| Half a century! 09:41 - Aug 9 with 10869 views | EllDale |
Was anyone else on here at Spotland on Saturday August 10th 1968?
There isn’t a link to a recording unfortunately but 50 years ago our first promotion campaign started with a 3-2 win over Scunthorpe.
Seven new players in the team, strangely enough they were numbers one to seven on the teamsheet; new kit as well as Dale wore blue shirts, white shorts and white socks with two hoops around the calf. We’d spent weekday evenings during that summer painting the ground blue and white in what would be these days be classed as a rebrand.
Admission was half a crown (12.5p) and a programme 6d (2.5p).
I was 14 at the time and vividly remember standing outside the ground the day before with my newly acquired autograph book.
When training had finished Steve Melledew took my book and made sure that everyone signed it, including Bob Stokoe. I still have the book but don’t know if it’s worth anything or not.
But to me it’s priceless.
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| Half a century! on 10:16 - Aug 11 with 2071 views | D_Alien |
| Half a century! on 09:14 - Aug 11 by pioneer |
Worth remembering we had a pretty dire run up to Xmas and were just above the re election places before going on a long unbeaten run, something like 16 games which ended with a defeat at Chester, 2-0 I think.
By that time we were up in the promotion spots.
I was 12 years old at the time and thought this sort of think happenef on a fairly regular basis. Hard to believe I had two grown up kids the next time it happened. |
I've mentioned the poor run in the autumn earlier, but we never flirted with the re-election places that season
Worth remembering that all and sundry banging on about our first ever promotion made it clear it was something exceptional |  |
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| Half a century! on 11:51 - Aug 11 with 2040 views | TVOS1907 |
| Half a century! on 09:14 - Aug 11 by pioneer |
Worth remembering we had a pretty dire run up to Xmas and were just above the re election places before going on a long unbeaten run, something like 16 games which ended with a defeat at Chester, 2-0 I think.
By that time we were up in the promotion spots.
I was 12 years old at the time and thought this sort of think happenef on a fairly regular basis. Hard to believe I had two grown up kids the next time it happened. |
Our lowest position all season was 14th on Boxing Day. |  |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Half a century! on 12:03 - Aug 11 with 2018 views | pioneer |
| Half a century! on 11:51 - Aug 11 by TVOS1907 |
Our lowest position all season was 14th on Boxing Day. |
Sorry TVOS, on 4 Jan 1969 we played Grimsby at home. We were 15th place just 3 points above Grimsby. If we had lost that game we would have been 1 point above the zone. (2 points for a win then)
We crushed Grimsby 6-1 and went from strength to strength
we actually ended our slump on boxing day winning at workington, so we may have been even lower than15th and at risk of even bleaker outcome if we had lost that game. I havent been able to find the table before that game. | | | |
| Half a century! on 12:21 - Aug 11 with 2008 views | TVOS1907 |
| Half a century! on 12:03 - Aug 11 by pioneer |
Sorry TVOS, on 4 Jan 1969 we played Grimsby at home. We were 15th place just 3 points above Grimsby. If we had lost that game we would have been 1 point above the zone. (2 points for a win then)
We crushed Grimsby 6-1 and went from strength to strength
we actually ended our slump on boxing day winning at workington, so we may have been even lower than15th and at risk of even bleaker outcome if we had lost that game. I havent been able to find the table before that game. |
Fair enough, the resource I've used only details our league position after each game, as those are the only ones we can affect.
We fell to 15th on Saturday 28th December, mainly because we didn't play that day, but Port Vale did and went above Dale with a 1-0 home win over Swansea. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Half a century! on 12:24 - Aug 11 with 2003 views | D_Alien |
| Half a century! on 12:21 - Aug 11 by TVOS1907 |
Fair enough, the resource I've used only details our league position after each game, as those are the only ones we can affect.
We fell to 15th on Saturday 28th December, mainly because we didn't play that day, but Port Vale did and went above Dale with a 1-0 home win over Swansea. |
But hardly just above the re-election places | |
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| Half a century! on 12:31 - Aug 11 with 1995 views | TVOS1907 |
| Half a century! on 12:24 - Aug 11 by D_Alien |
But hardly just above the re-election places |
Quite | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Half a century! on 12:50 - Aug 11 with 1985 views | pioneer |
According to Stephen Phillipps history on boxing day morning we were in 15 th place 2 points clear of relection places and without a win for ages....I think that indicates we were flirting with the bottom four places at that time, not the top four. | | | |
| Half a century! on 12:57 - Aug 11 with 1980 views | D_Alien |
| Half a century! on 12:50 - Aug 11 by pioneer |
According to Stephen Phillipps history on boxing day morning we were in 15 th place 2 points clear of relection places and without a win for ages....I think that indicates we were flirting with the bottom four places at that time, not the top four. |
With five teams in a worse position between us and the fourth re-election place, that'd be like trying to flirt with someone with their back to you and a crowd around them...
At the time, it simply never felt like we were remotely in that type of danger, and simply a question of regaining the form we knew we had, which we duly did in no uncertain terms | |
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| Half a century! on 13:04 - Aug 11 with 1964 views | TVOS1907 |
| Half a century! on 12:50 - Aug 11 by pioneer |
According to Stephen Phillipps history on boxing day morning we were in 15 th place 2 points clear of relection places and without a win for ages....I think that indicates we were flirting with the bottom four places at that time, not the top four. |
He's not right there.
We were 14th after losing 3-0 at Swansea on 21st December and there weren't any more Fourth Division games until Boxing Day. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Half a century! on 02:59 - Aug 12 with 1889 views | pioneer |
After the swansea game we had 20 points and only from 4 wins from 22games. The 21st place team had 19 points, only one point less than us. Only Bradford PA had fewer than our 4 wins. All other teams had at least 5 wins. We were in a battle to avoid dropping into the bottom 4, which could have happened with a poor result at Workington on boxing day. | | | |
| Half a century! on 20:23 - Aug 13 with 1744 views | soulboy |
| Half a century! on 09:57 - Aug 11 by DiddyDave |
I seem to recall Melling put it about that he couldn`t get on with Len Richley. I also recall a couple of players never played again after getting flogged 7-0 by basically United`s youth team in the Lancashire Cup. A bloke called Costello comes to mind. Back to autograph books,I had a good one too,but can`t remember whatever happened to it. Who went to the Southampton game in 1958/59,the first season of the new Third Division? Dale rock bottom,but we pulled off a memorable 1-0 victory,Saints sporting the England right winger at the time,Terry Paine. Us urchins hung around long after the game ended to get Paine`s and most other signatures on the day from both teams. |
I went to that Lancaashire Cup Game, im pretty sure Carlo Sartori played for them who had limited first team experience. I cant rembember Costello, maybe someone else can though. |  | | |
| Half a century! on 20:29 - Aug 13 with 1735 views | SuddenLad |
| Half a century! on 20:23 - Aug 13 by soulboy |
I went to that Lancaashire Cup Game, im pretty sure Carlo Sartori played for them who had limited first team experience. I cant rembember Costello, maybe someone else can though. |
Peter Costello played for Dale, but not until 1990 |  |
| “It is easier to fool people, than to convince them that they have been fooled†|
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| Half a century! on 20:34 - Aug 13 with 1728 views | TVOS1907 |
| Half a century! on 20:29 - Aug 13 by SuddenLad |
Peter Costello played for Dale, but not until 1990 |
Maybe it was Lou or Elvis. | |
| When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf? |
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| Half a century! on 20:46 - Aug 13 with 1712 views | soulboy |
| Half a century! on 10:07 - Aug 9 by pioneer |
1 Fans used to stand behind the goal the team was shooting at and change ends at half time, usually peacfully except against teams like Halifax and Bradford City
2. I was born under the sandy lane (to the tune of wandering star) If i had the wings of an eagle (to tune of my bonnie) and many more
3. white shirts, black shorts, white socks
4. Very well thank you |
Very few teams brought more than a handful of supporters in 1968/69, with the exception of Doncaster, Bradford City and Halifax. In fact it wasnt until probably 1970 onwards that away teams had plenty of support, with the likes of Oldham, Barnsley, Rotherham, Wrexham, Chesterfield and of course Villa who outnumbered us probaly 3 to 1! Even then southern teams were poorly supported, I think Coventry had 1 coach of supporters for THAT cup game and in the following round i hardly saw any Colchester fans. Imagine that happening at any 4th round cup tie these days. | | | |
| Half a century! on 21:41 - Aug 13 with 1680 views | DaleiLama |
| Half a century! on 20:34 - Aug 13 by TVOS1907 |
Maybe it was Lou or Elvis. |
The latter put in a transfer request shortly after that but said he didn't want to go to Chelsea. |  |
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| Half a century! on 21:49 - Aug 13 with 1666 views | D_Alien |
| Half a century! on 20:46 - Aug 13 by soulboy |
Very few teams brought more than a handful of supporters in 1968/69, with the exception of Doncaster, Bradford City and Halifax. In fact it wasnt until probably 1970 onwards that away teams had plenty of support, with the likes of Oldham, Barnsley, Rotherham, Wrexham, Chesterfield and of course Villa who outnumbered us probaly 3 to 1! Even then southern teams were poorly supported, I think Coventry had 1 coach of supporters for THAT cup game and in the following round i hardly saw any Colchester fans. Imagine that happening at any 4th round cup tie these days. |
Coventry had far more than one coachload in 1971, they occupied a good portion of the Pearl St as viewed from the Sandy Lane in the second half. That's not to say that more than one coach travelled up from the midlands... | |
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| Half a century! on 22:05 - Aug 13 with 1648 views | soulboy |
| Half a century! on 21:49 - Aug 13 by D_Alien |
Coventry had far more than one coachload in 1971, they occupied a good portion of the Pearl St as viewed from the Sandy Lane in the second half. That's not to say that more than one coach travelled up from the midlands... |
Are you sure about that, i watched the first half in the Pearl Street end and the second in the Sandy but cant remember seeing any Coventry fans at all. | | | |
| Half a century! on 22:10 - Aug 13 with 1639 views | D_Alien |
| Half a century! on 22:05 - Aug 13 by soulboy |
Are you sure about that, i watched the first half in the Pearl Street end and the second in the Sandy but cant remember seeing any Coventry fans at all. |
Yes, i'm sure. They were very vocal when the ref didn't award what they thought was a goal when the ball bounced off the bar onto the goal-line, a seething mass of sky blue
Unlike the chance itself, not something that'd be easily missed | |
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| Half a century! on 05:10 - Aug 14 with 1585 views | AlexF |
| Half a century! on 22:10 - Aug 13 by D_Alien |
Yes, i'm sure. They were very vocal when the ref didn't award what they thought was a goal when the ball bounced off the bar onto the goal-line, a seething mass of sky blue
Unlike the chance itself, not something that'd be easily missed |
Neil Martin overhead kick wasntit? Remember my heart stopping for a moment | | | |
| Half a century! on 08:11 - Aug 14 with 1531 views | Huddersdale1 |
| Half a century! on 05:10 - Aug 14 by AlexF |
Neil Martin overhead kick wasntit? Remember my heart stopping for a moment |
Thought it was from a Jeff Blockley header?? | | | |
| Half a century! on 12:16 - Aug 14 with 1488 views | EllDale |
Picking up on a few points; that win over Grimsby was as welcome as it was unexpected.
We'd scored six twice already that season but one of those games was against Bradford Park Avenue who were dire and would soon tumble out of the league whilst the other was against Bradford City who were rumoured to be in the midst of a massive injury crisis. I think that Bruce Bannister played as a makeshift centrehalf that day.
As regards Melling, I think that he suffered in the dressing room because it was Reg's place that he took in the team. Stokoe/Richley couldn't really drop Melledew because he was the only one scoring goals.
One consequence was that Denis Butler became the teams penalty taker. The first occasion was when we were awarded a spotkick in the one of the wins over a Bradford club, I can't remember if was PA or City. It took a while to decide who was going to take it and I recall looking at the bench, where Reg was the substitute to see his reaction. He was staring up at the roof of the dugout with his hands behind his head, totally inscrutable.
Butler always took the same style of penalty, a hard, sidefooted, right foot shot to the goalkeepers right hand side. Teams didn't study videos in those days of course so no keeper could do his homework on him so to speak. | | | |
| Half a century! on 23:06 - Aug 14 with 1423 views | pioneer |
| Half a century! on 20:23 - Aug 13 by soulboy |
I went to that Lancaashire Cup Game, im pretty sure Carlo Sartori played for them who had limited first team experience. I cant rembember Costello, maybe someone else can though. |
the flogging by united was in 67-68 season. We drew with them at Spotland and the replay at OT was 1-0 to united when it was abandoned because of fog. When the game was played agin we got flogged 7-0 by the following United team
Rimmer, Brennan, Kopel, Murphy, Edwards, Watson, Ryan, Gowling, Herd, Sartori, Gill.
Some big names in that line up, Brennan played in the European Cup final later that season.
At that time Collins was experimenting with playing Reg at Centre half. Quite a match up, David Herd v Reg. | | | |
| Half a century! on 23:08 - Aug 14 with 1422 views | pioneer |
| Half a century! on 08:11 - Aug 14 by Huddersdale1 |
Thought it was from a Jeff Blockley header?? |
Yes it was a header by Blockley that bounced down off the bar onto the goal line | | | |
| Half a century! on 23:22 - Aug 14 with 1418 views | pioneer |
| Half a century! on 12:16 - Aug 14 by EllDale |
Picking up on a few points; that win over Grimsby was as welcome as it was unexpected.
We'd scored six twice already that season but one of those games was against Bradford Park Avenue who were dire and would soon tumble out of the league whilst the other was against Bradford City who were rumoured to be in the midst of a massive injury crisis. I think that Bruce Bannister played as a makeshift centrehalf that day.
As regards Melling, I think that he suffered in the dressing room because it was Reg's place that he took in the team. Stokoe/Richley couldn't really drop Melledew because he was the only one scoring goals.
One consequence was that Denis Butler became the teams penalty taker. The first occasion was when we were awarded a spotkick in the one of the wins over a Bradford club, I can't remember if was PA or City. It took a while to decide who was going to take it and I recall looking at the bench, where Reg was the substitute to see his reaction. He was staring up at the roof of the dugout with his hands behind his head, totally inscrutable.
Butler always took the same style of penalty, a hard, sidefooted, right foot shot to the goalkeepers right hand side. Teams didn't study videos in those days of course so no keeper could do his homework on him so to speak. |
I think Jenkins got injured when Melling was brought in. They were selected together upfront for the first time at the end of the dire run of results referred to above. They started the swansea game before Christmas and then went on a tear scoring 9 goals in the next 5 games between them (including a hat trick each). Then Melling was shipped out. It was the red hot form of the partnership that led many fans to be surprised at Melling being sold. Litle were we to know Tony Buck was on the way.
Melling was a similar build to Jenkins, big stocky lad with a big backside.
The penalty you refer to was against Bradford PA I think ....but it was scored by Billy Rudd , not Butler. Butler did take penalties in other games that season. | | | |
| Half a century! on 08:15 - Aug 15 with 1373 views | mingthemerciless |
I was in the Sandy Lane End but my money was on a Jeff Blockley header. Wether it went in or not I couldn't say but it must have been pretty close. A really scary moment. Another game that we'll no doubt get to was a 3-0 demolition of Aldershot. They were flying then with Jimmy Melia in midfield but the 'Dale played them off the park. For a team of smallish guys that team loved the wet conditions. | | | |
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