50yrs ago today

[Adam29]

On this day 50yrs ago Barrow hosted South Liverpool in the Northern Premier League infront of what is the lowest ever recorded attendance at Holker St of 143
The game finished 2-2

Anyone who was at that game post on here? And fancy coming on the radio this evening?

[Desmond2-2]

I certainly know I was there, can recollect the score, but nothing really about the game,possibly some fisticuffs between some supporters, I think.

[ossickbluebird]

There's your opportunity to be a radio star Dessie

[pjdaly]

Very interesting prompt, Adam. I am very confident that I will have been there on 22-12-73, on account of the fact that I was always there, but I don't have any definite recollections . . . unless perhaps (and it's not certain) it was the match where something happened that is unrivalled in its drama. And that something is that moment when Stuart Liddell ran off the pitch, hurdling the barrier in front of the old wooden stand, and raced up into said stand and proceeded to strangle an opposition fan who had been giving him stick throughout the match. Forget Cantona, forget the Ollie Watkins incident for Villa last weekend, this was player-reaction to fan-abuse on a scale never equalled. Fortunately our manager Peter Kane chased after him and wrestled Liddell away before the strangling attempt was fully executed. Now I will raise my own hands, not to attempt to strangle anyone but to say I am not certain it was this particular match but my memory tells me it was a match against South Liverpool. Could be wrong about the match. However, the Liddell strangling attempt in the middle of the old stand was a real, genuine occurrence.

What is certain, Adam, is that the South Liverpool match you have alluded to marked the beginning of the second half of that 46-match 1973-74 season. At kick-off that day, Barrow had played 23 games and had the woeful tally of 11 points. Yes, just 11 points at the half-way point of that season. That is humiliating in itself but it was made all the worse by the fact that the NPL and many of its clubs did not like us, probably because our pitch was such a disgrace, and the rumour-mill had it that should Barrow finish in the re-election places at the end of that season the other clubs were queuing up to vote us out of the NPL and quite possibly into oblivion. However, our team, comprising mostly local lads, produced a much better second half of that season, doubling our points tally from the first half by gaining 22 points and an end-of-season total of 33 points which saved us by just one single point from finishing in the bottom two places and being forced to apply for re-election. It was arguably the most spirited fight back from the brink we have ever pulled off, perhaps only echoed by what Rob Kelly did three years ago. Kelly and Kane both got tunes out of struggling teams and it's why we celebrate these managers, even though we are talking about teams that finished very close to the drop. Just as we still remember Kelly's Heroes we ought to equally remember Kane's Heroes (as I said, mostly local players).

[32mile_cul-de-sac]

shows fans were as fickle back then as they are today

[Bingley Blue]

Very interesting prompt, Adam. I am very confident that I will have been there on 22-12-73, on account of the fact that I was always there, but I don't have any definite recollections . . . unless perhaps (and it's not certain) it was the match where something happened that is unrivalled in its drama. And that something is that moment when Stuart Liddell ran off the pitch, hurdling the barrier in front of the old wooden stand, and raced up into said stand and proceeded to strangle an opposition fan who had been giving him stick throughout the match. Forget Cantona, forget the Ollie Watkins incident for Villa last weekend, this was player-reaction to fan-abuse on a scale never equalled. Fortunately our manager Peter Kane chased after him and wrestled Liddell away before the strangling attempt was fully executed. Now I will raise my own hands, not to attempt to strangle anyone but to say I am not certain it was this particular match but my memory tells me it was a match against South Liverpool. Could be wrong about the match. However, the Liddell strangling attempt in the middle of the old stand was a real, genuine occurrence.

What is certain, Adam, is that the South Liverpool match you have alluded to marked the beginning of the second half of that 46-match 1973-74 season. At kick-off that day, Barrow had played 23 games and had the woeful tally of 11 points. Yes, just 11 points at the half-way point of that season. That is humiliating in itself but it was made all the worse by the fact that the NPL and many of its clubs did not like us, probably because our pitch was such a disgrace, and the rumour-mill had it that should Barrow finish in the re-election places at the end of that season the other clubs were queuing up to vote us out of the NPL and quite possibly into oblivion. However, our team, comprising mostly local lads, produced a much better second half of that season, doubling our points tally from the first half by gaining 22 points and an end-of-season total of 33 points which saved us by just one single point from finishing in the bottom two places and being forced to apply for re-election. It was arguably the most spirited fight back from the brink we have ever pulled off, perhaps only echoed by what Rob Kelly did three years ago. Kelly and Kane both got tunes out of struggling teams and it's why we celebrate these managers, even though we are talking about teams that finished very close to the drop. Just as we still remember Kelly's Heroes we ought to equally remember Kane's Heroes (as I said, mostly local players).

Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting read. Wasn’t going then and nice to get some new info

[BillyBlue]

Can remember the Stuart Liddell incident but not sure it was against South Liverpool, think it was a Barrow fan who was giving him stick that he reacted to.
Completely agree that Peter Kana should be held in high regard for what he did in his time here with the combination of local and Scottish players playing for pennies.

[blumooncrab]

Brilliant story ! Thanks for sharing.
Back in the old NPL days, I always enjoyed the games v Netherfield , our local rivals. One filthy Tuesday night , my mates and I went into the stand in the second half to get out of the rain. Late on , one of the Netherfield players went down and for the umpteenth time their trainer ran on to the pitch with the magic sponge , and cold water. The guy was bald, well less than 5 foot tall and looked like the short guy off the Benny Hill show . So every time he came on, we sang the tune and royally took the proverbial out of him . This had been going on for sometime, when eventually the lady sitting in front of us turned around promptly and started hitting us furiously with her brolly. Our astonishment was short lived , as she exclaimed “ That’s my husband, you rotten buggers!” .

[frankums]

Pretty sure I was there, but can't remember any details I'm afraid. Probably thought a point was a good result!