Old picture of Ashton gate

[sticks 1969]

Just found this on the net so thought I’d post 

[WarksRobin]

Early 80’s?

[KevP]

8 minutes ago, WarksRobin said:

Early 80’s?

Before that even.....I started going mid 70s and it was like that then....schoolboy enclose in front of Dolman stand ....50p to get in !!

[Port Said Red]

10 minutes ago, TomF said:

Could be wrong but is it when the dolman is being built.  Blocks A/B are having seats still put in and you can see a digger and walll missing at the front 

You could be right Tom, there is only one end where the rubbish "plastic glass" is installed so it's not complete. I would guess 1969/1970?

Those partitions were eventually ripped out in a storm in the late 70's as I recall.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Port Said Red

[Oh Louie louie]

Cant make out if the red seats were in the middle of the dolman?

Early 80s id go

I think they built do it all, as it was known about 1984?

Used to go to discos in the scout hut at the start of the car park.

Was next to r and c markets, which had a red sign, which i cant see.

Maybe late 70s.

 

[Oh Louie louie]

My earliest memories, of that car park would be about 1981,

Thinking about, it, the grass on the left of the car park wasnt there then im sure.

Late 70s?

[southside]

I'd guess 1970ish, look at the cars in the foreground

[Port Said Red]

11 minutes ago, southside said:

I'd guess 1970ish, look at the cars in the foreground

Yes looks like one of those vehicles for disabled people that used to be around the edge of the ground until H&S was invented.

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, KevP said:

Before that even.....I started going mid 70s and it was like that then....schoolboy enclose in front of Dolman stand ....50p to get in !!

Jumpers for goalposts, Vicars on bikes going to evensong, Morecombe and Wise.  City centre before they concreted it over...

Marvellous, isn't it? 

 

[City Rocker]

2 hours ago, TomF said:

Could be wrong but is it when the dolman is being built.  Blocks A/B are having seats still put in and you can see a digger and walll missing at the front 

Yes the Dolman is clearly nearing completion, which dates it to about 1970. Advertising hoardings were added to the front of the Dolman stand brick wall after that.

IIRC the block of red seats in the middle was installed in the mid/late 70s following promotion (though they couldn't afford to finish the job, in more ways than one). 

[supercidered]

3 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Just found this on the net so thought I’d post 

Awwww. Loves this.

Makes I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The red doors of the old turnstiles. Christ I'm filling up here!

[exAtyeoMax]

 

Saw this, the other day

[supercidered]

5 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

 

Saw this, the other day

Wasn't our biggest 'official' crowd something like over 43,000 v PNE in the 50's?

[42nite]

 

They were great floodlights.

 

[exAtyeoMax]

6 minutes ago, supercidered said:

Wasn't our biggest 'official' crowd something like over 43,000 v PNE in the 50's?

I don't know, possibly for a league game.

 

[Street red]

13 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

 

Saw this, the other day

Looks like the roof was popular in those days as well  

[supercidered]

Just now, Street red said:

Looks like the roof was popular in those days as well  

They were our new signings.

[Offside]

5 minutes ago, 42nite said:

 

They were great floodlights.

 

They certainly were. Very distinctive. 

[kmpowell]

I'd say it's taken in early 1970 just before completion of the build. IIRC it opened in August 1970.

There's no advertising hoardings around the pitch (or the stand itself, which were added a few years later mid 70's), and that looks like a Morris 1100 MK2 (if it's a Mk3 then it's a later pic, but the shape suggests it's a MK2) in the foreground nearest the camera, so this suggests to me it was pre completion.

[handsofclay]

3 hours ago, TomF said:

Could be wrong but is it when the dolman is being built.  Blocks A/B are having seats still put in and you can see a digger and walll missing at the front 

 

1 minute ago, kmpowell said:

I'd say it's taken in early 1970 just before completion of the build. IIRC it opened in August 1970.

There's no advertising hoardings around the pitch (or the stand itself, which were added a few years later mid 70's), and that looks like a Morris 1100 MK2 (if it's a Mk3 then it's a later pic, but the shape suggests it's a MK2) in the foreground nearest the camera, so this suggests to me it was pre completion.

I would say early to mid 80s as others have said as when the Dolman was built and into the First Division days the seats in the Dolman were brown, wooden seats. This photo clearly shows the red, plastic seats that replaced them as an upgrade a decade to 15 years later. Dolman was built in 1970 so I'd guess about 1984-86ish perhaps even slightly later 

[Clint]

Whenever it was it’s still better than what the swamp is now

[handsofclay]

Having said the above it could simply be that the light is making the brown wooden seats look reddish or a reddish brown so it could be 1970 if that's the case

[southside]

4 minutes ago, kmpowell said:

I'd say it's taken in early 1970 just before completion of the build. IIRC it opened in August 1970.

There's no advertising hoardings around the pitch (or the stand itself, which were added a few years later mid 70's), and that looks like a Morris 1100 MK2 (if it's a Mk3 then it's a later pic, but the shape suggests it's a MK2) in the foreground nearest the camera, so this suggests to me it was pre completion.

I remember in the period between when it was finished and that first game against Sunderland, me and some mates went to the ground on a midweek afternoon, no one about, walked in through an unlocked gate and just sat in the Dolman, what a view! 

[City Rocker]

7 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

 

I would say early to mid 80s as others have said as when the Dolman was built and into the First Division days the seats in the Dolman were brown, wooden seats. This photo clearly shows the red, plastic seats that replaced them as an upgrade a decade to 15 years later. Dolman was built in 1970 so I'd guess about 1984-86ish perhaps even slightly later 

 

2 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

Having said the above it could simply be that the light is making the brown wooden seats look reddish or a reddish brown so it could be 1970 if that's the case

Yep, it's definitely 1970 and those are the old wooden seats just going in. Remember they also started re-cladding the East End roof with red panels around the end of the 70s, so it's earlier than that.

[RedRock]

Superb, but can we change the title from ‘old’ to ‘quite recent’ please.

Those that recall that picture as being like yesterday, don’t need to be reminded that we’re now approaching pension age.
 

Thanks.

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, TomF said:

Invacar - there are a load of them sat in some farmland up in Scotland.  Few people have salvaged one and got them running again. The rumour that they're not able to be used anymore is actually untrue and you can tax/MOT one. 

 

We went to this place a couple of years back

https://www.bubblecarmuseum.co.uk/ 

It's not as dull as it might sound to someone of a certain age, . They had an invacar amongst their collection.

[weepywall]

1 hour ago, Clint said:

Whenever it was it’s still better than what the swamp is now

I was thinking exactly the same, they would be in heaven to have a ground like that. 

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, handsofclay said:

I would say early to mid 80s as others have said as when the Dolman was built and into the First Division days the seats in the Dolman were brown, wooden seats. This photo clearly shows the red, plastic seats that replaced them as an upgrade a decade to 15 years later. Dolman was built in 1970 so I'd guess about 1984-86ish perhaps even slightly later 

This photo is from an old Football League Review , they used to put in the programs in the Olden days 

This was the original seats , so I think you're right.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by 1960maaan

[BUTOR]

2 hours ago, supercidered said:

Wasn't our biggest 'official' crowd something like over 43,000 v PNE in the 50's?

It was the Preston game in the same 1934/35 cup run as the Portsmouth game. The 5th round. Though Preston is the ‘official’ record attendance, it is thought that Portsmouth may have been in excess of 50,000. 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Bouncearoundtheground

[Oh Louie louie]

Can recall, the first bit of graffiti, i saw around the back of the dolman.

Hull city tigers on tour.

Was there for years.