My first match was at home to Crystal Palace in the 1971-72 season, it was our first home league match of the season, we won 3-1 with John Ritchie, John Mahoney and Jimmy Greenhoff our scorers.
Post by okeydokeystokie2 on Oct 22, 2010 12:32:51 GMT
I was very lucky. My first game was v league leaders Leeds in 1974. 2-0 down, with that horrible little cheat Billy Bremner taking a free quick before he should have. Ref let it stand. What a comeback. Pejic and Hudson scored, then with Stoke right on top, Smithy scored the winner with a header as the ball came back acros the box.
To put it in context, Revie's Leeds were easily League Champions that season, and had gone something like 23 games unbeaten until that game. I can clearly remember nearly losing my red and white bobble hat, which I flicked off my head with my scarf after one of the goals. Both had been knitted by my nana. So much for official merchandise...
One day I'll find the scrapbook that I made (as an 8 year old) from all the Sunday papers the next day. Somewhere in my mum and dad's loft probably!
I used to joke that it had been all downhill ever since that first game, until Messers Coates and Pulis brought the glory days back.
you tell me ,we played brentford at home steve foley scored one for stoke dunna no who got the winner ,dean holdsworth was there striker ,my first game but a tough period in my life i was on mars ????? 19 90 a guess
first stoke game was 1975 first game of the season against leeds won 3-0 seems a lifetime ago many happy memories and a lot of pain, but would'nt change anything
Can't remember a single thing about the game. Might do some research to find out attendance, line-up etc.
Didn't start going on a regular basis until Macari came. Never looked back since although did have a few seasons without a season ticket during the Little/Megson years when I lived in Leeds.
I lived in Buxton until I was 11 and we moved to Stoke in 1982. First memory of Stoke City and what got me supporting them was seeing them on tv drawing 4-4 with Luton at the Vic when Foxy got sent off. My first game was in April 1984 vs Liverpool. Stoke won 2-0 against the legendary Liverpool side (Rush, Dalglish, Souness, Hansen etc) that had already clinched the title and went on to win the European Cup. Scorers for Stoke were iirc...Ian Painter and some guy we had on loan Colin Russell.
A mate and I stood roughly in the middle of the Boothen End and the surge from each goal was like nothing I'd ever experienced..well not in Buxton anyway ;D As were the hundreds of fans engaging in running fights all the way down past the station
For me it was the 92-93 season. I was about 4.. Stoke 4 - 3 West Brom. A fairly good match to start of and little wonder I was hooked straight away. I just remember like others have stated, my dad going more and more mental each time we scored. Thanks Dad for putting it in my blood!!
Stoke v Birmingham, would've been November 1976. We won 1-0 and Trevor Francis, who was about 11 back then, missed a penalty.
Went with my dad and my Blues supporting brother. Can still picture the floodlights against the dark night sky and the "millions" of people on the huge terraces. I don't remember the goal but do have a vague recollection of Francis's missed pen.
vs bournemouth won 2-0 i think once i eat all the sweets i was bored and wanted go home (this was before the game had kicked off:L) i sat on the floor playing with me power ranger toys but then the game started and i just fell in love with the atomsphere and the game itself... bin hooked since
For me it was the 92-93 season. I was about 4.. Stoke 4 - 3 West Brom. A fairly good match to start of and little wonder I was hooked straight away. I just remember like others have stated, my dad going more and more mental each time we scored. Thanks Dad for putting it in my blood!!
remember that,what a game.was sat in the butler street stand.crackin atomsphere as well.that was the second game i went to i think.my first stoke game was bradford city at home,1987.beagrie was on for the wing for us then.think we won 2-1
This is an account from a Walsall fan,it is of interest to me as it was my first game watching Stoke as a 10 year old in January 1966 [we lost 0-2], hope you enjoy the read and maybe inspire you to seek your first match report that you attended.
Walsall had started their FA Cup run reasonably well that season, beating Swansea 6 – 3 and Aldershot 2 – 0 away and were rewarded with an away tie against a top flight side, in the shape of Stoke City. Stoke weren’t amongst the best teams in the Division at the time, but did have some household names, in the shape of Maurice Setters, Dennis Violett and Peter Dobing. Walsall at the time had the usual mixture of jouneymen pros, first Division rejects and home grown players, one of whom, Alan Clarke, was predicted to have a bright future ahead of him, and we were lying in mid table in the third division.
My mother at the time was a shift supervisor at William Bates in Hospital Street and one of the workers there was a Walsall regular. He knew that I went to see the Saddlers most weeks and asked her if I wanted to go. What with the Stoke City connections via my father, how could I refuse?
What followed on that Saturday was the kind of thing legends are made of.
Because of the colour clash, we lined up that day in claret and blue, the kit having reputedly been borrowed from Aston Villa. That in itself seemed to be a good omen, as, 33 years earlier, we had borrowed a blue and white kit from Coventry for the famous victory over Arsenal at the same stage of the Cup.
The game started with the home side on top, with Vernon and Setters going close, but the drama really started in 15 minutes in. Jimmy McMorran, who had passed a late fitness test, was brought down by Vernon and left limping. Substitutes had been introduced to the League that season, but the F.A., lagging behind the times as usual, had not changed the Cup rules, so it looked like we would have to play the remaining 75 minutes with only 10 fit men. Howard Riley, a traditional bandy legged right winger, took the resulting free kick, the ball bounced off George Kirby, rebounded back to Riley, who hit a 20 yard half volley screaming into the top right hand corner of the net. A goal worthy of a man who had played in a Cup Final for Leicester.
By this time, McMorran had left the field and we played the rest of the half with only ten men. Stoke powered forward and threw everything at the Walsall rearguard. The defence stood up to the task, throwing bodies in the way of shots and tackling like men possessed. Stoke even got the ball into the back of the net, courtesy of a shot from Violett, but the Saddlers managed to convince the ref that the ball had, in fact, gone through a hole in the side netting.
The Walsall fans were looking forward to getting to the break with the team still ahead, when, in first half injury time, the drama took another twist.
From a break, Clarke chased the ball into the area, only for the Stoke goalie, Irvine, to get there first. What happened in that challenge, no one but the two players probably know, but as “Sniffer†turned away, Irvine aimed a kick at him. The referee pointed immediately to the penalty spot and Clarke ran lazily up to stroke the ball home. (A sign of how much the game has changed there – it would have been an automatic red card nowadays!).
Jimmy McMorran returned to the fray in the second half, limping about on the left wing, purely for nuisance value, but the game turned into one way traffic. The Walsall defence stood firm against everything thrown at them, but the real battle to watch was the one between Maurice Setters and George Kirby. Neither was a player to shirk a challenge and both had their disciplinary problems over the years, but, as Setters played further and further forward, trying to get the elusive goal, Kirby matched him all of the way. If it had been a boxing match, the referee might well have stopped it before both men took too much punishment. (The battle would be rejoined at Fellows Park the following season in the League Cup and was just as tough!). Finally, just after a Colin Taylor piledriver had been saved by Irvine at the second attempt, the final whistle went and we had achieved a famous victory. (In another curious parallel with the 1933 Arsenal game, Irvine never played for them again and was shipped out to non League football, just as Chapman had got rid of Tommy Black in 1933).
So why does this game mean so much to me? After all, we had put almost as much into the defeat at the Albion in the League Cup the previous year, only to lose narrowly. This was the day which changed my view of the Saddlers forever. The men who had played and fought that Saturday were no longer mere mortals, but had taken on the status of giants. Stan Bennett, brave as a lion and ever noticeable with his blond hair, throwing himself enthusiastically into every challenge. The silky skills and passing ability of the enigmatic Scotsman, Jimmy McMorran, a player I will talk about for hours to this day. The solidity and dependability of full back Frank Gregg and the leadership skills of John Harris, a man whose Walsall career would be tragically cut short through injury. The incredible athleticism of Nick Athey, who, despite his lack of inches, seemed to be able to out jump 6 footers at will. The battling qualities of George Kirby, always ready for a fight (in the right way, as well as the wrong sometimes). The powerful running and incredible shooting of the barrel chested Walsall legend, Colin “The Cannonball†Taylor. Above all, there was the sight of a man who was obviously destined for greatness, who seemed to stroll through a game displaying a kind of arrogance which complimented his skills and goalscoring perfectly, Alan Clarke. (I’ve been a sucker for that arrogant streak ever since and still think the greatest sight in football was the expression on Eric Cantona’s face after he scored). If I close my eyes, I can still see the pitch at the Victoria Ground and the players taking the plaudits of the crowd at the end of the game – I was hooked now and forever!
Walsall at the time were in old 3rd divsion, cheers Steve.
