I drove up to Hull on the Friday, got pissed and went to bed, drove 5 of us down to Harrow. Parked at a pub and persuaded a pub manager to let us park in his car park and give us all a lift to the tube. Went down to Wembley Way back to Harrow, back to Wembley after a couple more pints. Watched match, went crazy, Drove back to Hull, got pissed, went to bed, watched the match replay, got pissed, waited on Beverley Road for the drive past. Got pissed on the Sunday, Drove back at 3am on Monday morning. Went to work at 9. Back home at 10 slept for 8 hours.
Was at home in Langwarrin ,Melbourne.Did not go the AFL that night, because i did not want to miss anyhting.It was on live at midnight here.Mixed emotions obviously glad we did it butshould have been there.Still jealous of those who went but that is life. To be honest was more emotional after the Watford game, maybe i knew it was our destiny. Anyway i am for a few weeks in August so hoopefully see the lads in the Premier League for the first time
Had flown over in the weeks before to watch both playoffs against Watford and celebrated on the KC pitch after the game with the hundreds that poured out of the stands. Barmbys headed goal just before HT was the turning point and Nicky would have run through a brick wall to get to that ball. So glad he's now our Manager and I expect him to take us back to the Prem. On the final day I was driven up from my sons house in Sussex and dropped off with him close to the stadium. First time at Wembley and it was an awesome sight. We were escorted into the Club Wembley dining area where I met up with five old pals from Hull who I've known for 50 years and we had drinks and talked about the game. Then we headed down to our seats just across the aisle from the players bench and took in the fantastic atmosphere with over 80,000 Tiger and Bristol fans in the stadium. It was the most exciting game I have ever seen and Campbells run topped off by Deano's incredible goal are burned in my memory. I've watched the match video hundreds of times since. Our defense in the last 20 minutes was magnificent. I'll never forget Turner's blocks, Wayne Brown jumping on Myhills back thinking the final whistle had gone, and Ricketts sliding clearance. The singing and the celebration afterwards were incredible. It seemed like the Bristol half of the ground emptied out in five minutes. How they must have felt.
To continue with my post from before. Me and my mate stayed with a City fan in London and went out in Camden Market the night before. That was the plan although i got wasted on the train down and was kicked out alot of places around Camden that night, which is nowt usual up here anyway. We stopped in one and and a good sing song with a group of City fans. Everyone stopped and looked at us, but eventually came over and said good luck to us. The day itself. We went to Wembley on the tube, which was full of both sets of fans, all mingling, making a racket and bouncing up down. Didn't half make a din. Then we met the rest of our group just down from the tube station steps and basked in the sun, taking photos of the arch and the wembley way. The match itself was nail bitting stuff. As Canada said, i couldn't believe we kept them out. I thought they'd scored the effort they had when Turner blocked it on the line and was mightly relieved when Myhill went up and caught the cross at the end. The goal was a peach and was his destiny and it was fantastic to see Ash, Myhill, Dawson (France later) make history & go up through all division with us. I remember bouncing around the train on the way back to the centre of London from Wembley The joy of winning led to another night of boozing. The way back, as i said, was long and boring and i was hungover, but the Leeds v Donny result made up for it. Top weekend. Best memories: Deanos goal, the celebrations of the players and the fans at the end, the bird with the t-shirt that said "my bristols are bigger than yours".
Oh believe me I was as nervous as hell, but I have a problem with my feet Eric, its why i,m a fat bastard. I cant keep em out of cafe,s and chip shops...
****. Queued for hours for tickets the Saturday after we beat Watford, went down the Saturday of the game, got some dinner in London then the train to Wemberlee, walked down Wembley Way with the rest of the Tiger Faithful, watched the game then got straight off back to Sunny Ull, with plenty of booze in my 15 year old belly! My only regret from the whole day is I didn't see my Grandad who supported City all his life, as it happened to be his last ever game due to illness.
There was no way my husband was going to go to the Wembley match and for a simple reason. He has been to the Wembley stadium on about a dozen occasions and each time the sporting team he supported in the match lost. Teams losing included Hull FC in 4 finals and Hull KR in 1.He flew from Aus for the 1980 match involving the 2 Hull clubs and again supported the loser as he did again when he went home for the Hull FC loss to Wigan in '85 the last occasion he was at Wembley .He does have a soft spot for Hull FC.(I follow Hull KR) On his only attendance at an FA cup final in 1966 he supported the Yorkshire team and saw them become the only team in the history of the final to surrender a 2-0 lead and lose. Sheffield Wed 2- Everton 3. So the decision was easy for him. Keep away and give the Tigers a chance and it worked! He is still convinced though that had he gone they would have lost.. somehow.
Illness prevented me even contemplating going to Wembley but fate had me sitting on the lounge in front of a large TV in the company of my better half (A Bristol Lass) and getting brilliant reception of the game on Foxtel. Wife's son rang up (from Bristol) to give me some stick before the actual kick off but I reciprocated vociferously 10 minutes after the final whistle .............................. but we are still on speaking terms lol. ( to this day my wife insists on leaving the room everytime I replay the match on DVD).
I wasn't :-(, I was overseas in Poland, I'd gone on a 5 day trip of the historical areas related to the war
Early train down to London. At each station a couple more people in the amber and black got on, probably 40 of us by the time we got to Tottenham Hale. Met up with other members of the family for drinks near Marylebone then up to the match. At one point someone complained about junior (aged 10 at the time) being too loud. Everyone else around looked at them in disbelief. The evening was something of a blur, it was good that I can get back on autopilot as I was definitely not thinking well by the time we went home.
OK here's mine!! I was at Wembley lower tier just to the left of the goal (from behind). Me, the memsahib, StrovolosJuniorOne and StrovolosJunior2 travelled down the night before and stayed at the Premier Inn at Harrow-On-The-Hill. On the day of the game we got the train to Wembley and walked over to a pub called the Blarney Stone on Blackbird Hill to meet some mates and have lunch. Then back to the stadium down Olympic Way (still feels wrong saying that) for the match. The day after I took the family into Smoke for the day and had a great visit to the Natural History Museum all of us wearing our replica shirts (the only time I have ever worn one!!). Always remember loads of people stopping us to congratulate us on the win. That was when it finally sank in!
Most of the big pubs in Wembley have shut down, the area is mainly Muslim and most of them don't go in pubs and they can't survive on just event day business, my big local in Wembley(Bootsy Brogans) became a Tesco Express last year.
Coach down 6am stopping at service stations with all our fans was fab.Then in that square thing end of wembley way with nettos for cheap booze n mcds for lunch.Seats high up in the heavens but still a great view.Remember being impressed with the toilets and elevators!.Then our coach back up after match being clapped by loadsa Bristol city fans which was a nice touch on their part,great fans.
Cannot begin 2 imagine how losing a championship playoff final feels after all the build up and getting so close to the big time
The Bristol fans were great, must have been crippling for them but they reacted very well at the end.
