jerryatricjanner":2gs58g5q said:
Picked mine up from the club shop a couple of weeks ago. It's a really good book and interesting to remember all the changes to ground from my first visits during the 1964/65 season. Facilities have improved in many ways with more seating and better toilet facilities but other than not much else and there was a lot to be said for freedom of movement around the ground during the game depending which way we were kicking, rocking up with a few mates on the day of a match and paying at the turnstile and no problem being able to watch the game together, the much larger capacity for the big games and so on. I do think if you were comparing our ground with the national average or if there was a league table for grounds then we have slipped quite a way down the table in my 50 years watching.
And when you first started going the Mayflower Terrace, then known as "the enclosure", was divided in two as the players entered the pitch down some uncovered steps. I think the tunnel was constructed in the summer of 1967. My copy of the book is in a wardrobe upstairs and I will not see it until 25/12. You talk of us slipping behind in your 50 years of watching. Of the teams in the Second Division of 1964/65 11 have new grounds - Northampton, Bolton, Southampton, Huddersfield, Derby, Coventry, Man C, Cardiff, Rotherham, Middlesbrough and Swansea. Charlton Athletic have moved around quite a lot but are now settled back where they were then. Of those 12 I have listed 11 (all except Rotherham) have had at least one season in the top tier since then! Indeed, of the 22 clubs in that season's Second Division only Rotherham and Argyle have never played in the top tier before or since. The Millers' highest ever position was third in the second tier in 1954-55 when they finished level on points with champions Birmingham and runners-up Luton Town, so lost out on goal average!
