Andy Whittle.....good friend i made whilst being in the scouts in our local village of Edwinstowe home of the now famous Centre parks , not as famous for robin hood anymore I'm afraid...The thing about Mr whittle is that not only did he live in our village he supported Tottenham Hotspur. I think he put his finger on a map of England and it landed in north London, Not only did he support spurs he went to every game ,Every game!, from league games to European games Mr whittle or whit as we called him was there, in fact he was quite well known to the spurs players for being the lad from Mansfield , even leaving free tickets at some games for him to get in for his devotion .
Craig Green .( Greeny)..another good friend of mine from school in Stowe , originally from stockport in greater Manchester, moved to Stowe in middle 1970s big Manchester City fan used to have a season ticket at Maine road till he moved to notts , then just went when he could, still cant get over the fact he won a tenner off me for predicting wolves would beat forest and Andy Gray would score the winning goal in the 1980 league cup final ...git
Andy Nelson (nellie) mate of mine not a regular mate as he was whits pal and not in my circles , He lives and breathes Sheffield utd home and away every week with the blades also doing his FA coaching badge and had got a job showing and entertaining the football dignitaries whilst Euro 96 was on ....this job would have a bearing later on in this tale....
Glyn Brownley ....yes that's me a ex miner and now bread packer at warbutons Eastwood factory, self confessed Nottingham Forest supporter and Season ticket holder home and away , i even used to tape east midlands today sport clips for anything forest related..i even called my first born after the greatest left back forest and England ever had ....Stuart psycho Pearce .I was totally football and nffc mad ...(still am really )
Whit had talked about Euro 96 ever since it had been announced that England had got the nod for the European championships , me to i couldn't wait ......as the song went Footballs coming home its coming home its coming..etc.
because i was a season ticket holder at Nottingham forest with my then wife Lynne i could apply for 2 sets of tickets and was guaranteed a final ticket if i purchased the package ...three group games a qtr final semi final and final ..this was for the approx cost of £150 each ... Not bad when you look at prices these days ! Whit also got tickets which we put together so we could sit aside. Each other. we applied for these tickets probably a year and a half before the championships so when it finally got here we were really excited , we were hoping for England games but wernt hopeful as the rest of England were wishing the same thing. When the tickets arrived we were given quite a crap journey through the groups and qtrs ...our semi was at old trafford so England had to finish second to end up playing their instead of wembley....
because i was a season ticket holder at Nottingham forest with my then wife Lynne i could apply for 2 sets of tickets and was guaranteed a final ticket if i purchased the package ...three group games a qtr final semi final and final ..this was for the approx cost of £150 each ... Not bad when you look at prices these days ! Whit also got tickets which we put together so we could sit aside. Each other. we applied for these tickets probably a year and a half before the championships so when it finally got here we were really excited , we were hoping for England games but wernt hopeful as the rest of England were wishing the same thing. When the tickets arrived we were given quite a crap journey through the groups and qtrs ...our semi was at old trafford so England had to finish second to end up playing their instead of wembley....
Our first game was on 10th June 96 at villa park Birmingham Netherlands v Scotland group A at 16:30 ..wow what a game to get for your first of a major championships, I drove i think in my sierra , me whit greeny (craig) and a spare ticket off to brum , we parked up in a social club not far from villa park , walking down to the ground was amazing ....Newspapers were reporting there would be bedlam from day one of the euros starting , England's disease would ruin it for everyone...nope , far from it the streets around villa park were full of dutch , Scottish , English , poles ..etc it was a carnival atmosphere , i can still see the police putting clogs on their heads whilst dutch and Scottish fans put police helmets on, lamp posts had Scottish fans hanging from them like longshanks had all them years ago ...we sold the the spare ticket for about 30 quid to a tout if memory serves right , funnily enough i asked the guy how much he paid in the ground ...he replied nowt laddie a pol..ice man gave it me after a tout got nicked ...ha ha quality.
The game its self was 0-0 good atmosphere all round ,we sat in the Trinity road stand cant remember much about it but for a goalless draw we was well happy with the start of the Euros .
The game its self was 0-0 good atmosphere all round ,we sat in the Trinity road stand cant remember much about it but for a goalless draw we was well happy with the start of the Euros .
(England had started their group A game against Switzerland on the previous Saturday opening the tournament with a 1-1 draw at Wembley, the country had waited with baited breath for this and probably would have won with a 23rd min Alan shearer goal but for the Swiss getting a pen in the 83rd min although Seaman made a world class save in the dying Min's ...pressure was now on for our next game ...SCOTLAND. )
Our next game was supposed to be at my own teams stadium the City Ground Nottingham for Portugal v Turkey then at Sheffield's Hillsbrough for Croatia v Denmark but due to work i couldn't make , Whit went to both with our tickets apparently we didn't miss much but it would have been nice to see the city ground in a world viewed game.
15th June 1996 15:00 hours England v Scotland at Wembley one of the biggest games ever between the oldest foes in world football, I wasn't at the game , but like most of England i was watching the tv..in Blackpool with a mate and some bottles of beer...The game itself will be remembered for Paul Gascoignes wonder goal and his celebration with the water bottle being squeezed from the hands of Teddy Sheringham...The dentists Chair as it has been immortalised. Shearer had scored first after a goalless first half then gazza struck and the nation went football mad , England were buzzing and i might get to see them win a trophy for the first time since 1966.... England's final game was against Holland , we only needed a draw but Terry's boys wernt thinking along those lines as they hammered the dutch 4-1 apparently it was a masterclass , I have to confess as i was on nights that evening i never saw the game but every chance i got i would run out to my car in the warburtons factory car park 1-0 2-0 3-0 bloody hell !! 4-0 and finally 4-1 against a quality dutch side ...this was amazing ,i remember everyone in the factory cheering the score , England won the group and would play Spain in the qtr finals at wembley .
My next game was to be on Sunday 23rd of June at villa park a quarter final between Czech republic and Portugal, but before that Whit asked me if i fancied travelling down to Wembley for the England v.Spain game , "we can soak up the atmosphere " then watch the game in the pub also nellie was at wembley doing his FA role . Whit drove down in his vauxhall estate car and we parked up at stanmore , (always parked there for forest at wembley) .Jumped onto the tube off to wembley , although we didn't have tickets we were excited just feeling the mood around us England shirts a plenty , flags banners hats etc it was one hell of a happy feel. Off we got at wembley station it was really busy the touts were outside asking for spares and charging ridiculous prices for the desparates, We were resigned to a pub television ..over Wembley way we walked up to the great stadium itself and around to the side where the press area was , Whit phoned Nellie who came down to see us for a chat ..Andy Nelson was my hero that day ? He knew someone in side who had a few spares , He told them inside that a couple of chauffeurs outside had driven the sheriff and mayor of Nottingham to see the game & needed tickets, of which were given for their face value cost ...We was going to see England v Spain in the flesh ...no telly but for real ..get in . We took our seats in the end opposite where the famous penalty shoot out took place, Now you will laugh at this....everyone in the ground was singing to skinner and baddiels 3 lions song and everyone seemed to know the words! All except moi ..i was doing the lets put your own words into the bits i didn't know thing ...later on that evening i asked the lads how they had learned the words? "Did you not notice the twenty foot scoreboard showing the lyrics to the song ......doh!! Spain to my knowledge should have won the game i think they had a couple of goals ruled out for offside , but the lions held firm and managed to get through the game and et 0-0 ...Gulp ..penalty's it is then, shearer & Platt both scored for England whilst hierro missed one for Spain 2-1 us.Then came one of them moments in history when you know where you was and how you felt, still to this day i can feel how much pressure my already weak heart was feeling as my hero and idol Stuart Pearce walked up to take his pen , as a forest fan we had also gone through most of his pain which was evident after the infamous miss in world cup 1990 semi final against Germany "you lost the world cup for Engerland" was often the cry whenever opposite fans tried to bait psyhco , and he always answered that chant in the most professional way , by usually scoring the winner against them as Manchester utd fans know to their cost!..in 1990 see video.
We were stood as i said opposite the end he was taking the penalty at...The whole of wembley stadium was holding its breath in what seemed a lifetime Stuart took the penalty and without any doubt wiped away all his demons & ours i think ..As he punched the air, with all his emotion in the end of his fist, we went well mental i believe all the bruises on my legs were from the seats id jumped and fell over Nadal then missed for Spain , gazza then dispatched the winning goal , England had won on penalties.There was alot of tears shed that day as emotions got the better of us I'm not sure but i don't think much alcohol was drunk either ,we were drunk off the adrenalin of football . Coming out of Wembley took us ages we soaked up the atmosphere as much as we could ,England were in a semi final of the euros .i can honestly say its the happiest Ive ever felt from a football match , wonder how id feel if we actually win it as Ive got a final ticket.
We were stood as i said opposite the end he was taking the penalty at...The whole of wembley stadium was holding its breath in what seemed a lifetime Stuart took the penalty and without any doubt wiped away all his demons & ours i think ..As he punched the air, with all his emotion in the end of his fist, we went well mental i believe all the bruises on my legs were from the seats id jumped and fell over Nadal then missed for Spain , gazza then dispatched the winning goal , England had won on penalties.There was alot of tears shed that day as emotions got the better of us I'm not sure but i don't think much alcohol was drunk either ,we were drunk off the adrenalin of football . Coming out of Wembley took us ages we soaked up the atmosphere as much as we could ,England were in a semi final of the euros .i can honestly say its the happiest Ive ever felt from a football match , wonder how id feel if we actually win it as Ive got a final ticket.
Blimey only yesterday i was at Wembley ,today its back to villa park for the Portugal v Czech republic , cant remember who drove but we parked up in same place as for the Scotland game, The mood was really good especially with the neutral English fans . For this game we sat in the Holte end half way up it was quite a good game which the eastern Europeans won 1-0 with a great goal from Karel Poborsky i think this goal convinced Man utd to sign him
although he got a premier league medal he hardly got a kick due to a certain David Beckham coming to prominence...
Wednesday 26th June old trafford Manchester 16:00 European championships semi final .France v Czech Republic .Not where we wanted to be obviously but hey its not everyday you get to see a game like this, We had a walk around old trafford taking in the sights , lots of excited Frenchmen , (France had beaten Holland on pens in their quarter final after a 0-0 draw), and eastern Europeans with painted faces and very large flags , We were in a good but strange mood our minds were down the M1 or M6 in London we could have been watching England in a semi at OT if they hadn't won their group , Never mind this will have to do before we get to a pub to see Terry Venables lions hammer the Germans? Our seats for this game were in the North stand , right at the bloody top it must have taken us twenty minutes to reach our seats , good job we didn't suffer vertigo! when the players appeared they looked like matchstick men, A S Lowery must have been a red devil ? The game was in my mind if memory recalls .well..shite! not just because of the pending lions game , No this was probably one of the worst games of euro 96 , The Czech Republic won on pens and were in the final . But who would they play well we shall soon find out ? As the referee had blown his whistle we were running down the old trafford stand as fast as we could out the ground up the road
all the way to the home of lancashire cricket old trafford, where we had parked for the obligatory fiver. I believe Whit got us to a pub called the white hart just in time for the kick off ...Think id just had a couple of swigs of my pint before it went into the air as Shearer scored his 5th goal of the championships we was going mad , only got to hang on for another 87 Min's !! well we didn't last to long cos Kuntz scored in the 16th min and ruined our party ...Kuntz.............1-1 at full time ..pens were looming , the pub was full of blokes with painful expressions , hands on heads fingers in mouths oohs aaaahs , God it was horrible in the final minute of ET Paul gascoigne slid in and missed the ball by millimetres to win the game for England . Full time. penalty's was the order of the day. Shearer , Platt , Pearce , Gazza , sheringham all scored but the Germans matched them each time , Sudden death . As Gareth Southgate went to take his pen I'm sure the whole pub had seen the script! a heavy sigh greeted his name and yes as you know he missed, The pub was silent as Moller stepped up to silence a nation . I know id had a few beers but I'm not ashamed to say i cried as did many others around me , As we drove back through the bleak landscape home you couldn't hear a pin drop in the car . There wernt and still isn't enough words to describe how it felt to be robbed of the awaiting glory .
30th June 1996 Wembley stadium Germany v Czech Republic , Me whit and Greeny all travelled up to London again in whits car , poor lad always seemed to end up driving, Mind he used to do some reporting for a company in the far east so he needed to be sober, The talk in the car was all about how it should have been England , but it wasn't . Same again off the M1 at the Edgware turn off up to stanmore tube station , parking in a very nice area just at the side of the station i bet the residents used to hate football. Onto the tube and up to Wembley way , We had tickets for the European championships final but it just didn't feel right without England . The mood around Wembley was great , Ive never seen as many Germans in all my life , there were thousands and guess what ..... not all of them had tickets . Greeny was never one to pass up on a money making venture , so when he announced sod it I'm selling my ticket i wasn't surprised , There were so many Germans asking to buy our tickets even i succumbed , 70 Deutsche Marks was offered by these fans for our tickets , of which it worked out about £100 , well it would have been rude not to !
So me and Greeny had sold our tickets that would have been worth a grand if England were in the final, for one hundred quid to a couple of overjoyed bosh, Whit wasn't too fazed we wernt going as he was football daft and the thought of this final still had him engrossed, we waved off whit on wembley way organising to meet up at the car when the game was over , It was quite funny as we walked up to wembley tube station the whole world was going towards the stadium whilst we waded through the throngs of people with our German Money in hand , we was off to bond street to exchange the marks to pounds , We got back to stanmore and went to the pub on the roundabout , think its called the man on the moon , ive had a few good pre match drinks in here with Nottingham Forest. The match between Germany and the czechs was very entertaining the czechs scored first through Patrik Berger who would sign for liverpool. Germany equlaised in the 73rd min through Oliver Bierhoff Extra time came and the same player Bierhoff scored a goal what proved to be the end of the championships due to the Golden Goal rule , The Germans had done it again won a major championship even though they were favorites , they know how to handle pressure.Whit got back to the car about the same time as us we were half cut and ready to fall asleep as soon as the car set off.....Whit told us how he really had a good time apart from the Germans in our seats never shutting up, Think id be the same though if it had been our lot?
Euro 96 was over , Although we didnt win the trophy England had done us proud , they played some of the best football our nation has ever seen , The fans had also done their bit to and national pride had taken over from the moronic displays of racism and hooliganism which had gone before us ,familys were once again engulfed in the pleasure of watching a team they could be proud of. Heroes like Gazza , Pearce and Shearer in fact the whole squad were heroes in my eyes ........thanks for reading click on the link to see how close we were !!! oh and i did manage to learn the words eventually.....its coming home it's coming home lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anlX9QIpT14
Wednesday 26th June old trafford Manchester 16:00 European championships semi final .France v Czech Republic .Not where we wanted to be obviously but hey its not everyday you get to see a game like this, We had a walk around old trafford taking in the sights , lots of excited Frenchmen , (France had beaten Holland on pens in their quarter final after a 0-0 draw), and eastern Europeans with painted faces and very large flags , We were in a good but strange mood our minds were down the M1 or M6 in London we could have been watching England in a semi at OT if they hadn't won their group , Never mind this will have to do before we get to a pub to see Terry Venables lions hammer the Germans? Our seats for this game were in the North stand , right at the bloody top it must have taken us twenty minutes to reach our seats , good job we didn't suffer vertigo! when the players appeared they looked like matchstick men, A S Lowery must have been a red devil ? The game was in my mind if memory recalls .well..shite! not just because of the pending lions game , No this was probably one of the worst games of euro 96 , The Czech Republic won on pens and were in the final . But who would they play well we shall soon find out ? As the referee had blown his whistle we were running down the old trafford stand as fast as we could out the ground up the road
all the way to the home of lancashire cricket old trafford, where we had parked for the obligatory fiver. I believe Whit got us to a pub called the white hart just in time for the kick off ...Think id just had a couple of swigs of my pint before it went into the air as Shearer scored his 5th goal of the championships we was going mad , only got to hang on for another 87 Min's !! well we didn't last to long cos Kuntz scored in the 16th min and ruined our party ...Kuntz.............1-1 at full time ..pens were looming , the pub was full of blokes with painful expressions , hands on heads fingers in mouths oohs aaaahs , God it was horrible in the final minute of ET Paul gascoigne slid in and missed the ball by millimetres to win the game for England . Full time. penalty's was the order of the day. Shearer , Platt , Pearce , Gazza , sheringham all scored but the Germans matched them each time , Sudden death . As Gareth Southgate went to take his pen I'm sure the whole pub had seen the script! a heavy sigh greeted his name and yes as you know he missed, The pub was silent as Moller stepped up to silence a nation . I know id had a few beers but I'm not ashamed to say i cried as did many others around me , As we drove back through the bleak landscape home you couldn't hear a pin drop in the car . There wernt and still isn't enough words to describe how it felt to be robbed of the awaiting glory .
So me and Greeny had sold our tickets that would have been worth a grand if England were in the final, for one hundred quid to a couple of overjoyed bosh, Whit wasn't too fazed we wernt going as he was football daft and the thought of this final still had him engrossed, we waved off whit on wembley way organising to meet up at the car when the game was over , It was quite funny as we walked up to wembley tube station the whole world was going towards the stadium whilst we waded through the throngs of people with our German Money in hand , we was off to bond street to exchange the marks to pounds , We got back to stanmore and went to the pub on the roundabout , think its called the man on the moon , ive had a few good pre match drinks in here with Nottingham Forest. The match between Germany and the czechs was very entertaining the czechs scored first through Patrik Berger who would sign for liverpool. Germany equlaised in the 73rd min through Oliver Bierhoff Extra time came and the same player Bierhoff scored a goal what proved to be the end of the championships due to the Golden Goal rule , The Germans had done it again won a major championship even though they were favorites , they know how to handle pressure.Whit got back to the car about the same time as us we were half cut and ready to fall asleep as soon as the car set off.....Whit told us how he really had a good time apart from the Germans in our seats never shutting up, Think id be the same though if it had been our lot?
Euro 96 was over , Although we didnt win the trophy England had done us proud , they played some of the best football our nation has ever seen , The fans had also done their bit to and national pride had taken over from the moronic displays of racism and hooliganism which had gone before us ,familys were once again engulfed in the pleasure of watching a team they could be proud of. Heroes like Gazza , Pearce and Shearer in fact the whole squad were heroes in my eyes ........thanks for reading click on the link to see how close we were !!! oh and i did manage to learn the words eventually.....its coming home it's coming home lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anlX9QIpT14
Nice one Glyn. Brought back some great memories. Apart from the Pearce free kick...
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