Unforgettable view from the terraces of Blackpool Football Club's Bloomfield Road

In the conclusion of his feature on his new book about the golden age of English football, Barry McLoughlin recalls the pluses and pitfalls of watching games from the terraces
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The charm of the old grounds like Bloomfield Road – which is sometimes lost amid the architecturally spectacular, symmetrical design of the new generation of stadiums – was in their piecemeal, organic quality, with clear evidence of their development and evolution over time.

When they weren’t overcrowded, terraces were a wonderful way to watch football. (Plans have been approved to restore small ‘safe standing’ areas to some Premier League grounds in January.) In the East or West Paddocks at Bloomfield Road, you could stand wherever you wanted: right at the back for a high-level view or pitch-side to get really close to the action.

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Blackpool’s Alan Ball jumps for joy as Geoff Hurst scores the winner 13 minutes from time in England’s heated 1966 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina.  Barry McLoughlin collectionBlackpool’s Alan Ball jumps for joy as Geoff Hurst scores the winner 13 minutes from time in England’s heated 1966 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina.  Barry McLoughlin collection
Blackpool’s Alan Ball jumps for joy as Geoff Hurst scores the winner 13 minutes from time in England’s heated 1966 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina. Barry McLoughlin collection
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At half-time you could sit down on the terrace, or lean against the crush-barrier, and read your programme. Then, at least in the days before crowd segregation, you could stroll to the other end, past the dugout, so you could still watch the Seasiders on the attack in the second half when the teams changed ends. And you could move somewhere else if you were getting earache from a fan behind you or there was someone particularly tall in front.

Another half-time highlight was checking the scores from other matches being played at the same time, particularly those involving your rivals. In the days before transistor radios, most grounds had a half-time scoreboard which comprised a grid of capital letters each of which signified another match. At half-time, numbers were inserted next to the letters and you then checked them against the match code in your programme. The alternative was to keep an ear out for the Tannoy announcement of the half-time scores, but these were notoriously unreliable, especially when there was a large and noisy crowd.

Matches invariably kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, not according to the whims of a satellite broadcaster.

The arrival of floodlighting brought a fresh dimension – evening games – to watching football. Blackpool’s tall floodlight pylons were put up four years after the 1953 triumph. Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane ground reputedly had floodlights as early as 1878, but the first club to have permanent floodlighting were Southampton, who installed it at their old ground, The Dell, in 1950. Classic Wembley finalsWhen you visited a ground for an evening match, there was the thrill of first sighting the four prominent floodlight towers which were like beacons for locating it. Once inside, the pitch was bathed in brilliant artificial illumination. Modern grounds, like the new Bloomfield Road, tend not to have the high pylons that were such a dominant feature of the old stadiums; the lights are often built into the edge of the roof. (A Blackpool match once had to be called off because of floodlight safety fears as a gale raged off the Irish Sea.)

This was the vivid cover design of the programme for the 1948 Cup Final, when Blackpool lost to Manchester United in a six-goal thriller.  Barry McLoughlin collectionThis was the vivid cover design of the programme for the 1948 Cup Final, when Blackpool lost to Manchester United in a six-goal thriller.  Barry McLoughlin collection
This was the vivid cover design of the programme for the 1948 Cup Final, when Blackpool lost to Manchester United in a six-goal thriller. Barry McLoughlin collection
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Then there was the excitement of buying the match programme, much less elaborate than today’s magazine-like versions. There were no replica shirts or Sky TV and multiple camera angles – just scarves and bobble-caps – and no elaborately choreographed goal celebrations. Any player wearing gloves on a cold day would have been dunked in the communal bath.

Particularly at British grounds like Bloomfield Road, the atmosphere was enhanced by the spectators being so close to the pitch. When West Ham moved from the venerable Boleyn Ground at Upton Park to the former Olympic stadium at Stratford in 2016, Hammers fans complained about the loss of atmosphere, partly induced by the fact they were so far from the pitch. Temporary seating was placed over the running track but this didn’t seem to make the ambience any more bubbly.

The importance of fans’ engagement was underlined during the Covid-19 crisis, when statistics showed that away teams were performing better than usual because no home supporters were there.

There are still terrace chants, of course – some exhibiting extremely ingenious obscenity – but, thankfully, health and safety seems to have banned rattles: the collateral damage caused by frantically whirling a heavy block of wood in a confined space can only be guessed at. Football is certainly more family-friendly, and there are more women supporters.

Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly was a must-read for soccer fans in the 1950s and 1960s. This is an early edition from October 1954, featuring Blackpool and Scotland goalkeeper George Farm on the cover.  Barry McLoughlin collectionCharles Buchan’s Football Monthly was a must-read for soccer fans in the 1950s and 1960s. This is an early edition from October 1954, featuring Blackpool and Scotland goalkeeper George Farm on the cover.  Barry McLoughlin collection
Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly was a must-read for soccer fans in the 1950s and 1960s. This is an early edition from October 1954, featuring Blackpool and Scotland goalkeeper George Farm on the cover. Barry McLoughlin collection
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Beyond Blackpool, I was fortunate enough to visit Arsenal’s old Highbury Ground for an FA Cup tie against the Seasiders, before its closure. Highbury’s Grade 2 listed East and West Stands were both built to Art Deco designs.

Also in North London, I first visited Wembley in the early 1970s for rugby league Challenge Cup Finals involving Warrington. Twenty years later, I returned there as Blackpool began a series of play-off appearances; they were the first team to be promoted through all divisions of the Football League through the play-off system.

Their most celebrated play-off victory was, of course, in the Championship final at Wembley in 2010 when a 3-2 victory over Cardiff City secured a remarkable season in the Premier League. And the most recent triumph was in the 2021 League One play-offs when Pool beat another City – Lincoln – to return to the Championship after six years. It was a record sixth promotion via the play-offs, two more than any other side.

The first £100-a-week player

Barry McLoughlin's book, Football's Golden DecadesBarry McLoughlin's book, Football's Golden Decades
Barry McLoughlin's book, Football's Golden Decades

If Euro 2020 marked a second golden age of English international football, the first culminated in 1966 with England’s much-romanticised World Cup victory over West Germany. Their Wembley triumph came at the end of four decades from the 1930s to the 1960s which were a pivotal period of transformation for British football.

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All this was paralleled by much greater rewards and much higher profiles for the stars… Johnny Haynes became the first £100-a-week player, and there was the first £100,000 transfer fee (less £1) for Jimmy Greaves in 1968.

The abolition of the £20 a week maximum wage in 1961 was ultimately good for the game and for its players, but it also served to break the bond between the professionals and those who paid their wages. Today, players’ wages generally make up about 70 per cent of a club’s turnover.

It’s a truism to say that the pace of the game today is a lot quicker and the players are much fitter, but that the histrionics and referee-baiting have counterbalanced some of the gains made.

However, we mustn’t get too misty-eyed about the past: watching TV footage of matches in the 1960s and 1970s reminds us that some of the tackling, which was taken for granted at the time, was dangerous to the point of recklessness.

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And, of course, there were terrible tragedies off the pitch.

* Football’s Golden Decades: Four of Wembley’s Finest Finals is published by YouCaxton Publications at £9.99 (ISBN 978-1913425982). Website: www.youcaxton.co.uk/footballs-golden-decadesbarry-mcloughlin/ or email: [email protected].

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