SUMMARY

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Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Ave Att:
24	8	7	9	2,439

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This issue is for the Burnley game just before Christmas 1985. It features Mark Leonard scoring against Wrexham the previous week, (his 12th of the season to that point). It looks like the pictures at the bottom are from the game at Anfield 14 months previously.

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1986 – THE WORST TEAM EVER SEEN

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The reversal in fortunes, (described in Home Games: 1985), that Les Chapman had engineered after Murphy’s departure continued on into the New Year. By the end of March 1986 we stood 5th and fond delusions of a promotion push were being entertained. Things fell away, sadly, and with 6 losses in the last 8 games we subsided to 11th. But the general concensus was that Chapman had done a great job, and we could look forward to 1986/87 with more confidence than was normally the case. The main need was for a striker to partner Mark Leonard. Chapman had used a series of lower league journeymen at the back end of the season. Malcolm Poskett; Steve Cammack and “Big Bad” Bob Newton had all been tried but with little success.

Chapman, (below), didn’t get the chance. In one of the more inexplicable managerial appointment decisions taken by the County Board over the years, (and there’s been plenty of them, trust me), they relieved him of his duties with less than a month to go to the start of the new campaign. His record was good; the football played not too shabby either and there was optimism in the air. All three of those changed with the appointment of Jimmy Melia in his stead. Melia had taken Brighton to the Cup Final three years previously. Heaven alone knows how, based on his performance in the EP hot seat.

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The three months that Melia was at EP provided the worst experience of my 57 years watching the Hatters. The team he assembled, (bearing in mind the relative status in the football hierarchy), was simply, (and I brook no argument about this!), the single worst team I have ever seen. It was gutless; spiritless; had little football knowhow or talent; no leadership. It was beyond awful.

On the “The Players – 1980’s“ page there’s a team picture from the start of that season. The more mature County supporters will recoil at some of the faces that appear. Melia lasted a matter of weeks and when the the axe fell his record was W1, D3, L10, F6, A29. In those games he used 23 players. It tells its own story. Added to that litany of failure was the 7-0 humiliation against Sheffield Wednesday in a ‘home’ game played at Maine Road, (Away Trip 40). This was 3 days after a 5 goal pasting at Cambridge.

In 7 games on the road we scored twice, (both of those at The Shay in the single League win he masterminded). It truly was abject. This was the first season of automatic relegation into the Conference and when he left we were marooned at the bottom of the table. County fans had started to get the maps out to find where places like Wealdstone; Welling and Frickley could be located.

I wrote a piece in The Tea Party (Issue 23), entitled “In Defence of Murphy” which looks in greater detail at those desperate 3 months under Melia.

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MURPHY RETURNS .. THE GREAT ESCAPE IS PLANNED

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The history books recount how Colin Murphy returned from his stay in Saudi Arabia. His first game back was a FA Cup debacle at Caernarfon, (Away Trip 41). But a week later we had the joy of a win. It was over Cardiff, with Vernon Allatt and Levi Edwards on target.

By the end of the year, he had brought in a series of proven lower league players, (Phil Brown; Ernie Moss; Les Robinson and the “somewhat unpredictable!” Andy Gorton). Performances stabilised and the year went out with a highlight game as we took Peterborough to task with Vernon Allatt, (below) picking up a hat-trick. It was the first treble for the Hatters since John Kerr, over two years previously

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After a completely dismal autumn it appeared that there was light at the end of the tunnel. We had climbed off the bottom of the table but it still looked like a hard battle ahead. As we turned the year Torquay and Rochdale were our main competition in looking to beat the drop into non-league. Little did Burnley, (then 16th) know that they would go into the last day staring into the abyss. But it turned out to be a greater shock for Lincoln, then only 4 points off the promotion spots. History records that they were the first team to take the drop.

They would have to look to return – but we weren’t to know that it would be with the manager who saved us in 1986/87, and indeed half of the team he had quickly assembled at EP. I still doff to my cap to Murphy. The task he achieved in 1986/87 was comparable to many of the other successes in later years.

That’s been a brief summary of one of the worst years I’ve had watching County. We played 26 games at home, (I exclude the Wednesday League Cup tie). I saw 24 of them. It was a really dispiriting time, at least for the Melia period. Research tells me that I missed the league games against Rochdale and Wolves. They were played in the space of 4 days. Julie and I were married in the summer of 1986, and a late honeymoon (to Tenerife – our favoured destination at that time), was infinitely preferable to the fare on offer at EP. But there again,so would have been walking up and down Castle Street with a nail in my shoe. I returned to action for the win at The Shay. So I can say, “I was there” for the only league win that Melia oversaw!!

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Back to 1985 Forward to 1987 Home Games Summary Page Away Games 1986

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THE HOME GAMES I SAW THIS YEAR

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Home Game
Wed	01/01/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Scunthorpe United	D	0	0	3,505	227
Fri	17/01/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Colchester United	D	1	1	2,336	228
Mon	20/01/86 (Highlights)	Freight Rover Trophy	Northern Preliminary Round	Bolton Wanderers	D	2	2	1,874	229
Fri	24/01/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Preston North End	W	2	1	3,035	230
Fri	31/01/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Crewe Alexandra	W	3	0	2,564	231
Mon	03/02/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Swindon Town	L	0	2	3,899	232
Fri	21/02/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Northampton Town	W	1	0	2,011	233
Mon	24/02/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Exeter City	D	1	1	2,048	234
Mon	03/03/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Southend United	W	2	1	2,425	235
Fri	07/03/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Torquay United	D	1	1	3,014	236
Fri	21/03/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Leyton Orient	L	2	3	3,119	237
Mon	31/03/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Mansfield Town	L	0	2	4,635	238
Fri	11/04/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Port Vale	L	1	2	4,691	239
Fri	24/04/86	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Tranmere Rovers	D	1	1	1,895	240
Tue	26/08/86	Littlewoods Challenge Cup	Round 1 (1st Leg)	Tranmere Rovers	W	2	1	1,543	241
Fri	29/08/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Tranmere Rovers	L	0	2	2,145	242
Mon	20/10/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Preston North End	L	1	3	2,888	243
Fri	24/10/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Colchester United	D	1	1	1,281	244
Mon	27/10/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Northampton Town	L	0	3	1,729	245
Mon	03/11/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Hereford United	L	1	2	1,338	246
Sat	22/11/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Cardiff City	W	2	0	1,674	247
Mon	08/12/86	Freight Rover Trophy	Northern Preliminary Round	Carlisle United	L	0	1	1,000	248
Fri	19/12/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Wrexham	W	2	1	1,770	249
Sat	27/12/86	Today League Division 4	Tier 4	Peterborough United	W	3	1	2,120	250