Stretford Ender

We used to close down a lot of the ground for reserve team games back in the day. Chelsea might have done the same?

'A Colt Is My Passport' and 'Cruel Gun Story.' Both vehicles for the great Jo Shishido. If you've never seen any Japanese noir flicks, these are two superb films to start you off. The Criterion Collection put out a compendium of films from Nikkatsu Studios who specialized in low budget yakuza films.

Speaking of Brummie accents, Jasper Carrott's sketch about United v Birmingham in 1975 is very funny.

Kipper ties too. Man, the way we dressed back then. Thank heavens punk came along when it did.

I saw him when I was a young lad and going to matches with my dad. That generation of players is dwindling in number now.

March 1963. FA Cup 5th round. Games were played three weeks later than usual because of the big freeze of that year. United won 2-1 with goals from Law and Quixall. Dennis Sorrell scored for Chelsea. Terry Venables played along with Bobby Tambling and Eddie McCreadie. Johnny Giles played for us in midfield. Shame we couldn't keep hold of him.

I didn't know that. I always though he was just a harmless English eccentric, albeit one with some money.

There used to be an old fella who followed England around. He wore a top hat, rosettes, the works. I remember seeing him at Wembley for England games back in the early 70s and he must have been at least 65 then. City had an old dear that used to ring a bloody bell at their games. They even dragged her out to do a lap of honour when they won the League Cup in 76. She must be dead and gone by now too. Edit: The England fan was Ken Bailey (looked him up). He followed the rugby too and was responsible for covering up the charming Erica Roe when she bared all at Twickenham.

Is he still alive. I'd forgotten all about this bloke but I do remember seeing him in all his glory back in the day. Can't remember if it was at your place or ours but he definitely stood out in a crowd.

I'll always be grateful to him for the sterling job he did at Leeds.

Lou Lou skip to ma Lou, skip to ma Lou Macari....

Alf Ramsey - pretentious git that he was - always called him Norbert.

I don't know if you ever saw him play - I'm sure some on here did - but Nobby was far more than the clogger he was portrayed to be in the press. Like your own Ron Harris, he was tough, uncompromising, but also one hell of a good player. The fact that two of the greatest managers in the game, Matt Busby and Alf Ramsey, played him regularly for club and country says it all. I've written elsewhere that my abiding memory of Nobby was during the title run-in in 1967. We were neck and neck with Forest. We beat Leicester at home 5-2 but David Herd broke his leg in a tackle with their centre half. On the Saturday before Easter, we got a 0-0 draw at Anfield and then we played Fulham away on Easter Monday, and at home 24 hours later. Absent a striker, Matt threw Nobby up top at Craven Cottage and he scored the equalizer in a 2-2 draw, saving a precious point. Matt played him there again for the home game and Nobby ran the Fulham defence ragged - and they had George Cohen - scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 win and edging us ahead. Lastly, was his relationship with Alf Ramsey. In the group game with France in 1966, Nobby's job, as he later said, was to win the ball and get it to Bobby Charlton. Anyway, he tackled the French forward, Jacques Simon, and laid him out flat. The referee saw it as fair and did nothing but England went up the field and Roger Hunt scored. The FA committee were livid and called Alf Ramsey onto the carpet, demanding he drop Stiles. Ramsey stood behind his player and told the committee he would resign if they forced the issue. Nobby played against Argentina in the quarter final. Nobby later said: that before the game, Harold Shepherdson grabbed him by the throat and told him 'Don't you let Alf down' and he didn't. I wasn't at Wembley to see his famous jig with the Jules Rimet but I was there two years later to see him dancing around the place with the European Cup. He had one had on it and Brian Kidd - who also came from Collyhurst - had the other. He probably played his greatest game for us that night against one of the greatest players in the world game - Eusebio. In later life, as his illness took hold, he sold his medals to secure a future for his family, as so many of that team did. RIP Nobby. You were one of a kind.

A sad week, Nobby has gone and it was announced that Bobby has dementia. Will post a few Nobby stories later if you're interested.

Overall 0-0 was about right, though I would have thought there would have been a couple of goals. Defences on top for both sides but you should have had a penalty. We were clearly looking for one when Rashford went down easily. Better point for you than for us I think.

Not in the squad.

That's about the size of it but Ole does seem to have the luck when he most needs it. Tuanzebe may start with Telles on his left unless Ole sticks with Shaw. Rashford has started to show some form and McTominay will provide a shield for the porous back four. Dunno if Pellestri will debut today on the right but the other option is James which tells you how weak we are on that side. Maguire (maybe) or Lindelof is pretty much all we have for the second central defence position. Greenwood may start up top if he's fit. Martial is suspended. If Greenwood is ruled out, maybe Cavani will start. It's tough picking our team at the moment but, at any rate, there will be goals. I fancy a draw but if Chelsea press, they have the pace to do serious damage.

It was definitely a different world back then. I got my left arm fractured at Stoke by a mounted copper who was aiming for my head. I was 13 at the time and all I did was step out of line outside the station to get a look ahead. Some older lads were yelling at the copper for hitting young kids. I didn't even know it was fractured until I got home and our neighbour, who was a nurse, took a look and sent me to casualty. The worst of it was at school the next week when I was dragged in front of the headmaster and yelled at for being a disgrace to the school. I'd told a couple of mates about what happened and when I turned up in class in plaster, they started chanting 'hooly hooly hooligan' at the top of their voices. Another time (same season), we'd lost at Chelsea 2-3 on the Saturday and we played QPR at home on the Tuesday. I went with the usual crew and it was a low crowd but noisy.Anyway, we were 4-1 up with 5 or 6 minutes to go so a lot left to catch the buses lines up on Chester Road. We scored 4 more. I got on the bus and a couple of blokes asked me the final score and I said 8-1. They thought I was taking the p*ss so when I walked past them, one of them booted me up the rear and called me a 'cheeky little sod'. When some others got on and repeated the score, the bloke that kicked me gave me half a crown to buy some chips on the way home.

This from the Mirror of the time:

Sounds like St. Etienne in 1977 when Dave Sexton managed us. There was a bread strike in England so their mob pelted us with stale loaves, then bottles, then all kinds of stuff. I don't think they anticipated the response they got but it was mayhem. The local police were happy to let us be on the receiving end but when the retaliation began, the gloves came off. It ended up with us being kicked out of the competition. The British press, as usual, backed the French and published one-sided stories. Anyway, we managed to get reinstated on the condition we played the home leg 300 miles away from Manchester, so we decamped for Plymouth. It really was a low key affair and we ended up winning the tie. There was a bunch of Royal Marines that turned up hoping the French would bring a crew but nothing happened.

Nice of you to say so. Thanks.

My abiding memory of Tommy Baldwin was the day we took a new lad from school for his first United game. It was in August 1968 against Chelsea at home and we lost 0-4. Tommy Baldwin, who used to love playing against use, scored twice and Tambling, and I think, Alan Birchenall, the others. That was a depressing ride home on the bus but four days later, he turned up again for the Spurs game which we won 3-1. A few days later we lost 4-5 at Hillsborough in one of the weirdest games I can remember from those days.

I was working on Hans Crescent when that went off. It was devastating. I'd just got back from the Midnight Shop on Brompton Road when I heard it. I was in the back of the building but the front windows were all blown in. Not as bad as the Hyde Park horror though.

😉 Willie Morgan in the background. You'd think a Scotsman would know that one of their greatest-ever players had only one N in his name.

Tommy Doc got him on loan from Millwall when we were in the 2nd Division but he only stayed for a month or two.