Back in the day when we shared the Vic Road terrace with away supporters just separated by the thin blue line. Well I think it was against the Brummies when a bloke in front of me was less than happy with his Hot Dog and proceeded to complain and after a while of getting nowhere decided to "return" it straight into the face of said Hot Dog seller - the look on his face with onions, mustard and ketchup running down it will live with me forever..
I remember only a few seasons ago when we played Liverpool in the semi final of the league cup. The stadium announcer was prattling over the PA system when it buzzed and completely cut out. To a man the Liverpool fans in the away end immediately started singing "we stole your stereo, we stole your stereo"... Outside of games at the Vic; That moment in the 74 world cup when Brazil had a free kick against Haiti. The ref blew the whistle for Brazil to take the kick when a Haitian defender charged out the wall, and before anyone else could move, he toe punted the ball up the park. Priceless. Not only did he have to suffer the shame of it beingon live TV but he got a yellow card too! I was also listening to Radio 5 when Robbie Savage was a pundit on an Aston Villa game, and a loose clearance sent the ball in to the commentary box and in to his face. His co-commentator was beside himself laughing. Fabulous radio.
Was the Brian Owen 'goal' an evening game? I'm sure I wasn't there, but remember the story none the less- in my mind (probably from reading the Wobby write-up) it was a wet windy evening. The Steve Palmer / Bournemouth game- not sure whether that counts as funny, but pretty remarkable.
One of my favourite ever memories from Vicarage Road comes from around 2000. It was a particularly unremarkable game, against a team from the North synonymous with the mining industry and the 19th century Industrial Revolution. I was sitting in the middle of a packed Rookery (back in the day when games were a sell-out) when something caught my eye. It was a man sat in the middle of the Family Stand, surrounded by fellow supporters. There were no children in the near vicinity of him. Every-now-and-then, he would turn to his companion and (I assume) discuss footballing matters. What made this a bit odd was he was wearing a mouse uniform, with the mouse head resting on his lap. To the people around him, it seemed totally normal! We came to the conclusion that he had obviously lost all his clothes, and the mouse costume was all he had left.
I seem to remember a wet, windy evening game. To be fair to Brian, his shot was blocked as he made it. It was the defenders boot that made the ball go skywards.
Games with Notts County always seemed to be bad tempered affairs. One thing that always makes we chuckle is the memory of a Notts player taking the ball down the wing, runs out of play without realising and carries on down the wing. The lino flags for a throw to us, and Steve Harrison, possibly realing that he has a 'free kick', scythed the guy down. The Notts players went nuts, but it was our throw!
