Author Topic: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977  (Read 44912 times)

Offline Yorkykopite

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RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977

This match doesn’t generally feature in those list of ‘great Anfield games’ – possibly because, so far as I know, it was never televised. But it should do. I’d certainly be interested to hear from anyone else on RAWK who has memories of the top-of-the-table encounter with Ipswich Town towards the end of the great 1977 season. It was a crucial game since it opened the door to the league championship, and it was a hugely controversial occasion since a sorry refereeing performance triggered a small invasion of the pitch from the Kop and probably led to the erection of the dreaded fences at Anfield over the summer.

It was also the biggest crowd I’ve been in at Anfield – and possibly the biggest crowd ever to assemble at our ground, beating the 61,000 that attended the FA Cup tie against Wolves in 1952. Officially the gate is recorded as 56,006 (that 6 is a nice touch) since 56,000 was the authorized capacity of Anfield at the time. Having been to several lock-outs at Anfield in the 1970s – including the St Etienne game a few weeks earlier - I can tell you there were far more than that in the old ground against Ipswich. The ‘Echo’ talked of “amazing scenes” outside the ground at 2 o’clock when the gates were locked. That’s true. I saw them from high up on the steps by the flagpole vainly looking for a mate who’d got separated in the crush outside the turnstiles and who, it transpired, never made it in. There must have been ten to fifteen thousand people still on the Walton Breck Road. I remember looking at all the flag and banner poles and thinking what a shame they wouldn’t be on the Kop. My guess though is that the police made a decision to keep the gates open and funnel more people on to the Kop in order to reduce the crushing outside.

Why so many? Well it wasn’t all-ticket; that was one thing. But the main reason was that this was a title-decider. We were top of the league going into May and Ipswich, realistically, were the only side who could stop us winning Number Ten. Bobby Robson had built an excellent team combining attacking flair and ruthless defence. They had a skillful and mobile forward line which included Paul Mariner and Trevor Whymark and a hard-tackling defence which was marshalled by alehouse defenders Mick Mills and Alan Hunter. 

We, of course, were still challenging on three fronts. Not only were we top of the league, we’d fought our way to Wembley and Rome too for the FA Cup and European Cup finals. Only three days before we’d vanquished Everton at Maine Road in a titanic FA Cup semi-final replay. Now people wanted to see this great team take a giant step towards the first of what we hoped would be an historic treble.

I’d gone to the match with two mates from Huddersfield. One of them, Tommy, was a fellow Red and my regular match-day buddy. The other was a lad called Graham, a good mate at school, who supported Manchester United. Why was he here? Well, it was all part of a deal. We’d been arguing about which was the more impressive ‘end’ in English football. He said it was the Stretford End, I said it was the Kop. Earlier that year, as part of that deal, I’d gone in the Stretford End to see an FA Cup tie between United and Southampton (where I first learnt the dirty secret that the Stretford End had several rows of seats above what was essentially a small, wee terrace). Now it was time for him to repay the compliment and come on the Kop. I’d chosen this day.

As soon as we arrived at Lime Street you could tell there was something different in the air; something really special. It was early – about midday I guess – but the palace was abuzz and already there was an enormous queue for taxis going to the ground. That set my early-warning system going and I said “we’ve got to get up there, there’s going to be a lock-out”. We joined the queue as a carousel of black cabs came and went and ended sharing a ride with a young couple from Ipswich. I remember she was heavily pregnant and I can still see her partner’s appalled face when Graham asked them if they were going on the Kop. “You’re better off in the paddock” said Tommy. “Yes, that’s what we were told” the bloke said. That was probably the first time I’d ever heard a Suffolk accent in my life. It never occurred to me before that farmers liked football. I often wonder did they ever get in? 

When we got up to the ground we were met with the demoralising sight of the queues for the Kop winding all the way behind the Kemlyn on to the Annie Road and doubling back. It was something I’d not seen before and have certainly never seen again. Not to that extent. It looked like the whole of Liverpool had come up the hill. We took our place and hoped for the best only to find – after over an hour of shuffling along – the queues starting to disintegrate once the turnstiles hoved into view. Soon it was just a massive scrum. No amount of kicks from mounted coppers could bring things back into order (no doubt they made it worse) as the bush-telegraph started to spread the news that they were soon going to shut the gates. I got separated from Tommy but managed to yank Graham along so that we edged through the clicking turnstiles and into the concourse beneath the steps. I don’t know how soon afterwards it was, but it didn’t seem long before the sirens sounded and the turnstile gates began to come down. Outside the ground – as I say – was left this heaving mass, and my mate Tommy. But inside the Kop choir beckoned.

The atmosphere inside was astonishing – possibly the loudest I’ve ever heard it. The sound of the singing was bouncing off the old ironwork and everything merged into one of those fantastic echoes you get in a gothic cathedral. The first thing we saw as we came in below the pulpit was the place awash with flags and banners. That was the season, of course, in which the whole flag thing at Liverpool had gone crazy. Graham took one look and I could tell from his expression that he meant to say, “Ok, you win”. At that time my usual spec was left of centre just below the gangway, but today there was zero chance of getting there. The gangway itself was an impassable traffic jam. So we ducked beneath a barrier and fought our way on to the top half of the terrace. Anywhere would do. It was not easy though. There was simply no space. I don’t want to sentimentalize this sort of thing after Hillsborough, but there was something truly awesome about being on the Kop on days like these. How many were on it against Ipswich? I don’t know. Certainly more than the 28,000 it was meant to contain.

This was now about 2 o’clock I suppose. That meant there was a full hour to do nothing but sing. “We’re on our way to Roma!” that was the big one – sung, as old hands will recall, to ‘Arrivederci Roma’. The whole terrace was just swaying to it – a great swaying song! – and everywhere the flags were up. But there was also a clever rendition of ‘My Liverpool Home’:

We’re all going to Rome
We’re all going to Rome
You won’t get a ticket, they’ve got none to spare
We’ve even stopped drinking to save up the fare
You can tell Moenchengladbach the Kop will be there
We’re all going to Rome!

Mind you it’s a long time to stare at an empty pitch. Any distraction was seized on. At one point a posse of young kids climbed on to the turf from the Anfield Road End and hurtled towards their beloved Kop, calculating – rightly – that the few pitch-side coppers could do nothing to stop them all. How we cheered when the first lot piled over the white wall on to the terrace – and groaned and whistled when the strays were swept up by the bizzies.

Where were they all going to go though? I looked above me at one point and figured out that’s where they were going. You’d always find one or two intrepid supporters who would work their way along the ironwork in the roof to get to the very front of the gantry, high above the pitch. That day you looked up and it was like an aviary full of budgies or a cave full of bats. There were hundreds of young kids up there hanging from the girders and perching on the joists. You felt like you had to keep checking to make sure you hadn’t been shat on.

The game itself? Well it had all the ingredients for high tension already: a volcanic crowd, the two best teams in the country hammering it out in front of them, and the title up for grabs. But throw into this volatile mix the most incompetent referee in the history of post-war football and you can guarantee the experience will be unforgettable.

I only have to say his name for anyone over 45 to start sweating. Peter Fucking Willis. (I may have made that middle name up). Peter Willis turned what was already a show-stopper into Circus Maximus. Five Liverpool players were booked under mystifying circumstances each time – this in age when you normally had to carry an axe on to pitch to get a yellow card. I’ve linked to the ‘Echo’ article so you can see this isn’t just hindsight on my part. Here they refer to a match “dominated by some incredible refereeing from Mr Peter Willis, a police inspector, from Co. Durham”. In the ‘Daily Mirror’ Bob Paisley was quoted as saying “That was the closest thing there has ever been to a riot here”.   

Willis looked the part. Baldy head, big sideburns, double chin, belly full of suet pudding – he resembled a Dickens character in charge of a workhouse. No footballer was going to spoil his fun.

The incident I remember most was Stevie Heighway being pole-axed by Mick Mills on the half-way line. You could tell by the way he fell, and his motionless body on the turf, that the player was hurt. There was a deafening screech of whistling as the Kop demanded the game be stopped and Heighway seen to. Willis ignored it and waved play on. The screeching got louder. Almost everyone was shouting abuse. It was impossible not to. I remember seeing Ronnie Moran, jumping up and down on the touchline, furious that he couldn’t get on to the pitch. Eventually play was stopped and Heighway received treatment. He didn’t get up again though. The stretcher came on and he was carried off. “He’s dead” someone said – and it wasn’t a joke. The assailant Mick Mills, meanwhile, received a friendly warning and that was it. Meanwhile Davie Fairclough was waiting to come on. In those days play didn’t need to stop before a substitute came on – the referee simply had to signal. Willis didn’t signal. The whistling started again. “Come on you baldy fucking bastard!” Eventually Fairclough was beckoned on – or so everyone thought. But no, as soon as he got on the pitch Willis stopped play and booked him! Apparently he’d been signalling the Liverpool sub to stay on the touchline.

At this point stuff started to be thrown on to the pitch from the Kop end. I don’t remember seeing that, but the papers report that tin cans and broken bottles were hurled from the terrace. However I do remember at this point a Kopite running on to the pitch and handing Willis his spectacles. This wasn’t the genial and warm-hearted spirit that prompted other Kopites to hand Gordon West his hand-bag when he came to Anfield. This was the product of incredulity and frustration. It was beginning to look like Peter Willis wanted to decide the outcome of the championship on his own (perhaps he was jealous that Clive Thomas, the week before, had essentially knocked Everton out of the Cup and wanted a bit of this himself).

For 70 minutes or so the game ebbed from one ridiculous decision to another. Keegan was booked at one point for not retreating 10 yards. No warning. Just the yellow card. Johnson was booked for being kicked in the groin. Any of the joy and good humour that had been there at 3 o’clock had evaporated.

But then, in three glorious minutes, the Reds scored twice. Both at the Annie Road end. Ray Kennedy hit the first and I can recall nothing about this goal all. But I do remember Keegan’s – a left-wing cross and a header at the far post with Kevin heading the ball back the way it came. In my memory I can see him bathed in the Annie Road sunshine, almost rising in a halo of light. And I remember the thunderous response of the crowd. All that tension, all that resentment, all that fury just got channelled into delirious song-making.

“We’re gonna win the league
We’re gonna win the league
And now you going to believe us
And now you going to believe us”

You have picture over 30,000 heads bobbing up and down in unison as “We shall not be moved!” reverberated behind Clem’s goal. There’s nothing like wounded vindication to get a supporter going. We’d been wounded. Now we were vindicated. That sound’s never left me.

In the 85th minute Ipswich were awarded a penalty down at our end. John Wark – soon to be ours – stuck it in and that meant the executioner’s axe was swinging above our heads for the last 5 minutes. And at this point Willis decided that glory, seemingly snatched away from him by Keegan, could still be his. With a minute to go he stopped a Clemence punt up the field and pointed to the penalty box for an Ipswich free kick. “FOR WHAT!!” “Steps? It must be steps!” “No one ever gives a free-kick for fucking steps!”

But that’s what it was. Clem blew a gasket of course. He was booked of course. The Liverpool team lined up literally on their own goal-line as Ipswich steadied themselves to take an indirect free kick about 8 yards out. The whole stadium was howling. I felt in my own mind that the free-kick would be taken again and again until Ipswich were allowed to score. But somehow the thing was beaten away and somehow Willis accepted the result. Liverpool had won 2 goals to 1. The colours were hoisted and the closing moments were played out, gloriously, to the beautiful sound of our anthem. The championship would be ours.

That was the last year of the great Kop. It could never sustain that kind of relentless and intimidating atmosphere again. We had it against St Etienne, against Ipswich, the following week against Man Utd and then the final game against West Ham when the trophy was paraded. Each time there were more banners and more pageantry. I think people felt that ‘77 could never be bettered and began to look elsewhere for innovation. At the start of the next season the fences went up, the pillars holding up the roof were reconstructed to stop kids turning it into a roost, the capacity came down. A small hard core started going into the Annie Road and it became fashionable not to take colours on to the Kop. Of course the team kept on getting better and that was the important thing. Next year after all we were treated to Kenny. And occasionally you’d get a game – you still do – that generated a proper 70s-style atmosphere. But something went out of Anfield at the end of the ’77 season, never quite to return. That’s my own view anyway. 

As I say the match for some weird reason was not televised. But courtsey of lfchistory.net here's the match-day report from the Mirror http://www.lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/445

And a jpeg of the Echo report. http://www.lfchistory.net/Images/newspapers/ian.beardsley/1977-04-30-ipswichhome.jpg

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Offline Hinesy

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2013, 11:46:14 pm »
Brilliant. Brilliant. Thanks mate. Just great. Enjoy this 22nd article.
Yep.

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2013, 09:16:18 am »
Honestly, it evokes the feeling of your Dad reading you a story when you're little. What a writer.

Offline John C

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2013, 09:25:36 am »
Great peice yorky mate, thanks for taking the time.

Was there a pitch invasion at the end? I'm sure I was at the Anny Rd end and jumped over the small steel fence, then among the hundreds that were on the pitch I ran straight in to a lad that lived by me and the expression of delight on each others faces seemed identical. That could of been any title winning year though  ;D






Offline Red_Mist

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2013, 09:40:48 am »
Great stuff. That was like being transported there in a time machine. I actually felt nervous that we wouldn't get in!

Offline Jaron

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2013, 09:58:08 am »
What a great piece!

Perhaps one day we'll play again at Anfield for the right to be crowned Champions...
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Offline 12C

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #6 on: December 22, 2013, 11:26:29 am »
Ahhhh! Just like it was yesterday. I still shudder when I think of that Willis. The BBC were doing a piece for Sportsnight or some such, and had behind the scenes cameras. They went into the dressing room on the Monday after and Heighway had a shiner like he had fought 15 rounds with John Conteh. A certain T. Smith made his views clear with an aside about "BillyGoats". If I remember rightly, mariner, the mullet headed cart horse, had split Smiths head with an elbow to start all the trouble. Mills ( who commentators always called a model professional??? ) simply butted Heighway off the ball, no reason except he was shite and Heighway was showing the world how shite he was. The guy who ran on, came from the Kemlyn Road and looked like a respectable sort, which made it even more funny when he handed Willis the specs.Couple of years later,  I remember walking down Wembly  way with my mate before the League Cup final against United (the one when Whelan curled the winner :) ) and my mate spots Willis. Soon he was subject to "adverse criticism" from every red on the road. He was without doubt the worst ref ever, and the description of a dickens character was so true to life. But as the OP says they were best of times and to be a part of the Kop at that time was magical.
Thanks for reminding me ;D
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Offline Yorkykopite

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #7 on: December 22, 2013, 04:47:54 pm »
Thanks lads. Appreciated.

John - the major pitch invasion that season was a few weeks later v West Ham when we paraded the championship. It all got a bit spoilt by the numbers getting on to the pitch and the lap of honour couldn't be completed. I remember the Kop getting furious and singing 'Get off the fucking pitch' to the tune of 'Those were the Days'. Keegan criticised the whole affair soon after, saying he would like to have given a proper goodbye to Anfield but it was too crowded to get on the pitch....... I blame you!

Nice memory 12C. I didn't realise the spex bloke was from the Kemlyn. That shows how desperate things must have been.
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Offline burriana

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2013, 07:04:34 pm »
Thanks. Brilliant piece. That game was my first on the Kop. Prior to that I'd always been in the paddock with my dad. I was terrified.

Offline John C

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2013, 08:39:23 pm »
Thanks lads. Appreciated.

John - the major pitch invasion that season was a few weeks later v West Ham when we paraded the championship. It all got a bit spoilt by the numbers getting on to the pitch and the lap of honour couldn't be completed. I remember the Kop getting furious and singing 'Get off the fucking pitch' to the tune of 'Those were the Days'. Keegan criticised the whole affair soon after, saying he would like to have given a proper goodbye to Anfield but it was too crowded to get on the pitch....... I blame you!

Nice memory 12C. I didn't realise the spex bloke was from the Kemlyn. That shows how desperate things must have been.
Ah shucks yorky I was only a kid  :)


I love your writing mate, you should do more articles.

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2013, 09:19:09 pm »
I loved all of these so far, but this one is captivating. Thanks yorky. :wave

Offline saoirse08

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2013, 10:33:01 am »
Fascinating read.

Can almost smell the waterfall of piss that would flow down the Kop on such days. A really fascinating insight into what match days were like back in those halcyon days. Only vaguely remember
the context of the match and can't believe a title decider wasn't on Match of Day that evening. Would love to have seen the match footage.

However, a wonderful piece, brilliantly written.

Thanks for the link to The Pink's match report, too. Can't ever remember seeing the word "schmozzle" used before. And I had always assumed Keegan's future had been sorted long before the end of the season and that he had already signed for Hamburg. Indeed the other story on that page is as fascinating as the match report. Cheers.
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Offline carl5363

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2013, 10:50:44 am »
Awesome read, shame I wasn't around in those days. Sounds unbelievable.

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2013, 11:19:12 am »
I've loved this series and that was fantastic writing by Yorkie but at the same time worrying. I'd have been at this match as I never missed home games during the Seventies but I can't recall it, most of the games have merged into one brilliant memory with bits and pieces sticking out but the scores and the individual matches often aren't there. 

The mad thing is that Yorkie must have stood near our regular spec. Under the first barrier below the gangway between the poles, slightly to the left. This is where our mob met up for every game. For years I never bothered with queues for home games, hardly anyone had season tickets but there were specific 3 gates for season ticket holders on the Kop that never had queues I'd been caught trying to bunk in numerous times and one whily old turnstile operator once caught me by slamming the door and asked me wouldn't it be easier to throw the gateman 50p and jump the turnstile and then everyone was happy, so that's what I did on the seasie gates and can count on one hand the times  I got knocked back. I'd give the fella t a ten bob piece and jump over, happy days. I also was disappointed in the Strettford End  when I sussed it was seated at the back, remember  we had it for I think a Cup final replay, against Forrest because their fans in the paddock were all laughing at the way we were dressed and we had a chant going about it be seated at the top.
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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2013, 12:25:22 pm »
WOW. What a piece!!

Many many thanks for that Yorky.

Like 92A I'd completely forgotten but you brought it all back so vividly. God. how could I have forgotten that utter bastard Willis for his anti-scouse prejudice that day. We were all close to apoplexy. And I even now can recall the anger I felt at the report from the Daily Mirror - I think it may have been Chris James - for being unable to appreciate just how justified ANY response would have been to the bias of a referee who was meant to be there to be fair. Blood boiling even now as I'm writing.   

As an aside, we always found it was best for the big games to join the long Lake Street entry Kop queues as they kept their shape whereas the Kemlyn Road queues tended to disintegrate into anarchy. I'd got locked out at The Kemlyn Kop entrance for the leicester game when we clinched the league in '73. I'd joined the queue at 12 o'clock. There were only about 150 in the queue in front of me. One and a half hours of frantic crushing later and I was still 150 from the turnstiles when they closed them.

Thanks again Yorky lad. made up too your mate graham saw the light re Kop.  ;D

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #15 on: December 23, 2013, 01:10:22 pm »
Thanks lads. Appreciated.

John - the major pitch invasion that season was a few weeks later v West Ham when we paraded the championship. It all got a bit spoilt by the numbers getting on to the pitch and the lap of honour couldn't be completed. I remember the Kop getting furious and singing 'Get off the fucking pitch' to the tune of 'Those were the Days'. Keegan criticised the whole affair soon after, saying he would like to have given a proper goodbye to Anfield but it was too crowded to get on the pitch....... I blame you!

Nice memory 12C. I didn't realise the spex bloke was from the Kemlyn. That shows how desperate things must have been.

I remember the West ham game well, Yorky, as, at one point, I was at the bottom of a pile of fans having gone over near the front of the kop when Shanks came round. Nobody in front knew, so transfixed were they on the great man. I thought i was a goner. With me last breath before passing out, I bit into a leg in front of me. It worked because i came too while being thrun over to where the St Johns were next to the goal. A lot of fans jumped out onto the pitch to get away from the crush that day tbf, Most of the bin lids were passed over heads and deposited there. Scary in the kop, fuck knows how many were in there that day! 2 for 1 through the turnies was the order of the day as with most others.

As for the brilliant article, it evoked memories of lock outs and Higsons and The sportsman and Haydock Island. You're right, on paper it wouldn't be the most prominent memory of 77 but only because there were so many.

Nice one , mate

« Last Edit: December 23, 2013, 01:15:54 pm by Xmasfeverbobbygraham »
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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2013, 01:52:51 pm »
Thanks lads. Appreciated.

John - the major pitch invasion that season was a few weeks later v West Ham when we paraded the championship. It all got a bit spoilt by the numbers getting on to the pitch and the lap of honour couldn't be completed. I remember the Kop getting furious and singing 'Get off the fucking pitch' to the tune of 'Those were the Days'. Keegan criticised the whole affair soon after, saying he would like to have given a proper goodbye to Anfield but it was too crowded to get on the pitch....... I blame you!

Nice memory 12C. I didn't realise the spex bloke was from the Kemlyn. That shows how desperate things must have been.

I don't like to go against your memory Yorky which your article clealy shows is like Lesley fuckin Welch but surely Get off the Fuckin pitch was to the tune of your very own national anthem?

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #17 on: December 23, 2013, 02:24:47 pm »
God its great being old isn't it. We have so much to remember.


Well in, Yorkshireman.
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Offline John C

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #18 on: December 23, 2013, 02:51:39 pm »
God its great being old isn't it. We have so much to remember.

I wish I could remember it all mate, if so I'd have a story a day for you  :P

Offline Yorkykopite

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #19 on: December 23, 2013, 03:00:25 pm »
Thanks again lads.

It was my national anthem Timbo, course it was. (I felt very proud too). Didn't do a bit of good, mind.

Albie, I was always quite near the post so maybe a few yards to left of you in those days. I stayed there until '88 when it was madness not to get onto the right side of the Kop so you could see Digger coming down that wing.

Yes Saoirse, that story about Keegan possibly going to Bayern is interesting. I don't remember that. Real Madrid was the favoured destination wasn't it? But then I do remember that Real bought the German defender Uli Stielike instead and that filled their quota of overseas players. The reason I know this was that I remember my dad - a huge footy fan, but not a Liverpool one - saying "You'll win the European Cup now". What he meant was that Stielike was the best defender at BMG and now he wouldn't be able to play in the final. It seems crazy that Stielike sacrificed his chance to play in Rome by signing for Real just before the end of the season. But that's what happened. Not that anyone could have stopped Kevin that night. But that's another story.
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Offline the 92A

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #20 on: December 23, 2013, 03:01:45 pm »
I don't like to go against your memory Yorky which your article clealy shows is like Lesley fuckin Welch but surely Get off the Fuckin pitch was to the tune of your very own national anthem?

Ilkley Moor ba Tat

 ;D

Those were the days my friend
We took the Stretford end
We took the Shed, The North bank Highbury
We took the Geordies too
We fought for Liverpool
We are the Kop
Of Liverpool FC
Back up Timbo on that, I thought the same nd forgot to mention it. As I can remember us singing that to Ilkley Moor ba Tat or as I knew it the 'your arse is on your head' tune, that we often sung to Ref's etc;)
Still Dreaming of a Harry Quinn

Offline Yorkykopite

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #21 on: December 23, 2013, 03:11:31 pm »
Well 'Your arse is on your head' would have been something to serenade Peter Fucking Willis with.

I did a bit of research on him for this article and I'd forgotten how universally reviled he was. He sent Kevin Moran off in the FA Cup final against the Toffees in the 80s - the first time that had happened in the big one - and many people felt Willis had just wanted to make his mark. Then I came across the story of a cup tie at Old Trafford where Stockport County were winning 1-2 with two minutes to go. Willis essentially scored twice to make the final score 3-2 to United. The first was the result of a free kick given against the Stockport goalie for handling outside the box prior to a punt upfield (always extremely dodgy). The second was a penalty for which no United player appealed.

We have bad refs now, but I've always felt they're hundred times better than they used to (Jack Taylor excepted). The likes of Willis were basically bloody amateurs - sergeant-major types and PE instructors, most of whom lost their jobs when National Service ended. They went into football because they wanted to order people about not because they knew anything about the game. They enjoyed baiting the working-class crowds who followed the game because they resented socialism and the post-war welfare state.

That's my theory anyway   ;D
"If you want the world to love you don't discuss Middle Eastern politics" Saul Bellow.

Offline fredmilne

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #22 on: December 23, 2013, 07:06:29 pm »
Stielike played in Rome. He had a great chance when it was 1-1 but Clemence made a fine save.

Offline Funky_Gibbons

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #23 on: December 23, 2013, 07:31:37 pm »
Fantastic read that Yorky.
"And there are red and white scarves of Liverpool, and red and white bobble hats of Liverpool, and red and white rosettes of Liverpool, and nothing else. And the sun shines now."

Offline OldBloke

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #24 on: December 23, 2013, 07:46:55 pm »
Great read, brought back memories. I've never known the Kop to be more angry than it was in that game. Willis lost control of it early on and never looked near getting it back.
I can't remember 100% now, but I think the massive crowd might have been due to expectation of vouchers for the FA Cup Final.

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #25 on: December 24, 2013, 11:12:02 am »
So Ipswich were that good?   ;)   Still not happy you robbed Wark from us.   Cheers for the trip down nostalgia avenue, to days long gone.   

BL.   (Town fan) 

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #26 on: December 25, 2013, 12:05:27 am »
Bump for Christmas
Yep.

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #27 on: December 25, 2013, 10:13:31 am »
I've been saving this one, what a treat with my Christmas coffee.

Thanks yorky and thanks to hinesy and all the other scribes. The advent calendar has been amazing.


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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #28 on: December 25, 2013, 10:41:09 am »
Merry Christmas Yorky, thanks for that.

I missed that game, can't remember why, but that report painted a great picture of a rare day, even for Anfield.

Why are baldy refs always kants?    ???
We are definitely believers and we’ve won the fucking lot!

Offline Hinesy

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #29 on: December 25, 2013, 11:09:24 am »
I've been saving this one, what a treat with my Christmas coffee.

Thanks yorky and thanks to hinesy and all the other scribes. The advent calendar has been amazing.



Thanks mate much appreciated
Yep.

Offline storkfoot

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #30 on: July 18, 2014, 10:28:47 pm »
Only just seen this post. I was 16. It remains the only time I have ever been locked out at Anfield although me and my mate hung around the whole game waiting for an opportunity to get in. No-one had a transistor radio outside, there was no way of seeing the game on a TV anywhere. It was either hang around and hope for an opportunity to get in near full time, or get the 26 or 17 back to the Pier Head and get the ferry home to Birkenhead. We stayed, along with many others. You knew the score by the sheer noise that went up when we scored.

Anyway, about 6 or 7 minutes from the end we finally got an opportunity to bolt past the stewards and reach a spec on the stairs at the back of the Main Stand, Kop end  :D

I recall the last home game from that season v. West Ham too. There were loads of West Ham everywhere too as, I stand to be corrected, they got relegated that day. Game finished 0-0, we won the league, but I remember being gutted that that meant our home record was won 18 drawn 3 lost 0, when it should have been 19-2-0. We had such exacting standards then  ;D


Offline wolves76

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Re: RAWK Advent Calendar #22 : Liverpool 2 v 1 Ipswich Town 30 April 1977
« Reply #31 on: October 1, 2014, 12:52:25 pm »
What a fantastic article. Great to look back on those golden years and highlights of the game were shown on ITV with Gerald {thats the poachers position} Sinstadt commentating.