Today I'm going back 41 years to 1980 and York City's home game against Doncaster Rovers.
York's home programmes in this era were, frankly, rubbish. A single sheet of paper folded over a couple of times and with half of the content being advertising. The cover price shown was only paid by those who wanted a programme but hadn't attended the match as they were given away free on the turnstiles as part of the admission price.
Rovers scored in the first half of this game in front of a crowd of 4,641 and their only goal was enough to secure the win. Looking back at the end of season table it's perhaps a little surprising that Rovers didn't win by more. Season 1980/1 was a good one for Doncaster and they secured promotion to Division Three finishing in third place whereas the once mighty Minstermen finished dead last and were forced to go through the re-election process.
Billy Bremner was Doncaster Rovers manager that day and for almost five years from November 1979 until October 1985. He later had a further two and a bit year period in charge at the club from June 1989 until November 1991 with much of the period between the two Rovers spells having been spent managing Leeds United. Bremner, who died in 1997 aged not quite 55 years old, was once voted as Leeds United's greatest player of all time and these days he has a statue erected in his honour outside Elland Road. Bremner made his debut for Leeds during season 1959/60 as a seventeen year old and he would go on to make 773 appearances for Leeds, scoring 114 goals before leaving the club for Hull City in September 1976. One newspaper dubbed him as ten stone of barbed wire due to his spiky temperament and tough tackling and what he lacked in height (he was only 5 foot 5 inches) he more than made up for in tenacity.
Also in the Doncaster line-up that day was future York City manager Alan Little who took charge of City in March 1993 following the sudden departure of John Ward to Bristol Rovers. He was to remain in the hot seat for six years and took York to promotion via a penalty shootout in the Play-Off Final at Wembley in 1993. Little was also in charge of the side when they famously knocked both Manchester United and then Everton out of the League Cup. Little had arrived at Doncaster Rovers in December 1979 for a club record transfer fee of £25,000 and he proceeded to make 85 league appearances for Rovers scoring 11 goals before moving on to Torquay in 1982.
CRB Match No. 102
Comments
Post a Comment