BRFC - The Nostalgia Thread

[den]

Mike England scoring in a game many of us older fans talk about on here. Scoring against Spurs in that 7-2 win.

Looks like Dave Mackay in that photo to me. 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by den

[jim mk2]

Just now, den said:

Mike England scoring in a game many of us older fans talk about on here. Scoring against Spurs in that 7-2 win.

 

 I was there Den and I will never forget it.  We took the Spurs double side apart

[den]

Fred Pickering scoring same match.

Danny Blanchflower anyone?
https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/fred-pickering-of-blackburn-rovers-scores-past-tottenham-news-photo/1218645874

Edited December 20, 2020 by den

[den]

Duggie also.

Mike Harrison in background.

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/bryan-douglas-of-blackburn-rovers-scores-past-tottenham-news-photo/1218645887

Edited December 20, 2020 by den

[arbitro]

7 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Surprised you didn't spot John Byrom.  Smashing player. 

My first memory of him was playing for Bolton. I only saw him in a Rovers shirt when he came back in the late 70's.

[darrenrover]

13 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Clubs of our size (and considerably smaller) take 30/40k to Wembley because it’s a day out, so the kids, the missus, the grandma, the next door neighbour’s kids all come down as well.

Correct. That '92 Play Off Final evokes great memories, for reasons other than just the fact that we won. It was the one and only time that 4 generations of our family attended a game together: all avid Rovers fans and followers I hasten to add, my Grandad, Dad, myself and our eldest son. A Rovers following family stretching back to 1919 when my Grandad first went as a 9 year old just after WW1, we lost 3-1 at home to that shower down the M65! My Grandad sadly passed away later in 1992 following a stroke.

He used to recount many tales of following Rovers, from The Cup Final in 1928 (I still have his programme and match ticket), semi finals in the fifties, totally aggrieved that he didn't get a ticket in 1960 etc. His favourite Rovers player of all time was Duggie, he loved him.

With my son and his partner expecting the birth of our first grandchild in February and my Dad still fairly fit and healthy at 83, if Tony and the boys pull their collective fingers out, I'm hoping we may be able to repeat the 4 generations trick again in the not too distant future!

Edited December 20, 2020 by darrenrover

[47er]

8 hours ago, den said:

Fred Pickering scoring same match.

Danny Blanchflower anyone?
https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/fred-pickering-of-blackburn-rovers-scores-past-tottenham-news-photo/1218645874

I was there too. At the end of the game Danny Blanchflower lined his players up in a guard of honour and clapped us off.

It didn't happen at Crystal Palace yesterday!

[AllRoverAsia]

8 hours ago, den said:

Fred Pickering scoring same match.

Danny Blanchflower anyone?
https://www.gettyimages.dk/detail/news-photo/fred-pickering-of-blackburn-rovers-scores-past-tottenham-news-photo/1218645874

I was there!

17 match photos, maybe including all the goals, are in the W & H Talbot archive

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

My first memory of him was playing for Bolton. I only saw him in a Rovers shirt when he came back in the late 70's.

My best memory of John Byrom although I might be wrong as memories are hazy after all this time was the FA Cup match against Arsenal in the 1965.66 season, the year we were relegated but had a good cup run. We beat Arsenal 4-0 with Byrom scoring at least 2 hobbling around on one leg after getting injured! 

[Gav]

10 hours ago, den said:

Mike England scoring in a game many of us older fans talk about on here. Scoring against Spurs in that 7-2 win.

Looks like Dave Mackay in that photo to me. 

 

I love this photo, before my time, but I was always struck by the crowds back in those days, packed in, a great shot of The Riverside and Darwen End, fabulous den.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Gav

[AllRoverAsia]

6 minutes ago, Gav said:

I love this photo, before my time, but I was always struck by the crowds back in those days, packed in, a great shot of The Roverside and Darwen End, fabulous den.

This was my first visit to Ewood and the biggest crowd I had ever been in, both impressive and a bit scary.

Attendance was 20,949 in a ground that could hold many more. The standing fans made it look fuller.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The W and H Talbot photo archive is superb..a treasure trove of memories.

[den]

1 hour ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I was there!

17 match photos, maybe including all the goals, are in the W & H Talbot archive

I know you was ARA, so was I.

I looked for the Spurs pics in the Talbot archive, but I couldn’t see them. I have seen them in there before though.

Edited December 20, 2020 by den

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Rovers played towards the Darwen End in the First Half against Spurs. I was right  behind the goals. At half time I " migrated " to behind the Blackburn End goals. I was right in line with that Mike England header. If the net hadn't have got in the way I might have caught it. That is without doubt the best Rovers performance in my life time and I saw the thrashing of Norwich and Notts Forest in our Prem years. It could easily have been 10-2. Spurs had no answer to us.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

10 hours ago, den said:

Mike England scoring in a game many of us older fans talk about on here. Scoring against Spurs in that 7-2 win.

Looks like Dave Mackay in that photo to me. 

 

Left to Right - Ron Henry, Mike England, Bill Brown in goal, unknown behind Brown, Bobby Smith, Fred Pickering. Danny Blanchflower, Dave Mackay, Peter Baker.

Interesting to see Spurs had both full backs on the posts for that corner  as teams did then and it still ended up a goal.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

My best memory of John Byrom although I might be wrong as memories are hazy after all this time was the FA Cup match against Arsenal in the 1965.66 season, the year we were relegated but had a good cup run. We beat Arsenal 4-0 with Byrom scoring at least 2 hobbling around on one leg after getting injured! 

Hi Jim, just for accuracy - 

Rovers beat Arsenal 3-0, McEvoy 2, Byrom 1. We'd beaten them 2-1 in the League at Ewood the Saturday before.

[den]

People must have been at West Ham like me, when Byrom scored a hat trick against them for a 3-3 draw in the FA cup, only for rovers to beat them in the replay at Ewood 4-1 with McEvoy scoring a hat trick. 
 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by den

[Gav]

This is one of my favourites from back in the day, against Liverpool at a packed Ewood, you can see Jim sat on the cinder track if you look carefully enough. 

[darrenrover]

31 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Rovers played towards the Darwen End in the First Half against Spurs. I was right  behind the goals. At half time I " migrated " to behind the Blackburn End goals. I was right in line with that Mike England header. If the net hadn't have got in the way I might have caught it. That is without doubt Rovers best performance in my life time and I saw the thrashing of Norwich and Notts Forest in our Prem years. It could easily have been 10-2. Spurs had no answer to us.

Just spoke with my Dad Tyrone. He agrees with you: Both he and my Grandad were stood on The Darwen End, in fact my dad says he had to climb into the roof rafters so he could get his hands out of his pocket to have a fag!

Ronnie and my dad were best buddies until he sadly passed away. In fact, pre-Covid, my Mother, Ronnie's wife Val and their last remaining circle of friends, went out religiously for lunch once every month and have done for donkeys years. @ClaytonsLeftBoot's mother was also in the same circle of friends too until she sadly passed several years ago. Mum says she really misses them but my eldest lad is pulling hens teeth trying to introduce them to Zoom to compensate.

I'm really loving this particular thread because it refreshes so many happy memories that many of us have been fortunate enough to enjoy following Rovers through thick and thin over so many years. Long may it continue.

[darrenrover]

I have this hanging on my office wall at home. I never fail to get a tear in my eye or a lump in my throat whenever I read it. So much truth and emotion in it's wording.

Give it a try, I defy you not to well up!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

57 minutes ago, Gav said:

This is one of my favourites from back in the day, against Liverpool at a packed Ewood, you can see Jim sat on the cinder track if you look carefully enough. 

51,000 on that day  Gav. According to the record books with one of the quirks the FA Cup throws up regularly we'd played them in the League the Saturday before and drawn 3-3, 41,789 at that game.

So in eight days we'd 90,000 plus through the gate. Players on £20 a week if they were lucky, no wonder following your football team was cheap then. 2/- ( 10p ) to get in for a grown up I would imagine. So if my maths is correct gate receipts of £9,000.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[den]

59 minutes ago, Gav said:

This is one of my favourites from back in the day, against Liverpool at a packed Ewood, you can see Jim sat on the cinder track if you look carefully enough. 

That’s a fantastic pic Gav. Anyone would be absolutely delighted to have that photo of them in the public arena.

[den]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Rovers played towards the Darwen End in the First Half against Spurs. I was right  behind the goals. At half time I " migrated " to behind the Blackburn End goals. I was right in line with that Mike England header. If the net hadn't have got in the way I might have caught it. That is without doubt the best Rovers performance in my life time and I saw the thrashing of Norwich and Notts Forest in our Prem years. It could easily have been 10-2. Spurs had no answer to us.

I still think, that team, at that time was the best rovers team I’ve ever seen. They were fantastic.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, den said:

I still think, that team, at that time was the best rovers team I’ve ever seen. They were fantastic.

On their day, and they had plenty of great days, they were the best team in the division. When they were on song they were a goalscoring machine. We were just so lucky to see them. They just lacked the financial backing to really challenge for trophies. We were just a couple of players short in defence and we'd almost no back up players of equal ability if any of the first 11 got injured. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[den]

I’ll just add, that this was at a time before Ramsey’s wingless wonders and before the game began to become very tactics based. Virtually every team played the same “WM” formation. Players were bought for their technical ability alone. Players were bought for that reason and were allowed to go on the park and do what they were good at. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by den