Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Ukrainian Alty]

With my health in woeful decline and me not being sure when I will be able to make my next game, I have decided to place all the Alty related stuff that I have accrued over the years, but mainly collected when I was a young Alty fan onto this thread.  Most of the newspaper clips were found along the way whilst I was conducting Family History research during the last 20 years or so. 

If we are promoted to EFL in the summer I will miss the FA Trophy and the annual chance to perhaps take down one of the big clubs in the sort of David and Goliath encounters that have so defined us over the decades that I have followed the Robins. Therefore, today I shall start with the 3-1 victory in the Trophy Final against Leatherhead at Wembley in 1977/78.  I know that we could still claim some big scalps in the FA and Caribou Cups but somehow for me it will never carry quite the same quedos.  If you have anything to add or contribute about that day or anything that features in the coming days, please feel able to so.


Double click on thumbnails to see full image

Here are the match programme covers from the semi-finals and the Wem-ber-ley one.  I remember how disappointed I was when we only managed to hold them to 0-0 during the home leg of the semi-final.  After the game a mass brawl broke out on Stamford Park.  It became known, typically for the era as the Battle of Stamford Park.  No Vikings were in attendance.

Apres la bataille de Stamford it was with some trepidation that I went to Canal Street by coach to see the second leg.  We got lost on the way there.  The driver didn't have a clue where he was going and we ended up almost launching the coach into the Manchester Ship Canal at Weston Point (Runcorn Docks).  When we arrived at the ground our end was already full and we were told that we had to go into the home end.  I have never before or since been as restrained as I was when Mal Bailey, former Runcorn player, whose banjo had never seen a barn door, scored the only goal of the game.  There was only 7 or 8 minutes left to go at that stage and they seemed like they were the longest minutes of my life.  What a day that was and I avoided getting 'docked' after the game.

Double click on thumbnail to see full image

I don't feel as if I need to say anything about the final.  Everthing that needs to be said is covered by the following press clippings.  Their were a lot of Red and white flags that day. Literally thousands. 

Double click on thumbnail to see full image

The Runcorn Guardian's take on the loss to Alty in the Semi and what the M.E.N. had to say about it.  We took the headline in the Manchester Evening News Pink Final .  Only those of us who were alive before t'interweb will know what the Pink Final was and how its passing has eroded away a much loved aspect of football culture.  I remember the Pink Final guy setting himself up on the corner of Moss Lane and Stamford New Road where he used to sell the results paper every Saturday at about 5.30pm.

Tomorrow I plan to add Spurs v Alty 1979.

[swindellsworth]

Fabulous memories once again Ukrainian . I went to every game bar Workington away on the 78 run and can remember bits about every game . I felt a Wembley tingle after we beat a very good Matlock in the 3rd round . Apart from a Heathcote 'special' v Winsford all i can recall is our resident DJ Neal Davies announcing over the tannoy after the last goal "Jeffrey Johnson gerrin our 4th,  that surely ties it up" and upsetting the Winsford fans in the stand ! That semi was as tense as it gets with both teams feeling the pressure . Good old Mally took that off big time  , Wembley here we come . The final was expected to be another 'battle' but we came out totally focused  with our 'game on' heads while the leatherheads were waving to their mates etc in the crowd , game over .The Trophy win was the start of our great and unforgettable era at the pinnacle of the non league world. Wonderful to witness all of that ....just like now actually.  Looking forward to your next instalment  , i sincerely hope you are ok , i wish you well.

[JTH]

Fantastic clippage action there UA. I went to every game of the run - if it wasn't for a magnificant last minute tip over from Tommy Cavanagh it might've ended at the first hurdle on a murky Cumbrian afternoon. So may great memories, Ian Morris's cross that went in to equalise vs Matlock, going behind against Winsford to come roaring back in the quarter final and yes that 2nd leg at Canal Street which tested the powers of keeping emotions under wraps of quite of a few of us as you say. Keep it coming!   

[Ukrainian Alty]

There was only 7 or 8 minutes left to go at that stage and they seemed like they were the longest minutes of my life. 

I was wrong about that. Mal scored in the 57th minute.  No wonder it seemed so long until the final whistle!

Thank you for your comments as always appreciated.



We certainly got our Swindell's worth in 1966/67 (unlike EMI with the Pistols in '76).



Where did that come from?

[Saughall Robin]

Yes. Remember that Rhyl game well. Particularly the Golf Road chanting "we want nine, we want nine"! 😊😊

[Ukrainian Alty]

On 29th April 1978 the same sunny day that Alty won the FA Trophy on their first visit to Wembley, I doubt that many of us would have paid much attention to the two short words inserted above the headline 'Robins Trophy Romp' in the MEN Pink Final  ...little did we know how it would affect us some months later.

Click on thumbnail to see full image
Manchester Evening News Pink Final
29 April 1978
I think that It would be fair to say that Spurs had gone through a pretty torrid time since winning a league and cup double back in 1961. Arsenal were well and truly ensconced as the most significant club in North London. However, that was all about to change.  The 1978 World Cup Finals were held in Argentina that summer and the home nation won the tournament whist showcasing some extrordinary talent.  Within about ten days of the closing ceremony, Keith Burkinshaw, Spurs manager, had obtained the signatures of two star players, namely, they were, of course, Osvaldo (Ossie) Ardiles and Ricardo (Ricky) Villa. It has to be said that Spur's climb out of Division two was taken without assistance from the two Argentines who signed for Spurs on 9th July 1978.

About nine months later and then this...

F.A. Challenge Cup 3rd Round Draw...
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR of the Football League 1st Division v ALTRINCHAM of the Northern Premier League.

No worries there then, I mean, after all, we were the Premier League outfit.

The game was scheduled for Saturday 6th January but didn't go ahead because White Hart Lane was... White  Where did all that snow come from so quickly?  The scary walk to the ground and back from Northumberland Park Station would have to wait another day or two longer.
The fixture was rearranged to take place on 10th January 1979 and the game was given the go ahead.  A 'Football Special' train was chartered to take us to London and I could perhaps be forgiven for thinking that this would be first time (and perhaps the last time) that we had our own train to take us to a game.  That was, until I came across this.

Click the thumbnail on the right first
Runcorn Guardian 13th March 1907


Click on the thumbnails to see full images
30th December 1978
Manchester Evening News


11th January 1979
Daily Mirror

[TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe]

Splendid memories, but just a few observations.

Ardiles and Villa were not involved in Spurs' promotion from Division Two during the 1977/78 season, and The Falklands War took place in 1982.

The rescheduled FA Cup Third Round tie at White Hart Lane actually took place on Wednesday, 10th January 1979. That was a long but very enjoyable train journey back home to Cheshire!

[swindellsworth]

Brilliant stuff mate . I will reply in full when i study in more detail but for now i noticed in the 'minor' results that Salford Amateurs ( now Salford City ) lost 1-0 to North Withington in the Manchester League Cup. Of all the results in the Pink that day strangely that one took my eye more than most !!!

[Ukrainian Alty]

Splendid memories, but just a few observations.

Ardiles and Villa were not involved in Spurs' promotion from Division Two during the 1977/78 season, and The Falklands War took place in 1982.

The rescheduled FA Cup Third Round tie at White Hart Lane actually took place on Wednesday, 10th January 1979. That was a long but very enjoyable train journey back home to Cheshire!

Yes, too many errors there.  I will be taking a break from posting on here until my health improves.  I have posted the rest of the 1979 Spurs images below but without any commentary.  Back soon hopefully.



Sorry about the 1995 3-0 image.

[One Foot in the Grave]

Another thing that catches the eye on the Pink front page is Southport's 3-2 defeat at Watford in Division 4. At the end of that season Watford were the runaway champions, but Southport failed to gain re-election. Their chairman subsequently declined the chance for them to join us in the new Alliance League because he thought it was "a benefit for the Southern clubs". Poor misguided soul....

[swindellsworth]

Wow yeah that was a massive o.g. by them , maybe the real reason was finance related but defo no ambition to get back in the League again .
Fascinating reading through all the results , no one could have predicted then that the likes of Harrogate , Crawley , Fleetwood , Forest Green , Sutton , Accy , Morecambe , Salford , Burton etc etc would ever be League clubs and then there were all those that came and went like Rushden & D  ,
 Dagenham & R , Scarborough and the like.

[swindellsworth]

Wonderful stuff Ukrainian and blasts from the past that bring back so many great memories . Other than the draw with Spurs the only other 'special' train i can remember was to Buxton for the postponed Trophy game in 1973 when the snow must have been at least a foot deep ! 
 What was apparent back in the day was that the top tier sides would play their strongest teams against non league opposition in the FA Cup and which was the case in all our 7 games against First Division clubs , something that would never happen nowadays .
 No need at all to apologise for a couple of little timeline errors mate , most of us often do likewise , me for instance ! and with your health not like you would want it to be it's totally understandable .  What's far more important is your obvious love and devotion to this great club of ours . Look after yourself and we look forward to when you feel well enough to post some more brilliant nostalgia . 👍👏

[Sale Holmfield]

Great posts, Ukrainian Alty, which do bring back the memories. I hope your health improves.

I think we also had special trains for the Rotherham Fa Cup game in 1979, and for all three FA Trophy Finals.  We certainly did for the first two, whixh I used, but I was living on the south coast at the time of the 1986 final against Runcorn; I travelled north to Wembley then, where I met some family friends who had been given a bottle of pop or something by my mother to give to me, but it was confiscated by the Metropolitan Police so I never even saw it!