Tyrone Shoelaces

That’s crazy.

You can’t turn players who aren’t ball players into ball players very easily. The die is cast once you get into your twenties. Lots of recent managers in the lower leagues have lost their jobs through trying to play the Pep way.

Yes, I agree. I call it percentage play. The likelihood of our opponents scoring when we’re passing it around at the back is high. The likelihood of our opponents scoring when it’s in their half is low. The other down side to all this is that the passing players are usually more or less stood still and the pressing players are going at full speed. Eventually there’s only one winner there.

He was also bigger. Teams targeted Wrighties lack of height at time. Great little player though. Oh and he didn’t shit on the club like LeSaux did.

Another story about my klepto pal. We also had a record store on the Main Street in town. It was called “ The Spinning Disc “ and it was upstairs above a little tobacconists shop. One Summers day we were browsing the remaindered records in the shop. Anything that didn’t sell after 3 months was sold at a knock down price. All the 45’s were all in boxes on a table in a corner of the shop. With it being really hot the shop windows out onto the street were wide open. I’d had a good look through the boxes and drawn my pals attention to a few really good soul records that hadn’t sold. I was bemoaning the fact I was skint that weekend and couldn’t buy them. After a while I wandered outside on my own intending to wait for the other lads to come down. All of a sudden I heard a shout “ Tyrone “ . I looked up and saw my pal was leaning out of the open window with a handful of singles in his hands. He started slinging them down to me like Frisbys one at a time ! Of course I had to catch them. This was in the middle of a crowded shopping street on Saturday afternoon ! How I didn’t get arrested I’ll never know. After a couple of similar episodes in other shops we had to ban him from ever going into shops with us ever again. He really had it bad.

You don’t have to be a brilliant footballer to be effective at pressing the ball. To play “ City “ style football you need much higher levels of skill. In a sentence “ It’s much easier to destroy than create “,

I’d be surprised if any team gets out of this division playing “ City “ style possession football. To do that you need “ City “ standard players. Most defenders at this level aren’t good enough on the ball to be error free in possession.

No, Ipswich Town. He later played for Halifax though. He had a decent career in the lower leagues later on.

Some good goals there. Last one especially plus the long shot into the top corner.

Yes, we are due a draw.

I wouldn’t say that. I think we’re still getting to know each other. Having said that it’s a bit puzzling that having identified the “ Dutch Disease “ as a way of playing to be avoided he appears to have adopted it.

Good little left back. I remember him having a real battle with Stuart Ripley when Ripley was playing for ‘Boro. Honours were even on the day but Ripley caught my eye. I was really pleased when we signed him later on.

Every town had a sports shop like that back in the day. In Rochdale it was called “ The Sports House “ , they sold everything related to the most popular sports. One Saturday afternoon a gang of about 5 of us were heading up to the local sports ground for a game. One of our team was a kleptomaniac. On the way up one of the gang decided he wanted some new shin pads so we all trouped into the shop. On the counter was a fully inflated football and not much else. It stood out like a sore thumb. In those days everything was kept behind the counter in shelves and drawers. When the old guy who owned the shop got his little steps and turned his back to get up to the drawer that held the shin pads the “ klepto “ whipped open his kit bag and stuffed the ball in it ! We were all aghast at this and we were making faces at him but he ignored us ! We were all expecting all hell to kick off when the old guy turned around but amazingly he said nothing, put the shin pads in a bag, took the money and that was that. Nothing we could say outside would convince the “ klepto” to take the ball back. The shop shut as a sports shop years ago and now it just sells paint and wallpaper etc.

Good keeper in my estimation. Unlucky to break his arm in that 7-2 thrashing of Sheff Wed.

Easy mistake to make as neither of them did much to remember them by at Rovers.

Hodgson signed Peacock.

Yeah, he certainly signed some garbage. Simon Grayson was another.

Well he did do a lot of sideways moving on the pitch. Not much going forward unfortunately.

You’re not listening matey. Kiddo signed Frandsen. You’re only 2 seasons out. He signed in Sept 1999.

14 goals in 60 odd games apparently.

Injured, long term job. Forget that, I thought you meant Barnes.

Show pony.

Kiddo signed Frandsen. I wish we had a Craig Hignett now. Have a look at some of the goals he scored.

How did that happen ! I’m sure I typed Hyam.

Sounds like the ball that Asia was discussing. What about the boots ? My first boots would have been ok as safety shoes in a foundry. The boots with no name. My next pair were some “ Slazenger “ . Really nice boots and they served me well. Once I saw the “ Puma “ boots that Keith Newton wore I had to have a pair. After saving up my paper round money I managed to get a pair. Exactly the same as Keith’s. They also served me well for several seasons. I couldn’t wear them out. Eventually I decided I needed a new pair of “ Puma “. Nothing wrong with my old pair, I just “ needed “ something new. First real game I played in them I broke my leg right from the kick off. 5 seconds in to the game at the most ! Unlucky boots. I was still wearing them when I broke my leg for the second time.