I was at that one. City fans in the Blackburn end before the game ,which was a little tin shed behind the goal. I say 'end' but there were no segregation in those days so you didn't where the home fans would turn up en- masse. Chris Chilton scored the only goal. Went to the PNE game that year too. Remember it being Preston Guild which was the only day of the year the pubs could open all day from first light. All the locals were well oiled. Bit feisty that day too.
Was that the one where they started chucking ball bearings at us and all you could hear was the thud thud thud on the back of the stand - those were the days!
Correct although it wasn't all one way. Someone had a bag of little inch squares of lead and I think it was those getting thrown back and forth.
The 1868 General Election results for Blackburn was declared null and void after allegations of intimidation of voters and bribing them with ale. Blackburn was at the centre of anti-powerloom 'Luddite' riots when a mob destroyed 212 powerlooms in the space of 35 minutes. It was the site of a Roman Temple and was then a place of medieval 'pilgrimage and healing'. Blackburn was the first town in the UK to take on mass fingerprinting. The club shirts are a consequence of the merger between two public schools. Hoghton Tower is the location of the sirloin steak getting its name. It is said that King James I knighted a particularly tasty piece of beef saying 'arise Sir Loin'. Susan Boyle is from Blackburn.
I remember trying to get out of the non-segregated stand to avoid being blinded at Preston but their coppers pushed us back in!,
I have a faint memory of our coach driver leaving two or three lads behind at PNE and we all kicked off at the back of the bus until he turned around and went back for them. A visit to Lancashire was always lively in those days.
It was always lively going through Todmorden on the way back when the coaches got pelted with fruit and melons etc
You can't beat the good old days of throwing ball bearings and pieces of lead at the opposition fans can you
Football was very, very different in the early 70's. You were lucky if it was only bits of lead and ball bearings being thrown about. You literally took your life in your hands following your club away especially if you were a teenager. Back in 1968 I travelled to Ayresome Park, Boro v City, as a 14/15 year old. My pal at that time was a big lad without a hooligan bone in his body. In later life he was a top heart surgeon. He was battered black and blue inside the ground before the game because he was a big lad. Talking mobs in waves of 50 and more, of much older lads then the lads I travelled with who were all still at school. It was men against innocent boys. Its easy to pass judgement when you weren't there.
Lived in Longton too in the early 90’s, it’s “alright” as is everyone in that locale if you ask them.