The Battle Of Upton Park

The battle of Upton Park 25/10/1975  

Top of the table clash for the teams and for the fans, Man Utd had just been promoted back to the 1st Division after a season down in the 2nd. During their season in the 2nd Division the Manchester United fans had got a reputation for causing trouble, although hooliganism was becoming pretty common all round, the United fans were getting the most publicity.
By October 1975 both West Ham and Man Utd were having good seasons but both's fans had been making a name for themselves so it was inevitable something would kick off. 

The game itself ended 2-1 to the Hammers sending them top, but the press had other things to report on.

The 1975/76 was an odd season for West Ham, they hit the top spot several times and remained top 6 until mid February, but I guess this was the season where the old joke about West Ham "coming down with the Christmas lights" came about.

The European Cup Winners Cup was a distraction with 2 of the best performances ever coming against Den Haag and Eintracht Franfurt in the Quarter and Semi Final before the 4-2 defeat in the Final.
But the league form post Christmas was abysmal with just one win against QPR in January and a record of W 1, D 6, L 15, with only the early season form keeping us up.

Here's some newspaper cuttings of the day.

 

Grimsby Town

Grimsby Town 

Team photo from 1956, and a bubble gum card from 1957. 

Allenby Chilton was player manager, previously a Cup winner with Man Utd

He also served during WW2 and was injured during the D-Day landings in 1944

Gate Receipts

F.A Cup Quarter Finals 1958 

Good crowds at that time, but the gate receipts are something else 😆

58,250 at the Hawthorns raising £8,050 (that's about 14p per person), Fulham 11p, Blackburn 15p and Bolton really expensive at 24p per person.

 

Mud

January 1970 West Ham v Man Utd, fighting out a 0-0 draw

World Cup Winners Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst all playing on a mud heap of a pitch in 1970, but it was great 😆

Premier League 1992

Daily Mirror guide to the "new" Premier league in 1992.

Interesting season with Man Utd winning their first title in 25 years, the top 5 consisted of United, Aston Villa, Norwich, Blackburn and QPR. Previous champions Leeds ended up 17th?

The rest of the "so called Big 6" ended up with Liverpool 6th, Tottenham 8th, Man City 9th, Arsenal 10th and Chelsea 11th. 

Emlyn Hughes gives his thoughts on the new Premier league in 1992.

Emlyn's verdict on the eventual winners Man Utd? "I fear they may miss out again"

 

Advert for Radio 5 from 1992

Denis Law

Denis Law at his first club Huddersfield in the late 50's

 

Arsenal V Man Utd 1956

Arsenal V Man Utd 1956

Dennis Evans and Jim Fotheringham of Arsenal, Tommy Taylor and Dennis Viollet for Man Utd.

Tommy Taylor would sadly be one of the victims of the 1958 tragedy.

 

F.A Cup Final 1948

The 1948 FA Cup Final. Man Utd beat Blackpool 4-2.
Johnny Carey holding the cup.

 

 

Stuart Pearson

Stuart Pearson, former Hull, Man Utd, West Ham and England striker.

 

Man Utd 1977

Manchester United team 1977/78 season.Fresh off the back of a FA Cup win with Hill and Coppell on the wings they were a really good team to watch, but only finished 10th in this year.

 

Man Utd v Liverpool

Early 70's action from Man Utd v Liverpool
In picture Man Utd's John Fitzpatrick and Liverpool's Peter Thompson and Emlyn Hughes

 

Jimmy Greaves

Some more old cuttings of Jimmy Greaves.

Jimmy Greaves in action for Chelsea against Leeds in 1958
Leeds players are Jack Charlton, Wilbur Cush and goalie Royden Wood.

Man Utd vs Chelsea late 50's.
Jimmy Greaves, Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes

1958 F.A Cup Final

The 1958 Cup Final was between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United. It took place just 3 months after the Munich Tragedy.
Bolton won 2-0 with both goals by Nat Lofthouse, the 2nd where he barged Harry Gregg and the ball into the net (which was legal at the time).

 

 

Nat Lofthouse of Bolton Wanderers holding the 1958 FA Cup after a 2-0 win over Manchester United, and Matt Busby being helped away still suffering from the injuries of the plane crash.

Football Games

60's Football game Soccerama, never had or played that one. 

 

 

I had the Casdon Bobby Charlton one which was great. 

Of course Subbuteo was the one that most of us wanted

Used to play Subbuteo at my Scottish cousins house when I was a kid, he only had 2 teams Aberdeen and Celtic and I always had to be Celtic as he was a Dons fan.
Anyway here's an ad for the special Munich 74 edition.

Greatest Game

Len Cantello of West Brom, remember him best for a cracking goal he scored in one of the best games I ever saw on telly when West Brom won 5-3 at Old Trafford in 1978.

Man Utd 3 West Brom 5
Highlights of West Brom's 5-3 win at Old Trafford on December 30th 1978.

Thinking about this, was there ever a game with so many "goal of the month" contenders?

 

Bad Tempered Game

1965 FA Cup Semi Final, Man Utd V Leeds.
This game finished 0-0, Leeds won the replay 1-0, Lively game with a mass flare up after Jackie Charlton tried to swap shirts with Denis Law before the end.

 

Ed Stewart

George Best and Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart.
Ed was famous as a DJ, Top of the Pops and Crackejack presenter, and was an Everton fan.
Everyone knows George.

 

Crystal Palace 1969

From Shoot magazine October 1969.
The story of the start of Crystal Palace's first season in the First Division.

Steve Kember playing for Crystal Palace against Man Utd in the late 60's.

Kids Kits

Congratulations to Bayern Munich winning this season's Champions League.
This advert for kids kits from 1973 looks alright apart from the Munich kit looking more like Barcelona?
Sure they must have screwed up?

 

Shoot

During the late 60's and early 70's I would regularly buy Shoot magazine, also one called Goal.
Sadly as a kid you didn't think of saving them for the future for nostalgia purposes and as far as I know none of them were saved.
A few years back an old workmate gave me a copy from 1969 so here are a few pages from that issue.

 

First up former West Ham player Peter Eustace playing for Sheffield Wednesday.

 

 

Cardiff City from 1969, in the 2nd Division at the time and in those days were regulars in Europe due to winning the Welsh Cup.
John Toshack went to Liverpool soon after, and Leighton Phillips went on to get 58 caps for Wales. 

 

Roy McFarland of Derby 1969

 

 Two of the all time greats, George Best and Bobby Charlton.

 

 Bobby Graham of Liverpool

Jimmy Robertson of Arsenal 1969

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