In the days before the internet we didn’t have many ways of finding out about ticket sales for games. There were match programmes (but fixtures didn’t always allow time for us to read the details in time); occasional announcements on Radio Manchester or Piccadilly Radio; Clubcall (if you could afford the ridiculous cost of phoning the number); and then there was the local press. Here’s the Manchester Evening News from today (10 September) in 1986 giving their latest ticket news on City, except all it really told us was that the League Cup tie at Southend would be all-ticket. I suppose a few days later the criteria would’ve been announced. Back then we’d wait and wonder if the away allocation would be satisfied by regular season ticket holders, first year season ticket holders or end up on open sale.
By this time I was a ‘regular’ season ticket holder (a separate category; in past years there were 1st year, 2nd year etc. season ticket holders – all the way up to 4th year at one point – but by 1986 there were just ‘regular’ and ‘first year’) so probably could get a ticket but I didn’t get to Southend due to work commitments sadly.
If you’d like to know more about City during the 1980s, here’s a 2,500 word subscriber feature on the 1985-86 season that came before this one (elsewhere on the site you can find 1986-87). Enjoy!
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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1986-87 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Gary James' Football Archive 