We were in the lowest division of the professional football league, our biggest matches being against Barnet and Orient. Brentford were lording it in the Division above!
It was the season that we beat Swansea 7-0 in the FA Cup, but by January results were getting worse and Ian Branfoot was under serious pressure as boss. Micky Adams was injured and (thankfully) taking his coaching badges. It was a bitterly cold evening and the visitors (S*unthorpe Utd) did not bring more than a hundred or so fans. We lost 3-1, with Mark Blake scoring our goal.
The crowd? 2176. Our lowest ever for a league match. I have the programme, so I guess I must have been there (although I don't remember much). My question is:- Who else from FOF was also there that evening?
Hi. My name is Lighthouse and I have Fulham Problem. I was there and I too have the programme. My mate (no longer with us) was there as well and had gone to the Swansea match and I had not. How we laughed. The game Itself merges with so many others.
Lee Harrison was in goal,Jupp,Herrera,McAree,Angus,Blake,Thomas,Morgan,Cusack,Scott,Barber, subs - Marshal,Moore,Hamill.
Those were the days. KIDS TODAY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY MISSED.
I was there, just about the only game I missed that season was some insignificant FA Cup match because of work commitments. Even then, when I finished work, it was a bit of a dilemma, do I go to the Swansea game (and presumably watch us do the usual heroic collapse), even though I'll miss the first twenty minutes? No, I'll give this one a miss.
I learnt my lesson.
My main memory from that season is reading the programme during the game, such was the level of thrilling entertainment on the pitch.
Weren't they just the best of times being a Fulham supporter taking a slow but leisurely walk to the back of the Hammersmith end to get yourself a cup of bovril .Saying hello to the man with his dog ! Cant remember to much myself but can guarantee that i was with my eldest son who would have been seven at the time we may have been playing with his toy dinosaurs at the time.
I was there, of course, as I have been to almost every home game sine my dad first took me to the Cottage as a kid in February 1962. In fact my illness since Christmas has probably caused me to miss more home games than I have in the previous forty plus years put together. Apart from being at the Cottage for our lowest-ever League crowd I was also there for our second-highest against Manchester United at Easter 1967 when a now incredible forty-seven thousand plus filled the Cottage.
...to be honest, when it comes down to attending games in the cold with a tiny crowd and losing, there were so many of them that they have all blended themselves into a miasma of misery.
That said I definately remember that Easter 1967 game against man ure, as it was my first ever attendance at Craven Cottage and it was 'heaving' - did I ever mention that Les Barrett scored in that game, banging the ball into the roof of the net - did I...
I don't remember being there but I do recall being at the FA Cup game against Hayes which I believe was the same season. If I'm right the crowd was way below 2000 on the night..
I have been to most but I was not at that one.
I think the lowest attendance I have been in was the same season, I think it was against York and I think we lost 3-0 or it could even have been 4-0.
Dark days...and judging by the "I think" comments in my sentance I am not 100% sure of the facts. I have tended to blot the worse memories out...
As it happens, I had been walking my dog in Bishops Park and on the way home, passing the ground, this man ran out grabbed me and pulled me and the dog into the ground, thats all I remember except for various people talking to me and not telling me the way out.
In those days you could park by the tennis courts. I remember that on another game in the evening that year a Policeman knocked on the car door and told me I could park even closer to the ground if I wanted as there were some spaces. Can you imagine any Policeman being so helpful now.
back to the times when crowd changes were announced to the team, i did not realise so many foffers were there, i must even know a few by sight.
Quote from: LBNo11 on March 29, 2010, 10:05:45 AM
That said I definately remember that Easter 1967 game against man ure, as it was my first ever attendance at Craven Cottage and it was 'heaving' - did I ever mention that Les Barrett scored in that game, banging the ball into the roof of the net - did I...
I remember that there was so much traffic that, driving from Robin Hood Gate, my father had to park the car up by The Green Man and we had to walk the rest of the way to the Cottage.
I do not have my various Fulham books to hand, but can anybody post as to what was out lowest-ever crowd for a competitive first team game. In other words not counting friendlies, but including games in the various incarnations of the "Mickey Mouse Cup".
Was I there? Of course.
Do I remember being there? Of course not.
Why did I go to every sodding home match no matter how piss poor the team? No sense.
Quote from: Tonywa on March 29, 2010, 06:04:37 PM
Quote from: LBNo11 on March 29, 2010, 10:05:45 AM
That said I definately remember that Easter 1967 game against man ure, as it was my first ever attendance at Craven Cottage and it was 'heaving' - did I ever mention that Les Barrett scored in that game, banging the ball into the roof of the net - did I...
I remember that there was so much traffic that, driving from Robin Hood Gate, my father had to park the car up by The Green Man and we had to walk the rest of the way to the Cottage.
We came from Twickenham to Putney (BR), and as a kid the walk down the High Street, across the bridge and through Bishop's Park seemed the longest I had ever walked, but the memory of the sights and smells still livein my mind vividly, we should have beaten man ure, 2-1 up and then Nobby Stiles scraped the equalizer...
Quote from: TonyGilroy on March 29, 2010, 06:17:00 PM
Why did I go to every sodding home match no matter how piss poor the team? No sense.
Yes, but supporting a team like Fulham has never been about sense, has it? The thing is, those of us who were there saw things at their nadir and are now seeing how much better things are at the top, those who team-hop just do not get the sense of achievement. I maintain that those of us who were there and are still here now are the most fortunate of supporters. We are living the ultimate dream of any true football fan. Follow your team always, no matter how bad it gets, to prove your loyalty, then enjoy watching your team knock top teams over the head as they storm to the top. We have been through the refiner's fire and now shine in the light of glory.
No disrespect to those who are new fans or who were not old enough in 1996, by the way, I know we would not be enjoying the current fare without your support too. And, with a bit of luck, you never will have to prove yourself the way we did.
I was deffo there.. i was stood in the enclosure.. freezing....
