Today’s trip down memory (Cold Blow) Lane takes us to Millwall FC, an essential stop on any visiting American’s tour of Bucolic Britain.
My only trip to the New Den came on a damp Wednesday night in April 1995 that Mrs RM still hasn’t forgiven me for, as I dragged her to a meaningless 0-0 draw with a doomed Notts County*.
Despite the almost poetic nature of that fixture, it was two hours of “F*****g” and “C*****g” , and that was just the old ladies. Authentic South East London.
My programme comes from a quarter of a century earlier, when 500 authentic Mackems would have filled the away end at the Old Den for a more meaningful Division 2 1-1 draw.
A cosmopolitan team sheet for you from 50 years ago.
Not that you’d know it was 1971, or even that they were playing Sunderland, so minimal is that cover.
Minimal inside, too. Just that one advert, for crafty Courage.
Presumably the murk merchants on the Bermondsey mile are Dulwich Hamlet fans.
The highlight is the column from football legend Des O’Connor.
Football expert Des ? No, me neither.
A quick google reveals this.
And of course Des sang the 2004 Millwall FA Cup Final song “Oi, leave those sheep alone“.
Next I’ll find that Des runs a craft beer pub in Peckham. After all, everyone else does.
Not many GBG action for away fans.
If you’re only going to have one pub near you on the GBG app, make sure it’s the Peckham Beer Rebellion.
I actually drove Matt down to Cold Blow Lane in 2018 for his gig at the New Cross, luckily not when the ‘Wall were at home.
The New Cross Inn is the home of death metal for a tenner, says Matt. He couldn’t remember the beers but then he was only 17.
If you’ve come this far, pop in the Royal Albert for your Antics.
Or give me some pre-emptive tick advice from near the away end at the Den.
*Yes, the same doomed Notts County I saw three weeks later at Port Vale.
The late great Ian Porterfield went on to manage the Armenian national team. He died while doing so. Hard to forget Tueart’s goal…
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Have you been reading up, Dave 😉
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I want to be your color commentator. I heard the position is open. Funny to see what these guys went on to later in their lives.
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Do you mean “colour commentator”, as in someone who comments on BRAPA fashion choices?
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Some vintage names in that programme apart from Des’ alarmingly detailed column. Harry Cripps was a Millwall legend. I saw Ritchie Pitt play for England Schools v Scotland at Wembley in 1967 in front of 85,000. He scored an own goal in a fine 2/0 win. Eamonn Dunphy had a promotion season at Reading at the very end of his career: Only a Game remains one of the best books on football. Loving these football posts. Who needs pubs?
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Me.
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It was always a ‘well known’ fact that Des had once been on the books of Northampton Town. He was certainly a good footballer in his day, and in the 1960s had often played for the Showbiz XI in their then regular charity games.
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Also ‘well known’ is that the Showbiz XI struggled to find a solid back four with only one position on the teamsheet guaranteed. Hence One Two Three O’Leary…..
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I knew I’d wrote about Des and football before. https://retiredmartin.com/2018/05/21/annoying-the-black-prince-with-firestarter/
Incidentally, you can see Des in this classic photo (at back). Honest.
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/sport-football-northampton-towns-samuel-heaselgrave-and-patrick-at-picture-id78971325?s=612×612
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“West Ham’s Bryan Robson” is now of course known as Pop Robson, to distinguish him from his fellow North East footballer who became a midfield star for West Brom, Manchester United and England. The younger Bryan was a Newcastle fan as a boy so would have watched his older namesake in the late sixties, and Pop was a coach at Manchester United in the early to mid nineties when Bryan was coming to the end of his career at Old Trafford.
I wonder if Des actually wrote that, or did Millwall bring in a ghost writer to pen the old East End crooner’s column for him?
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I reckon Des wrote that, you know.
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