The Kop

Yes, seen that video before. It was the Kop when I started watching BFC regularly in 1970, with the roof still on, no centre segregation fence and the full size floodlights. Walking up the back and onto a full Kop was a sight to behold and got the adrenalin going
Watching that was straight back to my pre teens and beyond.
 
I once arrived late having played rugby in the morning and the shortest queue was nearest Central Drive and walked in to be amongst 1000s of Sunderland fans. We went 2-0 up and I never reacted. Halftime I made my way shuffling to the Blackpool side end. You youngsters won’t will realise like it was like to be on the Kop then. Anyway I was there when Mickey Walsh scores that goal
 
Never had the experience of standing on an unsegregated kop (thankfully), but I can remember getting away as soon as the final whistle went in the 1-1 draw with Sunderland in March 78. I was stood near the top of the stand.
I just got on the number 12 bus on Lytham Rd when a load of their fans saw me and started rocking the bus. I thought the old women on the bus were going to make me get off !!!

I'm always proud of that old kop when I see pictures and videos like this - it was a huge stand and I miss it
 
I think the capacity was officially 16000 before it was split. In the 1950s, with 30k plus crowds they must have allowed more
 
i used to stand at the gates waiting for them to open about two hours before kick off so i could get a prime spot on the wall at the front.
It's interesting how you moved up the kop as you got older?
I started off on the pitch side wall and the main point I remember before I was tall enough to stand up near Pommo.
It was being able to climb on the handrail on the wall on the right as you looked at the pitch and watch from there.
Elf n safety would have been doing summersaults if it had been around back then.
 
I once arrived late having played rugby in the morning and the shortest queue was nearest Central Drive and walked in to be amongst 1000s of Sunderland fans. We went 2-0 up and I never reacted. Halftime I made my way shuffling to the Blackpool side end. You youngsters won’t will realise like it was like to be on the Kop then. Anyway I was there when Mickey Walsh scores that goal
And what a goal it was!
 
Spent most of my youth in the Scratters, but did visit the Kop occasionally. Unsegregated as a young teen, it was something else. Could be great crack, but could be terrifying. The singers used the echo from the roof to great effect, it amplified a single very deep voice to lead the whole lot.
 
Mentioned it on a similar thread a week or so ago but I only remember the kop when it was half shut and looking a mess. Someone mentioned it was shut down due to the steps at the back being to steep.
 
Spent my early formative days on the Spion Kop.
No segregation in the early days...remember Dennis Law getting sent off ( Nov 64 ..have to admit to googling it for the year..turns out I was 13 at the time ) and the Scumbag United fans started to throw bottles,etc from the top one of which hit me on the head( which might still explain things about me today 😳) .My Mum was not happy as I had a very large lump on my head When I got home which was difficult to explain as to why I’d got it and so she sent a letter of complaint 😳to Man U ( Matt Busby actually).It is still,but not the only reason,I still find it difficult to have any reason to like Manure supporters and Man U full stop.Worse thing is the barstools won 2 1
Looking back in those days and for a good number of years after the Kop was a potentially dangerous place to support BFC on as there were often very large away fans in the same area and as we know it all end up with a tragic event against the other scumbags Bolton, though on that Occassion I was in the West with my then girlfriend( wife now for coming up to 45 years😉) as otherwise I would have been on the Kop that day too.
Oh and wasn’t the Mickey Walsh goal scored at the South Stand end...I was there for that magic moment too🥳 but again up in the West.
 
Mentioned it on a similar thread a week or so ago but I only remember the kop when it was half shut and looking a mess. Someone mentioned it was shut down due to the steps at the back being to steep.

I mentioned the steep steps at the back of the Kop PB, at least that was my recollection which was agreed by a few posters
I must admit to spending most matches at that time in the South Paddock, but I went on the Kop a fair number of times, and it was a great stand to look at from the South. Must have been terrifying pre-segregation though!

But you are right, it did look a bit of a mess in its final days sadly.
 
I mentioned the steep steps at the back of the Kop PB, at least that was my recollection which was agreed by a few posters
I must admit to spending most matches at that time in the South Paddock, but I went on the Kop a fair number of times, and it was a great stand to look at from the South. Must have been terrifying pre-segregation though!

But you are right, it did look a bit of a mess in its final days sadly.
Yes it did sadly...followed slowly but surely like the rest of the ground ...but I have to admit i loved standing in the South Paddock near the changing rooms ,you could smell the liniment ( deep heat when I played Sunday football😉 which was potentially very awkward if you rubbed it too close...) and then the South Stand itself where I would sit with my Dad until he could no longer go.
 
I once arrived late having played rugby in the morning and the shortest queue was nearest Central Drive and walked in to be amongst 1000s of Sunderland fans. We went 2-0 up and I never reacted. Halftime I made my way shuffling to the Blackpool side end. You youngsters won’t will realise like it was like to be on the Kop then. Anyway I was there when Mickey Walsh scores that goal
On that day I went to that match on my own(which was rare), went to the Kop and it was just a sea of Red and White(about half 2). I thought bu**er that and went to the South Paddock, the only match I ever remember watching from there ! However I was perfectly in line with Walsh's shot which looked as if it was was going well wide. then it curled then a bit more curl, then a bit more curl - then mayhem 😀😀😀
 
I was always a South paddock boy - I went with my dad. But when I went to reserve games you could go anywhere you liked and I often went on the Kop.
 
It's interesting how you moved up the kop as you got older?
I started off on the pitch side wall and the main point I remember before I was tall enough to stand up near Pommo.
It was being able to climb on the handrail on the wall on the right as you looked at the pitch and watch from there.
Elf n safety would have been doing summersaults if it had been around back then.
One m please
 
Love these stories of the old kop,when i was old enough to go on my own,early 80s the kop was a sad,neglected shadow of its former self and i only managed two games. Stockport County 82/83 a boring 0-0 draw,in fact that boring we tried to leave at half time and we werent allowed to do so.I remember a Stockport fan kindly handing me a stink bomb from under the partitioning to put in our half!,and the last game on the kop vs Colchester Utd where Clarkie got a last minute winner.
 
What's that clip actually from?
There was a programme about Blackpool generally (the town) made up of clips from over the years, and there was a small section about the club. From memory that scene had a voice over that’s missing, and was followed by scenes of the bus tour on the promenade after we’d been promoted to the PL.

I’m not sure when or what for the scene was originally filmed.
 
There was a programme about Blackpool generally (the town) made up of clips from over the years, and there was a small section about the club. From memory that scene had a voice over that’s missing, and was followed by scenes of the bus tour on the promenade after we’d been promoted to the PL.

I’m not sure when or what for the scene was originally filmed.
Cheers.

I got really into Ian Nairn's stuff a while book. He did a series called 'Football Towns' in the 70s and it's unbelievably evocative as is 'Nairn's Britain' where he goes from London to Edinburgh.

The fella isn't Ian Nairn, but I wondered if it was from something like that.
 
Sends shiver down the spine watching that,I remember getting to the turnstile at 1pm to get in from the age of 10 in the 70s and no segregation,fantastic on big crowd days.Who was the guy who led the chanting bit of an eccentric character ?
 
Cheers.

I got really into Ian Nairn's stuff a while book. He did a series called 'Football Towns' in the 70s and it's unbelievably evocative as is 'Nairn's Britain' where he goes from London to Edinburgh.

The fella isn't Ian Nairn, but I wondered if it was from something like that.
I’ve done a quick google and the documentary may have been called “Blackpool on Film”. BBC.
 
Sends shiver down the spine watching that,I remember getting to the turnstile at 1pm to get in from the age of 10 in the 70s and no segregation,fantastic on big crowd days.Who was the guy who led the chanting bit of an eccentric character ?
Pomo but I would say pommo be I have been told one M 🤣🤛
 
Thankyou. I'll see if I can turn it up!
I googled it last night, yes it was called ‘Blackpool on film’ bbc4 from Victorian times through the decades, but it wouldn’t allow me to play it on my iPad. Perhaps it can be played on another device.
 
My first game aged 10ish was in the Kop, against Chelsea. ‘76 ( I think, though could have been the ‘75 one).
It was after segregation, but still ended up a bloodbath.
After dad got a good slap round the back of his head off mum, I did the next year or two in the West!
It’s hard to imagine what it was like before the fence, even more so for younger fans.
As I got older I used to feel really sad seeing the Kop totally empty, bar the lonely ball boy sat in there.
 
Yeah, the clip is from Blackpool On Film, a half hour prog on BBC 4 about 10 years ago.

Has to be filmed pre 75 as The Kop is unsegregated, my guess would be about 1970, looking at the ground and the clothes the bloke is wearing.

Only went on twice with a roof. 1977/78 season as a nipper, stood bottom right near the tea bar. It was fairly busy on both occasions and once without the roof 1981 against Crewe where the crowd was a lot smaller and we stood at the back in the sun . My earliest memory of it would be Arsenal in the League Cup night game 1976, absolutely pissing it down and everyone crammed in under the roof for shelter.

I used to sit in the West in those days but the first thing I'd look at when entering the ground and walking under the South West stand to take our seats in Block A/B/C of the West was how many were on The Kop. Brilliant clip.

There's also a clip of the whole ground on Youtube set to eery music filmed in 1979, I'll put the link up in my next post
 
I like the way the bloke enters the kop from the top. One of the main things that irks me about the new ground is that you enter at pitch level, suppose that ls what you get for doing things on the cheap. I like walking into a stand high up and the first thing you see is a massive expanse of green grass.
 
i think the kop held about 12,000 i think liverpools kop was about 16,000 the holte end at villa and wolves southbank stand were the two biggest i think
 
Started going with my Dad in 1957. Had to arrive before 1pm to get a spot on the kop wall or cinder track near to the goal. A case of ducking and diving to avoid any wayward shots lol. Fantastic atmosphere and memories.
 
I stood in the kop with my Dad from 65 onwards, from my memory, it was never that scarey, whenever scrapping broke out the older blokes from both sets of fans just sorted it out, then the Bolton game happened 😔
 
Started going with my Dad in 1957. Had to arrive before 1pm to get a spot on the kop wall or cinder track near to the goal. A case of ducking and diving to avoid any wayward shots lol. Fantastic atmosphere and memories.
Beat me just 62years, I started like you with my Dad on the Kop 1959 /60 season, the game was against Man City and the attendance was over 34,000.
Sat like you on the wall but the only real memories of the match was the noise of the crowd and I was awestruck trying to take the atmosphere in.
That's when I realised I loved football and BFC, , yes so many happy memories over the years
 
Although not a kop as such, the Kippax at City used to get around 30,000 plus rammed in for big games in the 30s/40s. and the ground record was 84.000 for a cup game in 1934, still a record outside Wembley!
 
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