Reds in the 50's

Stumbled on these clips of the Reds in FA cup action 1956 and 1957 anyone on here around back them to remember.

 

Brilliant to see those but it's a shame that pop up obscures our winner against Cardiff. There seems no way to disable that - or is there?

Very good quality film anyway and fantastic to see Oakwell packed like that for the Blackburn match.

 

Sad that many people from that era have gone, because they would have been a great source to tap into, especially just after the war (47-52) when we had our biggest average league gates and highest attendances.

http://european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/league/bars.htm

 

I just missed that era, starting in 1961, but a couple of the players in those clips were still going strong in my day.

 

My godfather gets a brief mention in the Blackburn game. Malcolm Graham. Sadly no longer with us.

 

Would love to see more of these old matches. Didn't start going until 1997ish, when I was around 4 or 5!

 

1962 was my first year and there were still some of the old stalwarts from the previous decade around - Billy Houghton, Duncan Sharp etc.

Funny hearing the commentator pronouncing our keeper's name. Instead of "Huff" he called him "Howe". No research then I suppose

 

I remember seeing Malcolm Graham playing for us in the early 60s

 

This one might be for you then

 

This one is incredible, look at oakwell back then, particularly the old building next the old kop end what is now the scoreboard

 

This Blackburn game is the only footage I've seen of Malc playing. He'd long retired before I was born. I've been told by many he was a good player, so it's nice to see some footage of him playing, albeit briefly.

 

The 1955-6 season was my first at Oakwell, and I attended a fair number of games as a 6-7 year old, with my elder brother. I didn't attend the Blackburn cup-tie, presumably because my parents thought it would be a bit of a crush for two little lads (we went alone). The attendance for that match was 38,163 (gate receipts £5692). After winning at 1st Division Cardiff in the 4th round in the following season, we lost 1-2 at home to Nottingham Forest in the 5th round. I didn't attend that game either. According to Grenville Firth's book, all tickets were sold for that match and the attendance was "an estimated 40,626". That's a very precise "estimate", and is a higher figure than our official highest attendance of 40,255 against Stoke in the 30s. I remember seeing all the players mentioned in the brief film highlights and have a very clear image in my mind of what they looked like. Our goalkeeper in both games was Harry Hough and his name was pronounced "Huff", or "'Uff", rather than the "How" used by the commentator. He owned a sports shop with Roy Midwood. His son was in my brother's form at Holgate Grammar School. He was a good keeper and was called up to the England B squad, though he was very unfortunate to miss his opportunity of playing for them through injury. Johnny McCann was a very tricky Scottish left-winger who played for Scotland B. When I went to watch us win 5-0 at Huddersfield, I read in their programme that " he will be watched closely today, as reports suggest he is nearing international form". Arthur Kaye was a goalscoring right-winger who played for England U23 and the Football League representative team. He was sold to 1st Division Blackpool, with a view to his replacing the ageing superstar, Stanley Matthews. Centre-forward Lol Chappell scored 4 goals for us in our 4-7 home defeat by Bristol City. Malcolm Graham had a terrific shot with his left foot.

 

I remember him well. He had a bullet-like shot with his left foot.

 

Great seeing the grounds packed, but those were the days when footballers weren’t paid wages the clubs couldn’t afford and the fans weren’t fleeced to help pay those ridiculous wages. And not a hospitality box in sight. Or families paying for their kids to be mascot, spending a fortune to buy replica kits that cost pennies to make in third world sweat shops. Crazy what’s happened to football, if you think about it.

 

Isn't that the game of our unofficial record attendance?

And what a dive 1m 40 in, nowt changes.

 

It's interesting to see the number of men wearing a suit, shirt and tie to these games.
Not a pink football top in sight.

 

Growing up as a kid I remember Midwood sports mate, wasn’t it just across from town hall?

 

Demob suit

 

I worked with Billy Houghton briefly whilst I was doing my apprenticeship on a building site in barnsley in the mid 70s he was a joiner, lovely fella
He told me that, when he was playing for Barnsley, he was never afraid of opening his mouth and was seen at times as the voice of the dressing room which in those days wasn't taken too kindly by those upstairs and could get you labelled as a trouble maker
One day he went to see the chairman at the time about a pay rise, stating the striker was getting more than anyone else in the team and the rest of the lads weren't very happy about it
Aye said the chairman he does get paid more than the rest of you, because he's a striker,strikers score goals and its goals that win you football matches
Aye replied Billy I agree, but we are in the close season so im
scoring the same amount of goals as he is
He continued ...Not long after that conversation i got transfered (to Rotherham I think he said )

 

Great thread. Looking fwd to watching those old clips. Thanks for posting.
My Dad first took me down when I was 5/6. Hoisted me over the turnstile and took an empty beer crate for me to stand on down by the wall in the old Kop.