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The thread is titled Steve Davis.
For me the 'glory years' were in the Championship when we welcomed so many 'big name' clubs to Gresty Road, and gave several of them a sound beating.
Then Steve Davis took over a struggling squad and we seemed to go on a massive high. We hardly ever dropped one point, let alone three, and it culminated in a wonderful trip to the new Wembley and a cauldron of heat and excitement - and a massive victory. Less than a year later we did it again in the JPT.
They were fantastic days, weeks and months. Sadly everything took a down turn and we have never really recovered. The occasional win and decent performance is not enough to engender those now far off days of joy.
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Yes you are absolutely correct, AlexLeicester, the thread is titled Steve Davis. When I replied to Somerset that "it had nothing to do with Steve Davis", I was referring to our reminiscing about the often forgotten times of the 1960's. Sorry, that we went off topic there. Can you recall those great times of the 1960's, by the way?Originally Posted by AlexLeicester
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It wasn't just the football at time it was a wonderful time for the popular music scene of the mersey sound, the Beatles and dozens of more groups that has stood the test of time as so much of it is still played on the radio today and some of those people still performing in their seventies.....God Almighty, I may come back playing football!Also it was an end to austerity of the war years and a time of enthusiasm and colour when rows of TV were in the showroom all with a different colour case, so unlike today when almost everything is black...Even the great golfers of that era wore bright colour clothes and there was even red and orange golf balls....I would not change that era for anything and not even for Championship football under Dario, but we all have a tendency to look back with fondness and no doubt there were reasons to be sad about but that's life. Everyone has their favourite era and one last anecdote, honest!
My mate and I were up in the North East visiting relatives and we decided to go and watch the Alex play Darlington on a Saturday afternoon and you thought our ground was bad, God that was terrible with a cow shed as a stand or sitting area? Why do they call sitting areas, 'Stands' anyway? I remember us standing outside the ground around 2pm and Terry Tighe who was our club captain at the time just arrived in his estate car and he saw us with our scarves and realised we were Crewe fans and he said, look at me I have just driven all this way from Crewe and I have all the teams kit in the car and they then started to lift this great big straw case towards the clubhouse. No doubt shifting the hens out first and he turned to us and said "have you got your tickets lads"? We said we had bought them already for what was laughingly called the popular side where some sheep were just being moved out and he said, "Here, have two complementaries for the Stand...and we gratefully took them and we sat in some pig sh*t I think it was but we watched the match with the other 200 Darlington fans and we actually sat next to Ron Smith's wife, Mick will know of him and Frank Lord was playing and we kept screaming every every time Ron got the ball "C'mon Ron and his wife laughed but he could run I kid you not and he was our winger at the time. I think we drew one all or two all, I can't remember now, but the Darlington fans were great to us..Yes I know what happened to them and what happened to us but they are still going y'know..
Great days they were and how would people think of taking the kit like that in those days a few hundred miles to an away match? I bet none of the players in the modern era have ever done that....I tell you our teams back then were great blokes and so so unlike the prima donnas of today and maybe just maybe you can understand my views on the academy? I kid you not that some of these kids refusing to sign contract extensions would see the back end of my boot and would not play another game for us. They should be ashamed of themselves and the Chairman and Manager should tell them that and not ***** foot around like trying not to offend the tiny tots!
Last edited by MikeSB; 23-11-2017 at 10:20 PM.
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I think that the arrival of the football agent and its permeation to the lower divisions has resulted in younger players' heads being turned by promises of higher wages at a better club. Of course, the players may not realise that every salary increase means more money for the agent (and a percentage of any transfer fee). The young players may not always know better, but the parents are also pressured and they will be unlikely to stand in the way of a possible move to boost a child's playing career.
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Life has moved on. Footballers, like the rest of us, need to make as much money as possible to establish a standard of living. I moved several times during my career, each time tempted by additional income as well as a furtherance of my career. My loyalty was to wallet and family, not the readers of the newspapers who said they enjoyed my columns.
A footballer who strives to be better deserves the chance to move on.
In the case of the Alex, the Board has never – I believe – stood in the way of a player’s best interests, but that was under a legend of a manager. Since then other factors have come into play.
Agents? For me a bit like using an Independent Financial Adviser: when money is involved, best to use an expert. Again, at the Alex Agents were not necessary, but I think they may be now.
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Life and football indeed does move on AL, some for the better, some worse. Personally I don't think the modern footballers have any more skills than in the old days. I doubt that many of our players of the last few seasons would have got in the teams I watched all those years ago but that is just my opinion having watched them all. There is nothing wrong with ambition but loyalty is a great factor in our decisions too. I remained with one employer all my life but moved across the business in promotions too. Agents are a scourge as are most financial advisers, just my experience and if you are unable to speak for yourself with your boss, then I have no time for them. Dario was of the same opinion.
But you said you moved many times and so why should footballers be any different? Why should they make as much money as possible in ten years or less when they have 40 odd years left to do productive work elsewhere? That is a fallacy imo that someone we have to pay them high wages as their career is so short. Having too much money can be destructive at young ages.
Furber is right that the kids heads are turned by our so called world famous academy and in reality and in fact they are hardly good enough for this league or the National League. They know it costs a lot of money and time for each one of them and so what is their excuse not to sign a contract? Knowing we don't hold anyone back? One word...Greed!
If that is the world moving on, then they can keep it....Give me a Frank Lord or Eric Barnes any day!
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Great opinions there in both your replies, Mike. However, do be careful my friend, as you are definitely going off topic and I believe that is not allowed.
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