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JP more often than not detailed the football matches he had been to, with his reactions.

1970s[]

31 January 1971: Radio One Dynamos v Songpluggers, Motspur Park. Peel was playing for the Radio One Dynamos who beat the Songpluggers 2-0. [3]
15 January 1972: Crystal Palace v Everton. Peel mentioned going with The Pig and John Walters to see the match on Disc & Music Echo, published on 29th January 1972.
28 April 1973: Liverpool v Leicester City, Anfield. A scoreless home draw gave the Reds a first title for seven years.[1]
19 January 1974: Stoke City vs Liverpool, Victoria Ground. A draw which Peel mentioned being there in his Sounds column. [4]
4 May 1974: Liverpool vs Newcastle United, Wembley Stadium, London. A 3-0 victory for Liverpool in the FA Cup final, with Peel seated among the neutrals, as mentioned in his Sounds column. [5]
13 Sept 1975 Ipswich vs Liverpool, Portman Road. Peel watches his favourite team lose 2-0 at the First Division ground closest to Peel Acres. Mentioned on 15 September 1975 show.
21 May 1977 Liverpool v Manchester United, FA Cup final, Wembley. LFC lose 2-1 to old rivals to end chase for would-be historic treble, with League championship wrapped up and European Cup final still to come. Peel describes going to the match in his Sounds column.
10 May 1978: Liverpool vs Bruges, Wembley Stadium, European Cup Final. Winning goal courtesy of Kenny Dalglish. [2]
19 August 1978: Liverpool v QPR, Anfield, a 2-1 home win on the first day of the new season. Mentioned on 18 August 1978 show.
7 October 1978; Norwich City v Liverpool, Carrow Road, 1-4. Peel attends convincing away win against nearby Norwich City but is dissuaded from taking along infant son William by wife Sheila, as reported in Sounds column.
14 October 1978; Liverpool v Derby County, Anfield, 5-0. Peel mentions he will be attending on the 13 October 1978 show.[6]
24 February 1979: Derby vs Liverpool, Baseball Ground, Division One. LFC pick up 2-0 away win.[3]
24 March 1979: Liverpool vs Ipswich Town, Anfield, Division One. A 2-0 home win for Liverpool with a goal from Kenny Dalglish, whose performance was described as "unbelievable". Mentioned on the show on 26 March 1979.
06 October 1979: Liverpool vs Bristol City, Anfield, Division One. A 4-0 home win for Liverpool. Mentioned on the show on 08 October 1979.
10 November 1979: Brighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool, Goldstone Ground, Division One. A 4-1 away win for Liverpool. Peel thanks Annie Nightingale on 12 November 1979 for securing a ticket for him to attend the match.
08 December 1979: Aston Villa vs Liverpool, Villa Park, Division One. A 3-1 away win for Liverpool. Coming out of the ground after the match, Peel describes being involved in a fracas with some home supporters, during which he received a karate kick to the chest. Mentioned on the show on 10 December 1979. [7]

1980s[]

23 February 1980: Liverpool v Ipswich, Anfield, Division One. A 1-1 draw. Peel mentions he will be attending on the 19 February 1980 show.
13 September 1980: Liverpool v West Brom, Anfield, Division One. 4-0 home win. Peel tells Sounds readers it could have been 8-0.[8]
25 October 1980: Liverpool v Arsenal, Anfield, Division One. A 1-1 draw. Peel attended what he described on 27 October 1980 as "a most frustrating game" with wife Sheila. Afterwards they had met Kenny Dalglish.
06 December 1980: Liverpool v Tottenham, Anfield, Division One. A 2-1 home win. Peel comments on 08 December 1980 that he had been impressed with Spurs' Garth Crooks, calling him "a useful footballer."
27 May 1981: Liverpool vs Real Madrid, European Cup Final, Paris (see Liverpool's Night Of Victory and 28 May 1981 show). Alan Kennedy scored the only goal of the match. [4]
22 January 1983: Meadowbank Thistle v Stenhousemuir. Peel saw the match, whilst he was doing his roadshows in Edinburgh, as mentioned on his 24 January 1983 show.
20 February 1983: Liverpool v Brighton, FA Cup 5th round, Anfield. Peel starts 21 February 1983 show with sound of seagulls being machine-gunned, followed by snippet of You'll Never Walk Alone, after disappointing 2-1 home defeat.
29 May 1985: Heysel Stadium, Belgium, 1985 European Cup Final. Despite the tragedy, the match was played to avoid further violence (although it is clear that Peel and Sheila had already left for their own safety). Juventus won 1-0 after a penalty by Michel Platini.[5]
April 1989: First match attended since Heysel - a non-league game between Stowmarket and Histon that ended 1-1, as mentioned on 10 April 1989 show: "I thoroughly enjoyed myself, wondering around in the sunshine with our Thomas and having a beer at half time ... I shall most assuredly go again too."
20 May 1989: Peel mentions being at Wembley on his 06 June 1989 (Radio Bremen) to see Liverpool beat Everton 3-2 to win the FA Cup Football final. He goes on to say that it was the first Liverpool match he'd seen since the Heysel Stadium disaster and he took along his wife Sheila and son Thomas to the game.

1990s[]

20 October 1990: Norwich vs Liverpool, Carrow Road. A 1-1 draw. Peel mentions going to see a football match between Liverpool and Norwich after not being at a league match for a long time.
19 October 1991: Ipswich vs Millwall, Portman Road. A goalless draw: "it was one of those games when the ball spent so much time in the air that you rather hoped, like in one of those science fiction films, where somebody'd boot it up in the air and it'd just keep going, and you'd have to abandon the match and you could go home." (19 October 1991)
17 March 1992: Ipswich vs Watford, Portman Road. Peel went to 2-1 home defeat midweek, as mentioned on the 20 March 1992 show.
23 November 1992: QPR vs Liverpool, Loftus Road, Premier League. Liverpool register a 1-0 away win, despite a poor performance. "Liverpool's defence was a crime against humanity and yet they still won 1-0," says Peel.
28 December 1992: Ipswich vs Blackburn, Portman Road. Peel went to 2-1 home win over the holiday period and describes it as "a most excellent match". Mentioned on 01 January 1993 show.
02 March 1993: Ipswich vs Middlesborough, Portman Road. Ipswich lost 1-0, and Peel described it as the worst match he had seen since Huddersfield v. Crystal Palace ten or twelve years previously. Mentioned on 05 March 1993.
10 March 1993: Ipswich vs Sheffield Wednesday, Portman Road. "Not a great success" says Peel - Ipswich lost 1-0. Mentioned on 12 March 1993.
22 May 1993: Port Vale v Stockport, Auto Glass Trophy Final, Wembley. Peel attended the match before his show as a guest of the people who put the Seth Bottomley magazine together. Port Vale won 2 - 1.
17 October 1993: Ipswich Town v Leeds United, Portman Road, Premier League (0-0). Mentioned in the 22 October 1993 show. Peel went directly to the game after returning from Sweden: "stepped off the boat at Harwich, straight to the match, and missed the first five minutes, and by and large I have to say, wished that I'd missed the rest of it. It wasn't a distinguished contest by any means."
13 February 1996: Ipswich v Walsall, FA Cup (1-0). Mentioned 16 February 1996. JP went to the game with Sheila. Says he felt sorry for the Walsall captain, who played well in the team's defeat.
15 August 1998: Bury v Ipswich Town (0-0). Mentioned in the 18 August 1998 show. "I went at the weekend to see Ipswich and Bury - goal-less draw and it looked as if they'd be perfectly happy if they didn't score a single goal all season."
30 August 1999: Ipswich Town vs Barnsley. 6-1 win for Ipswich.
25 September 1999: Ipswich Town vs Manchester City, Portman Road, Championship. A 2-1 win for Ipswich. Mentioned on 28 September 1999.

2000s[]

10 December 2000: Liverpool v Ipswich Town, Anfield, Premier League. A 1-0 victory for Ipswich which left son William "incandescent with fury". JP: "Liverpool were so appalling... by the end of the match I was almost hoping that Ipswich would win to teach them a lesson - and indeed they did of course." [9]
10 April 2001: Ipswich Town vs Liverpool, Portman Road, Premier League. Show on the night pre-recorded as Peel attended the 1-1 draw as a guest of the Ipswich chairman. After the match he fell over in the car park ("not through drink, obviously"), and claimed to be a mass of bruises. [10]
18 August 2002: Ipswich Town v Leicester, Portman Road, Division One. Due to a prior engagement, John and Sheila had to leave the match with the score at 2-1. They missed a further four goals for the home team. "How irritating is that?", commented Peel. [11]
08 February 2003: Ipswich Town v Sheffield United, Portman Road, Division One. John and Sheila had attended a match described by Peel as "the most exciting football match I've been to in 25 years." Despite having a man sent off, the home side had turned around a 2-0 deficit to win the game 3-2. JP: "The Pig was just delirious with joy all weekend, absolutely out of control." [12]
08 March 2003: Ipswich Town v Stoke City, Portman Road, Division One. Apart from mentioning their attendance, a 0-0 draw does not attract much comment. [13]
24 January 2004: Ipswich Town v Sunderland, Portman Road, FA Cup 4th Round (1-2). "Profoundly disheartening" was John's verdict. [14]
07 August 2004: Ipswich v Gillingham, Portman Road, Championship. Peel mentions in passing that he'd been at the match. [15]

References[]

  1. Margrave Of The Marshes, Hardback, p.142.
  2. Margrave Of The Marshes, p. 72 and 74.
  3. From message to the Peel Quotes thread at ILX. The title is "Wolverhampton '78" but the football result, session and gigs mentioned suggest the events took place in February 1979, as follows: (Wed 21 February 1979) Essential Logic session; (Fri 23 Feb.) SLF gig in Nottingham [1], (Sat 24 Feb.) Derby 0 - Liverpool 2 [2], followed by John Peel Roadshow at Wolverhampton Poly
  4. Margrave Of The Marshes, p. 72.
  5. See also 03 June 1985.
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