Bobby Johnstone had Boundary Park buzzing in the 60s

[boboafc]

bobby johnstone a real latics legend.... a real footballer

[Diego_Sideburns]

To assess Bobby for all you young uns, think Shez and imagine somebody 100% fatter and 50% better.

[leesstlad]

To assess Bobby for all you young uns, think Shez and imagine somebody 100% fatter and 50% better.

 

[leesstlad]

The best player i have seen at b.p. by a mile he did not have to run about he could keep the ball till Bert Lister or any forward found space to work in no wonder he could put another few thousand on the gate a truley magical player to watch.

[LaticsPete]

A great. And thought of as such at City and Hibs as well as here.

 

I was privileged to have started watching Latics the month before he signed and saw how he revitalised not only the club but the town. The ball seemed attached to his laces and his vision was fantastic.

 

 

[LaticsPete]

bobby johnstone a real latics legend.... a real footballer

 

A good article and the vast majority of it is resoundingly true. But the "average gate of 4000" is baloney. That season (1960/61) our home gates before Bobby's debut hadn't dropped under 6400 and we got over 10,000 for one. Mind you over 17000 for his first match was still a mighty jump!

[BP1960]

A great. And thought of as such at City and Hibs as well as here.

 

I was privileged to have started watching Latics the month before he signed and saw how he revitalised not only the club but the town. The ball seemed attached to his laces and his vision was fantastic.

 

Agreed, and I remember his speciality of pretending to take quick free kicks then stopping as the opposing players made a mad dash toward him, he fooled them time and time again.

[RobOAFC]

To assess Bobby for all you young uns, think Shez and imagine somebody 100% fatter and 50% better.

what about for those of us who only knew shez in the latter stages of his career?

[100milesaway]

I remember Bobby's first game for Latics and after seeing him play thinking wow, and he went on and orchestrated one of the best periods in Latics history, he was a magician in football boots, His skills were simply dazzling, master of body swerve, feint, outrageous cheek, and he truly had twinkle toes, and a fantastic football brain. I have lots of favorites in my fifty years of watching MY Latics, but Bobby was far and away simply THE best. I'm sat here with a tear in my eye just thinking of the man, a true genius, and light years away from todays super fit athletes with average skills. Bobby Johnstone was very very special.

[help_shiny]

Paul Scholes....you know it makes sense.....leave the Evil Empire and try and match BJ's impact

[fanakapan]

To assess Bobby for all you young uns, think Shez and imagine somebody 100% fatter and 50% better.

 

 

50 % better is being a bit kind on Shez.....BJ put 10000 on the gate

 

 

[outoftheblue]

Shared many a pint with Bobby around Hollinwood before he died, and he never tired of talking football. He was always quick to remind people how good he was, not because he was a boaster, but because he truly missed the days of playing football.

The thing is, for all his talk of how good he'd been, he was actually better than he thought he was!

When approaching his sixties, he was playing with a ball in the back garden of the Albion Inn, and NOBODY could get the ball off him. He finally chipped the ball into an outhouse doorway about 35 yards away to a huge round of applause from the other drinkers in the beer garden.

[losesome]

BJ is the reason i support latics as my dad who knew him was invited to BP by the great BJ just after his debut.

Even as a kid i was mesmerised by him and i just seem to rememebr he ran the whole game without ever, it appeared , to leave the centre circle ???

 

Think only Roger Palmer has ever even threatened to get near his iconic status.

[Haribo_man]

BJ is the reason i support latics as my dad who knew him was invited to BP by the great BJ just after his debut.

Even as a kid i was mesmerised by him and i just seem to rememebr he ran the whole game without ever, it appeared , to leave the centre circle ???

 

Think only Roger Palmer has ever even threatened to get near his iconic status.

 

 

Way befor my time and a real shame that I will never be able to see just how much of a great that this man seems to be. It was clear that he was something special at the time simply by the sheer numbers added onto the gate whoch seem to have increased by at least 10,000!

 

It makes you wonder what sort of camparison you would draw in Todays world? If Scholesy did pull on the blue shirt how many more we would see through the turnstyle. I would image the impact would not be as great due to the easy access of all things football in comparison to the sky sportsless days of the 60's and the fact that you couldn't get 17k into BP these days!!

[losesome]

That was the thing in those days , the big stars were not afraid to drop down a few divisions mainly because they still wanted to play and earn money as well.

I remember as a teenager talking in the pub one Friday about what we are doing saturday when the news came through that Jimmy Greaves had signed for WHU and they were playing City at Maine Road on the Saturday.

 

Never any problem as to where we were goin and he must have put 10,000 on the gate that day.

 

Imagine Rooney playing at Stockport in a few years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think not

[Haribo_man]

That was the thing in those days , the big stars were not afraid to drop down a few divisions mainly because they still wanted to play and earn money as well.

I remember as a teenager talking in the pub one Friday about what we are doing saturday when the news came through that Jimmy Greaves had signed for WHU and they were playing City at Maine Road on the Saturday.

 

Never any problem as to where we were goin and he must have put 10,000 on the gate that day.

 

Imagine Rooney playing at Stockport in a few years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think not

 

Obviously another factor with the massive wages now, players simply won't need to continue or drop down the leagues. I suppose another aspect is the money alsewhere in the game such as people going to the USA (Beckham, Henry) Australia (Fowler) or the middle east (Djorkaeff) when teams lower down the leagues would have possibly benefitted from those players.

[LaticsLee]

i have read alot about this player and how much of an effect he had on oldham athletic and oldham town, has anyone got any video footage of him ?

[slystallone]

Obviously another factor with the massive wages now, players simply won't need to continue or drop down the leagues. I suppose another aspect is the money alsewhere in the game such as people going to the USA (Beckham, Henry) Australia (Fowler) or the middle east (Djorkaeff) when teams lower down the leagues would have possibly benefitted from those players.

My Dad speaks fondly of watching Bobby J; and his ability to run a game on his own; without leaving a 10 yard area of the centre circle!

 

I think the days of seeing players dropping down the leagues are numbered.....just thinking of some recent examples; Jason Wilcox, Paul Merson, Nick Barmby and a few others have all dropped to L1 in the twilight of their careers to still play the game; even though they played in the Greedy league in their prime.

 

The most recent example is Ian Harte – who surely cant have ‘needed’ to still play in L1; after being a top Premiership football for most of his career and also a stint in the lower tax ‘haven’ of Spain for a few seasons; but he seemed happy to plug away at Carlisle; just to still play the game. As a result of his form; he’s got a move to the Championship – so he’s an example to follow to some who are reluctant to drop down..........

 

 

[Bristolatic]

Bobby had a magic wand in his boots - he mesmerised me with some of the things he did. There is one famous photograph (I can't find it, now, though. Diego?) where he turned a Donny defender inside out, feet going one way, looking over his opposite shoulder as Bobby danced away from him.

 

He was a little barrel. He looked unfit and not much like a professional footballer by the time he came to BP, but he was a maestro. He pulled the strings from wherever he felt like standing, mainly because he didn't need to run about. It was just a case of give him the ball, find some space for yourself, then wait for it to come back and you had a bloody good chance of scoring.

 

Of course, he was no slouch at hitting the net himself when he wanted to. He could put the goalkeeper in several minds and then put the ball somewhere else. He also had a happy knack of slotting penalties in off the post - a deliberate ploy, too.

 

Of all the players who have come to Latics in the 60 years I've been a supporter, nobody, has had such an immediate impact on the team or the supporters. Not even the likes of Albert Quixall, Andy Lochhead or, day I say it, the truly great Roger Palmer and Andy Ritchie. Yes, they all had an impact, but not as instantly and spectacularly as Bobby Johnstone.

 

His like will never be seen again in this division.

[oafcprozac]

That was the thing in those days , the big stars were not afraid to drop down a few divisions mainly because they still wanted to play and earn money as well.

I remember as a teenager talking in the pub one Friday about what we are doing saturday when the news came through that Jimmy Greaves had signed for WHU and they were playing City at Maine Road on the Saturday.

 

Never any problem as to where we were goin and he must have put 10,000 on the gate that day.

 

Imagine Rooney playing at Stockport in a few years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think not

 

Scored a couple as well that day on a real paddy field of a pitch - on my MOTD dvd, there's a goal he scored against United in the 60s that has to be seen to be believed - awesome!

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2010 by oafcprozac

[LaticsPete]

Obviously another factor with the massive wages now, players simply won't need to continue or drop down the leagues. I suppose another aspect is the money alsewhere in the game such as people going to the USA (Beckham, Henry) Australia (Fowler) or the middle east (Djorkaeff) when teams lower down the leagues would have possibly benefitted from those players.

 

 

To lesser extent but still to some effect both Tommy Bryceland and Bobby Collins were the small, archetypal, Scottish inside forward who also added class and guile to Latics.

[slurms mckenzie]

Funny the number of chaps on here talking about their Dads.

 

Even during the brilliant players we had in the "pinch me" season and the ones that followed, my Dad always insisted that Bobby Johnson was the best player he'd ever seen at BP.

[losesome]

Scored a couple as well that day on a real paddy field of a pitch - on my MOTD dvd, there's a goal he scored against United in the 60s that has to be seen to be believed - awesome!

 

 

I think he scored every debut he made ?

 

Also think WHU won 5-2 that day and i remember one goal where big Joe Corrigan kicked it out from the edge of the box and a WHU player volleyed it back over his head from the halfway line !!!

[BP1960]

i have read alot about this player and how much of an effect he had on oldham athletic and oldham town, has anyone got any video footage of him ?

 

There are fleeting glimpses of him on YouTube, all the more remarkable is in those days they played in boots like clogs, with an heavy case ball and often on quagmire pitches.

For a small player I'd forgotton how good in the air he was in addition to his silky skills.

You can see from my profile pic he was my all time fav Latics player, just pipping Alan Groves and Andy Ritchie.

Edited November 19, 2010 by BP1960

[Diego_Sideburns]

Scored a couple as well that day on a real paddy field of a pitch - on my MOTD dvd, there's a goal he scored against United in the 60s that has to be seen to be believed - awesome!

 

 

I intended to start a thread to celebrate Jimmy Greaves' 70th birthday, but I was without my laptop for seven months. Now's the opportunity to post something I prepared earlier:

 

By his own admission, in his prime Jimmy Greaves posed little threat in the air, lacked the physical strength to unsettle defenders and his shooting was hardly explosive. But he was blessed with explosive pace over five to ten yards, brilliant close control and a razor-sharp football brain, His goal-scoring exploits - 464 goals in 657 matches for club and country - set him apart from the rest. Whether it was poaching a tap-in inside the six yard box, or waltzing through a defence single-handedly, Greavesie was the greatest English goal-scorer of his generation.

 

As a teenager, he was a sensation at Chelsea, his first club, scoring 132 times in 169 games. In 1960 he became the youngest ever player to score 100 league goals in English football at the age of 20 years 290 days. This prompted AC Milan to spend £80,000 for his transfer in 1961. Not even the massed defences in Italy could stop him, and he scored 9 goals in 12 games.

 

He couldn’t settle in Italy and Spurs paid Milan a fee of £99,999 for him in November 1961 - the fee was intended to relieve Greavesie of the pressure of being the first £100,000 player.. In 22 games he scored 21 goals, helping Spurs defend the FA Cup. Two more honours – the European Cup-winners' Cup in 1963 and the FA Cup four years later – were won, before Greavesie left to play out his career at the top level with West Ham.

 

Six times during his career he finished leading goal-scorer in the First Division – first with Chelsea and then Spurs. For England he scored 44 goals, including a record six-hat-tricks, in 57 appearances, but many remember him most for the one match he didn't play: the World Cup final in 1966. He suffered a badly-gashed shin in the group game against France and even when fit again he couldn’t get back into the team. Following a F.A. led campaign to persuade FIFA to award medals to all the winner’s squad members, Greavesie was awarded his ’66 World Cup winner’s medal in 2009.

 

Another remarkable achievement was that he scored on his debut, for every team he played for, including England at full and under 21 level,

 

In the mid-1970s he battled a well-documented alcohol problem, finally quitting drinking in February 1978.

 

With Ian St. John he presented ‘On The Ball’ and ‘Saint & Greavesie’ for ITV and gave us the immortal saying “it’s a funny old game”. When Greavesie was ill at Christmas 1990, he was replaced in successive episodes by a puppet modelled on him from the ‘Spitting Image’ TV show.

 

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