| Best world 11 in your lifetime 07:54 - Apr 18 with 2636 views | James1980 |
Just seen this tweet thought it would be an interesting discussion [Post edited 18 Apr 2020 7:59]
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| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 20:46 - Apr 21 with 645 views | D_Alien |
| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 20:34 - Apr 21 by pioneer |
I think thats a bit slanted....our form at the start of the season when he was missing was excellent and this continued after his return and we were top of the league in November. I am not suggesting he wasn’t missed but we had already started to drop points while he was in the team. |
I think that's correct, and i certainly don't remember thinking we were at a major disadvantage but rather we'd just hit a plateau after our surge against teams who weren't expecting it
Leech was clearly an important player for us. Unless the full facts are known, i think it's wrong for people at a distance of 50 years to be drawing conclusions about how he was treated. It may have been that surgery was possible but that the outcome - bearing in mind the less effective procedures from half a century ago - was unlikely to restore him to his previous standards, in which case a difficult decision had to be made |  |
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| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 22:21 - Apr 21 with 622 views | kiwidale |
| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 20:46 - Apr 21 by D_Alien |
I think that's correct, and i certainly don't remember thinking we were at a major disadvantage but rather we'd just hit a plateau after our surge against teams who weren't expecting it
Leech was clearly an important player for us. Unless the full facts are known, i think it's wrong for people at a distance of 50 years to be drawing conclusions about how he was treated. It may have been that surgery was possible but that the outcome - bearing in mind the less effective procedures from half a century ago - was unlikely to restore him to his previous standards, in which case a difficult decision had to be made |
I admit I never noticed what others on this thread noticed with regards to Leach's worth to the team for me he went relatively unnoticed- perhaps that's a testament to how good he was- in an all round great team. We had goal scorers aplenty in Buck, Jenkins, Butler, Melledew, Fletcher and the lad whose name escapes me that scored about 10 in as many games before being sold to Darlington when Buck arrived. We also had an abundance of excellent defenders and a very good keeper what made the team special in my opinion was Billy Rudd and Norman Whitehead both of them were unplayable. Rudd was an exceptional player an old fashioned ball carrier who carried the team forward at will. Whitehead was basically another Stanley Mathews who could beat defenders seemingly at walking pace, did he ever lose the ball before getting a cross in. [Post edited 21 Apr 2020 22:25]
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| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 22:28 - Apr 21 with 605 views | D_Alien |
| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 22:21 - Apr 21 by kiwidale |
I admit I never noticed what others on this thread noticed with regards to Leach's worth to the team for me he went relatively unnoticed- perhaps that's a testament to how good he was- in an all round great team. We had goal scorers aplenty in Buck, Jenkins, Butler, Melledew, Fletcher and the lad whose name escapes me that scored about 10 in as many games before being sold to Darlington when Buck arrived. We also had an abundance of excellent defenders and a very good keeper what made the team special in my opinion was Billy Rudd and Norman Whitehead both of them were unplayable. Rudd was an exceptional player an old fashioned ball carrier who carried the team forward at will. Whitehead was basically another Stanley Mathews who could beat defenders seemingly at walking pace, did he ever lose the ball before getting a cross in. [Post edited 21 Apr 2020 22:25]
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Terry Melling
He was a George Donnelly type who could score a few goals but overall was never going to take us forward at a higher level
Vinny Leech did a lot of the quiet stuff. Tackle, win the ball, give it to Rudd
[Post edited 21 Apr 2020 22:30]
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| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 23:53 - Apr 21 with 588 views | kiwidale |
| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 22:28 - Apr 21 by D_Alien |
Terry Melling
He was a George Donnelly type who could score a few goals but overall was never going to take us forward at a higher level
Vinny Leech did a lot of the quiet stuff. Tackle, win the ball, give it to Rudd
[Post edited 21 Apr 2020 22:30]
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Maybe that's why Leach went unnoticed by me I don't remember who gave Rudd the ball but I certainly noticed what Rudd did with it. Rudd and Whitehead had the extraordinary ability to carry the ball forward and avoid tackles it seemed that both players always had defenders in two minds forcing them to back off, defenders seemed to be scared to commit to a tackle and when they did both players went past them as if they wasn't there. [Post edited 21 Apr 2020 23:56]
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| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 08:22 - Apr 22 with 558 views | mingthemerciless |
| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 23:53 - Apr 21 by kiwidale |
Maybe that's why Leach went unnoticed by me I don't remember who gave Rudd the ball but I certainly noticed what Rudd did with it. Rudd and Whitehead had the extraordinary ability to carry the ball forward and avoid tackles it seemed that both players always had defenders in two minds forcing them to back off, defenders seemed to be scared to commit to a tackle and when they did both players went past them as if they wasn't there. [Post edited 21 Apr 2020 23:56]
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There were really strong rumours swirling around at the time that Man City were watching Whitehead regularly and were prepared to pay a large fee for him. Next thing you know he was off to Rotherham in exchange for Lee Brogden who wasn't really in the same class as Norman. Strange.
A bit like turning down a very good offer for Geoge Morton half way through the season only to release him in the following May.
Dennis Butler on the other wing was another under rated player in my book. Not as tricky as Norman but a bit more direct and a regular goal scorer. 16 goals in the promotion season plus the goal that beat Halifax at home in the run in at the end of season, that was crucial. | | | |
| Best world 11 in your lifetime on 12:29 - Apr 22 with 540 views | EllDale |
From memory Denis Butler was right footed but played on the left so had an advantage being able to cut inside and shoot off his preferred foot. He also took the penalties in the second half of the season which helped his goal tally.
Norman Whitehead was a classic winger, getting to the byeline and crossing. The only bad thing that I could ever say against him was that his corners were crap!
It was a really well balanced team. And in that promotion season it was a remarkably unchanged side although the strikers used to alternate.
I think that the only change from the start to the end of the season was Graham Smith replacing Vince Radcliffe around Christmas.
I really wish that there was some film footage of this side in it's pomp and playing well. | | | |
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