ceredigion

Nowadays, going to a football match is starting to resemble trying to book a holiday in East Germany in the 1970s. And if that isn't bad enough, soon you're going to have to show medical proof that you're not infected before they let you in. That's already the case in Wales and they are now demanding that you wear a mask too once you get there. You used to be able to just go to a football match on the spur of the moment if you wanted to but it's becoming increasingly difficult so I guess before too long it will be impossible. I don't know if the madness has seeped into the bottom 2 divisions yet but it's only a matter of time. A couple of years ago I was talking to my son and his mates about football and I told them that when I was their age in the 1980s as a teenager I could walk up to the turnstile at Filbert Street at ten to 3.00 on a Saturday afternoon, hand over 2 or 3 quid at the turnstile and watch Leicester play Man U or Liverpool with players like Robson, Hughes, Rush, Dalglish and Souness on display. They thought I was bullshitting them but I said ''No, it really was like that.'' And then I tell them that it was also possible to turn up at the De Montfort Hall, hand over another 2 or 3 quid and watch world famous rock bands like AC/DC and Black Sabbath playing live. It wasn't paradise. If it rained and you were on an uncovered terrace you got soaked but that's still the case at lots of grounds now, there was hooliganism but I wasn't a hooligan and I never got attacked anywhere, the pitches were shite between October and April and relegation was an ever present danger. Maybe it's just age but I preferred it back then.

I remember that game although I wasn't there. That was the season Brian Little jumped ship and went to Villa. Ironically his 1st match as Villa manger was against us at Filbert Street in December 94,ending 1-1 and the match you refer to was in Feb 95. Those matches inaugurated a great run of results against Villa over the next 7 years and we didn't lose to them for 14 games running in league, FA Cup and League Cup until Peter Taylor spoilt the record by losing to them in April 2001 during that disastrous run in which we lost 10 out of the last 11 games of the season.

Liverpool away in the 1st Division January 1981. They were reigning champions and top of the league at the time and we were newly promoted and bottom. They hadn't been beaten at Anfield for over 3 years in any competition and were closing in on a 100 match unbeaten run. We went 1-0 but came back to win 2-1 in an amazing match and complete a league double over them. Jim Melrose's finest hour. I was there and remember it even 40 years on. We still went down at the end of the season though.

It used to be but and I was at that game but I think it has lost its significance a lot after we did eventually go down to the 3rd tier in 2008.

Notts County away in the Zenith Systems Data Cup in January 1991. We won 2-1. People who weren't there will think I'm taking the piss but people who were will know I'm not.

''Points on the board'', ''dog's abuse'', ''gave him the eye'', ''stonewall penalty''.

I remember a 2nd hand record shop called Boogaloo Records but I can't remember where it was in town, but I think you had to walk up a flight of stairs to get in. I used to go in there as a teenager in the 80s and I still recall the withering looks of contempt and disdain with which the proprietor, whom we obviously called ''Boogaloo Man'' used to greet us. That was probably because most of the time, having a temporary liquidity problem back then, we just ferreted around and then left without buying anything.

No, he was the one Frank Mclintock signing who was any good. Jock Wallace got rid of all the others but he kept Eddie Kelly on and he was a key man in the the 79/80 promotion season.

Steve Thompson deserves a mench, as they put it nowadays. He was a bit too mild mannered when it came to the hurly burley side of the game but he was an excellent passer of the ball and scored some great goals too. Who can forget his equaliser against Swindon at Wembley. ''It's unbelievable stuff now''.

''The (insert name of club) Way.

Better than Ian Wilson but not as good as Gary McAllister.

We'll get Athletico Madrid again. Just you wait and see.

He always gives 110%.

''Grass coach'', which I heard for the 1st time yesterday on Radio 5 when they were discussing Solskiar, or however you spell his name. A ''grass coach'' is apparently a manager who spends a lot of his working life participating in the training sessions with the squad alongside his other ''grass coaches''. It's very new so it's not a cliche yet but it soon will be.

Would anyone take Maguire back on a free transfer?

We will sell him to a bigger club for £100 million. And then we will sign someone better for £10 million. That seems to be the business plan.

I was angry when we signed David Speedie and I thought no good could come of it.

Anyone remember a horrible League Cup tie against Brighton at Filbert Street in 1994? It was very near the end of Brian Little's reign and we were a Premier League side and they were 3rd tier I think. They beat us 2-0 even though they had Jimmy Case sent off who was over 40 years old at the time. As cup defeats go, that one ranks with Harlow Town, Exeter City, Wycombe Wanderers and Newport County.

And Rick Wakeman, famous 1970s rock 'n' roll wild man and keyboardist go the progressive rock band Yes.

I've no recollection of the horse song at all. ''When You're Smiling'', ''You Are My Sunshine'' and ''Molly Malone'' are the songs I remember hearing sung in the 70s and 80s. And every now and again, on special occasions, ''Under the Moon of Love'' was given an airing.

Bill Anderson was like a Pravda journalist in Stalin's Russia.

I don't remember them complaining about it. There were no penalty shoot-outs back then and both FA Cup and League Cup ties would go to replay after replay if necessary until a winner emerged. Every season there'd be at least one marathon tie that needed 3 or 4 replays to sort it out. Clubs almost always played their strongest team in every match then too and only 1 substitute per team was allowed. Managers like Clough, Shankly, Paisley, Revie et al just got on with it and expected their players to do the same.

Blow me, you're quite right. It hadn't occurred to me that we'd done it too. The reason I remember that Arsenal Sheff Wed replays so well is that I went to all 3 replays at Filbert Street. The first 2 matches at Hillsborough and Highbury were both 1-1 draws so they settled on Leicester as a good neutral venue half way on the M1. The first match ended 2-2 after extra time, the 2nd match was played 2 days later and ended 3-3 and the 3rd match was played on the following Monday and Arsenal won 2-0. They were some of the best matches I ever saw at Filbert Street and the ground was absolutely packed out with fans on all 3 occasions with a mixture of Arsenal, Sheffield Wednesday and curious Leicster fans who were there for the ride. It meant the Arsenal and Sheff Wed had to play 4 games in 7 days because there were league fixtures on the Saturday in the middle And 2 of those 4 were 120 minutes not 90. Jack Charlton was the Sheff Wed manager at the time and only the week before Filbert Street was the scene of the famous Keith Weller goal in tights against Norwich also in the 3rd round of the Cup. Amazing times. Oh to be 12 again.

Looks like you're correct about Villa. Fun fact about them and the League Cup is that they've won the trophy at 3 different venues. They won it at Villa Park in 1961 when the final was played over 2 legs home and away, they won it at Wembley in 1975 when they beat Norwich and they won it in 1977 when they beat Everton at Old Trafford in a 2nd reply after the final and the 1st reply ended in a draw. I remember that happening. It seems absurd now that you would just keep having replays until the tie was decided but that's how it used to be, There were some epic cup ties that carried on for weeks in those days. Arsenal v Sheff Wed in 1979 went to 4 replays during the Winter of Discontent, the last 3 of which were played at Filbert Street and they were fantastic matches.

So it's us and Man City then. Burnley and Bolton have both won the Charity Shield but when they did so the match wasn't played at Wembley. The 1st Charity Shield played there was the infamous 1974 match between Liverpool and Leeds when Keegan and Bremner got sent off and threw their shirts on the pitch.