A plea to Venkys & Raos on behalf of Old Blackburnians & Associated Partners, QEGS (1977-80), 'The Invincibles'!

[sympatheticclaret]

6 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

"Prod" said "I was knocking on the door of the school choir" in a singing test. Fortunately I was never called up. Imagine having to sing instead of play footy at lunch times? 

About 5 years after I left ( 1987 ? ), a mate from Blackburn Rugby Club bought his first place, a rather nice flat on Buncer Lane, and threw a " housewarming " in early Summer. When we turned up, he said " I've invited the older couple from upstairs, they can't complain then if it gets a bit louder later on " ... We went out into the garden , and who should be there but " Jack " Longstaff & his wife !  Instinctively, the three of us began rubbing our shoes on the back of our trousers !!

He was charm personified, especially to our respective lady-friends. Paul Heathcote's girlfriend, an especially pretty blonde, approached us from the kitchen with a drink for him, " Is this your Popsy ? " he enquired, and introduced himself with his olde-world manners, " Enchanted, young lady " etc. After a few minutes, he looked at her, and then at Paul, " Just a word to the wise, my dear .... you can do far better than this rascal !! " ...... 😁 

[sympatheticclaret]

4 hours ago, darrenrover said:

3 of ‘your lot’ at the time were Ewan Pigeon, Mark Wilson and Robbie Walsh..,thing is they were all shit at playing football! Plus ça change! 🤣

Do you mean Mark Williams ? If so, you don't want to meet him in his professional capacity, as well as being a Solicitor, he's now the Assistant Coroner for East Lancashire ! Do you remember Mark " Ossie " Young, lived in Wilpshire ? Original bassist in the " Stiffs ", he's now a Corporate Accountant, and has lived in Florence for nearly 30 years .. another " Claret "

Keep well, and let's hope the " Derby " can be resumed soon, ideally in the top flight !! 

[darrenrover]

10 minutes ago, sympatheticclaret said:

Do you mean Mark Williams ? If so, you don't want to meet him in his professional capacity, as well as being a Solicitor, he's now the Assistant Coroner for East Lancashire ! Do you remember Mark " Ossie " Young, lived in Wilpshire ? Original bassist in the " Stiffs ", he's now a Corporate Accountant, and has lived in Florence for nearly 30 years .. another " Claret "

Keep well, and let's hope the " Derby " can be resumed soon, ideally in the top flight !! 

No way is Ossie a fecking Claret! Yeh, I know him but haven’t spoken to him in over 20 years. I supported ‘Ginge’ following his horrific tumble whilst doing his Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s and shattered his jaw.

You’re right re Mark Williams btw (not Mike)

I’m still in contact with Phil Hendricks too, ex Stiff, now a Bay City Roller! 🤣

 

Edit: I’ve just sought a second opinion re Ossie: he was a claret, that makes four of yah!

Edited March 31, 2021 by darrenrover

[sympatheticclaret]

14 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

No way is Ossie a fecking Claret! Yeh, I know him but haven’t spoken to him in over 20 years. I supported ‘Ginge’ following his horrific tumble whilst doing his Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s and shattered his jaw.

You’re right re Mark Williams btw (not Mike)

I’m still in contact with Phil Hendricks too, ex Stiff, now a Bay City Roller! 🤣

 

 

Ha,Ha ! Not only is he a Claret, he actually bought a " Communal Hymn Sheet " on Ebay, from the Tottenham v Burnley 1962 Cup Final ... I'd say that's bordering on obsessive !! 😁

I never knew how he ended up without his front " set ", you've educated me there !! 

Ossie .... [email protected] 

Edited March 31, 2021 by sympatheticclaret

[darrenrover]

1 hour ago, sympatheticclaret said:

Ha,Ha ! Not only is he a Claret, he actually bought a " Communal Hymn Sheet " on Ebay, from the Tottenham v Burnley 1962 Cup Final ... I'd say that's bordering on obsessive !! 😁

I never knew how he ended up without his front " set ", you've educated me there !! 

Ossie .... [email protected] 

He tripped over his sixth toe whilst careering down a scree in The Lakes! 😉🤣

[sympatheticclaret]

25 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

He tripped over his sixth toe whilst careering down a scree in The Lakes! 😉🤣

 Ossie rarely gets back to the UK, his parents passed a good few years ago, and he was their only child. When he attended the BRUFC reunion, he actually drove to Blackburn via North London, from Florence as he combined the trip with sorting out his late Uncle's affairs ...

He was great mates with Allan Nicol, a St Augustine's lad, who's now retired from Lancs Constabulary after 30 years. As Ossie strolled in to our reunion, Allan just walked over, burst into tears, and hugged him .... Allan's probably just shy of 19 stone, it was quite touching .... God knows what Ossie's lovely Italian wife, Elena thought of it !! 😁

[Leonard Venkhater]

12 minutes ago, sympatheticclaret said:

 Ossie rarely gets back to the UK, his parents passed a good few years ago, and he was their only child. When he attended the BRUFC reunion, he actually drove to Blackburn via North London, from Florence as he combined the trip with sorting out his late Uncle's affairs ...

He was great mates with Allan Nicol, a St Augustine's lad, who's now retired from Lancs Constabulary after 30 years. As Ossie strolled in to our reunion, Allan just walked over, burst into tears, and hugged him .... Allan's probably just shy of 19 stone, it was quite touching .... God knows what Ossie's lovely Italian wife, Elena thought of it !! 😁

Any posters, who are Old Etonians like myself?

[oldjamfan1]

30 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Any posters, who are Old Etonians like myself?

Nah, they've all supped up their beer, collected their fags and fucked off 😉

[darrenrover]

4 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Nah, they've all supped up their beer, collected their fags and fucked off 😉

We played against them in the preliminaries in 1978 'Sixes' Tournament which we won incidentally.

Our lads unashamedly took the piss out of Roderick, Rupert and the like in the changing room before hand (all being true Lancashire lads). We then ran in to double figures before we declared in the game and played keep ball.

[oldjamfan1]

4 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

We played against them in the preliminaries in 1978 'Sixes' Tournament which we won incidentally.

Our lads unashamedly took the piss out of Roderick, Rupert and the like in the changing room before hand (all being true Lancashire lads). We then ran in to double figures before we declared in the game and played keep ball.

Excellent. Nice to hear of a recreation of the Rovers and Darwen exploits of 100 years earlier (of sorts anyway). 

[darrenrover]

10 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Excellent. Nice to hear of a recreation of the Rovers and Darwen exploits of 100 years earlier (of sorts anyway). 

As per Andy: "It's The Darwen Boys Making All The Noise, Everywhere WE Go!"....I'll get mi tin hat and coat!

[Leonard Venkhater]

1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Nah, they've all supped up their beer, collected their fags and fucked off 😉

"Collected"?...Now aint that a euphemism...

[Paul Mellelieu]

On 30/03/2021 at 09:19, darrenrover said:

Funny that, WE were unbeaten for 2 seasons (1978-80). Played Vale (9-0) and SMC, who were Lancashire Champions (5-0) from Blackburn....WE were different class pal and as I said, invincible!

!978-79  P21  W20  D1  L0  F113  A14

!979-80  P22  W18  D4  L0  F80  A17

What didn't you play Blackburn comps?  

[darrenrover]

15 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

What didn't you play Blackburn comps?  

It's forty odd years ago pal: apparently there was an issue with a master at QEGS at the time and prior (Fred Raby I believe) and we were either barred or the decision makers decided we couldn't compete in Blackburn, Lancashire or national competitions.

Shame really because WE didn't get the national acclaim that the team really deserved. Not to worry though eh, WE were the best in the country at the time: Undisputed (I've got a clip from The Daily Telegraph which says so if you'd like a copy?)

Just to add substance, here's a team sheet from a representative game I played in, in 1979:

Recognise any names? The opposition manager was Terry Venables, Ron Greenwood was on the touchline.

We battered them, couldn't score more and in the last minute Paul Walsh scabbed an equaliser to make it 2-2.....

Edited March 31, 2021 by darrenrover

[oldjamfan1]

1 hour ago, darrenrover said:

It's forty odd years ago pal: apparently there was an issue with a master at QEGS at the time and prior (Fred Raby I believe) and we were either barred or the decision makers decided we couldn't compete in Blackburn, Lancashire or national competitions.

Shame really because WE didn't get the national acclaim that the team really deserved. Not to worry though eh, WE were the best in the country at the time: Undisputed (I've got a clip from The Daily Telegraph which says so if you'd like a copy?)

Just to add substance, here's a team sheet from a representative game I played in, in 1979:

Recognise any names? The opposition manager was Terry Venables, Ron Greenwood was on the touchline.

We battered them, couldn't score more and in the last minute Paul Walsh scabbed an equaliser to make it 2-2.....

Couple of cracking linesmen there, the fooking headmaster and Mister Memory Lane ha ha.

As I've posted before, it is really good to reflect on some of the players you've played against as a young 'un. My brother's claim to fame is that he was sent off at Old Trafford for punching the shit out of Norman Whiteside in an FA Youth Cup tie. They were still fighting as they went down the tunnel (yes, Norman also got dismissed). Many years later I met Norman at a function and mentioned this to him. He said "Bloody hell mate I remember that, mainly because your kid was bigger than me and at 16 years of age that was rare!"

Going back to your game, at least three from your opposition ended up having very good pro careers.

 

[darrenrover]

16 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Couple of cracking linesmen there, the fooking headmaster and Mister Memory Lane ha ha.

As I've posted before, it is really good to reflect on some of the players you've played against as a young 'un. My brother's claim to fame is that he was sent off at Old Trafford for punching the shit out of Norman Whiteside in an FA Youth Cup tie. They were still fighting as they went down the tunnel (yes, Norman also got dismissed). Many years later I met Norman at a function and mentioned this to him. He said "Bloody hell mate I remember that, mainly because your kid was bigger than me and at 16 years of age that was rare!"

Going back to your game, at least three from your opposition ended up having very good pro careers.

 

Yeh, I know. Centre half Stuart Robson for us was the best player I ever played alongside. He was only 15 then at U18s, played for Arsenal at a young age, destined to be a future England captain and sadly his career was curtailed at a relatively early age through Knee injuries.

[oldjamfan1]

6 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

Yeh, I know. Centre half Stuart Robson for us was the best player I ever played alongside. He was only 15 then at U18s, played for Arsenal at a young age, destined to be a future England captain and sadly his career was curtailed at a relatively early age through Knee injuries.

Yeah I remember him, he was a good 'un. The only future pros I played alongside as a youth were Patty and Mark Brennan, who both had good careers. However as an adult I was lucky enough to play with and against quite a few of them. I partnered a colourful character called Barry Lavety (Google him!) up front in my works team in a Scottish tournament a few years back. And to my joy, he couldn't believe that I wasn't an ex pro. Its a thin line sometimes isn't it?

[darrenrover]

1 minute ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Yeah I remember him, he was a good 'un. The only future pros I played alongside as a youth were Patty and Mark Brennan, who both had good careers. However as an adult I was lucky enough to play with and against quite a few of them. I partnered a colourful character called Barry Lavety (Google him!) up front in my works team in a Scottish tournament a few years back. And to my joy, he couldn't believe that I wasn't an ex pro. Its a thin line sometimes isn't it?

Jim Smith fucked things up for 3 of us QEGS lads!....it'd be totally different these days! (quit school and don't do A-Levels!....aye ok Jim!)

[oldjamfan1]

9 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

Jim Smith fucked things up for 3 of us QEGS lads!....it'd be totally different these days! (quit school and don't do A-Levels!....aye ok Jim!)

My brother played several games for Rovers reserves at the age of 15 (under Howard Kendall) and when the time came to take the apprentices on, Rovers could only afford one. So they signed Franz Carr and suggested to our kid that he could play "on a non-contract basis" (whatever that meant to a 16 year old!). He fooked them off and joined the police instead.

Edited March 31, 2021 by oldjamfan1

[Paul Mellelieu]

Blackburn's finest 78 /79 / 80 or thereabouts...

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by Paul Mellelieu

[oldjamfan1]

2 hours ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Blackburn's finest 78 /79 / 80 or thereabouts...

 

To be fair Blackburn and Darwen’s best schools team in my memory was just after this, when Mark Brennan played. They got to the quarter finals of the English Schools Cup, as well as winning all the local and regional comps. 

[Paul Mellelieu]

41 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

To be fair Blackburn and Darwen’s best schools team in my memory was just after this, when Mark Brennan played. They got to the quarter finals of the English Schools Cup, as well as winning all the local and regional comps. 

Maybe, none of this team went on to make it as professionals.  I managed to win the BRFCS poster of the week.

[LDRover]

On 23/02/2021 at 14:19, oldjamfan1 said:

Tommy Duckworth?

Just passed away recently in his 90s. 

Tommy said my younger brother was the best individual schoolboy footballer he had ever seen, and he must have seen some good 'uns!

Just catching up with this thread and think I've worked out who your younger brother is.

Yes, he was bloody good.

[Riversider28]

4 hours ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Blackburn's finest 78 /79 / 80 or thereabouts...

 

Does anyone know the names of the players? The lad, second from the left, sitting looks just like Alan”Bert”Shaw who I was at school with. If it is, the year is way out as he would have been around 26 or 27 in 1979.

[Paul Mellelieu]

35 minutes ago, Riversider28 said:

Does anyone know the names of the players? The lad, second from the left, sitting looks just like Alan”Bert”Shaw who I was at school with. If it is, the year is way out as he would have been around 26 or 27 in 1979.

No, def not.