1980 pic of The Kop

[upthemaggies]

Can anyone confirm that the Ivor Thirst character on the scoreboard would light up when Notts scored?

If true then I'm guessing his star shaped head was made of glass or perspex with a light behind it, or a bulb pointed directly at it and that the scoreboard operator would flick the light switch on and off a few times when a goal went in before reaching for the boards to change the scores. Maybe this was only done for a few seasons after the scoreboard was first built before the novelty wore off and they didn't bother anymore once the first bulb or two had blown and nobody could be bothered to change it. A 1963-65 pre-Hopcroft saviour phenomena?

[nw6pie]

I stood at top top of the Kop, just in front of the scoreboard, during what turned out to be our glory years in the late 70s and early 80s. Some great times - only problem was my eyesight was lousy and I could barely see what was happening at the Lane end. Definitely remember cheering a Keegan effort that I thought was going miles wide, but which ended up going in for Southampton (in a 1-1 draw which remains a favourite game because we were so brilliant that day - from what I could see, anyway!).

[upthemaggies]

I stood at top top of the Kop, just in front of the scoreboard, during what turned out to be our glory years in the late 70s and early 80s. Some great times - only problem was my eyesight was lousy and I could barely see what was happening at the Lane end. Definitely remember cheering a Keegan effort that I thought was going miles wide, but which ended up going in for Southampton (in a 1-1 draw which remains a favourite game because we were so brilliant that day - from what I could see, anyway!).

I can never let a reference to Keegan at Southampton go without posting a link to the greatest disallowed goal of all time....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9SXa55s2OM

[nw6pie]

I can never let a reference to Keegan at Southampton go without posting a link to the greatest disallowed goal of all time....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9SXa55s2OM

Some officials have got no soul.

Best disallowed Notts goal I ever saw was by Mark Draper in a Tinpot trophy game (Freight Rover?) against Sunderland. Screamer of a volley from the edge of the box, disallowed for another player being offside (like the Keegan goal). Finished 2-2 but we absolutely battered the Mackems.

And of course, there was Sgt. Stant’s great header in the last minute against Stillhate Bristol Rovers in 1990. Brian Hill, we shall never forget.

[downunderpie]

Can anyone confirm that the Ivor Thirst character on the scoreboard would light up when Notts scored?

If true then I'm guessing his star shaped head was made of glass or perspex with a light behind it, or a bulb pointed directly at it and that the scoreboard operator would flick the light switch on and off a few times when a goal went in before reaching for the boards to change the scores. Maybe this was only done for a few seasons after the scoreboard was first built before the novelty wore off and they didn't bother anymore once the first bulb or two had blown and nobody could be bothered to change it. A 1963-65 pre-Hopcroft saviour phenomena?

If I remember correctly what would happen is the rattle in his hand would look like it was spinning,which was what we lads did in the kiddies pen behind the goal..

[upthemaggies]

If I remember correctly what would happen is the rattle in his hand would look like it was spinning,which was what we lads did in the kiddies pen behind the goal..

Ah, I see, somebody else had mentioned that Ivor Thirst was made of "neon lights" on another thread from last December. Fword had an identical scoreboard (apart from the letters being in red) so presumably theirs did the same.

[downunderpie]

Yes just gone on google to check and yes the Forest one did the same,just by having the lights flash on and off on the rattle as a goal(home team) was scored...

[feeb]

re The scoreboard at the kop end,
0ne for the oldieson here c1964

I remember when Tony Flowers took a Penalty, and broke a window in the scoreboard!

We know a song about that dont we boys and girls?
Tony Flowers broke a window, ticky ticky timex tra la la,
(repeated until fed up with it)

i always thought the chief constable of the policing on that Day against man united, was more than misgudged sending the dogs in to arrest the 2-3 who climbed up and two of them to the top of the floodlight pylon,( they hadnt done any damage , unlike the idiots on the terrcing below.
This escalated the rioting , the dogs and handlers got a dam good kicking from the united fans, and it went up a notch,
i remember little squads of 7-8 heaving at the barriers and breaking them off and slinging them anywhere the perimeter of the pitch included, this is whilst the match was going on, the corrugated iron panels about a metre square from the terrace fence barriers made lovely frisbees,
and the most excellent caber toss i have ever seen, with a Four foot length of 4 inch square timber*( from the broken fence post) ,when one gentlemen of behind the goal in the most active and crowded part tossed a highland games winning toss spinning a fully 40 ft in the Air which came down with a resounding Oooooh from the crowd as it hit a united fan on the back of the nexk and shoulder!
by this time, the off field entertainment , was equal to Notts winning, on the pitch!
anyway back to my story , about 10-15 years ago I met a nice old chap who and his missus and got natrering to him,
ive kept friends with him since , and often have a chat when im passing or we get on the same bus
and you know what, we got nattering about football, he said he doesnt go to football much nowadays
then he said he was that cheif of police who was cordinating on that day!.
diplomatically i didnt express my opinon!
so jumping back in back to the 'game', i m not the only one to keep stum,, The directors of the club, and on that case the manager, oneTthomas Docherty sat at the front of the seats in the main stand, i am on the terracing below, hes above in the seats Dochertys behind me to my left, just 6ft away nonchalontly chewing his gum, unemotionally watching the game as if it was a vicarage XI v librarians Select XI, im not the only one shouting at him, to do something and stop the riot , stop the game go on the pitch, he recieved the barracking every minute of the rest of the time the riot and game was going off, not a flinch, as hes busy watchuing the match,
as many other fans i left with a minute or two to go.
good job, the rests history!

[lunaspie]

On the commets section of the Post article somebody wrote "I remember Ivor Thirst very well he flashed every time Notts scored a goal",
presumably this means he was illuminated for goals scored during night matches and not some crude electronic device that caused him to drop his shorts!

Now we're in danger of straying into Brian Stubbs territory.

[ManchesterMagpie]

Haven't seen this one before, it's part of an article on the Post site about old stands at both Notts and Fword. I knew that Notts had erected new crush barriers around that time but hadn't realised they'd redone the concrete terracing as well.

Link to article here
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/...w-lane-3307997

Yes I can remember them doing this work during pre-season 1980/81. They replaced the knackered old ‘shallow’ steps with some new concrete ones and erected the fences at the same time, both at pitch side and the segregation fences to separate the home and away sections. I used to love standing there during that promotion season and again during the 3 seasons in the top division. The banter across ‘no mans land’ was great, and got even more heated when the big teams came to play, the police would open up another section of terracing and the away fans would be literally right next to us! Or you’d get the usual nutters from Swansea and Leeds scaling the fences to get over to our side 😮

Before they introduced the fencing and opened up the home section I’d previously stood on the old Kop terracing a couple of times when it was the away end only. This was because my mates dad (who took us to matches) always insisted on standing in his favourite spot behind that goal - even when Stoke fans took over the ground for the last game of the season in 1978/79. The crowd was over 21k, with an estimated 15k pissed up Stokies in the Lane. A copper spotted me looking terrified in my Notts scarf in amongst the swaying masses on the Kop and basically *******ed my mates dad for putting us in danger. We got moved to the safety of the old Main Stand but I’ve never been so scared at a football match in my life!