Newport [A] 31 Jan. 1982: it was billed as possibly City's last ever game .....

[headhunter]

... that it wasn't was due to the sacrifice made by the AG8 less than a week later

If you're driving to Preston today imagine how you would feel if there was a possibility that due to impending financial ruin this had the potential to be City's last ever game. I and a few hundred others had less time to think about it on a relatively short trip across the Severn Bridge but it was a frightening and saddening prospect.

Stood on the gravel [no terracing] behind that goal it was pretty grim and felt worse when City fell behind early on but hope came with a Mick Harford equaliser within a couple of minutes and that was it a 1-1 draw. We drove back across the bridge fearing the worst - the joy of promotion to the top flight barely 6 years previously seemed a distant memory and there was every chance there were no more to be had.

Still have the programme. Jan Moller saves from a Newport player as Sweeney watches on in the home fixture from September which City won 2-1, a brace from Jimmy Mann.

[Oh Louie louie]

Im sure i read by some irony, the day they went bust, our reserves had to play them?

[weepywall]

Was there that day, strange day to say the least.

[Aberdeen Pete's Dad]

Flew from Australia for that game. My Dad picked me up from Heathrow and took me straight to Somerton Park

[ashton_fan]

It was all a bit unreal how quickly things went downhill. I still blame the Board for the financial mismanagement after a coup in which Robert Hobbs (the Chairman) was overthrown after overseeing our successful seasons in Div 1. The new board got us relegated and then to make things worse sacking Alan Dicks due to a poor start in Div 2, if we'd kept him I think he could have turned things around. By the time we got to the Newport match we were at rock bottom and the board managed to focus on the AG8 as the issue to obscure their own failings.

[A Horse With No Name]

Can you remember whether Harfords goal was a  shot or a header. I remember a towering header but other posters seem to think it was a shot.

[BTRFTG]

9 minutes ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Can you remember whether Harfords goal was a  shot or a header. I remember a towering header but other posters seem to think it was a shot.

Nicked header from a corner, I recall.

[Merrick's Marvels]

8 minutes ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Can you remember whether Harfords goal was a  shot or a header. I remember a towering header but other posters seem to think it was a shot.

Header from a Jimmy Mann corner. 

[22A]

I remember City's equaliser being shown on the national news; and commentators asked "Will this be Bristol City's last goal?" It was also reported that hordes of programme collectors turned up just to buy that programme.

[Gimme Shelton]

I was there,it all seemed a bit unreal. I was much more emotional the following week when we came out against Fulham having survived.

Strangely of the young players who started that day the worst  was Rob Newman!

[slartibartfast]

I was there, I'll just say, not one of my finest hours...........and leave it there !

[ralphindevon]

8 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

I was there, I'll just say, not one of my finest hours...........and leave it there !

Wasn’t it Somerton Park that had handcuffs chained to the stand outside and that’s where you’d end up if you misbehaved?

Im not suggesting you got to try them out………

[ralphindevon]

31 minutes ago, Gimme Shelton said:

I was there,it all seemed a bit unreal. I was much more emotional the following week when we came out against Fulham having survived.

Strangely of the young players who started that day the worst  was Rob Newman!

Yes it’s difficult to describe what the Fulham game was like, I think you had to be there.

A crowd of 10,000, if I remember rightly, doesn’t sound much but was bigger than we were getting, unbelievable considering we were top flight less than 2 years before.

However, that 10,000 was much louder than a lot of the 20,000 crowds we get now. A fine example of the crowd being the 12th man as our young side held Fulham 0-0

[Alan Dicks]

I was at Newport that day.

I remember we sang “we’ll survive we’ll survive” all through the match.

The win at Arsenal and Man Utd, the win at home to Liverpool, the draw at Cov and the Pompey celebrations seemed a distant memory that day.

Why oh why has this club always been so poorly run?

Edited January 29, 2022 by Alan Dicks

[22A]

8 minutes ago, Alan Dicks said:

Why oh why has this club always been so poorly run?

At the risk of being branded a heretic, 78-79 City had finished mid table in Div 1, Then those players who had performed so well tailed off leading to those successive relegations.

Those players had been given long contracts to prevent them being snapped up by larger clubs.

It's also been said that at the end of 76-77, the Board should have thanked Alan Dicks for getting us up and staying there that first year, but should then have paid him off and sought a more experienced manager to progress with.

[red ponty]

Was the 30th of Jan, remember it well, as it was the same day Swansea played Man utd.  A load of Man utd  got on at severn  tunnel junction, got a shock when they walked into our carriage !!  They soon went very quiet, then when we got off at Newport, Cardiff were waiting in the Carpenters arms opp station.  too say hello, a very eventful day all around....

[Ska Junkie]

I was 'ill' so stayed off school to go to Somerton  with my dad. I had all the 'support Bristol city now or never' stuff.

First person I walked into was my PE teacher, Frank Woodman, never forget his words ' good lad, I haven't seen you'.

Dark, dark times and the only game I've ever been to where the actual game didn't matter, dad and me just had to be there.

[slartibartfast]

2 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

Wasn’t it Somerton Park that had handcuffs chained to the stand outside and that’s where you’d end up if you misbehaved?

Im not suggesting you got to try them out………

I was very tired and emotional !

[slartibartfast]

46 minutes ago, red ponty said:

Was the 30th of Jan, remember it well, as it was the same day Swansea played Man utd.  A load of Man utd  got on at severn  tunnel junction, got a shock when they walked into our carriage !!  They soon went very quiet, then when we got off at Newport, Cardiff were waiting in the Carpenters arms opp station.  too say hello, a very eventful day all around....

Yes, I know ,we er...bumped into them !

[sugarwray]

5 hours ago, ashton_fan said:

It was all a bit unreal how quickly things went downhill. I still blame the Board for the financial mismanagement after a coup in which Robert Hobbs (the Chairman) was overthrown after overseeing our successful seasons in Div 1. The new board got us relegated and then to make things worse sacking Alan Dicks due to a poor start in Div 2, if we'd kept him I think he could have turned things around. By the time we got to the Newport match we were at rock bottom and the board managed to focus on the AG8 as the issue to obscure their own failings.

Rock bottom was probably away at Rochdale in December 82. 0-1 defeat after a late, late goal saw us rooted in 92nd just three years after being in the running for a place in Europe. Things could only get better.

[ralphindevon]

4 minutes ago, sugarwray said:

Rock bottom was probably away at Rochdale in December 82. 0-1 defeat after a late, late goal saw us rooted in 92nd just three years after being in the running for a place in Europe. Things could only get better.

The 7-1 defeat at Northampton felt about as low as things could get.

But, all this made the promotion at Chester, the cup win at Eastville and our first Wembley appearance all the more sweet.

[1960maaan]

My memories of Newport away blend into one, seemed to be there a lot in the early 80's.

I think the "Last" game was the one where we ended picking up a couple of mates as we got over there. We managed to miss a mass brawl where a few mates had been arrested. The option by the Police was move along, towards a mob of Newport, or get arrested. They tried to explain this , and duels got arrested. All I remember about the game is, shit view and Harford's header. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Abc]

Such a shame it wasn't 

[ashton_fan]

6 hours ago, sugarwray said:

Rock bottom was probably away at Rochdale in December 82. 0-1 defeat after a late, late goal saw us rooted in 92nd just three years after being in the running for a place in Europe. Things could only get better.

Perhaps from the playing point of view but by that stage the club wasn't in danger of going under, that was the worst thing when we played Newport the fact that it could be the last game

[basshead]

6 hours ago, sugarwray said:

Rock bottom was probably away at Rochdale in December 82. 0-1 defeat after a late, late goal saw us rooted in 92nd just three years after being in the running for a place in Europe. Things could only get better.

Was at both of these.people moan now but that was hard.

[BTRFTG]

Thank Christ for Terry Cooper.....

[Bristol Oil Services]

11 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Can you remember whether Harfords goal was a  shot or a header. I remember a towering header but other posters seem to think it was a shot.

We were defending a Newport corner. Mick rose at the near post and headed the ball away and it flew the length of the pitch and into the top corner, past a despairing Neville Southall, as @GrahamC will confirm.

[Mr Chappers]

I remember it well, going to a match knowing it may be the last City game ever. Thankfully not, and after a bumpy start, a win at Hereford was the start of the revival.

Lowest for me was a dull 0-0 draw at Chester on a Tuesday night, the only team worse than us in Div 3 (That was some achievement), and a crowd of about 1,000.

Then a few years later, not only watching City at Wembley, but watching City win with some style.

[sugarwray]

13 hours ago, basshead said:

Was at both of these.people moan now but that was hard.

Was at Rochdale. There were around 40? fans in the away end including three of my friends who were Liverpool regulars. They still remember the unique “there’s only one Forbes Phillipson-Masters chant” when he got booked.