Good read that, Griff. Very honest. Very honest indeed.
Bolton? :shock: “Blllloooodddyyy Hhheeellll!!!!”
No, it was very honest of you to admit that. I spotted many similarities between you and myself there. Notably getting picked for your school team whilst a couple of years younger than the norm, and also family life putting football commitments on the backfoot. It’s like this season. Wolves away. I was thinking of doing that one. But it’s on Boxing day. Molyneux, or spend the day with my boys? No contest really. Most away games have the same appeal these days. I wouldn’t have it any other way. They are only young once.
Well, here’s my Latics story then…..(taken from a piece written for another forum the other day)
“May 3rd 1986. This was the day my life changed forever. Until this date, I had been a football mad youngster, in a football mad town, Skelmersdale, religiously getting football weekly’s ‘Match’ and ‘Shoot’, and collecting the Panini football stickers. I lived for the game, and would play near enough every day. By this particular May day, I was 9 and half years of age. A very influential age for any child. I longed to go to a ‘proper football match’, as watching a few games at Skem United in the North West Counties, didn’t really cut the mustard. But remember, this was 1986. The crowd disasters of the following year, with the Valley Parade fire, and the Huysel Tragedy were still fresh in mind, as were the levels of football hooliganism that were being reported. It wasn’t like today, and a ‘family sport’. It was gritty. But I pestered and pestered to go to a ‘real’ game. So after much badgering of my dad, who was Shevington born and bred, he said he’d take me to a game at Wigan Athletic.
I knew nothing then of Wigan Athletic. It was just the most local team to us. I had no relatives who were fans, though my dad said he went to ‘2 or 3 games’ in the 70’s. I’d never noticed them featured in the magazines I perused weekly, nor did I know of any of the players. It was a blank canvass. But when my dad said, “they are playing Wolves”, it meant something to me. I knew a few bits about Wolves, as I had seen them in my Panini sticker albums. Their badge stuck out, with the ‘Wolf’s head’ on it. I knew they played at a ground called ‘Molyneux’. I also didn’t know it for sure at the time, but got the feeling that they had enjoyed better days than they were currently experiencing. Another bizarre piece to this story, is that apparently my first ever football kit was a Wolves one. Why? No idea. No family links, no long lost uncle living in Bilston, or anything like that. Again, it was probably the badge that caught my eye.
I’d be telling lies if I said I remember that first ever game at Latics with any great clarity. I remember walking out into the Phoenix stand, and thinking Springfield Park was the best thing since sliced bread. “Wow! It’s like Wembley!’ I think I said, comparing it with the TV images of Wembley that I had seen. It’s a shame that I can’t remember much else, nothing at all about walking up to the ground, the sights, the smells, and all that kind of thing. I can vaguely envisage the players on the pitch, and the away support. But it is very blurred. It’s a pity, as it was a humdinger of a game, with it finishing 5-3 to Latics. I believe it was Warren Aspinall’s last game for Latics, and he scored a hat-trick. As the season finished, Latics were pipped to the third promotion place, and Wolves were relegated to the bottom tier for the first time in their history. It was a really bad year for them, with them coming a whisker away from being wound up. Latics? Well, Bryan Hamilton left the club and went to Leicester, and the bulk of the team also departed. By the following season, the likes of Colin Methven, Tony Kelly, Graham Barrow, Kevin Langley, Warren Aspinall, etc had departed for pastures new. Criminal when you think about it now. So it was virtually a new team that greeted us, when we returned the following season, having been ‘bitten by the bug’ that day against Wolves. The stick I got off people at school…armchair scousers, never been near Goodison or Anfield. Only ones who never gave me stick were my 2 best mates. One Everton, one Liverpool. Both actual match going fans. I think that says it all.
1987 was the highs of the cup run. ’88 was the first play off disappointment. ’89-’93 was a period of decline, with a relegation. ’94-’95 was a real low ebb- we came so close to going out of the league. Then Whelan took over, and things started to pick up. From 1996 onwards, we’ve really been spoiled. Ok, we’ve had some play off disappointments and some bad seasons in between, but generally it really has been onwards and upwards.”
