Ridsdale and I

For a nanosecond at least, Oldham was officially the coolest place on the planet circa April 1990. Yep despite those dark satanic mills looming on the skyline,  their women folk referred to uncomplimentary as "Yonners" and their main train station sharing the same suffix as an unpleasant virus e.g. Oldham Mumps, it was probably as much to do with the Indie group Inspiral Carpets, who hailed from the town and employed a certain Noel Gallagher as a roadie than Joe Royle's perpetual play-off team. Royle's men were potentially victims of their own success, as well as hovering in the play-off places they'd had two amazing cup runs, reaching the final of the League Cup losing to Forest and the semi's of the FA Cup, in fact they'd lost the replay at Maine Road to Manchester United on the Wednesday evening prior to us playing them on the Friday lunchtime, less than 30 hours rest! - it was Good Friday, Friday April 13th so what could possibly go wrong? It was an ea...

 To this day, it remains a mystery who the flying fan is/was. The date was March 10th 1990, the venue The Manor Ground, Oxford. I would argue this was the moment that defined the season and got the promotion push back on track after four games without a win. Leeds had trailed Oxford 2-0 at half-time, but Lee Chapman and Imre Varadi equalised and then, on 75 minutes Chris Fairclough rose to nod us in front and behind the goal, a lad in typically "baggy" attire of the era cartwheeled in the air down the terrace. I wish I could claim to be him but I'm not that agile and wasn't even back then, sadly I was not even there, but think Swansea 2019/20 when Pablo turned in that beautiful winner. Chapman added a fourth and when Leeds won a penalty, naturally he wanted his hat-trick and stepped up and missed earning the wrath of Howard Wilkinson for his profligacy. Our next home game on 17th March was against one of Chapman's future clubs, West Ham and  32,316 packed in to El...

  Saturday March 2nd and my first ever Leeds away match, at Vicarage Road, Watford. The Hornets lay in 11th place and no doubt to capitalise on Leeds riding high, albeit a point clear of Sheffield United with a game more played, as well as the Rookery End which in those days housed the away fans, we got a section of seats in the Sir Stanley Rous stand, now known as the Graham Taylor Stand. According to Barry, the ticket at £10 was a bargain as it included the programme too. I'm pretty certain it was unsegregated as well, as I'm sure I stood their in the gents next to a home fan. It was a nice stand, great view - the rest of the stadium was shit! The Rookery End was a seething mass of Leeds fans, opposite where we sat it was easy to mistake the ramshackle array of stands in with the allotment sheds that stood behind and to the left was an open Spion Kop where a certain Vinnie Jones had stood as a kid.  We'd stopped for "refreshments" on the way down, it might have ...

The lost season ticket continued to be the dominant thought in my mind, I even started tearing up the flat to make sure I'd not accidentally carried it back home somehow or by a miracle of biblical proportions it had teleported itself from the dusty terraces of the Kop and appeared by magic on the mantlepiece. The word from the club was not encouraging either, basically there was very little Eric Carlile could do other than to offer a sympathetic ear and refer the matter to David Dowse, Club Secretary. I wrote a pleading letter to Mr Dowse but got a blunt reply back saying that I'd have to pay again for it and maybe try and claim off my house insurance, something I did not have as I was 18 and lived with my parents in a flat above the pub. Barry as ever was brilliant, he told me not to worry he'd fix me up somehow for the Hull City game. Despite losing 3-2 at Swindon the previous Sunday afternoon, we were still top and three points clear of Sheffield United. Hull meanwhile ...

  Zico! The first day of the 1990's dawned, a Monday and in-keeping with my social mobility and desires to be accepted into middle-England, I was up earlier and went for a browse around the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Antiques Fair, which still run's every Bank Holiday at the local Leisure Centre. Bar my mullet hairstyle and leather-jacket, I most certainly was no Lovejoy and left the Antiques Fair empty handed. I got on the WM branch coach at Burton, it was a subdued journey no doubt 99% of the occupants nursing a hangover. But hair of the dog was the preferred remedy as the usual suspects piled out at the Woodman and Drysalters pubs. Oldham had their own precious relic of yesteryear in Roger Palmer, as well as a sprinkling of ex  Leeds players like Linighan, Wright, Ritchie and Irwin. I remember collecting Palmer' s panini sticker when he was a Manchester City player. He was a wonderful servant for Oldham and was entering his 10th year we the club. Maybe relic is a bit unkind, his ...

I was spoilt rotten for the Leeds United v Newcastle United game on December 2nd 1989, picked up just 8 miles from home in a luxury-coach, by 1980's standards anyway, I think it had a telly too and someone had bought the "180 Goals video". We always seemed to get Mike, the driver, a West Brom fan. The coach was occupied by a hunch of friendly Brummies/West Midlanders in Leeds shirts, including Leeds RL (I wanted one and got one!) so they looked every bit Yorkshiremen and women, until they opened their mouths of course!  Just a side note on the Leeds RL thing, I know they aren't universally loved amongst Leeds United fans, a good few preferring Castleford and no doubt some of the other clubs. Gary Schofield Leeds RL. I'd even got a ticket pre-match, a first for me in the South Stand. I held it tight in my pocket as I marched up Elland Road, along with near 32,000 others. The gobby Geordies were housed in the pre,-Cheese wedge corner and the 1st pen on Lowfields, ju...

Thanks to the shambles that was the Leeds United ticketing service and my Dad's forgetfulness, I missed the next 15 games of the 1989/90 season which, including the draw against Blackburn where I'd watched from their end, stretched to 14 unbeaten. In fact the run ended on November 11th just down the road at Leicester where a certain Gary Mcallister tapped home a late winner in a seven-goal thriller at Filbert Street with kick-off delayed to allow a huge Leeds following to pack into Leicester's now demolished old stadium. My Dad must shoulder some of the blame because just before the defeat at Leicester, he handed me a scrap of paper with the name Barry and a 01283 Burton-On-Trent phone number. He said someone had given it to him weeks ago, Barry was the Secretary of the Leeds United Supporters Club West Midlands branch. I dialled the number and it was answered by the man himself, sounding somewhat groggy as he was a shift worker at one of Burton's breweries and had been...