Most memorable Football matches as a fan/kid

[Eso Kral]

I grew up in the West Midlands and from the age of about 11-16 even whilst carving a semi successful career myself followed Walsall FC around the country travelling either with my Dad in his maroon Cavalier SRI with the smell of the occasional hamlet cigar drifting into the back seats or on the supporters coaches with my brother where we would be on the outskirts of the "chanters" and hope to be brave enough to start a chant that took off.

I remember some great FA/League cup runs that we had as a little club and with us winning away at Brentford yesterday and into the 4th round it made me think of my most memorable match as a fan and this one from the 1986/87 season really sticks out and I think made me a real fan of the FA cup and the romance it brings where "little old" Walsall from League 3 drew Watford from League 1 (The Premier League now) at home who had stars such as Luther Blissett, John Barnes and Tony Coton etc with us having the then potent strike force of David Kelly and Nicky Cross with a bit of help from the ageing Trevor Christie and having gone behind a couple of minutes into the match at Fellows Park we managed to find an equalizer which in those days (I loved how you replayed 3-4 days later) the replay being in Watford on the Tues or Weds night so leaving school a bit early and driving home down with more hope than expectation we saw this belter of a match.

Apols for some of the quality but it was the best I could find.


Which match made you the fan you are today and why?

[TightEnd]

i'm older than you and you tube isn't much help for some of the games

a few memorable ones from when i was young (under 16 years old)

keith weller's tights



fa cup quarter, 3 goalkeepers used



2-0 down to leatherhead at home in the cup.....

[hhyftrftdr]

Still gives me goosebumps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tge11NHJ0U

[Eso Kral]

Still gives me goosebumps.

[hhyftrftdr]

Ty! Bit of a novice at linking Youtube

[Eso Kral]

Ty! Bit of a novice at linking Youtube

No worries you just click the you tube box above the and cut and paste the link in from youtube and then remove the "s" from https and bingo

[fatcatstu]

Easy as a Boro fan, quite possibly the most bonkers 2 games of football I will ever witness.


Boro v Basle UEFA Cup Quarter Final leg 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFfjQ-E3V3E



Boro v Steauaauaua UEFA Cup Semi Final leg 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgpA0S2Ciqo

To score 4 goals twice to come back and win those games was unreal. The second time was surreal! Still send a shiver down my spine listening to the local commentator going absolutely mental!

[horseplayer]

About 5 minutes 20 in

Des Walkers first goal for Forest a rolls royce of a player the noise when he smashed that was immense and still brings goosebumps.

[booder]

Possibly the first game i ever watched live (could have been an earlier one but i have no recollection of it) was a cup game , second leg Norwich City V Chelsea , early 70s possibly 1972.

Norwich had beaten Chelsea 2-0 in the first leg and the ground was packed .It was my friends birthday and his father took half a dozen of us 10 or 11 year olds to the game.

We stood immediately underneath the floodlight pylon in the South Stand / Barclay corner , right at the very front.It seemed almost magical that we were within touching distance of those superstars.

It was a fantastic match with Norwich leading 3-2 with only about 10 minutes to go,when fog suddenly enveloped the ground.It was impossible to see any further than the 18 yard box so the game was abandoned.

It was very very late when i was returned home to worried parents  but the whole experience will live long in the memory.Thank you Mr Rivett.

[OverTheBorder]

I noticed he scores in the cup yesterday for Linlithgow, from the wikipedia of Graham Weir:

Weir started his career at Heart Of Midlothian, making his senior debut in 2001 in a 3–2 loss against Aberdeen, where he was sent off in the final minute for kicking Robbie Winters. During his Hearts career his goals-to-games ratio was unremarkable, although he is noted for scoring two goals in the last minute of added time against Hibernian in the Edinburgh Derby of 2 January 2003. Hibernian scored two late goals in 89th and 92nd minutes to go 4–2 up. However, the two goals by Graham Weir in the last 42 seconds of injury time marked an even more dramatic comeback by the Hearts, for a final score of 4–4.

That 4-4 game was just ridiculous I was in row 2 of the end he scored them at. Epic scenes in any game let alone a derby.

[DungBeetle]

Before I opened thread I was going to put down Watford v Walsall!  I also nominate Belgium 4 Soviet Union 3 in 1986 World Cup.

[celtic]

Arsenal winning the league at anfield.

Man U winning the European cup v Munich.

Will think of more.

[Graham C]

Not a fan of Reading but it was one of the best matches I've ever been too.  The 2001 play off second leg against Wigan at the Mad Stad.  I lived in Reading at the time and went to the odd game.  It was 0-0 after the first leg and Wigan scored a fairly early goal in the home leg.  We Reading trailed until about 3 mins from the end when they banged in an equaliser and then got a penalty in injury time for the win.  The pen was missed but the follow up was scored by Nicky Forster and I've never seen a stadium go so mental. 

Look how scared for his life happy Nicky is celebrating with the fans



At the end there was a massive pitch invasion followed by loads of mounted police coming on too to get the fans off the pitch, quite exciting from my point quite high up in one of the stands.



When tickets for the final came out, I decided to queue at the stadium to make sure I got them.  I think the ticket office opened at 11am for the final ticket and it was rumoured that it was going to be busy so I got there at 7am and joined the queue of a couple of hundred fans already there.  The time went quite quick and it wasnt' too bad and I managed to get the tickets I came for.

Day of the final, we rock up at Cardiff only to find we could have bought tickets on the day   Ended up losing to Walsall but had a good day out nevertheless. 

[bergeroo]

Club Brugge 1-2 Birmingham City
Europa League Group Stage 2011

My Uncle's ex girlfriend got us tickets in the home section with her Belgian ID card. The away section was long sold out and I am not longer a member as I live abroad and I was forced to sell my shares. We bought Brugge scarves from the club shop as disguise. It turned out we were in the 'Ultras' section where the atmosphere was a bit tasty. Even at 1-1 the home fans were pretty aggro. And when Chris Wood knocked in a 99th minute winner, it is fair to say they were not best pleased. We tried to stay as stoic and quiet as we could for fear of getting our heads kicked in. We mostly kept it together until we got back to the car where we let out cheers and fist pumps aplenty.

Great match.

[bergeroo]

Nuneaton 1-1 Middlesbrough
FA Cup Third Round January 2006

I worked for the BBC at this point so ostensibly I was there to take photos, sample the atmosphere and the occasion. Manor Park was absolutely packed, hard to see the game, great atmosphere. Nuneaton played really well and Middlesbrough didn't really look up for it but got a 1-0 lead. Nuneaton managed to get an extremely dodgy penalty in the 90th minute after Southgate kicked the ball onto his own hand. Gez Murphy stepped up and slotted it in. Pandemonium! I'm trying to think but this was possibly the only post match pitch invasion I've participated in. As a member of the press, I was duty bound to capture the action.

Two years later the club went into liquidation.