BRFC - The Nostalgia Thread

[speeeeeeedie]

1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

We celebrated that draw at Tranmere like it was a win. Great day out as I think Leeds overtook United in the title race that day as well.

I was 15 at the time. My mate and his dad went. He said that it was a brilliant atmosphere. 

 

[Gav]

50 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

I was 15 at the time. My mate and his dad went. He said that it was a brilliant atmosphere. 

 

Wegerle Penalty? 

[Herbie6590]

Oxford stalemate

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'd also forgotten what an elegant player Gordon Cowans was. They should have Buckley watching these old videos.

[simongarnerisgod]

it was bloody freezing at that oxford match,thats the only thing i remember about it🤧

[Ianrally]

Any mention of Oxford Utd. always sends a shiver down my spine. It’s been that way since Feb. 15th 1964. They still talk about big cup shocks like Hereford v Newcastle and Wrexham v Arsenal but our defeat at the Manor Ground is up there with those and yet is never mentioned

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Ianrally said:

Any mention of Oxford Utd. always sends a shiver down my spine. It’s been that way since Feb. 15th 1964. They still talk about big cup shocks like Hereford v Newcastle and Wrexham v Arsenal but our defeat at the Manor Ground is up there with those and yet is never mentioned

I mentioned it earlier. I was playing that day and after our game we all crowded around " Radio Rentals" shop window. They had all the TV's in the window set to " Grandstand ".  When the teletype score came up - Oxford Utd 3 - Blackburn Rovers 1 I turned around to my pal and said  " They'll have got that the wrong way around ". They did make mistakes from time to time but usually they corrected them shortly afterwards. Not that day though.

[Ianrally]

I never liked Ron Atkinson when he became famous because of that match

[4000Holes]

23 hours ago, Ianrally said:

Any mention of Oxford Utd. always sends a shiver down my spine. It’s been that way since Feb. 15th 1964. They still talk about big cup shocks like Hereford v Newcastle and Wrexham v Arsenal but our defeat at the Manor Ground is up there with those and yet is never mentioned

It was a tragedy we lost that match to Oxford.  In my opinion we would have gone on to win the cup.  We were a far better team than either Preston or West Ham the finalists and if I remember correctly it took Preston umpteen attempts to get past Bolton FFS.

Still?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

48 minutes ago, 4000Holes said:

It was a tragedy we lost that match to Oxford.  In my opinion we would have gone on to win the cup.  We were a far better team than either Preston or West Ham the finalists and if I remember correctly it took Preston umpteen attempts to get past Bolton FFS.

Still?

Yes that team would have graced Wembley in the final.  As it was West Ham just about scraped past Second Division Preston in an entertaining final.

[Darrenbot]

21 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yes that team would have graced Wembley in the final.  As it was West Ham just about scraped past Second Division Preston in an entertaining final.

There's a lot of love for the team from the early to mid 60s,it was well before my time so i was wondering what was missing from the team that would have had them challenging for the league ? Were they just a player or 2 from being up at the top or was there more to it?

[4000Holes]

1 hour ago, Darrenbot said:

There's a lot of love for the team from the early to mid 60s,it was well before my time so i was wondering what was missing from the team that would have had them challenging for the league ? Were they just a player or 2 from being up at the top or was there more to it?

In 1963/64 season we topped the league around Christmas time, no mean feat for a team of our stature.  Minimum wage not long gone and Everton came calling for Pickering offering big money at the time, possibly world record transfer and presumably good significantly better wages than we could afford. We replaced Pickering with a lad (Martin Britt) from West Ham reserves, needless to say it didn’t work out.  Soon after Mike England was put at centre forward, arguably the best centre half in the country, reason being there was no alternative because there was an adequate centre half in the reserves (Dick Mulvaney).  Not long after Spurs came calling for England.  The rest is history.

That is from memory which I admit is not what it used to be, but I am sure some of our other posters on here will put you and me right.

Hope that may be of use?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

27 minutes ago, 4000Holes said:

In 1963/64 season we topped the league around Christmas time, no mean feat for a team of our stature.  Minimum wage not long gone and Everton came calling for Pickering offering big money at the time, possibly world record transfer and presumably good significantly better wages than we could afford. We replaced Pickering with a lad (Martin Britt) from West Ham reserves, needless to say it didn’t work out.  Soon after Mike England was put at centre forward, arguably the best centre half in the country, reason being there was no alternative because there was an adequate centre half in the reserves (Dick Mulvaney).  Not long after Spurs came calling for England.  The rest is history.

That is from memory which I admit is not what it used to be, but I am sure some of our other posters on here will put you and me right.

Hope that may be of use?

The game was much different then. You could get by with a much smaller squad. Having said that, as the earlier poster said,  we were a couple of players short. The attack was brilliant and could score goals for fun. Defensively we were a bit lacking. John Bray at right back was on the way down and Mick McGrath at left half was also coming to the end of a great career. Two replacements there and a better goalkeeper than Fred Else and we would have been bringing silverware back to Ewood.

Losing at Oxford led directly to the loss of Fred Pickering. That was a massive blow in itself but what was worse we blew a chunk of the fee on George Jones from Bury who was a bit of a Brererton type signing, in theory one for the future. That didn't work so well and we already had a ready made replacement for Pickering in John Byrom. We'd have been better off using the Pickering money to strengthen the defence.

Edited December 13, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Ianrally]

15 minutes ago, 4000Holes said:

In 1963/64 season we topped the league around Christmas time, no mean feat for a team of our stature.  Minimum wage not long gone and Everton came calling for Pickering offering big money at the time, possibly world record transfer and presumably good significantly better wages than we could afford. We replaced Pickering with a lad (Martin Britt) from West Ham reserves, needless to say it didn’t work out.  Soon after Mike England was put at centre forward, arguably the best centre half in the country, reason being there was no alternative because there was an adequate centre half in the reserves (Dick Mulvaney).  Not long after Spurs came calling for England.  The rest is history.

That is from memory which I admit is not what it used to be, but I am sure some of our other posters on here will put you and me right.

Hope that may be of use?

Hit the nail on the head there 4000. Fred Pickering was a huge loss but an even bigger loss was Mike England. Without any sense of over reaction, he was probably one of the best centre halves in the World. 
Fred left for Everton in 1964 and Mike went to Spurs in 1966, the year that we were relegated. Even though Bryan Douglas played another three years, he was a marked man by the mid to late 60’s and was injured quite often, mainly because he was kicked from pillar to post. 
 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

16 minutes ago, Ianrally said:

Hit the nail on the head there 4000. Fred Pickering was a huge loss but an even bigger loss was Mike England. Without any sense of over reaction, he was probably one of the best centre halves in the World. 
Fred left for Everton in 1964 and Mike went to Spurs in 1966, the year that we were relegated. Even though Bryan Douglas played another three years, he was a marked man by the mid to late 60’s and was injured quite often, mainly because he was kicked from pillar to post. 
 

England was the best centre half I ever saw in the flesh bar none. I can't think of many as good that I've seen on TV - maybe DeSailly in his prime or Lucio who used to play for Brazil. He was a colossus. He had size ( 6ft 3 ins when that was unusual ), speed, two great feet, super passing ability both long and short, he could tackle and unlike most tall guys he had a terrific spring in his legs. I've seen him head corners downwards into the top corner of the goals ! He was a centre half without a weakness. Utd wanted him before Spurs signed him but Utd wanted to do a cash plus player deal and Spurs stumped up the full amount.

When the " Rothman's Football Annual " came out in 1970 they started a tradition of choosing a UK best 11. Even when he was past his best he was chosen as the centre half for a few seasons. I was privileged to see him at his best for Rovers

Edited December 13, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Ianrally]

Totally agree TS I also felt privileged to have seen him and proud that he played for the Rovers. I also never saw a better centre half in the following 45 years. 

[Riversider28]

23 minutes ago, Ianrally said:

Totally agree TS I also felt privileged to have seen him and proud that he played for the Rovers. I also never saw a better centre half in the following 45 years. 

My sentiments exactly. It was a sad time for all Rovers fans. When people say 1966 was the greatest year in English football, they were most definitely not Rovers supporters.

[4000Holes]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The game was much different then. You could get by with a much smaller squad. Having said that, as the earlier poster said,  we were a couple of players short. The attack was brilliant and could score goals for fun. Defensively we were a bit lacking. John Bray at right back was on the way down and Mick McGrath at left half was also coming to the end of a great career. Two replacements there and a better goalkeeper than Fred Else and we would have been bringing silverware back to Ewood.

Losing at Oxford led directly to the loss of Fred Pickering. That was a massive blow in itself but what was worse we blew a chunk of the fee on George Jones from Bury who was a bit of a Brererton type signing, in theory one for the future. That didn't work so well and we already had a ready made replacement for Pickering in John Byrom. We'd have been better off using the Pickering money to strengthen the defence.

Totally forgot about George Jones but just looked up his record and he scored 14 in 39 appearances for us.  That was at a time we where in free fall on our way to 2nd division.  At the moment I would take that from Brereton or Gallagher 

[bazza]

I seem to remember when we chose Mike England as one of the two best central defenders ever for a Rovers team some youngster checked the Spurs best ever team to find that England was in that too.

I must agree that he is the best I've ever seen at Rovers.

[Herbie6590]

Rovers hand Rovers a pasting...

 

[Herbie6590]

Speedie rescues a point

 

[Herbie6590]

Rovers handed the three points due to Brighton wearing those shorts...

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

18 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

Rovers hand Rovers a pasting...

 

A bit like some recent performances - out enthused.

[Stonesrick]

12 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

Rovers hand Rovers a pasting...

 

Went to this game at Bath City's ground which I'm sure had the dimensions of a Primary School pitch - it was tiny. Horrible journey down and back up the M5. Also went to Port Vale and Barnsley away around that time and lost both those. We were in freefall but Kenny managed to turn things round. Still can't believe we lost these 3 away games with the quality of players we had.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, renrag said:

Got to take issue there. Fred Else is in the top 4 or 5 Rovers keepers since the WW2 and was recognised as the best uncapped goalkeeper of his day.

I wasn't a fan matey. I found myself thinking " how did that get into the back of the net ? " too often with Fred. He was a bit like Robbo in that respect. I only ever saw him have one game that justified his reputation. Away at Burnley when we lost 1-0 to a Gordon Harris penalty. He was brilliant that night. He stopped everything they threw at us and he even got a hand to the pen but couldn't keep it out.

I'd say Roger Jones, Gennoe, Jim Arnold were all better goalkeepers.