Cambridge away

[Van der MoodHoover]

On 30/09/2022 at 00:17, uttoxram75 said:

Cambridge United (Away)

The first time we ever played them was 16th August 1980 in League Division Two (The Championship in old money).

It was the first game of the season after relegation from Division One at the end of the previous season.

Thousands of Derby fans travelled to Cambridge, I think officially it was 3,000 but it seemed as if many more made the journey. Maybe not all of them got into the Abbey Stadium...

My personal journey and one of my most vivid memories went something like this.

7 of us left Uttoxeter at 7am in a Ford Anglia van driven by a bloke who was a builder and became my best man at my wedding three years later. By the time we were on the A50 going toward Sudbury the first cans and bottles were open, cigarettes (mostly Players No.6) were being smoked, and that was just the driver.

We got somewhere near Leicester and had to stop for petrol, the driver got dogs abuse because we'd paid up front whilst in the pub the night before. He protested that he had filled up but we didn't believe him. We had to stop again somewhere near Thrapston on the A14, this time we had a look and the petrol tank was leaking!

We stopped at a road side pub soon after that was full of Derby fans, we got our beers and sat outside with loads of others. We saw a large van in the car park and witnessed some lads lifting one of the beer garden bench tables into the van. These lads explained there was 15 of them and no seats in the back, seemed reasonable at the time. A couple of them tried to put the swing from the kids play area in as well but they were thwarted in their endeavours by the others.

As we drove away from the pub we passed a large gentleman riding one of those bikes with a shopping basket on the front through this quiet village waving a Derby scarf above his head singing "we'll be back in "81".

On arrival at Cambridge, the car park was a field next to the ground. People were saying the pubs were full or not letting Derby fans in so we settled down on the grass, luckily we had more beer than petrol, the sun was out so a couple went off to a shop for sandwiches and pasties while we enjoyed the atmosphere. 

The van we saw earlier turned up and the lads unloaded the pub table, complete with umbrella and the bloke on the bike, still singing "we'll be back in 81".

It was surreal but absolutely hilarious, the whole field was in great humour. As kick off time approached, people were packing up preparing to enter the ground when someone thought it would be good craic to open a gate adjacent to the field and let 30 odd cows stroll into the car park. Derby fans were laughing and trying to herd them onto the road, one lad even tried to lead one toward the ground but the cow was having none of it.

The police and stewards didn't know what to do, they were trying to control the cows while Derby fans were bunking into the stadium. Total chaos.

The away end was as full as an egg, spilling over onto the touchline at times, we lost 3-0, welcome to relegation.

We had a drink with a minibus full of Ilson lads somewhere on the way back, when we left the pub a couple of them were taking the one arm bandit apart for the cash while the rest were lined up at the bar shielding the activity. Bad lads from Ilson back then!

On the drive back we had to fill up the Anglia van twice more due to the petrol leak before arriving on the outskirts of Nottingham.

We all needed the toilet and a drink so we pulled into a place called, I think,  the Nottingham Knight. It was a hotel bar, quite posh for the time until us lot piled in, we sat in this lobby type space with our beers when someone noticed a glass display cabinet with photos of the gumps European Cup team in it. A Doc Marten went straight through the cabinet followed by outrage from the locals and no effs given by us. A bit of a brawl ensued in the car park before our battered, leaking, tired Anglia van somehow got us away and back home without us getting a good kicking or arrested.

 

I hope everyone going to Cambridge on Saturday has an equally memorable day out. ?

 

 

 

 

 

I assume that this is what we must all mean by the "good old days" when absolutely everything was better than now..... ?

[Mucker1884]

14 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

I’m in the Duke of Cambridge with a nice speckled hen.

Please tell me His Grace is ok with this, and you didn’t just sneak up on him from behind!  
This isn’t 1984!  ?

Edited October 1, 2022 by Mucker1884

[Foreveram]

14 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

Please tell me His Grace is ok with this, and you didn’t just sneak up on him from behind!  
This isn’t 1984!  ?

No it’s 2022 anything goes?

[popside ossie end popside]

1 hour ago, Foreveram said:

I’m in the Duke of Cambridge with a nice speckled hen.

Jealous!

 

[Premier ram]

not long arrived in Cambridge , currently in a pub called The Wrestlers , chatting to a few home fans , coming across as a cup final sort of game the way they are speaking

[S75 Ram]

3 pints in at Duke of Cambridge.

Full on Derby pub now 

 

[Gerry Daly]

27 minutes ago, Premier ram said:

not long arrived in Cambridge , currently in a pub called The Wrestlers , chatting to a few home fans , coming across as a cup final sort of game the way they are speaking

Thats the problem, we have to learn to overcome teams for whom this is their cup final 

[popside ossie end popside]

On 30/09/2022 at 00:17, uttoxram75 said:

Cambridge United (Away)

The first time we ever played them was 16th August 1980 in League Division Two (The Championship in old money).

It was the first game of the season after relegation from Division One at the end of the previous season.

Thousands of Derby fans travelled to Cambridge, I think officially it was 3,000 but it seemed as if many more made the journey. Maybe not all of them got into the Abbey Stadium...

My personal journey and one of my most vivid memories went something like this.

7 of us left Uttoxeter at 7am in a Ford Anglia van driven by a bloke who was a builder and became my best man at my wedding three years later. By the time we were on the A50 going toward Sudbury the first cans and bottles were open, cigarettes (mostly Players No.6) were being smoked, and that was just the driver.

We got somewhere near Leicester and had to stop for petrol, the driver got dogs abuse because we'd paid up front whilst in the pub the night before. He protested that he had filled up but we didn't believe him. We had to stop again somewhere near Thrapston on the A14, this time we had a look and the petrol tank was leaking!

We stopped at a road side pub soon after that was full of Derby fans, we got our beers and sat outside with loads of others. We saw a large van in the car park and witnessed some lads lifting one of the beer garden bench tables into the van. These lads explained there was 15 of them and no seats in the back, seemed reasonable at the time. A couple of them tried to put the swing from the kids play area in as well but they were thwarted in their endeavours by the others.

As we drove away from the pub we passed a large gentleman riding one of those bikes with a shopping basket on the front through this quiet village waving a Derby scarf above his head singing "we'll be back in "81".

On arrival at Cambridge, the car park was a field next to the ground. People were saying the pubs were full or not letting Derby fans in so we settled down on the grass, luckily we had more beer than petrol, the sun was out so a couple went off to a shop for sandwiches and pasties while we enjoyed the atmosphere. 

The van we saw earlier turned up and the lads unloaded the pub table, complete with umbrella and the bloke on the bike, still singing "we'll be back in 81".

It was surreal but absolutely hilarious, the whole field was in great humour. As kick off time approached, people were packing up preparing to enter the ground when someone thought it would be good craic to open a gate adjacent to the field and let 30 odd cows stroll into the car park. Derby fans were laughing and trying to herd them onto the road, one lad even tried to lead one toward the ground but the cow was having none of it.

The police and stewards didn't know what to do, they were trying to control the cows while Derby fans were bunking into the stadium. Total chaos.

The away end was as full as an egg, spilling over onto the touchline at times, we lost 3-0, welcome to relegation.

We had a drink with a minibus full of Ilson lads somewhere on the way back, when we left the pub a couple of them were taking the one arm bandit apart for the cash while the rest were lined up at the bar shielding the activity. Bad lads from Ilson back then!

On the drive back we had to fill up the Anglia van twice more due to the petrol leak before arriving on the outskirts of Nottingham.

We all needed the toilet and a drink so we pulled into a place called, I think,  the Nottingham Knight. It was a hotel bar, quite posh for the time until us lot piled in, we sat in this lobby type space with our beers when someone noticed a glass display cabinet with photos of the gumps European Cup team in it. A Doc Marten went straight through the cabinet followed by outrage from the locals and no effs given by us. A bit of a brawl ensued in the car park before our battered, leaking, tired Anglia van somehow got us away and back home without us getting a good kicking or arrested.

 

I hope everyone going to Cambridge on Saturday has an equally memorable day out. ?

 

 

 

 

 

Bit cramped in the old Anglia!!

We used to go in an old tranny mark1  again, a builder. All his crap still in it, mind you we didn't pass off as 'casuals' way us lot dressed. Usually straight from work to match, and some of the boozers on the way, we looked well dressed compared to the locals

 

[Van der MoodHoover]

34 minutes ago, popside ossie end popside said:

Bit cramped in the old Anglia!!

We used to go in an old tranny mark1  again, a builder. All his crap still in it, mind you we didn't pass off as 'casuals' way us lot dressed. Usually straight from work to match, and some of the boozers on the way, we looked well dressed compared to the locals

 

?

[Premier ram]

4 hours ago, Premier ram said:

not long arrived in Cambridge , currently in a pub called The Wrestlers , chatting to a few home fans , coming across as a cup final sort of game the way they are speaking

back in the boozer , proud of the lads , beers tasting so sweet after that performance GETTTTTTT  INNNNNNNNNN    COYR

[Gritstone Ram]

7 hours ago, Foreveram said:

I’m in the Duke of Cambridge with a nice speckled hen.

Another drink ruined by dropping the alcohol content.

[Phoenix]

4 hours ago, popside ossie end popside said:

Bit cramped in the old Anglia!!

We used to go in an old tranny mark1  again, a builder. All his crap still in it, mind you we didn't pass off as 'casuals' way us lot dressed. Usually straight from work to match, and some of the boozers on the way, we looked well dressed compared to the locals

 

Almost completely off topic but it put me in mine of the lads in the Buxton cycling club, back in the day. Their mode of transport was the local undertaker's hearse.

This was used for for transporting them to Sunday morning cycle races (usually in Cheshire) and to the Satuday night dancing in Macclesfield.

More than once, cyclists missed the next morning's race having "missed the hearse home" the night before.