That Bolton game was my first away game (with my Dad)...I use the same phrase in recall, 'Dawson headed a ball harder than most can hit one'...wonderful memory.
Its laughable looking back, Spav was often the scapegoat when anything went wrong. It was my first experience of PNE fans berating their own player.
My debut season too 63/64, loved that team, Alex Dawson was a big hero too. He headed with such power it was magnificent. Seldom seen a player since who was as dangerous with his kead as his feet. The emergence of youg Howarsd Kendall as well and the skill of Tug Wison on the wing. Happy times
"Aye, aye, aye aye!!"
I've never heard any PNE player get as much stick from the Deepdale Paddocks as Spav did. Ever.
As with a lot of things i think it was only a minority but the Terraces down the side - i.e. The paddocks - where closer to the pitch then and for some reason individual voices seemed to carry out more.
Chandos Pub appeared in a YouTube episode Joolz Tours I was watching . Spooky
I always thought that Wembley distracted us and cost us promotion that season .
The other question is why did it go downhill relatively quickly in the remainder of the 60s.
Wasn’t that the time of the Harrison ( wonderloaf ) directorship and after Milne was sacked they brought in the fashionably labelled, for the time, track suit manager , Bobby Seith ..who just wasn’t very good . I seem to remember that was the beginning of the slide, it could also have a lot to do with 64 being the tail end of the maximum wage and players became more mercenary in their demands ( not that they didn’t deserve being better treated than surfs) it’s a long time and there’s been a lot of memorable players and managers but the one thing that has been consistent (that is , on the odd moment we’ve been in with a chance ) is that the board , the owner or something else have all managed to fail to show up when it mattered and have failed to take us over the line .
The idea of a wall comprised of our players in front of a defensive wall was tried several times that season but didn't find success until that final glorious game witnessed by a full house. It was a novel idea at the time.
Thing is there’s not that closeness to the club now as there was then . I used to drink myself stupid with the lads from PNE ‘A’team and reserves up the top Rank and the Bull and Royal .?I actually ended up one night at George Lyalls place chatting in awe til 2:00 am as well as regularly running into Alex Dawson when he was buying his ciggies in the newsagent next to Cuffs .. I sat on the cinders for a packed FA cup replay and was soaked to the skin at Villa for the semi Final and I cried on Skevvie Road when we were relegated to the third for the first time and that madness that was the 9 nil versus Cardiff and the wall falling down against United and the 29 corners we had when we beat Spurs int cup and my last game in England before I came to Australia , a home defeat to Blackpool which was the first game I saw on Australian TV over fifty years ago .. i could go on .. the Saturday Post my mum sent every week without faith til she couldn’t any more or the lengths I went to to get the result of that last game of the season when Nobby stiles got us promoted , I was convinced we had to win it. Did we ?
From memory we drew our last game of the Nobby Stiles promotion season which left Peterborough needing to beat Wrexham ( played 2 days later) but they could only draw and we went up on goal difference.
