What has been the best/worst day supporting your Club?

[Haillay7]

Stolen from the League Two thread (sorry!)

Just whilst we await the return of the real football this weekend and as we have quite an eclectic mix of supporters in the Championship thread, what the best and worst days of supporting your Club have been?

**I'm going to caveat the entire question by saying it's all relative and I don't care that your worst days have been worse than mine and subsequently your best days have been better either. I'm just genuinely interested with your answers**

We had a lot to be proud of in my youth between The Entertainers and Sir Bobby's Champions League run but as I've got older the good day's have gotten few and far between. I've chosen a more recent one due to my account of it being better.

5 February 2011.
Having lost Andy Carroll under very bitter circumstances a week prior, there were a lot of dark clouds going in to the second half of the season having only Leon Best to lead the line in a bid to secure PL safety. After being blown away in the first half by an excellent Arsenal team, we, together with some dubious penalty decisions a Tiote screamer and a Harper elbow drop came back to earn a draw. To this day it's genuinely the best match I've ever had the fortune to witness live and just made me very proud to support Newcastle regardless of off the pitch drama. Newcastle United 4 - 4 Arsenal

Now the worst...

14 April 2013
The less said about this the better but growing up I knew that we were bigger and better than Sunderland and this was taught to me as fact. If we didn't win comfortably, we just won. If we didn't win, we drew - no worse. However for the best part of what feels an age, we have now been on a hiding to nothing and this all started towards the end of the 12/13 season when PDC and his mob rolled on through to win at St James' for the first time in 13 years. We've since lost 6 and drawn 1 in the last 7 Tyne-Wear derbys and the above sadly started it all. (Hey at least we were the last North-East team to win a PL game - am I right?)

 

[hodge]

Best:

14th April 2015 - Bradford 0-6 Bristol City

A successful promotion campaign saw promotion sealed away to Bradford on a Tuesday evening, very happy I went in the end. Could argue days like the second leg of the play offs against Palace in 07/08 are better due to them being in the division above. But for me the 14/15 season was just a complete performance for a season. To then seal promotion with such a performance made for such a great day and was on a high driving all the way back home.

Worst:

24th May 2008 - Bristol City vs Hull City Play Off Final

So close and yet so far, made the worse over the years to follow watching how both clubs fared, Hull in the premier league again a few seasons later compared to our slow fall down the championship and eventual relegation to league 1.

 

[TomPNE94]

Best - it's very close between this one and the play off final twatting of Swindon but just edging it, 28/09/2010. Leeds United 4-6 Preston. 4-1 down at Elland Road before half time, a Jon Parkin hat trick laid the platform for the best comeback ever seen in football. Fucking top day.

Worst - probably the play off final against West Ham, we were a much better team than them that season and really should have gone up. Just didn't turn up on the day. Gutted.

 

[Luke_ciderhead]

Worst - Being relegated to non league infront of our own fans against a team with nothing to play for, wearing our away kit. Then rioting on the pitch, punching horses and bursting into tears on radio Bristol.

Best - Them gert shitheads relegation from the championship, a league we havent played in for 25 years. OH yes!!!

Oops sorry, I had a nightmare I was a Rovers fan.

Real best - Promotion vs Rotherham in 2007. Sell out crowd, a beautiful day, and the sheer joy and relief of finally getting back to the second tier after eight years of heartache and near misses. Just an absolutely perfect day. Id only really started properly following us in 1999 and all I had ever really known was failure so that wonderful feeling that it was finally our day edges it for me over our most recent promotion. (plus I was actually there, not in deepest China and had been to virtually all home and away games that season).

Real worst - So hows this for a week... My grandpa dies, I break up with my missus and I spend my 21st birthday watching us lose the playoff final to Brighton after a gutless performance. And I lived in fucking Brighton at the time and their fans were gloating smarmy twats on the train journey back. I was just at absolute rock bottom that day. I've despised that football club ever since and was delighted when they bottled it this year.

 

[tiltontrev]

I've been very fortunate in my supporting days really, two cup finals at the old Wembley, two cup finals at the Millennium Stadium, a cup final at the new Wembley, not to mention European football and a few famous derby wins to boot. It's hard to pick a "best" moment as it's all relative to the situation at the time. The most emotional I've ever felt at a football stadium was at Bolton a couple of years ago on the final day of the season, owner in prison, 2-0 down at half time, on the edge, staring into a Pompey-esque abyss. Then the most ridiculous comeback with the last minute equaliser to keep us up by the skin of our teeth, I make no apologies for posting this POV from the away end, it's the closest to capturing the sheer desperation into delirium that everyone felt that day.

My lad isn't old enough to have attended the Cup Finals with us, he was with me for this one, the look on his face celebrating with his mates tears rolling down his face will stay with me forever.

Any 'worst' moments were erased from memory that day.

 

[MagpieBee]

Best Day:
Fulham 1 - 4 Brentford, 14/15 season
Having not played them for so long, to not only beat them, but smash them in their own back yard, with 4 amazing goals (every one could have been a goal of the month/season contender, worth a view on YouTube) was simply awesome. The boat trip there was class, over 6,000 away fans, and Jota in the last minute. At that point really thought we could do the unthinkable and reach the PL.

Honourable mentions:
Brentford 2 - 1 Sunderland, FA Cup 05/06
Brentford 1 - 0 Preston, Promoted to Championship 13/14
Could have taken half the games in the 14/15 season, best football I've ever seen

Worst Day:
Brentford 0 - 1 Doncaster, 12/13, *that* penalty miss
I really thought we'd squandered our best chance to reach the Championship. After doing so well for so long that season, to fall down at the last hurdle, to such cruel luck, was just horrible. I've never felt so distraught after a game (despite having witnesses a lot of hard times at the club, this just felt like our day would never come). To lose the following play off final against Yeovil in a match we absolutely dominated just made it worse. At least everything since then has been worth the wait, and staying in L1 for another season probably helped our chances of staying up an awful lot, but I didn't think we'd make it up so soon after this.

Honourable mentions:
Brentford 1 - 2 Yeovil, Play Off Final 12/13
Whole Season, Relegated to League 2 06/07

 

[SMH]

Best day: Fairly obvious that it's the FA Cup Final. Nothing else will ever come close as long as I live. Coming in at second is one of our rewards for winning that day, playing our first ever European game against Zulte Waregem in the Europa League the night before my birthday. Around 3,000 travelled as we played the game in Brugge because their ground didn't fit UEFA requirements and what an amazing few days it was despite the game itself being a drab 0-0 draw. In third place would probably be beating Manchester United at home in 2012. Definitely the finest night the DW Stadium has ever seen and we went on to beat Arsenal at the Emirates on the Monday after with around 150 of us in the away end as we went on that incredible run. For about two months we were probably playing the best football in Europe (no exaggeration).

Worst day: I've been lucky enough to have not seen that many terrible days with how we've timed our upward trajectory from the 90s onwards. But we've had our fair share of playoff misery and we've still yet to win one. QPR away in 2014 in the playoff second leg was absolutely horrible. We scored early and tried to defend the lead, lost James McArthur to a hamstring pull, then James McClean missed a massive chance after an hour that would have won it. I knew at that point that we'd lose and we duly did with Charlie Austin putting us to bed after extra time. We'd have definitely beaten Derby had we got to the final as well. I don't have many more realistic wishes while supporting Latics but number one on my list is to one day see us win a playoff final. I can only imagine how amazing it must feel getting promoted that way. The ultimate ecstasy and probably our only hope of getting back to the Premier League!

 

[Bluebird_Dai]

Best day is probably the 3rd round tie of the FA Cup against Leeds. Little old Cardiff coming up against the Premier League leaders in a game we didn't have a chance in hell of winning yet we did it. The reaction when Kavanagh smashed in that free kick is only bettered by what Scott Young then did in the dying minutes when he scored the winner. I was only 11 but I still remember Ninian Park being a truly special place on that night.

The worst is undoubtedly the day Tan decided it would be a good idea to say fuck you to history and tradition and push through his rebrand. Damage was done that still to this day hasn't been repaired with certain parts of the fanbase and which in all honesty probably never will be. Those that have stayed away since then seem content with whatever things they have filled the void with in their lives. I missed out on us getting promoted and having that season in the Prem, along with the first season back down here because of it. Changing back to blue was in my mind Tan's way of admitting he screwed up, which didn't and still hasn't made it right for me.

Honourable mention goes to black Friday, the day when Sam admits that we have a £30 million debt and the club needs to sell anyone and everything to survive. Kavanagh was flown from the training ground supposedly in tears because he was being forced to go to Wigan to ensure the club could pay a bill. He went from hero to zero in a matter of minutes with announcing all of that. And yet still to this day, he has people who will hang on to every little word he says. Absolute sheep.

 

[SMH]

Best day is probably the 3rd round tie of the FA Cup against Leeds. Little old Cardiff coming up against the Premier League leaders in a game we didn't have a chance in hell of winning yet we did it. The reaction when Kavanagh smashed in that free kick is only bettered by what Scott Young then did in the dying minutes when he scored the winner. I was only 11 but I still remember Ninian Park being a truly special place on that night.

The worst is undoubtedly the day Tan decided it would be a good idea to say fuck you to history and tradition and push through his rebrand. Damage was done that still to this day hasn't been repaired with certain parts of the fanbase and which in all honesty probably never will be. Those that have stayed away since then seem content with whatever things they have filled the void with in their lives. I missed out on us getting promoted and having that season in the Prem, along with the first season back down here because of it. Changing back to blue was in my mind Tan's way of admitting he screwed up, which didn't and still hasn't made it right for me.

Honourable mention goes to black Friday, the day when Sam admits that we have a £30 million debt and the club needs to sell anyone and everything to survive. Kavanagh was flown from the training ground supposedly in tears because he was being forced to go to Wigan to ensure the club could pay a bill. He went from hero to zero in a matter of minutes with announcing all of that. And yet still to this day, he has people who will hang on to every little word he says. Absolute sheep.

He was absolutely brilliant for us in the second half of that season. Without a doubt the signing that pushed us over the promotion line. I remember getting excited when we signed him as he'd played class against us for you.

 

[Bluebird_Dai]

He was absolutely brilliant for us in the second half of that season. Without a doubt the signing that pushed us over the promotion line. I remember getting excited when we signed him as he'd played class against us for you.

I'm sure you got him for an absolute bargain as well, not even £500k in the end. Could do with a player like him in the middle for us right now.

 

[PaulWolves]

The best is the 2003 play off final, beating Sheffield United 3-0 for a place in the premier league for the first time.

Worst would be relegation to league one, losing 2-1 at home to Burnley. The hatred the fans had towards the club was enormous.

 

[Luke_1884]

I want to say the 2007 play off final win against WBA for best but that would be purely because of the outcome and elation at full time. The game itself was awful and I don't think I've ever been as nervous at a football match as I was that day, didn't enjoy the game at all.
For pure emotion/elation it's the 10 men, 1 nil down 2-1 up game at the City Ground, never been involved in a game of such importance with the controversy and action that game had. Mental. I'll go with this.

Worst, easily the play off final vs QPR a couple of years back. Completely controlled the game, should have put away a few chances especially with QPR down to 10. Heading into extra time on the front foot and then a concoction of defensive fuck ups in the same move result in a free shot at goal from 7 yards for Bobby Zamora, pretty much last kick of the game. The rest is history.
Let's have an honourable mention for the 07/08 PL worst team in history season as a whole too, whilst we took the piss for 38 games, collecting 11 points all season was horrific looking back. Some big clubs reckon they have it bad getting relegated to this division but nobody has had it as rough as we did that season. Oh, bar Loughborough (1899/1900) and Doncaster Rovers (1904/1905) who hold the overall joint record. I bet there's not too many fans kicking around who witnessed that...

 

[toshj]

Best Day:
Fulham 1 - 4 Brentford, 14/15 season
Having not played them for so long, to not only beat them, but smash them in their own back yard, with 4 amazing goals (every one could have been a goal of the month/season contender, worth a view on YouTube) was simply awesome. The boat trip there was class, over 6,000 away fans, and Jota in the last minute. At that point really thought we could do the unthinkable and reach the PL.

Honourable mentions:
Brentford 2 - 1 Sunderland, FA Cup 05/06
Brentford 1 - 0 Preston, Promoted to Championship 13/14
Could have taken half the games in the 14/15 season, best football I've ever seen

Worst Day:
Brentford 0 - 1 Doncaster, 12/13, *that* penalty miss
I really thought we'd squandered our best chance to reach the Championship. After doing so well for so long that season, to fall down at the last hurdle, to such cruel luck, was just horrible. I've never felt so distraught after a game (despite having witnesses a lot of hard times at the club, this just felt like our day would never come). To lose the following play off final against Yeovil in a match we absolutely dominated just made it worse. At least everything since then has been worth the wait, and staying in L1 for another season probably helped our chances of staying up an awful lot, but I didn't think we'd make it up so soon after this.

Honourable mentions:
Brentford 1 - 2 Yeovil, Play Off Final 12/13
Whole Season, Relegated to League 2 06/07

Exactly this. As well as large scale successes, such as promotions, I really enjoy a good come back too. On a recent level, turning 1-2 into 3-2 in the last few minutes against Portsmouth a few seasons ago was great, as well as the 0-3 at half time against MK Dons to equalise in the last minute.

Conversely, walking all over Doncaster Rovers up at their place a few seasons back, but still only being 1-0 up. Then falling apart and conceding 2 in the last 15 minutes. I hated that trip back to London.

 

[Super_horns]

Best:

Had a few successful season such as winning at Wembley against Bolton in 99 and in Cardiff against media darlings Leeds (think it was Alan Green who said it was a real shame they hadn't got promoted because they are such a big club who deserve to win) but the best has to be our most recent promotion at Brighton even though - a great win to put us on the edge and then watching Middlesbrough and Norwich slip up creating one big party on the beach!

One from a little further back - beating money bags Fulham (well in those days they were) to win the title thanks to Jason Lee's late winner by the Thames (probably not many better grounds to have a party)

Aided by Preston beating Bristol City on the day too (sorry lads!)

Worse:

Losing to Luton in the League Cup at home in 2002 was pretty bad - even more so as it came on a night of violence off the pitch which brought shame on the game and the clubs.

The end of the 12/13 season was a real mixed tale of emotions - we were in a close run race with Hull City for the 2nd automatic place and had to better their result on the final day against Leeds - we had a real mare losing 2 goalies and having Troy Deeney sent off culminating in Leeds actually winning in the final minute....and Hull drew which meant we missed out.

Then there was that famous Leicester game when we scored from their penalty to reach Wembley!

The final against Palace was such a let down - poor game and we never turned up - much like the FA Cup semi final last season.

Maybe the down side of having a team full of overseas players against a side managed by somebody like Ian Holloway/Alan Pardew.

They just seemed more motivated on the day.

 

[villa loyal]

4 games stick out for me whilst I've been following the villa. Semi final of the league cup in 94,at home against tranmere when we won on penalties after being 3.1 down from the first leg. The semi final of the league cup in 96 against arsenal, both legs. And also our home game against inter Milan in the uefa cup 94, where we won on penalties. Those games for some reason top beating man Utd and Leeds in the cup finals. I think it's because we pissed those finals, but with the other games I mentioned there was that much tension .Those games at villa park infront of a sell out crowd is how I like to remember villa park. Being in the holte end for the very first time in 1989 was also a great memory, mind you there weren't many there. We beat palace 2.1 infront of 19k. I think your first ever game is a great memory, unless you got dicked.


The worst day was not relegation, because we had 5 years to prepare ourself for that and we knew it was coming. It weren't a shock when we went down like it was when Leeds went down, because we was in slow decline for years. The worst day for me was when we got beat at home against a struggling Oldham in 93, which handed the title to man Utd. That day sticks out more than any other in terms of bad memories. That game was on a Sunday, and I remember going to school the next day feeling very down.

 

[Another Walkley Owl]

Best day is a dead heat between
Lc Final 91 won 1-0 v Man Utd
Only Major trophy I have, or am ever likely to see my team win.
May 2012 Wycombe won 2-0 League 2
Automatic Promotion secured on last day of season, but made much better by pipping Sheffield United into 3rd place, who then somehow contrive to lose the Playoff Final as well.

Worst Day
May 90 Nottingham Forest lost 3-0 Div 1
(Now PL for you young uns)
Defeat for us on last day of season, combined with victory for Luton, sees us relegated (1st one I can remember) to Div 2, to compound matters both Sheffield United and Leeds gain automatic promotion to Div 1 on the same day.
Took until start of next season to get over it, little did I know the next season would be the greatest watching Wednesday in my lifetime.

Seen many better and worse matches, but no days as sweet or as bitter as these.

 

[SF_]

Play-off finals aside, losing 1-0 at Colchester on the final day to miss out on automatics two seasons back was fucking horrible.

I'd been up at 4am to watch the Mayweather/ Paquiao fight, followed by a 5hr mini bus journey for a 12.30pm kick off, we lost in pathetic fashion and just drove home again, getting home about 7pm. Think we had about 3,500 down there and it felt like we had all been shat on, obviously Colchester were fighting for their lives but we just bottled it.

However... that defeat gave us the best day supporting PNE, winning 4-0 at Wembley after previously failing in 9 play-off attempts in a row definitely tops at a win at the Colchester Community Stadium...

 

[QPR_Matt]

Worst:
Cardiff in the play off final at Cardiff. We lost 1-0 thanks to a last minute goal for them, despite them fouling us in the build up. Minutes after Williams didnt cut the ball back for an open goal and went for glory himself, the prick. Long long drive home.

I will say that it is the team I could most relate to. Likes of Shittu, Bircham and co, with Holloway as our leader, it was a fun time to be a QPR fan, but that day was horrible.

Relegation to Division 2 was pretty low though, started the season with 8 players. Was probably the best thing that happened to us though, as it cleared a lot of shit.

Best:
Cant look past the last minute winner, with 10 men, against Derby who battered us at Wembley. The joy was like something I cant explain, I have never gone so mental and hugged so many random people. Amazing day.

Though, being crowned champions under Warnock at home to Leeds on the last day of the season, after the who transfer fiasco of Faurlin was epic as well. We deserved it, we were so good that season and Faurlin and Taarabt were bloody brilliant.

 

[City169]

Slightly out of the question but I think the best and worst day for City were the same day, when it looked all but certain the club was finished, only for a last minute solution to be found.

In my lifetime I think I'll second what Hodge put, an emphatic away win to seal our promotion back to the Championship was just fantastic, and as for 2008, I still hate Dean fucking Windass.

 

[TTOCS]

Real best - Promotion vs Rotherham in 2007. Sell out crowd, a beautiful day, and the sheer joy and relief of finally getting back to the second tier after eight years of heartache and near misses. Just an absolutely perfect day. Id only really started properly following us in 1999 and all I had ever really known was failure so that wonderful feeling that it was finally our day edges it for me over our most recent promotion. (plus I was actually there, not in deepest China and had been to virtually all home and away games that season).

Real worst - So hows this for a week... My grandpa dies, I break up with my missus and I spend my 21st birthday watching us lose the playoff final to Brighton after a gutless performance. And I lived in fucking Brighton at the time and their fans were gloating smarmy twats on the train journey back. I was just at absolute rock bottom that day. I've despised that football club ever since and was delighted when they bottled it this year.

I agree with both of these. The Brighton game was far worse than the Hull Play Off in my opinion as we just expected to win, and didn't.

 

[GTFCfish]

My best day is easy, today when I noticed that my thread had been copied on the Championship forum by a Newcastle fan, finally I have hit the bigtime!

 

[JaseTheVillain]

Can I pick the whole of last season as worst? No? Then, as Villa Loyal said, we've had years to prepare for relegation, so it was very meh when it came.

I'd have to say League Cup final 2010 then. Vidic not getting sent off after being the last man early in the game. We score the penalty and do the usual Vs Man United and gift them the game. That, or fucking Bradford in the fucking League Cup Semis in 2013...

Best:

It'd have to be...

That, or ANOTHER League Cup game, the semi final preceding the Man United game in 2010, Blackburn, after a 1-0 win at Ewood Park we came back to Villa Park with a slim lead. A slim lead we contrived to throw away within 10 minutes, before falling behind in the 26th. An ex- Blackburn player gets us back into the match in Warnock in the 30th minute, but obviously at this point we have away goals to worry about.

Milner levelled things up from the spot in the 40th minute as Samba got himself dismissed for taking Agbonlahor down as the last man. Half time 2-2, Villa leading 3-2 on aggregate. N'Zonzi does us a favour on 53 minutes to start a mad flurry of goals, putting us 3-2 up on the night. 5 minutes later, Agbonlahor adds to the score, 4-2 after 58. 4 minutes later Heskey makes it 5-2 (YES, EVEN HESKEY SCORED!) A minute later Olsson gets them back into it. 5-3. 4 goals in 10 minutes and the game calms down before Emerton scores on the 84th to set up a slightly nervous finish. 5-4. Ashley Young finishes off any last resistance, however at the death of the game, in the 93rd minute and makes it 6-4, seeing Villa through 7-4 on aggregate.