All the away games I went to in the 70s and 80s, I went in with the home fans

I never saw any trouble at all. A Manyoo fan once glared and pumped his fists at me and stonked off in a huff when (I think) Macari scored a last minute winner against us: I think that was one of Fash's first games, but I'm notoriously bad at remembering these things. It may've been a different game when Gordon McQueen was leaning all over Fash who was trying to shield the ball, and Fash reached an arm around McQueen and picked him up and sort of put him somewhere else. Free kick to Manyoo, that.

Anyway: never saw any danger. Mostly they'd chat. I did have to moderate my behaviour, mind. I had to clap their better moves, though I never clapped a home goal. And I could clap our goals, I just couldn't give it the big celebration.

See, you got a better view from halfway, and it always struck me as more dangerous to stand with a couple of hundred definitely away fans.

Also, thinking about it, while there was a much greater sense of danger back then, I think there's a higher level of hatred nowadays. It's like we want to hate each other A LOT, and spit and throw things, but not actually throw down and demand a fight. Odd, that.

Posted By: Sugbad The Bad, Oct 16, 17:29:54