Quote: the flying biscuit "come on it was only the regal trophy no one cared......80-nil it could have been 800 for me...
watching sean long bang a drop goal over or cunningham flop over with only seconds left was worse'"
I cared, Biscuit. It was my team (I was only 26 at the time though, old age makes you think a lot more objectively).
We were 80 minutes away from a final. We still had the basis of a decent squad (even though Johnny D. had walked away a couple of months previous). True, we had Manure Thompson, and the 2 wasters from Tonga, but still had good youth (remember Sculthorpe, Harris, Roper, Hilton, Wainwright, Penny).
Only 18 months before, we should have won the league.
I still believe, this game started a huge snowball of e, and set us on the road to 12 years of tosh.
A decent league position of 5th, papered over the cracks, for a few months. Then, after that, came many years of abject failure.
Yes, in that period, we had 3 CCsemi finals (2 of which were with ageing Aussie starlets), and we had to cope with near bankruptcy in 1998/9. We had the feel good factor of Peter Deakin (RIP, a top fella....I just wish we had him now, along with Moran's dosh....we could be reaching for the moon), and the new stadium. BUT, before this game, we were a decent side, one of the best in the Championship, but it went t1t5 up, straight after.
For the record, I was there for the 80-0, but I didn't go to the game the week after.
I went to the game in '97, and we got another kicking (we signed Briers a few days after).
To be honest, this game, was the beginning of the end of my
away days as a Wire fan. True, I've been to plenty since, but 80-0 doesn't exactly thrill you with the idea of giving up 3 to 7 hours of your life, to go and watch an away game, when you've got a wife, mortgage and a young un. I hadn't set foot in the place since, until the play-off defeat of Sept 2010. Plus ca change. Knowsley Road was stll a pooh hole, and we got beat.
What I've just said, maybe a tad over the top for a few on here, but I stand by it..
Rant over
Back slightly on topic, I was there for a FEW of the good times. That Regal trophy win in 93 was awesome (got myself on telly, too), as was our last win there, a few weeks later. The abandonment game was a good few minutes, as was it's re-arrangement.
See, there are good points.
Strangely, though, Number 1 in the charts, the last time we won there (I think), was D:REAM, Things Can Only Get Better......... I don't think so.