Swindon's County Ground

The scene of two of the most notorious days in Notts County history. One that nobody will need reminding of, the other I suspect almost nobody will know about, suffice to say it might be the only reckless tackle in living memory by a Notts player (earning him a straight red card) that broke an opponents leg and ended his career... and no it wasn't Brian 'Killer' Kilcline or Brian Stubbs. I wonder if any of the oldies here know who the culprit was?

As for Friday's fixture... Since the day Maynard was appointed, Notts and Swindon are currently the only two L2 clubs with a PPG ratio below 1.00 (0.91 in Swindon's case, 0.67 for Notts), so this will likely be the best opportunity of the remaining fixtures to pick up 3 points, they've won only 1 of their last 10.

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Originally Posted by upthemaggies

The scene of two of the most notorious days in Notts County history. One that nobody will need reminding of, the other I suspect almost nobody will know about, suffice to say it might be the only reckless tackle in living memory by a Notts player (earning him a straight red card) that broke an opponents leg and ended his career... and no it wasn't Brian 'Killer' Kilcline or Brian Stubbs. I wonder if any of the oldies here know who the culprit was?

As for Friday's fixture... Since the day Maynard was appointed, Notts and Swindon are currently the only two L2 clubs with a PPG ratio below 1.00 (0.91 in Swindon's case, 0.67 for Notts), so this will likely be the best opportunity of the remaining fixtures to pick up 3 points, they've won only 1 of their last 10.

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So they're almost as bad as us!

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Originally Posted by Mark_Ross

So they're almost as bad as us!

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But they will beat us for sure

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Originally Posted by OP67

But they will beat us for sure

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The really disappointing thing is that the opposition don't have to try that hard to beat us. Put out a bunch of average players with a reasonable work ethic & collect your three points.

The “leg breaker” was John Sheridan ( no connection to the NC manager of the same name as far as I know ). I wasn’t at the game but it sticks in my memory because sendings off were pretty rare in those days. However, because it was before subsitutes were allowed some people thought that referees would sometimes send off a player based on the seriousness of the opponents injury rather than the nature of the tackle just to even things up.
Please let me know where I can pick up my valuable prize.

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Originally Posted by Faraway_Pie

The “leg breaker” was John Sheridan ( no connection to the NC manager of the same name as far as I know ). I wasn’t at the game but it sticks in my memory because sendings off were pretty rare in those days. However, because it was before subsitutes were allowed some people thought that referees would sometimes send off a player based on the seriousness of the opponents injury rather than the nature of the tackle just to even things up.
Please let me know where I can pick up my valuable prize.

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Yes, Saturday 1st December 1962, a matter of weeks before the 2nd worst winter in living memory kicked-in and decimated the fixtures for months. Too late for the Swindon player sadly.

I was going through that season recently and I'm always intrigued by sending's off pre 1973-ish because they usually were for some out of the ordinary reason. The reporter did note (as well as that the player was stretchered off and taken to hospital for an x-ray) that the ref appeared to take stock of the player's injury before ordering the Notts player off (no actual coloured cards in those days of course) so it's very possible Sheridan's challenge was not malicious in intent and just one of those unfortunate things.

The Swindon player in question had been a regular and then didn't play again that season but did make a brief comeback, which led me to look him up and he confirmed in an interview 4 years or so ago that his career was ended by breaking his leg in 1962, so he was obviously not able to make a full recovery match fitness wise due to that injury and had to call it quits eventually.

Sheridan I believe is still with us, age 85. A very distinctive looking character, always easy to pick out on the team photos. No idea if he had a reputation for being a hard player or not though.

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Originally Posted by upthemaggies

Yes, Saturday 1st December 1962, a matter of weeks before the 2nd worst winter in living memory kicked-in and decimated the fixtures for months. Too late for the Swindon player sadly.

I was going through that season recently and I'm always intrigued by sending's off pre 1973-ish because they usually were for some out of the ordinary reason. The reporter did note (as well as that the player was stretchered off and taken to hospital for an x-ray) that the ref appeared to take stock of the player's injury before ordering the Notts player off (no actual coloured cards in those days of course) so it's very possible Sheridan's challenge was not malicious in intent and just one of those unfortunate things.

The Swindon player in question had been a regular and then didn't play again that season but did make a brief comeback, which led me to look him up and he confirmed in an interview 4 years or so ago that his career was ended by breaking his leg in 1962, so he was obviously not able to make a full recovery match fitness wise due to that injury and had to call it quits eventually.

Sheridan I believe is still with us, age 85. A very distinctive looking character, always easy to pick out on the team photos. No idea if he had a reputation for being a hard player or not though.

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I'm fairly sure Sheridan used to live up our road in Hucknall and travelled the same bus on occasions I went to the Lane that route (not often). From memory he was of the hard but fair school and I don't recall him having a reputation. I don't recall this particular occasion. Proper centre halfs in those days with Gerry Carver providing the class in the middle.

Only a few season before them over the river had Roy Dwight taken off with a broken leg in the FA Cup though there wasn't any sending off.