Fans from the days of “Iley Out”

All great players them, used to watch Mick Butler play at Ward Green for a little while, a think that was Sunday mornings as he played with Worsbrough Bridge on Saturdays, ....... he was our Jamie Vardy from non league, Bobby Doyle was so classy and silky on ball(did he go to Peterborough?...maybe wrong), Pickering great centre half went to Wednesday.....Anton I wish he was playing for us now, I remember going to West Ham in cup when he played for us and it was his performance there that convinced hammers to sign him up!!

 

I think this thread says it all about state of our club at minute, we have had a match today but this thread about 70s football getting more attention than today’s happenings!

 

You cannot make a comparison , we are comparing the old 4 th division with todays championship , back in those days all the teams were basically on a level playing field, there were no rich clubs , no parachute payments & no one cheating financially & it was pretty grim times but in my 61 years of watching the reds I have never felt so much apathy as there is today , the fact that we have spent so many seasons in the second flight & even been to the top flight since the Ily out days means the expectation level of the fans is totally different than it was then, even when we were struggling in the bottom division what ever the result was you would just dust yourself down , accept what had happened & look forward to the next match but today fans reactions are totally different , social media means all the anger & frustration results in total melt down so everything seems worse , to be honest I enjoyed it better then simply because I had never experienced any good times & had nothing to compare it with & just to like to go to the match with my mates , nowadays it seems all too serious & that unfortunately is down to one thing & that is money .

 

Can always remember Bobby Doyle catching the bus in Monk Bretton into town and walking up to the ground carrying his bag on a Saturday lunchtime

Seems a lifetime away

 

Hard to say. Different times and a different league where we had different expectations but yes it was fire but nowhere near as bad as now.

 

Spaceman was always my benchmark as I missed McSeveney but these last 2 have been so much worse.

 

Well said.
Mick Pickering initially went to Southampton (Channon, Osgood, Ball, etc.), became a first team regular in the old Second Division and helped them win promotion. He later joined Wednesday.

 

You young pup!

 

Yea a remember now, what about Bobby Doyle?....was it Peterborough?.....were gutted when he went

 

Yes, it was Peterborough, old mate, for £20,000.

 

Cheers

 

As well as Iley out the other popular saying was 'they dunt want to go up '. This lot certainly don't !

 

Is that what it is though? Or is it simply that back then we struggled whilst now we don't even seem to be putting up any kind of struggle?

 

Yes. We scored goals. Crowds were regularly sub 4k. 30p for a junior. Me Dad paid it. There was also the Prince. The real Peachey Man.

 

Agree with the greed part and clubs could compete etc but not sure about the expectation .
The crowds were low because of the apathy of being relegated from the third division .
maybe a bit of romance in thinking those were the days
I suppose the crowds at the time were the limit as to who would go watch them choose what which they’ll be an element of us now that would .
Successes after showed what the potential was if ambition was there as it’s always been .
I remember the days of McSevenney ,Illey etc and I’d say calibre of support is very similar in that if we successful or playing ok they’ll come and if not they won’t .

 

I probably look at that era through rose tinted specs, as that was when i first started going down to Oakwell. And not long afterwards the Clarke/Hunter boom elevated us to our rightful place imo.
For me; football was much better, even though there was the threat of aggro around. I can't imagine any club doing what Watford and Swansea achieved in those days now.
The Premier has become like an exclusive gentleman's club where the oiks are only allowed to visit briefly!!

 

We'd play well for a number of matches and all of a sudden we'd get a larger attendance at Oakwell which would usually coincide with a poor performance so that the next home game would see a smaller attendance!

 

I first started watching the reds back in 1961 & did not see second division football for 20 years when Hunter took us up so most of it was third & fourth division football & basically a continuous struggle , there were some seasons that were beyond dire with crowds falling under 2000 at our lowest point but as I have said previously with no social media reaction was basically people discussing the situation at work or in the pub but there was never the reactions that are common place today , fans used to vote with their feet & either go to the matches or stay away but rest assured we had plenty of seasons when we struggled big time however the response of the fans vocally is totally different today hence we are having this discussion now , back then there was nothing apart from writing to the Chronicle to vent our feelings , I mean we didn"t even have telephones never mind any of todays communication facilities so to sum up making comparisons to gauge fans reactions of today & yesteryear is virtually impossible .

 

When it was the Ernest Dennis out time. At least he talked to the fans not like these pillock in directors box hiding their bloody heads, hoping everything will go away. It's time they grew a pair and faced upto reality that they are not upto the job and piss off