Football specials memories
I was on the specials to Goole in 78, Alty in 82 and York in 86.
These 'specials' really were wonderful occassions, which used to carry
between approx 500-1000 fans, they seemed to be made up of 75% Wanderers die hards
and 25% complete bevvy merchants from the town, whom used to treat it like a day out to the seaside.
So lets have your memories of all the specials from Runcorn,Blyth,Minehead,Bridgend ect !!
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The Alty 82 train. Marched to and from the ground by police. No refreshments en-route. Marathon trip back after train failures, etc arriving back in Wycombe about 2 in the morning having not had anything to eat or drink since breakfast. Worth it for the result. (Pity about the second leg)
I can recall going to Minehead by car but would love to see photos of the train at Minehead as I'm a member of the West Somerset Railway - the line that runs from near Taunton to Minehead.
I went to Goole, Bridgend & Runcorn and recall the police lined up with their dogs immediately outside Runcorn station.
The Goole tie was certainly eventful, in between pre match fighting, 90 minutes of rival fans fighting and after match scrapping a game of football took place, where we dissapointedly lost 2-1 on a waterlogged pitch. I remember the team travelled back on the special in what was quite a miserable atmosphere.
There was a huge number of police (and dogs) at Blyth. We were bused from the station (Morpeth I think) with an escort, flashing lights and outriders stopping local traffic so we could go straight through red lights. The one game where we would've liked to have seen the old bill was Goole. That was one of the roughest and frightening games I've been to. I can still remember the Goole crew, stood behind us, singing 'we will, we will stab you' to the tune of Queens 'We will rock you' (which, at the time, was little more than an obscure B side).
Pretty sure there wasn't a train to minehead, a) because I didn't get to many away games but did that one and distinctly remember five coaches b) because minehead wasn't connected to the rail network at the time.
Odd how the old timers always seem to remember games with football violence the most fondly! Were you there for the football?
I wasn't into WWFC so much during the 80s, apart from a glance at the back pages of the BFP from time to time, so missed out on these trains.
I was however working on the railways upto '84, so am interested in the make up of these trains. I assume they departed from High Wycombe and were made up of MK1 carriages and were loco hauled.
We really need Monsoon back to provide the technical details...loco class etc.
Do any photos exist?
I remember Goole after some prick smashed me over the back of the head with a lump of wood,a bloody miserable day all round.
Gordon
memories are sketchy, but as I recall the carriages were gold plated (I think they were using orient express rolling stock) and they were hauled by a herd of white unicorns dressed in pink tutus.
Either that or it looked to the uninitiated like a pretty bog standard train!
The York trip I took the future Mrs Fit2drop and her mate, they were going to have a an afternoon in York whilst I went to the footy. At York station the police were waiting with dogs to escort us to the ground. The fuzz insisted that Mrs and mate went to the game. A huge amount of shouting and eventually got to talk to a rozzer with both brain cells working the girls were allowed to go off sight seeing.
We lost, I think the girls had a better day than us.
There was definitely no train for the Minehead game, I had to get a lift in a mates car, one of the most frustrating games I have ever watched, In the dying moments of the match I remember a Minehead player hiding the ball up the back of his shirt to waste time, even we don't do that !
My mistake there was no 'special' for Minehead, and in response to @DevC usual attempt at trolling/provocation, I can assure you that i have never met anyone who remembers the Goole game fondly.
The cub announced the 'special' to Alty for the Trophy semi in 82, would be a dry train. Clearly Wanderers fans made plans for this event, and an awful lot of Cromby and Trench coats for a mild April day appearred at the station, mainly due to there deep and inside pockets that were ideal for 'bevvy smuggling. One long term fan(now sadly deceased) got the smuggle plans slightly confused, he correctly came armed with a black Cromby, but even they couldn't disguise the two Watney's Party sevens he'd brought along. He along with those wearing more light weight jackets, had to leave their booze in lockers at the station. which were gleefully collected at about 2am the next morning.
Well the gasman has http://gasroom.co.uk/ a little feature on the train travels, I still have my away-day to York guide featured! Just for the record we were the featured card players in BFP. I must state that the Lemonade bottles we boarded with were not R.Whites!
Dayla ??
The link on the original Gasroom is at http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=31465;article=789648;title=gasroom.co.uk and really is a terrific read. No doubt a nice bit of nostalgia for those senior/lucky enough to have been old enough to experience the trips!
@ReadingMarginalista It certainly was. I am forever thankful for a certain group of Wycombe supporters who did so much in the 80's as volunteers for the club running the Programme shop, Putting the match-day Programme together, stewarding on train trips and other events introducing me to the fantastic football fanzine culture, latterly on line. organizing subsidised independent travel. I could go on. I will actually share a beer with three of these fine stalwarts tomorrow. But back to your point, yes a lot of history has happened over the years and that is what makes us and me so proud and yes lucky to have been around to share in it.
I remember all the players travelling with us back from Blyth in 1979, also standing on Morpeth station listening to Andy Williams and Howard Wells joking with them, then all the players coming round to all the carriages in small groups to chat to the fans. I have the match programme with a complete set of autographs (apart from Howard Kennedy, who I somehow missed).
One odd random memory from the match - just before kick-off, our players formed a line and acknowledged all our fans. Happens pretty much every match these days, but back then I don't remember it ever happening much, even for the really big games. Don't remember the players clapping the fans much at the end of games either.
Your right Mr Newbs, it rarely happened in those days, carrying on from your memories of players travelling back with the fans.
After the Goole match Wanderers fans were clearly very upset with what went on and off the pitch. I recall the not over popular John Priestley asking a fan to give up his seat or move along, to which the Irate fan replied " After your performance Priestley, you should stand all the way back".
Despite not being first choice, Peter Spittle seemed to feature in our biggest cup dissappointments in those days, The Trophy defeats at Goole and home to Hayes, and FA cup games at Maidstone and Minehead all featured Mr Spittle.
Wasn't it at Maidstone where he just got his finger tips to a free kick, but it still sailed into the top corner? A fine attempt at a save, apart from the fact that it was indirect so his finger tips made it a goal!
Your correct not one of Spittle's finest moments i believe, between 75 - 79, Peter had a number of attempts to displace John Maskell as he was nearing the end of his career, but Mask always regained the number 1 shirt, until Gary Lester was signed in 1979 from Chalfont St Peter, who for the next decade was a superb glovesman for the Wanderers.