BRFC - The Nostalgia Thread

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Charter was an Ashton lad who signed as a youth player in January 1968 when he turned 18. He made his debut for us against Oxford at home on Sat March 14th 1970. He kept his place at right back from then until the end of the season. Next season he had several games as a sub and a couple in the No 11 shirt.

He left Rovers in August 1971 to join Stockport County, he played 90 games for them.

[oldjamfan1]

14 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Nah then. Rovers line up for the 1969-70 season

Note no logos, advertising, names or numbers on the front of the kit anywhere.

And this is without doubt the best Rovers kit of all time - absolutely no arguments. Beautiful. 

But can you name the players?

 

As I posted on the Blackburn Memories Facebook page when I saw this great photo, I started watching Rovers 2 or so years after this and there were only two of these still in the team by then (The Don and Mecky). There must have been a hell of a clear out over the following 2-3 seasons?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

As I posted on the Blackburn Memories Facebook page when I saw this great photo, I started watching Rovers 2 or so years after this and there were only two of these still in the team by then (The Don and Mecky). There must have been a hell of a clear out over the following 2-3 seasons?

There was some really good players in that squad. Sir Keith was sold to Everton for big bucks and World Cup fame. Alan Hunter went on to great things at Ipswich under Bobby Robson. Ken Knighton, Eamon Rogers and Billy Wilson were top class. 
Laurie Calloway, who went on to big things in the USA, hardly got a game at left back then but was twice as good as Douglas or Bell.

Leaving Sir Keith out of the equation, if you could choose which one of those players who would you like to see in the current team ? Alan Hunter for me, just in front of Ken Knighton.

[Exiled in Toronto]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

There was some really good players in that squad. Sir Keith was sold to Everton for big bucks and World Cup fame. Alan Hunter went on to great things at Ipswich under Bobby Robson. Ken Knighton, Eamon Rogers and Billy Wilson were top class. 
Laurie Calloway, who went on to big things in the USA, hardly got a game at left back then but was twice as good as Douglas or Bell.

Leaving Sir Keith out of the equation, if you could choose which one of those players who would you like to see in the current team ? Alan Hunter for me, just in front of Ken Knighton.

Hunter, Knighton and Rogers would transform the current team.

[oldjamfan1]

Long story but I got to know Terry Butcher to talk to when he was Motherwell manager as I used to work in the town at that time. He was a smashing bloke and always happy to have a blether. Anyway he told a story about Allan Hunter. Terry said that in his younger days, whenever he played he used to make the sign of the cross for luck before the game kicked off. He had done it all his career and it had become a superstition.  Hunter was injured or suspended for this particular game and was watching from the stand and saw Butcher bless himself. Afterwards he grabbed Terry by the throat and asked him if he was a Catholic. He told him he wasn't, and that he was an English Protestant. When Butcher explained that it was for luck Hunter told him to remember he was a Protestant and he warned him never to do it again or else he would really sort him out.

He said it was just as well he learned that lesson before he signed for Rangers!!

Edited April 26, 2021 by oldjamfan1

[Ianrally]

I met TB on a flight from Cyprus at the time he was at Ibrox. He was a really friendly character and we chatted for a while. I had to tell him how I always admired him as an England player giving his all for the cause on many occasions, but my admiration was severely tested by him signing for the blue noses. He couldn’t understand how a Rovers fan could have a problem with it until I told him that I was born in Glasgow only a stones throw from Ibrox but I was a Celtic follower even though we had moved to Lancashire when I was only 12 months old. 

On the subject of which of the players I would have in the team now; Alan Hunter for me with Eamon Rogers as reserve. 

[Ozz]

18 hours ago, Colt Seavers said:

My brother and I were at this game. We were aged 12 and 13. It was crowded in that side terrace and we couldn't see, so we went down to the front and clambered up to cling to the perimeter fence, as lots of young lads did in those days. 

At half time, the lagered up Rovers lads found they couldn't get to the gents due to the congestion, so they came down to the front and relieved themselves directly below us.

We spent the second half marooned on the fence, with the stench from the river of urine making us gag. Eventually we no choice but to make a leap of faith. My brother, being older, easily cleared the huge puddle but I landed in it and had to wade, ankle deep to safety.

Happy days!

 

 

Picture of that terrace

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Mentioning John Coddington - anybody else see his penalty against Palace ? I still burst out laughing when ever I think of it ! Good job we won though.

[Stonesrick]

4 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Mentioning John Coddington - anybody else see his penalty against Palace ? I still burst out laughing when ever I think of it ! Good job we won though.

Didn’t he have to re-take it and had the same marathon run up and still missed it Tyrone?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

18 hours ago, Stonesrick said:

Didn’t he have to re-take it and had the same marathon run up and still missed it Tyrone?

He had the longest run up to the ball I’ve ever seen by far, Jimmy Anderson fast bowler style. 15 yards to 20 yards, if not more ! He was a really big guy and I though this is going out through the back of the net. He slowed down as he got to the ball and gently side footed the ball straight into the arms of the Palace ‘keeper ! It was like a back pass.

Unbelievably the ref then said “ Take it again “. Why I don’t know. 

Even more unbelievably Coddington did exactly the same thing again with exactly the same end result. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Later on in the same game the ref gave us another pen, he must have had us down for a home win, and Eamon Rogers slotted it away in style.

 

[Claytons Left Boot]

Just seen this on a Facebook site. Dave Whelan and Ally MacLeod, August 1959. Great photo.

[bazza]

43 minutes ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Just seen this on a Facebook site. Dave Whelan and Ally MacLeod, August 1959. Great photo.

Yes and look at the Blackburn End behind them.

[oldjamfan1]

57 minutes ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Just seen this on a Facebook site. Dave Whelan and Ally MacLeod, August 1959. Great photo.

Brilliant pic Mark. Who was at Ally McLeod’s testimonial game at Somerset Park, Ayr in the early 90s? A rare Nicky Marker goal saw off Alan McInally and his mates. Sadly Ally already had dementia at that point. Had a long old chat with Kenny that night as he played in the same team as my brother-in-law as a youth and that’s who I went to the game with and Kenny remembered him. 

Edited April 27, 2021 by oldjamfan1

[arbitro]

28 minutes ago, bazza said:

Yes and look at the Blackburn End behind them.

Populated by what looks like three men and a dog 😁😁.

Perhaps an ominous sign for next season.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Just seen this on a Facebook site. Dave Whelan and Ally MacLeod, August 1959. Great photo.

That was the first shirt I ever had. Still my favourite.

[Claytons Left Boot]

13 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That was the first shirt I ever had. Still my favourite.

Yeah, my favourite is the 1960 cup final shirt, essentially the same but with the badge. I think I’ve had three and they all needed binning because the colours ran after a few washes. One from the club shop and two from Toffs.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 minutes ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Yeah, my favourite is the 1960 cup final shirt, essentially the same but with the badge. I think I’ve had three and they all needed binning because the colours ran after a few washes. One from the club shop and two from Toffs.

I’ve got 3 of those as well. They’re really for show/framing.

I was wearing one to wash the car one Sunday, the one with No 10 in red on the back. Ian Callaghan, the old Liverpool and England player, was seeing a glamorous widow a door or two up from me at the time.

He saw me and said “ A Bryan Douglas fan I see “. He told me what a great player he though Bryan was.

Like a lot of the older players he was a really nice guy with no edge at all. I think the widow wore him out.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was just looking through some old “Last Sports “cuttings.

Anybody remember the little cartoon character Sam in the “ Sam Says “ strip that was always in the “ Last Sports “ ?
 

He was a typical old Lancastrian chap with a soup strainer moustache and a flat cap with a big Rovers rosette on his chest.

He always had a pithy remark in broad Blackburnian for right after the game.

One or two -

After we’d beat Sheffield Wednesday easily 3-0 -“ Yon owls played like they’d bin up all neet”.

After a great 5-5 draw with Arsenal -  “ Ah’ve had to check in’t Sports to believe Ah’ve sin such a crackin’ game.

After thrashing Leeds 4-0 in the League Cup - “ I towd tha last weeks win weren’t a fluke “

After a dull 1-1 home draw with bottom club Leyton Orient - “ Trust t’rovers to mek a hash of easy meat “.

[bigbrandjohn]

Remember that Centre back who was apparently a bit of a boozer and sometimes donkey?  
 

 

Centre-back: Grant Hanley (Norwich) - 7.19 rating

A key reason for Norwich's title success was their quality in possession having ranked first for both possession (58.3 per cent) and pass success rate (82.8 per cent) with head coach Daniel Farke demanding his defenders play out from the back. Hanley was a key performer in that regard having made more accurate passes (2570) than any other player and yielding the best pass success rate (89.1 per cent) in the division. That said, Hanley was on hand to alleviate pressure on the Norwich goal by any means necessary where required, ranking third for clearances (211).

[jim mk2]

Here's a tough one - the Rovers Central League (reserve) team in July 1965.

Name the players and the chap in the suit

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by jim mk2

[Exiled in Toronto]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Here's a tough one - the Rovers Central League (reserve) team in July 1965.

Name the players and the chap in the suit

 

Bloody Hell, Jim!

Mulvaney, Darling, Metcalfe side by side on the back row starting second left, Wilson and Rogers RHS front row. Arthur Fryer in the suit? And the keeper looks in his mid-50s!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Back row - Reg Blore, Dick Mulvaney, George Jones, Ben Anderson, David Holt, Roland Horrey.

Front row - Mick McGrath, Martin Hall, Mr A. Duckett,  Bob Jones, Billy Wilson, Eamon Rogers.

I knew who the players were but I had to look up who the director in the suit was.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[bazza]

I've never heard of David Holt and Martin Hall.

We had a centre half in the early 1950s called Bill Holt. I wonder if David is a relation.

Edited May 14, 2021 by bazza

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 hours ago, bazza said:

I've never heard of David Holt and Martin Hall.

We had a centre half in the early 1950s called Bill Holt. I wonder if David is a relation.

David Holt was a centre half who came up through the ranks. He played 5 first team games towards the end of the 1965-66 relegation season and 5 more at the beginning of the following season. I think he came from the North East and I think he packed the game in as a young player to get a proper job.

Martin Hall was a reserve right back who never made it into the first team.

Could line up like this -

Jones.

Hall, Mulvaney, Holt, Wilson.

Horrey, McGrath, Rogers.

Blore, Anderson, Jones

Edited May 14, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[bazza]

I know a chap who claims to have played for Rovers reserves in the 50s and/or 60s. He never made it to the first team. Hence his name is not in the history books. I wonder if you, Mr Shoelaces, or anyone else has heard of him.

His name is Kevin Livesey. He left football, took up tennis, became a tennis coach and has lived in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for many years.