cahill
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
- Messages
- 6,103
- Reaction score
- 4,487
Badgers Mrs with the mod hairstyle, love it
1970-71 (55 years ago today) match reports and photos
- Thread starter Silent Blade
- Start date
All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?
Badgers Mrs with the mod hairstyle, love it
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #122
I still bump into her at Sainsbury's in Dronfield. Still looking good.
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #123
ancientblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Reaction score
- 10,246
len badger best right back ive ever seen in a united shirt and better than cohen and newton who played there in 2 world cups if len had played for one of the fashionable clubs he would have had loads of caps
Alan Birchenall's hair
Constant Turmoil
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2021
- Messages
- 717
- Reaction score
- 1,472
Agree. There's online footage somewhere of us winning 3-2 at Goodison Park in 1975, and Badger is an absolute beast, both attacking and defending. Unstoppable partnership down the right with Woody....
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #126
ancientblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Reaction score
- 10,246
yes birch great comeback 2 down to winning 3 - 2 the badger currie woodward triangle down the right was the best combination ive ever seen down our right flank
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #128
26/12/1970
Blades 2 (Nish og, Woodward) Leicester 1 (Farrington)
I can still picture of a lot of things that happened on that day but the strange thing is that I do not remember our two goals!
In the morning I was at Gosforth school field to watch a comic football match for charity between a team of fathers of Gosforth school pupils (dressed as Monks) and a team of fathers of Maud Maxfield pupils (all sorts of fancy dress). My dad was the "three legged professor" and he played terribly in the 1st half! I remember a ball going towards him but he missed it completely as he tried to kick it by using his "third leg" crutch and he fell down! Some of the spectators might have laughed at him but I was embarrassed by what he tried to do. At half time he ditched his crutch and dressed in his overalls that he used for working at William Lees and he looked a good player during the 2nd half. I thought the team of Monks had won the match comfortably but the ref declared the match as a draw. Nearly 7 years later I was looking at a 1959 SUFC squad photo (it was wrongly captioned as the 1961 promotion squad) from the John Harris testimonial programme (SUFC 1971 team v Brian Clough's Forest). I was going through each player from the 1959 squad photo and asked my dad what he thought of them. When we got to Tommy Hoyland , he said Tommy played in that Comic football match in Boxing Day 1970. I am not sure which team Tommy played for. I doubt he played for the Monks team as I cant think of his connection with Gosforth school and I think he might have been asked by Keith Kettleborough (whose daughter was at Maud Maxfield) to play for the Maud Maxfield team.
When we got to the match at the Lane, we had to stand in the BLLT instead of usually sitting in the BLUT. I think the reason for that was we had arrived at the ground too late to get seats in the BLUT. I remember being near a very vocal group of Leicester fans. Dave Powell was ruled out injured for the game and John Flynn was recalled to the line up, Flynn's last game was the season opener defeat at Orient.
As I said, I do not remember our goals in the match, fast forward 20 years later I was talking about that Leicester match to a Blade who I worked with at the AGD in Chesterfield. His memory of that goal was that he was stood in the Kop waiting for Woody to take the free kick at the Kop End, he got startled by a firework exploding behind him, turned round to his back to see who caused the explosion before turning his attention back onto the pitch, the first thing he saw on the pitch was that the ball already in the net and then he saw keeper Peter Shilton being stood motionless on the other side of the goal. Maybe Shilton got distracted by the firework explosion behind him making him too slow to react to Woody's free kick?
During the 2nd half I remember a small group of Wendy fans in front of me cheering at the Hull v Wendy score updates at the Pavilion and at one point Wendy were winning 4-1. They will have been shocked to find the final score when they got home as Hull scored 3 more goals in the last 7 minutes to make the score 4-4.
Late in the game I remember John Farrington pulling a goal back by hitting a low shot past Hodgy. At the final whistle Hodgy celebrated in relief and joy with his team mates as Leicester were threatening to equalise in the nervy final few minutes. A good win for us against the table toppers!
That evening I remember watching Derby's 4-4 draw against Man U (Wilf McGuinness's last game as Man U manager) on MOTD. As you can see in the below video of the match, there were snow on the pitch (there were also snow at Arsenal and at Leeds home games too) but funnily I do not remember seeing any snow at the Lane or at the Gosforth schoolfield.
David Nish's own goal gives us the lead. Unfortunately no photo of Woody's free kick. He was too quick for the photographers!
From the programme
Blades 2 (Nish og, Woodward) Leicester 1 (Farrington)
I can still picture of a lot of things that happened on that day but the strange thing is that I do not remember our two goals!
In the morning I was at Gosforth school field to watch a comic football match for charity between a team of fathers of Gosforth school pupils (dressed as Monks) and a team of fathers of Maud Maxfield pupils (all sorts of fancy dress). My dad was the "three legged professor" and he played terribly in the 1st half! I remember a ball going towards him but he missed it completely as he tried to kick it by using his "third leg" crutch and he fell down! Some of the spectators might have laughed at him but I was embarrassed by what he tried to do. At half time he ditched his crutch and dressed in his overalls that he used for working at William Lees and he looked a good player during the 2nd half. I thought the team of Monks had won the match comfortably but the ref declared the match as a draw. Nearly 7 years later I was looking at a 1959 SUFC squad photo (it was wrongly captioned as the 1961 promotion squad) from the John Harris testimonial programme (SUFC 1971 team v Brian Clough's Forest). I was going through each player from the 1959 squad photo and asked my dad what he thought of them. When we got to Tommy Hoyland , he said Tommy played in that Comic football match in Boxing Day 1970. I am not sure which team Tommy played for. I doubt he played for the Monks team as I cant think of his connection with Gosforth school and I think he might have been asked by Keith Kettleborough (whose daughter was at Maud Maxfield) to play for the Maud Maxfield team.
When we got to the match at the Lane, we had to stand in the BLLT instead of usually sitting in the BLUT. I think the reason for that was we had arrived at the ground too late to get seats in the BLUT. I remember being near a very vocal group of Leicester fans. Dave Powell was ruled out injured for the game and John Flynn was recalled to the line up, Flynn's last game was the season opener defeat at Orient.
As I said, I do not remember our goals in the match, fast forward 20 years later I was talking about that Leicester match to a Blade who I worked with at the AGD in Chesterfield. His memory of that goal was that he was stood in the Kop waiting for Woody to take the free kick at the Kop End, he got startled by a firework exploding behind him, turned round to his back to see who caused the explosion before turning his attention back onto the pitch, the first thing he saw on the pitch was that the ball already in the net and then he saw keeper Peter Shilton being stood motionless on the other side of the goal. Maybe Shilton got distracted by the firework explosion behind him making him too slow to react to Woody's free kick?
During the 2nd half I remember a small group of Wendy fans in front of me cheering at the Hull v Wendy score updates at the Pavilion and at one point Wendy were winning 4-1. They will have been shocked to find the final score when they got home as Hull scored 3 more goals in the last 7 minutes to make the score 4-4.
Late in the game I remember John Farrington pulling a goal back by hitting a low shot past Hodgy. At the final whistle Hodgy celebrated in relief and joy with his team mates as Leicester were threatening to equalise in the nervy final few minutes. A good win for us against the table toppers!
That evening I remember watching Derby's 4-4 draw against Man U (Wilf McGuinness's last game as Man U manager) on MOTD. As you can see in the below video of the match, there were snow on the pitch (there were also snow at Arsenal and at Leeds home games too) but funnily I do not remember seeing any snow at the Lane or at the Gosforth schoolfield.
David Nish's own goal gives us the lead. Unfortunately no photo of Woody's free kick. He was too quick for the photographers!
From the programme
ancientblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Reaction score
- 10,246
was at that game silent fantastic free kick by woody shilton never moved boxing day fixtures in those days were magical
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #131
Mick Harmston went to Southend on loan in the last week of December 1970. I wasnt aware of this at the time and only found out when Flashing Blade did an article about 30 years ago about loan deals at SUFC. It said Mick was the first loan deal in our history. I couldnt find the details in the Morning Telegraph at the Library Archives, no mention of it in the match programmes too. Found the below through Google.
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #132
2/1/1971
FA Cup 3rd round
Portsmouth 2 (Hiron, Trebilcock) Blades 0
My dad, his friend Graham Beresford and I went on the Football Special train from the Midland station straight to Fratton station.
It was my first ever FA Cup match and I was confident of a win seeing that we had won 5-1 there 3 months earlier (not sure if I was aware that we scored 5 against Pompey twice in the previous season). On arriving at the station there were a large crowd making their way to the ground and I particularly remember a bridge when my dad and I had lost sight of each other and I think it took a good 10 minutes before we found each other again and these 10 minutes were very worrying for me and my dad. In fact when we went to the ground again in April 1990 (lost 3-2) we both remembered the particular bridge but there were a lot fewer people around.
Before the kick off my dad pointed out Mike Trebilcock's name on the back of the match programme explaining to me that he scored twice for Everton in their 3-2 win against Wendy in the 1966 FA Cup final so he was a kind of a "hero" to Blades fans. Portsmouth's mascot , Barry Harris, made an appearance with the same placard as shown in below photo.
In the 2nd half Ray Hiron fired Pompey into the lead despite Hodgy getting a touch. Near the end Mike Trebilcock became a "hero" to Wendy fans this time after netting the 2nd goal and there was a bit of a pitch invasion. I was in tears after the final whistle as the FA Cup exit had hit me hard but my dad tried to calm me down saying that the exit would help us to concentrate more on our promotion chances.
On the way back home in the train there were long haired Blades fans sharing the same table playing cards with my dad and they were putting in stakes. Just before we arrived at Sheffield my dad had won the final round of games and took all the winnings!
When we got off the train my dad heard news about the Ibrox disaster and explained to me that a lot of supporters died at the Rangers v Celtic match and it was quite difficult for me to understand how football supporters would die at a football match.
Photos and "The News" match reports were kindly provided to me by the Pompey History Society.
You can see Barry Harris the club mascot jumping in the air. My dad and I were sat on the right side of the stand seen in the photo. Our position was probably behind Dave Powell's head.
From the Green Un middle pages that evening
FA Cup 3rd round
Portsmouth 2 (Hiron, Trebilcock) Blades 0
My dad, his friend Graham Beresford and I went on the Football Special train from the Midland station straight to Fratton station.
It was my first ever FA Cup match and I was confident of a win seeing that we had won 5-1 there 3 months earlier (not sure if I was aware that we scored 5 against Pompey twice in the previous season). On arriving at the station there were a large crowd making their way to the ground and I particularly remember a bridge when my dad and I had lost sight of each other and I think it took a good 10 minutes before we found each other again and these 10 minutes were very worrying for me and my dad. In fact when we went to the ground again in April 1990 (lost 3-2) we both remembered the particular bridge but there were a lot fewer people around.
Before the kick off my dad pointed out Mike Trebilcock's name on the back of the match programme explaining to me that he scored twice for Everton in their 3-2 win against Wendy in the 1966 FA Cup final so he was a kind of a "hero" to Blades fans. Portsmouth's mascot , Barry Harris, made an appearance with the same placard as shown in below photo.
In the 2nd half Ray Hiron fired Pompey into the lead despite Hodgy getting a touch. Near the end Mike Trebilcock became a "hero" to Wendy fans this time after netting the 2nd goal and there was a bit of a pitch invasion. I was in tears after the final whistle as the FA Cup exit had hit me hard but my dad tried to calm me down saying that the exit would help us to concentrate more on our promotion chances.
On the way back home in the train there were long haired Blades fans sharing the same table playing cards with my dad and they were putting in stakes. Just before we arrived at Sheffield my dad had won the final round of games and took all the winnings!
When we got off the train my dad heard news about the Ibrox disaster and explained to me that a lot of supporters died at the Rangers v Celtic match and it was quite difficult for me to understand how football supporters would die at a football match.
Photos and "The News" match reports were kindly provided to me by the Pompey History Society.
You can see Barry Harris the club mascot jumping in the air. My dad and I were sat on the right side of the stand seen in the photo. Our position was probably behind Dave Powell's head.
From the Green Un middle pages that evening
Bell4
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2016
- Messages
- 7,914
- Reaction score
- 13,810
Super stuff
Paisley Blade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2013
- Messages
- 3,031
- Reaction score
- 6,592
My first match. Went with Granddad, Dad and older brother all who had season tickets in BLUT.
My Dad just carried me in on his shoulders and the 4 of us sat on 3 seats
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #135
9/1/1971
Blades 2 (Tudor, Currie) Portsmouth 0
We got our revenge on Pompey after they knocked us out of the FA Cup a week earlier.
Early in the game, John Tudor got us into the lead heading in a cross by Woodward
We were easily the better side throughout the match and Pompey's keeper John Milkins made a lot of good saves. Milkins looks like Dracula!
In the 2nd half TC fired a shot through a crowd of players before it got into the net for the second goal after the Pompey defenders failed to clear a Woody corner. The players ran to congratulate TC but Eddie Colquhoun kept pointing to his own chest claiming that he got the final touch and it was easy for the crowd to lipread him shouting "It was me" two or three times.
I dont think anyone in the crowd were expecting that it would be the last 1st team home game for Alan Hodgkinson, John Tudor and John Barnwell.
Our future secretary, Keith Walker, was the ref for the match.
From the programme
Blades 2 (Tudor, Currie) Portsmouth 0
We got our revenge on Pompey after they knocked us out of the FA Cup a week earlier.
Early in the game, John Tudor got us into the lead heading in a cross by Woodward
We were easily the better side throughout the match and Pompey's keeper John Milkins made a lot of good saves. Milkins looks like Dracula!
In the 2nd half TC fired a shot through a crowd of players before it got into the net for the second goal after the Pompey defenders failed to clear a Woody corner. The players ran to congratulate TC but Eddie Colquhoun kept pointing to his own chest claiming that he got the final touch and it was easy for the crowd to lipread him shouting "It was me" two or three times.
I dont think anyone in the crowd were expecting that it would be the last 1st team home game for Alan Hodgkinson, John Tudor and John Barnwell.
Our future secretary, Keith Walker, was the ref for the match.
From the programme
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #136
16/1/1971
Bolton Wanderers 2 (Seddon, Fletcher) Blades 1 (Tudor)
2 of my dad's friends travelled with us in my dad's car.
Early in the game Tudor gave us the lead by firing home from close range so it looked that it was going to be an easy win for us against a struggling side playing a lot of youngsters. Midway in the 1st half Ian Seddon fired in a spectacular equaliser from outside the box that Hodgy had little chance to save. It still looked good when YTV showed highlights of the game in the next day. Late in the game, Paul Fletcher (who seemed to be in an offside position), broke away and slotted in the winner under Hodgy's arms (photo below). A rare appearance for Paddy Buckley late in the game coming on as sub but I do not recall noticing him coming on. He made two sub appearances that season and ironically his other appearance was in the home draw against Bolton!
It was a real sickener to lose in that match and Bolton seemed to be a bogey side to us in the 1970s (saw us beat them once in the 1970s and that was the 2-1 win at Burnden Park in April 1977).
After the game I was feeling queasy and felt worse when I got in the car. Shortly after we had set off, I threw up in the car so my dad stopped the car and he had to clean out the vomit from the car. The stench must have been horrible for us 4 in the journey home! I fell asleep but woke up when we were on the Snake Pass and my dad pointed out that we were behind the SUFC team coach making their way home. I could see through the rear window of the coach that the players were moving about in the aisle especially John Barnwell who I was to see for the last time! It was Hodgy's and Tudor's last league game for us but I did see the pair play in the 1st team once more in the friendly match at Saltergate a week later.
Burden Park as it was around that time. My only two visits were in January 1971 and April 1977 (we won 2-1) but I hadnt really noticed the railway line at the back of the ground until I read about it about 5 years ago.
From the Green Un middle pages that evening
Bolton Wanderers 2 (Seddon, Fletcher) Blades 1 (Tudor)
2 of my dad's friends travelled with us in my dad's car.
Early in the game Tudor gave us the lead by firing home from close range so it looked that it was going to be an easy win for us against a struggling side playing a lot of youngsters. Midway in the 1st half Ian Seddon fired in a spectacular equaliser from outside the box that Hodgy had little chance to save. It still looked good when YTV showed highlights of the game in the next day. Late in the game, Paul Fletcher (who seemed to be in an offside position), broke away and slotted in the winner under Hodgy's arms (photo below). A rare appearance for Paddy Buckley late in the game coming on as sub but I do not recall noticing him coming on. He made two sub appearances that season and ironically his other appearance was in the home draw against Bolton!
It was a real sickener to lose in that match and Bolton seemed to be a bogey side to us in the 1970s (saw us beat them once in the 1970s and that was the 2-1 win at Burnden Park in April 1977).
After the game I was feeling queasy and felt worse when I got in the car. Shortly after we had set off, I threw up in the car so my dad stopped the car and he had to clean out the vomit from the car. The stench must have been horrible for us 4 in the journey home! I fell asleep but woke up when we were on the Snake Pass and my dad pointed out that we were behind the SUFC team coach making their way home. I could see through the rear window of the coach that the players were moving about in the aisle especially John Barnwell who I was to see for the last time! It was Hodgy's and Tudor's last league game for us but I did see the pair play in the 1st team once more in the friendly match at Saltergate a week later.
Burden Park as it was around that time. My only two visits were in January 1971 and April 1977 (we won 2-1) but I hadnt really noticed the railway line at the back of the ground until I read about it about 5 years ago.
From the Green Un middle pages that evening
ancientblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Reaction score
- 10,246
was at that game silent hodgy's last i believe it was a bit hairy on bolton's end that day running battles throughout the game which i think we lost narrowly on points lol ps should be oxford the next away game was there as well
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #138
A friendly at Chesterfield was a week later on FA Cup 4th round day and Oxford was two weeks later
ancientblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Reaction score
- 10,246
well meant next league game silent hope and hockey made their debuts and tc ran the show that day at the manor ground
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #140
23/1/1971
Friendly match
Chesterfield 1 (Fenoughty) Blades 0
Attendance 10,898!
With the day reserved for FA Cup 4th round ties, the Blades were already out of the competition so they quickly arranged a friendly match at Saltergate as Chesterfield's opponents in the 3rd division scheduled for that day, Rochdale, were playing against Colchester in the FA Cup.
I was stood in the Compton Street terrace and I was surprised to see Fenoughty's 25 yard shot beating Hodgy at the Cross Street end in the 1st minute. I do not remember much about the rest of the game and after seeing us lose to lowly opposition 3 times in the last 4 games, I probably feared the worst about our promotion chances. We kept losing away games and we did lose two away games in the previous month too. My other memory of that day is seeing Mike Trebilcock on MOTD scoring a last minute equaliser in the cup at home to Arsenal and I was thinking that it could have been us playing against Arsenal instead of Chesterfield.
Little did we know that it was to be the last time Hodgy and Tudor playing for us.
Green Un middle pages that evening
Friendly match
Chesterfield 1 (Fenoughty) Blades 0
Attendance 10,898!
With the day reserved for FA Cup 4th round ties, the Blades were already out of the competition so they quickly arranged a friendly match at Saltergate as Chesterfield's opponents in the 3rd division scheduled for that day, Rochdale, were playing against Colchester in the FA Cup.
I was stood in the Compton Street terrace and I was surprised to see Fenoughty's 25 yard shot beating Hodgy at the Cross Street end in the 1st minute. I do not remember much about the rest of the game and after seeing us lose to lowly opposition 3 times in the last 4 games, I probably feared the worst about our promotion chances. We kept losing away games and we did lose two away games in the previous month too. My other memory of that day is seeing Mike Trebilcock on MOTD scoring a last minute equaliser in the cup at home to Arsenal and I was thinking that it could have been us playing against Arsenal instead of Chesterfield.
Little did we know that it was to be the last time Hodgy and Tudor playing for us.
Green Un middle pages that evening
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #141
55 years ago this month, Paul Currie (Tony's brother) started a 6 game spell for United's Northern Intermediate team. Scored 4 times during the spell.
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #142
25/1/1971
Wendy sack their manager Danny Williams and appoint Derek Dooley as their new manager.
I first got to know about Derek when my dad spotted him in the John Street directors box after we had beaten Leeds in the League Cup four months earlier and told me to get his autograph. Derek was happy to sign my programme despite that I had no idea who he was. Coming back to my dad, he explained to me that Derek scored a lot of goals for Wendy but he lost his leg and that ended his playing days.
Fast forward 4 months later on the day after Derek became Wendy's new manager, a teacher (Ted Kent who was a well known Sheffield hockey player) at my school (Maud Maxfield) asked me over to his classroom to have a chat about football. He wanted to talk about Derek to me. He explained to me that Derek had broken his leg after clashing with Preston's keeper George Thompson at Deepdale in 1953 and then the doctors at Preston hospital decided to amputate his left leg.
Wendy sack their manager Danny Williams and appoint Derek Dooley as their new manager.
I first got to know about Derek when my dad spotted him in the John Street directors box after we had beaten Leeds in the League Cup four months earlier and told me to get his autograph. Derek was happy to sign my programme despite that I had no idea who he was. Coming back to my dad, he explained to me that Derek scored a lot of goals for Wendy but he lost his leg and that ended his playing days.
Fast forward 4 months later on the day after Derek became Wendy's new manager, a teacher (Ted Kent who was a well known Sheffield hockey player) at my school (Maud Maxfield) asked me over to his classroom to have a chat about football. He wanted to talk about Derek to me. He explained to me that Derek had broken his leg after clashing with Preston's keeper George Thompson at Deepdale in 1953 and then the doctors at Preston hospital decided to amputate his left leg.
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #143
26/1/1971
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #144
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #145
Meanwhile our players are at Lilleshall
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #146
27/1/1971
I still clearly remember that at around 6pm on that Wednesday evening, out of boredom I got into the toybox in darkness in the living room (well there wasnt much to do at home in the evening when it is dark!). Unexpectedly my mum opened the lid as she wanted to tell me something. She had heard from the Calendar News that United had signed Trevor Hockey from Birmingham. He was a player I had heard of but I wasnt sure what he looked like or what position he plays in (I did see him when we won with a Tudor goal at St Andrews on 10/10/1970 but I hadnt really noticed him). It was the first time we had signed a player since we signed John Barnwell and Bill Dearden in April 1970. When my dad had got home from work the first thing I did was to tell him that we had signed Trevor Hockey from Birmingham. He seemed positive but I dont think he really remembered what Hockey looked like.
In the next morning on his way to work, my dad picked up the Daily Express from the local newsagent and decided to buy the Morning Telegraph too only because he wanted to see the report of us signing Hockey but he got a shock when he found news that would disappoint me so he decided to return home to wake me up with the Morning Telegraph. I still remember the shock and confusion when I saw the big photo (see below) on the back page. There were 5 people in the photo so my dad left me to work out what had happened. There was Dick Wragg (our chairman), John Hope, David Ford, John Tudor and Joe Harvey (Newcastle manager). I got horrified when I had slowly began to realise that John Tudor, one of my favourite players and someone I often spoke to outside the John Street players entrance after matches, had left us to join Newcastle! I paid little attention to John Hope and David Ford (both from Newcastle- I knew about Ford and that he scored for Wendy in the 1966 FA Cup final but not heard of Hope) who had signed for us in the exchange deal. My dad wasnt planning on going to Oxford for our next match in two days time but he then said "We will go to Oxford now" hoping that I would calm down but I then said "Look at John in the photo looking happy to leave us for Newcastle!". He had to tell me that as a professional footballer it would be daft for him to turn down a chance to play in the 1st division again and play under a manager who rates him. My dad then wondered if the signing of keeper John Hope meant that he is to replace Hodgy (he was a big fan of Hodgy but I noticed that he showed disappointment in him more often when he made mistakes and letting in soft goals during the season) straight away or is seen as a future 1st teamer putting pressure on Hodgy to play better despite that we have a reserve keeper in Graeme Crawford.
Ted Kent, a teacher at my school, Maud Maxfield, asked me over to his classroom to have a chat about our three signings and the sale of John Tudor. He talked more about John Hope and he thought that he would be a replacement for Hodgy in the future but not in two days time or in the near future.
I am not sure if Hockey was the first signing on that Wednesday or was the last. Maybe on that evening my mum had missed Calendar News announcement of our signings from Newcastle with Tudor going the other way and she just had caught Hockey's name at the end?
I still clearly remember that at around 6pm on that Wednesday evening, out of boredom I got into the toybox in darkness in the living room (well there wasnt much to do at home in the evening when it is dark!). Unexpectedly my mum opened the lid as she wanted to tell me something. She had heard from the Calendar News that United had signed Trevor Hockey from Birmingham. He was a player I had heard of but I wasnt sure what he looked like or what position he plays in (I did see him when we won with a Tudor goal at St Andrews on 10/10/1970 but I hadnt really noticed him). It was the first time we had signed a player since we signed John Barnwell and Bill Dearden in April 1970. When my dad had got home from work the first thing I did was to tell him that we had signed Trevor Hockey from Birmingham. He seemed positive but I dont think he really remembered what Hockey looked like.
In the next morning on his way to work, my dad picked up the Daily Express from the local newsagent and decided to buy the Morning Telegraph too only because he wanted to see the report of us signing Hockey but he got a shock when he found news that would disappoint me so he decided to return home to wake me up with the Morning Telegraph. I still remember the shock and confusion when I saw the big photo (see below) on the back page. There were 5 people in the photo so my dad left me to work out what had happened. There was Dick Wragg (our chairman), John Hope, David Ford, John Tudor and Joe Harvey (Newcastle manager). I got horrified when I had slowly began to realise that John Tudor, one of my favourite players and someone I often spoke to outside the John Street players entrance after matches, had left us to join Newcastle! I paid little attention to John Hope and David Ford (both from Newcastle- I knew about Ford and that he scored for Wendy in the 1966 FA Cup final but not heard of Hope) who had signed for us in the exchange deal. My dad wasnt planning on going to Oxford for our next match in two days time but he then said "We will go to Oxford now" hoping that I would calm down but I then said "Look at John in the photo looking happy to leave us for Newcastle!". He had to tell me that as a professional footballer it would be daft for him to turn down a chance to play in the 1st division again and play under a manager who rates him. My dad then wondered if the signing of keeper John Hope meant that he is to replace Hodgy (he was a big fan of Hodgy but I noticed that he showed disappointment in him more often when he made mistakes and letting in soft goals during the season) straight away or is seen as a future 1st teamer putting pressure on Hodgy to play better despite that we have a reserve keeper in Graeme Crawford.
Ted Kent, a teacher at my school, Maud Maxfield, asked me over to his classroom to have a chat about our three signings and the sale of John Tudor. He talked more about John Hope and he thought that he would be a replacement for Hodgy in the future but not in two days time or in the near future.
I am not sure if Hockey was the first signing on that Wednesday or was the last. Maybe on that evening my mum had missed Calendar News announcement of our signings from Newcastle with Tudor going the other way and she just had caught Hockey's name at the end?
ancientblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 8,425
- Reaction score
- 10,246
yes silent it was a big blow to lose john tudor but it proved a master stroke by john harris that was ultimately to get us promotion we also went to oxford for that first game and hockey was immense you could hear him from the terraces barking orders out he ran the midfield that day played it simple won the ball and looked for tc straight away masterstroke from the best manager weve ever had imo
MoscowBlade
Member
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2013
- Messages
- 118
- Reaction score
- 136
Both Badger snd Woodward should have been capped for England
Silent Blade
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #149
29/1/1971
New signing David Ford rated doubtful for the game at Oxford.
New signing David Ford rated doubtful for the game at Oxford.
Rufus Smalls
Well-Known Member
Why were we mostly shit at Saltergate ??
Similar threads
All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?