourable mention to the bacon baguettes they made getting wet worth it every week

The Hawk's magnificent two minute diagonal run cameo from coming off the sub's bench to giving away a penalty to being red-carded to trotting off down the tunnel for an early bath will live long in the memory

 

[Blue3]

The Withdean Screemer
Rocket man
Bobby Z
Gary Hart
Kerry Mayo
Richard Capenter
Guy Butters
Micael Kypers
Danny Cullip
Getting either rained on, snowed on or sunstroke
Program sellers
Porta cabin changing rooms and directors lounge
Atila playing his favourite records
That hat trick first game I knew we were going to walk the division
Flooded pitch sweeping it with Dick Knight
Litter picking round the streets post game
Somehow getting a free car parking pass allowing me parking in the players/directors area for the whole time we were at Withdean to this day I am not sure how that happened
Ian Hart fans phone in
Winning more than loosing

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

My sons first game was at Gillingham - so when we returned to Withdean we both got season tickets.

Yes we got wet, but the days of Watson/Zamora, Danny C, Chippy & Charlie, FDM , OGH etc made up for it.

Pints in the Sportsman, decent Chips on sale in the ground and let's not forget we got promoted to the Championship whilst there.

Happy Days - but I'm glad we're not there any more! Makes going to The Amex even more special every time we go there..........

Well it's going to be even more special when we get to go there again . . . whenever that may be.

 

[Cpt. Spavil]

Does anyone know who the Withdean Screamer was?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Oh, and DK buying champagne for the entire Withdean Faithful to celebrate (albeit a tad prematurely if memory serves) the getting of Falmer

Dick Knight,
He's Alright

 

[Weststander]

Don't think anything will ever beat seeing the stewards trying to eject a punchy drunk from H block and pulling his leg off. Literally. It was a false leg. Mind you, the fan invading the pitch in his invalid car comes pretty close. Marvellous scenes!

Were you surrounded by 17 year old's throwing celery around?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Don't think anything will ever beat seeing the stewards trying to eject a punchy drunk from H block and pulling his leg off. Literally. It was a false leg. Mind you, the fan invading the pitch in his invalid car comes pretty close. Marvellous scenes!

Beat you to it (3 posts earlier]

 

[Lankyseagull]

The wettest match at Withdean has to be the 3-4 defeat to Rochdale on a Friday night in December.

I think my 2 cousins & I left with about 20 minutes to go with us having just gone 4-2 down absolutely soaked through to the skin.

Happy days!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Were you surrounded by 17 year old's throwing celery around?

No, tho I did have the misfortune to sit next to Beeney who acted as something of a celery-magnet on such occasions as that high-fibre root vegetable was freely available for firing at will in H Block. Still, could have been worse. Could have had Grant With The Drum sat directly behind me. Oh.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Lots of historical revisionism on this thread !

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Maybe some of it was that. The football match experience was more fun in the lower divisions, especially since we were usually comfortably placed in the league. It was not so stressful if we conceded and of course No VAR!

Edit... that’s not to say that I am not counting down the 49 hours to kick off on Saturday.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

H Block GOONS right there

 

[Beach Hut]

Happy Days, Samrah shouting please get of the pitch hysterically then himself filmed err walking on the pitch. Attilas shit punk record collection.

Loads of fantastic games, as mentioned the pitch invasion with someone in a wheelchair

Funny how some fans thought moving to the Amex would be the same intimate atmosphere, when we moved we became a business and the family was left at Withdean

 

[Pinkie Brown]

The wettest match at Withdean has to be the 3-4 defeat to Rochdale on a Friday night in December.

I think my 2 cousins & I left with about 20 minutes to go with us having just gone 4-2 down absolutely soaked through to the skin.

Happy days!

That was absolutely one of the low points. Remember Adams getting pissy with the South Stand and gesticulating to the fans after many voiced their displeasure at the performance.

Plenty of highs too

- The first game against Mansfield. This was going to be easy and we were assured promotion. Erm....
- Swindon in the play off even though the weather was wet for much of the game.
- The brown envelope Chesterfield game
- Thumping a disinterested Wolves 4-1 when the likes of Ince and McAllister clearly didn't want to be there on a wet miserable afternoon.
- The player who attempted to tackle an opposition player with his head whilst on the ground - Martin Thomas?
- Leicester fans in the Hove Stand not realising they had scored due to the fog.

We hated the place but we had four promotions there. The highs made up for the miserable experiences when lousy performances usually coincided with lousy weather.