Jump to content

Forgotten Heroes


Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, BP1960 said:

Liverpool v Latics FA cup  1977 on BT Sports 1 now.

Alan Groves seen at last, leaving Engjand full back Phil Neal floundering

Nice finish by David Shaw from a Groves slick pass.

 

 

 

I was there! My one and only time standing on the Kop. We lost 3-1 if I remember but played well. Jimmy Case scored a thunderbolt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, HarryBosch said:

 

You're right. 

 

I could've sworn he played that season. 

 

https://www.11v11.com/players/gunnar-halle-76/

 

 

 

Gunnar Halle played in the Championship winning season - he's interviewed on the season video...

 

In fact, I'm certain he won the equalising penalty against West Ham at Boundary Park.

Edited by JoeP
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JoeP said:

 

Gunnar Halle played in the Championship winning season - he's interviewed on the season video...

 

In fact, I'm certain he won the equalising penalty against West Ham at Boundary Park.

In the spring of 1991 he was sold to Oldham Athletic for £280,000, where he played over 200 matches and is regarded as one of the club's finest players during their Premiership days. He remains Oldham's most capped player, playing 25 times for Norway in his time there.

Halle joined Leeds United for £500,000 in the winter of 1996, where he competed with Gary Kelly for the clubs regular Right Back spot, Halle had a successful time at Leeds under the management of George Graham and latterly David O'Leary, He spent three seasons at the club, in his final season, Halle helped Leeds finish fourth in the Premier League during the 1998–99 season and qualify for the UEFA Cupcompetition. However, in the summer of 1999, Leeds signed future England right back Danny Mills and Halle joined newly promoted local rivals Bradford City for £200k.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Lee Sinnott said:

I never realised we loaned him back to Norway for a bit in 94...

 

Yeah, he went back in a bit of a Lillestrop. ;)

 

I knew he played in 1990-91, I just assumed we'd signed him in the summer. What a graceful player though. In that team he was totally under the radar, hard to shine above the likes of Ritchie, Holden, Warhurst, Barrett etc. to be fair, but when we slipped back down from the Premiership he was head and shoulders above most of the calibre of players we started to see coming in. To be a big part of a late 90's Leeds United team, you clearly had to have something about you.

 

He'd rarely come up in Latics fans' top tens, but he was right up there in terms of ability. And the amount of games he played plus loyalty he showed particularly when we got relegated puts him firmly in the 'hero' category for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Lee Sinnott said:

I still can't believe this happened. No wonder we went down...

 

If I remember rightly he went over there for an extended period in the spring of 1994 to try and get fit for the World Cup. He only made one more appearance for us that season at Newcastle in April after getting injured at Bramall Lane on NYD. He wasn't dropped, simply injured and then struggled for fitness, reserve games that season piled up due to postponements and a first team pile up due to the FAC run and more postponements. If you think the pitch has been poor over the last few years you had to see it back then it was dire, not conducive to help players recovering from injury.

 

 

We'd loaned players out to Scandinavia before in the 80s with Neil Edmonds and Norman Kelly playing over in Sweden. 

 

 

Gunnar signed for £280k the same day we paid £300k for Paul Kane. It took me a long time to appreciate Gunnar but the year we went down he was the shining light until we sold him in December 1996.

Edited by oafcprozac
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, palmer1 said:

 

Gunnar would not have made any difference at all.

 

I think he'd had an bad injury and we did have capable replacements.

 

Turning point was Simon Tracey doing Sean McCarthy, red card and they bring on Ireland's International Keeper. Cheers!

So many ifs and maybes that year. The thing that killed us was not winning at home until 27 November. FIVE home wins all season destroyed our hopes as we weren't awful away.

 

Last minute equaliser at City - 2 points

Capitulation at Liverpool - 3 points

David Seaman wonder show the week after - 2 points

 

That's 7 points in an October 1993 fortnight we threw away. We should not have gone down that year and the squad we had should have pissed the Championship the year after. Appointing Sharp was the biggest mistake we ever made BUT selling rather than recruiting and accepting we were little Oldham after relegation was fucking criminal. Stott, Brierley, Hardy et al sold any legacy for our kids down the river. Corney's got a lot to answer for but a lot of where we are is the groundwork of Stott....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, oafcprozac said:

 

Turning point was Simon Tracey doing Sean McCarthy, red card and they bring on Ireland's International Keeper. Cheers!

So many ifs and maybes that year. The thing that killed us was not winning at home until 27 November. FIVE home wins all season destroyed our hopes as we weren't awful away.

 

 

The turning point was Wembley (for no particular reason, the individual blame has shifted for me recently from Mark Hughes to Graeme Sharp, for missing a sitter at 1-0).

 

We'd been on great for up until the Hughes equaliser and then didn't win another game that season after it. Being so close destroyed our belief. Regardless of what happened before it, we'd have stayed up if that hadn't gone in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course Wembley was the line in the sand, BUT even so we'd been unlucky at Newcastle, a d should have beat Wednesday if McCarthy scores that late winner v Sheff United a draw v Spurs probably would have meant we could have lost at Norwich as Everton's fate wouldn't have been on their own hands so 2-0 down would they have come back v Wimbledon? Not so sure. The point is Wembley or not the damage had been done all season at home. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One that springs to mind is Paul Mardon.  I think he only played 12 games but scored some inportant goals and was also solid at centre half when we had injuries.  I think without his goals we would have been religated that season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mardon was quality his winner at Notts County on his debut set us up for a good January and first half of February he formed a good solid partnership at the back with Thom. Shows Stitch's confidence in Sinnott when Garnett got injured v Chelsea in the Cup. Preferring to bring in a loanee. to be fair to Ritchie I remember very few of his signings (A) Not working out and (B) Not improving the team - that at a time when were feeding on possibly less than we are now. Although the loan market wasn't as rife as it is now. We would have our left bollocks for a striker the quality of Doyle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mardon was good.  Another Ritchie loanee to have a good short term impact was Paul Beavers.

 

Earlier in the darker days of the 1990s, Simon Webster was a centre half loanee I liked.

 

Under Neil Warnock, I thought the early performances of Matthew Rush were brilliant. 165 grand dished out as we tried in vain to stay in the second tier.  We spent good money in those last few months at that level on him, Duxbury and perhaps others I forget about now.  Too late, unfortunately.

Edited by lalalajpkalala
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, lalalajpkalala said:

Mardon was good.  Another Ritchie loanee to have a good short term impact was Paul Beavers.

 

Earlier in the darker days of the 1990s, Simon Webster was a centre half loanee I liked.

 

Back end of 1994/95 as Jobson and Fleming were injured for most of 94/95. Webster and Redmond formed a decent partnership. Sharp was forever looking for a beast of a centre back Webster was brilliant for us - we couldn't get him permanently. Shortly after selling Job the following October we agreed a deal to sign an unknown Finn. Stott the shitbag that he was pulled the plug behind Sharp's back and we ha to settle for Michele Vonk on loan who did a great job but again couldn't't afford to make it permanently. What did we do? Well we limped along and signed Toddy Orlygsson and Barlow instead before finally signing a dominant CB in Garnett a YEAR later.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot forget we actually signed Beavers permanently but he was pretty much injured from the moment he signed and was released in 2001 having made only 6 appearances after signing full time in August 1999. HIs last appearance was in the Auto Windscreens v Stoke in Jan '00. 
 

Had a great impact  back end of 98/99 on loan though. HIs winner v Stoke was vital in the penultimate game.

 

 

Edited by oafcprozac
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, oafcprozac said:

A lot forget we actually signed Beavers permanently but he was pretty much injured from the moment he signed and was released in 2001 having made only 6 appearances after signing full time in August 1999. HIs last appearance was in the Auto Windscreens v Stoke in Jan '00. 
 

Had a great impact  back end of 98/99 on loan though. HIs winner v Stoke was vital in the penultimate game.

 

 

 

My memory is failing me here, so who played up front with Allott in that first year under Ritchie (before Beavers arrived at the death)?  Didn't Whitehall sign the year after?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Opening Day was Allott, McNIven D and Adrian Littlejohn (Cnut) then Whitehall, McGinlay briefly, Tipton, Beavers...

 

Whitehall signed summer 1998 had an injury prone 98/99 interrupted by taking corners duty and therefore never being in the bloody box. Although he won the pen at Maine Road.

Edited by oafcprozac
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, oafcprozac said:

Opening Day was Allott, McNIven D and Adrian Littlejohn (Cnut) then Whitehall, McGinlay briefly, Tipton, Beavers...

 

Whitehall signed summer 1998 had an injury prone 98/99 interrupted by taking corners duty and therefore never being in the bloody box. Although he won the pen at Maine Road.

 

Tipton won the penalty - I can still see it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, oafcprozac said:

Opening Day was Allott, McNIven D and Adrian Littlejohn (Cnut) then Whitehall, McGinlay briefly, Tipton, Beavers...

 

Whitehall signed summer 1998 had an injury prone 98/99 interrupted by taking corners duty and therefore never being in the bloody box. Although he won the pen at Maine Road.

Tippy won the pen. He got poleaxed by Edghill...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, oafcprozac said:

 

Back end of 1994/95 as Jobson and Fleming were injured for most of 94/95. Webster and Redmond formed a decent partnership. Sharp was forever looking for a beast of a centre back Webster was brilliant for us - we couldn't get him permanently. Shortly after selling Job the following October we agreed a deal to sign an unknown Finn. Stott the shitbag that he was pulled the plug behind Sharp's back and we ha to settle for Michele Vonk on loan who did a great job but again couldn't't afford to make it permanently. What did we do? Well we limped along and signed Toddy Orlygsson and Barlow instead before finally signing a dominant CB in Garnett a YEAR later.

 

 

That's not how Sami Hyppia tells it.

According to Hyppia, Sharp said that he was no better than what we have. 

Would think the reality is somewhere in the middle. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...