Lincoln v Wycombe The Fans Views
	THE MATCH PICTURES & SOUNDS FANS VIEWS WHAT THE PAPERS SAID
	By now you should have the read the match reports, seen the pictures and heard the sounds from the crucial game at Lincoln on the last day of the 1998/99 season. Below are a selection of the many messages sent to the Chairboys Gas Message Board starting shortly after Paul Emblen had scored.

Tony Staying Up Sat May 8 16:49:54 1999 Wycombe are my second team having lived there at the end of the 80's and I'm chuffed to bits that they've just scored, 5 minutes to go and it looks like they're safe. Well done to Laurie Sanchez and the team - bloody brilliant. Russell Sheehan(in Calif.) Up Up Up Sat May 8 17:13:18 1999 I am a good friend of Keith Ryan having played with him a few years ago. A brilliant result for Sanchez's team. Especially pleased for Keith given all of his injury problems over the last 2-3 seasons. Excellent turnaround on a fairly dismal season. Well done Wycombe. Martin (Downunder) Well Done Lads Sat May 8 17:23:34 1999 This has to be THE greatest escape! Well done to the whole team and especially Lawrie Sanchez for such a turnaround this season. Absolutely brilliant. I never thought watching a football score on the Internet at 2 o'clock in the morning could be so tense. Wycombe should celebrate tonight in big style. Latics Jack Happy Oldhamer Sat May 8 18:30:59 1999 Well done lads. Between us we contrived to dump the Yorkies and the Clogging Cobblers into the basement. See you at Adams Park/Boundary Park next season. Will Foulds Oh my God Sat May 8 19:18:53 1999 Thank You Lawrie. This has to be one of the proudest moments of my life - just when we thought it was all over a few months ago. Lawrie has performed an absolute miracle - next season will be superb!! Very pleased to see those s*itheads from Northampton go down - they play the WORST style of football I have ever witnessed. Have to feel for poor York, though (and Scarborough!!) But who cares - we're staying up, new players in the summer, what could be better? Well done those of you downunder for keeping with us!!! Chris I don't believe it! Sat May 8 19:48:14 1999 We're safe The players have all been outstanding these past couple of months. Taylor's been superb. McCarthy, Bates, Forsyth have been solid. Rhino's been battling hard. Carroll's shown some of his old magic especially today and Devine and Baird have performed class up front. And as for Emblen, he's kept us up with two winning goals in the last two games. I'm sooooooooooooooooo happy. Teeside chairboy lovely lincoln!!!! Sat May 8 19:52:50 1999 After 83 mins of nail biting hell with us unable to score, hitting the bar and post and crowd as usual, it finally happened. I can sleep easy now!! Special congratulations to Lincoln FC crowd control and a round of applause for the Fat bloke arrested at the end in front of us on the right side, after the Lincoln fans ran on the pitch and taunted us. But hey we still here your not!!! Not to happy about the walk back to the car but won't have to do that again for a long long time. Wycombe till I die..... Old Fart Some Season Sat May 8 20:13:48 1999 Well that's it. Cruised home; no problem. The highlights were - in no order of priority. The arrival of Lawrie Sanchez. One day he will manage a Premiership side, but not for two or three seasons. Of course, Sean Devine. Expect a bid of £1.5 millions from Charlton in the close season. The win at Maine Road - the family were all there. Wouldn't have missed it for the world. Dannie Bulman's goal against Rovers, which got us a point. I know it's hypotheical, but we stayed up by one point, and that might have been the one. Going to Reading, hearing their crowd bid us farewell and knowing that we would be back. Boy is that going to be one for the diary. Frazer Stretton, the referee who lives within walking distance of Notts County's ground and wears a Michael Mouse watch. Any link there perhaps? Micky Forsyth - who came back from 14 months absence and didn't put a foot wrong. Finally - and you may not like this - The Board. They took the difficult decision to sack Neil Smillie. My suspicion is that he was unable to command the respect of the players. They then - possibly by accident - appointed Lawrie Sanchez, having been turned down by John Ward and Micky Adams. Where are they tonight? Well done Ivor and the lads. Tom Stephenson WE ARE STAYIN' UP, SAY WE ARE STAYIN' UP!!!!!! Sat May 8 20:17:08 1999 BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!!!! I knew we could do it! Sean Devine is an absolute bargin at £200,000!!!! If Scotty was £250,000 then Sean is the buy of the decade! SUMO YES ! YES ! & up yours col u Sat May 8 21:22:29 1999 I don't want to have to go through tension like that ever again. Lets have mid table obscurity or better next time, please! With the amount of support we had there, I thought the day was bound to be ours. Alan Parry came across after to congratulate us on our support, and even if I say so myself, we were fantastic!! But missing those chances, and with time dragging on as we continued to battle, it started to look as if we'd only draw. When hey presto, bang, 1-0! It was a shame the players had to disappear so quickly after the final whistle when the Lincoln crowd ran on, but we had the joy of crawling back down the A46 in party mode! Can we be greedy now, and actually go on and challenge for something other than relegation ?! james I don't want to go through that ever again. Sat May 8 22:14:36 1999 Please, please Wycombe lets not have another season like this again. Mid table obscurity - I don't care. I can hardly f***ing type I am so overwhelmed about today. Wasn't Jamie Bates outstanding! You know how some people say that an event seemed like it was in slow motion - well that happened for the goal today. One minute Devine had the ball and then all I saw was the ball hitting the back of the net and the 'keeper diving for it. YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just like to appologise to the lad who's arm I nearly ripped off trying to look at his watch to see how many minutes we had left. I think this experience will prove a massive boost to the players and I can see us challanging for a play off place next season - but only if we get some more players - we need a cultured ball player in the middle of the park desperately!!! Pink Panther Terrace Bedlam Sun May 9 00:30:41 1999 I'm sure it won't look as good on tele, but Emblen seemed to rise like a salmon on E to head that ball in, big credit as well to Devine for a cracking cross. I must admit my heart sank when I saw the perennially crap Gurnam Singh was reffing the game - and sure enough he lived up to his reputation for knowing f*** all about what was going on the pitch. Still, we did it - YYYYEEEEEESSSS!!!! You're spot on about a ball-player for next season. Someone like Corny but who can also run. the left side man of the moment Sat May 8 22:35:36 1999 When he came i knew who he was but i was not certain why we chose him or that he would do the business. He got rid of freeloaders, he sold scotty for 250k, he signed devine, he believed when we were unsure, he made the team believe. Next season....promotion Lawrie.....thank you ROO BOY. CHAIRBOYS DOWN UNDER. THE BIG PICTURE Sat May 8 23:57:53 1999 IT'S BEEN ONE HELL OF A SEASON, BUT WELL DONE TO TO EVERYONE DOWN AT THE PARK FROM EVERYONE DOWN HERE,WE LUV YA, THANK'S LAURIE. NEXT SEASON'S THE ONE,..YES. Adi Jones It's Alright for you lot!!! Sun May 9 02:51:29 1999 Bloody superb news that we're staying up but I've had to live in a state of suspense until I could get the result over here in New Zealand (bloody time differences). It's typical though, it looked odds on we'd go down when I came over here - as soon as I'm away we start winning. I promise that if we start doing badly next season (God forbid) I'll leave the country again. I would go out and celebrate but the pubs over here don't open on a Saturday. Ted the Ed What a day, What a night Sun May 9 09:42:49 1999 It was just like an old-fashioned thriller, you didn't get the answer until the last page. Great credit goes to the 2900 (yes! thats been confirmed to me by a club official) fans who travelled to Lincoln and the several hundred who returned to Adams Park to greet the team and get totally pi**ed (I'm supposed to have started work at 7.00 this morning and it's 9.35 and I'm still at home) Gibby Thank god for that then Sun May 9 11:43:36 1999 My head is bloody exploding. I have been wandering around in a daze since five o'clock yesterday. Alcohol hasn't helped much I suppose. How bloody good is Devine- he doesn't just score but he also sets them up. As for man of the week- It has to be the great Paul himself-- Two matchwinning goals in a week, bloody great. Lawrie has pulled off a great result since his appointment and I guess the board also deserves a bit of credit for biding their time and not rushing into appointing the wrong bloke. Things are looking great for the next season - a quality strikeforce, a strong midfield, a solid(ish) defence and one of the best keepers in the division (apart from the occasional lapse to prove he is actually human). OK I am getting a little carried away seeing as how we only avoided relegation thanks to a goal seven minutes from the end of the season; but apart from crap refereeing in matches against Scumchester we would have finished above them. 1. Martin O'Neil- God 2. Alan Smith - Tosser 3. John Gregory - (jury out but has become a success) 4. Neil Smilie - nice guy, shame about the management skills LAWRIE SANCHEZ- O'Neil revisited? I bloody well hope so - I'm off to find a Man City fan to laugh at Exiled Wanderer Is it true? Did I dream it? Sun May 9 11:49:42 1999 I can't make up my mind whether I'm dreaming this. If I ever go through an afternoon like that again I don't know if I'll survive. I thought it'd never happen when it was 0-0 at half-time. Then we scored and I still couldn't believe it. I'll swear that the two minutes stoppage time were the longest two minutes I've ever witnessed. Ian Baker My thoughts Sun May 9 12:08:14 1999 I hardly sang at all through the game. I was too tense even to stand upright. I thought its not our day, but then thought oh I still think we'll score. On about 80 minutes I conceded that we were down so I was not too upset at the end. Then when Emblen scored, ah well... the worst moment of my life. COURSE IT WASN'T. WE ARE STAYING UP... SAY WE ARE STAYING UP! Luciana Proud to be blue! Sun May 9 12:37:47 1999 What a day! I think I went though just about every emotion going! The best had to be seeing my old man's face, hes supported Wyc. for 50 years, and I really don't think I've ever seen him so happy !!! At the end of the game yesterday, I left the ground not just proud of the club but of the supporters, you all did yourselves proud! How many other clubs would have held themselves in such a manner with many Lincoln fans up for a fight! To all of you - your an asset to the club! (although I've come to expect nothing less from you), and to the Lincoln lot who came over to clap the Wycombe fans, my thanks and best wishes for next season. Spud Wycombe exile Sun May 9 13:15:38 1999 I now live in Sussex and have a season ticket holder watching the Albion and over the past few seasons I thought I'd endured a fair few heartstopping moments at the end of the season. I'm still still very much in touch with the Chairboys though,as my Dad and sister both have season tickets, so I came up up for the Wigan game and travelled upto Lincoln yesterday with my Dad. Well it certainly was edge of the terrace stuff and what celebrations. The atmosphere amongst the Wycombe fans was the best I've seen for a long time and the singing great. Just keep it up for next season it's worth a goal start every time. Congrats again Peter Barnes relief Sun May 9 13:22:52 1999 Living and working as I do in Worcestershire, you can imagine the slings and arrows I have had to suffer from the likes of the Aston Villa (where are they now?) fans etc. The Chairboys fight against relegation has been a passionate topic of conversation in this corner of the world in both my professional and personal life. The sheer joy and relief of yesterday's result (all other scores being irrelevant for seven wonderful minutes) will sustain me for another close season and I look forward to better things for Wanderers in 1999/2000. This result has gone a long way to silencing the glory hunters who prefer show business rather than real football. Thank you Wanderers. Barnsley Chairboy Well done everyone Sun May 9 14:20:26 1999 Talk about nerve-wracking but we did it. Especially well done to Lawrie Sanchez on an amazing turn around of a "going-nowhere" season. happy fan SUPER BLUES Sun May 9 19:27:46 1999 Well done, better late than never eh!!! At least the stress levels can return to normal for a few months. Looking forward to playing Bristol City (and seeing the judas scumbag that is Mickey Bell). I hope we can get some good freebies in the close-season to strengthen the squad. A left sided midfielder would be marvellous!. Silver Surfer Inspiration! Mon May 10 12:32:58 1999 After the dramatic win at Lincoln and the whole Houdini style escape from relegation, surely next year Wycombe will realise that they are a team that can play football with the best of them, and consequently should be heading for the top half of the table. Full credit goes to the managerial ability of Lawrie Sanchez in his efforts to rejuvinate a team that looked otherwise dead and buried. My money is on Wycombe hitting the play-offs. Nothing is beyond us!! oily sailor Moments make memories Tue May 11 20:56:06 1999 This achievement ranks higher than most in the history of Wycombe Wanderers. Sanchez said he felt it was destined and he certainly does seem to have a link to the big man. I remember after the defeat at Reading a Northampton fan laughing with real venom. Well you can stick Carlo 'I'll sign for the cobblers' Corrazin up your third division asses. Wycombe is a football club that can hold its head up high, and no team can use the "lack of history" lie, we had a great non-league past and we are creating a football league future, so there..... Ian Baker Congrats Tue May 11 20:06:19 1999 Yeah, I thought we did everything we had to do to win. I've experienced the pathetic displays at Chesterfield & Fulham and to think about our end of season away run. Once we won at Maine Road you always knew we'd stay up. Paul Emblen should be knighted. Bluey Erm.... Tue May 11 18:24:43 1999 <~~~~~Exhales <~~~~~Faints <~~~~~happy Sado Lardbucket resp Tue May 11 12:41:32 1999 Perhaps now some of the 'I only watch Premiership' TV supporters will finaly see the light that there IS life outside of watching 'Premiercash' on the telly and get their backsides down to Adams Park for some LIVE excitement and watch the blues show just how good they can be. SUMO THE BLUE ARMY IS BACK Tue May 11 09:32:34 1999 With a little under 3000 making the trip to Lincoln (half of them due to the club providing free coaches) I say the BLUE ARMY IS BACK. It shows what fantastic and passionate support we are all capable of when it matters. If we continue that next season and beyond we'll be talking about the Sanchez era more than the O'Neill era! Well done to the players, management, club, and BLUE ARMY! Roll on next season! David Staying Up Tue May 11 08:48:16 1999 Well done to Sanchez and the team. My family (me, wife and daughters of 7 and 9) came for the first time to watch the team in March and have now seen them three times. We're hooked, and whilst we couldn't get to the game on Saturday we spent the afternoon glued to 1170. My childhood team were York, who I still follow from afar, so you can imagine my mixed feelings when Emblen scored! But the right team stayed up; WWFC fired Smillie in time to make a difference, while York fired Alan Little a month or so later and it was too late. Also Wycombe clearly have a great manager now, and a board who are supportive and prepared to commit some modest sums on players. Next season could be very exciting. The team has - on the whole - played so well for the last couple of months that it would have been a real tragedy to see them go down. Here's to promotion with Lawrie next season! AND THE FINAL WORD GOES TO THIS PASSIONATE BLUES FAN WITH HIS OWN MATCH REPORT. chaney last match report from a fan.... Sun May 16 01:17:23 1999 This is truly inspiring stuff. Match Report About 2500 loyal Wycombe supporters travelled to Lincoln and filled the terracing of the Stacey West Stand, helping to double the normal gate to 8,145 The singing started over an hour before kick off and well before most of the Lincoln fans had entered the ground. A loud song for each player during the warm up put the Wycombe players in the mood and told them they were not alone in this tense and nail biting, winner takes all, last game of the season!!! The noise from the Wycombe end was astonishing and drowned out all the pre-match announcements and presentations to Lincoln players. The message was "WE ARE STAYING UP!!!" and let there be no doubt about that!!! The match started at a frenzied pace, with Wycombe controlling much of the play. The outstanding Dave Carroll supplied a telling cross from the left which Andy Baird met with his head but the ball blazed over the bar to the agonised disbelief of the Wycombe fans behind the goal. Carroll himself had a 20 yard drive saved by Vaughan, and a 30 yard effort that just sailed over the bar. The first half ended with some controversy with Wycombe’s not so favorite referee, Mr Singh from Wolverhampton, turning down a Wycombe penalty appeal after what looked like a clear hand ball. Many other shirt pulling and blatant obstructions also went unpunished as Wycombe finished the half well on top, but with no goals to show for it. Lincoln came more into the game in the early minutes of the second half but did not seriously threaten Taylor’s goal. The game was running into the last quarter with still no breakthrough and a double relegation draw result looming over the proceedings, when Sanchez made a change. The fourth official seemed to hold up a number 9 board to bring off Emblen but this was changed and Baird came off instead, a move that was to prove crucial to the outcome of this incredible match. With Baird and Simpson replaced with McSporran and Stevie Brown, Wycombe pushed on with three up front and increased the pressure on the Lincoln goal. Many times the Wycombe fans at the other end thought the ball had gone in, but each time last second clearances kept Wycombe out. Devine by name divine by nature, Shaun Devine turned up the wick and put in cross after cross from the right until finally, in no later than the 83rd minute, one superb cross was met by Paul Emblen,the man that was almost substituted!! His looping header over Vaughan seemed to hang in the air waiting for an off the line clearance, but this time it was not to come. The ball hit the back of the net to roar that must of been heard back at Adams Park. After this I remember little of the remaining nerve racking minutes, except for the antics of the referee who added on as many minutes to extra time that he had found in the previous 45 and teased the players and crowd with weird looks and constantly pointing to his watch!! As the final whisle blew there was no hiding the relief of all from Wycombe. Taylor threw his gloves into the crowd in a massive release of tension as the celebrations of absolute joy continued. It was as if we had won the FA cup, but to Wycombe this was probably more important than that!!! Thanks to everyone who posted their congatulations in the Chairboys Gas Room, the views on which are not necessarily those of Chairboys on the Net but what the heck, everyone likes a good rant once in a while. Next....WHAT THE PAPERS SAID>>>>>

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