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Post by Eaststandboy on Oct 17, 2014 14:30:23 GMT
I'll start the ball rolling.
When i think of the Manor, i always remember arriving by 1330 for a 1500 kick off so we could get our space. Standing in the left corner (as you look onto the pitch) on the upper section of the Beech Road. Me and my mate used to "vandalise" the yellow bar by chipping the paint to make one long line going from one side to the other.
And the smell of roast dinners if we had a Sunday game.
I miss that place!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 14:41:23 GMT
Queueing for a tea under the LRT, but rarely getting one. The pungent smell of p*ss - everywhere. The sudden hush when someone first sussed out there were "enemies" in the London Road. The man in a suit covered in OUFC badges selling (something?) around the edge of the pitch. People climbing the pylons to save admission. Hapless, clueless police, one of the few things that hasn't changed.
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Post by MJB on Oct 17, 2014 14:45:00 GMT
Weirdly similar for me. Starting going up properly when I was 11 for virtually every home game in the 95/96 season - beginners luck! - when my Granddad started taking me.
Due to me being so short, we'd set off for games at midday and be in the ground by 1pm. I'd stand at the front of the top tier of the Beech Road terrace and we'd stay there until 5pm come rain or shine. It was pretty cold on some occasions and no roof of course when it rained!
It was my first real experience of adults swearing, the smell of rolled cigarettes and gallows humour. Needless to say I was hooked. A family tradition of ours was to take a Mars bar to the game and I would always make it last for the whole of half-time. Odd how little memories stay with you.
I absolutely loved the Manor. When I started to go to away games in 1997, I bought a book which gave information, advice and opinions on all the 92 football league grounds. I was shocked to read that the Manor was described as being ramshackle and that the toilets were a bit rubbish. After reading our write up, I suddenly realised it was true but it hadn't, and didn't continue to, matter.
It was home. Our home.
I'd love to watch one last game there and feel that buzz at 2.55pm when The Boys From Up The Hill came running onto that beautiful, sloping pitch of ours.
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Post by captainox on Oct 17, 2014 15:35:22 GMT
Various memories from different areas of the Manor.
My first ever game in the 97/98 season (as a 7 year old) was witnessed from the main stand up in the old wooden seats, can't really remember much apart from the result 1-0 v Ipswich, Dave Smith scored and we had a Dutch loanee keeper in goal - Google tells me it was Arjan Van Heusden. I think I spent the majority of the game asking my dad what offside was and why was it so hard to kick the ball into such a big net.
A lot of my games at the Manor were spent in the family section as I was still in single digits. The family section was very unique, essentially a mini temporary stand with only a handful of rows on and if it rained you got soaked not only from the rain but also from it then dripping off the main stand roof. Games that stand out when looking back include; against Crystal Palace when Dean Windass scored a free-kick at the Cuckoo Lane end, against Millwall in the final season at the Manor, one of their subs (Google tells me Christophe Kinet) was about to come on and before doing so dipped his David Ginola style long hair in a bucket before asking the physio to style it for him. And finally, the last game of the 98/99 season, when we needed a strange set of circumstances to stay up, we beat Stockport 5-0 but it wasn't enough.
Sometimes stood with my dad on the upper tier of the Beech Road terrace, about in line with the edge of the penalty area, huddled up against the barrier. The only game that sticks in the memory from here is the 5-0 home defeat to Bristol Rovers; Jamie Cureton got a hat trick including one where Joey Beauchamp tried to curl a back pass to Richard Knight from the halfway line and it got intercepted. Nathan Ellington was in his first full season at Rovers and also scored. By the end of the game, the London Road and the Beech Road were "ole"ing the Rovers passing as we were completely outplayed.
It's only hit me recently how special the Manor was, its mismash of stands, the sloping pitch and the great noise from the London Road. Being exiled, the Kassam just doesn't attract us to plough down from York twice a season, yet alone every other week, the whole experience is depressing really whereas at the Manor, the sense of excitement when walking down the Beech Road to get in was always there regardless of the weather or the teams position in the table.
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Post by yellowken on Oct 17, 2014 15:43:08 GMT
Season 85/86. Seeing the Ipswich fans do the Conga in the Cuckoo Lane when they were 3-0 at Half time. Then seeing that same Congo get less and less when we score 4 goals in a 2nd Half 15 minute spell. Dave Langan skinning their left back every time and John Aldridge beating Terry Butcher in the air for his hat-trick of goals.
Simply brilliant!
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Post by SteMerritt on Oct 17, 2014 15:53:37 GMT
1983/4. Oxford United 1 Manchester United 1. Second Replay. Extra Time. Oxford attacking down the slope. I was in the Osler Road, about level with the 18 yard box. The winning goal was one of those slow-motion moments... The ball swung in from our left wing into the box. Steve Biggins lept high, and just seemed to hang in the air. Man Utd goalkeeper, Jeff Wealands, thought "I've got this", and came to intercept. As he advanced, the ball met the forehead of the still airbourne Biggins and looped up into the air. Wealands was in trouble, and watched as the loopiest of looping headers sailed over his head. The London Road terrace, packed solid, erupted as the ball dropped into the net. Oxford United 2 Manchester United 1, the giant-killing was complete.
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Post by Eaststandboy on Oct 17, 2014 15:59:26 GMT
To add to my first post:
I remember celebrating a goal and my chewing gum flying out of my mouth right into someone's hair, I felt so bad! They realised about 10 mins later, by then it had glued in.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 16:00:55 GMT
I still think back to that great time when we beat Leeds United 5-2. The Lorimer sending off almost seemed a turning point in a fine game of flowing football
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Post by wandsworthyellow on Oct 17, 2014 16:58:30 GMT
I'll start the ball rolling. When i think of the Manor, i always remember arriving by 1330 for a 1500 kick off so we could get our space. Standing in the left corner (as you look onto the pitch) on the upper section of the Beech Road. Me and my mate used to "vandalise" the yellow bar by chipping the paint to make one long line going from one side to the other. And the smell of roast dinners if we had a Sunday game. I miss that place! agreed watching powell, joey b and simo steam down the left flank...magical moments....happy, happy times....see right side was always better
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Post by wandsworthyellow on Oct 17, 2014 17:01:43 GMT
Various memories from different areas of the Manor. My first ever game in the 97/98 season (as a 7 year old) was witnessed from the main stand up in the old wooden seats, can't really remember much apart from the result 1-0 v Ipswich, Dave Smith scored and we had a Dutch loanee keeper in goal - Google tells me it was Arjan Van Heusden. I think I spent the majority of the game asking my dad what offside was and why was it so hard to kick the ball into such a big net. A lot of my games at the Manor were spent in the family section as I was still in single digits. The family section was very unique, essentially a mini temporary stand with only a handful of rows on and if it rained you got soaked not only from the rain but also from it then dripping off the main stand roof. Games that stand out when looking back include; against Crystal Palace when Dean Windass scored a free-kick at the Cuckoo Lane end, against Millwall in the final season at the Manor, one of their subs (Google tells me Christophe Kinet) was about to come on and before doing so dipped his David Ginola style long hair in a bucket before asking the physio to style it for him. And finally, the last game of the 98/99 season, when we needed a strange set of circumstances to stay up, we beat Stockport 5-0 but it wasn't enough. Sometimes stood with my dad on the upper tier of the Beech Road terrace, about in line with the edge of the penalty area, huddled up against the barrier. The only game that sticks in the memory from here is the 5-0 home defeat to Bristol Rovers; Jamie Cureton got a hat trick including one where Joey Beauchamp tried to curl a back pass to Richard Knight from the halfway line and it got intercepted. Nathan Ellington was in his first full season at Rovers and also scored. By the end of the game, the London Road and the Beech Road were "ole"ing the Rovers passing as we were completely outplayed. It's only hit me recently how special the Manor was, its mismash of stands, the sloping pitch and the great noise from the London Road. Being exiled, the Kassam just doesn't attract us to plough down from York twice a season, yet alone every other week, the whole experience is depressing really whereas at the Manor, the sense of excitement when walking down the Beech Road to get in was always there regardless of the weather or the teams position in the table. mate, loved your post...agreed on all your points...we need to get out of kassam and into a smaller (burton type) ground...
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Post by eighteen93 on Oct 17, 2014 17:11:17 GMT
It's February 1975 and Manchester United fans are pictured in Osler Road before all hell lets loose!
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Post by oufcyellows on Oct 17, 2014 17:18:20 GMT
Started off with my dad in the osler rd end sat on the yellow barriers at the back with my shoulder wedged in one of the blue steel uprights. Playing football with an empty coke bottle down the walk way at the back of the stand during half time listen to classics like yazz Then moving to London with mates at 16 95/96 ish. Losing a shoe on 2 different occasions. One during the bundle forward following a goal celebration the other in the lets go f*cking mental jump around when someone decided to throw it onto the pitch. Taken a girl to London to on a date we used to stand near the back right side. And got to know a lot of the guys by face if not name. Someone decided to pinch my dates arse , on telling me I turned around to say something to be met by a big fucker saying what's ur problem. Before I could even reply some of the regulars who knew me tapped him on the shoulder and said we r . They then proceeded to kick the shit out of him. I felt on top of the world at 16/17 having that kind of support. She however told me after the game that if that was the sort of friends I kept she wouldn't be seeing me again. Oh. Well. We won
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Post by R on Oct 17, 2014 17:55:54 GMT
In the Beech Road with my Grandad for all of the eighties euphoria. I adored the whole match day. Leaving Abingdon and fussing about being late, finding a parking space in the car park of the polytechnic opposite Headington Girls School, walking up to the ground and hearing the early roars, past the back of the stand and getting wafts of deep heat and cigarette smoke, up the steps and out into the stand and there was that beautiful sight. A superb playing surface, people around me I'd got to know and I felt were kindred spirits, I was more comfortable there than anywhere else. Night games were something else. You could see the floodlights as you came down to the by pass at Hinksey Hill. That's when the excitement started. How many would we win by tonight? Steve Biggins winner against Man U, Les Phillips winner against Everton, the besting of Newcastle and the annihilation of Leeds in the frost and so many more memories that I will remember forever. The Manor had the charm of a place cobbled together over time by people who cared, pulling together thousands from all walks of life who came there for a common cause, to be fans of the best team in the world. That's history.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 18:03:57 GMT
In the Beech Road with my Grandad for all of the eighties euphoria. I adored the whole match day. Leaving Abingdon and fussing about being late, finding a parking space in the car park of the polytechnic opposite Headington Girls School, walking up to the ground and hearing the early roars, past the back of the stand and getting wafts of deep heat and cigarette smoke, up the steps and out into the stand and there was that beautiful sight. A superb playing surface, people around me I'd got to know and I felt were kindred spirits, I was more comfortable there than anywhere else. Night games were something else. You could see the floodlights as you came down to the by pass at Hinksey Hill. That's when the excitement started. How many would we win by tonight? Steve Biggins winner against Man U, Les Phillips winner against Everton, the besting of Newcastle and the annihilation of Leeds in the frost and so many more memories that I will remember forever. The Manor had the charm of a place cobbled together over time by people who cared, pulling together thousands from all walks of life who came there for a common cause, to be fans of the best team in the world. That's history. What's happened to "R"? Pretty decent first post, but seems to have disappeared.
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Post by eighteen93 on Oct 17, 2014 18:11:46 GMT
Orange goal nets in 1983-84 The London Road end "moat" Fences at the London Road end. Newspaper style programmes
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Post by eighteen93 on Oct 17, 2014 18:26:37 GMT
A packed Cuckoo Lane in 1984
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Post by Eaststandboy on Oct 17, 2014 18:48:38 GMT
In the Beech Road with my Grandad for all of the eighties euphoria. I adored the whole match day. Leaving Abingdon and fussing about being late, finding a parking space in the car park of the polytechnic opposite Headington Girls School, walking up to the ground and hearing the early roars, past the back of the stand and getting wafts of deep heat and cigarette smoke, up the steps and out into the stand and there was that beautiful sight. A superb playing surface, people around me I'd got to know and I felt were kindred spirits, I was more comfortable there than anywhere else. Night games were something else. You could see the floodlights as you came down to the by pass at Hinksey Hill. That's when the excitement started. How many would we win by tonight? Steve Biggins winner against Man U, Les Phillips winner against Everton, the besting of Newcastle and the annihilation of Leeds in the frost and so many more memories that I will remember forever. The Manor had the charm of a place cobbled together over time by people who cared, pulling together thousands from all walks of life who came there for a common cause, to be fans of the best team in the world. That's history. What's happened to "R"? Pretty decent first post, but seems to have disappeared. Non members can post in this section..
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Post by yellowken on Oct 17, 2014 18:50:44 GMT
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Post by Surreal Madrid on Oct 17, 2014 18:59:39 GMT
Not wanting to condone violence but it still makes me laugh the song sang by the London Rd when they started chucking coins at the then Burnley keeper,Roger Hanbury 'Goalie.Heads or Tails.Goalie,goalie heads or tails'
I also seem to remember another goalie getting coined (Jimmy Rimmer possibly) who picked up all the money in his cap and gave it to the ball boy.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 19:39:03 GMT
I used to stand at the very back on the left hand side but right up against the centre railings. When we scored there were two choices.....crowd surge twenty yards forward, or jump onto the railings and celebrate on top of the world. Either was exhilarating.
For big games the back of the stand was covered in rivers of p*ss as people came up to the back to p*ss as it was too crowded to get to the exits. However I remember never really being offended by it. It was an indicator that it was a big game although it made the mosh pits more precarious.
I think it was frank talia who reckoned he could have doubled his weekly wage from the number of coins thrown at him. The players were dragged off eventually but the cross bar sounded like a Jamaican steel band with all the coins hitting it.
I started off on the beach road terrace top tier but soon graduated to the London road. I had spent my time in the beech road watching the London road more than the game.
One random specific memory, apart from the abuse dished out to Eric Nixon and Reggie blinker, was twenty guys appearing on the beech road in white ski suit onesies. The London road started chanting "Persil washes brighter"
Other strange memories were brummies pissing from the floodlights and surging in over the osler road roof, a soundometer for a cup game and a weird cartoon in the programme called "norm and ec" that never made any sense. It was often a highlight amongst my friends.
Final memory was a rare treat I got to watch a game in the camera gantry. My mum was friends with Tim Russons girlfriend of the time. I remember he was rather dull and didn't care for football only horse racing. At the end of the game my job was to drop the video of the game from the beech road roof gantry to a motorbike courier below so he could rush it off to goals extra at 515. The courier arrived, stood below and looked up. I dropped the video and at that moment he looked down again to take a step forward. The video smashed on his helmet and went everywhere :-(
Not that it mattered as wolves and Birmingham were the only games they ever cared about anyway in the Gary newborn days
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Post by asashole on Oct 17, 2014 20:38:27 GMT
pluggy
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Post by sotonox on Oct 17, 2014 20:53:30 GMT
In the 90's when we wasted money with that digital screen plonked on the white tower at the Cuckoo lane end. Big firework display to celebrate it,think it only lasted about 3 games before it never worked again.
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Post by MJB on Oct 17, 2014 21:52:47 GMT
In the 90's when we wasted money with that digital screen plonked on the white tower at the Cuckoo lane end. Big firework display to celebrate it,think it only lasted about 3 games before it never worked again. OOOH AAAH
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2014 23:54:37 GMT
Evening games around fireworks night were always amusing as Matthew alludes to.
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Post by saddletramp on Oct 18, 2014 6:50:59 GMT
I'll start the ball rolling. When i think of the Manor, i always remember arriving by 1330 for a 1500 kick off so we could get our space. Standing in the left corner (as you look onto the pitch) on the upper section of the Beech Road. Me and my mate used to "vandalise" the yellow bar by chipping the paint to make one long line going from one side to the other. And the smell of roast dinners if we had a Sunday game. I miss that place! Sunday games ? How many Sunday games were played at the Manor ? Not many. When I think of the Manor days,its more the pre match build up that I miss. Lets be honest,we've had nothing but misery at the breeze block(apart from 3 wins over the scum)and the pre match anticipation is zilch. IF I attend a home game now,i leave Wantage about 1.30PM,i remember the days when we would be in The Greyhound Gloucester Green at opening time,move on to Whites bar about 11.30,then on to The Oranges and Lemons for about 1pm,back bar of the Brit for about 2pm. You would have a days entertainment before the match even started. Its easy to wallow in the "glory years",but the late 70s were a special time for me,crowds were declining,we were watching players who ran their guts out,but wouldn't have got in Oxford City's team today and we were hovering around the bottom of Division 3,yet the loyal fans had a siege mentality,"we are in this together and we will support the team whatever" I swear I never heard the moaning and negativity that is prevalent today,(ok.ok.im one of the worst). That's what made the 80s so special,the fact that we had years of going nowhere and with it the fact that the bubble was going to burst soon,when it didn't,riding the crest of the wave was magnificent. Imagine supporting a team that wins all the time,how boring,whats the thrill of going to a match KNOWING you are going to win ?
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Post by Eaststandboy on Oct 18, 2014 7:23:10 GMT
I'll start the ball rolling. When i think of the Manor, i always remember arriving by 1330 for a 1500 kick off so we could get our space. Standing in the left corner (as you look onto the pitch) on the upper section of the Beech Road. Me and my mate used to "vandalise" the yellow bar by chipping the paint to make one long line going from one side to the other. And the smell of roast dinners if we had a Sunday game. I miss that place! Sunday games ? How many Sunday games were played at the Manor ? Not many. When I think of the Manor days,its more the pre match build up that I miss. Lets be honest,we've had nothing but misery at the breeze block(apart from 3 wins over the scum)and the pre match anticipation is zilch. IF I attend a home game now,i leave Wantage about 1.30PM,i remember the days when we would be in The Greyhound Gloucester Green at opening time,move on to Whites bar about 11.30,then on to The Oranges and Lemons for about 1pm,back bar of the Brit for about 2pm. You would have a days entertainment before the match even started. Its easy to wallow in the "glory years",but the late 70s were a special time for me,crowds were declining,we were watching players who ran their guts out,but wouldn't have got in Oxford City's team today and we were hovering around the bottom of Division 3,yet the loyal fans had a siege mentality,"we are in this together and we will support the team whatever" I swear I never heard the moaning and negativity that is prevalent today,(ok.ok.im one of the worst). That's what made the 80s so special,the fact that we had years of going nowhere and with it the fact that the bubble was going to burst soon,when it didn't,riding the crest of the wave was magnificent. Imagine supporting a team that wins all the time,how boring,whats the thrill of going to a match KNOWING you are going to win ? Yeah it wasn't many, but something that stands out. Odd...
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Post by sox on Oct 18, 2014 7:43:10 GMT
First season was 81/82 I think, but what stands out for me was the feeling of camaraderie in the London Road (left side of course!). The crowd surges through the glory years, the fences, being treated like shite at places like Everton etc... but the overriding memories for me were evening cup games, the sense of anticipation, packed in like sardines and best of all the floodlights coming up fairly late to reveal where all the noise was coming from. Happy days.
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Post by longridge yellow on Oct 18, 2014 9:07:57 GMT
first game 64/65 7 .0 against barrow . the heaving mass of the London road .pre match drinks at the black boy or the standard beating Swindon in the league cup the year after they won it . last game watched at the manor 3/0 against arsenal 85/86 .then walking down the London road to pick kids up from school looking up the entrance towards London road stand and seeing right up to the cuckoo lane and crying
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Post by Si Bradbury on Oct 18, 2014 12:12:20 GMT
My birthday, midweek game, November 1985 - some reason we were on the Beech Road that night and were due to visit my Grandad in the JR after the game, I was 7. 3 down at Half time if I recall before shooting towards the London Road, Aldridge scored a hat-trick but my favourite goal of the night was from Neil Slatter. Quite a remarkable game of football, under the lights and is the stand out game from my early trips to the Manor.
Or my overlong lasting memory was in the Osler Road, that was where I used to stand with my younger brother and Dad. Every game, plastic milk crate in hand cos we couldn't see over the wall, told to push through to the front, positioned our crates and then climbed under the metal barrier which was sat just off the concrete wall. Always felt safe their from all the dads and larger kids because when we scored, we would never get crushed or pushed due to that protective steel barrier. Would love to experience that one more time.
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Post by dartfordox (RIP) on Oct 18, 2014 13:00:07 GMT
3 matches stand out for me.
1. Beating Blackburn in the FA Cup. Unfortunately could make the subsequent Preston game. On duty.
2. The drubbing of Leeds and Lorimers sending off.
3. Pat Jennings, then with Arsenal, trying one of his famous one handed catches at the Cuckoo Lane end. He forgot he had an injured thumb and dropped it into the net.
And one other memory, but I can't remember against whom. Chicken George nut-megging an opposing full back. Then getting the ball, turning, and nut-megging the same player again. Twice in 15 seconds. Brilliant.
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