50th Anniversary-Torquay v Spurs-FA Cup Third Round.

[Glostergull]

Thanks Ilsham. That's brilliant. The only thing for me was the writer turned up at 1pm. I was there at 1030am! It just about sums up the whole day mind. Brilliant! ... and Tommy Northcott? What a foil for Robin. I played loads of games with Tommy with Newton Abbot Spurs when he retired from pro football. A real lovely guy and an incredible footballer given his shape. His brother George as well was described by no less than Don Mills as a player who should have played for England. Tomorrow is the 45th anniversary of my debut for Torquay United reserves at a time when our first team were one of the best teams in what is now League 1. I will therefore mark the anniversary at the pub as we take on the might of Alfreton Town!

What I like though is how many old buggers are still about and care. Tomo, Trogan, SG, Wivel, Brucie, GS, Hector and many many more including of course yourself Ilsham.

I have printed off your excellent attachment and will be waving it in the faces of the Argyle supporters in the pub tomorrow. They of course lost 5-1 at home to the same Tottenham team only 2 years before, although I would have to confess that the average knuckle brained Argyle supporter would not know that!

I'm still around. Just. Need me Zimmer frame nowadays though

[stefano]

I'm still around. Just. Need me Zimmer frame nowadays though

Yes you were one of the ones I was thinking of when I added '...many many more'. Didn't have time to list everybody as my cocoa was ready before bed!

[Glostergull]

but did you have your tartan zip up bobble slippers on

[tomogull]

Mr IlshamSchmilsam. I am that writer!!

Great piece of writing Wivel - certainly brought the memories flooding back. But the ghost of this afternoon will last for ever - love it. Thanks for digging it out Ilsham. Stefano - yep, there are lots of us old buggers still about ! I had forgotten the collapsing roof of the Marnham Rd toilets until you reminded me ! Ilsham - you're right. Whilst Robin Stubbs was a great player, we shouldn't forget the role of Tommy Northcott in that side.

Dutchgull - Stubbs is probably the best forward ever to play for the club. It is difficult to compare him with players playing in other positions such as Sharpe, O'Kane, John Bond, Mark Loram, Alex Russell etc. But it's the players who score the goals who get remembered. The Spurs game was one of those 'I wuz there' memories - just like the Blackpool play off game at Wembley and the 'Carlisle has the ball, he crosses ...... Sills ... GOAL !!' back-in-the-league play off against Cambridge, games I'm sure will stick in your memory. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for more 'I wuz there' memories.

[Trojan 67]

What I like though is how many old buggers are still about and care. Tomo, Trogan, SG, Wivel, Brucie, GS, Hector and many many more including of course yourself Ilsham.

Ah yes, Trogan the well known typing error.

[stefano]

Ah yes, Trogan the well known typing error.

Or it could be that it is a soft 'g' and I just can't spell!

[Scott Brehaut]

Or it could be that it is a soft 'g' and I just can't spell!

Or, simply getting old and not being able to see....probably due to too much winking

[Dutchgull]

Great piece of writing Wivel - certainly brought the memories flooding back. But the ghost of this afternoon will last for ever - love it. Thanks for digging it out Ilsham. Stefano - yep, there are lots of us old buggers still about ! I had forgotten the collapsing roof of the Marnham Rd toilets until you reminded me ! Ilsham - you're right. Whilst Robin Stubbs was a great player, we shouldn't forget the role of Tommy Northcott in that side.

Dutchgull - Stubbs is probably the best forward ever to play for the club. It is difficult to compare him with players playing in other positions such as Sharpe, O'Kane, John Bond, Mark Loram, Alex Russell etc. But it's the players who score the goals who get remembered. The Spurs game was one of those 'I wuz there' memories - just like the Blackpool play off game at Wembley and the 'Carlisle has the ball, he crosses ...... Sills ... GOAL !!' back-in-the-league play off against Cambridge, games I'm sure will stick in your memory. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for more 'I wuz there' memories.

Cheers Tomogull
Thanks for that,

My earliest heroes were Andy Provan and Willie Brown and then after them Tommy Sermanni ! Who remembers them ?

[Behind-the-Gulls]

Willie Brown-not the greatest of footballers to be sure but had an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time and finding the back of the net.

[gateman49]

Me too, I was there as a spotty teenager.

I vividly remember news of the third round draw filtering into school one day in December 64 and the place went mad. I was already a committed fan as my maternal grandfather first took me to see the likes of Don Mills, Sammy Collins and Ronnie Shaw (I sat next to his daughter, Susan at primary school!) in the fifties. Grampa was a lifelong fan having played for Babbacombe (one of the two sides to amalgamate and form United) so I didn't really have much choice!

I recall getting to the ground mid morning so I was one of the first people in the queue outside the old 'greenhouse' gates at the Babbacombe end of Marnham Road. Of course, that meant waiting for hours but when I got in I sprinted to the railing exactly half way along the pop side and I got my place right at the front!

Then the crush began. There was a level area all along the front of the pop side a bit like the one there now but the difference from today was that anybody could stand anywhere. In normal matches the crowd might be two or three deep at the front, then there was a gap and then the terraces would house the rest. Of course, that gap was filled for the Spurs match so anybody on the level and at the back of this part of the pop side wouldn't have seen too much.

On a separate subject, in those days some fans used to bring in wooden orange boxes to stand on to improve their view and nobody batted an eyelid. A lot of the younger ones had wooden rattles (I think based on bird scarers). The club mascot, Norman? used to make batches of them and hand them out to us lads every now and then. Imagine someone coming to a match now with a wooden box and a wooden hand implement designed to be violently rotated either to the front or above the head. Security would have a field day.

Some older fans still wore trilby hats too so I had to be careful in choosing my vantage point until I reached six foot tall!

I'm afraid to admit that I was one of the invaders after the third goal but I didn't get far as I quickly realised that I might lose my place and climbed back over the fence. At the final whistle it was bedlam and I remember wandering around Cary Park afterwards talking to anybody and everybody.

Then came the replay and our headmaster had given stern warnings about not 'mitching' off (not his words!) to go to White Hart Lane so with that and my parents breathing down my neck at home, I had no chance of being there - ah well.

Yes, Stubbs was a legend although he couldn't match Sam Collins' goal scoring record so I'll leave that one there. I saw nearly all his home goals and many away ones too and the one that sticks out for me was a curler into the far top corner away at Luton (we still lost 3-2).

[tomogull]

A lot of the younger ones had wooden rattles (I think based on bird scarers). The club mascot, Norman? used to make batches of them and hand them out to us lads every now and then. Imagine someone coming to a match now with a wooden box and a wooden hand implement designed to be violently rotated either to the front or above the head. Security would have a field day.

Ha - great post Gateman. I had one of those rattles ! It came to a sorry end, though. It got wet and wouldn't rotate so mother put it in the oven to dry out ...... and the bliddy thing caught fire !!!