Rangers News - 20th March 1974 - in the aftermath of the Old Trafford "friendly"

Remember watching World of Sport on the Saturday afternoon
as Dickie Davies said “breaking news of significant crowd trouble
at the Man Utd v Rangers friendly“ :eek:
 
Was only 19 at the time but my older brother was in Manchester,He likes to tell a story about a police dog lying on its side with a knife in its ribs after being allowed to go into the Bears.
 
I was at the 1974 match in Manchester, and remember the Mayor saying that in the Manchester Evening news about us never being allowed back :)

Was a brilliant day out though, really enjoyed it.

As soon as our bus parked up on arrival, a mob attacked as, then ran away as we fought back.

Then there was the trouble inside the stadium.

After the match there was a few of us on a corporation bus going into the city centre, and when a large crowd of Man Utd fans saw our flags/scarves they smashed every window on the bus putting it out of commission, but not before the bus driver put the boot down and got away from the mob asap - the thing was, most of the passengers on the bus were locals, mostly women and children.
As all the pubs appeared to be closed in the city centre, we just got a bus back to the Old Trafford area and drank with the rest of the bears in local pubs.

Myself and two mates, (who missed the match as they were arrested for fighting, and released after the match ended) got aff :) with three local girls, and when my mates had to return for their court appearance the three of us stayed with the girls :)

Going back for their court appearance was when I started to like Man City.
As we got off the train from Glasgow that Saturday lunchtime, we could hear what sounded like hundreds of voices singing 'The Sash', and as we exited the station, we could see it was indeed hundreds of voices singing 'The Sash'. All Man City fans going to Maine Road :)
 
My recollection while sitting in the stand was around 30-40 Man U fans coming on to the pitch at half time goading the Rangers fans. The Bears weren't having it and jump over the wall and laid a lot of them out before chasing the rest of them back into their end.
Best half-time entertainment ever. :))
 
Went on the bus from the Regent that day, just remember they came running up to our end, we all piled on the park and chased them back up to their end. All good clean fun !
 
gn300m.png
 
I was there that day, after game we found Man U supporter lying on road with obvious broken leg, my mate was first aider and tied his legs together with our scarves... often wondered what happen to him and our scarves.
 
I recall reading one of those daft football casual books that were popular about 10 years ago. In one of the chapters, the main players in the United hooligan scene from the 1970's quoted that Rangers fans were the only away support ever to take their famous Stretford End of Old Trafford.
 
I was there. It was erm , 'unforgettable'. Entered the Stretford end mistakenly, got chased out across the pitch to be met by hundreds of Rangers fans racing towards the United fans who were persuing us.

Missed supporters bus home. Following a botched attempt at hitching a lift had to get a travel warrant paid for me back in Glasgow before I could get the train home. Great game mind! :rolleyes:
 
monkey magic said:
I recall reading one of those daft football casual books that were popular about 10 years ago. In one of the chapters, the main players in the United hooligan scene from the 1970's quoted that Rangers fans were the only away support ever to take their famous Stretford End of Old Trafford.
Click to expand...

That is quite accurate. The Rangers fans who raced across the pitch then entered the Stretford terracing remained there throughout the game.
 
DavidSmith said:
I was at the 1974 match in Manchester, and remember the Mayor saying that in the Manchester Evening news about us never being allowed back :)

Was a brilliant day out though, really enjoyed it.

As soon as our bus parked up on arrival, a mob attacked as, then ran away as we fought back.

Then there was the trouble inside the stadium.

After the match there was a few of us on a corporation bus going into the city centre, and when a large crowd of Man Utd fans saw our flags/scarves they smashed every window on the bus putting it out of commission, but not before the bus driver put the boot down and got away from the mob asap - the thing was, most of the passengers on the bus were locals, mostly women and children.
As all the pubs appeared to be closed in the city centre, we just got a bus back to the Old Trafford area and drank with the rest of the bears in local pubs.

Myself and two mates, (who missed the match as they were arrested for fighting, and released after the match ended) got aff :) with three local girls, and when my mates had to return for their court appearance the three of us stayed with the girls :)

Going back for their court appearance was when I started to like Man City.
As we got off the train from Glasgow that Saturday lunchtime, we could hear what sounded like hundreds of voices singing 'The Sash', and as we exited the station, we could see it was indeed hundreds of voices singing 'The Sash'. All Man City fans going to Maine Road :)
Click to expand...

A group of about 50 City fans joined the bears in the square before the man utd game. They were delighted to assist us in any way they could.
 
Missed out on Old Trafford so made sure I went to Villa Park in 1976. Was thinking about that only yesterday watching the Villa-City game, arriving at the ground to see a massive Union Flag draped over the wall of the Holte End and hearing The Billy Boys being belted out, turned out the Bears had taken it over.
 
Clicker said:
Missed out on Old Trafford so made sure I went to Villa Park in 1976. Was thinking about that only yesterday watching the Villa-City game, arriving at the ground to see a massive Union Flag draped over the wall of the Holte End and hearing The Billy Boys being belted out, turned out the Bears had taken it over.
Click to expand...

The bears were queuing up before the turnstiles were open !!! As soon as they
opened everyone charged into the Holte
End. Villa fans turned up and decided the
other end would be a better option !!!!
 
Orangeandblue said:
ere queuing up before the turnstiles were open !!! As soon as they
opened everyone charged into the Holte
End. Villa fans turned up and decided the
other end would be a better option !!!!
Click to expand...
Apart from the daftie who ran halfway down the park, waving a tricolour, before being given a warm welcome from the bears
 
ItsInTheNet said:
I was there. It was erm , 'unforgettable'. Entered the Stretford end mistakenly, got chased out across the pitch to be met by hundreds of Rangers fans racing towards the United fans who were persuing us.

Missed supporters bus home. Following a botched attempt at hitching a lift had to get a travel warrant paid for me back in Glasgow before I could get the train home. Great game mind! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
ItsInTheNet said:
That is quite accurate. The Rangers fans who raced across the pitch then entered the Stretford terracing remained there throughout the game.
Click to expand...
Lets be clear, Rangers NEVER took the Stretford End. There may have been an odd few who kept very quiet and were not noticed. My definition of takaing an away end is taking over the end with a vast majority of support, that clearly never happened. No team has ever taken the Stretford End or remotely come close. There was only around 22,000 at the game, both the Strettie and the Scoreboard End were pretty full with the Main Stand and United Road stand sparsely populated - largely due to United never advertising the game, it been organised by the clubs at relatively short notice as both teams had been knocked out of cup competitions and appathy about turning up for a friendly against Rangers. Rangers took around 8,000 to the game - the largest away support seen at OT for many years. I was there and am in my 60's, there was a lot of fighting from both sets of supporters though from what I'd seen, most Rangers fans had been on the beer all day.
 
DAVEY S said:
Lets be clear, Rangers NEVER took the Stretford End. There may have been an odd few who kept very quiet and were not noticed. My definition of takaing an away end is taking over the end with a vast majority of support, that clearly never happened. No team has ever taken the Stretford End or remotely come close. There was only around 22,000 at the game, both the Strettie and the Scoreboard End were pretty full with the Main Stand and United Road stand sparsely populated - largely due to United never advertising the game, it been organised by the clubs at relatively short notice as both teams had been knocked out of cup competitions and appathy about turning up for a friendly against Rangers. Rangers took around 8,000 to the game - the largest away support seen at OT for many years. I was there and am in my 60's, there was a lot of fighting from both sets of supporters though from what I'd seen, most Rangers fans had been on the beer all day.
Click to expand...

Nice wee bump from 3 years ago Manc does it still hurt from all these years ago.
 
DAVEY S said:
Lets be clear, Rangers NEVER took the Stretford End. There may have been an odd few who kept very quiet and were not noticed. My definition of takaing an away end is taking over the end with a vast majority of support, that clearly never happened. No team has ever taken the Stretford End or remotely come close. There was only around 22,000 at the game, both the Strettie and the Scoreboard End were pretty full with the Main Stand and United Road stand sparsely populated - largely due to United never advertising the game, it been organised by the clubs at relatively short notice as both teams had been knocked out of cup competitions and appathy about turning up for a friendly against Rangers. Rangers took around 8,000 to the game - the largest away support seen at OT for many years. I was there and am in my 60's, there was a lot of fighting from both sets of supporters though from what I'd seen, most Rangers fans had been on the beer all day.
Click to expand...
Aye we did. :)
 
DAVEY S said:
Lets be clear, Rangers NEVER took the Stretford End. There may have been an odd few who kept very quiet and were not noticed. My definition of takaing an away end is taking over the end with a vast majority of support, that clearly never happened. No team has ever taken the Stretford End or remotely come close. There was only around 22,000 at the game, both the Strettie and the Scoreboard End were pretty full with the Main Stand and United Road stand sparsely populated - largely due to United never advertising the game, it been organised by the clubs at relatively short notice as both teams had been knocked out of cup competitions and appathy about turning up for a friendly against Rangers. Rangers took around 8,000 to the game - the largest away support seen at OT for many years. I was there and am in my 60's, there was a lot of fighting from both sets of supporters though from what I'd seen, most Rangers fans had been on the beer all day.
Click to expand...
Davey’s been very busy disputing some bear threads on FF of late.

My own, albeit fuzzy(being only 14 years old) memory of the friendly would suggest he’s partially correct on this one.

My recollection was that United fans made the first move and stormed towards the Rangers fans which was met with a retaliation that almost emptied our end and sent the United fans scampering back to the Stretford end.
I don’t recall Rangers fans taking over that end. I think that version could be a bit embellished, but the Utd fans certainly got their arses handed to them on a plate.
 
DAVEY S said:
Let’s be clear, Rangers NEVER took the Stretford End. There may have been an odd few who kept very quiet and were not noticed. My definition of takaing an away end is taking over the end with a vast majority of support, that clearly never happened. No team has ever taken the Stretford End or remotely come close. There was only around 22,000 at the game, both the Strettie and the Scoreboard End were pretty full with the Main Stand and United Road stand sparsely populated - largely due to United never advertising the game, it been organised by the clubs at relatively short notice as both teams had been knocked out of cup competitions and appathy about turning up for a friendly against Rangers. Rangers took around 8,000 to the game - the largest away support seen at OT for many years. I was there and am in my 60's, there was a lot of fighting from both sets of supporters though from what I'd seen, most Rangers fans had been on the beer all day.
Click to expand...
Davey, not the first bit of fantasy you’ve posted in the last few hours ;)

Be far more at home with your own kind on KDS tbh
 
The best one I heard.

My old man had a good friend, who was a good few years older than him. Willie Nixon, who originally came from Carmyle. (He's obviously passed away now)

He was down at the game and in the main stand, with plenty of other bears. Just at kick off a pissed Manc come up the stairs, saw the amount of blue scarves and said:' What are you Orange B@stards going to do today.

Two bears grabbed his and wheeked him out the stand.

Those were the days my friend.
 
Drumchapel said:
Interesting that the term "neds" is used in sub headline from 1974. Must be honest, only came across that term ten years ago
Click to expand...
There used to be a short programme on stv in the 70s a bit like crimewatch
The presenter was always talking about those involved as neds
 
Shengus Malengus said:
Davey’s been very busy disputing some bear threads on FF of late.

My own, albeit fuzzy(being only 14 years old) memory of the friendly would suggest he’s partially correct on this one.

My recollection was that United fans made the first move and stormed towards the Rangers fans which was met with a retaliation that almost emptied our end and sent the United fans scampering back to the Stretford end.
I don’t recall Rangers fans taking over that end. I think that version could be a bit embellished, but the Utd fans certainly got their arses handed to them on a plate.
Click to expand...
Thats what i remember apart from after we chased them off the pitch we thought it would be a good idea to dance about the park . This was the main reason the police came on. They certainly did not make any attempt to stop us till all that mob had scarpered .
 
Used to buy the News every week, noticed the date on that one was the day after my seventeenth birthday. Interested to see a couple of mentions of Murdo Finlayson, who was in my class at primary school.
 
bullen an la said:
There used to be a short programme on stv in the 70s a bit like crimewatch
The presenter was always talking about those involved as neds
Click to expand...
Wasn't this the 'official' term used in Scotland? Non Educated Delinquents.
In England it was Chav's, which I don't remember but want to say Council House... probably talking out my arse
 
DAVEY S said:
Lets be clear, Rangers NEVER took the Stretford End. There may have been an odd few who kept very quiet and were not noticed. My definition of takaing an away end is taking over the end with a vast majority of support, that clearly never happened. No team has ever taken the Stretford End or remotely come close. There was only around 22,000 at the game, both the Strettie and the Scoreboard End were pretty full with the Main Stand and United Road stand sparsely populated - largely due to United never advertising the game, it been organised by the clubs at relatively short notice as both teams had been knocked out of cup competitions and appathy about turning up for a friendly against Rangers. Rangers took around 8,000 to the game - the largest away support seen at OT for many years. I was there and am in my 60's, there was a lot of fighting from both sets of supporters though from what I'd seen, most Rangers fans had been on the beer all day.
Click to expand...
They most certainly DID take the Stretford End, everyone knows this as FACT.
 
beowulf said:
They most certainly DID take the Stretford End, everyone knows this as FACT.
Click to expand...
They DIDN'T. Many Rangers fans arrived at the ground early and attempted to gain entry to the Stretford End, but Lancashire's finest put that idea firmly to bed. I think you and others are confusing the Old Trafford game with the the match v Aston Villa a few years later when the Rangers fans DID take over the Holte End. I was at both of these games.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top