Going To Millwall

An old workmate was a regular Millwall fan had often asked if I wanted to go with him to a game.
Being a West Ham fan I wasn't too keen for obvious reasons, then in 1984 they were due to play Southend (my 2nd team) so I took the plunge. 

He drove us down there in his old battered Cortina and at the time it was the old Den in Cold Blow Lane,  the area was a bit of a wasteland with piles of rubbish everywhere and old disused warehouses. The Isle of Dogs was nothing like it is today but this was a few years before Canary Wharf and turning the area into the upmarket one it is now.

As it goes I quite enjoyed it, there wasn't many people there and the ground was one of those really old run down ones that I like, remember thinking the floodlights were about 10 candle power as it seemed really dim, and it was obviously on the Concord flightpath as that went over. As I made my way through the terraces we saw famous Millwall fan Danny Baker.

When the game kicked off I was a bit worried that I could be in trouble if Southend scored and would have to control myself, but didn't need to worry as Millwall won 4-0 which was probably for the best.

I did go to several more games there after with him and it always seemed pretty friendly!!

Here is the programme which is a bit confusing as it says it was a morning kick off on the 1st April, but the game was actually played on a Wednesday night on the 18th April. I can't remember why the original game had been postponed but probably wouldn't have gone if it had taken place on the original day?

Football Programmes

Back in the old days (the early 70's) I remember saving up my pocket money to buy cheap bundles of football programmes from this guy Steve Earl (just checked and he's still going).
I guess they were pretty cheap in those days as I didn't have much money.

I remember owning a box load of weird and wonderful programmes including the 1966 World Cup Tournament and Final Programmes.

Sadly most got sold on in the early nineties when I was really strapped for cash and would sell anything to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, which is where most of my record collection and toy car collection went as well 😢

 There were other sellers around at the time, but the Steve Earl one never let me down. 

Twitter

I've just started a Twitter page for old football pictures.

The plan is to give me the motivation to update this sadly neglected blog, and give anyone who likes this stuff but doesn't want to enter the Twitterverse a chance to see and remember some of this nostalgia.

West Ham Colts 1959

Probably the oldest West Ham programme I own is this one from the 1958/9 season, this was the Quarter final replay against Aston Villa which they won 3-2.

 

In the Semi-final they beat Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate after drawing the home leg 1-1 they won the away leg 1-0.
The FA Youth cup final saw them take on Blackburn, again they drew the home leg 1-1 but they narrowly lost 1-0 in the second leg to a disputed goal in extra time.

The line up is interesting as Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst went on to become England internationals and achieve world fame in 1966.
Eddie Bovington, Jack Burkett and Tony Scott had long careers at Upton Park and Harry Cripps went on to become a legend at Millwall after failing to play a league game for West Ham.

The squad had a very successful season as well as making this final they won the Southern junior floodit cup with a 1-0 win over Chelsea, and also beat an England youth XI by 8-1.