The old Beach End

[NaeMairNeeps]

choruses of "You're gonna get yer ****in head kicked in", "You're going home in a ****in ambulance" and, a pre-PC "You're all ****in

Mind the songs .... as well as in quieter games "Sing ye basτards, sing ye basτards, sing, sing, sing" ..... and ... "There wont be many goin home, Oh there wont be many goin home, Oh there wont be many, there wont be fυckin any, there wont be many goin home"

Mannies songs min

[NaeMairNeeps]

Best song in recent years tho ..... at home tae them hun imposters .....

"We hate Glasgow Celtic
"We hate Motherwell too
"We hate Dundee Uniiiiiitit
But who the fυck are you?

Wid hae sounded better tho if it had been collected,filtered and directed via the structure that was the auld beach end.

[erchieplum]

"The left side " was our chant followed by the response "****e" from other parts of beach end. I remember the hail of bottles when we left the ground coming from opposition fans (in the direction I walked to castlegate).Police women and women from refreshment kiosks suffering the "get your t##$ out for the boys" chant and us convinced they secretly liked it (it was the 70's). The noise from the cavern that was the beach end could be incredible and could be heard far from the ground. People could tell if we had scored as the sound travelled far into the town .i was a 3 scarfer, head and 2 wrists with badly sewn on embroidered badges including the simple afc letters logo (and that two fingers up hand badge with " up the dons " not a stand free or sheep in sight

[57vintage]

"The left side " was our chant followed by the response "****e" from other parts of beach end. I remember the hail of bottles when we left the ground coming from opposition fans (in the direction I walked to castlegate).Police women and women from refreshment kiosks suffering the "get your t##$ out for the boys" chant and us convinced they secretly liked it (it was the 70's). The noise from the cavern that was the beach end could be incredible and could be heard far from the ground. People could tell if we had scored as the sound travelled far into the town .i was a 3 scarfer, head and 2 wrists with badly sewn on embroidered badges including the simple afc letters logo (and that two fingers up hand badge with " up the dons " not a stand free or sheep in sight

Fox ache min, you're nae the ghost of Norman Goldie, surely?

[erchieplum]

Fox ache min, you're nae the ghost of Norman Goldie, surely?

👻 woooòooooh.
No just suffered 70's fitba "fashion" sense at the time.

[The_Moog]

👻 woooòooooh.
No just suffered 70's fitba "fashion" sense at the time.

😂 I was a 4 scarf loon myself - 1 tied round neck, 1 loose round neck to raise as required, plus one on each wrist - along with obligatory dons bobble hat- class 😎 (I wis at primary school at the time).

Was only a kid when the grand old lady was in existence, but loved going in there with my old man. The atmosphere and noise in that stand as a youngster was amazing! Nothing like it these days sadly...

[thebeachend]

Going off tangent, but for atmospheric stands I loved a trip to the old Tannadice up beside the segregation. Steep terracing and always a good day out.

[seeyazander]

Ah was very much a 'Beachender' back in the day when Ah would nae only be at every dire Bonethrone bombscare and beyond, but would also be at every reserve game .... and, in between, wi' ma fitba playin chums, toddle doon tae Linksfield tae watch oor heroes trainin, and get a wee word, or an autograph here and there.... or fan their ba' went oot o' play,, driibble it back and get a shot at(or even past) Bobby Clark.

Beach end memories? ....

The first time the 'His name is Joe Harper' song wis (rehearsed and then) sang.

The divisions .... Ah wis nivver keen on the left back area ( some things dinna change ) ... Bein' a Woodsider, Ah wisna keen on sittin too close tae the Kincorth Randall ... nae sure far the Hilton Tong hung oot, but, jist bein aware o' the various gang rivalries, Ah tended tae dit roon aboot the middle.

The wonderful acoustics. When the songs got goin, it wis overwhelmin, mesmerisin even ... jist magic .... and the ither good thing aboot the acoustics wis, that one voice could be heard fan there wisna a song goin ... so a funny comment wid be heard by abody, and the laugh wid jist 'explode' ... and one guy could start a song nae bother.

That 'new' sound that started wi the game v Finn Harps .... the Beachenders twirlin their scarves aroon their heids and 'singin' 'Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooo' .... wis fυckin eerie, unsettlin, and memorable.

The chant of "Hugh Sproat's a ωanker" ,,,, to which Ayr United keeper Hugh would turn around to us and respond by gesture ... which only encouraged us tae dae it mair .... in hope wi might distract the cυnt

Ah've a lot mair precious memories o' the old Beach End, but the above sit well above the pile

����Hugh Sproat always got it but took it well, the memories of the Beach End will be with us all forever, Joe Harper on his knees every time he scored is one of my favourites.

[donsdaft]

Aberdeen v Hearts 1972, the day we lost a home record the length of Union Street, Alford Place, Albyn Place, Queens Road, and the A944 as far as Kingsford (stop it, now) as Donald Ford completed his hat trick in the final two minutes to beat us 3-2, a fearsome Hearts mob, looking like they were on a day trip from Saughton decided that the Beach End was theirs.

Penned into what became the left side, the ordnance started flying - pies, bottles, bangers, jumping jacks (November in the Beach End was aye great fun before the clampdown on Proper mannies' firesworks), then the charging and counter-charging began, fists feet, choruses of "You're gonna get yer ****in head kicked in", "You're going home in a ****in ambulance" and, a pre-PC "You're all ****in whiters over there", before Plod broke it up and ushered the Hearts mob to the relative safety of what is now Section W of the ground. I believe there was serious criminal activity all the way along King Street afterwards too. Boys will be boys.

Incidentally, the King Street End had its first game as the seated Paddock today in 1971 as we skelped Celtic's clarty erses to win the Drybrough Cup. A day in the job, and Jimmy Bonthrone won us a trophy. It didn't last.

What I remember about that Hearts game was Jim Cruickshank doing a bloody highland Fling in his box as the second and third goals went in.

2-1 up with 5 minutes or so to go and we bloody lost, I was ragin.

It was some unbeaten run though.