Name a legend

[HarryBosch]

Broady has just said Groves and Barrett are leading the voting on GMR

[jimsleftfoot]

Alan Groves without question Paul has it spot on simply the most entertaining player and best left winger to have worn a latics shirt in the past 50 years. Still brings smiles to faces of fans who saw him play all these years on. The fact he was an idol to the "Ford paddock" at the time, banter, entertainment evokes all that we desire in a player and rarely see.

 

Can just picture a huge print of Gus with his Afro and love beads on the wall in the stand and prompt many a positive discussion about players who had special talent. The 12 goals are an irrelevance he created so many for a potent forward line that his truly a bonus in the time period.

 

 

Simon Stainrod would have been but didnt stay very long akin to Baxters stay really.

 

Just feel Groves deserves a position for all he brought to the club and will never see his like again sadly. On his day simply unplayable, breathtaking and made you laugh and still does. The tales far fetched but true. All depends if a legend is a long service award or someone who is simply special for the team.

That's what I wanted to know, did he create many assists. If so fair enough.

[jimsleftfoot]

Eyres shouldn't, for one.

Disagree, best player since Premiership days.

 

Edit: As I read through I am starting to remember lots about Shez that I have seemed to have forgot. Perhaps he should be in before Eyres.

Edited October 8, 2013 by jimsleftfoot

[HarryBosch]

I never saw Groves but I think he should be on it just from the way my Dad talked about him and the older lot do on here. Which says it all I think.

 

Shez should be too though.

And Holden.

 

Does Barrett just edge it over Jobson by virtue of playing for England while he was with us?

[Break The Silence]

I'd be interested to know the average age of those who don't think Eyresy should be included. I'd imagine he ranks very highly for any supporter aged 26 or younger.

It's all relative, just because you're older and have seen better doesn't mean he's not a legend to a significant proportion of the fan base. Older fans have plenty in there who younger fans didn't see at all.

This. I'm 39 and have been going since the late '80's so I saw all the top flight days.

 

David Eyres was :censored:ing ace. FACT. A shining light in the last 20 years of utter gloom. I can totally see why are younger fans see him as a legend.

[Monty Burns]

This. I'm 39 and have been going since the late '80's so I saw all the top flight days.

 

David Eyres was :censored:ing ace. FACT. A shining light in the last 20 years of utter gloom. I can totally see why are younger fans see him as a legend.

Agreed. But Shez was better and came out of retirement risking his health to play for nowt when we had a brickie in the team, and he was still a class above.

[HarryBosch]

Agreed. But Shez was better and came out of retirement risking his health to play for nowt when we had a brickie in the team, and he was still a class above.

 

And I reckon, pound for pound, he's been our best manager since Royle.

[garcon]

 

And Holden.

 

 

I read that as Andy Holden at first!

[HarryBosch]

 

I read that as Andy Holden at first!

 

What could have been.......

[Bristolatic]

Not everyone is going to be satisfied with the final ten, so is it not possible for a montage mural of the faces of those who didn't make it be commissioned. This is the back cover of Stewart W Beckett's brilliant book, "Pine Villa & Oldham Athletic - A 100 Year Journey". I think this would just about cover everyone's selections and wouldn't look too shabby somewhere inside the new stand, copyright permitting, of course. Just need to work in those that have been with us since 1995. Easy peasy for someone with certain computer skills.

 

Sorry I chopped the top off, but you get the idea.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Bristolatic

[disjointed]

Not everyone is going to be satisfied with the final ten, so is it not possible for a montage mural of the faces of those who didn't make it be commissioned. This is the back cover of Stewart W Beckett's brilliant book, "Pine Villa & Oldham Athletic - A 100 Year Journey". I think this would just about cover everyone's selections and wouldn't look too shabby somewhere inside the new stand, copyright permitting, of course. Just need to work in those that have been with us since 1995. Easy peasy for someone with certain computer skills.

 

Sorry I chopped the top off, but you get the idea.

What a good idea, it really is hard to define the term legend and not come up with a counter argument, this would include a lot of the players and staff who in their own way have contributed to the football team we all love. Perhaps some one could suggest this to Jenny?

[bigfatjoe1]

Great picture.

Stainrod played 79 games over three years.

Surprised that Groves played 120 also over three years. I was only very young. Thought it was longer. Bit of a sour note on wiki. He didn't want to join us and he thought his move to Blackpool was the best move he'd made. True? My childhood memories really skewed.

Is he still the stuff of legends?

[LaticMark]

Great idea and easy to do these days on a vinyl wrap. Notice a few names thrown up as great players. Would love to have seen David Shaw and Fryatt playing

 

My first season watching Latics was the promotion season of 1970/71. Fryatt and Shaw scored 50 league and cup goals between them. I was hooked, and a Latics fan for life.

[dave_ragg1984]

I'm 29 now, and went to my first game when I was 4. So I was quite young when we were really ace. But I do remember Andy Ritchie (will always be my number 1 - even if we signed Messi) being absolutely awesome, and Roger, and tricky Ricky and all that. And they were great.

 

So I've also seen every god damn awful season that we have been stuck in this division. And it has been horrible. If it wasn't for John Sheridan and David Eyres, I don't think I could have coped. They are by far and away the best players we have had in this division in my view.

 

Eyres is fully deserving of his place on that list for me. And if Eyres is on it, then Sheridan must get on it.

 

Eyresy was a joy to watch. It is right what people say that the signing of Sheridan kept us up. But the same can be said for the season when Eyres signed. When he signed at 35, I thought he would be past it and we might get a season or 2 out of him. Little did I know that 6 or 7 years later he would still be turning out, still be fit as a fiddle, and still be the best player on the park.

 

Shez deserves to be on it because he was simply magnificent. He kept us up on his own. And people like him and Eyresy can be credited with keeping the club alive. They turned up to training when they didn't have a job during that summer when we went into admin. They could have easily just walked away and found work coaching or playing elsewhere, but they stuck by us. And then Sheridan came out of retirement because we had no players, and he will pay for that in later life because there is no way his legs were up to it. Yet he was still brilliant, even if he couldn't move from the centre circle. And despite his managerial reign ending badly, he is still one of only 2 managers to even come close to getting us out of this hell hole of a division.

 

I understand the point of view that some of the older posters have about certain players being better and more deserving, and Eyresy (and hopefully Shez) only being on the list for the younger fans. But the younger fans do make up a sizeable chunk of the fanbase, so I think their (our) heroes should be up there too.

[whitey1980]

Great post sir!!

[Bristolatic]

What a good idea, it really is hard to define the term legend and not come up with a counter argument, this would include a lot of the players and staff who in their own way have contributed to the football team we all love. Perhaps some one could suggest this to Jenny?

After some positive comments in chat tonight, I've emailed my post to Jenny. We'll see what happens.

[disjointed]

 

My first season watching Latics was the promotion season of 1970/71. Fryatt and Shaw scored 50 league and cup goals between them. I was hooked, and a Latics fan for life.

I started the season before but not as a regular, I would say my first proper season was 70/71. Seeing Fryatt flying through the air to send a bullet header towards the net is something that sticks in your mind.

[leeslover]

Mr Ragg makes an excellent argument

[jsslatic]

I'm 29 now, and went to my first game when I was 4. So I was quite young when we were really ace. But I do remember Andy Ritchie (will always be my number 1 - even if we signed Messi) being absolutely awesome, and Roger, and tricky Ricky and all that. And they were great.

 

So I've also seen every god damn awful season that we have been stuck in this division. And it has been horrible. If it wasn't for John Sheridan and David Eyres, I don't think I could have coped. They are by far and away the best players we have had in this division in my view.

 

Eyres is fully deserving of his place on that list for me. And if Eyres is on it, then Sheridan must get on it.

 

Eyresy was a joy to watch. It is right what people say that the signing of Sheridan kept us up. But the same can be said for the season when Eyres signed. When he signed at 35, I thought he would be past it and we might get a season or 2 out of him. Little did I know that 6 or 7 years later he would still be turning out, still be fit as a fiddle, and still be the best player on the park.

 

Shez deserves to be on it because he was simply magnificent. He kept us up on his own. And people like him and Eyresy can be credited with keeping the club alive. They turned up to training when they didn't have a job during that summer when we went into admin. They could have easily just walked away and found work coaching or playing elsewhere, but they stuck by us. And then Sheridan came out of retirement because we had no players, and he will pay for that in later life because there is no way his legs were up to it. Yet he was still brilliant, even if he couldn't move from the centre circle. And despite his managerial reign ending badly, he is still one of only 2 managers to even come close to getting us out of this hell hole of a division.

 

I understand the point of view that some of the older posters have about certain players being better and more deserving, and Eyresy (and hopefully Shez) only being on the list for the younger fans. But the younger fans do make up a sizeable chunk of the fanbase, so I think their (our) heroes should be up there too.

 

Boom.

[lalalajpkalala]

I'm 29 now, and went to my first game when I was 4. So I was quite young when we were really ace. But I do remember Andy Ritchie (will always be my number 1 - even if we signed Messi) being absolutely awesome, and Roger, and tricky Ricky and all that. And they were great.

 

So I've also seen every god damn awful season that we have been stuck in this division. And it has been horrible. If it wasn't for John Sheridan and David Eyres, I don't think I could have coped. They are by far and away the best players we have had in this division in my view.

 

Eyres is fully deserving of his place on that list for me. And if Eyres is on it, then Sheridan must get on it.

 

Eyresy was a joy to watch. It is right what people say that the signing of Sheridan kept us up. But the same can be said for the season when Eyres signed. When he signed at 35, I thought he would be past it and we might get a season or 2 out of him. Little did I know that 6 or 7 years later he would still be turning out, still be fit as a fiddle, and still be the best player on the park.

 

Shez deserves to be on it because he was simply magnificent. He kept us up on his own. And people like him and Eyresy can be credited with keeping the club alive. They turned up to training when they didn't have a job during that summer when we went into admin. They could have easily just walked away and found work coaching or playing elsewhere, but they stuck by us. And then Sheridan came out of retirement because we had no players, and he will pay for that in later life because there is no way his legs were up to it. Yet he was still brilliant, even if he couldn't move from the centre circle. And despite his managerial reign ending badly, he is still one of only 2 managers to even come close to getting us out of this hell hole of a division.

 

I understand the point of view that some of the older posters have about certain players being better and more deserving, and Eyresy (and hopefully Shez) only being on the list for the younger fans. But the younger fans do make up a sizeable chunk of the fanbase, so I think their (our) heroes should be up there too.

 

My first reaction to the list of 9 was positive, other than wondering how, if Eyres was on there, Sheridan could be omitted.

 

In my 27 years he's the best I've seen. No other player had the ability to orchestrate a game like he could. We were dire when he first arrived but regardless of whether we played a team at the top or bottom of the table, he was the stand out player.

 

Having been dragged along quite willingly through my childhood to BP and beyond, when my teenage years arrived and I could have told my Dad I didn't want to go anymore as we were crap, up turned Shez. He showed me the game could be good to watch, skillful, creative, and that there were players out there, rarely seen at BP who could play the game in a different way, naturally and at ease. Ever since, all I've wanted is to see more like him, but I could have a while to wait yet.

 

After keeping us up whilst partially able to move, his return to the fold against medical advice at Hillsborough in 2003, when we were at our lowest ebb at the end of Dowie's reign, is the biggest physical sacrifice I can remember anyone paying for my club. For that alone, the club will always owe him.

 

He did that because he cared about a club he'd joined late on. He was loved at Leeds, loved at Wednesday, he didn't need us, but he showed a passion and committment for a decade or so as a player, then as a coach, then again as a player who couldn't run, as caretaker manager, reserve team manager and finally as the top dog that for me, hasn't been matched, or even come close to being matched by anyone, player, staff or otherwise since the glory days.

 

Since relegation in 94, Shez is the brightest light I can remember at BP, and for that, whether he makes it into a stand I'll never sit in or not (I'm a Chaddy Ender), he's my Latics hero, and he's yet to be bettered. Build the man a statue. He was different class.

Edited October 9, 2013 by lalalajpkalala

[disjointed]

A lot of this comes down to your impressionable years, I was a 13 year old when Groves started playing for us, so after school or in the playground when there were about 40 of us trying to kick :censored: out of an old peice of leather or a bundle of rags inside a sock, I always wanted to be Grovesy. Beat everybody 3 times and make them look foolish, of course I ended up on my arse, being kicked for not passing, but you get my drift. It is a never ending argument But first impressions cut deepest.

[rudemedic]

There isn't a single person on that list who isn't deserving of the status as a legend. There are quite a few who won't make the list who are also as deserving.

 

Imagine trying to pick a 10th legend at some clubs, :cough: Rochdale :cough:. No doubt if the other stands get renovated or we move to a new stadium, a similar process can happen again, and we may still not run out of legends.

[HarryBosch]

Another spin on this - can anybody envisage any of the current squad reaching legend status?

[rudemedic]

Another spin on this - can anybody envisage any of the current squad reaching legend status?

Depends if we can get promoted with the nucleus of our current squad or not. As that's the only way the players capable of reaching legend status will remain at the club long enough to do so.

[lalalajpkalala]

A lot of this comes down to your impressionable years, I was a 13 year old when Groves started playing for us, so after school or in the playground when there were about 40 of us trying to kick :censored: out of an old peice of leather or a bundle of rags inside a sock, I always wanted to be Grovesy. Beat everybody 3 times and make them look foolish, of course I ended up on my arse, being kicked for not passing, but you get my drift. It is a never ending argument But first impressions cut deepest.

Very true - it's definitely those that give you the bug that stay closest to your heart.