The Big Match from the past weekend is Chelsea v Blackpool, from the first week in March, 1977.
Check out the ball hitting the much-loved and much-missed Bridge stanchions at the two Chelsea goals, and the remarkable ball retention of the nets at Blackpool's opener - scored today, it'd have rebounded to the halfway line!
Match of the Day previews this weekend's Chelsea v Manchester United, by looking back at the same fixture in late 1992 and the iconic Stamford Bridge hardware (then in its second last season before being replaced by box nets).
Cantona's equaliser is particularly awesome, the way the ball is attracted to, then sticks to the stanchion, like a magnet.
This week's Big Match comes from Stamford Bridge on the corresponding weekend in 1978 and features the West Brom side of Regis, Cunningham and Batson (and Godden, Robson, Wile, Statham and the two Browns!) simply overwhelm a poor Chelsea side.
It's also a showcase for the Stamford Bridge hardware which remained fantastic, despite the downturn in Chelsea's fortunes.
Tottenham's recent World Cup winning Argentine imports Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa attracted most of the attention at the time.
Connoisseurs of the goal nets will instead revel in the instantly recognisable White Hart Lane hardware and marvel at the software's ball retention properties.
Gerry Armstrong's rocket shot for 2-1 would rebound to the halfway line today, while Kenny Swain's header for 2-2 would pinball round box nets pulled taut and made of trampoline.
Check out the behind the goals replay for that equaliser, you just don't see nets this good any more.
Congratulations to the Bluebirds on their promotion to the Premier League. When Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and the like come calling next season to Cardiff City Stadium, they'll be greeted by the sight of familiar looking box-nets.
When Real Madrid visited the old Ninian Park in 1971they were greeted by - and sent packing via - a classic set of A-frames.
Tanked up on oil money, The Meat are moving out of the Luzhniki to a new stadium for the 2018 World Cup and there should be little doubt what the chosen method of goal net suspension at the Spartak Stadion will be.
But Back in the USSR Spartak Moscow were winning their last Soviet era title with a free-kick as curvy as Luzhniki's old stanchions that look a little like Chelsea's...
While Nicolas Anelka's 'pass' past the Spartak Moscow keeper nestles nicely in the corner of the net -
the trampolines at the Nou Camp are now sprung so tight that even a simple 'pass' into the corner, like Iniesta's last weekend, is rebounding back out again.
The goalnets at the modern-day Stamford Bridge have some of the poorest ball-retaining properties in football. Boxes made of trampoline, stretched taut by a bottom net support which runs a mere metre behind the goal line, make for goals with poor aesthetics and even worse ball retention. Consider these examples:
Johnny Metgod's rocket hits the bar and goes in
While Alex's rocket goes in - but rebounds out like it's hit the bar
Hip and angular. Sexy with an extra kink if surprisingly difficult to love. The old Bridge nets were framed by icons of a swinging west London when glamour wasn't a galacticos squad but the length of your sideburns, how fast you could drive your Ford Capri and meeting Steve McQueen in the dressing room.
The stanchions were sadly scrapped mid-90's for the free-hanging box-nets of today.
What's your favourite goal scored in the old Bridge nets?
