SHA Small Heath Alliance

32 mins in

Grey save from Benno at 37:00 ish

The attendance figures from those days always raises my eyebrow.

The season prior to this we lost 2-3 to Kevin Keegan's Newcastle, the official figure was given as 14,376 but Newcastle brought loads and the Kop and Tilton seemed rammed to me making me think it was well over 20k.

Yeah lots of attendances back in the day were under the exact crown to save on tax. Even in the 90’s the games v Albion and Stoke were given as 28k with 7/8k away fans. The Kop alone and our bit of Tilton must’ve held 20k plus easily. Especially when you consider the Kop and Tilton hold 17k now seated. The old Kop was monstrous

Yeah lots of attendances back in the day were under the exact crown to save on tax. Even in the 90’s the games v Albion and Stoke were given as 28k with 7/8k away fans. The Kop alone and our bit of Tilton must’ve held 20k plus easily. Especially when you consider the Kop and Tilton hold 17k now seated. The old Kop was monstrous

That Xmas game in 1982 against Villa at St Andrews when we won 3-0 i defy anyone to tell me where you could have got a single extra person in. I couldn't even get my hands to my coat pockets it was such a case of sardines
Official attendance was 43,864 .... but it was definitely more like 52,000 or more ... definitely more packed than when we got about 51,000 against Man Utd in 73

At peak capacity the Tilton and Kop could hold in the high 50,000s...
Though I'm not sure how safe that was and I think it involved people on the pitch surround.
The 67,000 in 1939 was with the Railway end as an open terrace plus I believe there were small terraces at the front of the Main Stand (the one that burnt down in WW2). It was no bigger than the current Main stand. Even rammed those two stands couldn't have held much more than 10,000.
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In the 1960s and 70s we had (a few) crowds of at least 53,000 which would be 45,000 on the Kop and Tilton. But that was before dividers were put in.

The capacity was gradually limited in the 1970s and 80s. The Safety At Sports Grounds Act (1975) introduced minimum space for people to stand in and this was repeatedly increased.
After Hillsborough our capacity was capped at below 30,000.

The biggest crowd I remember was just over 40,000 v Watford. If you look at that there were very few Watford fans there so there were 30,000 or so on the Kop and the first section of the Tilton. About the same as when we had 43,000 v AVFC (I wasn't at that game) I remember Watford being full, but for some reason there seemed more of a squeeze at the Forest game in 1988 with 34,000. Maybe I just don't remember how tight it was v Watford that well.

Keith Hackett, what a fanny.

There was a LOT more than 43k in the ground on that Boxing Day game.

There was a LOT more than 43k in the ground on that Boxing Day game.

Do you know ... it wasn't actually Boxing Day ? ... even though we ALL refer to it as the Boxing Day game

... it was the 27th Dec

But yes, as i posted above, .... way over 52,000 using the Man Utd home game in '73 as a measure

Rags

Yeah lots of attendances back in the day were under the exact crown to save on tax. Even in the 90’s the games v Albion and Stoke were given as 28k with 7/8k away fans. The Kop alone and our bit of Tilton must’ve held 20k plus easily. Especially when you consider the Kop and Tilton hold 17k now seated. The old Kop was monstrous

That Xmas game in 1982 against Villa at St Andrews when we won 3-0 i defy anyone to tell me where you could have got a single extra person in. I couldn't even get my hands to my coat pockets it was such a case of sardines
Official attendance was 43,864 .... but it was definitely more like 52,000 or more

Yeah, I have always been convinced that villa game was over 50000.

Railway End was rammed, Main Stand and Paddock chocka. Tilton end full of their lot. The whole Kop from corner to corner was packed like sardines in a tin.

My feet didn't touch the ground for a lot of that game and being swept up and down The Kop in the sway when we scored was as frightening as it was thrilling.

I know there were gates like that in the early seventies but I was too young to remember that. My dad used to take me in the Railway End back then as he reckoned it was a bit safer.

The story back then was that there were a couple of turnstiles in each end that were locked open and the taxman didn't need to know about.

There again - the turnstile operators used to pocket a few quid as well...possibly.

Dads lifting their kids - including me - over the turnstile and giving the turnstile operator a tip was commonplace. Allegedly.

Bags of cash were carried round from the turnstiles - so who knows what those gates really were in those days?

Fecking icy

Difficult to know how many. Between the turnstile operators on the take and the club allegedly underdeclaring I'd guess there could have been 50,000 there.
I wasn't there. Unhappily forced to go to relatives.

When Sullivan sacked the turnstile operators I think we were losing up to 1,000 fans a game from the gate.

number8

Keith Hackett, what a fanny.

Always makes me smile when I see Keith Hackett opining on modern refereeing.

The standard isn't good - but Hackett was shite in his own day.

He wants to be glad there wasn't the wall-to-wall TV coverage and VAR when he reffed, he's have been a comedy act and even Dermot Gallagher wouldn't have been able to defend him.

Spike

number8

Keith Hackett, what a fanny.

Always makes me smile when I see Keith Hackett opining on modern refereeing.

The standard isn't good - but Hackett was shite in his own day.

He wants to be glad there wasn't the wall-to-wall TV coverage and VAR when he reffed, he's have been a comedy act and even Dermot Gallagher wouldn't have been able to defend him.

He bastard would and you know it

Rags

Yeah lots of attendances back in the day were under the exact crown to save on tax. Even in the 90’s the games v Albion and Stoke were given as 28k with 7/8k away fans. The Kop alone and our bit of Tilton must’ve held 20k plus easily. Especially when you consider the Kop and Tilton hold 17k now seated. The old Kop was monstrous

That Xmas game in 1982 against Villa at St Andrews when we won 3-0 i defy anyone to tell me where you could have got a single extra person in. I couldn't even get my hands to my coat pockets it was such a case of sardines
Official attendance was 43,864 .... but it was definitely more like 52,000 or more

Yeah, I have always been convinced that villa game was over 50000.

Railway End was rammed, Main Stand and Paddock chocka. Tilton end full of their lot. The whole Kop from corner to corner was packed like sardines in a tin.

My feet didn't touch the ground for a lot of that game and being swept up and down The Kop in the sway when we scored was as frightening as it was thrilling.

I know there were gates like that in the early seventies but I was too young to remember that. My dad used to take me in the Railway End back then as he reckoned it was a bit safer.

The story back then was that there were a couple of turnstiles in each end that were locked open and the taxman didn't need to know about.

There again - the turnstile operators used to pocket a few quid as well...possibly.

Dads lifting their kids - including me - over the turnstile and giving the turnstile operator a tip was commonplace. Allegedly.

Bags of cash were carried round from the turnstiles - so who knows what those gates really were in those days?

That Blues v Villa game in '82 was absolutely primed to be packed to the rafters.

Xmas Day was on the Saturday
Boxing Day was the Sunday and in those days very very little was open and there wasn't much to do apart from meeting your mates at the pub.
Monday 27th was the match
Absolutely everyone i knew was there, be they Blues, or just impartial etc .. there was literally feck all else to do