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Most intimidating away day







N17

New member
Jun 21, 2011
557
The most agg i have seen at a match since the 70s/80s was a pre-season friendly at Millwall in 2001. It went on pretty much all day - Spurs even went back on their manor several hours after the game to carry on the mayhem (i was on my toes as soon as the final whistle went!). The crowd was around 15k & i don't think there were more than a couple of hundred 'normal' fans there.

Most aways in the 70s & 80s had the potential to go off, always had to have your wits about you.
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,952
Surrey
You jest?

Do you remember that tit "Royal Ali"? Well he TOLD us that opposition players found Reading VERY intimidating - so it must be true.


For me it's either Reading (any season) or Millwall in 1986 when we won 1-0 thanks to Mick Ferguson, they lobbed bricks into the away end with half an hour still to play and we know of people who after the game ended up taking an Albion fan to hospital after he'd been kicked in the head until he was unconscious by 3 Millwall skinheads.
 








soistes

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2012
2,651
Brighton
Seeing as I'm not an old fart yet I'll go for when West ham smashed us 6-0 a few years back, all got off the train dying for a piss and picked their main pub to go in, queuing up to use the bogs in the basement whilst they bellowed out "we'll be blowing bubbles" we left sharpish after some cottoned on we were brighton

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The only frightening thing about that day that I can remember was our performance on the pitch
 


The red pepper kid

Well-known member
Dec 30, 2014
693
I would also like to throw in the 0-0 at White Hart Lane. 1978ish for consideration.

48.000 at the game. They weren't taking prisoners that day.
I was 11years old and watched as my cousin and his mate were nicked leaving me behind the goal on my own !.
Shortly after the rozzers dragged my cousin back to identify me and so I was ejected (kind of ) as well
 


DavidRyder

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2013
2,930
It was Millwall 2 Forest 2.

I can't remember when, early 90s I think. I went with a Forest supporting friend, as a neutral (although I was a full on Forest fan for that 90 mins!). As i recall, it was near the end of the season in what's now the Championship, and both teams were in or around the play offs. The atmos was the most fierce and intimidating I can remember, not helped by the game going for and then against Millwall. I remember there were fans on the pitch, as well as police horses etc. When we left the ground, my mate told me to hide the red scarf I'd borrowed. There were bottles being thrown, the usual Millwall stuff. It was fun though, all in all!
 




Peter Grummit

Well-known member
Oct 13, 2004
6,772
Lewes
Either of these, I would also throw in Millwall away when Mick Ferguson scored and we won 1-0 which was Millwalls first home league defeat for 50 odd games
Yeah that was the one for me. Remember Millwall fighting with the police in the pen next to ours and a policeman's helmet flying about 10 feet in the air.

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Betfair Bozo

Well-known member
Jul 24, 2007
2,107
Millwall play off semi also. I remember very quietly boarding the train at New Cross after and thinking we'd got away only for a 'wall chap who looked a right psychopath fixing me with a stare and saying "quiet journey home, Brighton." Absolutely froze!

That said, Tunisia v England in Marseille in '98 topped it as an away game as such. That was just utter carnage.
 


luppers

New member
Aug 10, 2008
798
Didim, Turkey
for me it was the Old Den in the 60s, Sheff Wed in the play off is leg. The strange ground where there were a lot of problems was Torquay when I went with Eastbourne Borough. The stewards joined in with the Torquay mob which did not help
 




The Birdman

New member
Nov 30, 2008
6,313
Haywards Heath
Being an 'older' fan brought up on the Seagull Special train, modern fans have no idea what the hooligan days of the 70's were really like.
For me Cardiff and the return to the train alone with no police to be seen.
i thought the police were standing on each corner and it was doggy In-between the corners also it was not to safe on the platform.
 




Whitley Bayster

Well-known member
Jul 4, 2011
676
Whitley Bay Tyne and Wear
Just to elaborate on this, getting there was pretty uneventful. I'd wrongly thought that having turned them over 4-1 in the first leg, they wouldn't be interested and we'd take over the place. Turning up, they had about 18,000 there while we had just a few hundred. Stood down near the front until a lump of concrete landed at my feet, so moved back a bit.

I remember being quite pleased when they scored as they may lay attention to the game but we ended winning 2-1 and it turned into the most incredible atmosphere. I think John Robinson scored the 2nd and instead of celebrating turned round and ran back to the half way line.

At the end of the game we were kept in for ages while they lit a bonfire in the stand to the left and burnt policeman's hats. When we finally got out we couldn't move anywhere. Hundreds of police and horses trying to get us to the station while anything the Millwall fans could get hold of came flying over the top. I had to nip down a side road as I needed to get back to London Bridge rather than a direct train back to Brighton that had been laid on, just stood in a corner while they ripped the train to pieces.

Strange evening.

That walk back to the station was eerie. No jubilation no chanting. It was quiet at first but everyone could sense something was about to kick off. Then suddenly the Miiiillll....walll chant went up and all sorted of stuff was being lobbed at us. To be fair the police did well to get us to the station in one piece. Naturally we all got billy big balls once we were safely on the train.
 




Mr Bridger

Sound of the suburbs
Feb 25, 2013
4,753
Earth
Millwall play off semi also. I remember very quietly boarding the train at New Cross after and thinking we'd got away only for a 'wall chap who looked a right psychopath fixing me with a stare and saying "quiet journey home, Brighton." Absolutely froze!

That said, Tunisia v England in Marseille in '98 topped it as an away game as such. That was just utter carnage.

Have to agree with Marseille, kicked off in the port with the infamous " pig of Marseille who we travelled down with. Day of the game tensions were running high and it just needed the flash point. Along came the Tunisian team coach with England fans singing either side, then someone throws a bottle and that's it. We were stuck on the wrong side of it near the underground tunnel protecting some woman who had lost her boyfriend while bottles came over from the England fans.
All of a sudden the Tunisians or maybe locals came along and pull a knife out in us, that was it we were off, getting booted in the way. Eventually got in the ground, but that night after the game we were in our toes a lot from pub to pub trying to get away from the locals.
 


Whitechapel

Famous Last Words
Jul 19, 2014
4,412
Not in Whitechapel
Are you from Sussex?
Maybe some goal music to create some atmosphere?


tenor.gif
 


Blackadder

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 6, 2003
16,121
Haywards Heath
for me it was the Old Den in the 60s, Sheff Wed in the play off is leg. The strange ground where there were a lot of problems was Torquay when I went with Eastbourne Borough. The stewards joined in with the Torquay mob which did not help

The old Den in the 60s?

Has it ever been safe to go there?
 


Lenny Rider

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2010
6,012
From memory the various trips to Wales were always 'interesting', I can also recall the vast majority of Ayresome Park 'intimidating' Mike Small on the cusp of all out racist abuse, but the clear winner for me was the Play off Semi Second leg at the Old Den in 1991, the natives didn't take defeat, both on the night and over both legs, well culminating in a mini riot in which I saw an image which I quite simply will never forget, a Policeman's helmet ablaze, thankfully his wasn't wearing it at the time.
The walk back to the car was like a fusion of Village of the Damned, Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes.
 






wellquickwoody

Many More Voting Years
NSC Patron
Aug 10, 2007
13,912
Melbourne
Not because of what happened but because of what you felt might happen........

West Ham, early to mid 80's, their mob hanging over 4ft crowd control barriers just feet from your face as you made your way into the Tube station. Similarly at Chelsea, the mobs of 50-100 strong on EVERY corner back to the Tube and the Police escort just melted away halfway on the journey, making the train to discover it full of Chelsea and there are just four of you together. They were intimidating, plenty of other incidents far involved far more interaction but never felt quite as daunting.
 


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