Talking of the different rooms in pubs, back in the day you would often hear reference to a “four ale bar”. Always wondered, what were the 4 ales in question?
I’ve managed to spot Boycey and Patrick Moore so far.
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I never saw Bobby Shinton play for us but did see him a couple of times when he came back to FP playing for Wrexham.
And once, when I was still at primary school, I watched a couple of older mates in our school team playing against another local school, one of whose players was a right gobby little ■■■■ who thought he was a cut above everyone else on the pitch. The teacher who had come with them said he was Bobby Shinton’s cousin and was a better player than him at that age (and knew it). But he couldn’t have been that good because I never heard of another Shinton making it in the professional game. 
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I feel sorry for that small guy next to Boycie,he can’t have much of a view… 
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Looks like Princess Di to the left of Bobby Shinton
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It does…
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I can see Rudolph Hess, Peter Sutcliffe and Ricky Tomlinson.
Is it Boycie or Ron Mael from Sparks?
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It looks like a billboard rather than a real crowd. Gotta love the blokes in shirts and ties. I imagine the majority in that picture are below the ground now.
With respect to Bobby Shinton, he used to have digs opposite our school in Hateley Heath, West Brom. One teacher arranged for him to come into the playground every so often to do a bit of coaching with us. I was like a dog with two ■■■■■, being one of 2 Walsall fans in the school.
Shouldn’t Bernie Wright be on the pitch. Top middle next to a post.
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Yes, I thought that too. These days, that mass of people could actually be the subs bench.
I wonder what they sold in the cider room at the back of the Priory? 
The Dog and Partridge is a great pub Chunk. My regular haunt (when open).
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I can see an ugly version of Tony Blackburn
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I’ve spotted American serial killer Ed Kemper!
Also spotted Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau c/w Shades for subtle disguise.
Great fan base we had back in the day 
Nice to see so many men wearing ties!
Indeed, regular gates of 10/12,000 makes a mockery of the 3/4,000 gates we get today, mind you it was only 2/6d to get in!
And, in those days we had a regular ‘team’ week in week out, none of this ‘injury’ nonsense, they would walk out on crutches rather than change the team, even if it was crud, we knew every player as if they were family.
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Fair play to the little lad trying to get to sleep on their fullback’s thigh.
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I think that most of our current 3/4,000 will have either been at that game or descend from those who were. And by descend I don’t mean necessarily be the children or grandchildren, it might be a neighbour or friend’s dad who was there and subsequently got you hooked.
From the economic decline of the late seventies onwards we haven’t been able to galvanise enough “new” fans to become regular attenders and so as the “descendants” of those 12,000 odd dissipate then so does our support.
We will have attracted some new blood but we have failed to attract communities that have grown in size in the town and now can’t offer a suitably different experience to that of our more illustrious neighbours. The only difference really is that there are far less people and the football is a lot worse.
We’ve had opportunities to grow the fanbase but by and large have blown them.
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It depends which ‘day’ you refer to. Those sort of gates were post-war ones when even Accrington got over 10k.
In Bobby Sinton’s time here, you are talking about gates averaging in the 4000 range.
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