John Coddington rip

[JohnD]

He DID know how to clear the ball!

Edited August 10, 2023 by JohnD

[arbitro]

I think the word uncompromising in a football context was created for the likes of John Coddington. He would likely struggle in today's game but in the era he played in he did what centre halves were paid to do namely whack the centre forward and boot the ball as far upfield as you can.

RIP John.

[Tugayisgod]

RIP John, one of the old school

My memory sometimes plays tricks but wasn't it John that missed a penalty that has gone down in folklore ?  Took about a 30 yard run at the ball and blasted it wide ? 😄😄

 

[oldjamfan1]

7 minutes ago, Tugayisgod said:

RIP John, one of the old school

My memory sometimes plays tricks but wasn't it John that missed a penalty that has gone down in folklore ?  Took about a 30 yard run at the ball and blasted it wide ? 😄😄

 

There are Huddersfield fans who tell a similar story - my dad reckoned he had to retake the Rovers one and scored at the second attempt. That said, my old fella wasn’t always known for his accuracy!

RIP Big John

[Parsonblue]

I remember when he signed in the summer of 1967 along with 'keeper Adam Blacklaw from Burnley.  They were regarded as 'big' signings at that time.  John was coming towards the end of his career and was brought to add some height to the defence.  He'd enjoyed a long career with Huddersfield Town and was a proper old-fashioned centre-half.  Good in the air, a tough tackler, and a man who cleared the ball without messing about. 

The missed penalty was on a mudheap of a pitch at Ewood.  The first time he took it off a long run the ball barely made it to the goalkeeper, such was the state of the pitch.

The ref ordered a retake for some infringement and 'Big John' took an even longer run up to the ball but ended with the same result.

John gave good service to the Rovers during his time with the club before embarking on a coaching career.

RIP John.

 

 

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

I remember when he signed in the summer of 1967 along with 'keeper Adam Blacklaw from Burnley.  They were regarded as 'big' signings at that time.  John was coming towards the end of his career and was brought to add some height to the defence.  He'd enjoyed a long career with Huddersfield Town and was a proper old-fashioned centre-half.  Good in the air, a tough tackler, and a man who cleared the ball without messing about. 

The missed penalty was on a mudheap of a pitch at Ewood.  The first time he took it off a long run the ball barely made it to the goalkeeper, such was the state of the pitch.

The ref ordered a retake for some infringement and 'Big John' took an even longer run up to the ball but ended with the same result.

John gave good service to the Rovers during his time with the club before embarking on a coaching career.

RIP John.

 

 

 

I beg to differ Parson, the pitch wasn’t that bad.

We got a penalty at the Darwen End if my memory serves me well. Coddington, who to my knowledge had never taken a penalty for us before put the ball on the spot and set off walking back to begin his run up to the ball. He must have gone about 20 yards at least. I’ve never seen any other player go back half as far ! He ran up like Jimmy Anderson and then gently side footed the ball straight into the keepers arms. The keeper never moved. 
 

Unbelievably the ref said “ take it again “. Why, I don’t know.  So back goes Coddington to his original mark. Runs in like Jimmy Anderson again, and gently side foots the ball straight at the keeper again ! If I hadn’t have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it.

Later on in the second half the ref gave us another pen. This one was dispatched easily by either Mike Ferguson or Eamon Rogers, I can’t remember which one. We eventually won 2-1.

John was an old fashioned centre half brought in to bring some height to the back four after we’d been playing Ronnie Clayton and George Sharples in there, neither of those were really centre halves. He was a no nonsense guy whose strengths were in defending. How he’d have gone on “ playing it out from the back “ I shudder to think.

Thanks for the memories John, especially that never to be forgotten penalty.

[jim mk2]

I remember Coddington as a classic lower league English centre-half - uncompromising, tough as nails, hard in the tackle and would put his head in areas where many players would think twice about putting a foot. There's no way you'd call him skilful and he'd look at Rovers' present centre-halves playing the ball around at the back and wonder what the hell was going on but he was of his era and he was a good player for Rovers and I enjoyed watching him.

RIP. 

[simongarnerisgod]

sadly before my time,we`ve  had a lot of uncompromising centre halfs at rovers,keeley and faz did`nt mess about on to david mail,who could`nt pass water but could boot the ball and centre forward a long way then onto to hendry,moran who were unpassable most of the time,last of the breed was craig short,the last of the  proper centre halfs imo

i hate this playing out from the back,centre halfs are there for tackling and heading,unless your a thoroughbred like hansen or baresi it just leads to disaster a lot of the time

[Spartakfenni]

I remember going to Ewood in the 60’s with my dad and mum. The old man being brought up on teams from the 50’s thought he was not Rovers quality. He could block balls through and kick the opposing forwards. But he was never going to get the Rovers back into the top division. 
Sorry John to hear your passing but not a Rovers great.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Then we got Alan Hunter. Now he was a real player.

[Ianrally]

On 10/08/2023 at 18:43, simongarnerisgod said:

i hate this playing out from the back,centre halfs are there for tackling and heading,unless your a thoroughbred like hansen or baresi it just leads to disaster a lot of the time

Mike England…..now he was a thoroughbred!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 hours ago, Ianrally said:

Mike England…..now he was a thoroughbred!

He’d be even better today than he was then. This modern game is made for him.

[unsall]

On 10/08/2023 at 16:18, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I beg to differ Parson, the pitch wasn’t that bad.

We got a penalty at the Darwen End if my memory serves me well. Coddington, who to my knowledge had never taken a penalty for us before put the ball on the spot and set off walking back to begin his run up to the ball. He must have gone about 20 yards at least. I’ve never seen any other player go back half as far ! He ran up like Jimmy Anderson and then gently side footed the ball straight into the keepers arms. The keeper never moved. 
 

Unbelievably the ref said “ take it again “. Why, I don’t know.  So back goes Coddington to his original mark. Runs in like Jimmy Anderson again, and gently side foots the ball straight at the keeper again ! If I hadn’t have seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it.

Later on in the second half the ref gave us another pen. This one was dispatched easily by either Mike Ferguson or Eamon Rogers, I can’t remember which one. We eventually won 2-1.

John was an old fashioned centre half brought in to bring some height to the back four after we’d been playing Ronnie Clayton and George Sharples in there, neither of those were really centre halves. He was a no nonsense guy whose strengths were in defending. How he’d have gone on “ playing it out from the back “ I shudder to think.

Thanks for the memories John, especially that never to be forgotten penalty.

Scored quite a few penalties for Huddersfield did Coddington, with his long run up, it was Rogers who  scored another pen in same match against Palace but think the pitch was a bit of a quagmire.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

52 minutes ago, unsall said:

Scored quite a few penalties for Huddersfield did Coddington, with his long run up, it was Rogers who  scored another pen in same match against Palace but think the pitch was a bit of a quagmire.

Mm, maybe my expectations of playing surfaces wasn’t that high back in those days.  There was a reason we laced our boots so securely to our feet back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. When did you last see a player tie his laces a couple of times around the boot ?

Edited August 13, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Parsonblue]

16 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Mm, maybe my expectations of playing surfaces wasn’t that high back in those days.  There was a reason we laced our boots so securely to our feet back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. When did you last see a player tie his laces a couple of times around the boot ?

When did you last see a player wearing what we would regard as a boot rather than a pair of slippers!

[wilsdenrover]

22 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

When did you last see a player wearing what we would regard as a boot rather than a pair of slippers!

George Best’s first boots:

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Stan Milburn who was Jackie Milburn’s brother and the Charlton brothers uncle was the player/coach for the works team I played for. He still wore boots a bit like those. When we used to pull his leg about the boots he always said  - “ I’ve never had an ankle injury in my career “.