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BRFC - The Nostalgia Thread


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Thanks for that Den, a great watch.

In the team:

3 Busby babes who would all lose their lives the following February. 
2 from Blackburn Rovers, 2 from West Brom, and 1 each from Bolton, Wolves, PNE, and Fulham. 
Didn't matter which club you played for in those days. 
Duggie making three of the four goals, what a player. 

 

Edited by Ianrally
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Match Report by Mike Payne

England came back from their home defeat against the Irish with a superb victory over France which sowed the seeds of promise for the following year's World Cup finals in Sweden. Everyone felt that this England team must surely provide the nucleus of the Party for that tournament unless there was a major lapse in fitness or form.

The big success in this game was the outstanding play of Bryan Douglas. Since the great Stanley Matthews left the international arena there had been a void which nobody had yet been able to fill. But the great man himself would have been proud of Douglas' performance against the French. He teased and and tormented the visiting defenders from the start and in the first half England were able to build up an impregnable 3-0 lead, thanks mainly to the wing wizardry of the Blackburn star.

It was worth recording that for the first time Douglas had a proper inside-forward alongside him and Bobby Robson's performance was almost as impressive. The partnership certainly promised a great deal.

The rout began as early as the third minute. Robson fed Douglas and the winger cleverly went round Kaelbel to centre. Tommy Taylor, under pressure from Tylinksi, timed his jump perfectly at the near post to beat Abbes superbly with a looping header to the far corner.

In the 24th minute England notched a second. Again it was Douglas the provider as he received a good pass from Don Howe and then jinked his way past several challenges before only Abbes blocked his path to goal. The 'keeper dived one way and Douglas went the other before pulling the ball square, giving Robson the easiest of chances to score.

Johnny Haynes was also in top form and he sprayed passes all over the lush Wembley turf. On the half-hour he sent a glorious through-ball for Taylor to run on to and the game was virtually all over at 3-0 to England.

The French tried bravely to rally themselves early in the second half and Wisnieski was unlucky with one effort which struck the base of Eddie Hopkinson's post. This attempt at a revival was short-lived, though, and England soon regained control to dominate the rest of the game.

They missed many glorious chances and Abbes leapt across his goal like a demented frog, getting in the way of several close-range attempts. Taylor, Haynes, Tom Finney, Robson and Douglas all missed straight forward chances and Abbes was by far the busiest player on the field. In the last 23 minutes, no less than 18 shots rained in on the French goal but miraculously for them only one more counted.

That came with five minutes to go and was the icing on the cake. A superb seven-man move began with Duncan Edwards. Eventually, and inevitably, Douglas made the final pass, once again setting up Robson for goal number four. A damp and grey November dy had definitely been brightened up by a splendid England performance that augured well for the future and excited the crowd.

Edited by Ianrally
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Thanks for your contribution @Ianrally

I watch these old clips with mixed emotions. The memories are fantastic but the footage? I think were  these players really as good as I remember? Old film footage certainly doesn’t flatter anyone or anything. All I can think is there’s absolutely no reason why the natural skill levels of those guys shouldn’t be at least as high as it is now. The coaching, speed of the game and tactics of teams is far ahead of what it was then for sure - but skills/ability I don’t think so.

Whatever BRFC is now, those memories will always live on.

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7 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

The inaugural PL season is now 30 years ago…here’s Saturday’s opponents at Ewood

 

 

 

Per the commentator Shearer's goal was his 17th of the season (cups too). It was November. He would have scored 40+ if he didn't get injured, and England would have qualified for World Cup 1994.

I also thought that Chris Price had left Rovers before the start of the Prem season. 

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On 26/07/2022 at 14:32, speeeeeeedie said:

Per the commentator Shearer's goal was his 17th of the season (cups too). It was November. He would have scored 40+ if he didn't get injured, and England would have qualified for World Cup 1994.

I also thought that Chris Price had left Rovers before the start of the Prem season. 

I know its all 'ifs' and 'buts' but I'm convinced we would have won the inaugural premier league if either King Al hadn't got injured....or we had kept Speedie at the club. His partnership with Newell would have really served us once Shearer was injured.

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1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

I know its all 'ifs' and 'buts' but I'm convinced we would have won the inaugural premier league if either King Al hadn't got injured....or we had kept Speedie at the club. His partnership with Newell would have really served us once Shearer was injured.

That's a really interesting point. I'd never thought about Speedie in the prem. I think he scored around 31 goals in our promotion season. He was far too good for the 2nd division so no reason he couldn't have contributed the following season. We got rid of Garner at the same time. It would have been nice to bring him on as sub in a dead rubber.

Perhaps Norwich at home 

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51 minutes ago, Colt Seavers said:

That's a really interesting point. I'd never thought about Speedie in the prem. I think he scored around 31 goals in our promotion season. He was far too good for the 2nd division so no reason he couldn't have contributed the following season. We got rid of Garner at the same time. It would have been nice to bring him on as sub in a dead rubber.

Perhaps Norwich at home 

Ha ha if I remember correctly that particular fixture was 2nd v 1st that season.

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