Scoreboard Prints

[probertneedhamstubbs]

I am sure that I saw on here a few weeks ago a thread that I now cannot find. It was somewhere where you could get 'pop art' style prints of the old Kop scoreboard. Can anyone help with a linky, please. Or is my mind playing tricks on me?

[countygump]

I am sure that I saw on here a few weeks ago a thread that I now cannot find. It was somewhere where you could get 'pop art' style prints of the old Kop scoreboard. Can anyone help with a linky, please. Or is my mind playing tricks on me?

This?

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LukeWilliamsonArt

[probertneedhamstubbs]

This?

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LukeWilliamsonArt

That's the one. Thank you, sir.

[countygump]

That's the one. Thank you, sir.

Orrrrrrrrrr, print this onto some nice qual paper and frame it!!!

[upthemaggies]

Orrrrrrrrrr, print this onto some nice qual paper and frame it!!!

Can anybody pinpoint the date that scoreboard was first used? The earliest picture I've seen to include it is from the 1969/70 season. I don't think it was there before Dunnett arrived in Feb 67.

[countygump]

Can anybody pinpoint the date that scoreboard was first used? The earliest picture I've seen to include it is from the 1969/70 season. I don't think it was there before Dunnett arrived in Feb 67.

No.


Floodlights had been installed at Meadow Lane in 1953, long before Forest's, and first switched on for a friendly v. Derby County on the 23rd March, but after one of the pylons came crashing down in a gale on 11th/12th February 1962, Notts installed a new set of lights mounted on taller and presumably sturdier pylons and these were first put to use on 11th October 1962 for a match v. Port Vale.
Attendance's slumped to under 4,000 towards the end of 1963/64 as Notts were relegated to the 4th Division. In April 1965 manager Eddie Lowe was sacked and the players were then called to a meeting and told by a director; "In two or three seasons this club has almost collapsed. Another season like the present one would finish us completely." By the end of the year it was decided that the financial situation had become so bad that the club could not continue. Thankfully local businessman Bill Hopcroft stepped in and saved Notts with an injection of cash, but County's performances on the pitch failed to improve and the club narrowly avoided the indignity of having to apply for re-election with a series of woeful campaigns in the late 1960's. It was during this period that a new scoreboard was erected on top of the kop, replacing the old scoreboard which had sat in the corner of the County Road/Meadow Lane end*. In Autumn 1968, the ground staged a handful of Nottingham Forest's home league fixtures after their Main Stand had been gutted by fire.
On May 10th 1969, scarves and bobble hats gave way to beads and kaftans as Meadow Lane hosted Nottingham's 11-hour 1969 Pop & Blues festival presented by Radio One DJ's John Peel and Ed Stewart, amongst the acts on the bill were Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, The Move & Status Quo. Sadly the weather wasn't kind and only 2,000 people turned up**.

*The kop scoreboard was certainly in use by the end of season 1969/70. A selection of half-time and full-time scores would be placed up against two rows of small windows (bold white figures on black boards), the games would be identified by a corresponding letter (A-W) printed in the matchday programme. The window in the top left corner of the scoreboard always displayed the current score at Meadow Lane, whilst the bottom left corner would show the shirt numbers of whoever had scored the latest goal for both Notts and their opponents. There was also a set of loud-speakers and a very small clock which simply told the standard time, not a 45 minute countdown as seen at many other grounds. See a picture of the scoreboard taken in 1991 shortly before it was removed here.


http://carousel.royalwebhosting.net/utm/maggies09.html

[probertneedhamstubbs]

Nice photo. Looks like this would be from the latter days of the old Kop. The steps are concreted and the fences are up. Probably late 80's, I'd say.

All the same, the arty prints are reasonably priced, if they are to your taste. I recommend taking a look.

[countygump]

This.............

[upthemaggies]

Of all the features of the old Meadow Lane, the scoreboard seems to command the greatest amount of affection.

The "Superkings" ad was the last to appear above the scoreboard before it was demolished. Presumably "Shipstones" was the original and that ad was still there around 1979, though I'm sure it had gone by the time I started attending in 1982, probably replaced by "John Player Special" circa promotion in 1981 which was still in place at the time Warnock first took over. So the "Superkings" ad was very short-lived.

[uysapie]

Of all the features of the old Meadow Lane, the scoreboard seems to command the greatest amount of affection.

The "Superkings" ad was the last to appear above the scoreboard before it was demolished. Presumably "Shipstones" was the original and that ad was still there around 1979, though I'm sure it had gone by the time I started attending in 1982, probably replaced by "John Player Special" circa promotion in 1981 which was still in place at the time Warnock first took over. So the "Superkings" ad was very short-lived.

Ivor Thirst was there for years.