The Positivity Thread

Discuss all matters related to Dagenham and Redbridge
jag
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:13 am

Boy oh Boy where does one start? I started to go to watch Dagenham when Alan Bettinson was in goal Johnny Daniels when he nearly knocked my head off having a warm up shot at goal early 60s I think , and then forward to Denis Moore our captain who I think would have made a football career in the 1st / 2nd divisions of the football league as it was in though days, forward to Joe Dunwell, Terry Harris & John Still playing teams like Wycome Wanders, Redhill, Finchly and Leytonstone in the Atheneum /Ishmiam leaves in front of 200 fans on a good day, where the bar was at the Bury Rd end that looked more like a nissen hut, only crisps and lemonade for us youngsters and a 2 page programme for a penny, we run along the wooden stands which is now the Carling Stand during the match, my memory highlight of games was when we got a draw at Elm Park Reading in front of 11,000 fans in the FA Cup and drew 1-1 with a goal from Dave Morris and a return game that was originally cancelled due to snow but sat in a packed stand in the replay which I believe that evening we had over 6,000 fans only to lose 1-0 with Tony Bass hitting the bar, if we had won that game we would have played Man City in the next round, moving forward it has to be against Rotherham at Wembley to gain promotion to div. 1, prior to that was our 2 leg semi final against Morecambe where we really won it in the 1st leg what an atmosphere at Victoria Road, I also went up to Wasall in the FA Cup where terrible weather took hold that Saturday afternoon and the neighbouring game of Birmingham v Newcastle United was postboned so the Newcastle fans came over to Walsall and supported Dagenham I swear to god we had more support that afternoon than Walsall sadly we lost 1-0 and ex Spurs player Jimmy Robertson scored the only goal. I used to live in Dagenham and like stories before me was a Gooner season ticket holder both at Highbury and the Emirates for many years but when I took early retirement that season ticket had to go at £1,250. A group of lads I used to meet in the pubs near the ground all agreed that we started to enjoy meeting for a drink before the game than the actual game it self, so it was goodbye to Arsenal and all of the over paid stars in the Premiership and started to return to watch the Daggers which I have never regretted, even though I now live in Uckfield in East Sussex I try to make most home games with the occasional close away games in the south ie, Eastleigh, Bromley Maidstone and Dover, the club to me has always felt homey and we are lucky to have a really good club house and the staff have always been friendly, Ray ,Carol and Joan are always there working hard to raise funds with the 50/50 draw, I will always support the Daggers and would love it if we could return to the football league once again.
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ARNU
Posts: 3746
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:43 pm

Voice of reason wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:18 pm
ARNU wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:09 pm Does being a true supporter come with condescending arrogance or can you bring your own ?
Back to your old self after a period of constructive comments and common sense I see Arnu :wink:
I've been and still remain very positive about what I think will be a very hard season. But when mike the dagger wants to publicly condescend to me like I'm 5 years old then he shouldn't and neither should you be surprised if I pull him up on it. The biggest joke on here is when others choose to be offended on other people's behalf. Neither mikethedagfer or I really give a shir what each other say to each other and well carry on like it's no big deal anyway
Bollix to Shampoo, it's real poo we want !
Dagdale
Posts: 1188
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:33 pm

Nice story one above, that's what being football fan has always been about, honestly believe moving around the non league is a right eye opener, there of course will always be rivalry and banter but its great that most fans from different clubs at this level all get on okay and grab a friendly chat now and then. Just hope it stays as financial bearable for us the fans as were now seeing some players getting your 3 to 4 grands a week, beverages hitting top flight prices and even in my short time in non league slowly seeing some changes, of course its mainly about watching 'your team' but football to me is also such a big grasp of 'a meet up again' of mates and tell stories, a wonderful outlet on living in a tainted Britain.
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Mike the Dagger
Posts: 2307
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:09 am
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ARNU wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 1:24 am
Voice of reason wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:18 pm
ARNU wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:09 pm Does being a true supporter come with condescending arrogance or can you bring your own ?
Back to your old self after a period of constructive comments and common sense I see Arnu :wink:
I've been and still remain very positive about what I think will be a very hard season. But when mike the dagger wants to publicly condescend to me like I'm 5 years old then he shouldn't and neither should you be surprised if I pull him up on it. The biggest joke on here is when others choose to be offended on other people's behalf. Neither mikethedagfer or I really give a shir what each other say to each other and well carry on like it's no big deal anyway
Wow, I seem to have got under the chief troll's skin!

Hopefully you get my point though, football clubs do indeed play on people's sentimentality because they know that a fans loyalty to their team is often a bit illogical. Those who are not that committed may not understand that.
BB-Dagger
Posts: 606
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:32 am

Back in the late 60's early 70's as I recall when I started going to Victoria road as a lad, First game I saw was against Hemel Hemsted in the Athenian league,
Ian Huttley in goal (Peter Bonetti look alike) and yes I remember Tony Bass up front and Denis Moore as captain, (can't recall the actual team playing that day) all seems a long time ago now. I still have quite a few of the early programs hidden away somewhere in the loft!
I watched the match from the grass bank that is now the A13 stand, although you could walk around the ground as much as you wanted, but if you went in the main stand without a 2/- ticket you'd get a clip around the ear from the "steward". The Digger Dagger chant was about then and led by a group in the main stand, I had a P E teacher who played for Barking (Mr Wilson) and watched that local derby home and away just so we could give him some verbals, also Romford had a reasonable stadium at the time in North St, they weren't in our league but we did play there in a cup game once, Aveley were also in the Athenian league and that was another local game we would cycle to, happy days.
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ARNU
Posts: 3746
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:43 pm

Mike the Dagger wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:27 am
ARNU wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 1:24 am
Voice of reason wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:18 pm

Back to your old self after a period of constructive comments and common sense I see Arnu :wink:
I've been and still remain very positive about what I think will be a very hard season. But when mike the dagger wants to publicly condescend to me like I'm 5 years old then he shouldn't and neither should you be surprised if I pull him up on it. The biggest joke on here is when others choose to be offended on other people's behalf. Neither mikethedagfer or I really give a shir what each other say to each other and well carry on like it's no big deal anyway
Wow, I seem to have got under the chief troll's skin!

Hopefully you get my point though, football clubs do indeed play on people's sentimentality because they know that a fans loyalty to their team is often a bit illogical. Those who are not that committed may not understand that.
Haha !! You haven't and probably will never get under my skin mike especially when in essence you're agreeing with me re supporters being easy targets and having the p taken out of them irby a football club. I am also not really that bothered by these fools that want to argue with me on your behalf but I would urge them to start their own arguments rather than jump on yours. Special shout goes out to berkdownthepub for his invaluable contribution to this thread.
Bollix to Shampoo, it's real poo we want !
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ThatRoundThing
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:40 am

Think I could get on with both Mike and Arnu. I stopped working weekends in 2008 and moved to Grays at the same time. I was looking to start watching live football and at first went to Grays v Rushden and Diamonds (managed by Justin Edinburgh).

Grays were crap so we cheered on Rushden for the 2nd half. The following week looked at the fixtures and ended up at Daggers, never to look again for another club.

Had a couple of seasons of not missing one single game both Home and Away, ALL competitions.
Recent goings on at the club maybe has curbed my enthusiasm and I nearly took the easier travel option of switching to East Thurrock.

We bought two season tickets for this season, but if I'm being totally honest I have lost the board 100% but... Have stayed with the club for friends and supporters we drink with, travel with and have a laugh and a joke with, week in, week out.

FAO ARNU you might like this...or admin might lob it out.

I was a pretty nifty right winger back in the day and got to the stage of playing for Tilbury.
At the time Grays were the bigger club and scouted me to the point of offering me a contract, which I accepted.

The first matchday after signing the gaffer said to me " I''m starting you for your debut but I'm gonna pull you off at half-time.



I replied "F@!k Me, We only got oranges at Tilbury 😂👍
DagenhamDan
Posts: 105
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:47 am

ThatRoundThing wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:28 pm Think I could get on with both Mike and Arnu. I stopped working weekends in 2008 and moved to Grays at the same time. I was looking to start watching live football and at first went to Grays v Rushden and Diamonds (managed by Justin Edinburgh).

Grays were crap so we cheered on Rushden for the 2nd half. The following week looked at the fixtures and ended up at Daggers, never to look again for another club.

Had a couple of seasons of not missing one single game both Home and Away, ALL competitions.
Recent goings on at the club maybe has curbed my enthusiasm and I nearly took the easier travel option of switching to East Thurrock.

We bought two season tickets for this season, but if I'm being

FAO ARNU you might like this...or admin might lob it out.

I was a pretty nifty right winger back in the day and got to the stage of playing for Tilbury.
At the time Grays were the bigger club and scouted me to the point of offering me a contract, which I accepted.

The first matchday after signing the gaffer said to me " I''m starting you for your debut but I'm gonna pull you off at half-time.



I replied "F@!k Me, We only got oranges at Tilbury 😂👍


I don't know if admin will pick up.on it but I wanted to let you know I've seen it and I thought it was hilarious!
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:24 pm

I don’t know why you think admin would not think it hilarious too. :grin:

This thread gives me hope that we can bring the humour back to the forum and return to the days when people could post about their lunch or favourite crisps without being set upon or sniped at by the usual suspects.
DaggerJoel11
Posts: 1190
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2014 7:14 pm
Location: Becontree
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As probably the youngest member of this forum, my story of becoming a Dagger differs vastly from those I've read on here, and didn't exactly support the trend of following the Manchester United or Liverpool type club in a modern era. Infact, as I enter my GCSE year, the nearest I've seen to a lower-league supporter is a Fulham fan. My first game was when I was seven years old, a 2-1 victory over Burton Albion, and this coincided with the best weeks in the club's history, which obviously lured me in.

Many, many years on and a few games per season has gradually turned to every home game and most away trips. I've had some absolutely fantastic experiences at this club which you simply wouldn't get anywhere else and for me that's what makes this club special. I remember one particular day at Acrington on my 12th birthday when, out of the blue, Wayne Burnett took me into the dressing room to meet the team. Moments like that stuck with me and fuelled my passion for this tremendous club.

There's been some lows on the way, but those only make the highs seem, well, higher. After watching us go down at Leyton Orient I was despondent for days, but those kind of matches were offset by 'that' day at Everton, the play-off final, etc. One of my favourite moments, however, was just last week. This season I've seen players with amazing courage, typified by Elliott Romain, give their all to the cause. When that final whistle went against Braintree last week, it meant so much to everybody around me and that proved one thing: players will come and go, even a manager who claims to be a huge Dagger will also be off in a flash, but while we have the fans, there's always hope. After all that's happened recently, that's stuck with me.

With this special yet far from perfect club, there's always going to be a turbulent future with highs and lows in equal measure.

Of course, as many know, I've also been writing a website for about five years, which I take immense pride in: www.dagnificent.weebly.com
''Dagenham & Redbridge look a very different side to about ten or fifteen minutes ago when they were on the back foot, and here's Benson...BRILLIANT!''
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