Best Barratt Stand memories

Quoted from oldun

Would of course was F A Would Chairman at the time. "Can you hear me Fenty" could never sound the same

Nor would JF be seen with a trilby and very large overcoat.

Did anyone else, like myself, originally start off in the boy's enclosure at the end of the Barratt?

Quoted from jock dock tower

Did anyone else, like myself, originally start off in the boy's enclosure at the end of the Barratt?

yes i started following town from the boys pen happy days................

Quoted from jock dock tower

Did anyone else, like myself, originally start off in the boy's enclosure at the end of the Barratt?

Yes I did for a while but it was boring in there! If you went in the open corner between the Barratt & the Pontoon it was more interesting and you could sneak over the fence into the stand more easily at that end. For a while as a youngster I went in the Osmond because Town always kicked that way first half if they won the toss and you were allowed to walk all the way round behind the the Main Stand to the Pontoon to watch the second half. Away supporters were an alien species in those days.

As a teenager we used to be working on Saturdays kick off time but if we were lucky we could get in to see the second half of the match for free in the Main Stand when the gates opened.

Just going back to the Everton game and the Barratt, that night must hold the record time for the longest ever "Mariners" chant. It started as the Everton players came out to inspect the pitch and it didn't stop until they went back up the tunnel. It must have been a good 15 minutes of constant din. I'm sure one or two of their players tried to outlast the chant but we beat 'em. A few years later I heard Dave Booth say that it was almost impossible for George Kerr to give a team talk that night because of the noise reaching the dressing room. The team didn't need it anyway.

Town v Everton seems to be the game most frequently mentioned as the beacon game for the old Blundell Park. It was our first Cup upset at home for many years and a full house at night meant that the atmosphere has never been bettered, nor will it unless terraces are allowed to return. I remember little of the game particularly the second half - an absolutely packed Harrington St corner wasn't exactly the best viewing point.

Pity there is no extended video footage of the game as far as I'm aware - I would love to see it if there was.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Town v Everton seems to be the game most frequently mentioned as the beacon game for the old Blundell Park. It was our first Cup upset at home for many years and a full house at night meant that the atmosphere has never been bettered, nor will it unless terraces are allowed to return. I remember little of the game particularly the second half - an absolutely packed Harrington St corner wasn't exactly the best viewing point.

Pity there is no extended video footage of the game as far as I'm aware - I would love to see it if there was.

Probably because we all knew the Barratt was coming down in the near future and the Wolves match in the next round was nearly as good but of course we only drew that one.

There were others. Any game against Barnsley when Clarke and Hunter were there. Bobby C had a special affinity with the Barratt I think, and so did one or two others like Dave Worthington, Brian Hill, Johnny Scott and Jimmy Fell although Scotty took some stick from the Barratt from time to time.

It was a real mixture of fans as well. I remember Roy Bonnett who used to have a car body shop off Corporation Road and his mate Dave who worked at the Renault garage on Chelmsford Avenue. There was a fair sprinkling of teachers and retired teachers. There was old Harry who used to drive either Arthur Drewery or FA Would on trips for the FA - a fund of inside information. A couple of brickies who used to come straight from work in their overalls .... it was all common cause. It wasn't just the stand that disappeared it was all the characters that were together in it.

Different sport, but that kind of terrace camraderie is now found in Rugby Union in areas where it is not an exclusively a public school game - ie Leicester, Northampton, Gloucester and I'm sure the same will apply in Rugby League areas. The Crumbie side terrace at Leicester holds 4.5k - cracking atmosphere of opposition player and ref baiting. The Shed at Gloucester is the same. The Samoan Tuilagi brothers at Leicester are the equivalent of Bobby Cumming - slightly different weight category though...

If I had choice of watching Town as a successful League 1 team in a redeveloped Blundell Park with terracing, occasionally bloodying the noses of Premiership ponces in the Cup, or perennial struggle in the Championship at a sterile all seater, like a bigger version of Glanford Park, and £25+ ticket prices, I think I would choose the former.

Different sport, but that kind of terrace camraderie is now found in Rugby Union in areas where it is not an exclusively a public school game - ie Leicester, Northampton, Gloucester and I'm sure the same will apply in Rugby League areas. The Crumbie side terrace at Leicester holds 4.5k - cracking atmosphere of opposition player and ref baiting. The Shed at Gloucester is the same. The Samoan Tuilagi brothers at Leicester are the equivalent of Bobby Cumming - slightly different weight category though...BUT NOT AS HARD!

If I had choice of watching Town as a successful League 1 team in a redeveloped Blundell Park with terracing, occasionally bloodying the noses of Premiership ponces in the Cup, or perennial struggle in the Championship at a sterile all seater, like a bigger version of Glanford Park, and £25+ ticket prices, I think I would choose the former.

That goes without saying, Bobby didn't need to be 18 stone to enforce...

Good thread this gents .... reckon I might do a similar one on our board re: Clanford End.