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Post by youngstenny on Apr 16, 2009 14:40:37 GMT
After reading the Hillsborough thread and having contributed on the Oakwell thread who remember's the awful day at St Andrews.After Paul Barnes scored(still a dubious goal).Must admit i was very scared that day,recall walking back to the coach area and the police kept telling us get back on your coach or we can not keep you safe.
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Post by georgeberrysafro on Apr 16, 2009 14:44:01 GMT
Bloody horrible, I was only 10/11 at the time and went with my Dad. I just remember the mass of Birmingham fans running onto the pitch after we'd scored, the stewards in front of the Stoke fans just legged it when the Birmingham fans invaded the pitch! Didn't some Stoke fan lose his eye in that game? I remember just wanting to get home, I think we skipped a few away games after that but still went to plenty, very scary and I'll never forget it. Be interesting to know if there's any video from that match.
Edit? It wasn't Barnes' goal that caused it was it, well it played a part, I might have this mixed up with another game, but after we scored didn't Brum go up and have one saved on the line/cleared off the line which they thought was in?...after that it just kicked off!
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Post by sweetingsfield on Apr 16, 2009 14:52:32 GMT
Was this the match the ref finished the match after clearing the gound?
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Post by stayingupforbigbazza on Apr 16, 2009 14:54:54 GMT
Was this the match the ref finished the match after clearing the gound? yes Flying bricks at the end Think we upset them singing about Lou etc
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Post by mickstupp on Apr 16, 2009 14:57:18 GMT
yes the game rusumed in front of an empty stadium and the final minute consisted of stoke tapping the ball about amongst themselves while their players just stood there arms folded and let us play down the clock.
Lots of hype leading up to that game. Top of the table clash,massive Stoke following (6,000plus) we had taken Macari off them in the summer, who in turn took all the backroom staff and a few players to Stoke with him. We had also beaten them 2-1 earlier in the year in a frantic, highly charged game at the Vic (a bit of agro aswell inside and outside the ground). Even for a naive twelve year old lad, I could tell it was seriously going to kick of that afternoon at St Andrews.
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Post by Kenilworth_Stokies on Apr 16, 2009 14:58:29 GMT
Best mental I've ever been in, followed by some truly chaotic scenes and shocking behaviour from the Brum fans on the pitch. Manager Terry Cooper, allegedly so ashamed of the fans' behaviour, told a young crying lad to never come back.
Getting away from the ground was a bit like being a refugee escaping Beirut.
My mate at school gleefully told me he'd seen the TV pictures of the Stoke fans by the fence defending the away end from the Brummie tide like it was Rourke's Drift.
Crazy day.
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Post by wizzardofdribble on Apr 16, 2009 15:00:56 GMT
There was bad blood between us and Birmingham after we'd nicked Lou and a couple of players off them... We parked up on some waste ground and walked across the road and through a turnstile in a little wall and into the 'away' part of the end..with netting seperating the two sets of fans...as per usual at St Andrews, towards the end,the 'lads' in the Coventry Rd side started walking round to the away end and things looked a bit 'problematic'... When we scored in injury time all hell broke loose and the 'Zulus' came onto the pitch and tried to climb into the away section..they were chucking bill-boards and bottles and anything they could get hold of..at us.. And if it wasn' for the Stokies who piled down to the fence and fought hand to hand with The Brummies and gave as good as they got..it could have resulted in much more serious injury... After the game it was bedlam and a Stoke fan who'd parked near to us got blinded in one eye with a brick thrown at him by Birmingham fans...and others sustained cuts from other missiles.. I was 16 at the time and I was terrified... But had it not been for the Stokies at the front climbing on the fences and fighting hand to hand all the way along the perimeter of the away end, from the corner to the dividing netting,..as Birmingham fans would have got over and caused a huge crush as thousands of fans tried to get out of the way... Full marks too..for the lads on the dividing wall/netting who were preventing attacks from the other side of the away end...
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Post by mcf on Apr 16, 2009 15:04:01 GMT
tell us more about this N40 stuff? what did they do? nice edit
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Post by stayingupforbigbazza on Apr 16, 2009 15:05:25 GMT
was the guy who lost the eye called something like Mark Beech???
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Post by georgeberrysafro on Apr 16, 2009 15:05:50 GMT
I certainly remember quite a few of our lot piling forward and meeting the Brums fans on the fences, looking back I was very grateful for them defending us while the rest of us moved back.
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Post by pottersson on Apr 16, 2009 15:16:57 GMT
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Post by 4thMarch1972 on Apr 16, 2009 15:24:23 GMT
Anyone remember the Central Weekend programme the following Friday night. Last word was given to one of the Stoke fans in the studio who said something along the lines of '' the ball didn't cross the line anyway'' and cue more uproar amongst the Blues fans!!!!!
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Post by craig1974 on Apr 16, 2009 15:26:06 GMT
I went to that game and bloody hell i shit myself ... even outside the ground i ran for my life. the worste crowd trouble i've witnessed with Stoke tbh.
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Post by stayingupforbigbazza on Apr 16, 2009 15:27:13 GMT
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Post by stantheman on Apr 16, 2009 15:29:29 GMT
The ref actually abandoned the game and took the players off the pitch. There was only a minute or two remaining. After the ground had been emptied he bought the players back out and they passed the ball a few times, with no tackles or shots, and then he blew up for full time. If he hadn't done this the game would have gone down as an abandonment and would had to have been replayed. I was stting in the seats at the side of the pitch and could see out of the back of the stand. Whilst there was a full scale riot going on, 4 police horses stood side by side outside the ground with the coppers having a chat!
A few months after that match, me, my mate Rob and his Dad were driving up th M6 to some away match when car load of Brummies came along side us, peeping their horn, showing their bare arses and pointing to their eyes. (Refering to Mark Beech who had a bottle thrown in his eye). We let them go but caught them up a few miles later, trapping them between two HGV's in the slow lane. Rob's dad had a sweet tooth and always had loads of boiled sweets in his car. So, it was windows down, sunroof open and boy did those humbugs, bon-bons and sherbert lemons make a noise as they hit the Brummies car doing 70 mph in the slow lane! They eventually crapped themselves and pulled in on the hard shoulder ;D Happy days STM
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Post by Anto1962 on Apr 16, 2009 15:29:49 GMT
I went with Gary Mellor who is now a footballers Agent remember we parked at there end of the ground and had to walk back to the car through their fans, We never said a word.Listened to the restart and finish of the game in the car, if I remember rightly the players just passed it around among themselves.
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Post by Ghostface on Apr 16, 2009 15:34:47 GMT
I was 9 at the time, and had somehow repressed this awful memory. If I remember rightly we'd equalised via Paul Barnes, and then very shortly they had a ball cleared off the line or summat, which the home fans had thought had gone in. This led to a massive piss take from the away following, and ultimately the most atrocious scenes I have ever witnessed first hand at a football match. The entire of the left hand stand seemed to empty onto the pitch as one and come charging towards our corner. Everything the wankers could get their hands on was thrown into our end, coins, bottles, the corner flag..... I remember me Dad throwing me under the barrier in a bid to protect me from the barrage of coins. The police who were everywhere prior to the incident seemed to vanish, and a steward even opened the fucking gate! The actions of Stoke's fans that day no doubt saved lives. They all climbed to the top of the fences, and protected the Stoke fans beneath them, taking everything that was thrown at them, and punching down the climbing Brummies, preventing them from getting in. My one dominant memory from the whole thing was the steward opening the gate and this huge Black guy almost entering the away end, only to be pounced upon by loads of Stoke lads and kicking the shit out of him. I know we've got our fair share of idiots, but this day is why I will never be brought into an argument about them bringing the club down. They were a credit that day, lions! How Brmingham remained in the football league I will never know....
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Post by sheikh al dubai bin stokie on Apr 16, 2009 15:36:52 GMT
yup i went to that match, and im on that video, and made the front cover of the daily mail on the monday as i recall
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Post by 4thMarch1972 on Apr 16, 2009 15:39:16 GMT
As I remember didn't they let both sets of supporters out at the same time. Just recall running as fast as possible to the car. There was a distinct lack of policing in the immediate aftermath of the pitch invasion as they seemed to be reliant on stewards to restore order. Samesh Kumar was the Birmingham owner and rather than condemn the violence he attempted to justify it by saying the ref deserved it after his performance and understood the Blues fans frustration. Now time has passed is it OK to say that I thought the challenge by Bertie was a foul? I remember waiting for the ref to blow for the foul and not quite believing it when he signalled the goal. Cue one of my favourite ever mentals.....right in the middle of their rendition of 'Keep right on' if memory serves.
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Post by craig1974 on Apr 16, 2009 15:42:50 GMT
it was very scarey that day, even when i eventually got on the coach and looking into the distance of the local park it looked like it was kicking off in the park aswell ...
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Post by stantheman on Apr 16, 2009 15:43:01 GMT
It was the mental of all mentals because everyone in the ground, exept the ref, knew it was a foul. Whenever i think of that game, I think of the lad who lost his eye. On a day like that it could have been much worse, but I still think of him. STM
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Post by sheikh al dubai bin stokie on Apr 16, 2009 15:43:24 GMT
wasnt there a building site opposite the away end... i seem to remember people wielding scaffolding like lightsabers
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Post by Kenilworth_Stokies on Apr 16, 2009 15:45:09 GMT
It was a stonking mental. Immediately afterwards I remember looking around to see Stokies strewn half way up fences and stanchions as if a hurricane had just passed through. Was in its own way as remarkable as the scenes on the pitch that follows.
Was a proper shit hole St Andrews, both inside and out. Horrible place.
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Post by Anto1962 on Apr 16, 2009 15:47:24 GMT
The supposed crossed the line incident was actually rubish when they showed it again the ball was about a foot from the line. They just tried to put pressure on the ref after his obvious(and it really was) error in awarding the goal. It was one of the last things I remember a ref giving us. ;D
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Post by youngstenny on Apr 16, 2009 15:47:27 GMT
4th March72, I watched it at St Andrews,i am very biased in the favour of our loved Red and White striped hereos but have to admit that goal should not have stood. Still the game at Elm Park 4 days later made up for it..Reading 3 Stoke City 4.
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Post by Ghostface on Apr 16, 2009 15:50:39 GMT
I can't help but look back on the day with some pride. The way the lads climbed the fences to protect their fellow Stokies, still brings a lump to my throat. When you talk about this season and our 'siege mentality'... fuck me this was it in all it's glory. If anyone on here was on those fences that day then all i can say is thankyou...
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Post by craig1974 on Apr 16, 2009 15:50:39 GMT
That day is the reason why i hate Birmingham City so much ... On leaving the away end i couldnt bare it because i didnt know what was waiting for us outside the ground ...
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Post by Anto1962 on Apr 16, 2009 15:51:50 GMT
I remember that stenny they taunted us all the way through about getting battered at brum. They went 3-2 up and began to taunt us, half way through the song Ware equalised straight from the kick off from about twenty odd yards.Then to complete a great night their skipper scored an own goal to win us the match,Happy Days ;D
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Post by youngstenny on Apr 16, 2009 16:02:09 GMT
I remember that stenny they taunted us all the way through about getting battered at brum. They went 3-2 up and began to taunt us half way through the song Ware equalised straight from the kick off from about twenty odd yards.Then to complete a great night their skipper scored an own goal to win us the match,Happy Days ;D Superb game,great night.
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Post by craig1974 on Apr 16, 2009 16:02:51 GMT
I remember that stenny they taunted us all the way through about getting battered at brum. They went 3-2 up and began to taunt us half way through the song Ware equalised straight from the kick off from about twenty odd yards.Then to complete a great night their skipper scored an own goal to win us the match,Happy Days ;D where u get the score 3-2 from? it ended 1-1.
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