36 Years Ago Today

My first game!

On the Mayflower!

Bobby Moore and Rodney Marsh(?) playing for Fulham (no Best though)

Happy Days!

Saturday, 27 Dec 1975 [36 years ago] Argyle 4 - 0 Fulham Div 2 24,054 Home Park
Division Two
Argyle 4 Fulham 0
Venue: Home Park
Team: Milija Aleksic, Peter Darke, Phil Burrows, Dave Sutton, Mike Green, John Delve, Colin Randell, Brian Johnson, Paul Mariner, Billy Rafferty, Hugh McAuley.
Goals: Colin Randell, Billy Rafferty (2), Brian Johnson

Thanks to GOS/SV

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I can't remember if I was there, but chances are as I was living at home, at school and my Dad was a true green.

Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

My first game!

On the Mayflower!

Bobby Moore and Rodney Marsh(?) playing for Fulham (no Best though)

Happy Days!

Saturday, 27 Dec 1975 [36 years ago] Argyle 4 - 0 Fulham Div 2 24,054 Home Park
Division Two
Argyle 4 Fulham 0
Venue: Home Park
Team: Milija Aleksic, Peter Darke, Phil Burrows, Dave Sutton, Mike Green, John Delve, Colin Randell, Brian Johnson, Paul Mariner, Billy Rafferty, Hugh McAuley.
Goals: Colin Randell, Billy Rafferty (2), Brian Johnson

Thanks to GOS/SV

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Remember that game very well,Bobby Moore was definitely playing,he was taken off at HT after Rafferty tore him to pieces,i don't think Bobby played after that season.Fulham had reached the cup final the year before,Alan Mullery may well have been playing in this game,he certainly played in the cup final.Decent crowd,Argyle were well up the attendance table in that season,which gives lie to the rubbish about how the clubs inadequate suppport has always been responsible for non achievement.That was a decent side Argyle had,which could have been very good if it was built on properly.Mariner,Rafferty and Aleksic all went on to the top level,people like Randell and Sutton were good second division players.But it wasn't built on,it was destroyed by contractual disputes and lack of ambition/finance at the top tier of the club,probably the two factors were inter related.Sad,very sad.

George played for Fulham down here the season after in front of an even bigger crowd.Past his pomp but him and Rodney were still very good value.

My first game was Brian Johnsons testimonial. I think it was 82, against Villa who had just won the European Cup. Was supposed to go on the train from Truro with a school mate, but he found out there was no train back after the game and didn't tell me. Cheers Tucker! Got all of the Villa players autographs and then made my way back to the station hooked and couldn't wait for the next game. Go to the station to find no train back to Truro so spent the night at the Police station as I was only 13. Had a cooked breakfast and a lift to the station in the morning and I was a fully fledged Argyle fan.

Great tale.

Blimey! You're a mere slip of a lad if that was your first game!

Oh yes i was in cobi's year at school

I remember Bobby Moore being subbed, he was taken to pieces as was everybody in those days by our two.... unplayable on their best form.
I certainly remember George Best playing for Fulham down here and thought it was the same game, sounds like it wasn't.
I remember George being in the Fulham Red and Black stripes ? With his tan and £100 hair cut he looked the part. But remember being disappointed by him as every time he got the ball he didn't skip past six players and slot it home. He just passed the ball every time he got it, going through the motions I guess.

There is something about seeing the world's all time greats playing against your own team. I think it's the effortless ease that they do everything with, quite undescribeable really, and a million miles away from the every week Argyle stuff ... apart from Mariner. I remember the great Liverpool team playing a friendly down here and Emlyn Hughes just stroking the ball anywhere at will ... a totally different sport.

penzancepirate wrote:

I remember Bobby Moore being subbed, he was taken to pieces as was everybody in those days by our two.... unplayable on their best form.
I certainly remember George Best playing for Fulham down here and thought it was the same game, sounds like it wasn't.
I remember George being in the Fulham Red and Black stripes ? With his tan and £100 hair cut he looked the part. But remember being disappointed by him as every time he got the ball he didn't skip past six players and slot it home. He just passed the ball every time he got it, going through the motions I guess.

There is something about seeing the world's all time greats playing against your own team. I think it's the effortless ease that they do everything with, quite undescribeable really, and a million miles away from the every week Argyle stuff ... apart from Mariner. I remember the great Liverpool team playing a friendly down here and Emlyn Hughes just stroking the ball anywhere at will ... a totally different sport.

I remember the Liverpool game,i think it was Johnny Hore's testimonial.The best team i've ever seen at HP was the Forest team which won promotion under Clough and then went to win the first division and European cup in successive seasons-John Robertson,Woodcock,O'Neill,Withe etc-just a class team and to think that they signed Shilton,Burns and Gemmill after that.Best individual player was Gullit in that friendly we played against Chelsea when Paterson broke his leg and Wise kicked him when he was on the deck-Ruud was head and shoulders above everyone else- Chelsea had some darn good players in the side,but he was just different class.

I agree there GS, best ever team performance at Home Park. The best team I have seen away from Home Park was the great Leeds team in the FA Cup... sublime silky football.

I remember that Forest game as if it were yesterday .... under floodlights ... Robertson and Woodcock just bamboozled us. We just couldn't get the ball off them, they really played to Clough's rule ... don't give the ball away, and they didn't... they were probably nearly good enough to win the First Division even then. I was hooked on the Forest dream after that and wished them well, classic football in the old sense.

Controversially enough, the closest I think I've seen to that sort of football at home Park, albeit at a far lower skill level, was the Brighton team when they thunped us 4 0 last season. It was obvious they had a very smart balanced team in the making. Only Noone came near to them that night and booked his transfer. I would love to play in that sort of team, I would love Argyle to have that sort of team... I'd be there every week.

I actually don't remember my first match at Home Park. I was probably around 10 and went with my dad who wasn't a Plymouth man. That was over 50 years ago and too much water has passed under the bridge since then. I do remember some from my childhood however like the great Jimmy Greaves in a cup match for Spurs. The best player I've seen at Home Park in my opinion was Paul Gasgoige. He played in a testimonial and played the fool and to the crowd a lot of the time. A lot will remember that game also. When he decided to do something properly he was so far above the rest of the players on the park it was surreal. The crowd gave him loving stick all match and he responded. Most of the old greats who have played down here in the past have been in their swansong years and a little past their best. To say you have seen them live though is often enough even if it wasn't their greatest moment.

One of the first games that i can remember really clearly was a game against Saints in 1966,when they beat Argyle 3-2 and went a long way to getting promotion to the first division, Ted Bates was chaired around the pitch by their fans after the game.What really struck me though,even at my very young age,was the performance of Jimmy Melia,a slight, bald headed lttle chap,who later managed Brighton to the FA cup final.Never seemed to waste a ball,always in space,always had time and essentially controlled the midfield area.He was past his best too,i recall Johnny Hore saying that he was the best player he ever played against and he dreaded to think how good he was when he played for Liverpool at his peak.Some player.

penzancepirate wrote:

.....The best team I have seen away from Home Park was the great Leeds team in the FA Cup... sublime silky football.

.......

Was that the game refereed by Roger Kirkpatrick (or some similar name) around 1975? Short fat ref who was more of a showman than a proper ref. He ran twenty yards putting his hand to his pocket as if to book one of ours for a dodgy tackle. When he got there he pulled his handkerchief out and blew his nose. Made his point with humour. You don't get them like that any more......

It was indeed FM....73 I think. Rickard scored for us.
And guess what. A mutual friend of ours we have discussed before hitched a lift back to Leicester University after the game.
He and another friend were picked up and the driver asked them what they thought of the referee. After the not too complementary answer, the driver introduced himself as, guess who ..... Roger Kirkpatrick They don't make referees like that anymore. An ego big enough to join our erstwhile contingency planners in some mutually erected hall of fame.

Greenskin wrote:

Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

My first game!

On the Mayflower!

Bobby Moore and Rodney Marsh(?) playing for Fulham (no Best though)

Happy Days!

Saturday, 27 Dec 1975 [36 years ago] Argyle 4 - 0 Fulham Div 2 24,054 Home Park
Division Two
Argyle 4 Fulham 0
Venue: Home Park
Team: Milija Aleksic, Peter Darke, Phil Burrows, Dave Sutton, Mike Green, John Delve, Colin Randell, Brian Johnson, Paul Mariner, Billy Rafferty, Hugh McAuley.
Goals: Colin Randell, Billy Rafferty (2), Brian Johnson

Thanks to GOS/SV

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Remember that game very well,Bobby Moore was definitely playing,he was taken off at HT after Rafferty tore him to pieces,i don't think Bobby played after that season.Fulham had reached the cup final the year before,Alan Mullery may well have been playing in this game,he certainly played in the cup final.Decent crowd,Argyle were well up the attendance table in that season,which gives lie to the rubbish about how the clubs inadequate suppport has always been responsible for non achievement.That was a decent side Argyle had,which could have been very good if it was built on properly.Mariner,Rafferty and Aleksic all went on to the top level,people like Randell and Sutton were good second division players.But it wasn't built on,it was destroyed by contractual disputes and lack of ambition/finance at the top tier of the club,probably the two factors were inter related.Sad,very sad.

George played for Fulham down here the season after in front of an even bigger crowd.Past his pomp but him and Rodney were still very good value.

I too remember the sad sight of Bobby Moore being made to look a poor player that day.

I'm a bit confused, nothing unusual there!

I remember Best playing for Fulham in our 4-0 win over them, along with Moore etc. It was 4-0 at half time and Fulham were in their white with a bit of black strip?

That Forest side were by far the best I have ever seen at HP, they were just awesome and it was a pleasure to lose to such an entertaining team that were verging on Forest's most successful era.

GOB wrote:

I'm a bit confused, nothing unusual there!

I remember Best playing for Fulham in our 4-0 win over them, along with Moore etc. It was 4-0 at half time and Fulham were in their white with a bit of black strip?

That Forest side were by far the best I have ever seen at HP, they were just awesome and it was a pleasure to lose to such an entertaining team that were verging on Forest's most successful era.

Nah,George didn't play in the first game,GOB,it was Moore and Mullery-George and Rodney played in the game the season after,by which time Mooro and Mullers had retired.

What an anorak eh,so delightfully aviva!

Was it an evening match GS?

My first memorable games were pre-season friendlies in the mid 90s...remember seeing Gazza, Gullit, Di Canio...classy players. As for good teams relative to where we've been, that Crewe team with Ashton, Hulse, Brammer and Lunt which embarrassed Sturrock's side at Home Park stand out for me.

Yes, in latter years Crewe did stand out somewhat with that team, as did Wigan with Roberts and Ellington, and the Gabidon/Earnshaw Cardiff team. But somehow they just seemed to have good strikers, the icing on the cake bit, like our Mariner and Raffery team. For me they didn't stand out as great teams. that doesn't happen very often. Even when that gonk (Speed ?) scored a hatrick against us sending us down and them up to the top league, I still wasn't that impressed with Blackburn as a team.

penzancepirate wrote:

Yes, in latter years Crewe did stand out somewhat with that team, as did Wigan with Roberts and Ellington, and the Gabidon/Earnshaw Cardiff team. But somehow they just seemed to have good strikers, the icing on the cake bit, like our Mariner and Raffery team. For me they didn't stand out as great teams. that doesn't happen very often. Even when that gonk (Speed ?) scored a hatrick against us sending us down and them up to the top league, I still wasn't that impressed with Blackburn as a team.

David Speedie. Little fiery Jock who loved winding up defenders.

GOB wrote:

Was it an evening match GS?

Sackcloth and ashes GOB! I've just looked up the match details.Bobby did play in both the matches at HP,i thought he'd retired after the season where we beat 'em 4-0 but he didn't.It was right about George though,he only played in the second game,not the 4-0.I'm pretty sure the matches were both in the afternoon,the 4-0 was a christmas game.Actually,old Bobby didn't have a great time at HP playing against Argyle-he played in the game when Argyle stuffed West Ham 3-0 in the FA cup-before my time that one though,1962-Geoff Hurst played as well.

Greenskin wrote:

GOB wrote:

Was it an evening match GS?

Sackcloth and ashes GOB! I've just looked up the match details.Bobby did play in both the matches at HP,i thought he'd retired after the season where we beat 'em 4-0 but he didn't.It was right about George though,he only played in the second game,not the 4-0.I'm pretty sure the matches were both in the afternoon,the 4-0 was a christmas game.Actually,old Bobby didn't have a great time at HP playing against Argyle-he played in the game when Argyle stuffed West Ham 3-0 in the FA cup-before my time that one though,1962-Geoff Hurst played as well.

Those were the days. I used to grip the railings at the BP End and remember the comprehensive 3 - 0 cup victory over the Hammers well, followed by the 5 - 1 hammering by the great Spurs double winning side. Peter Anderson scored our consolation at my end.
I was a praaaaper fan in them there days

Because we could not get seats for the Spurs game, Dad and I became season ticket holders from then untill his death in 1984. He used to come down from South Molton for every game.