The grounds you feared going to.


gonetomorrow said:
Honestly, you wonder why we bothered!
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It was our love of the Blues. Plus that tingle of excitement...and anxiety...wondering whether you would get back unscathed. They could be horrible times but glad I lived and went through it just to be able to say 'Been there, done it and bought the t-shirt'. We were also a lot, lot younger and more stupid.
 
st.domingo said:
Was coming out of there once with a mate - this was Moyes I era - a couple of locals breezed past us, one said to the other, let’s find some scahsers and kick their fackin ‘eads in

Charmers to a man :lol:
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I had similar in the 70s walking down the King's Road with my brother onthe way to the ground we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of about 50 Chelsea chanting anti scouse songs, we had to keep tight lipped and walk with them until we could slip away.
 
Easily Stoke for me at their old Victoria Ground, horrible set of fans.
I remember after one game in the late 70’s coming out and three of us needing to go in a different direction for our car. The majority of the Evertonians were being herded parallel to us about 200 yards away. Suddenly a big gang of Stoke fans appeared from a side street , trying to get at the Everton fans and saw us up ahead. We could hear them talking about us as we all had blue colour jackets on , one of them was told “ Go and ask them a question. “ . I hung back as I reckoned I was the sensible one, so when he came up behind us and said “ You got the time mate?” I answered in my poshest voice “ No, sorry mate , I don’t have a watch . “ . And off they went down another street. My mates said they’d been shoitting themselves, I was living in Birkenhead at the time and they reckoned I had the worst accent of any of us!
 

I mostly managed to dodge the trouble everywhere. Some very close calls though, walked through some absolute pitched battles, and I nearly came unstuck lots of times. One trip to Middlesbrough for a night game after forgetting where the car was, was particularly "interesting." I was the only one not sporting an injury at the end haha. Similar after a trip to Maine Rd when we got bricked in those alleyways on the way back to our buses. It looked like everyone on the bus had been hit by something.... I was completely unscathed. Millwall in 88 (I think) was particularly unwelcoming, but was a breeze in the end...I think me and my mate were the only ones left in the away end after the final whistle. The rest seemed to be chasing them out of their own ground. Old Trafford, Upton Park and Elland Rd were always ropey.
 
Bosco said:
Old Trafford was always horrible. Early 80’s, stuff getting thrown constantly from the K stand behind the away section. Then on leaving the ground in police escort being met by a load of glass bottles being thrown at us. One that did surprise me was Barnsley in the late 80’s. Wasn’t really expecting much trouble but they were bloody mad.
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That Barnsley game was mad, not helped by the fact that my mate’s Dad who drove us there was recovering from an operation and walking with the help of a walking stick so we couldn’t run
 
st.domingo said:
Was coming out of there once with a mate - this was Moyes I era - a couple of locals breezed past us, one said to the other, let’s find some scahsers and kick their fackin ‘eads in

Charmers to a man :lol:
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….was sat in the stand with a couple of mates in mid-80s for a midweek cup game. Bloke with his young son said ‘I hope you get stabbed when you go out’. Always wondered how that youngster grew up with a parent like that.
 

banno said:
I would say most away grounds could be tasty, same for away fans coming to Goodison. I didn't fear going to away games but with some you just had to be a little careful and sensible. I didn't have many run ins but when caught up in it I would say my scariest were Newcastle (when they mingled in then kicked off), Wolves in the snow in the 70's, Man Utd league cup qf (77) and Cardiff in the FA Cup 77. All other grounds was head down, don't speak and was fine.
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Wolves in the snow, I was there
 
Middlesbrough away in the FA cup in 88 was the most hostile place I ever saw Everton play. Bristol City in the FA cup in 95 and having to walk through a park near the stadium to get back to our car was a bit dodgy. In fact a lot of those FA cup ties we had in those years away to lower division teams (Boro, WBA, Plymouth, Barnsley come to mind) were a bit like that, it seemed that the FA cup and a big Everton following brought all the local nutters out for the day! I remember going to Filbert Street on a dark winter afternoon during our last title winning season and that seemed a hostile place to this young blue (I was 17) trying to get back to my coach, especially outside after the game, angry locals bouncing around tight little streets.
 
sam domingo said:
Middlesbrough away in the FA cup in 88 was the most hostile place I ever saw Everton play. Bristol City in the FA cup in 95 and having to walk through a park near the stadium to get back to our car was a bit dodgy. In fact a lot of those FA cup ties we had in those years away to lower division teams (Boro, WBA, Plymouth, Barnsley come to mind) were a bit like that, it seemed that the FA cup and a big Everton following brought all the local nutters out for the day! I remember going to Filbert Street on a dark winter afternoon during our last title winning season and that seemed a hostile place to this young blue (I was 17) trying to get back to my coach, especially outside after the game, angry locals bouncing around tight little streets.
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Middlesbrough away also FA cup late 70’s, walking back to the station, bedlam
 

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