[FOOTBALL] Matches You've Been To

[Lee]

First, best and worst. Off the back of the weekend football thread.

First

I'm not going to pick my actual first game as I can't really remember what it was and I didn't care about football anyway. So I'll go for Leicester 2-0 Middlesbrough, March 1994. We were challenging for promotion under Brian Little and Middlesbrough were a midtable side having been relegated the previous season. I think we ended up in the top two after the game but I'd have to check. We didn't finish there anyway; we ended up 4th and beat Derby in the play off final to go up. Speedie and Joachim were the scorers in the Boro game and they were my first heroes, really.

Best

There are a few contenders, with us beating Sunderland 5-2 in March 2000 and Man Utd 5-3 last season being right up there, but the big one will always be Leicester 2-1 Crystal Palace in the 1996 play off final. I was probably in my peak being into football phase (those years when football is the biggest thing in your life are so good) and the whole thing was a dream come true. Lovely warm day, first time at Wembley, winning goal with almost the last kick of the game to take us up. I couldn't have written it better. We went a goal down befor Garry Parker equalised from the spot. We dominated the game but for a long time it didn't look like happening.

This has become cliché among Leicester fans but I was in the second row from the front and Steve Claridge's winner in the 120th minute (Zeljko Kalac had already replaced Kevin Poole in goal, anticipating penalties) really did appear to float in slow motion towards the corner of the net. I even got to shake ghr chairman's hand after the match - in the days when your chairman was a local businessman. Perfect day, and one which heralded an era of cup wins, Europe and top ten finishes. Even if we do something miraculous this season those days will never be beaten; I'll never care as much as I did back then.

Worst

I've seen a few shitters in my time. Drawing at home to Colchester in 2008 and accepting at that point we'd be heading to League One for the first time. Being dumped out of the League Cup by what was lower league opposition several times, versus Brighton (94/95), Burton (12/13) and Shrewsbury (14/15) off the top of my head. But nothing will come close to the utter dejection I felt after being beaten at home against Wycombe (1-2 March 2001)in the FA Cup 6th round in 2001. We were proper shit. We went into the game 6th in the Premier League and a victory would have earned us a semi final (for the first time since 1982) against Liverpool, with who we were level on points in the league and we had beaten 2-0 in our league game just a week prior.

Wycombe were a midtable third tier side who were so short of strikers they had to advertise for one on Teletext, finding Roy Essandoh. The bastard scored the winner in Wycombe the 90th minute, Lawrie Sanchez celebrated in the away changing room in front of Match of Day cameras, I sat gutted in an almost empty Filbert Street kop for what seemed like an age after the game, and we went on to lose eight consecutive league games and nine of our last ten, finishing 13th. Then were relegated bottom of the league the following season. If the Palace play off final win was symbolic of the start of O'Neill's successful tenure, and the 5-2 win over Sunderland represented the peak, then this one was the start of the decline which took in administration and relegation to the third tier in 2008.

[Jimmy Floyd]

First
Wimbledon 0, Aston Villa 0. 1998/99. It was the season Villa had been top at Christmas or something equally daft, whilst Wimbledon were in the dying days of their Premier League stay but retained players like Gayle, Earle, Ekoku and Euell. It was an absolutely terrible match and the only thing I remember was Dion Dublin nearly lobbing Neil Sullivan. My first Chelsea game was against Bradford in the following season.

Last
Chelsea 1, Sparta Prague 1, in the Europa League, under Sir Rafa Benitez. We were 1-0 up following a typically dour Benitez win in Prague, and coming back to the Bridge I expected a waltz to victory but this being Sir Rafa, no such thing occurred. David Lafata nudged the visitors ahead early on and Chelsea were awful, exemplified by the hateful Fernando Torres, but a magnificent stoppage time goal from Eden Hazard saved us and we went on to win the competition.

Best
It's hard to name a best game, I've had an odd football watching career in that as a kid I could only afford things like cup games and the lower category league games, so I saw an awful lot of 5-0 humpings, which were terrific but you couldn't call them great games. I suppose one of the better ones would have been:

Chelsea 2, Lazio 1, 2003/04. Lazio took the lead through I think someone like Simone Inzaghi quite early in the piece, but Lampard blatted one in off the bar and then I think Adrian Mutu sort of placed one in the far corner for the winner. The quality of the game was pretty high and at that time, Italian sides still had the last of their 90s mystique even though Lazio weren't actually that great. This was our first season back in the Champions League (second overall) so there was definitely still a thrill about hearing the theme tune at Stamford Bridge as well.

[John Arne]

First
Witton Albion ?-? Some Other Non-League Shite, 1993ish. I just messed around in the club bar with my mate.

Last
Liverpool 1-1 Sion, 2015. Just before I came back home I was in Liverpool and managed to get a ticket for the match - it was fucking awful. Crap football, crap atmosphere, and it was all Brendan Rodgers' fault.

Best
Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan, 2005, Istanbul. Pretty decent game, by all accounts. We (Liverpool) had about 80/20 in terms of crowd numbers - very decent atmosphere. Stadium is a nice little stadium, however it was a bitch to get to... literally one road from the centre of Istanbul to the ground.
We eventually won on penalties.

[wullie]

First

Coventry 3-0 Charlton, 17 Sep 1988 (http://www.soccerbase.com/matches/results.sd?date=1988-09-17)
We got in a few mins late purposely so I wouldn't get scared by the crowd and a Charlton player had got away with a handball on the line as everyone was chanting 'cheat cheat cheat'

Best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qSPUCrlb_Q

Worst
There was a game against Bristol City that almost bordered on farce where we had a player sent off and then proceeded to gift them goals more comical than the last, but I think the 2011/12 late season game against Doncaster. Both of us had been relegated, nobody wanted to be there. It was 0-0 and nobody gave a shit until Richard Keogh got himself sent off with 10 mins left and they proceeded to score twice to win it. Still nobody really cared.

[Giggles]

First - Bray Wanderers v Trabzonspor in the 1990 Cup Winners Cup.

Last - Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers last season.

England wise, my first was the pizza throwing game at Old Trafford and my last was a CL game vs Sporting Lisbon where Ronaldo won it in the last minute in 2008.

[niko_cee]

First: honestly no idea. I'm too old. Probably a Southampton game at The Dell (almost certainly), but beyond that I couldn't say.

Best: Istanbul 2005, obviously, by an insurmountable (in perpetuity) distance. Other contenders would be beating Spurs 3-2 at the Lane (felt like we never won there and it was a cracking game), the League 1 play-off final when Brighton beat Bristol City (awful, awful game, but the right result), or one of the 2-2s at Anfield against Arsenal when Henry was regularly running riot only to be thwarted by late equalisers - night games, great atmospheres and I was in the Kop (around Block 202) for both. Going back further I saw Mark Hughes score a hatrick for Chelsea way back when and paid about £40 a ticket for the privilege in the mid-90s, which was a fucking disgrace.

Worst: Probably losing 2-0 at St Mary's around 2004ish. Such a depressing place/ground. Owen missed a penalty and James fucking Beattie and/or Kevin fucking Phillips scored. Other notables would be losing to Leeds at Anfield when Alan Smith made his debut and scored (twice?) in a 3-1 loss, the first game of the Abramovich era when they did us 2-1 at Anfield or any number of games at Palace as I would often end up there on trips over to London as a youth. I think I saw Leicester beat them 1-0 once in a truly dreadful game, although Muzzy Izzet (or somebody, did they use to have a left back that liked to shell them in from range? Maybe Steve Guppy?) scored a cracker. Think I saw them draw with old Wimbledon 0-0 a few times as well. Dear lord.

[Kikó]

First:

As mentioned in the other thread, it was 1997 v Inter (http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFg5NTY=/z/5ooAAOSwN81WC7I6/$_57.JPG). I don't remember loads except we were pretty naff and lost 1-0. It was a great buzz to be finally taken to a game but it wasn't too happen again until I could afford it again a few years later in 03. I think my favourite formative match was United v Fenerbache when Rooney made his debut. Incredible to watch this 30 million wonder kid smash in a hattrick. Shame he's a useless bastard now.

Best
For importance and goon, the United Fulham game with the Ronaldo last minute winner. Flew down about 6 rows with people flying over me. Stoke when Hernandez scored and the first goal in the 2-1 defeat in Roma were both brilliant as well. Roma is one of the moodiest aways I've ever been to.

Worst
Crikey, maybe Southend when we lost to a Freddie Eastwood freekick. Shit chippy dinner as well to boot. The game v Crewe in the league cup the round before was absolutely freezing as well.

Last
v Watford this season. Last minute goal and another little goon. Most of the fun has been sucked out by LVG.

[Ian]

First: Coventry losing 1-0 at Highfield Road to Leicester. I didn't have a good view for the goal but I do remember one Coventry fan barely looking at the pitch because he was too busy hurling abuse at the away support.

Best: None of the United games I've been to have been that good so it'll be another Coventry one for me. Probably this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obcllHW2n5s

Another contender would be Scotland beating France 1-0 at Hampden, if only because the atmosphere was amazing and the tension palpable as France started to apply more and more pressure.

Last: I think it'd be being in the away end for Motherwell vs. Partick Thistle last season, with the amazing "Your name's worth a million points in Scrabble, ya fuckin' arsehole!" heckle.

[niko_cee]

Last for me would be Istanbul for Liverpool (out on a high), or that Wolves game the other week for Brighton.

[five time]

Don't even remember the game, but apparently this was my first.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4K1530txPM

Hoddle :drool:

[Kikó]

Naughtiest game I've been to was Kiev away. This was hot off the heals of the Roma tie (and Lisbon cushion in the middle which was a tonic to the ultraviolence at the other two). Roma had been one I went to with my family to combine a family visit. So me, my step dad and my mate Dan went to the game and were having a few beers with a number of reds. I think we were all in some Irish pub and there was obviously a number of very handy lads about who were ready to scrap if required. Me, stepdad and mate in tow following the crowd walking towards that bridge with the locks on it but we were falling back as my SD is 1)fat 2) knackered knees and noticed some lass boozing, happy as larry walking past clearly oblivious to what kind of game she was at. Finally got to the bridge (20 minute walk or so) and as soon as we got across you could see a modern day fight of the ages. One side you had United, one side Roma and in the middle but stood off, the Italian swat team. Absolute carnage, people chucking mopeds at each other, cracking each other with belts, bricks being thrown, the works. I was stood on the side of the road thinking "Christ, I've brought my stepdad to the football and I can't be having his head stoved in". His arse had clearly fallen out (despite him being a unit) so we meandered across the road and got to the police vans, low and behold the lass who was having a great time was balling her eyes out at what she had just seen. Beggars belief what she was expecting... We grabbed a free italian pre-game paper and tried to blend in (unfashionable English scruffs) and worked our way round to where we were meant to be. That was blocked by a fence but thankfully the coppers let us through. The other side was like the walking wounded, loads of heads bloodied up, a complete state. Then everyone knows what happened in the stadium
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/30/1412068887549_wps_5_ROME_APRIL_04_Police_move.jpg

I'll have a crack at Kiev later once I'm back from football.

[Giggles]

Should have collapsed a wall.

[Lee]

Don't even remember the game, but apparently this was my first.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4K1530txPM

Hoddle :drool:

Bit unnecessary. I remember this one being in the local papers and have some vague memories of the build up in the city. Just a little too young to be gutted by it but many City fans have that as their most horrible match.

[Max Power]

Bit unnecessary. I remember this one being in the local papers and have some vague memories of the build up in the city. Just a little too young to be gutted by it but many City fans have that as their most horrible match.

My Dad says when we squared it up to 3-3 it was probably the most mental he has ever gone at a football match. Absolute carnage.

That complete euphoria followed by despair. Football!

[Kikó]

Heh.

So onto Kiev, after a blissful trip to Lisbon it was never going to be a happy lovely trip in Eastern Europe. A Sean tour classic saw us getting to the Ukrainian capital via Poland. First night in Warsaw (I think) we were picked up by an expat red who took us under his arm and got us into some bar/club. Straight vodka shots pretty much put pay to any kind of longevity in that night for me and heard later on the others didn't fair too much better. Saturday meant watching united v villa in the local before a dash to the train. Scrambling about trying to get a few cans for this soviet sleeper train and Sean bags a crate which would sort 6 lads on a 14 hour train. All going well, cans going down well until one of the group realises it says "alkohol-frei" on the can.

Around 4am, the train pulls into he train station to have it's wheels changed because of the difference in the track sizes between the countries. An hour after that, border control and the moodiest looking Ukrainian KGB blokes not being at all sympathetic to one of our lot being out for the count. Thankfully, that led to a stamp and welcome to Ukraine rather than anything else.

Finally in Kiev and the plan was to go to Chernobyl. Big night the previous night in and around independence square but pay to any hope of me getting there. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to put my passport in a place I couldn't find it so when they all went off to Chernobyl,I sat in the flat we were renting like a sad wanker. Still, there pictures were great and I have no regrets :moop:

The next day, we walked through independence square and noted some guys in stone island jackets who weren't English and as it turned out, Kiev's spotters. We knew now that we were being watched but nothing happened. The memory faded as the 20 or so united had a beer in some restaurant. All completely civil until the stone island bloke from earlier turned up in the doorway. The next minute was complete pandemonium. Chairs flying through the air at the doorway to keep Kiev out, plant pots, windows going through. When it finally calmed a second, I ran up the doorway stairs to get the fuck out of there. Looked to my left and recently out of a leg break Sean burning it down the road with other lads I know, look to my left and 10 Kiev lads shouting "Dinamo!" I quickly about turned back into the restaurant. The poor owner was in bits that her restaurant had been destroyed by Kiev hooligans.

The evening of the game and we are having a drink near the stadium. Rightly on edge, there was stories of lads being ambushed, other lad having a gun pulled on him by a taxi driver, dodgy coppers asking for bribes. My memory of this really was a stunning Ukrainian woman asking us "why are you here for football and not to fuck?" As an 18 year old, I probably exploded.

The game itself was pretty wank. They burned some effigy of the united devil and had an IRA banner but we played them off the pitch. After the game was back to the "are we going to get our heads kicked in" again. We plotted up in a hotel and finally relaxed, deciding to move to another hotel where other reds were. On the walk, it was pretty evident to the four of us we were being followed. We decided to test that theory by splitting up around a building, once we joined back up we knew for sure with lads comng out of subways which meant a200 metre dash to a cab. The guy was pissing himself laughing at us as was the police man near the car. Pulled an all nighter at the first hotel before getting out of there and flying home. All in total agreement that eastern Europe can fuck off.

Thanks to uni for funding my 07 adventures.

[ScousePig]

First

My first two were Everton vs Sunderland and Sunderland vs Sheffield United, I think both were 1990 so I was five. For the Everton game I assume I got tickets from my cousin or uncle and possibly sat in the home end, with my dad and grandad. We lost 1-0 to a Peter Beagrie penalty and I just remember being quite bored. The only thing I remember about the Sheffield United game at Roker Park was standing in the boys pen right at the front and Tony Agana coming to warm up near us. I think he waved at us. One of the first games I properly remember was beating Everton at Roker Park about 1996, with Chris Waddle thundering in a free kick after their keeper was rather suspectly penalised for handling outside the area.

Best

Nothing major stands out, what with us not winning anything. It'd have to be either one of the three 4-0/4-1 wins over Bradford, my hometown club, or something from the Keane promotion season, simply because it was such an enjoyable campaign. The 4-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough stands out, as does the 3-2 win over Burnley to clinch either promotion or the league. Coming back from 2-0 down at Burnley to draw 2-2 was great too, as we equalised last minute and it was my first game since quitting my Saturday team to start watching us a bit more. Such a great season. There's also the time we clinched the league under Mick McCarthy at Upton Park with a late 2-1 win. It's difficult to pinpoint one.

Worst

This is much easier. 17th May 2004. Sunderland 2-1 Crystal Palace (4-4 on aggregate, Sunderland lost 5-4 on penalties). If away goals counted as they usually did, we'd have gone through. We were 2-0 up in the last minute and going through, barring a Palace goal which would send it to extra time. From a corner one of their players climbed all over Mart Poom and probably fouled him, bundled it into the net and the goal stood. In Extra Time they have Julian Gray sent off but we couldn't find a way through, and in sudden death penalties Jeff Whitley passed the ball back to their keeper and we lost.

[Toby]

First

Rangers 2-2 Hearts at Ibrox, in early 1998

My dad took me away on a trip with a local supporters club, for my eighth birthday. I still liked Rangers in those days, probably more so than I did Chelsea, so it was all pretty exciting. The game itself was rubbish though and my only two memories are a) standing on a chair the entire match, until some knobend steward finally found the courage to tell me to sit down while my dad was at the toilet and b) Richard Gough getting sent off. Don't really remember who scored but I don't think they would have been good goals.

Best

Most of the games I've been to have been rubbish, especially as about half have been international friendlies. I think the most entertaining was when I visited Germany on a school exchange sort of thing and the host students took us to Werder Bremen v Bochum.

Aaron Hunt, the most English sounding German I have heard of, scored a pretty impressive hattrick in a 3-0 win. His career seems to have been a whole lot of nothing before and since.

The best game I've seen was Shetland winning the 2005 Island Games, if that counts. There was a crowd of about 6,000 so I'm having it.

Worst

I decided to go to Easter Park while living in Edinburgh. We sat through 90 minutes of Hiberninan and Kilmarnock wandering around to a 0-0. It's little wonder there aren't Scottish highlights on TV because I've no idea what they would have shown from that.

[Luke Emia]

First - Birmingham 1 Darlington 0 My step dad is a blues fan it was as shit as it sounds. I think either Simon Sturridge or Nigel Gleghorn may have scored. I don't really remember much but I got a Twix so that was a winner.

Best - Liverpool 2 Juve 1 best 30 minutes of football I've ever seen. Garcia's goal was and still is my favourite goal ever. No one gave us a chance. Honourable mention to the 5-1 against Arsenal a couple of years ago.

Last - today it was shit but there's nothing better than a 95th minute winner just gutted not to have been in the away end because it was mental when that one went in.

Worst - Charlton 3 Liverpool 2 I've been a lot and I've seen a lot of shit. But a Kevin Lisbie hat-trick that's as low as it goes.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I forgot my worst. Chelsea 1, Anderlecht 0 in the Champions League. The very worst of Mourinho. We scored early against very poor opposition and then actively tried not to score another goal, just playing out the match with no ambition. I paid £45 for the ticket and didn't go again for two years afterwards.

[Gray Fox]

First

The first one I remember enough to give details was against Grimsby. It was either the League cup or an FA Cup replay because it went to extra time. We even took the lead in extra time but then went on to lose with one of the last kicks of the game. Not even near the worst game though.

Worst

There are a few contenders here. I went to consecutive home games and managed to see us lose to Wolves and then Blackpool. There was also that weird game where we actually seemed to want to lose to Chelsea, so United didn't win the league.
One of the losses under Hodgson has to be the worst state I've seen us in so I'll go for that Wolves game. I think they went down that season too.

Best

There's been a few derby victories. The Charity Shield against Chelsea was good, sheerly because we filled out our half and Chelsea and Riise(my favorite player) ran the whole length of the pitch before smashing it in.
There was also one against 'boro where we went down to a Mido goal and I think we scored 2 in injury time to turn it around and win.
I'm going for a 5-0 win against Villa. It was in the title run in where we actually had United on the ropes. There was a sense of belief building through the game. Shame we fucked it all in the end.

As for one that could have been. I had a ticket with my name on it to Istanbul but, being 15 at the time I was going into my GCSEs in the May. Had an exam booked on the day of and after the game so couldn't go. However 2 people of the group that went left at half time, so I got to laugh at someone in the end.

[niko_cee]

I've a nagging feeling I might have been at that Charlton game. Must have erased it from my consciousness though. I've definitely seen us lose at The Valley.

[Magic]

First:

It will have been a Dundee Utd game, I've been to far more of those than LUFC (stopped going at 10 when they split up). I vivdly remember my dad dragging me there all the time in the freezing fucking cold (walking distance), thankfully a pie and bovril saved the day most of the time. I don't remember much from it apart from learning some incredible swear words/phrases to share at primary school. The first match I properly remember was Leeds 3-1 Forest in April 1999. I was 10 and I remember an absolutely buzzing matchday atmosphere which must have been the norm at the time. Now I'm all too aware of the utter shit atmospheres pre and post match day. JFL was awesome and was the golden boy. Little did I know he'd fuck off over money a couple of months later.

Last:

Leeds 1-1 Brentford. It was a shit game still under Rosler's management. Nevertheless we were still 'giving him time' to resolve boring, aimless possession football. I'll mostly remember it for going to three different pubs afterwards (one a traditional spit and sawdust one) and seeing the majority of people in it cheering on the scummers as their game was a 5PM KO. Some were even wearing their shirt. Unreal. Summed up everything about Leeds to be honest.

Best:

Leeds 2-1 Bristol Rovers in 2010 the must win after a post-February complete capitulation. We should have been first by absolute miles but managed to fuck it up so much so we needed to win in the last match to achieve second and therefore automatic promotion back to the 'promised land'...of the Championship. The mood was absolutely tense, everyone was utterly gripped and any optimism floating about was always coated in the grim reality of our honking form. I'll never forget it, we looked shakey but had a couple of good chances then Gradel managed to get himself sent off and BR scored pretty soon after. Everyone was fucking fizzing at Gradel saying he'd never play again etc (lol) and we all thought the same; another season in this absolute hellish league. Half-time came and we kind of resigned ourselves to the fact Millwall, who were beating Swindon IIRC, would take our automatic position and we'd have to face the play-offs. Yes, the play-offs we never win. Second half, mood lightened a bit and the players showed a bit of fight so it kind of became fortress Elland Road a wee bit. Then Howson scored a monstrous goal and I swear the roar, the cheers, the elation, the relief, I've never felt anything like it. Here we are, perennial bottlers, throwers away, managing to bring ourselves back in to the game whilst being a man down. Wow. It really did become fortress Elland Road after that. It was ferocious. We were the 11th man. Collectively it was as united as you like. Brilliant.

Then it happened. Their keeper made an arse of a kick and something ignited, everyone seemed to know this was it, we all roared like a male lion facing off three younger challengers. Got the ball, in to Beckford, goal. Oh...my...God. It was insane. We only got tickets on the premise we'd already fucked the season up and nobody would have wanted to go, as soon as they were on sale. How on earth had it come to this. I even hugged my Dad, something I hadn't done since I was a child and something I haven't done since. Holding on was a nightmare though, it seemed like AGES. Then the final whistle went. Relief, exhaustion, they were the over-riding emotions. The joy had to wait. After the match in town everywhere was Leeds, everyone was Leeds. How different it is now, how shameful it is now. A far, far cry from post-match pissups these days.

Worst:

Two contenders for this: Dundee 0-1 Rangers ('03 Scottish Cup Final) and Leeds 0-3 Watford ('06 Championship Play-Off Final). First of all, the Dundee game. I was far more associated with Utd than Dundee, this was my mum's idea of bonding with my step-dad, who'd proven himself already to be a massive cunt. I went through from the social club and their bus with a lot of his cunt family. I hated every minute of it, and the only solace was that they lost. That was also the beginning of their financial turmoil iirc. I'll never forget it because it was such a fucking awful day. Eurgh! Next was the obvious crushing PO final defeat. Being at ER for 4AM, queuing for 3 hours to get on the bus, then the actual bus journey itself which was 6 hours or something, it was absolutely pissing it down in Cardiff as well so we just had to find shelter until it was time to go to the Millennium. It did brighten up eventually during the game, weather wise that is. It was fucking awful, and watching it was utterly terminal. Everyone just knew that was our last chance at the PL slipping through our fingers but quite how bad it was to get was definitely not expected.

What made it worse was we had gotten tickets from my dad's mate who couldn't go, and I don't remember why because it wasn't hospitality but we had padded leather seats in the middle of the Watford end...it was like a small section of neutrals surrounded by fucking Watford, happy clapping, clowns. Insufferable. The whole day was shit, the bus journey home was utterly morbid. I'll never forget but Buster was on the bus TV on silent, I remember watching Phil Collins nonce about in that shit grey trenchcoat. Fuck it to hell.

[Davgooner]

First
I went to a few Sunderland games at Roker Park when I was very very young, but first Arsenal was the '93 Cup Final. My old man worked in Leeds at the time and got his hands on some tickets in the Wednesday end. I don't remember much apart from being thrown in the air when we scored. Finished 1-1 and the cunting final went to replay back then, which seems mental now.

Best
Winning the league at the Lane '04. I remember thinking that it doesn't matter and that we'd do the cunts anyway, but once it became clear Chelsea were getting shafted by Newcastle as per, it was on. At the time the Dav lot used to go down pretty mob-handed, and given the occasion fucking everyone was out, so our group had gone down by train to try and not get wrapped up. I remember our boozers being fucking rammed from about 9am and when the OB started to move people out the whole lot went with them. I think they took two escorts by train and another larger one by foot. We come out at Seven Sisters and are whacked into the larger escort to go to the ground, and have perhaps one of the greatest half an hour of our lives strolling along coating off those twats. It's the biggest mob of Arsenal I've ever seen and there weren't too many brave yids on the High Road that afternoon. 2/3 of the way down the High Road the police realise that they've got several hundred Arsenal without tickets, including our main mob, and they shat themselves and as I understand it plonked them in a pub on the High Road for the duration of the game.

In the ground you could see they were living a nightmare. They knew what was about to happen and as soon as Vieira scores it's the greatest situation you could ever dream of as a football fan. The funniest thing was the roar when the final whistle went as some of the twats thought the draw wasn't good enough. Scenes ensued for about an hour in the ground before heading back out. The stroll back to N5, Spurs' attempts to get at us, being reunited with the ticketless group and the subsequent festivities that night were the greatest few hours of my life. I could tell a thousand stories about that day.

Worst
Realistically it has to be the CL final 2006. How we got there no-one fucking knows and that Barcelona side was cracking, but to get that close and then get shafted was pretty hard to take. It had pretty much just reached that point where you thought our luck was going to hold and we'd do it. The supporters group took a double-decker coach and we'd set off after a decent session in Dav/Northampton, so by the time of the game we'd been on the piss for 2/3 days. Two of my mates thought they'd found a venue for the first night of drinking, only to appear sheepishly saying we needed to find somewhere else. Turns out they'd been sat having a drink in a gay bar.

The other noticeable thing was how many people tried to find a way in without tickets. One older bloke climbed a fence outside the ground and ripped his leg open on some exposed metal; he tried to carry on like nothing happened before the stewards and paramedics intervened. I remember some of the utter tits inside the ground and wondering how the fuck they had tickets. A lot of people missed out on that final so that those Hornbys could attend. Journey back was pretty shit as the reality of how close we'd been sunk in. It's the one competition we've never won and given the nature of it you wonder if we'll ever get as close as that again. Fuck sake.

[Luke Emia]

Fuck me Gray I forgot that Wolves game took my Wolves supporting mate to that game. It was awful.

As for the Charlton I don't remember us losing any other time so you may have been there Niko.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The other noticeable thing was how many people tried to find a way in without tickets. One older bloke climbed a fence outside the ground and ripped his leg open on some exposed metal; he tried to carry on like nothing happened before the stewards and paramedics intervened. I remember some of the utter tits inside the ground and wondering how the fuck they had tickets. A lot of people missed out on that final so that those Hornbys could attend. Journey back was pretty shit as the reality of how close we'd been sunk in. It's the one competition we've never won and given the nature of it you wonder if we'll ever get as close as that again. Fuck sake.

I don't know about these things, but when we got to the final in Moscow (and to a lesser extent the Europa one) I couldn't believe how many Surrey twats were coming out of the woodwork with their plane tickets and their home shirts saying things like 'Best trip of my life' and 'I wouldn't miss this for anything!' Where do they get tickets? I wouldn't have the shame.

Not as bad as what the scousers were supposedly up to in 2007 though.

[The Merse]

First
Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0sNb_m1cWw
Best
The best Arsenal match I've been to would likely be this:
Arsenal 5 Spurs 2 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpv6RILuAQE
But never being an ST holder, I've largely settled for matches against the lower end of the table. Dennis Bergkamp day against the Baggies is a close contender too, but the best fun I've had at a match was with Swansea at the Playoff final, the last Swansea game I'd ever go to support them in as they entered the same league as Arsenal...
Swansea 4 Reading 2 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQkXtw7vucI
Worst
Losing to Wimbledon 3-1 was hard to take, but this took the biscuit...
Arsenal 0 Millwall 2 1996

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxJKACap2dU

[Baz]

I've not been to many.
First was the most boring late night 0-0 against West Ham. Only memorably moment was a terrible air-kick from Gerrard that even AE would have scoffed at.
Best game was probably spanking Bolton 3-0 in 2008. I remember the third being the easiest goal any team could ever hope to score - Reina rolled it to Alonso who walked the majority of the pitch, gave it someone (possibly Benayoun?) who fired it in for Keane to score his second and celebrate in front of me.
The worst was a crap Boxing Day game against Blackburn. I think it finished 1-1 but I remember them scoring just before half time and it was rubbish.

[Gray Fox]

Fuck me Gray I forgot that Wolves game took my Wolves supporting mate to that game. It was awful.

That was the height of the Hodgson era. Paul Konchesky at left-back before his mum made him hated. Great times.

Made all the worse by the last game I went to being a 2-1 home loss to Blackpool. I even said to a Wolves fan before the game there's no way in hell we're bad enough to lose at home to Wolves.

[Browning]

First: A pre-season friendly which finished Luton 1-1 Arsenal. Anelka gave Arsenal the lead and Luton scored in the last minute. I don't overly remember much of it though.

Best: Tough choice between 2 games. The first would be Arsenal beating AIK Solna (never heard of them before or since...) 3-1 with 2 late goals in the space of about 11 seconds after my Dad had asked me if I wanted to leave to beat the traffic at 1-1. The other would be from my Dons season ticket holder days, but one we actually ended up losing. 4-3 to Southampton at St Mary's with a very young Theo Walcott coming off the bench to tear us a new one. Probably shade it to the Arsenal game just because it was one of my first games, it was at the old Wembley, and it was great. To this day I'll never leave early even at 0-5 thanks to that game.

Worst: Been some absolute shite at the Dons over the years. I've seen us 0-5 but probably the worse was losing to Swansea which I think was 1-3. I remember almost falling asleep at the game because we were that dire.

[Shindig]

I've like, only been to three matches so this'll be fun.

First
Steve Harper's testimonial against an AC Milan side. Shevchenko blew the whole event off so he could shit-up a golf tournament and was replaced by Paolo Di Canio. A 0-0 draw followed by a penalty defeat. At least I got to see Pav and Paolo Maldini.

Last
A 1-0 win over Aston Villa. Papiss Cisse with a late winner after a typically unsure-of-himself performance. The away fans got some bother at the whistle but I don't think it finished in any major scraps.

Worst
Probably that 3-3 draw against Palace. We shat the bed inside the first minute and almost conspired to win it. A 3-2 win would've been completely against the run of it but then we binned it in the last minute. I punched the nearest concrete in disgust. Although Rolando Aarons scored.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

First:
It was an England game, in 1997 (10 days after Diana's death apparently) against Moldova which England won 4-0. I went with a female friend of my Mum's IIRC I'm not sure why though. It was decent fun although I don't remember much of it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN0MzLbVguw

Best:
It was 2002 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge which was the second time I had been to the fixture. I went with an Uncle and a Cousin as my Dad could only get 3 tickets and despite being a fan of Chelsea let them two take me. The seats were proper naughty as we were just a few meters away from the dugout on the lowest level (we had pretty much the exact same seats although a little further along the row when I went with my Dad a year or two before). I also noticed that my Dad's neighbours son (we were friends, he still lives in the same house but we don't talk) was a couple of rows above us and I remember telling him that we would win 3-0 with Scholes scoring one.

Perhaps this was just me hoping as I had been to three United games prior to this which had all ended with 0 goals for us (LVG would have been ecstatic). We also saw Luke Chadwick and Michael Stewart a few rows up from the dugout, I was too scared to go and ask for an autograph from the deadly duo so I got my cousin to do it although I've since lost the ticket with said signatures on it. On the plus side my predictions came in beautifully.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esyfrxdns3g

Worst:
It was my first ever United game and I was fucking buzzing, it was only the Charity Shield but in my mind at the time it was going to be glorious. We were going to shaft Arsenal and I was going to watch them lift a fucking trophy. I ended the match in tears, sadly they were not tears of joy as Arsenal ran riot in particular the wankers Anelka and the man who I loathed most, Marc fucking Overmas.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwp8_QwQDNk

Honourable Mention:
2002, my first ever match at Old Trafford. I had been the year prior on a stadium tour but I couldn't believe that my Dad had managed to sort out a pair of tickets thanks to an insurance broker he knew up in Manchester. I remember going to see him at his firm the day before and being in complete awe of him as he was just casually playing with about 10 tickets to the Champions League game a few days later against Nantes, I remember thinking the guy was winning at life.

We were playing Aston Villa and knew it would be an easy win. Got to half time and it was 0-0 (LVG inspiring us even back then) but we had a few decent chances. My Dad went off to get us a drink and something to eat and I went to empty my bladder. It was fucking chaos though, I started by queuing for a stall as I knew I wouldn't be able to piss in the trough standing shoulder to shoulder with some Mancs/London Asians. That wasn't working though so I decided to line up for the trough but people kept pushing in front of me, I heard the whistle go for the second half and I'm starting to panic, I need a piss but can't get through. Finally a stall/the trough opens up and I'm the only one in the whole fucking bathroom and suddenly I hear a huge roar from the crowd, the United crowd. I finish pissing as quick as I can, run out of the toilets to a TV and to my absolute horror I've missed the goal replay.

I trudge back to the seats at the top of the mountain peak and my Dad is waiting wondering what took me so long. I obviously miss Match of the Day that night so have to wake up early the next day just to see Ruud's goal.

[Toby]

The seats were proper naughty

.....

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Oh and the last game I went to was this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21448791

It was absolutely fucking freezing and the best entertainment was about 3 or 4 balls being smashed out of the stadium.

[Toby]

I really hoped the other game you went to at Stamford Bridge was going to be the 5-0, and that you'd list it as the worst, but no. So I have to make fun of that instead.

[Lewis]

'Daws', you're a middle class twat now. Let it go.

My first game was Arsenal vs Chelsea in December 1995. My brother was an Arsenal fan when he used to like football, so he got the tickets for his birthday. I barely paid any attention to it, but I remember a late Arsenal equaliser (Lee Dixon apparently) and somebody abusing John Hartson for being Welsh. My last and best was Hull City beating Cardiff 4-1 in December 2006. My friend had free tickets and it was a lol match including some dickhead chipping a penalty miles over the bar. I've no idea what the worst game was. Most likely some Hull City fixture against a team that doesn't exist anymore at Boothferry Park.

[Kikó]

I'm just telling a story Lewis, it was what it was.

[Lewis]

'Been anywhere "moody" recently, Andrew?'
*other dinner guests laugh*
'Leave him alone, Will.'

[Kikó]

:(
The only Will i know is from Manchester you bastard.

[Danny]

First

Leeds 0-1 Mansfield (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yom6hw2O6o)

My friend and his dad were going and they were able to get me a ticket. It was right before my 8th birthday, was a shitty Coca Cola cup match and Leeds lost to a Simon Ireland header.


Best

Tough choice here.

Leeds 1-0 Arsenal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjYYj87oZnc)

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored a diving header with a few minutes left and it was a result that helped United's charge to the treble. We were in the far end and it was hard to make out what happened.


Leeds 0-1 Man Utd (https://youtu.be/dmZGS8pvMX4?t=1209)

Keane scored a winner with about 10 mins left right in front of us. Bit of redemption for....

Worst

Leeds 1-0 Man Utd (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9JlzpUpTVE)

David Weatherall scored for Leeds but the game is much more well known for Keane tearing his cruciate (https://youtu.be/wDo26ZqUO48?t=7).

[Raoul Duke]

First would have been some local game for Oxford, which would have undoubtedly been awful. I remember going to see them vs. Yeovil (away) as well at some point which would probably be the worst.

Best would be this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBvIzoGFr_U

I'm not an Arsenal fan but my cousin and a bunch of my mates are. They had a spare ticket so I tagged along. One hell of a game, and we also saw Jeremy Beadle mooching around the Duomo cathedral. What a time to be alive.

[Weaver]

First
I went to a few Sunderland matches before a Newcastle game - my school got cheaper tickets so I could go with my Dad for about £10, and my Sister played for Sunderland as a young'un. I definitely remember games between Sunderland and Grimsby (3-1, November 1998) and also Sunderland and Portsmouth (2-0, March 1999)

My first Newcastle game was this one: Newcastle United 2 Manchester City 0 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/2648645.stm).

Alan Shearer scored about ten seconds in... I wasn't even in my seat at KO, just at the top of the stairs, so I saw it in all its glory.

Best
Newcastle 3 Stoke 0 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17711736)

We were pushing for Champions League at this point, moving to 4th with the victory.

The football was lovely, with Cabaye pulling the strings for Ben Arfa, Ba and Cissé.

Worst
Newcastle United 0 Sunderland 3 - 1st February 2014 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25892175)

£55 for a ticket for this game, and we were an absolute mess. Santon couldn't deal with Adam Johnson and was getting beat over and over, and then conceded the penalty which gave them a 1-0 lead. Johnson followed up with the second and we didn't look likely to get back into it at all, just repetitive backwards passing. Colback wrapped it up for them and I've barely been back since then.