Norwich at home, buying a bottle of whisky for the train, putting my knob in something twice my age, and going to work on the Sunday with a head which weighed as much as a planet. Hillsborough, when a York-supporting friend of mine who went along with me said it was like intruding on a private grief. Kevin Donavan - I honestly believe this club can be as big as Manchester City, or words to that effect.
Pre-Season - relatively positive, thought Isaiah Rankin and Bruce Dyer would be lethal and that Kevin Donovan would provide plenty of assists. Such dreams were shattered when 4-0 down at Valley Parade on the opening day. Dont recall too much of the Spackman rubbish, apart from signing 29 midfielders. Think we lost 3-0 at Gillingham and also lost to Grimsby who went top on the day England hammered Germany 5-1 in Munich. The shambles at Hillsborough saw him go and then we hit a really good run of form under Steve Parkin and I thought we'd cracked it. Happy memories of beating Sheffield Wednesday on ITV Digital, Morgan scored I think early on. We spent the entire second half singing to Kevin Pressman ("How'd you get so fat" to the DJ Otzi song Hey baby). Smashed Walsall and Gillingham, even players like Gary McSwegan started looking good. Beat Stockport at their place on Boxing Day then bizarrely bought their poor centre half, Mike Flynn! Think we lost at Coventry quite heavily and never really recovered. Got battered at Maine Road, did we lose at Walsall too? Not sure. Then the Norwich game, I remember us being awful, not fight or quality. Only towards the end did I fully realise we were goig down, not sure why, maybe I was young and hadn't worked out the permutations that well. I remember Chris Morgan running about 50 yards with the ball because no one would show for a pass, eventually got tackled but it was the only bit of passion we mustered. After the game we had a pitch invasion, all very unsavoury. Think John Dennis took a lot of stick, somewhat unfairly imo. Might have beaten Wimbledon on the last day but it was too late. I remember Man City being head and shoulders above the rest that season. As was Gary Jones in his first few games before reverting to being decidedly average.
Yes, we did lose at Walsall. That was the beginning of the end. From memory we were winning, and then Don Goodman scored either one or both of their goals.
I was there The turning point was when the twelve match unbeaten run came to an end at Birmingham where we played quite well and lost 1-0. After that we lost every away game 4-0 and every home game 4-1. A personal highlight was when me and Redstar bumped into John Hendrie outside the club shop - he hugged us both and we arrived in our pants.
This must have been the season when we lost 3-1 at West Brom, too. Darren Barnard scored what I remember as being a really nice goal, though it was much too late to get us back into it. It was the day the Queen Mother died, I think.
Allegedly cryne offered to cover wards wages if we got him on loan and the board turned him down, we got richard naylor instead, doooooomed, sithi.
Indeed it was as we were (bit distastefully) singing boing boing body baggies, and some Barnsley fans made ****s of themselves singing about the legend Jeffrey Astle.
Was that relegation year. If so crewe away. Mike dean shafting us with 2 red cards. Both bad decisions from where i was stood. Think morgan was sent off as last msn but chris barker was covering. Crewe stopped up by a point or two. We didnt. Mike ***** dean again.
My only memories of that season. Turning the TV on in the hotel room after we'd just arrived on holiday, to catch final score when we lost 4-0 to Bradford on the opening day. Seeing Dean Gorre for the first time and thinking, 'I didn't know shirt numbers went as high as 30'. That is it. The rest has thankfully been blocked out. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
We were pretty awful for a lot of that season, yet put in some very decent performances at times as well. Quite a few emphatic wins at Oakwell, so we must have been proper gash away (I only went to Bradford, Norwich, Rotherham and both the Sheffield games that season, thank god. A total of two points.). A lot of things went wrong as well, the failed signing of Ashley Ward being a body blow both on the pitch and psychologically. Especially when he helped Bradford back into that match which we'd absolutely dominated. Failing to hold on in that game, away to Walsall, and failing to beat Burnley at home after going in front early were key matches, as was only drawing away to Rotherham after being ahead and looking comfortable. Players - Chris Lumsdon and Gary Jones looked good when they came in but quickly went downhill. Barnard, Sheron and Dyer were generally good, but Dean Gorre was never fit, Paul Gibbs and Mike Flynn signing actually weakened the side, and Kevin Donovan and Richard Naylor are two of the biggest cnuts ever to pull on the shirt. Kevin Gallen was just absolutely crap, as we knew he would be. Best moments - Wednesday home, and Gillingham home, not just for the win but for Chris Mogan's comedy own goal. Worst moments - most of the rest of it. Actually, now I read this back - how could any side containing Kevin Miller, Chris Morgan, Darren Barnard, Bruce Dyer and Mike Sheron be anywhere near to relegation? That smacks of gross incompetence.
Any dysentery you may have contracted there was probably much more enjoyable than most of that season.