Back in the 1970's Manchester United's Red Army travelled in numbers that can only be dreamed about in modern football, on this day in 1974 20,000 of them arrived in Southampton.

Back in 1973/74 both Saints and Manchester United were fighting a relegation battle that ultimately both would lose, but with only two games left after this one it was important for both clubs.

United's supporters had a fearsome reputation back then, back in the day's when the old grounds with swathes of terracing were rarely full, United could take as many fans to away games as wanted to go.

They had become notorious for overrunning the towns and cities they played in, back then they already had a sizeable following from all over the country and in the infamous "Cockney Reds" actually had a hooligan firm based in London.

In the early 1970's they were also attracting day trippers to their games, their massive numbers to start with being augmented by boot boys from other clubs wanting a piece of the action.

Few teams took a following to Old Trafford in numbers in the early 1970's, there was no segregation in those days, yes there was an away end, but it was usually pen to home fans too and at United there were plenty in there waiting for you.

But even though social media was unheard of in those days we expected a large number of Manchester United fans down, but no one expected them in such numbers and I mean BIG numbers.

The game for some reason was not all ticket, possibly because a year earlier in a game tht had been only 23,000 had attended, so the club felt that an all ticket game would not be needed, a month before the game we were not looking at relegation, with 10 games to go in March we were 6 points clear and that meant three wins in those days.

United themselves were in relegation trouble, but no one expected them to go down, they had too many good players for that to happen, so it was going to be pay on the day.

But by the day of the game this was clearly a relegation four pointer, we won it and we would be virtually safe and United almost down.

Back then being only 12 it was usual for me to arrive at the ground, hang around a bit get the odd autograph or two etc, then go into the ground at around 1pm and meet up with the rest of the young kids who went in the Milton but where too young to go in the pub.

When I arrived at the Dell at noon, instead of a hundred or so milling around there were literally thousands and they were all Manchester United fans.

The queue to get in the Milton stretched 50 yards and was growing and the gates weren't open for another hour, there was only one thing to do and that was keep our mouths shut and join the queue.

Even after the gates opened it must have taken 40 minutes to get in and by then the whole of the Milton end was full of United fans, there was absolutely no point in going in the usual spot, so I went upstairs into the old Toomer Sports "Chocolate Box" terrace from which I had a great view of both ends of the ground filling up with United supporters.

About half an hour before kick off the Milton Mob as they were called appeared, but not in the Milton end, the gates had closed shortly after two to get in there, but under the West Stand and there noisy arrival prompted a surge from the United fans in the milton and the police had to employ dogs to stop United fans getting over the barriers and across the no mans land that was the players tunnel.

This was going to be a long dangerous afternoon in the belly of the beast up in the Chocolate Box.

There were a few Saints fans up there who I recognised, we were all keeping quiet, but as everyone had red & white scarves on we didn't stand out so it was just a quick nod to each other, but now one wanted to get together and draw attention to ourselves, so we kept apart.

The gates were locked 45 minutes before kick off and my memory is that more than half the ground were United fans, they had all got there early and got in the ground before a lot of Saints fans had arrived, so they were locked out as were many United supporters.

The Saints side that day had 8 of the 12 that would play at Wembley just over two years later in the starting line up, ironically United had one of the four missing in their team, Jim McCalliog would sign for Saints a year later, the other three missing were Ian Turner who had made his debut a week earlier but Eric Martin was back in for this one, Peter Rodrigues and Nick Holmes. United's side included 7 who would start at Wembley.

The Dell was a seething mass with 30.789 being only 255 under the official record gate for the stadium, I would suggest that many United fans pushed there way in over turnstiles and through gates, quite simply the police and stewarding resources were overwhelmed.

The first goal came on 21 minutes and ironically it was Jim McCalliog who scored it after a rush of blood to the head saw Eric Martin concede the penalty and then concede a goal from it.

The hordes behind both the Milton and Archers Road goals went mad and in the Toomers Box we tried to look suitably happy.

Peter Osgood hit the bar on the half hour and the scores remained the same at the break.

But a minute after the restart the scores were level, Mike Channon hit a peach of a ball and we had to stand in silence with the other 7,000 or so in the Milton end, furtive winks smiles and nods were exchanged between the Saints fans in the vicinity.

There would be no further scoring and although I can remember a lot about the game, I can remember little after it, but I imagine that due to United's penchant for beating up any opposition fans they could find, young or old and also for wrecking the towns they went to, I think I would have headed straight towards Shirley to get the number 17 back to Millbrook rather than town as was usual.

The pictures of the Milton Road end terrace in this article are from this game and therefore show not Saints fans but United's Red Army, maybe you can pick me out just above the Toomers sign.

We were not the only club to get completely overrun by United in this era, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and all of the big clubs suffered the same fate, indeed a couple of weeks later for the game United would be relegated in against local rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford, the only time you see a City supporter is when there is the odd scuffle, they did not go in numbers, no one did !

Photo: Action Images via Reuters