Kaiserlauten was certainly special - also some of my family are Spurs season ticket holders and I was once given the chance to sit in with them to see Watford play there in the GT days - we won easily and I had to behave myself as I was surrounded by Spurs fans - by the end I was bursting to shout out
Yes, I went Norway. Travelled by train via Paris and got to Kaiserslautern about half five in the morning. Had a great time although the walk from the ground to the station afterwards was a bit dodgy!!
When we got to Kaiserslautern we found somewhere to eat and strangely, the Germans in the cafe thought we were Watford players!!! We were signing autographs for the customers - one of my mates who was a bit weighty and white was signing as John Barnes!!! We had lots of good German beer throughout the day and it was all good natured but on arriving at the station to go home we were confronted with a largish gang of German fans looking for trouble - thankfully it died down due to the Polizei arriving in the nick of time. All in all a great trip although the ferry crossing from Dieppe to Newhaven was as close to death as i ever want to be - a 4 hour trip that lasted 6 and a half hours due to rough seas. The return leg was less eventful.
Good story Warrington ,like the JB bit Was in Cairo years ago whilst backpacking and was mistaken for Alexis Lallas US footy player, so donned my best american accent and my travelling companion and I had a free nosh! just as well as we were both skint!
A particularly dreadful game that sticks in the mind was an old Div. 2 game away at a half-finished St James Park, Newcastle in November 1990. The mighty Toon Army was 13,700 strong (weak?) and we had about 74 there! It is still just about the coldest game I can remember (and I was at the Torquay game when snow came through the old Main Stand roof and extra-time was played). I stood in the Leazes end which was being redeveloped and about a dozen steps high! There was no cover and the wind whistled off the North Sea right through the game (and me). Gary Porter missed a first half penalty, and Mick Quinn (yes, that one) scored a penalty about 15 minutes from the end. Both sets of supporters were booing constantly and, in fact, both managers were sacked after that game - Colin Lee for us and Ossie Ardiles for the Magpies. Oh, the memories......
Anybody go to the last away game of 1978-79 at Hillsborough when we needed to win to have any chance of going up from the old Div. 3? It is one of the most memorable (and important games) I can recall after we looked like throwing away a second successive promotion after being points clear at one stage. I made a late decision to go, was late, had to go into the old Kop (full of rabid Wednesdayites) and missed the first goal (Blissett). We were that goal up at half-time and then 2-1 down with around 20 minutes to go with the Owls fans gloating that we weren't going up (always such a sporting lot). The weather was very cold with snow in the air (for early May!) and it looked like a very long trip home. Miracles happened (as they frequently did under GT). A Bolton penalty and a Jenkins miskick gave us a 3-2 win. I have never been so outwardly silent and inwardly roaring as that afternoon. The Wednesday fans were livid, tumbling down the terracing at Bolton when he saluted them after his penalty (which, as usual, nearly broke the net). I walked all the way back to the station about a foot off the ground - no Wednesday fan noticed..... Of course we went on to beat Hull 4-0 in the last game, go up to Div. 2 and the rest is history. But I wonder sometimes what would have happened to us if Ross's miskick hadn't bobbled in, the ref hadn't given a somewhat dubious penalty and Gillingham had beaten us to the last promotion place.
Your going down the road of many what ifs there Vic! I remember the first one at Newcastle!(had cancelled that one until you reminded me!) I stayed up there at our sister bike club in Durham! match was crap , the nightlife was fun
Oh God! That Torquay match. BRRRRRR! Utterly frozen that night, had lots of medicinal brandy after that game! Another grim night out was the 0-5 drubbing at Coventry (having beaten Southampton and Forest in the previous rounds). Packed in like sardines, could only see half the pitch... 0-5... Wimbledon at Selhurst Park - rained a monsoon too. On a glorious note, anyone go to the FA Cup win at Wolves in the late 70's? 0-0 with 15 minutes to go, on comes there sub, breaks his leg first tackle, and we go on to win convincingly 3-0. I recall it was on MotD, Des Lynam commentating, saying that the Woves fans were in good voice when it was us! Mind you some maggot kicked my Dads car door in as we were stuck in traffic getting out of town. Never liked 'em since.
My dads car window was put through on the cup semi final win v Plymouth how to go from happiness to anger in seconds!
worst game: v West Brom away some time in the 80s. Went by car on my own because I was on my way up to the in-laws further north. Parked up somewhere near the M5 about fifteen mins walk to the ground. We lost 3-1. At the end we all poured out, all you lot went one way (to the station and coaches I suppose) and me on me own went the other way. Voice in head says 'take your scarf off, twat.' Another voice says,'Why should I? It's a free country, I'm a hornet and I'm proud etc.' Mistake. As I got further from the ground I realised I was being followed by a noisy bunch of baggies doing mockney type japing. Two hundred yards from the car- will I make it? Should I leg it? No, be a man! Mistake. As I lay there and the boots flew in I muttered something like 'crikey chaps, what do you do when you lose??' Horrible horrible experience. Best games- some of the above mentioned but also beating Ipswich any time - Mrs GG is a Tractor Person.
Ouch not good Gordon, remember going to Stoke and getting a couple of punches in the loo`s but not a kickin like that! Ipswich was the first time my mum wanted to go to an away game , we won ,but the memory was of a bloke on the coach dying for a wee, the driver stopped and let him off , then drove off and left the poor bugger there!!
Remember the Wednesday game well! Weâd played them at The Vic only a couple of weeks earlier and a Wednesday fan had been attacked at Watford High Street station and their fans were out for revenge. When the travel club coaches arrived at Hillsborough their fans attacked the coaches â the one I was on had a metal bar thrown through the back window. The coaches then drove away from the ground and wouldnât go back until the match had kicked off. Me and my mates got to the ground about twenty past three and had to stand on the Kop (and keep very quiet). There were kids staggering around the terracing drunk!!!! When we scored the winner with a couple of minutes to go we thought it best to try and look disappointed and leave with the masses of Wednesday fans and then push our way through the Police cordon to get to the coaches. Talking of matches when it was cold reminds me of Oldham (itâs cold there in a heat wave) away in about 1980/81 or 1981/82 when it was one of only two matches played in the country. Their ground had under soil heating but the pitch was like an ice rink. The trains were cancelled so a coach was laid on at the last minute. We stood in front of the main stand and froze â there were only a handful of Watford fans there and the open terrace behind the goal was not opened - Roger Palmer scored for them and Ross Jenkins equalised. Also, around the same time we played Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park â thatâs the coldest Iâve ever been â my feet didnât thaw out until the coaches got to the motorway services at Birmingham! The entertainment didnât help as it ended up 0-0.
Wednesday - was all this why their fans smashed cars up all the way down Occupation Road past the allotments a few years later when we beat them 4-1 at home? ... Or was it just that they don't like losing?
Best: Whilst there were plenty of highs throughout the glory years of the 80's the '99 playoff final was just, for me, the complete package. Flying back from the US, seeing us reach the Prem via two great goals, winning money on a 2-0 bet and then meeting up with friends (who did not know I was back) and partying with the rest of the town. Perfect day. Worst: Equally plenty to choose from. This season alone our home game against Scunthorpe was pretty awful considering how well we did this year. Not sure what it is about Scunny, eh NNW? However, our 5-0 hammering away at Wimbledon in our first Prem season was awful and truly depressing as it pretty much confirmed not just that we'd be relegated but that we'd be plum last. Wimbledon were woeful that season as well.