Things were hotting up in March 1976 as Saints prepared for their first FA Cup quarter final game since eventually reaching the semi final in 1963, but the game was to be shrouded in controversy from start to finish.

Saints had had a long wait after beating West Brom to find out whether it would be First division Norwich City or Fourth division Bradford City they would travel to in the 6th round, Bradford had had a flu epidemic and the game had been postponed twice before they finally went to Carrow Road and caused a big upset by beating the Canaries and lining up a meeting with Saints.

From a Saints point of view it was welcomed, we had a better chance of beating Bradford than we did of Norwich and it looked likely that another army of Saints fans would travel North, but then the controversy started.

Bradford's Chairman was determined to cash in, Valley Parade held 23,000 and that capacity has almost been reached in the 4th round when 21,000 had seen them beat Tooting & Mitcham, although their average league attendance that season had been a mere 2,916 as they languished near the bottom of division 4.

That being the case prices were raised drastically, seat prices were tripled whereas the cost of standing on the terrace went up from 65p to £1.50 and there were to be no concessions for the young or old.

It was blatant profiteering and supporters of both club found it too much to stomach and voted with their feet, from a Saints perspective we were given around 5,000 tickets, we sold somewhere between 3,500- 4,000 less than a third of the number that had traveled to West Bromwich Albion in the previous round. It was the same in the home sections and the gate would be 14.195 the lowest 6th round attendance since the War.

As a 14 year old my main concern was how to get there after finding that the National Coach that ran to Saints away games from the old coach station in Bedford Place, my usual form of transport to away games was fully booked and although they had taken a dozen up to West Brom they had decided that for this one they would only do a couple and they were now both sold.

I already had the ticket so my options were entirely limited so with heavy heart I went down to the Dell to get a ticket on the special train the club were running, perhaps it was the fact i was dressed in the standard terrace wear of the time, ie Dr Martens, jeans and long hair, but they made a couple of lame excuses and refused to sell me a ticket.

Cue the intervention of my Mum who stormed down there, demanded to know why Saints were refusing to sell her little boy a ticket and after much apologising from the club I had my transport sorted, little did my Mum know that she had bought me passage to the most dangerous and scary situation I have ever faced before or after at a football match.

Anyway I was at Central Station on the morning of the game and on the train, up North though Saints had selection problems, Nick Holmes was injured and Jim Steele sick so changes had to be made, at the back in came one of the forgotten men of that Cup Final squad, Southampton born Paul Bennett.

But before a ball was kicked major disruptions were taking place on the terraces, getting from Bradford station to the ground had been easy, they had laid on special buses, butonce in the ground it was like going back to Victorian times, the ground was surrounded by old mills and the away end was a large crumbling terrace and there was no segregation.

Around 2.30pm a large contingent of locals piled in the ground and chaos rained with lumps of concrete taken from the terraces or from the bank a the back were hurled between the two sets of supporters and mass punch up took place which if it happened today would be first item on all the news channels. It's hard to say who won, but Yorkshire Police seemed more interested i getting stuck in than taking prisoners.

The game kicking off was at least a respite from the violence going on all around, although throughout the match sporadic outbursts would take place.

Naturally with so much at stake both sides looked edgy and the game didn't seem to flow as in previous rounds, Saints seemed cautious and keen to make sure that they didn't let Bradford cause another shock.

All the action took place in the minutes before half time, in the 41st Minute Saints won a free kick in a central position outside of the box, Peter Osgood casually flicked the ball up a yard to Jim McCalliog who volleyed it past the wall into the bottom corner, the Bradford keeper didn't move.

But the home side nearly equalised, a 30 yard scorcher was brilliantly saved by Ian Turner, a save which was voted save of the season on Match Of The Day.

The second half saw Saints hold firm despite most of the game spent in their half, but Saints had quality and Bradford did not and although they blustered they rarely looked like breaking down Saints who although nervy and needing the comfort of a second goal made sure that class prevailed in the end.

All that now remained was getting back to the station a distance of well over a mile and the special buses that took us to the ground were nowhere to be seen so the only option was to walk.

It was a long straight road and Saints fans and cars etc were being attacked everywhere, Bradford fans of all ages seemed keen to let the Southern invaders go back home battered and bruised.

It was a brave Saints fan who walked back to that station showing his colours and i have yet to meet one, scarves were stuffed down the front of trousers, firstly to hide them and secondly to cushion the odd flying Dr Marten to the balls.

But having no colours back then was just as much singling you out, everyone wore scarves and mean everyone, so a football fan of a certain age without one was virtually advertising the fact that he was an away fan.

Soon I was accosted threatened, but luckily for me this group had no real bottle and by quickly crossing the road and walking about 10 yards in front of a Policeman, if I wasn't exactly safe yet, this lot did not want to risk arrest.

The copper clearly knew what was happening, he wasn't bothered stopping any of it, Saints fans were being sporadically attacked all over the place and still he kept walking and so did I, he knew what my game was but said nothing to me or gave any indication until we got within about 100 yards of the station.

Then he tapped me on the shoulder, told me he was going a different way now, but cocking a thumb at the Bradford mob said " If thee just runs for it from here thee will be in t station before that thar lot can catch thee"

He sounded like Fred Trueman on Indoor League but I heeded his advice and I believe my record still stands for the 100 metres in Bradford to this day.

On the train it was like a warzone, people were arriving with all sorts of injuries and minus scarves etc so was quite glad I was lucky.

Before we left though Bradford Police walked down the train, pulled all the blinds down, advised everyone to keep their heads down and stay away from the windows till we were out of Bradford as they suspected the train would be bricked.

It wasn't and by the time we had passed through Leeds everyone of course had fought brave rear guard actions, no one had had to run and indeed the stories of individuals chasing large groups of Bradford down cobbled streets continued for the five hour journey home.

Photo: Action Images

SalisburySaint added 10:15 - Apr 29 I was on the special train too I was 17 at the time and got on train at Basingstoke Didn't see the special buses taking fans to the ground so walked up there and remember walking past a couple of pubs with the front windows smashed out and glass all over the pavements where some Saints fans had obviously got a friendly welcome from he locals. I was in my first year at work and somehow had enough funds to pay the #3 for a seat for the game (NB when I travelled over to Marseilles for Cup winners Cup game the cost of the flight including coaches to and from airports was £25) Fortunately there was no trouble in the seats but I had a clear view of all the problems on the terraces and was grateful I was not on the terraces The stand I was in was later the one burned down in a Fire when many Bradford fans lost there lives, and as discussed in other threads I also was on the terraces at Leppings Lane in 1984. So when both tragic events occurred, and often think that in differing circumstances that it could have been me.

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Jasper added 11:29 - Apr 29 I was 19 at the time, 4 of us traveled overnight by car arrived Bradford in time for breakfast, everyone seemed friendly at first, it didn't last. It was a punch up from start to finish, don't remember much about the game only that we were lucky to win. After the match we were surrounded by hostile mob only the presence of Police van stopped them getting really nasty. Left Bradford with bricks hitting the car lots of bruises 3 black eyes and a thick lip between us but we gave as good as we got. Happy days.

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Number_58 added 11:34 - Apr 29 I wasn't there unfortunately (or possibly fortunately, judging by the report) but you get an idea of the hostile atmosphere just by watching footage of McCalliog's goal. The ball had barely hit the back of the net when the crowd start chanting "You're gonna get your f**ing heads kicked in!" Nick raises an interesting point about scarves. The choice was: wear a scarf and get a kicking from the opposition fans or don't wear a scarf and risk getting a kicking from both sets of fans. Football was great in the 1970s...

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codge added 13:04 - Apr 29 My memories of the Ground were how they tried to fix the steps with fresh concrete, then they let a Bradford City supporter in our end wearing this giant top hat in there color's, needless to say he didn't last long before he was gone. Also the guy's wearing white doctor coats with Lawrie Red Army on the back of them. Perhaps the worst was the toilets, but all in all a great day was had and one l will treasure the rest of my life.

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