Not as soft. Yes, BP was renowned for its micro climate with balmy weather in November to February. Can't recall many older folk sprawled out on the terraces myself. and not enough barriers for everyone to lean on. You have lots of photos of the old days at BP. Any of them showing old folks sprawled out on a beauififul, warm December day?
NEWSFLASH: there are no 'warm' days between October and March. There were usually vacant barriers if the gate was less than 6 or 7 thousand, at least until whole sections of the terraces were cordoned off as unsafe. People used to sit on terraces before the start and at half time in the lean times.
So the old folk, or knackered ones like the OP, who could be not so old, managed to stand up? How did they manage it?
I only ever went with my dad once as well. I was 50. It was the 4-2 win against Oxford. We were magic. He liked the ride in the lift more than the football. Later he told my niece that he hadn't enjoyed it much as there were lots of people there shouting all the time. Thank goodness we were in the West Stand Upper Tier!
No, it was only those who missed out on their milk because of the evil milk snatcher who suffered. I seem to remember getting small bottles of orange at school in the summer.
It was a whole different world back then. I remember getting rusks as well as the milk and orange juice. No wonder we could stand up for 90 minutes.
In the early 50's when I started going, Franklin, Carter, Berry et al, kids were passed overhead down to the front and at some games particularly against the 1st Division teams in the cup or friendliest we would sit on the grass round the pitch. Happy times.
Happened when I first went, as it did all over the country. But we were on about how people of all ages managed to stand up for a game, something that is beyond some of our fans who say they are too knackered to stand up nowadays,
Sometimes you amaze me with your ignorance Castro, how the **** do you expect folk to stand. Their tartan rugs will fall down. The people on my row, when I was in the West Stand Upper, once when my Sister used my pass, told her off for not being in her seat at the start of the game. They told her quite proudly that they do not move once the game had started.
Football won't get a wake up call until the best League in the world is recognised for what it is. Football's equivalent to the Somme. Once you get into the Premier League the only goal is to stay there. As a result most teams in the bottom half build from the back. 38 draws gives you safety. You'll not win every match so a few wins compensates for the losses to the top 5 or 6. As a result Premier League football resembles trench warfare. After Christmas it gets worse. A handful of teams can win the League and a handful can be relegated. The result is there are no easy games with the poorer teams camped in their half trying to stop the other team scoring. I think this is a major contributing factor to the lack of world class footballers plying their trade in the Premier League, despite it being the richest league in the world. It also explains why England do well in qualifiers and poorly in tournaments. After seeing the so-called superstars for 3 seasons what is there to attract the average WBA supporter to watch Hull City, Stoke City or Burnley? Add in the stagnation of real wages, the generally sterile atmosphere and its no wonder there are empty seats. The tide will turn when the working class start reclaiming their game from the likes of Sky, BT and the billionaire owners.
They all had a blue three wheeler cars which they could drive into the ground and park at the north stand end of the ground and watch the game in comfort.