BRFC - The Nostalgia Thread

[Exiled in Toronto]

2 hours ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

To the tune of Son of the Father..

Oh, Tony, Tony,

Tony, Tony, Tony Tony, Tony Field

Kit Napier- Bastardising the Stretford End's song for Bryan Kidd ...K-IT-O ..KITO

Ahhh yes!!

[arbitro]

I was watching The Big Match Revisited at the weekend and one of the games was Arsenal v Stoke from 1975. A corner was about to be taken and I noticed a bloke with something to his ear. I, like many would have thought it was a mobile phone then I realised it was 1975 and the memory came flooding back of lots of fans with transistor radios to their ears listening to Radio Two for any scores coming through. The buses back to Darwen went quiet at 5 o'clock when the volume on somebody's transistor was turned up and the dulcet tones of James Alexander Gordon started to read the results. 

[Mattyblue]

8 hours ago, arbitro said:

I was watching The Big Match Revisited at the weekend and one of the games was Arsenal v Stoke from 1975. A corner was about to be taken and I noticed a bloke with something to his ear. I, like many would have thought it was a mobile phone then I realised it was 1975 and the memory came flooding back of lots of fans with transistor radios to their ears listening to Radio Two for any scores coming through. The buses back to Darwen went quiet at 5 o'clock when the volume on somebody's transistor was turned up and the dulcet tones of James Alexander Gordon started to read the results. 

‘It’s 5pm and this is Sports Report... 🎶 der der der der der... ‘

[rigger]

10 hours ago, arbitro said:

I was watching The Big Match Revisited at the weekend and one of the games was Arsenal v Stoke from 1975. A corner was about to be taken and I noticed a bloke with something to his ear. I, like many would have thought it was a mobile phone then I realised it was 1975 and the memory came flooding back of lots of fans with transistor radios to their ears listening to Radio Two for any scores coming through. The buses back to Darwen went quiet at 5 o'clock when the volume on somebody's transistor was turned up and the dulcet tones of James Alexander Gordon started to read the results. 

I have been watching the big match revisited for the past three Saturday mornings. It might be me, but I find the games more exciting, I realise it is only highlights. But if you watch the highlights of modern games there are too many free-kicks and stoppages. 

[arbitro]

6 minutes ago, rigger said:

I have been watching the big match revisited for the past three Saturday mornings. It might be me, but I find the games more exciting, I realise it is only highlights. But if you watch the highlights of modern games there are too many free-kicks and stoppages. 

I agree. There was far more honesty in the game with no diving, feigning injury or squealing like a stuck pig when fouled. In the modern game with the law changes very little physical contact is allowed and quite often there can be up to thirty free kicks in a game.

There was very little dissent to the match officials and it was rare to see any players booked let alone sent off.

[rigger]

21 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I agree. There was far more honesty in the game with no diving, feigning injury or squealing like a stuck pig when fouled. In the modern game with the law changes very little physical contact is allowed and quite often there can be up to thirty free kicks in a game.

There was very little dissent to the match officials and it was rare to see any players booked let alone sent off.

Something else of note : You never  heard a commentator say. There was the slightest contact, so he was right to go down.

[Colt Seavers]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

I have been watching the big match revisited for the past three Saturday mornings. It might be me, but I find the games more exciting, I realise it is only highlights. But if you watch the highlights of modern games there are too many free-kicks and stoppages. 

I have loved watching this for a few months now. ITV have obviously transferred their dusty old tapes to a shiny new digital format with excellent picture and sound. I am curious,as to how long this will run for.

It is the 74/75 season at the moment. Does anyone here remember if Rovers featured at all on The Big Match that year? It was a couple of years before I started watching. I know we were promoted that year. Here's hoping!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

I agree. There was far more honesty in the game with no diving, feigning injury or squealing like a stuck pig when fouled. In the modern game with the law changes very little physical contact is allowed and quite often there can be up to thirty free kicks in a game.

There was very little dissent to the match officials and it was rare to see any players booked let alone sent off.

I re-watched my CD of the 1960 Final the other day. Honestly I could have refereed that game. No diving or pretending to be hurt, no arguing with the ref over who's throw in it was etc. I was surprised how quickly the ball was back in play after throw ins, none of that inching up the line 20ft from where the ball went out of play, free kicks were taken equally quickly. None of the farce we get at corners these days were players are hanging on to each other all over the place.

They used to have a feature in the sports bit of the " Sunday Observer ". It was a " Where are they now ? " style thing. It was a photo of one of Brian Clough's Notts Forest teams. In the details about one of the players it mentioned he was the first Forest player to be sent off since the 2nd World War !

That'd be in about 30 years of play. I'd been watching Rovers for about 3 season before I saw a sending off. Last night two teams ended up with 9 on the pitch ! That would be unheard of back then.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Mattyblue]

The fact Lineker never received a booking in a 16 year pro career, obviously he wasn’t exactly from the Duncan Ferguson/Mick Hartford school of striker, but still seems such an anachronism now, and he was playing in the 80s up to the mid 90s, not the 1950s...

[Gone to seed]

On 31/01/2021 at 21:46, Claytons Left Boot said:

But we had one for Steve Kindon, John.....’Kindon’s wife is on the game again!’ Think there was another about him but can’t remember it. 😆

That one got me ejected from the Turd, the day Keith Fear scored and Rovers won a nervy end to end match many years ago...Big police inspector collared me and shouted "what did you say?" and I was stupid enough to repeat it, which gave him licence to have me thrown out..

Them were the days!

[Gone to seed]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

The fact Lineker never received a booking in a 16 year pro career, obviously he wasn’t exactly from the Duncan Ferguson/Mick Hartford school of striker, but still seems such an anachronism now, and he was playing in the 80s up to the mid 90s, not the 1950s...

Didn't Duncan McKensie come to Rovers with an equally blemish free disciplinary record, which got spoiled in one of his final appearances for us, nearly making him spontaneously combust with embarrasment? A great player, and a true gentleman footballer IMO - a lost breed, entirely!

Edited February 3, 2021 by WIR Second Coming
We are the Rovers, We are the Champions (HOOO!)

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, WIR Second Coming said:

Didn't Duncan McKensie come to Rovers with an equally blemish free disciplinary record, which got spoiled in one of his final appearances for us, nearly making him spontaneously combust with embarrasment? A great player, and a true gentleman footballer IMO - a lost breed, entirely!

Great player and a real entertainer, he'd makes most of our current team look like  pub players, but I don't think he ever won a tackle in his life.

[arbitro]

7 minutes ago, WIR Second Coming said:

Didn't Duncan McKensie come to Rovers with an equally blemish free disciplinary record, which got spoiled in one of his final appearances for us, nearly making him spontaneously combust with embarrasment? A great player, and a true gentleman footballer IMO - a lost breed, entirely!

Alan Smith of Arsenal and Leicester fame went through his career without a caution until one of his last games when he was yellow carded. At the time I thought it was a really harsh one and you could see the disappointment in Smith's body language but he accepted it without question.

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, WIR Second Coming said:

Didn't Duncan McKensie come to Rovers with an equally blemish free disciplinary record, which got spoiled in one of his final appearances for us, nearly making him spontaneously combust with embarrasment? A great player, and a true gentleman footballer IMO - a lost breed, entirely!

Duncan McKenzie! How did we manage to sign him - the lure of Howard Kendall I suppose. He was one of many maverick players around in the 1970s - players like Bowles, Worthington, Currie, Marsh etc. You don't see them now, perhaps Cantona and Le Tissier were the last of the breed. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by jim mk2

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, renrag said:

J A G! His unique style meant you knew the result as soon as he read the home team’s score

 Yep, the horror when he said Blackburn Rovers 1 ......... voice rising.and you knew we'd lost .....

 

 

[Gone to seed]

7 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Duncan McKenzie! How did we manage to sign him - the lure of Howard Kendall I suppose. He was one of many maverick players around in the 1970s - players like Bowles, Worthington, Currie, Marsh etc. You don't see them now, perhaps Cantona and Le Tissier were the last of the breed. 

I remember the excitement of getting down early to Ewood to see the players warming up, and DM doing some unbelievable tricks with the ball (well they seemed astonishing to me at the time) and coming over to the Riverside for a chat with the fans. He seemed such a genuine character, and his smiling face in a Rovers shirt was one of my best memories of supporting the club back in the day. There are few ex-players that I'd be truly still in awe of if I was to meet them, but Duncan McKenzie would definitely be someone whose hand I would love to shake and say thanks for the memories!

[Leonard Venkhater]

8 hours ago, arbitro said:

I agree. There was far more honesty in the game with no diving, feigning injury or squealing like a stuck pig when fouled. In the modern game with the law changes very little physical contact is allowed and quite often there can be up to thirty free kicks in a game.

There was very little dissent to the match officials and it was rare to see any players booked let alone sent off.

Francis Lee?

[Claytons Left Boot]

Great photo this. Must have been the FA Cup game v Villa with the crowd at a touch under 30k. McKenzie looking on.

[Claytons Left Boot]

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Duncan McKenzie! How did we manage to sign him - the lure of Howard Kendall I suppose. He was one of many maverick players around in the 1970s - players like Bowles, Worthington, Currie, Marsh etc. You don't see them now, perhaps Cantona and Le Tissier were the last of the breed. 

You could add Alan Hudson and Charlie George to that group. None of them got more than a handful of caps

[arbitro]

36 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Francis Lee?

The exception to the rule 😃. As I recall he was pilloried by the press for his antics and thankfully nobody followed suit. 

[arbitro]

10 minutes ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

I had an embarrassing encounter with Duncan at Darwen Leisure Centre Mark. Rovers used to train in the sports hall and I was coming out of the changing room as they were leaving. I was starstruck and asked McKenzie if the was any truth in the rumour they didn't want to go up as champions. It was undoubtedly the dumbest question in the world. He looked at me and said "Fucking right we do". and carried on walking. It was one of the wanting the ground to open up moments for me.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

21 minutes ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Great photo this. Must have been the FA Cup game v Villa with the crowd at a touch under 30k. McKenzie looking on.

5th Feb 1980. Nearly 40 years ago ! That makes me feel old. 1-1 draw

There was 29, 468 on.

Our team -

Jim Arnold

Jim Branagan, Glenn Keeley, Derek Fazackerley, Mick Rathbone.

Noel Brotherston, Howard Kendall, Tony Parkes

Duncan McKenzie

Andy Crawford, Simon Garner.

Alan Evans og was our scorer. Andy Crawford had scored in all 5 previous ties that season.

If we had that back five today I'd fancy us to go up. If they played the current team the current lads would need a goal start. How many of those would you drop for a current player ? Crawford for Armstrong ? Parkes for Dack ? After that it's a struggle.

We were really unlucky to lose the replay.

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I had an embarrassing encounter with Duncan at Darwen Leisure Centre Mark. Rovers used to train in the sports hall and I was coming out of the changing room as they were leaving. I was starstruck and asked McKenzie if the was any truth in the rumour they didn't want to go up as champions. It was undoubtedly the dumbest question in the world. He looked at me and said "Fucking right we do". and carried on walking. It was one of the wanting the ground to open up moments for me.

My most embarrassing Rovers moment. Waiting outside Ewood after the game with my son for autographs. We'd just signed Jeff Kenna that week and he'd had a really good game. When he came out I said " Well played today mate ". He said " Thanks for that but I wasn't playing ". It was Tony Gale !

[oldjamfan1]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

5th Feb 1980. Nearly 40 years ago ! That makes me feel old. 

Do you feel even older now that you've realised its actually nearly 41 years ago Tyrone? 😂