Bob Booker Day

[Grecian2000]

For those of you thinking it's not a very nice day today just think back to this day 23 years ago (the last time we escaped from the third tier by the way) when we really did have a day of monumentally bad weather and Bob Booker went from "poor mans Simon Webster" to Blades hero in 90 minutes.

Is it an omen?

 

[Ted Danson]

OOOOOO AHHHHH!!!!!

 

[broomhillblade]

I think you've got your facts/dates mixed up.

23 years go today (1989) we beat Mansfield 1 - 0 with a penalty from Peter Duffield.

 

[bartman]

I think you've got your facts/dates mixed up.

23 years go today (1989) we beat Mansfield 1 - 0 with a penalty from Peter Duffield.

Which Bob Booker won and had a magnificent game

 

[boo radley]

So who's our 'Bob Booker' this time?

 

[Geordie Blade]

I remember that game very well - the most crucial game of the season. Apart from Sir Bob's run to win the penalty (which nobody knew whether or not it was in the area, as the lines were under snow), I remember two things:

(i) The snow actually settling on my knees, because I was too cold to brush it off
(ii) A bought a match programme, and all the pages inside were blank.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

(ii) A bought a match programme, and all the pages inside were blank.

I couldn't stop laughing at this.

 

[broomhillblade]

Which Bob Booker won and had a magnificent game

Fair enough, but he'd already scored a couple of goals before the Mansfield game.

For me, one of his most memorable games was the following season on 2.12.89 v West Brom when he scored two goals, both from corners. The first one was flicked on at the near post for Booker to rise like a salmon and head it home. Clearly West Brom learned nothing from this, for his second goal was virtually a carbon copy of the first.

Another memory was after he'd left us, but he came to Hillsborough for the Sheffield derby (the 'Bobby Davison' one) and sat with the fans, joining in with the singing etc. What a night that was!

It's remarkable that Booker became such a 'legend' for he was with United for barely three years.

 

[stannyblade]

Another memory was after he'd left us, but he came to Hillsborough for the Sheffield derby (the 'Bobby Davison' one) and sat with the fans, joining in with the singing etc. What a night that was!

It's remarkable that Booker became such a 'legend' for he was with United for barely three years.

Always gave 110% for us thats why. Seem to remember him getting 2 one game and then we got a penalty. Everyone was shouting for him to take it for his hat trick and someone else took it and missed .May be wrong though

 

[Grecian2000]

Scored 2 and Gannon missed a pen (our first for over a year if memory serves) against Southampton in the top flight.

Mansfield was the night he stepped up to the plate and silenced a growing band of critics with a gutsy perfromance in the worst conditions imaginable (and you'll just have to imagine them because todays nonces wouldn't come out of the changing rooms in that sort of weather).

As for Geordie Blades program, mine might or might not have been blank but it was so badly damaged by the weather it never made it home.

 

[stannyblade]

Was the Mansfield game in the cup? Remember going there and we decided to sit down as it was under cover. Shame the wind blew the snow our way any way

 

[Darren]

Scored 2 and Gannon missed a pen (our first for over a year if memory serves) against Southampton in the top flight.

Mansfield was the night he stepped up to the plate and silenced a growing band of critics with a gutsy perfromance in the worst conditions imaginable (and you'll just have to imagine them because todays nonces wouldn't come out of the changing rooms in that sort of weather).

As for Geordie Blades program, mine might or might not have been blank but it was so badly damaged by the weather it never made it home.

2nd Feb 91 against Southampton. We went 4-0 up in the first half (Booker 2, Hodges, Deane). Southampton got 1 back half way through the second half. We got a pen with 10 mins to go which Gannon skied at the Lane end and we ended up winning 4-1. It was our first pen since 17/3/90 against Wolves at the Lane which Gannon scored. We got our next one on 23/3/91 at Wimbledon (which Deane scored in a 1-1 draw) then didn't get another one until 15/8/92 v Man Utd at the Lane (which Deane also scored). So in almost two and a half years from Mar 90 to Aug 92, we got 2 pens and none at all in 91-92.

Your "nonces" comment amused me. When I was a youngster in the 70's and 80's the older generatioon used to say exactly the same thing about players then, with their perms, short shorts and nancy boy kissing behaviour. The likes of Tommy Lawton and Nat Lofthouse played with a ball weighing 3 stones, in force 10 gales, in snow up to 3 feet deep and thought nothing of it. When they scored it was just a firm handshake and a stroll back to the centre circle. And they would smoke 50 a day, drink 10 pints every night and be up at 8am for training every morning...

 

[Darren]

Was the Mansfield game in the cup? Remember going there and we decided to sit down as it was under cover. Shame the wind blew the snow our way any way

No, though we did play them in the cup earlier that season on 19/11/88 in a 1-1 draw. Deane scored and Webster broke his leg.

 

[JohnDenver]

2nd Feb 91 against Southampton.

Played in a proper pea-souper. I was terrified it'd be abandoned with us 4-0 up.

 

[broomhillblade]

There were a lot of pea-soupers in the pre-floodlight days.

There is a story from way back of a match (Charlton v someone - not us) when the ref called the teams off because of the fog. After several minutes in the dressing room the Charlton players realised that their keeper, Sam Bartram, was missing. They sent someone out to find him and he was still between the posts, peering into the fog...

 

[Kenilworth]

I remember that game at Mansfield. I had left work, still in suit attire, with a light macintosh.
Was tight getting to the ground so couldn't link up fellow Blades before game.
Remember being stood on terrace squashed in with a load of Blades fans and the weather just broke.
Horizontal snow/sleet stinging your eyes with visibility at times almost impossible.
By the end of the game I was dry from the chest down but my shoulders were soaked through to the skin.
Very uncomfortable walk back to the car and drive back to the Midlands

 

[diplomat]

Bob's overall story is a great one. Played no higher than 3rd division standard for 10 years. Comes to the Lane and is part of a remarkable underdog story of double promotions and evading relegation. I still think of most players involved in those times as legends, especially those that proved they could step up a level - Deane, Bryson, Tracey, Agana (injury allowing), Gannon - all played in the third and the top flight.

I think Bob lived at Woodseats and I remember the kids at my school from down there mentioning on more than one occasion that he was just a nice, likeable bloke who'd talk to anyone. You could tell that he loved being given the opportunity that he'd got and revelled in it. I'm proud of the way his limitations were accepted with good humour by the fans and that we were able to make him feel that good.

I also liked a quote from the Leicester game when he was marking a talented Gary McCallister while the Blades hoardes were chanting "Ooh Aah Bob Bookah!". GM: "Why the fuck are they chanting your name?" BB: Cos I'm Ooh Aah Bob Bookah, who the fuck are you?"

 

[BusheyBlade]

We got our next one on 23/3/91 at Wimbledon (which Deane scored in a 1-1 draw)

This was my first ever match. I was so naive...

 

[BladeInBC]

When a mate of mine got married, I sent a letter to Bob (who was assistant at Brighton at the time) asking him if he'd send my mate a signed card. He did - and also included a signed photo of him in a current Blades shirt (this was 2006).
Top Bloke!

 

[metalblade]

Most of the players were top blokes when Basset was manager, my ex worked at the lane and had just got me a birthday card from the club shop Brian Gayle spotted the card and whipped it away to the dressing room, 10 mins later she had me a birthday card signed by most of the team. The players seemed much closer to the fans at that time.