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General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: JTH on April 28, 2009, 12:47:51 PM
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we leathered them
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I was there - my 3 year old son touched the cup! He never stopped talking about it for days (and hates to be reminded of it nowadays ::))
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oh what a day that was
was it really in april ,
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Ahh yes, Leathering the heed. Those were the days.
JTH, do you have a nostalgia app on your phone or is it just the onset of dementia where thirty years ago seems like only yesterday, but yesterday seems like another planet?
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makes me feel very old
what a day that was
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I was sat at the near the top of the steps from the presentation and was therefore THE FIRST (OK among the first) Alty fan to touch "The Great Pumpkin". My (older) cousin, who grew up in Alderley Edge when his dad worked on the News Chronicle (now the Sun) moved to Leatherhead when his dad moved to the Sunday People enjoyed the match. (His only other Alty game bizarrely was Middlewich vs Alty in CSC which he didn't enjoy so much - but if you had to pick two games to show the peaks and troughs of following Alty not a bad two to pick!).
Chris Kelly ignored by "Kelly, Kelly whats the score" as he walked down the steps but Swannell (Leatherhead goalie) was gracious in defeat - "Best team won" he said. He would have been the first player ever to win an Amateur Cup winner and FA Trophy winners medal, but instead that honour went to Stan Allen.
Oh to be 16 on a balmy spring day in London again!
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A superb day.
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What a day....the first trip to Wemberley.
It was truelly special with too many memories to list.
Wouldn't happen these days though.....9 people in a Ford Granada Estate belting down the M1....4 of us in the boot.
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Yip that was a great day in many ways. I helped organise a coach from the Moss Hotel.
I can assure you that the people of Leatherhead have also not forgotten it, as I go there occasionally as its the HQ of the Surrey FA.
Leatherhead now play in the same League as my local side, Merstham in the Ryman South (step 4). Its quite a nice little ground and club, but way off Conference standard if they ever were to rise again.
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I wish i was sat on that train, on my way to wembley, now Knowing what i know now and earning the same money i earn now , there would be no need to go robbing from off licences
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JTH,
Apologies for being an Alty FC pedant....but you are actually a day too early!
The 1978 FA Trophy Final took place on Saturday, 29th April.
Possibly still my favourite ever match involving Alty.
Whatever did happen to the legendary Joe Flaherty?
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Yip that was a great day in many ways. I helped organise a coach from the Moss Hotel.
Redhill Alty,
I travelled down to Wembley that day on a coach organised by regulars at The Moss, way back in the days when "Hissing Sid" was the landlord.
Alas, I was too young to indulge in the celebrations in The Moss when the coach arrived home....
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My first ever trip to Wembley, I was in awe that day, went with my dad and grandad to that one.
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Mine too, so excited as a 16 yr old, I got drunk on the coach, sang my heart out, Bounced down the steps with The Gazelle on the way out, and still made a party in Sale Moor about 11ish where I bored the tits off anyone who would listen. Kingy taking his shirt off, JR's volley in very early, the potential row outside with "Leatherhead fans" in butchers coats, rescued by some big Man U boys....sure that's the bit in the first hoolie novel.....chips and gravy, jumpers for goal posts, embassy red filter, the Leather Heads flag, looking for our GAG coach outside, Blackpool team and fans at some service station giving us the big up, Leeds elsewhere looking for a row which didn't happen, going back to Moss Lane on the Sunday to see the team and cup, with the pitch invasion and the Trophy being hurried inside for safe keeping afterthe lap of honour, Ray the ballboy guy missing the coach at Hilton Park getting locked in the bogs, finally getting home to a riled mum, jumping about singing drunk in my bedroom, and really really enjoying my first trip to Wembley and seeing Alty lift the Trophy. My memories from 31 years ago, like it was yesterday.
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Lived in North Manchester at the time and didn't have transport (apart from my Yammy) so hired a car to get down there. My mum minded the baby so that my wife, two elder kids and my 7 year old brother-in-law (!) could make the trip. One of the highlights for me was coming back through London and switching on the car radio to hear the correspondent from Capital Radio - or whatever station had the same frequency as Piccadilly down there) saying that the game was a great disappointment for him and that 2 quick goals from Altrincham spoiled it as a spectacle ... Not for me they didn't!!!!
My other enduring memory was the shooting in practice at the start when my 5 year old daughter kept thinking we'd scored and a Leatherhead fan with his son said to her that we weren't going to score today. I said I'd remind him of that when the first one went in - and I didn When the second went in, I turned round and his young son said glumly, "I think it's US who're not going to score today Dad, their team is fantastic!"
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Ah but how many of us turned up on the monday at Ewen fields for our 0-1 reverse in the NWFL? (Me, me I did!!)
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Ah but how many of us turned up on the monday at Ewen fields for our 0-1 reverse in the NWFL? (Me, me I did!!)
Mr Guru,
Didn't that NWFL fixture at Hyde United take place on the Tuesday after our victory at Wembley though?
I thought that we played our final league game of the season at home to Runcorn on Monday, 1st May 1978?
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i went to hyde with george and his bobble cap on the train, lots of robbies in the pub by the ground
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that was a great day out ...does anyone remember the match programme being very biased towards Leatherhead ? It annoyed the hell out of me at the time ...
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Great day out,i remember shaking the hand of some Leatherhead fans after the game,very friendly atmostphere all round.
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Cult - I stand corrected.
I was at the Runcorn match too!
I did turn up at Hyde 3 times during the season for the NWFL match - postponed on each occasion. A long walk from Denton for Hyde station I'll tell you. On one occasion, Hyde were training on the pitch as if to make the point in no uncertain terms that they felt the match weas playable.
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Cult
I am not too sure but I think there were 2 coaches from the Moss Hotel that went to Wembley.
I helped arrange the one that had the lads that drank in the Vault. Its so long ago that I cant remember some of the lads.
I recently met a Leatherhead fan who remembers that day well as he was drunk out of his skull by 10pm that night - I told him that most of us were that way by 10am that morning!!
Shortly after the Trophy Final Hissing Sid embarked on a barring spree and banned quite a few of the lads in the Vault. I didnt get barred as I avoided going in the Moss for about a week until his mission was over. What annoyed Hissing Sid was that he couldnt control us, even though he constantly reminded us that he was previously landlord of a notorious pub in Ancoats, I think called the Black Bear. I bet he has long since departed this world. I went past the Moss before the Stevenage game and it looked like the Vault no longer exists?
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Cult
I am not too sure but I think there were 2 coaches from the Moss Hotel that went to Wembley.
I helped arrange the one that had the lads that drank in the Vault. Its so long ago that I cant remember some of the lads.
I recently met a Leatherhead fan who remembers that day well as he was drunk out of his skull by 10pm that night - I told him that most of us were that way by 10am that morning!!
Shortly after the Trophy Final Hissing Sid embarked on a barring spree and banned quite a few of the lads in the Vault. I didnt get barred as I avoided going in the Moss for about a week until his mission was over. What annoyed Hissing Sid was that he couldnt control us, even though he constantly reminded us that he was previously landlord of a notorious pub in Ancoats, I think called the Black Bear. I bet he has long since departed this world. I went past the Moss before the Stevenage game and it looked like the Vault no longer exists?
Redhill Alty,
I'm trying to dredge up some names of those characters who used to frequent The Moss and who were also on the coach down to Wembley that day...
Keith Jackson
Les Cunnliffe
John Pimblott
Alan Dean
Ring any bells?
Wasn't Hissing Sid's son a corny DJ by the name of Keith Fane, who remarkably went on to land the job as the stadium announcer at Old Trafford?
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What a great day, still have my rossette sadly it is mispelt ALTRINGHAM FC, anyone else still got one of those?
Kingy's celebration (shirt-off) was the icing on the cake 3-0 up yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
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I remember some cardboard car "stickers" with a glue strip like on an envelope each end. I think we had them for Wembley and also the election bid but I can't recall the slogans.
Somewhere in the loft I still have a tasselled Wembley 78 pennant.
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What a great day, still have my rossette sadly it is mispelt ALTRINGHAM FC, anyone else still got one of those?
Kingy's celebration (shirt-off) was the icing on the cake 3-0 up yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I would loved to have seen the ref try and give him a booking for it at that point in time!!
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I remember some cardboard car "stickers" with a glue strip like on an envelope each end. I think we had them for Wembley and also the election bid but I can't recall the slogans.
Somewhere in the loft I still have a tasselled Wembley 78 pennant.
SW,
I seem to recall that those car stickers were emblazoned with the slogan "GO WEMBLEY WAY WITH ALTRINCHAM FC" and the date of the final.
Later versions for other occasions included:
(i) ALTRINCHAMPIONS (to mark winning the Alliance Premier League title in 1979/80);
(ii) ROBINS EAT YORKIES (when we played York City in the FA Cup in 1981).
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Redhill Alty,
I'm trying to dredge up some names of those characters who used to frequent The Moss and who were also on the coach down to Wembley that day...
Keith Jackson
Les Cunnliffe
John Pimblott
Alan Dean
Ring any bells?
Wasn't Hissing Sid's son a corny DJ by the name of Keith Fane, who remarkably went on to land the job as the stadium announcer at Old Trafford?
indeeed keith fane was sid and irene's son .Sid long gone he died a couple of years after they moved to cleveleys probably mid eighties
the above names were lounge drinkers, corner nearest the gents.
I cant remember many from the vault except Albert etc .warbie fromthe garage. you say it was rough redhill but i worked here for two years and cant recall a serious fight maybe a bit of boisterous banter
lounge names old john girven
Charlie and malcom Hewitt, walter snow old george that worked at lucas's, Howard Cartwright,Dave the mechanic from warbies, ? Coe from the newsagents at the ground (alex was his sons name the vickers from Lilac road, beasants Tony, was in charge of the slow and easy last new years day,Brian Kelly from the butchers on hermitage was never far from his bar stool on the corner god i am straining so hard i will have to visit the samll room. after hours 1/2 the altrincham police force
you cant mention the old moss without talking about the steakand onion barms from the pan that was never washed
Sid taught me one maxim i still use to this day.
You have to picture him, after time, park drive in side of mouth, 1/2 toby in hand ." so yer going to fancy catering college lad remember this, they wont teach yer this,
TITS sell beer"
RIP SId and irene I look back at you both with great affection and thank you for some happy days and nights.
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RIP SId and irene I look back at you both with great affection and thank you for some happy days and nights.
Seconded. Irene chucked me out of The Moss not long before my 18th, even though I only had a soft drink, but employed me a few days after my birthday. The after-hours advice I remember from Sid was "never drink dark mild", certainly not in The Moss, anyway, given some of his recycling techniques... I think bitter was 23p per pint in the lounge when I started, or 22p in the vault. Hemeling was the expensive stuff, at 41p, but I don't recall many people drinking it.
With regard to Sid's marketing technique, was Jackie the barmaid we worked with? She was very fond of The Shadows' Cavatina and quite often sloped off to stick 10p in the jukebox. I seem to remember that she eventually received a straight red from Sid for some offence or other.
Returning to Wembley, is it my imagination or was Steve Watson busy throwing up over a policewoman's foot when Alty's second went in?
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I remember some cardboard car "stickers" with a glue strip like on an envelope each end. I think we had them for Wembley and also the election bid but I can't recall the slogans.
Somewhere in the loft I still have a tasselled Wembley 78 pennant.
SW,
I seem to recall that those car stickers were emblazoned with the slogan "GO WEMBLEY WAY WITH ALTRINCHAM FC" and the date of the final.
Later versions for other occasions included:
(i) ALTRINCHAMPIONS (to mark winning the Alliance Premier League title in 1979/80);
(ii) ROBINS EAT YORKIES (when we played York City in the FA Cup in 1981).
Later version? I had that in the back of my Standard 10 in the '60s mate! (I've still got it actually)
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what a memory you have simon, yeh one of the barmaids was jackie
I had forgotten all about the wart chucking up on a lady police person.
my mother still whinges about me una and chris wrigley bringing back most of the golf course starting blocks just as she was about to show great aunty Kath out.
UNA and chris were regailing me with a story about them thinking i could walk on water (it was the cinder path) on the golf course . Cant think what we were doing coming home via the golf course i suppose we had been to the hare and hounds for some reason
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The after-hours advice I remember from Sid was "never drink dark mild", certainly not in The Moss, anyway, given some of his recycling techniques.
I recall being warned off ever ordering a pint of Sid's infamous dark mild concoction, too.
Mind you, I'm pretty certain that dark mild was the chosen drink of the legendary Jack Thorpe when he frequented The Moss and he is still going strong in his nineties, so perhaps it was the elixir of eternal life after all...?
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it literally contained everything . I would not be lieing if i told you the slops from the punters at the end of the night went back in it, not just the slops from the drip trays. probably with just enough fag ash to clear it in a finings type way.it used to make me laugh, there was a guy who came in every night and insisted on famous grouse told everyone it was the only whisky he could drink and he could tell the differnece down to the smallest percentage . little did he know that every blended whisky including his beloved grouse, came out of a gallon bottle of white horse or whatever brand sid had used that week.
does anyone remember how busy it used to be on xmas eve with everyone from the gas, shearings and Banners it was mayhem and if yer couldnt pull that day it was time to give it up.
even i got the odd snog
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I know this has gone a bit off topic, but it reminds me of when I'd started going out drinking about the same time 78-79, and my old gran advising me with a serious face never to drink dark mild. I doubt she'd ever been in The Moss either.
I did help out once at the bar at Alty festival on the sports field near The Grange Estate, we had a couple of beers on plus red and white wine. Some bird comes over and asked for a glass of rose, didn't know what to do so ended up with my back to her mixing a third red and two thirds white into the glass. Lovely she said.
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Cult/Gazelle
I don’t recall any of those names except Dave Bennett the Mechanic at Keith Warburton's garage next door and lived right across the road from the pub, and he was a big mate of mine in those days. I have a photo of him on the coach to Wembley. Keith always went in Moss with one of his brothers and Brian MacDonald a nice guy from the Broomwood. The others I do recall from the Vault are
Colin Thorpe - barred by Sid probably not long after the FA Trophy Final, now lives in the Warrington area.
Malc Thorpe - Col's elder brother who I am still in contact with and now lives in North West Wales from where he drives daily to work in Salford.
Roman Piakaski - family were all big Alty fans in the 60's and 70's
Albert Rowland, and his Dad also called Albert. Albert didn’t come to Wembley with us as he had a bird at the time called Fay Rowley who lived in Hale and she had him well under the thumb, so much that we sang a song in the Vault about it. Albert's son Vernum played for the Robins.
Duncan Walker - emigrated to South Africa in the early 90’s
Steve Hill - a big mate of Dave Bennett. It was Steve who I first heard use the nickname Hissing Sid.
Graham McCormack - The only Scouser that I have ever met that voluntarily paid up on a lost bet (1977 FA Cup Final). I use to baby-sit his kids. Has lived in the Warrington area for many years. Went on a different coach to Wembley as he viewed us as too boisterous.
Chris Howitt – I think gave up drinking on medical grounds. Has a brother called Nick.
The Robison brothers - Alan was barman at the Moss. They originally came from Sunderland.
Jack Whitty - Irishman from Ballyanne Co Wexford - his kids went to BTH with me
I also have some of those cars stickers somewhere in my loft. One reads ALTY FOR EVERton.
I recall claims of the slops going into the Mild. Has the Vault gone?
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Like sid alas the vault has long gone they made it into one big room in the late eighties.
i have not set foot in there for probably more than 25 years think i only went in once or twice after sid and irene left . the rot set in after the liverpool game and i had a falling out with irene over flags and xmas decorations it was an accident and it wasnt me but i got the blame because i have a big gob.
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it was an accident and it wasnt me but i got the blame because i have a big gob.
:D ;D the storyof those years in a nutshell?
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those years......................... its been a life time.
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I love reading these tales of old by you guys, perhaps you should write a book! or an expanded feature for the match programme next time we're involved in the FA cup/trophy.