You 'll never take the bob bank

Why didn't anyone try? A few Chelsea in 78 in the corner, but nobody else , over the years I've seen a few Stoke, Portsmouth, and Sunderland fans none of which lasted very long, but no real effort, I did read on here Everton and Man. u had half the bob bank, but back in the day the Grange end was the place to be. Just wondering.

Why didn't anyone try? A few Chelsea in 78 in the corner, but nobody else , over the years I've seen a few Stoke, Portsmouth, and Sunderland fans none of which lasted very long, but no real effort, I did read on here Everton and Man. u had half the bob bank, but back in the day the Grange end was the place to be. Just wondering.

Chelsea tried in 84 as well.

I remember the Wolves fan trying......ouch

I remember a Hull fan on the bob bank under the tv gantry

I remember about 10 Sunderland fans taking a right hammering in 1980, when they brought about 10,000 fans.

A few hundred Leeds fans took the Bob Bank back in 72. This was about 2 hours before KO.

However when about 2000 gathered on the corner of the Grange End they didn't hang around long.

I remember may have been early seventies late sixties, and just before this period teams like Brum and Villa would always go on the Grangend, and then when Cardiff got their act together they would all mob up outside and enter on mass and kick them off and boot them all across the Bob bank, I kid you not.

Well one year first game I think, we were playing Brum and it happened and the whole Bob bank was like a war zone and they too a serious hammering, but while it was going on, there was a pre match presentation going on in the middle of the pitch to Cardiff, who had won an award for being the best behaved fans in the old second division, and while you had all these League big wigs making the presentation, the Bob Bank resembled the trenches from the First World war. all a bit surreal.

The gypo jacks tried to take the family stand once

Why didn't anyone try? A few Chelsea in 78 in the corner, but nobody else , over the years I've seen a few Stoke, Portsmouth, and Sunderland fans none of which lasted very long, but no real effort, I did read on here Everton and Man. u had half the bob bank, but back in the day the Grange end was the place to be. Just wondering.

1974, Man Utd had the 'whole' Bob Bank. Also, the Grange end at the time was as you mentioned, the place to be - in those days twice as big as well.

Why didn't anyone try? A few Chelsea in 78 in the corner, but nobody else , over the years I've seen a few Stoke, Portsmouth, and Sunderland fans none of which lasted very long, but no real effort, I did read on here Everton and Man. u had half the bob bank, but back in the day the Grange end was the place to be. Just wondering.

Portsmouth had the grange end back in the seventies all game utd had the whole bob bank in 74

Yes but Man Utd didn't take the bob bank in a hooligan sense, that's the section of the ground they were given for the game.
I remember Leeds on the Bank 1972
I can also remember West Brom fans and Villa fans on the corner near the Grangend and who can forget the battering Chelsea had on there!

I remember about 10 Sunderland fans taking a right hammering in 1980, when they brought about 10,000 fans.

Was that the 1-1 draw when they could have gone up if they won.If it was I was in the lower Grandstand (standing) age 13 and my 2nd ever game

Chelsea had a good crack in 84 but a few Ferndale saw them off the Canton end of the bob bank Micky villain has the photo in the Western Mail

The home 'end' moved around a bit as mentioned Grange > Bob Bank when the roof went off the GE but I can also vaguely remember the Canton (The Ninian Park one) being a 'singing/home' section

The home 'end' moved around a bit as mentioned Grange > Bob Bank when the roof went off the GE but I can also vaguely remember the Canton (The Ninian Park one) being a 'singing/home' section

I used to watch from the disabled section, firstly nexxt to the Canton Bob bank side, totally out in the open, must have been thre regular wheelchair users those days, then they moved us to the bottom of the enclosure/grandstand canto end, and that section of the Canto is where our "main faces gaathered for many a season, mind you the numbers were low, dangerous, but low.

Also have a recollection of Chelsea being in the Canton and trying to get the fence back to attack the Bob bank, but they soon legged it when they seen what was waiting for them, a bit of a tactical retreat at ninety miles an hour.

The home 'end' moved around a bit as mentioned Grange > Bob Bank when the roof went off the GE but I can also vaguely remember the Canton (The Ninian Park one) being a 'singing/home' section

I used to watch from the disabled section, firstly nexxt to the Canton Bob bank side, totally out in the open, must have been thre regular wheelchair users those days, then they moved us to the bottom of the enclosure/grandstand canto end, and that section of the Canto is where our "main faces gaathered for many a season, mind you the numbers were low, dangerous, but low.

Also have a recollection of Chelsea being in the Canton and trying to get the fence back to attack the Bob bank, but they soon legged it when they seen what was waiting for them, a bit of a tactical retreat at ninety miles an hour.

I remember when away fans used to stand in the enclosure beneath blocks e and f in the grandstand . About 20 minutes from the end of a game when the gates opened the usual suspects used to infiltrate them and it would kick off.

I remember about 10 Sunderland fans taking a right hammering in 1980, when they brought about 10,000 fans.

That was right by me, they was surrounded, a well known skinhead piled into them followed by the mob, don't know how they made it out alive.

A few hundred Leeds fans took the Bob Bank back in 72. This was about 2 hours before KO.

However when about 2000 gathered on the corner of the Grange End they didn't hang around long.

That would have been my first city match my uncle took my two brothers, but my mother wouldn't let him take me, he said it was carnage with bottles being thrown back and forth, he never went to a game again after that.

I remember about 10 Sunderland fans taking a right hammering in 1980, when they brought about 10,000 fans.

That was right by me, they was surrounded, a well known skinhead piled into them followed by the mob, don't know how they made it out alive.

They were pulled (Saved)out of the gate at front of Bob Bank by OB.
Funny in them days you would get a good hammering, but no hospital or stabbings.

I remember may have been early seventies late sixties, and just before this period teams like Brum and Villa would always go on the Grangend, and then when Cardiff got their act together they would all mob up outside and enter on mass and kick them off and boot them all across the Bob bank, I kid you not.

Well one year first game I think, we were playing Brum and it happened and the whole Bob bank was like a war zone and they too a serious hammering, but while it was going on, there was a pre match presentation going on in the middle of the pitch to Cardiff, who had won an award for being the best behaved fans in the old second division, and while you had all these League big wigs making the presentation, the Bob Bank resembled the trenches from the First World war. all a bit surreal.

gwyn at that time the teams I rem who would stick out would be pompey,villa and brum they would all be on the grange until the valleys special used to pull in about 2.45 they were not on it long after that

Why didn't anyone try? A few Chelsea in 78 in the corner, but nobody else , over the years I've seen a few Stoke, Portsmouth, and Sunderland fans none of which lasted very long, but no real effort, I did read on here Everton and Man. u had half the bob bank, but back in the day the Grange end was the place to be. Just wondering.

Chelsea tried in 84 as well.

I was there

when Portsmouth took the grangend they got there early and stayed there. was with some off the barry boys dickie .don and des and others and we went up the back on the other side of them but there was so many we had to get off .spurs also tried getting on befor the end of the fac game in 77 and the gates were shut with a few Cardiff stuck outside who had gone out to meet them .the Swansea v crystal pal cup game was unreal with thousands of them in the ground .

when Portsmouth took the grangend they got there early and stayed there. was with some off the barry boys dickie .don and des and others and we went up the back on the other side of them but there was so many we had to get off .spurs also tried getting on befor the end of the fac game in 77 and the gates were shut with a few Cardiff stuck outside who had gone out to meet them .the Swansea v crystal pal cup game was unreal with thousands of them in the ground .

Spot on about the Pompey game
I also rem the Swansea/Palace game well.

It would have been far more difficult to take the Bob Bank as segregaation was in place at the time it became city's main end, the old wooden Grange End had a few attempts mainly by midland clubs but Pompey were the only club to ever claim a scalp at the City, like earlier said they got in early & had too many in numbers. When Villa, Brum & Leicester did similiar they were met at ten to three by the arrival of the train specials & as a kid watching about a thousand coming across to the bob Bank was like a scene from Zulu, no invisible walls, hand gestures & bouncing the violence was for real, mad mad days but as a young kid with my mates sitting on the fence of the old boys enclosure when we saw the sight of those City fans we would celebrate like City had just won the league.

While waiting for a flight I browsed a football hooligan book ,where they asked a list of questions to I presumed well known hooligans, one of the questions was have you ever been involved in a riot, and the guy from Portsmouth who looked about ninety said yes, Cardiff 74 we got on their Grange end early, we ran them and they ran us ,so somebody must of made an effort to kick them off. Even if they didn't succeed.

Portsmouth were far from the only team to take the Grangend, it was quite a regular thing mid and late sixties, and lot's of the midlands clubs would get on there and stay all game, but then it took what seemed like a change overnight and many times later those that tried were battered and chased across the Bob bank, seen many fans jumping over the big walls to escape.

These were nasty scary times, I have seen many away fans stripped of their clothes and robbed on, under and behind the Bob bank, no cameras and hardly any police them days, you had to live on your wits.

While waiting for a flight I browsed a football hooligan book ,where they asked a list of questions to I presumed well known hooligans, one of the questions was have you ever been involved in a riot, and the guy from Portsmouth who looked about ninety said yes, Cardiff 74 we got on their Grange end early, we ran them and they ran us ,so somebody must of made an effort to kick them off. Even if they didn't succeed.

As has been said they got there very early - probably 1/1.30 before anyone else was in the ground and as far as I recall probably had half the GE at one point but eventually ended up having far less than that. There was a line of police splitting the fans and I think that probably saved them from being seen off totally.

Villa tried it on the same or following season(I think) but never made it and were taken under the GE and on to the Bob.Villa had a hard time when they visited and the last time they played us in the 70's they brought hardly anyone after a couple of earlier big shows.