[Archived] Rovers Eleven from the 1950's

[perthblue02]

As I mentioned before think it would be a great idea to start a thread for each decade to decide on three players or maybe a full team from each decade,(appreciate there is the greatest Rovers thread in the archive but many players would not have got a mention) I would certainly find it interesting to read about players and recollections from the 50's and 60's from people who actually saw them play .

Not sure how many posters are on brfcs who watched in the 50's? but maybe it's an ideal time now that things in the punatic asylum seem to be fairly normal to get their thoughts and recollections on the players as an archive for future generations of Rovers supporters.

So for supporters who had the pleasure to watch Rovers from 1950 -1959 who do you think should be in the 1950's Rovers eleven ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Before my time but from what I've read Ronnie, Dougie, Peter Dobing, Roy Vernon, Bill Eckersley, Matt Woods, Mick McGrath would feature.

[ABBEY]

Told this before on here but it's good . Around the 90's ( memory goosed ) England played holland and my late grandad ( he was on the ground v Bolton for the record) yelled at Pearce ( I think) give it to Eckersley !! Man my home brew was good.

[47er]

Obvious ones -----Clayton, Douglas, Woods,England,Eckersley. Some would have Dobing in there, natural talent but soft,Elvy,Langton,Quigley,Crossan,McGrath,Whelan.

Problem with this is the "crossover" between the 50's and 60's. Plenty played in each. Mike England's debut was late 1959 for instance as was John Bray's. Heroes both!

[ABBEY]

Obvious ones -----Clayton, Douglas, Woods,England,Eckersley. Some would have Dobing in there, natural talent but soft,Elvy,Langton,Quigley,Crossan,McGrath,Whelan.

Problem with this is the "crossover" between the 50's and 60's. Plenty played in each. Mike England's debut was late 1959 for instance as was John Bray's. Heroes both!

Your older than I thought ha

[MCMC1875]

Told this before on here but it's good . Around the 90's ( memory goosed ) England played holland and my late grandad ( he was on the ground v Bolton for the record) yelled at Pearce ( I think) give it to Eckersley !! Man my home brew was good.

The late great Bill Eckersley..... what can I say? By all accounts, the best left back ever to have played for Rovers, he could chase an opponent and win the ball through his legs without committing a foul (for tackling from behind). Legend. His omission was the only flaw in the greatest Rovers team voted by posters on here (lots of younger posters voted for a player in living memory). I was privileged to be present when his ashes were scattered on the left back area between the Riverside and Blackburn End the 80's. A customer of mine last year was Tommy Banks (ex Bolton) who said Bill was the best left back he'd ever seen.

ps ABBEY - my late grandad was also on the ground v Bolton for the record.

[47er]

Your older than I thought ha

I did have a season ticket in the Nuttall St Stand when I was three though!

My dad was at Ewood for the Bolton game too and the 1928 Cup Final.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

If the Bolton game you refer to is our record home attendanc then there is footage of the match in the North West Film Archive...fans are sat along the top of the Darwen End Roof!!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Tommy Banks would know a good left back when he saw one. Not a bad 'un himself.

[bazza]

We always struggled for a good right back in the 1950s. People such as Ron Suart, Ken Taylor and David Gray were not as good as other players in the team.

For a centre half do I pick Willie Kelly or Matt Woods? Kelly replaced the inferior Holt and Holliday. He was not very tall but built like the proverbial brickhouse.

I'm not going to choose Mike England, Keith Newton, or Fred Pickering from the youth team of 1958 because their decade was the 60's.

I'm going to leave out, reluctantly, Peter Dobing in favour of Eddie Quigley. And Ally McLeod doesn't get in either.

So here's my 1950's team

Elvy; Whelan, Eckersley; Clayton, Woods, McGrath; Douglas, Vernon, Briggs, Quigley, Langton.

No subs in those days but if you want a bench then it's

Leyland,Kelly, Dobing, Holmes, Nightingale, Suart, and Eric Bell or Jackie Campbell.

It's strange that as an 8 year old my two favourite players were Albert Nightingale and Bill Holmes. But I see they didn't play many games for us; Nightingale 35 and Holmes 21.

[47er]

Forgot Vernon and Briggs! How could I?!!

Sat next to Vernon at a Cup Replay between Preston and Bolton. He chain-smoked the whole game!

Saw Brigg's 5 goals against Boro in a match I thought would never start. Incredible fog. Found his level in Div 2 did Briggs. Not mobile enough for top league.

[darrenrover]

Unable to personally comment so I posed the question to my dad.

First thing he said was that in those days the first team squad only comprised of 14/15 players.

His players of fifties were:

Reg Elvy

Bill Eckersley

Matt Woods

Ron Suart

Ronnie Clayton

Eddie Quigley

Tommy Briggs

Brian Douglas

Roy Vernon

Ally McLeod

He then started reminiscing , semi in '52 against Newcastle and '58 against Bolton.......

[bazza]

I think your memory might be slightly flawed there 47er. I believe you might be thinking of a game against Lincoln when it was a peasouper up to about half an hour before kick off. We won 7-1 after they had beaten us 8-0 earlier in the season at their place. Briggs got a few that day,

We beat Lincoln City 6-0, not 7-1, in January after being hammered 8-0 back in September. Glad you have fond memories of Rovers from way back then, renrag.

The wrinklies and the crinklies correcting each other on their memories of games and scores! The youngsters must be loving it.

[47er]

I think your memory might be slightly flawed there 47er. I believe you might be thinking of a game against Lincoln when it was a peasouper up to about half an hour before kick off. We won 7-1 after they had beaten us 8-0 earlier in the season at their place. Briggs got a few that day,

Ooh I don't think so renrag! 1954-55 season we beat Boro 9-0 and Briggs scored 5. He also scored 7 in an 8-3 drubbing of Bristol Rovers Feb 1955! (same season).

Weather as described!

[den]

What a fantastic topic.

You guys should put all your memories of the fifties down here and Wen Y Hu should move it all to messageboard gold as his first contribution.

[47er]

We might have to leave mine out Den as they are unreliable!

[den]

We might have to leave mine out Den as they are unreliable!

We're all unreliable 47er, but you people who remember that era are becoming fewer. There should be some way of recording these kind of posts for posterity. Imagine if we could read the messageboards from the 1880's/1890's! How fantastic would that be?

[47er]

We won a lot then too! Incidentally, I've just come across a book called "Tommy Briggs-a footballer and a gentleman" by Jim Bibby. Has anyone on here read it? Some memories there I'd imagine.

Can't understand why I've never heard of it till now.

[47er]

Edited

[bazza]

My father-in-law reminds me that in the 50's/60's eras we had some wonderful internationals playing for us. Players such as Eckersley, Clayton, Douglas, McGrath, Vernon, Langton, England, Newton and Pickering. Yet we won nowt!

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

What a fantastic topic.

You guys should put all your memories of the fifties down here and Wen Y Hu should move it all to messageboard gold as his first contribution.

Don't want to spoil the flow here because I enjoy reading this so much, but one of the ideas is to create a memories section and link it in to a new history section.

Just for my tuppence' worth: when creating a team of a decade I think it is wise to include players based on their performance during that decade rather than merely their name value, so to speak. On that basis, some outstanding players might get into a team of the decade for two decades whereas others might not qualify for both decades because they were at the start or the end of their careers and didn't perform in one or the other decade to the required standard.

Anyway, back to the '50s...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

What a fantastic topic.

You guys should put all your memories of the fifties down here and Wen Y Hu should move it all to messageboard gold as his first contribution.

Yeah but the games miles better now Den. The guys are all faster, fitter, stronger healthier, richer. It's just a shame that the entertainment on display is @#/?. I was looking at the stats on TV yesterday. The number of games were the " shots on target " ratio was really low. 2 for one team and 1 wasn't unusual.

[Al]

We always struggled for a good right back in the 1950s. People such as Ron Suart, Ken Taylor and David Gray were not as good as other players in the team.

For a centre half do I pick Willie Kelly or Matt Woods? Kelly replaced the inferior Holt and Holliday. He was not very tall but built like the proverbial brickhouse.

I'm not going to choose Mike England, Keith Newton, or Fred Pickering from the youth team of 1958 because their decade was the 60's.

I'm going to leave out, reluctantly, Peter Dobing in favour of Eddie Quigley. And Ally McLeod doesn't get in either.

So here's my 1950's team

Elvy; Whelan, Eckersley; Clayton, Woods, McGrath; Douglas, Vernon, Briggs, Quigley, Langton.

No subs in those days but if you want a bench then it's

Leyland,Kelly, Dobing, Holmes, Nightingale, Suart, and Eric Bell or Jackie Campbell.

It's strange that as an 8 year old my two favourite players were Albert Nightingale and Bill Holmes. But I see they didn't play many games for us; Nightingale 35 and Holmes 21.

Can't argue with that team Bazza and Albert Nightingale was my first hero.