95 96 season?? Post your memories

[Lance Stoe]

Have you improved or declined?? We were part of this league with what I always call our quadruplets.

Scunthorpe
Mansfield
Rochdale
Hartlepool

The teams I have seen us play the most. 3 superb grounds by the way. Chesterfield would probably be the next team I have seen us play the most. How had your team changed in the last twenty years or so?? Kudos to Cambridge as well. My first ever game was a 1-2 defeat at home to Cambridge. Kyd and Butler with the goals. Got stung by a wasp as well

 

[kieran_vale]

Well we finished top half of whats now the Championship that season, had quality players like Steve Guppy, Tony Naylor and Jon McCarthy and had a good cup run for once knocking out the holders Everton. Fair to say it's been a massive drop since.

 

[Judge Dredd]

We finished rock bottom of the Championship and were absolutely dog shite.

We did however sign Ian Feuer so it wasn't all bad. I was only a wee kid at the time, my second year as a season ticket holder in fact, and I fecking adored that man. The club shop produced a life sized poster of him with a measuring chart which was my prized possession a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶.

 

[oakroader]

Oh come on JD.....look on the bright side....didn't Twatford go down with us as well???

 

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

Team wise stronger that year. Sold Freedman a few games into that season for good money then brought in Sean Devine a short while later. Had Maik Taylor in goal, Linvoy Primus at the back and Lee Hodges up front.

We should have made the playoffs that year but threw away a two goal lead in our penultimate game away to Orient. That following summer Ray Clemence left just before the season started when we were I thought geared up for a shot at promotion.

 

[pride_of_notts]

Well we was awful generally we had Andy King as manager and I think it was the season we used a gimmick like Daley Thompson on the bench.

and squad compared they simply don't personally I think this is probably strongest I have seen us assembled and i would include the one that finished 3rd in 01 -02

 

[BeesKnees]

Team wise stronger that year. Sold Freedman a few games into that season for good money then brought in Sean Devine a short while later. Had Maik Taylor in goal, Linvoy Primus at the back and Lee Hodges up front.

We should have made the playoffs that year but threw away a two goal lead in our penultimate game away to Orient. That following summer Ray Clemence left just before the season started when we were I thought geared up for a shot at promotion.

One of the better seasons. A very good team and a disappointing end.
Can still remember standing on the pitch waiting for the other results after the Fulham game.

 

[Super_horns]

Oh come on JD.....look on the bright side....didn't Twatford go down with us as well???

Yes we did (cheeky btw) - on the final day against Leicester who went on to win the play-offs.

Think both the leagues games were 0-0 which just about summed our seasons up!

Not even the return of Graham Taylor could save us but we did give it a good go winning 6-3 v Grimsby, 5-2 v Port Vale and at Norwich to give ourselves a sniff.

 

[GTFCfish]

We were in the Championship then, so it's been uphill all the way since.

 

[Crewelad87]

Lost in the league 1 play offs to Notts County. But we were promoted to the 2nd tier the season after.

 

[Davidimp]

A season of around 40 players and 3 managers, the final one being John Beck!
An Imps legend was made in Gareth Ainsworth and another left in Darren Huckerby.
We won at Scunny on a Tuesday 3-2 Phil Daley got the winner!

 

[Laker]

Have you improved or declined?? We were part of this league with what I always call our quadruplets.

Scunthorpe
Mansfield
Rochdale
Hartlepool

The teams I have seen us play the most. 3 superb grounds by the way. Chesterfield would probably be the next team I have seen us play the most. How had your team changed in the last twenty years or so?? Kudos to Cambridge as well. My first ever game was a 1-2 defeat at home to Cambridge. Kyd and Butler with the goals. Got stung by a wasp as well

It's not an era I remember well. It was a few years after our close call with getting into the EPL and three years before our next promotion. "Butler" must have been Steve, not Martin.

Anyway our net movement in 21 years in an improvement of five places from 16th to 11th in the fourth tier which sounds much more boring than the truth.

 

[Flaxman's Alibi]

Early days of an era that I'm still trying to forget.

 

[valefan16]

As mentioned we had one of the great Vale sides. A very good Championship as it is now outfit.

Legendary John Rudge was still in charge, had the winged wonders of Steve Guppy and Jon McCarthy, Bogie in the midfield, Aspin at the back, Foyle and Naylor up front.

The St Valentines Day Massacre against Everton knocking the holders out the FA Cup before reaching a European Final (Ok Anglo Italian but still) losing to Vicento Montella's Genoa.

Think we finished 12th (just missed play offs the year after).

How despressing the 20 year decline has been.

 

[kieran_vale]

Also did the league double over the shit as well now I come to think of it. Think that would have been the season Bogie scored against them within 12 seconds.

 

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

One of the better seasons. A very good team and a disappointing end.
Can still remember standing on the pitch waiting for the other results after the Fulham game.

Yeah, remember waiting for that after cruising past Fulham 3-0.

That year we played Lincoln, Dougie Freedman's last game and that game had two of the best players that I've seen at this level. Freedman and Darren Huckerby. Ridiculously good for Division 3 as it was then.

 

[Greenacres]

We were in the Southern League Southern Division, it was the season before we won back to back championships for promotion to the Conference. I have to admit that I wasn't following Rovers back then so I can't comment on how good the football was, but I am guessing that it was probably reasonably good, given how successful the team was about to become.

 

[Si Robin]

We came 3rd in the Beazer Homes League Premier Division (Southern League) behind Rushden and Diamonds and Halesowen Town.

Our average attendance was 714, we lost to FGR in the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Cup and to Dover in the FA Trophy 1st round in a second replay. Our moneyspinner, derby game of the season at home to Gloucester City on Boxing Day was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

It was my second season supporting the club as an impressionable 11 year old. I vividly remember about 3 games, strangely the one that stands out was beating Baldock Town 3-1 at home.

 

[Trapdoor]

The mid and late 90s was really our lowest ebb culminating in our eventual bankruptcy and relegation to the conference in 2001/02. Fortunately the owners subsequently got jailed and the club rebuilding could begin.

So yeah, we are definitely doing better now. I can't remember specifically who we had playing for us that season but Peter fox was the manager and it was utter shite. The "legendary" Steve Flack was up front. I think we nearly got relegated...

 

[Davidimp]

Yeah, remember waiting for that after cruising past Fulham 3-0.

That year we played Lincoln, Dougie Freedman's last game and that game had two of the best players that I've seen at this level. Freedman and Darren Huckerby. Ridiculously good for Division 3 as it was then.

Huckerby came through our youth ranks, rare for us.

 

[Super_horns]

We came 3rd in the Beazer Homes League Premier Division (Southern League).

Remember that league quite well - we visit friends in Dorchester quite often and as a kid used to go and watch them play in that league (early to mid 90s)

Clearly unlike you they are still well and truly stuck down there in whatever guise it is now!

 

[valefan16]

Also did the league double over the shit as well now I come to think of it. Think that would have been the season Bogie scored against them within 12 seconds.

Possibly yes as the following season we missed out on the play offs when we only needed a win out the last three games and then we lost to them (the last time I believe)

Depressing to think of it now though isn't it heading into another spell in the basement. True glory days under Rudge... Truly great manager, reckon half of the legendary managers couldn't of done what he did with limited money. He should have a stand at least named after him. Criminal that he isn't more recognised by the club despite his spell at the shit as DOF.

 

[West Terrace]

I'd say we've slightly declined since then.

 

[shoddycollins]

We've largely reverted to type after a whole load of ups and downs, though I don't think we are strictly a straightforward bottom-tier side. Back then we would have been considered a yo-yo club between the third and fourth tiers, (albeit one set for a long spell beneath the third-tier). Now we're the same, a club who nobody would be especially surprised to see us in either third, fourth or fifth tier over the next ten seasons.

 

[GTFCfish]

Just remembered 95/96 was the season we had Ivano Bonetti here, oh what might have been.

We also smashed West Ham 3-0 in an FA Cup replay that season before drawing 0-0 with Chelsea in the 5th round and we really should have won it, before inevitably getting caned in the replay.

 

[Maple Hatter]

We finished rock bottom of the Championship and were absolutely dog shite.

We did however sign Ian Feuer so it wasn't all bad. I was only a wee kid at the time, my second year as a season ticket holder in fact, and I fecking adored that man. The club shop produced a life sized poster of him with a measuring chart which was my prized possession a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶x̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶.

Agree a truly forgettable season and the end of a 25 year period in the top two divisions. Wasn't just the league either. We also lost 7-1 away to Grimsby in the FA cup. An embarrasing performance and result. Terry Westly started the season as our manager to be replaced by a certain Lennie Lawrence. Remember thinking it couldn't get any worse! How wrong I was.

 

[Moomin]

The mid and late 90s was really our lowest ebb culminating in our eventual bankruptcy and relegation to the conference in 2001/02. Fortunately the owners subsequently got jailed and the club rebuilding could begin.

So yeah, we are definitely doing better now. I can't remember specifically who we had playing for us that season but Peter fox was the manager and it was utter shite. The "legendary" Steve Flack was up front. I think we nearly got relegated...

Yes, some bad times indeed. Having said that, the 95/96 season wasn't THAT bad...The previous season we'd finished rock bottom of the football league and only stayed up due to Macclesfield's Moss Rose ground not being fit for the football league. Terry Cooper was our manager and he literally went AWOL and we were minutes from liquidation.

Fortunately, we survived and as you say Peter Fox took the reigns and he managed to get us moving in the right direction. We sold Martin Phillips to Man City for £500K on the basis of 15 promising games, and on wonder goal, which saw us consolidate. I think Steve Flack joined to following season iirc but we had good young players like Jon Richardson playing regularly and brought in enough experience to avoid a relegation battle and think we finished 15th.

Following that we gradually started to decline again and had a number of seasons in dogfights before the inevitable happened in 02/03.

Our fans moan like fuck nowadays but we're in such a good place compared to 20 years ago.

 

[AdamStag]

We finished 19th in the old div 3 with a top scorer of 8.

It was my first season at the age of 11, not really sure why I kept going back.

The mid 90s under Haslam were well, terrible

 

[Tom_CUFC]

First ever game for me in September 95, 1-1 draw at home to Barnet. We were decidedly bang average that season, which after two successive relegations was probably a relief to those more familiar at the time than I.

Good strike force (Butler, Corazzin) and a couple of up and coming young players who'd go on to the Premier League (Craddock, Granville, Hyde), and quite a lot of guff around them.

 

[King Kev]

Well we was awful generally we had Andy King as manager and I think it was the season we used a gimmick like Daley Thompson on the bench.

and squad compared they simply don't personally I think this is probably strongest I have seen us assembled and i would include the one that finished 3rd in 01 -02

You'd had a belting team the previous season that had finished 6th. Iffy Onoura up front, I am sure you were one of the top scorers that year, thus I was a bit shocked to see you perform so poorly in 1995/96.