Walking to an away match.

M

McMordie

Well-known member
40 years ago today was the only occasion I've ever walked to a Boro away match.

I was living in Birmingham at the time and walked from my house in Edgbaston to St Andrews to watch Boro lose 3-2 to Birmingham City on a freezing cold, grey, dank afternoon when anyone with any sense was in the warmth of the Bull Ring Christmas Shopping. It was the time when Boro were spiralling towards liquidation with falling crowds and I remember it as the smallest away Boro following I've known. At the end of the match, I climbed through a hole in a fence into the home end before leaving because I was seriously concerned about the advisability of walking out of the away end with a handful of other people, especially as the area around St Andrews was pretty grim in 1984.

One of the things I like about being a football supporter is that it gives you a permanent diary in your mind. I know what I was doing 40 years ago today just by looking at the football results (and that 45 years ago today I was at Ayresome Park watching Boro lose 1-0 to Southahampton and 51 years ago today I was Christmas shopping in Middlesbrough with my family while Boro were playing at Sheffield Wednesday).
 
McMordie said:
One of the things I like about being a football supporter is that it gives you a permanent diary in your mind.
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This is the truth. I remember us playing Shrewsbury Town at home a few days after that Birmingham match, what's weird about it it was played on a Friday night for some reason (long before TV took over). We were dire that night - losing 0-1 and fans streaming out mackem-style long before the end. There must have been no more than a couple of hundred fans left in the Holgate when Boro got an undeserved equalizer in the last minute.

One of my long standing memories during the dark days following the Boro. (The lowest of them all being losing to Darlo in a cup replay a few weeks later) :(
 
GazBoro said:
This is the truth. I remember us playing Shrewsbury Town at home a few days after that Birmingham match, what's weird about it it was played on a Friday night for some reason (long before TV took over). We were dire that night - losing 0-1 and fans streaming out mackem-style long before the end. There must have been no more than a couple of hundred fans left in the Holgate when Boro got an undeserved equalizer in the last minute.

One of my long standing memories during the dark days following the Boro. (The lowest of them all being losing to Darlo in a cup replay a few weeks later) :(
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The Shrewsbury game was played on a Friday night because Boro were worried that if they played on a Saturday that close to Christmas the 4044 people who actually attended the game might not turn up.
 
"Do not let us speak of darker days............."😉

Bloody hell those were grim times. In footballing terms you got the impression we were circling the plug hole but little did we know the true extent of the club's malaise.😐
 
Our closest league match in history has been Scunthorpe and I was never tempted to walk as it would take about 11 hours.
 
McMordie said:
The Shrewsbury game was played on a Friday night because Boro were worried that if they played on a Saturday that close to Christmas the 4044 people who actually attended the game might not turn up.
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4044 was still a 1000 more than what turned up in February of that season to watch us lose 0-1 at home to Notts County. I think that Notts County match was our lowest ever attendance for a league game. I was one of them freezing my bollox off watching the worst game of football I've ever seen. Notts County were bottom of Division 2, no away wins all season, we were second from bottom. Semi frozen pitch, one shot on goal all match, neither team could string two passes together.

What a god awful time it was following this team :LOL:
 
I walked home after the game at the Valley before the first lock down. The buses were rammed so I didn't fancy getting one, although I did stop for a couple of pots in Greenwich IIRC 🤷
 
GazBoro said:
This is the truth. I remember us playing Shrewsbury Town at home a few days after that Birmingham match, what's weird about it it was played on a Friday night for some reason (long before TV took over). We were dire that night - losing 0-1 and fans streaming out mackem-style long before the end. There must have been no more than a couple of hundred fans left in the Holgate when Boro got an undeserved equalizer in the last minute.

One of my long standing memories during the dark days following the Boro. (The lowest of them all being losing to Darlo in a cup replay a few weeks later) :(
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I remember that Shrewsbury game too. Crowd of just over 4000 iirc, not long later we were down to around 3000 on a snowy day against Notts County….memorable for me for big Al Kerneghan making his debut!
 
GazBoro said:
4044 was still a 1000 more than what turned up in February of that season to watch us lose 0-1 at home to Notts County. I think that Notts County match was our lowest ever attendance for a league game. I was one of them freezing my bollox off watching the worst game of football I've ever seen. Notts County were bottom of Division 2, no away wins all season, we were second from bottom. Semi frozen pitch, one shot on goal all match, neither team could string two passes together.

What a god awful time it was following this team :LOL:
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Notts County scored into the East End seats in the second half - it did seem a new low point to be a Boro fan in the history of the Club. We knew the Club was in debt and had not paid a transfer fee for 2.5 years. Crowds had gone from 18,000 to 4,000 in less than 4 years and it was nothing to do with the price of tickets.

I remember passing my driving test in early 1985 and getting a good job (in a very difficult jobs market) and I suddenly had the ability to go to any game in the country independently and flexibily, but it was scary at many of our away games in 1985 and early 1986, because there were so few Boro fans travelling independently. Sometimes I would buy a ticket for a seat in the main stand of an away ground for a safer exit.
 
The 84/85 Boro side has got to be one of the worst….Pat Heard, Mick Buckley and Mick Saxby. Stayed up at Shrewsbury on the last day of the season, but there were four god awful teams and we got lucky. Following season we were a bit better, but unfortunately so was the league and down we went. Wouldn’t swap those days on the Holgate though!
 
GazBoro said:
4044 was still a 1000 more than what turned up in February of that season to watch us lose 0-1 at home to Notts County. I think that Notts County match was our lowest ever attendance for a league game. I was one of them freezing my bollox off watching the worst game of football I've ever seen. Notts County were bottom of Division 2, no away wins all season, we were second from bottom. Semi frozen pitch, one shot on goal all match, neither team could string two passes together.

What a god awful time it was following this team :LOL:
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Was that an evening game? I remember a 0-1 loss to Notts County under the lights, but think that may have been a few years later?
 
One of most depressing games from that era for me was the 2 - 4 loss at home to Wimbledon Sept 1984 in front 4,277 what made it more galling for me was Wimbledon were on their charge up the divisions whilst I could still remember playing them in a F.A cup replay when they were the plucky non leaguers now they were battering us at home
 
Otto42 said:
Wouldn’t swap those days on the Holgate though!
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Same.

I've seen Boro play at Ayersome, the Riverside, Wembley, and in Europe, seen us have some fantastic players and teams over the years, but that period of 1982 - 1986 sticks in my mind as (morbidly) my favorite time. For some reason I can remember the matches I attended home and away during those years more than I can following Boro over the 40 seasons that followed. It was the worst time ever for us, but with hindsight I wouldn't trade those memories of following this unfashionable club going nowhere and with no chance of ever winning anything (at the time).
 
Losing 5 1 At home to Blackburn in Nov 82....beating Sheffield wed 2 0 under big jack to stop them getting promotion (that night) April 84 in the arsenal strip..beating Bournemouth in the cup after they knocked out man u..... beating notts county in the cup with Kevin Beatty netting a pen ....losing to Southampton with a Danny Wallace hatrik....beating Sunderland under mcmeny in the snow, failing to beat bishops Stortford, losing to QPR in Extra time after being 2 0 down all happy memories of 82-86
 
ClashRose said:
These are the type of threads I come on here for 😊
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I think they’re therapeutic. Whether football or wider, there’s a tendency to get caught up in the Gen Z/ alpha “everything is more sh1t than it has ever been” stuff. A reminder about the Boro of the 1980s or the UK economics of the 1970s is seriously good for grounding your mental health. And for realising that while it might not be helpful to tell the youngsters they’ve never had it so good, it’s still pretty much nearly true.
 
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