As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Kiwi Gooner wrote:What a fantastic thread!
And thanks for the pics, Basil.
I'm still gutted that I never got to see a match at Highbury.
I'd followed Arsenal fanatically from here in NZ for nearly 30 years when we moved to the Grove.
I finally got over there in October, 2007 (first match Arsenal 2 Bolton 0).
The first thing I did when I got to London was head to Highbury. The workmen there went and got me a brick from the East Stand.
It sits on my desk at work where I'm sitting now.
I envy all you Gooners who stood on the North Bank.
And for those of you who were at the '89 match at Anfield, I'd happily cut off your heads and drink up your memories!
Kiwi Gooner wrote:What a fantastic thread!
And thanks for the pics, Basil.
I'm still gutted that I never got to see a match at Highbury.
I'd followed Arsenal fanatically from here in NZ for nearly 30 years when we moved to the Grove.
I finally got over there in October, 2007 (first match Arsenal 2 Bolton 0).
The first thing I did when I got to London was head to Highbury. The workmen there went and got me a brick from the East Stand.
It sits on my desk at work where I'm sitting now.
I envy all you Gooners who stood on the North Bank.
And for those of you who were at the '89 match at Anfield, I'd happily cut off your heads and drink up your memories!
Cor this thread brings it back. i used to start out next to to furthest pole (holding up the roof) on the right and everything: the danger, the darts, the piss, the gob, the smell, the half-time band, those steps up littered with bovver boys, knocking coppers helmets off, shit games, surging, Richie Powling .... was a laugh.
Glad I was there and although you try to move on footballistically etc, part of me can't actually let it go.
I remember the top side, the middle...the fact that I either had to stand at the back to the western side, or right down the front, being a shortarse...
...the constant falling down into everyone else...
Kiwi Gooner wrote:What a fantastic thread!
And thanks for the pics, Basil.
I'm still gutted that I never got to see a match at Highbury.
I'd followed Arsenal fanatically from here in NZ for nearly 30 years when we moved to the Grove.
I finally got over there in October, 2007 (first match Arsenal 2 Bolton 0).
The first thing I did when I got to London was head to Highbury. The workmen there went and got me a brick from the East Stand.
It sits on my desk at work where I'm sitting now.
I envy all you Gooners who stood on the North Bank. And for those of you who were at the '89 match at Anfield, I'd happily cut off your heads and drink up your memories!
you must be a member of the Mongrels.
a very special night indeed and will NEVER be bettered. My prize possession is my ticket stub signed by Michael Thomas.
My first time on the NB was 70p to get in. We ALWAYS did 2 for a £1 on the turnstile. Those blokes made a small fortune back then. Alternativbely you paid 25p to get ine the schoolboy enclosure then jump the fence.
Great stories guys, very Jealous of all the experiences! By the time I got into the famous North Bank it had seats Did have some great times though!
Like the time I come home from school about 9 years ago, i was around 8/9 my dad come up to me with a brown penny sweet bag and he said there you go son, have some penny sweets. I opened the bag to find three tickets to Arsenal v Derby County - North bank. It was the game after that brilliant Bergkamp goal @ Newcastle, we won the Derby game 1-0, Pires scored around the 70th minute mark.
And to this day, that is still the best day ive had so far in my life.
Great Thread. I went to my 1st game in 1977 just before my 7th birthday on the NB and stood there for 90 % of games until they tore it down. The crushes we used to get in the late 70's were mental but even though I was just a kid it didn't frighten me as my old man would sit me on a crash barrier just behind the goal or stand over on the edge by the fence next to the West Lower.
The Man City League Cup game that some of you mentioned was the most packed I can recall being inside the NB although there were other games particularly a Liverpool game in the 80's with 55k inside on a hot day which were also packed. I can recall the filth taking half the North Bank in 1979 or 1980 as me and my dad were on the edge by the fence with the West Lower when they suddenly piled in, that was pretty scary because most Arsenal fans seemed to be on the other side of the North Bank but old bill were kept busy.
IN the mid 80's I was going to games with mates and graduated up to the middle and the bottom although I couldn't see the game if I was in the topside. Singing all game and the craic we had were iconic moments of being on the NB, we were shit for most of that period but we enjoyed ourselves pretty much whatever.
The day they tore it down was a truly sad day and I stayed there for ages afterwards. We didn't know it at the time but going to a game was never quite the same again.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/End-Years-Life- ... 1851587934 for Tom Watts book on 'The End' - 80 years of Life on Arsenal's North Bank. Highly recommended by one who was there from the late '50's till 1977 when the fighting got so regular and so tedious I moved to the East Lower.
Best night ever - Fairs Cup night - by a mile.
Best atmosphere ever (in my time) - home to the Scum in 1963(?) - just under 68,000 in the ground when the official capacity was 64,000. 2-4 down with ten minutes to go and attacking the North Bank. A Geoff Strong equaliser! Total pandemonium. As noisier than the Champions Section at Old Trafford in 2002.
i was old 18 when i first stood on the north bank, before then when i went with my dad it was to the west stand. but yeah it was great, start in the middle and arsenal score you end up over to the left or right, atmosphere could be great but also poor depending on who was playing and what size crowd, but there was a great feeling that you belonged and that arsenal was your club,
its just not the same sitting upper tier green quadrant at the grove
First time I walked onto the old NB the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a tingle went down my spine. I had waited my whole life for that moment.
First trip to the Conglomerates just didn't compare. But then, 50 years from now, if we have made history there, hopefully the Conglomerates stadium will have the same impact on people.
Maybe in forty years time people will say things like "Remember what is was like in block 6 - sombrero hats and stand up if you hate tottnum, now they were the good ol days"
or
"Remember what it was like in upper tier back row - like watching a game of Subbuteo"
Those were great days BEFORE seating,the atmosphere,smoking and the times before the C/E got a roof!!.You either got a sun tan or soaked... .My mate use to take his little brother sometimes when the less ''problem'' games came along and he use to go under the turnstile for a ''fee''.
It's one of those things you have to experience as you can't explain it as there to many things to remember.Yeah the problem of trouble was evident but if you believe the books and these so-called firms members keep bellowing on about then you're so gullible,i mean the N/B was taken every week and we didn't have a crew(which was bollocks).You find it was totally the opposite.Here's to happier times......
REBEL GOONER wrote:i was old 18 when i first stood on the north bank, before then when i went with my dad it was to the west stand. but yeah it was great, start in the middle and arsenal score you end up over to the left or right, atmosphere could be great but also poor depending on who was playing and what size crowd, but there was a great feeling that you belonged and that arsenal was your club,
its just not the same sitting upper tier green quadrant at the grove
.... was a laugh. 
Did have some great times though!
.My mate use to take his little brother sometimes when the less ''problem'' games came along and he use to go under the turnstile for a ''fee''.
