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December 1999

News

31st December, 1999.

Y2K - Coincidence or not, my computer crashed pretty badly today and now everything looks different on my screens ! Weird.

Anyway I'm here for two things today. Firstly to wish everyone who's computers have not crashed, a Happy New Year / Millennium.

In particular this site wishes to thank two folks who have made the hard slog of these pages worth while :-

Jim Ross (click to see) and Christian Kelly who is responsible for the excellent

E-mail

Thanks to Mike Newton, who sent the following message ...

You probably have this info but there are two locally based players from the 70's.

Ron Harris, Chelsea runs a restaurant/country club just outside Warminster in Wiltshire. His son Mark played regularly for Warminster where his crisp tackling  and high energy made him a favourite with the crowd who with great originality nicknamed him "Chopper"!  Ron was often seen at the ground when his son played, in fact the first time I stood next to him I kept thinking "is it him?". It was.

Also on the subject of Warminster Town, Paul Newman, brother of ex-Norwich & Bristol City star Rob Newman played for the team. His influence was obvious when the Town turned out for an away match wearing an old Norwich away kit (complete with Premier League badges on the sleeves).

Geoff Butler, ex Norwich City & Sunderland manages Salisbury City and has done for years. He is very much a fixture at Salisbury and runs just about everything.

Colin Sullivan (Plymouth Argyle), ex-Norwich City. Last heard of about 4 years ago running a gardening and landscaping firm in the Southampton area.

Regards Mike Newton. (See Where are they now ? for January 2000)

No, I didn't know it, so thanks very much for that. Geoff Butler and Colin Sullivan have been added to their respective pages, Rob Newman doesn't qualify as such.

29th December, 1999.

News (1) : Next Generation - Frank Lampard (Sons and Daughters)

Once again Frank scores in a West Ham 2-2 draw, this time in the Premiership versus Wimbledon away. Frank's goal allowed West Ham to take a 2-1 lead, but once again they could not hold on to the lead. See West Ham United FC -org The Official Web Site

News (2) : Commentators Update.

'The Sunday Times' on Boxing Day ran an article with Graeme Souness (Tottenham Hotspur) which will be summarised on the Where are they now ? page. In it he refers to being a Sky pundit ...

Realisation (1) EntRay

Doing some random surfing I came across some excellent Walsall sites only to discover that their manager, Ray Graydon was a Bristol Rovers player in 1970-71 season. Ray has also been added to Rothmans. See http--www.saddlers.co.uk-managers-graydon.htm

Realisation (2) In - Hibbetts

One of the more obvious omissions this, but the late Terry Hibbett (Leeds United) had a brother Ken who has now been added to the Wolves squad players section. See Sons and Daughters - brothers.

24th December, 1999.

To celebrate Alan Ball, and Bobby Robson being frequent visitors to the News pages, there are now pictures of them available. For no particular reason, other than I liked the pictures, I've now added pages for David Best of Ipswich Town and the famous Leeds United pre-runner to Gordon Strachen, Bobby Collins, who was at Morton in the 1970-71 season. Just for good measure there is also now a picture of Newcastle United as Fairs Cup winners in July 1969.

News : 1 Become 2

David Beckham could only manage second spot in the Continentally biased European Footballer of the Year award, losing out to the £39 million rated Barcelona Brazilian, Rivaldo. But he's in good company from Bob's 70-71 players. The previous English runners up are :- 1957 Billy Wright ; !967 and 1968 Bobby Charlton (Manchester United) ; !970 Bobby Moore ; and 1977 Kevin Keegan.

18th December, 1999.

Once again there is a new addition to the Picture Points this Saturday.

Realisation (1) Peter Feature

The Picture Points feature highlighted that the Gillingham Manager and ex-Under 21 England manager, Peter Taylor is in fact entitled to a place on Bob's 70-71 pages, having played his first games for Southend during that season. This required a further addition to the Rothman's pages also. Belatedly, then, I'll announce that Peter was Division Two's Manager of the Month (see FTT - News Item)!!!

Realisations (2) & (3) Portsmouth's Balls

Following Alan Ball 's sacking at Portsmouth, his acolytes have been tumbling, too. Not least his son, Jimmy who was the assistant youth team coach. Jimmy has the family name following his late-grandfather James Alan Ball (Preston North End manager) and father Alan James Ball - Alan's full name. Jimmy's now been added to the Sons and Daughters page.

Related to this is that Alan's former coach, Ted MacDougall has also been sacked this week. Presuming this to be the former Norwich, Southampton and Manchester United player, and destroyer of personal (I used to spend my childhood summers in Broadstairs !) non-League favourites, Margate, in the 1971 F.A.Cup - when he scored 9 goals, I've now added him to the Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic list of players as well as to the Rothman's list. See The Official Portsmouth FC website.

Realisation (4) Famous Fergies

When the Ferguson headlines concentrated on Darren and not Alex last week I almost passed it by. Then I came to realise that the scorer of Wrexham's sensational 2-1 F.A.Cup 3rd round winner against higher League opposition, Middlesbrough, was actually none other than the son of football's grumpiest knight. This relationship has now been added to the Sons and Daughters page. See Middlesbrough (Home)

Realisation (5) Physio - Wrexham

And whilst researching for this I came upon the realisation that Wrexham are now fielding the 16 year old Shaun Pejic, who is the son of their physio, Mel. (See 16th December, 1999 Wrexham AFC and Web Page News and Notices ) This needn't have troubled the Bob 70-71 pages, but a look in and old edition of Barry Hugman's 'Football League Player's Records' reveals that Mel is indeed the brother of Mike, who was a 70-71 player and in the World of Soccer Stars album, no less, under Stoke City. Mel appears elsewhere on these pages as having the record League appearances for Hereford United. These relationships have been added to the Sons and Daughters page.

News (1) They Think His Managerial Career's Over ...

It was great to see Ron Atkinson (Oxford United) on Nick Hancock led comedy show, 'They Think It's All Over'. For the overseas readers the comedy's title derives from Ken Wolstenholme's 1966 World Cup Final commentary. As time approached the final seconds, England were 3-2 up and Ken began,'There's some people on the pitch ... they think it's all over', at which timely point Geoff Hurst (West Ham United) completes his hatrick, and Ken says, 'it is now'. I only mention all this because Ron is unusual for being a guest who was a professional League footballer at the time of the commentary, though being an Oxford United player, he was not exactly a contender for the team.

News (2) They Think His Contract's Over ...

Lawrie McMenemy (Doncaster Rovers manager) has decided to not renew his contract for Northern Ireland. The problem is replacing him. The promise is that this will be done before the New Year. See Football365.

News (3) Next Generation Update : Frank Lampard - They Think They're Semi Finalists ...

In one of football's more bizarre current stories, Frank Lampard (see Sons and Daughters) was the unexpected opening scorer in a comeback 2-2 draw for West Ham versus Aston Villa earlier this week, which ultimately helped his team reach the League Cup semi finals. (See WEST HAM) In an even more unexpected twist to the tale, it seems West Ham played Emmanuel Omoyinmi as a substitute forgetting he was cup-tied - having played for Gillingham during a loan spell earlier in the season. Unwitting, or not, this is cheating and the punishment awaits. At the very least this pages' two Franks and Harry will have to play the game again.

11th December, 1999.

Alan Ball's career breakdown has been added to Where are they now ? There is an addition to the Picture Points feature from today's 'The Times'. If you haven't seen it yet go to the Southampton page and visit Christian Kelly's excellent On the Cross site, thanks Christian for sending all the link updates which have now been added to the page. You MUST go to Mick Channon's page and hear the tribute if you have real audio.

News (1) Product Sirtification.

(a) Sir Alex Ferguson (Falkirk) is doing more than managing Manchester United these days. In an unfamiliar smiling mode he is seen carrying an implausible number of footballs behind the slogan, ' All Managers Have Them.' in the latest magazine advert for American Express.

(b) Sir Geoff Hurst (West Ham United) can also be heard in an advert for the charity organisation, the Lord Taverners which is presently being run on Talk Radio.

News (2) Commentators Update

As I write, I see that Rodney Marsh (Q.P.R.) is one of the experts receiving the scores into the Sky One newsdesk. According to Picture Points Pat Crerand (Manchester United) is a regular on Century Radio. See Where are they now - commentators.

News (3) Next Generation Update

Tony's son Mark was the subject of a recent 'lookalike' at Football365

Realisation : Alun Evans x 2

Whilst researching for the updated Liverpool page, I see that Alun Evans' father, Alun Evans Senior, was also a professional footballer playing 18 games in the 1947 first post-war season for West Brom. See Sons and Daughters - Sons and Fathers.

9th December, 1999.

The list of record league appearances started many moons ago, is now completed to show all 92 current clubs and a few more besides. It makes interesting reading ... to VERY boring people like me. November's News has now been achieved.

News (1) Alan Ball Sacked, Again ...

It's quite an achievement for Alan Ball to be sacked WITHOUT having relegated his team, though he was making a pretty good go of doing so. Alan's second spell as Portsmouth manager finally came to an end today at 10.30 a.m. which was reported as being on the cards (see 27th November, 1999) even before Saturday's 1-0 defeat to relegation placed Sheffield United that left Portsmouth just 20th in Division One. The temporary replacement is former Arsenal team-mate, Bob McNab.

See the announcement at The Official Portsmouth FC website. A review of Alan's time as Portsmouth manager can be found at The Official Portsmouth FC website and The Official Portsmouth FC website. Portsmouth's chairman, Milan Mandaric explains the reason for the sacking at The Official Portsmouth FC website.

News (2) George Graham - Dodgy Finances, Again ...

And talking of former Arsenal team-mates, 'The Sunday Times' reports that Tottenham Hotspur manager, George Graham still owns 32 shares for local rivals, Arsenal. Though they were worth only £8,500 when he acquired them as their manager, they are now worth £83,000. George has too much Scottish canny business sense to sell them, and he's not breaking any rules it seems. Managers are allowed to own 10 % of other clubs' shares. Arsenal showed less loyalty to him than he does to their shares it seems ...

News (3) Joe Kinnear(Spurs) Wants To Manage Top London Club, Again ...

Sticking with the North London rivals, Football 365 ran the following news item on Sunday on the former Spurs player ...

"KINNEAR FEARS FOR DONS Former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear believes his old club could end up in Division One if their Norwegian owners insist on selling off the best players. Kinnear, who left the club in the summer following a heart attack after giving the Dons 10 years' service under supremo Sam Hammam, spoke of his private fears today. Now fitter and healthier following his health scare in March, Kinnear is actively looking for a new challenge and would love to manage one of the big London clubs. But he is equally keen not to see his former club relegated from the top flight and believes Wimbledon's distant Norwegian master Kjell Inge Rokke is only interested in the business side of running a club.

Kinnear, who left Wimbledon in the summer to be replaced by Egil Olsen, said: ''The Norwegians are obviously not in love with football. They are business-orientated and whatever amount of money it is, they are looking to get their money back and the only way to get it back is to sell off the best players. ''That's going to do nothing because I spent eight hard years in the Premiership to build that club and build up great players and now I can see it all going up in smoke. If they sell the best players they are heading for Division One.''

Kinnear says he is ready for a big challenge again but admits he still talks to his old players and socialises with them. Asked if he would consider a return to Wimbledon if Hammam called him, Kinnear told BBC Radio 5 Live: ''It's a tough one to call. I don't believe you should ever go back but there's something special about that place.'' For now Kinnear is keeping an eye on the job market - but he wants a top club and an ambitious project. Kinnear, who played top-flight soccer for Tottenham and was capped 26 times by the Republic of Ireland, said: ''The perfect job? Obviously I would like to stay in London and manage one of the big clubs. I might have hit the post a few times. There's a couple of big clubs up in Scotland - one I've been associated with for many, many years - and I was always on the short-list for the Celtic job for many, many years, but that didn't materialise. ''I was on the short-list at Tottenham for many years but that didn't materialise. One never knows in this game, but should the possibility of a decent London club become available I'd certainly grab the opportunity.'' "

News (4) Next Generation Update - Darren Currie (See Sons and Daughters)

Yet another goal for Tony's nephew. Darren got the opening goal for Barnet in their 2-0 home win against Chester.

5th December, 1999.

E-mail Thanks to Peter Gable for the e-mails earlier this week. Peter has only gone and lost his signed Terry Cooper sock tab from the early Seventies ! What a nightmare ! In a small way of making amends, the Terry Cooper page is now up and running.

Realisations A new feature this, in rather dubious green for those of you that can read the pages' different colours. Now that I've expanded Bob's 70-71 pages to include anyone from the 70-71 season, and not just the World of Soccer Stars book, I'm inevitably going to come across new players and managers as they are pointed out to me from e-mails, and moments of insight ! Naturally, I can't back date news stories, and rather than usher in new arrivals in through the back door as I have done up to now, I've decided to embrace them with full honours in an effort to encourage anyone to tell me about anyone they know about - maybe even a relative, friend, or the person himself ( women's football will have to get it's own website for the 70-71 season ...!)

Realisation (1) One such moment of insight has led me towards one of football's greatest names hidden amongst Bob's 70-71 players - a person knighted because of football no less, and that's a very rare achievement in itself.. This player was Falkirk's leading goalscorer of the 1970-71 season, yet surprisingly, it is not for this that he has been knighted - I can't think why not, but maybe being arguably the greatest Premiership manager to date and possibly the World's greatest manager of the Nineties has taken precedence. It is, of course, Sir Alex Ferguson (Falkirk). See Alex Ferguson Manchester United Manager Profile-Pictures

Realisation (2) Whilst researching for the Terry Cooper page, I was able to confirm that he has a son who played League football - usually (as is so often the case) for one of the teams for which his father was manager ! We all know Colin Cooper from his Nottingham Forest days as well as his big return to Middlesbrough. Well it's not him, it's Mark Cooper, who has now left League football (- due to a broken leg at the height of his career !??) (See Sons and Daughters).

News Archive

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