Those were the days....

 I hope that you, like me, have been enjoying "The Big Match Revisited" on Saturday mornings on ITV4.  They are presently showing games from the 1979-1980 season, which is absolutely prime Soccer Panini Sticker Album territory for those of us born in the mid 60's.  All those memories brought back to life.  Certain player stickers you could never track down and those player stickers you seemed to have in every pack you bought - yes, I'm looking at you Des Bloody Bremner!

Heaving non-socially distanced terraces, tasty non-socially distanced tackling and top division playing surfaces that make Latimer Park look like Wembley - ah yes, "The Big Match Revisited" is a refreshing blast from the past.  A past that in many ways was a far more innocent time.  Big bald Brian Moore held the programme together and answered viewers letters on air.  But, not only did Brian read aloud and answer the letters, he also gave out the writers full name and full address.  Live on air!  Can you imagine that happening these days?

Being the 1979-80 season we also get to see a number of the old stadia we remember seeing as kids.  No new grounds and certainly no all-seaters back then.  I imagine the newest ground back then would have been built several decades earlier.  Other than the odd lick of paint and the occasional new toilet cake none of these grounds had materially changed since the days when Adolf Hitler was getting ideas above his station.  And some of these grounds didn't change much in the decades ahead.  Nine years after this game at Selhurst Park we also filled this exact piece of crumbling terracing.

"The Big Match Revisited" didn't just concentrate on the, well, Big Matches, but also showed games from all four divisions.  This week we saw footage of the 4th division clash between Walsall and Peterborough, a game full of Poppies connections.  Both managers were future Poppies dug out dwellers - Alan Buckley for the Saddlers and Peter Morris for the Posh.  Recent Poppies departee Billy Kellock pretty much won the game single handed for Peterborough with a couple of goals, assisted with a third goal from future Poppies pie-eater - Micky Gynn.  And another future Poppies, er, on-pitch signing, Phil Chard weighed in with a good attempt on target.

Added to the usual sightings of Steve Daly and Dennis Mortimer there's enough here to make Poppies fans of a certain vintage tune in every week.

King Billy Kellock

Hungry Micky Gynn

The Invisible Man Phil Chard