The Archive

Now the whole of the ground has gone, but for Tim Springett a piece of Southampton history vanished as long ago as 1981, when “progress” put paid to a very odd looking stand indeed

A Saturday afternoon in March was approaching the time of twilight when, having spent most of the match defending stoutly, Southampton’s opponents Bolton broke forward from the far end. The ball came to Hugh Curran on the edge of the penalty area, who took a shot. What happened from here on in I couldn’t tell you, since from my vantage (ha!) point I couldn’t see the goal at the near end. The next thing I did see though was Curran being mobbed by jubilant team-mates and the home players disconsolately placing the ball on the centre spot to kick off again. What on earth had happened in the meantime? As it was 1975 there was no instant replay screen or even a scoreboard in the ground to help me out, so I was left to my own powers of deduction. My opinion was that Bolton had scored. The following morning the classified results printed in the Sunday Express confirmed that I was, indeed, correct.

Read more…

From Bolton’s bright spark to Tranmere reject and retirement aged 30, Helen Duff charts the downward spiral of a footballer who wanted to make love not war

Hope and disappointment were the competing themes of Sasa Curcic’s football career, but in the end the latter won decisively. By the time the Yugoslavia midfielder opted for early retirement two years ago, he had convinced football fans across a broad span of the planet that he was one part virtuoso to two parts woeful lummox. Remembered with fondness for his lud­icrous comments, he’s still reviled by those supporters who once saw him as a saviour and remains, in at least two English boroughs, the man least likely to be invited back to switch on the Christmas lights.

Read more…

Dear WSC
Re Ged Naughton’s query (Letters, WSC 197) as to why the grass was always darker green during the cup final on ITV, the answer is simple: the grass is always greener on the other side.
Andy Hargreaves, Southampton

Read more…

Blair Liddell on moving to Cumbernauld and rowing with UEFA

How did the move to Cumbernauld affect Clyde’s gates?
Initially, 30,000 fans rolled up in our first ten games at Broadwood, mainly curious Cumbernauldians plus lapsed supporters crawling out of the wood-work. But league reconstruction put paid to any chances of us building on that and our new support dwind­led fast. The season we narrowly avoided relegation to the third, our average home gate was 600. We still have a hard-core support from the wilderness years and not all are holed up in the south-east of Glasgow as is commonly supposed. The biggest disappointment is despite our good form over the last three to four seasons, average crowds have stalled at around the 1,200 mark.

Read more…

Tom Davies explores the role supporters are playing in saving their clubs

The supporters’ group that has assumed con­trol at Exeter City is facing a sizeable battle to keep the club alive over the summer. Their relegation from the Football League on the last day of the season was swiftly followed by the arrest of chairman John Russell and vice-chair­man Mike Lewis over allegations of fi­nancial irregularities. The pair, who were bail­ed to return to police in September, prompt­ly stepped down, leaving the club’s reported debts at more than £2 million with creditors closing in.

Read more…