20 Years ago

[WorcBaggie]

Several years in the PL,
A Championship title,
Beating Villa a few times
The 5-1 at Molineux,
A Cup Semi Final,
Winning at Old Trafford, Emirates, Anfield, Goodison
Beating Chelsea, Spurs, United, Arsenal, Liverpool at home,
Seeing Gera, Odemwingie, Lukaku, Koumas, Kanu, Barnes and more in the stripes,
Having Roy in the dugout,
Being pretty good for a while,
Iffy Udeze

Fuckin' well said.

Pulisball

Many seasons nearer the bottom than the top

A return to where we came from

A select few people considerably richer

Not surprised with either of your posts. Really don't see the point in you 'supporting' the Albion. If you can't come away with what's happened since (the OP info) with some absolutely insane, happy memories with the odd dip (happens to most outside the elite clubs) then i'd give up.
It's been fucking brilliant and apart from the last season under Pulis there's only a cup final missing. 
As much as I agree with Duffers' post there are dozens more that could have been added too.

I've been a season ticket holder for 40 years, and been on over 70 grounds with Albion.

I'm entitled to my opinion, and if you don't like it, you can FRO.

Didn't say otherwise. You're monumentally boring and negative unless you think you know something about FFP or the like which invariably you don't.

[ColliersWoodBaggie]

The 90s were truly hideous. I recall us being top 6 after stuffing Leeds 3-0 in Dec 86 and thinking we’ll come straight back, we finished 15th. Only a short spell under Talbot in 88/89 gave hope then the wilderness arrived big time. 3rd division, stuffings at home v the likes of Swindon, Plymouth and Crewe.
The club has seen some decent years as has been said since the 2000s. An 8th place under Clarke and 8 years in a row is reasonable for our kind of club in the modern era.

Exactly. The Saunders (86/87) was the worst, but not by much. I remember that Leeds game,Palmer and Snodin sent off for an almighty scrap and Nobby Stiles' son followed. We were 5th then and the following week we won at the odsal Stadium, 3-1 v Bradford. I remember thinking at the time, we look good and this win will sacre our rivals. Then it went downhill. After the 88/89 'nearly season' we had Woking, Twerton Park, Halifax (I was at all 3) and finally the collapse under Gould and the abandonment at Shrewsbury when the crossbar was snapped 10 mins before the final whistle. 

Ossie lifted us and for a short while Burkinshaw did ok, but apart from Harford and a little bit under Smith, we were treading water the whole time until almost going under with Little in charge.

[Mancbaggies]

My point in the OP was to really compare the last 19 years, with the previous 19 (when we fell from 4th in the old 1st Division to 20th in the equivalent of the second Division, which included years of struggle and two years in the Third Tier). Around November 1999, Terry Wills (plus slip ons) was on a Radio 2 programme about once good/great clubs. (then, I think, just before R5). We were the first club featured in the series - I think Burnley and Huddersfield were the other clubs. I taped it at the time and listened back to it a few times. I will always recall Wills saying he did not think he'd ever see us in the top flight again. I felt much like it too. This was the time of Brian Little; an unbeaten start, mainly draws,  had faded into the distance and we'd been forced to sell Kilbane before a match at Grimsby for a knock down price which eventually saw Tony Hale step down. We were a mess and at least Paul Thompson (despite his ego) came in and moved things on. 2 and half years later we were back in the top flight after 16 years out.

We have had a lot since then and we are at least taken seriously more now. In the 90s we had become a bit of a joke outside our own support, and sometimes even within it. 1985 to 2000 was a depressing time. 2000-2019 not so, even though we could have done more at times.

 
Great post. That final line is also very true

[Mancbaggies]

The 90s were truly hideous. I recall us being top 6 after stuffing Leeds 3-0 in Dec 86 and thinking we’ll come straight back, we finished 15th. Only a short spell under Talbot in 88/89 gave hope then the wilderness arrived big time. 3rd division, stuffings at home v the likes of Swindon, Plymouth and Crewe.
The club has seen some decent years as has been said since the 2000s. An 8th place under Clarke and 8 years in a row is reasonable for our kind of club in the modern era.

Exactly. The Saunders (86/87) was the worst, but not by much. I remember that Leeds game,Palmer and Snodin sent off for an almighty scrap and Nobby Stiles' son followed. We were 5th then and the following week we won at the odsal Stadium, 3-1 v Bradford. I remember thinking at the time, we look good and this win will sacre our rivals. Then it went downhill. After the 88/89 'nearly season' we had Woking, Twerton Park, Halifax (I was at all 3) and finally the collapse under Gould and the abandonment at Shrewsbury when the crossbar was snapped 10 mins before the final whistle. 

Ossie lifted us and for a short while Burkinshaw did ok, but apart from Harford and a little bit under Smith, we were treading water the whole time until almost going under with Little in charge.

I honestly thought we would come straight back up with Ipswich in 86/87. We were doing fine until a dire 2-1 home defeat to reading the Friday before Christmas and then a pathetic 0-1 at Shrewsbury on Boxing Day.  We didn’t win for 2 months - but I still thought we might nick 6th after a win and a draw in feb. Talk about clutching

[ColliersWoodBaggie]

The 90s were truly hideous. I recall us being top 6 after stuffing Leeds 3-0 in Dec 86 and thinking we’ll come straight back, we finished 15th. Only a short spell under Talbot in 88/89 gave hope then the wilderness arrived big time. 3rd division, stuffings at home v the likes of Swindon, Plymouth and Crewe.
The club has seen some decent years as has been said since the 2000s. An 8th place under Clarke and 8 years in a row is reasonable for our kind of club in the modern era.

Exactly. The Saunders (86/87) was the worst, but not by much. I remember that Leeds game,Palmer and Snodin sent off for an almighty scrap and Nobby Stiles' son followed. We were 5th then and the following week we won at the odsal Stadium, 3-1 v Bradford. I remember thinking at the time, we look good and this win will sacre our rivals. Then it went downhill. After the 88/89 'nearly season' we had Woking, Twerton Park, Halifax (I was at all 3) and finally the collapse under Gould and the abandonment at Shrewsbury when the crossbar was snapped 10 mins before the final whistle. 

Ossie lifted us and for a short while Burkinshaw did ok, but apart from Harford and a little bit under Smith, we were treading water the whole time until almost going under with Little in charge.

I honestly thought we would come straight back up with Ipswich in 86/87. We were doing fine until a dire 2-1 home defeat to reading the Friday before Christmas and then a pathetic 0-1 at Shrewsbury on Boxing Day.  We didn’t win for 2 months - but I still thought we might nick 6th after a win and a draw in feb. Talk about clutching

I went to the Shrewsbury Boxing Day game - away end was rammed and a geriatric Gerry Daly got the winner. I then got back in time to Fellows Park to see Walsall win 2-0 v Newport.2 games in a day -  Heady days.  

Another thing about that Shrewsbury match - they beat Brum 1-0 in the game before ours and the match photos included a young Julian Dicks standing in the net after Shrews' goal.

---

The 90s were truly hideous. I recall us being top 6 after stuffing Leeds 3-0 in Dec 86 and thinking we’ll come straight back, we finished 15th. Only a short spell under Talbot in 88/89 gave hope then the wilderness arrived big time. 3rd division, stuffings at home v the likes of Swindon, Plymouth and Crewe.
The club has seen some decent years as has been said since the 2000s. An 8th place under Clarke and 8 years in a row is reasonable for our kind of club in the modern era.

Exactly. The Saunders (86/87) was the worst, but not by much. I remember that Leeds game,Palmer and Snodin sent off for an almighty scrap and Nobby Stiles' son followed. We were 5th then and the following week we won at the odsal Stadium, 3-1 v Bradford. I remember thinking at the time, we look good and this win will sacre our rivals. Then it went downhill. After the 88/89 'nearly season' we had Woking, Twerton Park, Halifax (I was at all 3) and finally the collapse under Gould and the abandonment at Shrewsbury when the crossbar was snapped 10 mins before the final whistle. 

Ossie lifted us and for a short while Burkinshaw did ok, but apart from Harford and a little bit under Smith, we were treading water the whole time until almost going under with Little in charge.

I honestly thought we would come straight back up with Ipswich in 86/87. We were doing fine until a dire 2-1 home defeat to reading the Friday before Christmas and then a pathetic 0-1 at Shrewsbury on Boxing Day.  We didn’t win for 2 months - but I still thought we might nick 6th after a win and a draw in feb. Talk about clutching

Yes, we beat Stoke 4-1 stopping a on a unbeaten run they'd had (around 14-5 games) and got a very good draw at Derby who were flying.

[Kit Kat Chunky]

Fuckin' well said.

Pulisball

Many seasons nearer the bottom than the top

A return to where we came from

A select few people considerably richer

Not surprised with either of your posts. Really don't see the point in you 'supporting' the Albion. If you can't come away with what's happened since (the OP info) with some absolutely insane, happy memories with the odd dip (happens to most outside the elite clubs) then i'd give up.
It's been fucking brilliant and apart from the last season under Pulis there's only a cup final missing. 
As much as I agree with Duffers' post there are dozens more that could have been added too.

I've been a season ticket holder for 40 years, and been on over 70 grounds with Albion.

I'm entitled to my opinion, and if you don't like it, you can FRO.

Didn't say otherwise. You're monumentally boring and negative unless you think you know something about FFP or the like which invariably you don't.

Don't pick on me, Worcs.

You know fuck all about anything.

Conversation ends.

[Duffers]

The truth is there are about 70 clubs who would kill for the last 20 years we’ve had.

[Hopalong]

All that cash we have earned in the last 20 years and it has all been spunked away. What do we have to show for it?

year on year reduction in capacity! 

---

All that cash we have earned in the last 20 years and it has all been spunked away. What do we have to show for it?

Several years in the PL,
A Championship title,
Beating Villa a few times
The 5-1 at Molineux,
A Cup Semi Final,
Winning at Old Trafford, Emirates, Anfield, Goodison
Beating Chelsea, Spurs, United, Arsenal, Liverpool at home,
Seeing Gera, Odemwingie, Lukaku, Koumas, Kanu, Barnes and more in the stripes,
Having Roy in the dugout,
Being pretty good for a while,
Iffy Udeze

You forgot Sess and Anelka.  

---

The truth is there are about 70 clubs who would kill for the last 20 years we’ve had.

Probably 80!

[SW4Baggie]

Reading through this does make me think, would we be in a better position now had we not appointed Pulis, and probably been relegated in 14/15? (Even though it is worth noting that we weren't in the bottom 3 at any time after September that season, and we were only in it for a week then... we were 16th when AFI was sacked)

Effectively Pulis's 3 years with us offered very little that we hadn't seen under Roy/Clarke previously as we seemed happy to tread water whilst JP sold the club.

[BasingBaggie]

Whilst I wouldn't disagree with the OP I have to say that the away days 20 years ago were brilliant. Halifax away in the cup, whilst an absolute appalling performance, was still a great day out. It may have a lot to do with being 50 now however I remember those away days far more fondly than ones in the Premiership