Christmas and New Year Fixtures

[Plodder]

I smiled wryly at some comments made by van Gaal recently moaning about the congested festive season fixture list.  in 1982-83, we played Cambridge Utd at home on the 27th December, Chelsea away the next day, away at Wolves on New Year's Day and home to Shrewsbury on 3rd January.  We played exactly the same dates in 1993-94 (home to Port Vale on 27th, away to Plymouth on 28th, away to Brentford on New Year's Day and away to Cambridge Utd on 3rd Jan).

Boxing Day also sticks in my mind for a miserable, incident-free, rain-lashed 0-0 draw at home to Notts County (?) when the players just scarpered when the final whistle was blown (probably early if the referee had any sense) and for one of the coldest games I have ever attended away at Leyton Orient (also 0-0).  It was too cold to snow and the effect of the cold wind was exacerbated by standing on Brisbane Road's open terrace.  There are some nice Boxing Day winning memories, thankfully, but the games above are the ones which stick in my mind.

Best wishes to the hardy contingent attending today.  Oh to be young again! xma2