VENUE #7 BURY Gigg Lane

LEAGUE DIVISION 3

Saturday 30th November 1974


Gigg Lane

Ground Capacity:-  35,000

Kick Off:-  15:15

Entry Fee:-  £0.25p

Programme:-  £0.08p

Venue #7

     The day before my fourteenth birthday and I'm travelling up to greater Manchester by train to see, at the time, my beloved football team Walsall take on Bury at Gigg lane.  My companion of the day was an old school pal we nicknamed "Dicko" who had absolutely nothing to do with Wolverhampton Wanderers although he did live in the borough of Wolverhampton.

     We had a slight scare on the way back home while walking to Manchester Piccadilly station we were chased by some Manchester City fans which was odd for City were playing away at Newcastle that day.  We managed to escape jumping on our train to Wolverhampton which had just minutes before departing to our destination.

     The match ended 2-0 to Bury which moved them up to within a point of Walsall in mid-table.  The goalscorers were Derek Spence and Christopher Duffey both goals coming in the first half if my memory serves me well but as you can see it was a long time ago. 

     Gigg lane was mainly terracing back in 1974 and was re-built in the 1990's with the Cemetery End being the last stand to be completed in 1999. The new stands which are all covered, have vastly improved the overall look of the ground, whilst at the same time making it an all seated one. The only real disappointment is three of the stands contain a number of supporting pillars. On one side is the Main Stand. This all seated stand has its spectators area raised up above pitch level meaning that supporters have to climb a small set of steps to enter it. Part of the front has a small box like structure, with a number of windows running along the front, with the windows being almost at pitch level, I wonder just how many broken windows they get each season? Oddly the players tunnel and team dugouts are set to one side of the half way line, suggesting that at some point the pitch has been moved from its original position.

     Opposite is the Les Hart Stand, a single tiered affair which extends around to meet the Cemetery End, enclosing that corner of the stadium. In this corner there is a small Police control box suspended beneath the roof plus an electronic scoreboard. The Les Hart Stand also has a small TV gantry, plus there are a number of supporting pillars running across the stand that may impede your view. 

     The Ratio Law Stand (aka the Manchester Road Stand) at one end is of a fair size. However it does not run the full width of the pitch, with one side ending with the edge of the penalty box. There is also an electric scoreboard at this end. The stadium is completed with a set of modern looking floodlights. In November 2013, the ground was renamed the JD Stadium, after securing a three year sponsorship deal with JD Sports.

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VENUE #6 ASTON VILLA Villa Park

LEAGUE DIVISION 2

Saturday 12th October 1974

Villa Park Stadium

Ground Capacity:-  55,000

Kick Off:-  15:00

Entry Fee:-  25p

Programme:-  10p

Venue #6

ASTON VILLA ... 1   BLACKPOOL ... 0

     I remember this one a couple of months before my 14th birthday went with a couple of friends from the street where I lived they were brothers and supported Aston Villa, I always aspiring to be different wanted Blackpool to win.  We watched the game from the terraces of the Holte end about ten steps from the front (pitch side) and with the goal slightly to our left.

     Blackpool played well for most of the game considering the amount of injuries they had and with the changes they made from the week before at home to Hull City with Glyn James acquiring the number 4 shirt from Paul Hart, Alan Ainscow coming into midfield pushing Wyn Davies out on the bench and also the long term injuries of Alan Suddick, Keith Dyson and Kevin Moore who were all waiting to see specialists.  Regular keeper John Burridge left out for the third game running in favour of George Wood, Burridge joined Villa the following year.

     Not in with the run of play as far as I was concerned Villa got the decisive goal through Ray Graydon in the second half his twelfth of the season and increasing his tally as top goal scorer in division two to the delight of my two friends causing anger to eat away at me and ending in a fight on the way home which I lost of course, well it was two against one.

     The stands were named then much as they are today with the Holte end behind the goal which is a large two-tiered stand and replaced one of the largest terraces in the country back in the day.  The stand opened in 1994/95 season and has a capacity of 13,500.

     The North Stand is at the other end of the pitch slightly older being built in the late 70's it is two-tiered with executive boxes running through the middle with the lower tier replacing terracing in the early 90's with the addition of nearly 3,000 seats.

     At one side of the pitch is the Trinity Road Stand which is three-tiered with a small tier at the front and two larger ones at the middle and back which are separated by executive boxes.  This newer version of the stand was opened in 2001.

     On the other side of the pitch is the Doug Ellis Stand which is the only stand to have changed it's name since 1974 when it was known as the Witton Lane Stand.  This stand has two tiers and was opened in 1996 prior to the European Championships of which Villa Park was a host venue.

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VENUE #5 COLCHESTER UNITED Layer Road

LEAGUE DIVISION 3


Saturday 28th September 1974

Layer Road Stadium

Ground Capacity:-  19,000

Kick Off:-  15:00

Entry Fee:-  £0.30p

Programme:-  £0.10p

Venue #5

     Layer Road was built in 1907 originally to stage home games for Colchester Town who were dissolved in 1937 and  Colchester United were formed to take their place and play as a professional outfit.

     The U's spent the first 13 years playing in the Southern league finally being elected to play in division 3 south for the 1950/51 season.  Their first game at layer Road that season ended in a 0-0 draw against Bristol Rovers on the 26th August.

     Colchester United's biggest attendance at Layer Road was 19,072 against Reading in a F.A. cup first round match on 27th November 1948, the match was abandoned with the score at 4-2 to Reading.

     The ground was sold in 2008 to create a housing estate after being the venue for Colchester's football for 101 years.  Colchester United now play their home games at Colchester Community Stadium which opened in August 2008 at a cost of £14 million.  The Community stadium has a capacity of just over 10,000 and is approximately 6 miles north of where the old Layer Road ground used to be.

     

COLCHESTER UNITED ... 1   WALSALL ... 2

     The talk before this game was the rivalry between Colchester and Walsall's top marksmen, Bobby Svarc was the u's main man although his first season at Layer Road was marred by injury he was starting to show signs of why Jim Smith paid £6,000 for him from Boston utd.  Steve Leslie was top goal scorer at the time with four goals three of them of which were penalties while Svarc scored the only goal of the game away at Aldershot the weekend before bringing another much needed two points.

     Alan Buckley was Saddlers star man with nine goals from twelve games three braces included in the tally and looking one of Walsall's best buys ever in the goal scoring department.  With scouts from top clubs following his progress there were fears that the Saddlers would not be able to keep hold of the Mansfield born striker.

     And as the result shows both these marksmen had a say in the outcome with all three goals coming in the space of eight minutes early in the second half, Buckley opened in the 50th minute with his tenth of the season but Svarc levelled for the U's six minutes later only for Buckley to have the final say in the 58th minute with his fourth brace of the campaign and taking his tally to eleven.

    Walsall's defence were well spoken of in the press after the game with the Saddlers keeper Mick Kearns named as the official man of the match.

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VENUE #4 WEST BROMWICH ALBION The Hawthorns

LEAGUE DIVISION TWO

Saturday 17th August 1974

The Hawthorns

Ground Capacity:-  50,000

Kick Off:-  15:00

Entry Fee:-  £0.80p

Programme:-  £0.10p

Venue #4

    I remember going with my brother Malcolm and his friends to see this one, I was 13 years old and soon to start the second year of senior school.

      From what I can recall it was a wet day and I was thrilled at the possibility of seeing some household names playing for both sides such as John Osborne, Len Cantello, Willie Johnston and Tony & Ally Brown for West Bromwich Albion.  On the Fulham sheet were Alan Mullery who I saw five years previously playing for Tottenham at Walsall, Bobby Moore ex West Ham and the man who lifted the world cup for England in 1966 and Viv Busby who was starting to be a prolific goal scorer at the time since his move from Luton town to Fulham.

     The game was dominated by Fulham for large periods the goal coming early in the second half when Les Barrett crossed the ball into the Albion penalty area where Viv Busby arrived late to scuttle the ball into the back of the net.

     The Hawthorns as been West Brom's home for the last 116 years and has the highest altitude above sea level than any other ground in the premiership or football league.  Originally and at the time of visiting the ground was almost all terracing with a much higher capacity than it has now.

     Halfords Lane Stand which is now known as the West stand has been refurbished a couple of times since my visit there are plans to demolish this stand to build a single tier all seated stand to house 10,000 people thus increasing the overall capacity to 33,000. 

     Birmingham Road End or the Brummie road end as it's better known was a big terrace behind the goal which housed up to 14,000 spectators but now is a large single tired stand with a capacity of just 8,000, this includes the famous Woodlands corner.

     The Smethwick End is where away supporters are housed these days although only part of the stand is allocated the other part is used by the most vocal of Albion's supporters although there are plans to enlarge the capacity of the stand and make entirely for visitors.

     East Stand or the Rainbow stand as it's also known was named because of the bright colours that the seats were painted in.  Originally the stand consisted of seats in the upper section with standing accommodation in the lower but was refurbished in 1977.  Above the Woodlands corner which joins the Birmingham road end to the East stand there is a effigy of a giant throstle which has been a familiar feature at the Hawthorns for generations.

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