A bunch of us mates used to meet and stand in the same spot up in the south stand behind the goal. There was a big gorilla of a guy who stood near us and all he did was grunt extremely loudly - even the chants and songs he would grunt - we were convinced he was not all there - we called him 'the missing link'
Most of my strongest memories of BP are from the couple of times I played there, I'll never forget the look on my mate's face though, he wasn't paying attention as one of Hateley's shots smashed into the barrier right where he was leaning on it and flew up narrowly missing his head. None of us could believe he was so far away in his own little world that when everybody around him had moved away he hadn't realised what was happening.
Yes I remember this scenario well only there were floodlights, on top of the East and West stands. And the comments about waiting round the back of the ground, the West Stand, to collect autographs, mostly after the match. If it was an evening kick off it was often 10:30pm before I got home to a rollocking for being out so late.
Winning 25 quid Golden Goal Waggy last goal v Charlton 5-2 86:31. As i was only 15 shouldnt have really got it. The toffee lady in 63 from Everton throwing toffees into the crowd. Queing around North Road for the Cup match v Chelsea....Osgood no good,Bring out Docherty! Getting autographs,knocking on Mick Milners door who house was on North Road. Oranges for Ian McKechnie Finally trying to prove how hard i was staying on South Stand when Wednesday fans arrived early for the Boxing Day game 70.All to imnpress a girl,after i was kicked a few times i decided to move.
Unfortunately not, I wasn't good enough for that. When the move to the KC was announced they gave anybody who could get a team together the chance to play at Boothferry Park once all City's games had finished. On the official messageboard they got one together and asked the club to put a staff side out against them not really expecting it but the club went for it. At some point between then and the game I started using that messageboard and got invited onto the team. The "staff" side they put together was meant to have AP and Peter Taylor in it but on the night they were signing Danny Allsopp so they ended up with Sam Sharman, Pete Skipper, the tall guy who works in Tiger Leisure that used to be in the youth team, Alex Burgess, Billy Russell, Neil Mann, Max Nicholson (ex Scunny, Donny, Hereford), Steve Butler (first team coach that played a few friendlies), Rob Smith, and Simon Russell and a few others. And Simon Russell was playing because he'd been suspended for 3 games so Billy Russell wanted him to have a run out before his next game. We got absolutely battered that game, but there's a few good memories, as a striker slide tackling Manny and not committing a foul or knackering his knee. That fixture has been played ever year since then, although maybe not 2010 it was I think 5-2 to the fans after the 2009 game, and this year's hasn't been arranged yet. Only the first 2 were at BP, which is a shame because that's the only 2 the fans have lost as far as I know, but that 2nd game I played at BP was the last fixture ever played there that involved a side officially representing the club. So forget Darlington, the club won a trophy with a comfortable victory in their final game there (which is better than the first team or reserves managed in their last games).
One more thing, I remember the Rambo Billy graffiti in the eighties, the KC could do with a few tags here and there ( KC looks a bit too corporate and polished for my liking, probably linked to the lack of atmosphere)
Great story, I had no idea this happened - thanks for sharing. And am very jealous that you got to play on the same pitch as Manny, let alone tackled him - one of my favourite ever players
I remember Viggo Jensen's sausage stall outside the ground where he would sell his own brand of sausages. Officially he wasn't allowed to be paid in his early time with Hull City (I don't know why) so he made a quid by flogging his own bangers. Couldn't see Jimmy doing that (lol).
That's why I will always prefer Boothferry Park despite all the adverse comments about the place and the fact we never reached the pinnacle league whilst playing there. Ironic though that City's first ground was the Boulevard.
