Bob's 1970 -71 Diary
29 November
Hallelujah! Current Posts
2006-2007 is finally
ready, though naturally it could be added to when new
additions are found. For instance, I hope integrate those
managers found at international clubs during the last
World Cup - see World Cup Managers
In the
process of finishing off the page, I found that Bobby
Gould (Wolves) has now joined Hawke's Bay
United in New Zealand as assistand coach. His son, Jonathan
is head coach there.
Also Wayne
Jones (Bristol Rovers) the former physiotherapist at
Gillingham is now the physio at Hereford United
28 November
What a Gray Day!
Regular
visitors to the site will be aware that I am a Leeds fan.
Unable to get to many away games, I was therefore
listening to the Radio Leeds commentry of Burnley v Leeds
United. Eddie Gray was doing his usual excellent
expert summarising with his glorious Leeds bias, but had
to report on his own nephew, Andy Gray -
son of Eddie's brother, Frank Gray - scoring Burnley's second goal
in the 69th minute.
There must
have been mixed emotions for Eddie as his nephew's goal
proved to be the decisive winner in a 2-1 victory for
Burnley, but he was then carried off badly injured in...
er...injury time.
Eddie's
own son, Stuart Gray was at the match,
also. He is currently recouperating from a broken leg
sustained whilst playing for Guiseley in a Unibond
Premiership match away to North Ferriby on 3 October
2006. His team won 2-0, but the match was held up for 30
minutes by the very serious injury.
Rumours
that Eddie, as the most famous member of this injury
prone family, stumbled from the commentary box and popped
his knee were purely invented by me in this report.
26 November
New
links...
Did a bit
of updating today and whilst nipping about the net, found
the following sitesof interest...
Manchester
City Where Are They Now?, this site also had pages for Tommy Booth, George Heslop, and doubtless others, but I
had to move on...
Wikipedia
have added the rather excellent European Cup 1970-71 (This site linked to uefa.com - UEFA
Champions League)
Which led
me to find: UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
1970-71;
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
1970-71;
and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Trophy Play-Off - Wikipedia
Liverpool
have a great site history site at LFChistory.net -- Past Present Future including results for the
1970-71 season at LFChistory.net 1970-71
Next
there's Dave Moor's superb Historical Football Kits...
...and
other sites based on football shirts:
Footballshirtculture.com
- Step into the world of football shirts
http--www.sportshirts.net-index.html
Old football shirts
from around the world. OldFootballShirts.com
There's
another site for purchasing football photos at P e t e ' s P i c t u r
e P a l a c e
FOOTBALL FOCUS offers football history and
pictures then invites you to inspect a huge array of
football memorabila including club badges, pictures,
programmes and all things World Cup being sold via eBay.
Another
programmes and memorabilia site can be found at, er, Football Programmes -
Football Memorabilia
Nigel Mercer's supreme site of 60s -80s
football collectables has now added a tribute to Alan Ball and Terry Hennessey. Just
in case you have missed it, Nigel charts the careers of
players through football cards (etc), and previous
tributes have been: George Best; John McGrath; Peter Osgood; and Martin Peters, John Hollins, Brian Labone.
And for
the non-Scots out there, how about Berti Vogts
(Sar Players of World Cup 1970) unofficial fan site? At http://www.kultliga.de/berti/index.html
25 November
Next Generation News
Darren
Currie, nephew of Tony Currie, debuts for Coventry City, in a
1-0 away victory against QPR in the Championship. Darren
played the first 84 minutes, and left the field with the
score already at 1-0.
23 November
Next Generation News
Darren
Currie, nephew of Tony Currie, currently at Ipswich Town, has
been loaned to fellow Championship side, Coventry City.
22 November
Willie
Donachie (Manchester City) has steped up from the
Caretaker Manager role to become Millwall's new Manager.
17 November
Ferenc
Puskas (Panathinaikos) dies, see Obituary
16 November
Where are
they now?
Alan
Hodgkinson (Sheffield United) is now goalkeeping coach at Oxford United. See
Careers 2006-2007 and Where are they
now?: Autmn 2006
15 November
The Second
Division now has a team page for every club in the
Division for 1970-71. The final two, Watford and Blackburn
Rovers,
have been added and include all the players listed in the
Rothmans Football Yearbook of 1970-71.
Next Generation News
Frank
Lampard - son of Frank
Lampard,
plays for England in a friendly away to the Netherlands
at the Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam. The score was 1-1,
which makes three games without a win for England. This
is Frank's 51st game for his country in which he has
scored 12 goals.
Steffen
Iversen, son of Odd Iversen (Racing
Mechelen) plays
for Norway in a friendly away to Serbia in Belgrade. The
final score was a 1-1 draw. It is Steffen's 64th cap for
Norway, he has scored 13 times for his country in total.
14 November
The
Football Paper
There's a
new football newspaper on the marke called The
Football Paper, for which issue one (dated 12
November, 2006) cost one pound fifty pence for 120 pages.
Rememebr
in the old days of Scorcher and Score, or Shoot
incorporating Goal, or Tiger and Scorcher (and
Score?!)? Well this paper is a combination of two
papers I often bought last season, The Non-League
Paper and the League Paper, and now
includes Premiership coverage, too.
As long as
they print it I will get it as I love it's principal of
giving as much importance to Radcliffe Borough v Whitby
Town ( a 4-2 win for Whitby incidentally) as it does to
Blackburn Rovers v Man U (0-1, but who cares?!)
The reason
for mentioning it here, though, is that one of the
columnists is John(ny)
Giles (Leeds United), and The Non League Paper
section (actually issue no.346) has a double page
interview with John Hollins (Chelsea) - recently and rather unfairly
sacked by Crawley Town of the Conference National.
13 November 2006
Yorath
Unwell
All our
best wishes go to Terry Yorath (Leeds
United Youth),
who is currently unwell.
http://ichuddersfield.icnetwork.co.uk reports:
HUDDERSFIELD
Town coach Terry Yorath is back in hospital.
The
56-year-old was re-admitted before the weekend for
treatment and tests.
Former
Wales manager Yorath fell ill with pancreatitis in
September and, while recuperating, has not worked at
the Galpharm Stadium since.
He
watched Town's recent home matches against Carlisle,
Brighton and Scunthorpe from the directors' box but
was in hospital again when the club were knocked out
of the FA Cup 1-0 by Blackpool on Saturday.
John
Dungworth is continuing to act as first-team coach in
Yorath's absence.
12 November
1970-71
team photos have been added to the pages for Bolton
Wanderers, Luton Town and Sheffield
United.
on these pages there are links through for larger
versions of the pictures.
And Portsmouth now have their own page
including every player from the 1970-71 Rothman's
Yearbook.
11 November
Billy Laing
Billy Laing
(left) John Loughlan at Crystal Palace
There's two fantastic
new photos from the personal archive of Crystal Palace
youth player Billy Laing.
6 November,
Falkirk Fergie Fever!
It is hard
to escape Sir Alex Ferguson, a Falkirk player in the
1970-71 season, in the news at present. Every sports and
news programme, magazine, and paper is running a well
deserved tribute for having completed twenty years in the
post of Manager of Manchester United.
The
achievement is made all the more poignant as Man U sit on
top of the Premiership by two clear points over Chelsea,
the Champions of the past two seasons.
Sir Alex
has precided over a period unbelievable sustained
success, peaking with being this site's first ever Top
Bob in the 1999-2000 season. Well, the treble the season
before could surely only be surpassed that way. Overall
Sir Alex has won 17 major club trophies at Manchester
United.
What is it
with Man U and Scottish dynasties, they have a knack for
it?
Next Generation News
Mike Ford,
son of Tony Ford (Bristol
Rovers) has left Bedford
Town of the Nationwide Conference South League to become
Assistant Manager of Oxford City in the Southern League
Division One South and West.. As far as I can tell he is
not in a playing role.
5 November
Dynamo
Dresden
Dynamo Dresden
Thanks to Stefan
in Begrade there is now a new picture of Dynamo Dresden
from 1971 at Dynamo Dresden 2
A large
version of the picture can be found at Geocities index
Alan
Merrick
Alan Merrick
Many
thanks to Alan Merrick who has sent some
great new pictures of his career in the US, which can be
found at Alan Merrick
Book Club
Reviews of
'Don Revie. Portrait of a Footballing Enigma' by
Andrew Mourant, and 'George Best and 21 And 21
Others' by Colin Shindler can now be found at 60s/70s
Soccer - Book Club. This month I is reading, 'The
Damned United' by Davis Pearce.
4 November
Taylor
Returns to League Football
Bob 70-71
Player, Tommy Taylor (Orient) has shocked fans of Southern
Premier League side, King's Lynn by leaving the top of
the table club to become head coach at Peterborough
United of League 2 under the managerment of Keith
Alexander. The last time the site caught up with
ex-West Ham player, Tommy, he was manager of Farnborough
Town. He had been at King's Lynn since November 2004.
Next Generation
Whilst
researching for the Current Posts 2006-2007 page, I found that Graham
Turner (Chester City), the Chairman / Manager of
League Two side Hereford United, has a son, Mark
Turner, who has played League football with
Wolves, Northampton Town and Hereford United. Currently
he is at Conference North side Alfreton United.
Mark
Turner appears on the site for the first time
and is found at the Sons and Daughters page, as well as the Next
Generation page
3 November
Alberto
Spencer (Peñarol,
Uruguay) dies. See Obituary
1 November
Mathias
Returns
Ray
Mathias (Tranmere Rovers) has joined Macclesfield Town
as number two to Paul Ince, the club's
new manager. The Macclesfield Express reports
that Ray was manager of Tranmere Rovers when coached
Ince's 14 year old son had a trial there. The paper also
offers this brief profile of his career at Macclesfield Express:
Mathias, who spent
his entire playing career at Tranmere Rovers in
racking up a club record 636 league and cup
appearances, seems to have put passion for the game
above personal glorification throughout his
footballing career.
After his brief
spell at Bury, he kept himself very much involved in
the game, scouting and preparing match reports for
Harry Redknapp at Premiership club Portsmouth.
Wigan manager from
1986 to 1989, Mathias returned to the same club a
decade later under new owner Dave Whelan.
Even though the
Latics won the Autoglass Trophy and only missed out
on promotion to Division One when Manchester City
beat them 2-1 on aggregate in the 1998/99 play-offs,
it was decided that Mathias was surplus to
requirements.
Four years later,
back at Prenton Park, Mathias presided over a
remarkable resurgence in the second half of the
season to turn around his beloved Rovers.
However, this time
Tranmere just missed out on a place in the Division
Two play-offs, and he was promptly replaced by former
Aston Villa manager Brian Little.
Winstanley Returns
Eric Winstanley (Barnsley) has been made permanant Youth Team Cach
at York City, having first arrived at the club in
September. Eric was last seen as assistant manager at
Scarborough whom he left in July this year.
30 October
Next Generation News
Youri Djorkaeff, son
of Jean Djorkaeff (Paris
Saint Germain)
has retired at the end of the United States season after
22 years of ffotball. Injury had sidelined him for much
of his second season with the New York Red Bulls in the
Eastern Major Soccer League.
29 October
Next Generation News
Former Norwegian
international, Ørjan Berg , son of Harold
Berg (ADO),
has had a persistant injury from which he has been unable
to recover. He has terminated his contract with the
Norwegian Eliteserien side, Rosenborg, and said his final
farewells at the Rosenborg v Viking match.
Rosenborg won the
match and with it took the Championship for the 20th time
- 11 more times than nearest rivals, Fredrikstad. For
Ørjan, this was his 8th Championship win.
Another Next
Generation player in the Rosenorg team was
Steffen Iverson, son of Odd Iversen (Racing
Mechelen).
Steffen has won the Championship four times. In 1995 and
1996 with Rosenborg B.K. and last season, 2005, with Vålerenga I.F. In the process steffen
was voted the League's player of the year and the Kniksen
award, striker of the year. With 17 goals he was the
League's 3rd highest scorer.
28 October
Gray
Leaves
Frank Gray (Leeds United youth) has been
sacked by Grays Athletic in the National Conference
League following an FA Cup home defeat to Bromley. Though
9th in the League, expectation at Grays was high after
the club reached the Play-offs last season and retained
the FA Trophy.
Next Generation News
Moore Goals
Over 18 months
after signing for Leeds United speedy striker Ian
Moore, son of Ronnie Moore (Tranmere
Rovers),
finally scores his debut League goal for the club! Ian's
opportunities on the pitch had been restricted by former
Leeds United manager Kevin Blackwell,
and even when he did get a game it was rarely for more
than a few niutes at the end.
New
manager, Dennis Wise saw him score what
was his third League Cup goal of the season v Southend
United from the Elland Road stands the day prior to
taking over the job. Though the team lost the match 3-1
on the night, Ian's performance was good enough to win
him his first run in the starting line-up. His debut goal
came the in the following match to the Southend defeat,
just 4 days later, also against Southend United, and also
at Elland Road!
Ian scored
the 40th minute to make it 1-0. Ian left the pitch at 1-0
in the 61st minute and the game ended 2-0 to Leeds.
27 October
Dolan
Returns
Terry
Dolan (Huddersfield Town) returns as manager of Guiseley
in the Unibond Premiership. The club has recently been
taken over by local businessman, Steve Parkin. H is
aiming to make the club Conference status, and this has
included letting the manager, ex Leeds, Huddersfield
Town, West Brom and Exeter player, Neil Parsley
go. Results were not bad, but reportedly Parsley could
not offer the hours in the manager's role that Terry can.
The last this site knew of Terry was in 2003 when York
City let him go.
See Where
are they now? Autumn and Commentators
26 October
Statues
etc
Whilst
looking at the official Southampton Website, I see they
now have a Mike Channon Suite, a Terry
Paine
Suite, and a Matt Le Tissier Suite.
It will be hard to keep up with this current trend short
of visiting every website so do let me know of any at the
club you support and I'll add it to the Statues page.
At the
team I support, Leeds United, they have recently added Billy's
Bar and the Bremner Suite
(after Billy Bremner, of course), and
Lorimer's Bar (after Peter Lorimer).
This
information is gathered on the Statues page.
Big Issue
Good to
see Sir Alex Ferguson on the front page of The
Big Issue in the North for the issue 23-29 October,
2006, no. 642. Inside there is a reletively interesting
interview over 3 pages.
23 October
Barlow
Leaves
Frank
Barlow (Sheffield United), who took over as caretaker
manager of Hull City for just two days in the Summer and
became assistant manager when Phil Parkinson
was appointed, has now left the club. Hull City are
bottom of the Championship after 13 games. Colin
Murphy takes his place.
Where are
they now?
Thanks to
Mike McGeary at Middlesbrough's Official
website, who tells me Dundee United's 1970-71 goalkeeper,
Don Mackay, is currently the European
Scout at Boro. See Autumn 2006.
Don
MacKay has been added to the site at Dundee
United.
20 October
Jim
Campbell (Stranraer)dies. See Obituary
18 October
Marsh
Leaves
Rodney
Marsh at QPR
Rodney Marsh has reportedly left the
independant radio station, Talk Sport 'by mutual
consent', and plans to spend more time in Tampa.
16 October
Hart and
Bowyer Leave
Paul
Hart (Stockport County) leaves Rushden and Diamonds of
the National Conference League having been appointed
manager over the Summer. Ian Bowyer (Manchester
City) his
Assistant Manager leaves with him. The team have not won
for 8 games. It followed a 4-1 away defeat to Northwich
Victoria, who had not previously won at home all season.
12 October
Next Generation News
Kevin
Bond, son of John Bond (Bournemouth manager), who last month left Premiership side,
Newcastle United after allegations made about him
relating to transfer bungs (see below), has followed his father to
become manager of the League One side, Bournemouth. John
Bond was manager between 1970-1973.
11 October
Next Generation News
Frank
Lampard - son of Frank
Lampard,
plays in England's third European Championship qualifier
away to Croatia at Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb. For the
first time in the current competition they lose. The
score was 2-0. This is Frank's 50th game for his country
in which he has scored 12 goals.
Tobias
Linderoth, son of Anders Linderoth
(Helsingborgs IF) misses Sweden European
Championship qualifier away to Iceland -a 2-1 victory for
Sweden. Tobias has played in Sweden's last 11 matches.
8 October
Updates
When the
site was partially dormant due to the Webmaster (i.e. me)
doing a course, one of the pages to slip behind more than
others was the Current Posts page (previously called the
Rothmans / Sky page). Last season the page was relaunched
with a much easier format to follow based on the players'
names rather than the clubs they play for.
The Current
Posts 2005-2006 page is finally fully up to date (it took heck
of a lot of time - not that anyone would notice!!!) and
now I've made a major start on the Current
Posts 2006-2007 page.
Then
there's just the Next Generation and Thirty Years Ago pages to go and I'm right back
up to date again....(sob, weep.)
Craig
Leaves
Tommy
Craig (Sheffield Wednesday) is being released by Newcastle
United after more than eight years on the coaching staff.
Tommy is one of the few Bob 70-71 Players who has been at
the same club the entire history of this site. (See Rothmans
1999-2000) He
was the Reserve Team Coach, but is leaving now as
manager, Glenn Roeder is establishing his own coaching
team.
The
only confirmed survivors without any change of club
since Rothmans 99-00 are:
Jim
Cassell (Bury): Academy Director at Manchester City
Sir Bobby Charlton (Manchester United)
Director at Manchester United
Tony Currie (Sheffield United):
Community Programme Officer at Sheffield United
Sir Alex Ferguson (Falkirk) Manager at
Manchester United
Barry Fry (Bedford Town) originally Manager, now Director of
Football at Peterborough United
Dario Gradi MBE (Sutton United): Manager at Crewe
Alexandria
Nat Lofthouse (Bolton Wanderers) President at Bolton
Wanderers
Mick McGiven (Sunderland) Up to last season Reserve Team Manager,
now Match Observer Scout.
Pat
Rice (Arsenal) Arsenal Assitant Manager
Dennis Tueart
(Sunderland
squad) Director at Manchester City
Doug
Ellis (Aston Villa Chairman) only stood down
as Chairman last month - and may still have a role at
the club, Keith Peacock (Charlton Athletic) only left Charlton
Athletic in May, 2006, and Dennis Rofe (Orient) only left Southampton in
December 2005.
News from
Updates...
Other
information to emerge from the updates includes the
following
In July
Keith Peacock (Charlton Athletic) joined West Ham United as Head
Coach. He left Charlton after 15 years in May when Alan
Curbishley resigned as manager.
Sam
Ellis (Sheffield Wednesday) has a son who playes
professional rugby union with Fylde in the Nation Three
North Division. See Sons and Daughters. He is now on the coaching
staff at Stoke City following his departure from Leeds
United last season.
7 October
Next Generation News
Frank
Lampard - son of Frank
Lampard,
plays in England's third European Championship
qualifierat home to the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia at
Old Trafford in Manchester and it ends as a 0-0 draw -
England's first dropped points in the competion. This is
Frank's 49th game for his country in which he has scored
12 goals.
Steffen
Iversen, son of Odd Iversen (Racing
Mechelen) plays
for Norway in their third European Championship qualifier
away to Greece in Athens. The final score was 1-0 to
Greece, Norway's first dropped points in the campaign so
far. Steffen played the full match. It is Steffen's 63rd
cap for Norway, he has scored 13 times for his country in
total.
Tobias
Linderoth, son of Anders Linderoth
(Helsingborgs IF), plays in Sweden's third
European Championship qualifier at home to Spain at Råsunda. The match is a 2-0 victory for
Sweden. This is Tobias's 66th cap for Sweden, he has
scored once.
1 October
Horton
Leaves
Brian
Horton (Port Vale) has been sacked by Macclesfield
Town as the club are 7 points clear at the bottom of
League Two. They have not won for the 12 matches this
season. Brian joined Macclesfield in April 2004.
September 2006
30 September
Shankly
Book
There's a
new book out about Bill Shankly (Liverpool Manager) called The Real Bill Shankly..
It has been compiled by his granddaughter, Karen
Gill.
http://www.amazon.co.uk describes the
book in this way:
September
29, 1981 marks the 25th anniversary of the death of
the man who turned Liverpool Football Club from a
struggling Second Division outfit to one of the
bastions of world football. Bill Shankly was a
remarkable character, but there were many sides to
the legendary Scottish manager. Now a new book tells
the inside story. "The Real Bill Shankly"
will provide a fascinating insight into the mind of
this unique character through recollections from the
fans who idolised him, the players who responded to
his inspirational team talks and the family who loved
him.
The
book is compiled by Karen Gill, the great man's
granddaughter, who called him 'Grandee' while the
fans called him 'The Messiah'. There have been many
Shankly books but this one, featuring marvellous
photography from the unique archive collection of the
Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, will be the definitive
official record of his remarkable life - officially
endorsed by Liverpool FC.
"The
Real Bill Shankly" - published by Trinity Mirror
Sport Media - is a book every football fan will want
to read. He was of an age when fans came before
commercialism. Every single one of them mattered to
Shankly. He was unique. This story does justice to
the legend.
Next Generation News
Nick Gray,
son of Eddie
Gray,
has finally made his senior debut at Conference National
side, Halifax Town. Nick came on in the 76th minute of an
away League match against Stevenage Borough. It was 2-1
to Stevenage when he came on and stayed that way to the
final whistle.
Nick has
yet to play a League (as opposed to a non-League) match,
but this must surely now come. It is an achievement made
by his Father Eddie Gray, brother Stuart Gray
(presently with non-League Guiseley), Uncle Frank
Gray
and cousin Andy Gray (presently at
Burnley).
26 September
Next Generation News
Kevin
Bond, son of John Bond (Bournemouth manager), has left Premiership side, Newcastle
United where he wasassistant manager to Glenn
Roeder, just a week after allegations made about
him in a Panorama programme relating to transfer bungs.
(See below).
25 September
Donachie Update
Willie
Donachie (Manchester City) has been made Caretaker
Manager of League One side Millwall following the
departure of the manager, Nigel Spackman.
Willie has been the Assistant Manager at Millwall since
June 2006. Willie had been Assistant Manager to Joe
Royle
at Ipswich Town, but left the club when he failed to get
the manager's post following Royle's departure in May.
22 September
Walter
McCrae (Kilmarnock Manager) dies. See Obituary
20 September
TV
Appearances
Panorama
Well it is
not certain how the fall out is going effect the football
world, and I was too busy watching Leeds beat Barnet 3-1
in the League Cup to watch it last night, but BBC1's
Panorama's expose on bungs is a big news story today. It
seems that Sam Allardyce (Bolton Wanderers), his son Craig Allardyce, Harry
Redknapp, and Kevin Bond - son of John
Bond (Bournemouth manager) are all being asked by
the FA to respond to allegations made in the show.
George Graham was banned from football for a
year the last time this issue of illegal incentives made
by agents to managers to make transfer deals go ahead was
raised.
See BBC NEWS Programmes Panorama FA
to investigate Panorama claims
Star Stories (15
September).
A new
comedy on Channel 4, Star Stories parodies celebrity
biographical documentaries, kicked off with with its
version of David and Victoria
Beckham's story. Naturally one of the key
characters was Sir Alex Ferguson, who was depicted as having an
'artistic bent' with all the emotions to match
(tempremental and closet gay). Sir Alex was seen as
interested in David Beckham as his muse for his art, and
jealous of Victoria intervening in their relationship. It
was very funny, and very unlike the Sir Alex we would
imagine. There was also a couple of appearances of a Terry
Venables (QPR) character.
See Channel 4 - Star Stories
Crimewatch (11 September)
Peter
Kaye jokes that Crimewatch is not as
good as it used to be, and generally it is not a show I
watch as it scares the children! But sometimes the
children want to be scared so it was on this week (11
September) and featured Steve Perryman (Spurs).
This was not in relation to the Panorama
programme this time, but in his role as a Director of
Football at Exeter City, he was making an appeal to
anyone who knew a person wearing an unusual Exeter City
shirt, who had committed an horrific attack on a woman.
Whilst
researching this I see that Steve now has his own
official site at steveperryman.com
Big
Ron Manager
I have to
admit I've only seen half of one programme, but the
ubiquitous 'Big' Ron Atkinson is on telly again, this time in
his role as chief busybod ... er ... troubleshooter at
Peterborough United at the end of last season. The
programme / documentary seems to have caused all kinds of
behind-the -scenes problems as the caretaker-manager's
decisions were clearly being undermined, but as is often
the case, it makes great telly so who really cares??? The
programme was on Sky One from 22 August.
Sky One reports the following:
Languishing in
Football League Two, Peterborough United has long
been in need of a bit of luck, and a good run of
form. They exist on the knife-edge of bankruptcy, and
struggle to attract more than 5,000 fans to their
London Road stadium.
Last season things
started to look up for the Posh. A play-off place was
in sight, there was the chance of a trip to Cardiff,
and the lucrative opportunity of promotion to
Coca-Cola League One. But with a rookie caretaker
manager at the helm, Sky One decided to send them a
bit of help.
Enter Ron Atkinson.
There is little the
former Manchester United, Coventry City, West
Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa
manager doesn’t know about football after three
decades in the game, and he is willing to share his
know-how with anybody willing to listen, as he
attempts to guide this struggling side through the
trials and tribulations of the remaining three months
of the season. Big Ron will live and breathe
Peterborough United, in a bid to help them land that
elusive play-off place. He will patrol the boardroom,
corridors and dressing rooms of the club to try and
suggest ways of helping turn them into an upwardly
mobile League One outfit.
With unprecedented
access to the club and its staff – on and off
the field – this series will be a unique view of
what it’s really like to pilot a professional
team around the lower leagues in the modern football
era of overpaid, oversexed and over-hyped Premier
League superstars.
The Match
Sky One has launched it's third
series of 'The Match' and once again the celebrities side
is to be managed by Graham Taylor (Lincoln
City). The progamme
starts with lots of half known 'celebrities', who are
whittled down to a team that plays 'the Legends'.
The Celebrities includes Chris
Hollins - son of John Hollins (Chelsea)- who I have to saw is the spitting
image of his dad. Chris is now the sports presenter on
BBC1 Breakfast TV.
BBC - Press Office - Chris Hollins
appointed new Sports Presenter on BBC Breakfast reports:
Sports
presenter Chris Hollins is to take up a new role on
BBC Breakfast Chris will take over from Rob Bonnet
presenting the sports news on the BBC ONE morning
show. Chris, whose father is John Hollins MBE, the
former Chelsea, Arsenal, QPR and England footballer,
will leave his current role as Sports Presenter on
BBC News 24 to take up the role later this month.
The
34-year-old joined BBC Sport as a presenter in 1999.
He started his career at Sky Sports in 1994 followed
by spells at Channel One, GMTV, Meridian and Channel
5.He is a regular face on BBC News 24 and has covered
a host of major events for the channel, including the
2002 World Cup. During his six years at the BBC he
has also presented and reported for Grandstand and
Football Focus.
Chris takes
over from Rob Bonnet who is leaving BBC Breakfast
after ten years.
See Sky One - The Match
Love
Island (Last show 28
August, I think)
I know
nothing first hand about this, as I have not watched it,
but I understand that Calum Best - son
of George Best - was 'crowned king' of ITV's Love
Island. Here people are actually paid to go on the
island of your dreams and try their very hardest to have
or not have sex with beautiful women. Life is clearly
tough for Calum since the sad death of his father.
Calum was
'a star' of last year's show, though presumably not the
winner. He won following a public (premium rate)
telephone vote.
Calum's
queen is Bianca Gascoigne, who according
to the show's website is a 19 year old Scorpio, and the
step-daughter of Gazza. She went there essentially to
scre...woo Calum. When she got there they were both voted
into the so-called 'love-shack'. But then she apparantly
fell for Leo, who I presume is a real person and not just
another star sign.
As ITV - Love Island - Celebrity
Profiles
reports...
...in a dramatic
twist of events, Leo the lion roared back into the
resort and reclaimed Bianca’s heart for his own.
With just one week
to go, the brunette beauty is still on the island and
learning to be ‘just friends’ with Besty,
but will Leo be there to welcome her when the show
ends?
Who
watches this shite?????? George would never have done a
thing like that - oh hold on, he probably would have if
the progamme had existed when he was younger, so I'll
shut up...
See ITV - Love Island - Homepage
Calum, Fran and Dangerous Danan (
Starts 14 September for 4 shows)
Calum Best also stars in a 4
part TV show for UK sattellite / Freeview channel ITV2, Calum
Fran and Dangerous Danan. I see from reports elsewhere on the Net
that these three are all ex-Celebrity Love Island
contestants.
www.itv.com reports:
In this
4 part series Calum Best, Fran Cosgrave and Paul
Danan take the roadtrip of a lifetime along
America’s most famous road – Route 66. The
boys must travel 1200 miles from Amarillo, Texas to
Santa Monica pier in LA. But it’s not that easy
– their accomodation is paid for, but they only
have 50 dollars each and the rest of the money for
food, petrol and fun they have to earn along the way.
Calum
Aftershave
Whilst on the
subject of Calum Best, here is a picture of the
aftershave 'Calum' that is to be
launched this year.
Sons and Daughters
As
reported below, I am currently reading George Best
and 21 Others by Colin Schindler.
This points out that Alan Oakes (Man
City) and Glyn
Pardoe (Man City) are cousins as their mothers
are sisters.
Phil
Burrow's (York
City) father, Arthur
Burrows, and grandfather, also Arthur
Burrows, both played for Stockport County.
Phil's father also had a 5 game spell at Manchester
United in the unofficial games during the 1940-41 season
in the Second World War, and was a member of the
Stockport team that played the longest ever match in
1946. The game between Stockport and Doncaster Rovers
lasted 206 minutes. His father also went on to play for
Accrington Stanley, Ashton United, Mossley, Winsford
United and Buxton.
This is
Phil Burrow's first appearance on Bob70-71 Pages.
19 September
Ellis
Era Ends
Doug
Ellis (Aston Villa Chairman) has handed over
control of Aston Villa at the age of 82. Ellis has been
the club's Chaiman from 1968 with the exception of a
spell from 1979 to 1982
http://news.bbc.co.uk reports:
The day Doug Ellis
handed over control of his beloved club to a new
owner was one many Aston Villa fans doubted they
would ever see.
The 82-year-old once
commented that the only way he would leave Villa was
in a box - and few doubted his conviction.
Ellis has battled
prostate cancer and a triple-heart bypass to stay in
charge but now he has vacated the chairman's office
for American billionaire Randy Lerner.
It marks the end of
an era for the Midlands club - and indeed for English
football.
Ellis, who revelled
in the soubriquet Deadly Doug, has owned Villa for
almost 40 years.
He first took over
in 1968 and, apart from a spell from 1979-82 when he
was ousted from the board, has been chairman ever
since.
Ironically, that
three-year hiatus turned out to be the most
successful in the club's history, with Villa winning
the old First Division title and then the European
Cup.
On the face of it,
Ellis leaves Villa in an enviable position.
They have minimal
debt, a 42,000 stadium and one of the most respected
managers in British football in Martin O'Neill.
Yet, in truth, Ellis
is unlikely to be missed by the club's fans, players
or management.
Jonathan Fear,
spokesman for Villa Fans Combined and the Aston Villa
Shareholders' Association, questioned the
octogenarian at the club's Annual General Meeting.
"He is
surrounded by yes men and no-one has the guts to tell
him it is time to go," said Fear.
"It has been
his life and he talks about Villa as his baby but
Aston Villa was there before him and will be there
long after him."
And before the
departure of manager David O'Leary, some Villa
players issued an anonymous statement questioning
Ellis's ambition.
"We feel it
should be a big club but if the chairman has got
ambition he needs to start showing it," the
statement read. "It has to come from the
top."
Ellis appeared to
pull off a major coup by persuading O'Neill to take
over as Villa boss.
Yet this might not
be quite as impressive an achievement as it seems
because BBC Sport understands that O'Neill secured
assurances from Ellis that he would relinquish
control to Lerner before agreeing to take the job.
And although the
club is only minimally in debt, its financial
performance last season was almost as poor as its one
on the pitch.
Villa lost £8.2m
before tax, compared with a £3m profit the previous
year, and income fell £51.6m to £49m, with
attendances at Villa Park down 8.7%.
Ellis admitted:
"It would be foolish to suggest that 2005-06
year was anything but a huge disappointment."
Yet what is beyond
doubt is that English football is losing one of its
most colourful and recognisable figures.
Ellis, who was
brought up in Cheshire by his widowed mother, claims
to have invented the package holiday and was a
millionaire by the age of 40.
He took over at
Villa when he was 44 and quickly became renowned for
hiring and firing managers - 13 got the bullet during
his chairmanship - and for his parsimony.
One of those
managers, John Gregory, said: "Doug's great
strength is looking after the pennies - it takes up a
large part of his working day.
"He hates
waste. If you stay in a hotel Doug cannot understand
why you need a suite or a double. He says all
bedrooms look exactly the same when you are
asleep."
In fairness to
Ellis, he saw the funny side of this reputation and
even played up to it.
And he never hid
away when there was controversy about his
chairmanship.
But to say he will
be missed by the Villa faithful is pushing things a
bit too far.
18 September
George
Heslop (Manchester City) dies, see Obituary.
17 September
Club
Appearances
The club
appearance records list has been updated for the
beginning of the 2006-2007 season. See England
League Club Appearance Records
Book Club
At Yahoo! Groups
sixtiesandseventiessoccer I have been reading a book every
month. The resulting reviews can now be found at 60s/70s
Soccer - Book Club. This month I'm reading George
Best and 21 Others by Colin Schindler.
Books
added
The
following books were added to the Books page...
Pelé 2006: Pelé
- The Autobigraphy. Pelé. Simon & Schuster Ltd.
Martin Peters 2006: The Ghost of 66:
The Autobiography by Martin Peters. Orion.
Gary Sprake 2006: Careless
Hands: The Forgotten Truth of Gary Sprake
by Stuart Sprake . Tempus Publishing Limited.
15 September
Hughes
Book
There is a new book
out about Emlyn Hughes (Liverpool) by Phil Thompson called Emlyn
Hughes: A Tribute to the Crazy Horse. www.amazon.co.uk reports
England
and Liverpool captain Emlyn Hughes will be remembered
as somebody who did everything to the maximum.
Whether it was a swashbuckling footballer whose style
earned him the nickname Crazy Horse, or as a
television quiz show captain who rubbed shoulders
with royalty, Emlyn Hughes never did things by half.
He made his name at Liverpool, making 665 appearances
between 1967 and 1979, helping the club to four
league titles, an FA Cup victory and two UEFA Cup
titles.
He also
helped establish the club as the top team in Europe,
leading the side to its first European Cup in 1977.
Phil Thompsn looks back on the life of the legend who
later carved out a career for himself in the media,
where his face became known to non-football fans as
the cheeky, long-serving captain on "A Question
of Sport".
6 September
Next Generation News
Frank
Lampard - son of Frank
Lampard,
plays in England's second European Championship qualifier
away to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at Gradski Stadion, in Skopje
and ends a 1-0 victory to England. Frank was substituted
in the 84th minute when the score was already 0-1. This
is Frank's 48th game for his country in which he has
scored 12 goals.
Steffen
Iversen, son of Odd Iversen (Racing
Mechelen) plays
for Norway in the second European Championship qualifier
at home to Moldova in Oslo. The final score was 2-0 to
Norway and Steffen scored the second goal in the 79th
minute. This was Steffan's 13th goal for his country and
he has played 62 times for his country.
Tobias
Linderoth, son of Anders Linderoth
(Helsingborgs IF), plays in Sweden's second
European Championship qualifier at home to Liechtenstein.
at Ullevi, Göteborg. The match is a 3-1 victory for
Sweden. This is Tobias's 65th cap for Sweden, he has
scored once.
4 September
Giacinto Faccetti (Inter Milan) dies. See Obituary
The White
Brothers
Thanks to
discussions at Sixties and Seventies Soccer I see that John White,
the famous Spurs and Scotland player, who very sadly died
in 1964, whilst still a player for Spurs, had a brother Tommy
White, who in 1970-71 was a player at Bury. I have added the information at Sons
and Daughters: Brothers, and also given Bury their own page.
Bury's page
includes the usual names from the Rothmans 1970-71
annual, but also has additonal names from an August 1970
home programme.
Where are
they now?
Whilst sorting out
the Bury page, I found out that Jimmy O'Connor
(Bury), who's entire English career consisted
of 7 games and 2 goals at Bury in the 1970-71 season,
holds Mossley's appearances record, as well as being a
former manager. Currently he is a director of League of Wales
Club, Rhyl. See Where are they now? Autumn2006
2 September
Next Generation News
Frank
Lampard - son of Frank
Lampard,
plays in England's first European Championship qualifier
at Old Trafford v Andorra and it ends a staggering 5-0 to
England. This is Frank's 47th game for his country in
which he has scored 12 goals..
Steffen
Iversen, son of Odd Iversen (Racing
Mechelen) plays
for Norway in the first European Championship qualifier
away to Hungary in Budapest. The final score was 4-1 to
Norway. Steffen came on in the 76th minute, when the
score was 4-0. It is Steffen's 61st cap for Norway, he
has scored 12 times for his country in total.
Tobias
Linderoth, son of Anders Linderoth
(Helsingborgs IF), plays in Sweden's first
European Championship qualifier away to Latvia at Skontostadion, Riga. The match is a 1-0 victory for
Sweden. This is Tobias's 64th cap for Sweden, he has
scored once.
1 September
Next
Generation News
Paul Dalglish,
son of Kenny Dalglish (Celtic), has left Hibernian of the
Scottish Premiership to join the United States of America
team, Houston Dynamo. Paul made 16 appearences in all
competitions for Hibs and scored 1 goal.
NB Paul made his debut in Major League
Soccer on September 10, 2006, against the Los Angeles
Galaxy, playing the final 23 minutes.The score was 2-1 to
Houston when he came on, and the game finished with the
same score. It was a home match for Houston, who play at
the Home Depot Center!
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