1980-81 - (Part two) - Huddersfield Town/Derby County/Leeds Utd.

Posted by Tony Hutton

SATURDAY 7TH FEBRUARY, 1981

LEAGUE DIVISION THREE AT LEEDS ROAD, HUDDERSFIELD

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1 (Cowling) BARNSLEY 0

Freeman; Brown, Robinson; Stanton, Sutton, Hanvey;
Lillis, Kennedy, Austin, Kindon, Cowling;

New; Joyce, Chambers; Glavin, Banks, McCarthy;
Evans, Parker, Riley, Lester, Downes; sub Cooper.

Referee:- N. Midgley, Salford.

SATURDAY 21ST FEBRUARY, 1981                     Attendance 15,709

LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT THE BASEBALL GROUND, DERBY

DERBY COUNTY 1 (McFarland) LEYTON ORIENT 1 (Margerison)

Jones; Emery, Buckley; B. Powell, McFarland, Ramage;
Reid, Swindlehurst, Biley, Hector, Wilson; sub Osgood.


SATURDAY 7TH MARCH, 1981                       Attendance 28,518

LEAGUE DIVISION TWO AT HILLSBOROUGH, SHEFFIELD

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0 DERBY COUNTY 0

Jones; Emery, Buckley; Reid, McFarland, Ramage;
Sheridan, Clayton, Swindlehurst, Hector, Wilson;



TUESDAY 31ST MARCH, 1981

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT ELLAND ROAD, LEEDS

LEEDS UNITED 3 (Hird pen., Harris, Hart) IPSWICH TOWN 0

Lukic; Greenhoff, Gray (E); Flynn, Hart, Cherry;
Harris, Hird, Parlane, Stevenson, Graham; sub Sabella.

TUESDAY 21ST APRIL, 1981                                 Attendance 9,463

LEAGUE DIVISION THREE AT LEEDS ROAD, HUDDERSFIELD

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1 (Lillis) WALSALL 1 (S. Waddington)

Freeman; Brown, Robinson; Stanton, Sutton, Hanvey;
Lillis, Kennedy, Austin, Kindon, Cowling; sub Robins.

Green; Macken, Mower; Horne, Bains, Hart;
Rees, Waddington, Penn, Buckley, Caswell;

Referee; R. Bridges, Deeside.

SATURDAY 25TH APRIL, 1981                          Attendance 38,018

LEAGUE DIVISION ONE AT VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM

ASTON VILLA 3 (Shaw, Withe, Evans) MIDDLESBOROUGH 0

Rimmer; Swain, Williams; Evans, McNaught, Mortimore (capt);
Bremner, Shaw, Withe, Cowans, Morley;

Platt; Nobbs, Bailey; Bell, Angus, McAndrew;
Cochrane, Proctor, Burns, Shearer, Armstrong;

This was Villa's last home match of the season and it was worth breaking the journey home to Yorkshire from London, braving the torrential rain and the dreadful Birmingham pubs, to see them crowned as League Champions.

Middlesborough, with a poor looking side, gave the appearance of knowing they were only there to make up the numbers against a side which has looked worthy champions for most of the season. Ron Saunders has built a fine team from players who in many cases have been rejected by other clubs. However he has certainly found the right blend and particularly in the case of Dennis Mortimore and Gordon Cowans who run the side from mid-field.

Gary Shaw the young, goal-scoring inside forward has been a revelation and the old fashioned centre forward play of Peter With and the explosive speed of Tony Morley on the left wing were all much in evidence today. Many years ago since I stood on the terraces behind the goal to watch the lack lustre sides of the 1950s, but nice to be sitting in the comfort of the main stand for the first time ever, to see them take the First Division title.

TUESDAY 28TH APRIL, 1981

FRIENDLY MATCH AT ELLAND ROAD, LEEDS

LEEDS UNITED 2 (Huber o.g., Graham) BORUSSIA DORTMUND 0

Smith; Greenhoff, Madeley; Flynn, Firm, Cherry;
Harris, Hird, Parlane, Stevenson, Graham; subs Connor, Gray and Seaman (unused).

Bertram; Huber, Koch; Russman, Schneider, Dormann;
Abramczik, Schneider (T), Edwaldson, Geyer, Wagner; sub Holz.

Referee:- T.L. Morris, Leeds

That just about brings me to the end of my football watching story which started at Elland Road nearly thirty five years ago. By now I had become totally disillusioned by the game and the atmosphere surrounding it. I suppose most people remember the game as it was during their younger days through rose coloured spectacles, but I had lost my sense of excitement and anticipation. My son, who had been my constant companion for many years, still came to watch Rugby League with me at Headingley, but now went to Elland Road to be with his school mates on the Kop.

Very soon he was working in local radio, starting with non-league football and is still travelling the world to watch football wherever he can while remaining loyal, along with his two sons, to his first two clubs - Derby County and Matlock Town.

For completeness sake I will list the few remaining games I saw in my final blog but this only involves another eighteen games over the following eight seasons. I then only saw one live game in the ten years of the 1990s. There have been one or two since but usually special occasions involving my family.

Steve Kindon (Huddersfield Town) -'the runaway wardrobe'.