Heard a rumour that Sainsburys are re-locating in Northwich . Would’nt it be nice if we could return to rebuild the Central Ground.
Talking of the Central Ground - What were ( thats if u are old enough to remember it )your favourite moments at the towns premier ground?
My only real memory is of the last game there. 2 - 2 with Tony Jarvis getting sent off??
Me and my Dad spent the day taking photos only to get home and realise there was no film in the camera :-
Bishop 3-1 ;D
Cheshire League, Witton v Buxton, Buxton unbeaten, 4-1 up at half time, then a hat trick of pens from Paddy Daly and we win 6-4
I think more than individual games it’s the whole Central Ground experience that’s firmly in the memory banks. Who can forget…
The tea huts - Birtwistle Pie anyone?
The indescribable smell of the toilets!
The Choir … bless 'em
The Grand-dad stand, a few of them are still around and a few Central Ground youngsters have been promoted to that status!
Splinters in yer bum if you went in the stand.
Nonk!
The half-time scrum in the club house, followed by a scrum for a window spec cos you’d been queueing for more than 10mins.
Forgetting your dad is stood a couple along from you and getting a clip round the ear for yelling abuse!
The referee’s changing room - you had to be a contortionist to have a pee! The bath! and Gladys delivering full time brew and butties "ooh don’t worry lad, I’ve seen 'em all in here"
The players changing rooms - the communal bath - he who dares…
Priceless memories 
I’m sure there must be loads more.
Baggie setting light to a certain goalkeeps hat… ;D oh happy days[br][size=1]Posted on: October 22, 2007, 03:43:35 PM[/size][hr]I remember as a kid one old guy in the Grandad stand launching a cup of coffee at a linesman he was so disgusted with him, Me and Pencil were in the Red Lion in Hartford a couple of years ago and we bumped into him, "Hey" says Mike "your that guy who chucked that coffee over the linesman at the Central ground aren’t you?" "No lad" he said "you’ve got in wrong… it was Bovril" I couldn’t stop laughing for ages
Loads of memories from the Central ground -:
Fred Taberners goal against Rhyl in the FA Cup we were getting beat 2 nil ended 4-2 for us.Did we go through to the next round at the drillfield where we wacked them 6 1?
Remember the Buxton game and Paddy Daly heroics that lives in the memory too.
I remember a classic bicycle kick goal from who I consider to be our greatest player, Corky Carrick that is probably one of the best goals I’ve ever seen anywhere.
I remember an outstanding performance from our very own Nigel Deeley against Yeovil.
I remember the game against Mossley going ahead despite games everywhere include Man utd at Old trafford being called off due to snow simply because our great fans volunteered and cleared snow off the ground including a certain David Leather weilding a shovel I seem to recall.
Peter Henderson slotting 7 past Radcliffe in one game. My hero Brian Griffin set most of them up!! Sorry to the older fans I wasn’t around when Frank Fidler did the same to Stalybridge.
Beating Leeds Utd including Bily Bremner in a floodlit match to open the new floodlights
The sublime silky skills of a certain Mr K Barnes (I’m sure he actually made the ball talk!!)
Lovely times thats what I remember most with great fans including Chad,Baggie,Dennis Conneely, Alan Sprucie, the late Nonk, the late Colin Cooperman,Tony Dean, The Flavells, apologies for missing anyone out. My one regret is that I did not see the great players of our late forties early fifties teams. I just console myself that I’ve shaken hands with Sir Alf Ashley and Sir Kenneth Barnes. They should be knighted anyway on a par with other greats Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews for me.
I bet that some of the stories that supporters can tell would go down well in the programme, why not spend a little time writting them down and send them off to the lads putting the programme together I’m sure they would be grateful for a few pages from other people.
best moment at the central ground would have to been last game we played against frickley witch i was mascott for and all the players got medals and there was a big pitch invasion at the end ;D
Being one of the quieter ones at the Shrine fondest memories are
Calling a Nantwich player a dirty b***d - it was Eddie Brown my woodwork teacher it was a 2:30 kick off on a Wednesday afternoon (no lights in them days) I was playing truant he recognised me and gave me a slap the following morning.
Beating the Arams
The Rhyl game in 1966
Slaughtering Leek in the League Cup Final 2nd Leg
Freezing your nuts off supping Bettys ice cold bitter
Supporters Committee meetings in the Boardroom
Banning Nonk from the Supporters bus and him and Jumpy having a fight behind the goal
Crying in the toilets when West Brom got relegated to the old Third Division
On tannoy duty, behind the door to the dressing rooms Mark Feilding felt me nuts as I was announcing the teams and I said "Fck Off Feildin" to the amusement of the 400 odd crowd
Kenny Lynch dropping his shorts in a Charity game v All Stars in 65
Dont remember burnin a goalies cap - but he must have annoyed me
Opening up the Programme Shop
Doing the programme and typing all the crap that went into it
Finally with Mona watching the likes of Freddie Taberner, Chris Nicholl, Ken Barnes,
Dave Carrick (God Bless) Peter Henderson and who could forget Johnny ‘bite yer legs’ Goryl all legends of the old Central Ground
me and alan potts having our drinks ready on the bar at halftime .playing pool with rob flavell in a freezing club on a monday night
Wearing pyjamas under my clothes to the game. Why was it so cold in those days?
Concreting the terrace near the main entrance and wondering if it would ever set.
Scarves around wrists. Didn’t work too well with those snazzy silk ones as they tended to chafe a little.
Banging our feet in the stand only to be told off by the chap who believed it was his personal property.
The Witton f-troupe. You know who you were.
Hammering Radcliffe and then Middlewich (or was it Nantwich?) a week later. Hendo scoring seven against the former.
Regarding Mona’s recollection of Billy Bremner playing under the new floodlights - there is a reference to this in the excellent book "The Damned United" about the Clough era at Leeds. The team were off somewhere glamorous and Cloughie told his out of favour skipper "You’re not coming. You’re playing in a friendly a Witton Albion". Genius.
Simon H "passing" the ball back to a visiting golkeeper from behind the goals, who promptly went down Dida-style. And noone would swap jumpers with him. This might have been the day when the Macc-lads decided to come and terrorise us. Pink Dr Martens. How scared was I?!
Blanket collections.
Playing Man City’s golden boys - Paul Simpson, Paul Stewart, etc.
Standing next to my dad and marvelling at the sound as Les Milner whacked the real leather casey into the box. Its one of those childhood flashback things.
I’m not posting all my memories - let’s just say I never have and never will ever step into S********S.
Must correct MONA, Billy Bremner didn’t play in that match on December 4th 1968. However Leeds did include 7 players with First (now Premier) Division experience.
Their team was: Harvey; Sibbald (Bobby who played a few games for Witton), Peterson; Yorath, Sweeney, Lumsden; Briggs (Waddell 70), Bates, Belfitt, Hibbitt & Johannsen.
Mr Tom Williams, President of Liverpool FC performed the official switching on ceremony in front of an estimated 1,600 crowd. Black South African Johannsen scored for Leeds but Barrie Wheatley, Brian Rimmer & Paddy Daly were on the mark for the Albs.
Leeds of course never did come back to play us as part of the Mike Whitlow/ Neil Parsley deal mainly due - according to Howard Wilkinson - the fact that the then regime didn’t follow the offer up.
Whoops that’s starting to bring back a few nasty memories, better be going to Tescos then.
My Dad (Phil Robinson) has asked me to post some of his memories on here;
My earliest memories of watching Witton are from the mid-50s when i was 6 years old. My Dad and his brother both living on Castle would take me to the Central Ground, but would first visit the Talbot Hotel - where they would nip in for a quick pint whilst i stood outside on the big grey steps drinking a bottle of pop! Then off to the game, with my Dad complaining that if i wasn’t with them they could enter via the Tabley Street end, but as there were no boys turnstiles there then we would have to walk to the Plaza end.
We would walk round to the halfway line about 30 minutes before kickoff so i could take my place near the front of the concrete fencing, standing on 2 house bricks that my Dad always managed to find.
With gates of 2000 quite the norm i can remember the smell of pipes and cigarrettes and the sound of the wooden rattles. We always stood with the same group of people; Harold Hignett, Les Wade and a man with red hair called ‘Ginge’ who worked at the co-op. I can still remember laughing at their witty comments to players, refs, opposing fans!
The players i can first remember are Alf Ashley, Colin Barnes, Joe Dale. I remember the Christmas day derbies against the Arabs from down the street - winning would make your christmas complete!
Now nearly 60 years old, still standing at the halfway line and still moaning - but red and white stripes ALWAYS.
Isn’t it funny how 50 years later i also find myself standing with a ‘Ginge’…
Thanks for correcting me Chad. My memory plays tricks on me. I do remember Albert Johannson scoring for them he was a good player. Remember Barry Wheatley (No 6 on his back), and I worked with a lady in the early nineties whose mother lived next door to him in Sandbach. I liked Barry good player. My dad never stood me outside the Talbot hotel(nothing wrong with that by the way in them days), but he did use to take me to Pop Hornby’s (Legendary Sarsparella), before the game on occassions. I can smell the tobacco pipe smoke and the thudding sound on the proper casey too. Also the racket that could be made in the old wooden stand!! The other thing was gathering outside the Guardian office after our home matches with fingers crossed waiting for the Vics result hoping they’d got beat!! Usually a great cheer most Saturdays when they had!! Lovely days, great fans, great characters, I’ve really enjoyed this post. I wish I could win £millions on the lottery as I’d buy Sainburys store back from them and put a new central ground on there!!
Brilliant stuff. Robbo’s post was enough to bring a tear to a glass eye!
Keep 'em coming, there must be loads more out there. ;D
Wow - just read the comments for the first time. Can’t remember all the incidents, as I lived away for quite a while. As a nipper of about 5 or 6 my Grandad used to take a wooden box for me to stand on. My early experiences were the Joe Dale "goal" against Runcorn in the FA Cup. Also my first away game at Tranmere Rovers (again in the FA Cup - 1st round I think) when we lost 2-1. Alf Ashley was a superstar that day. My first "excursion" to Bangor City where we lost 9-1.
Later, (a lot later)I took my nephew just after his 18th, and after a few pints he made several trips to the smelly loo as mentioned earlier. Witton scored 4 that day - yes you’ve guessed - every time he was in the loo, and he never saw a goal!
I am now a 60 year old and stand on the half way line like a previous contributor, and no I’m not a ginge.
Have got to say - I’m enjoying watching this team as much as any team I can remember. Maybe we’ve played at a higher level, and technically had better teams, but the excitement factor is as high. Come on Witton, let’s do it in style this year