One for the over 60's - any ideas ?

[Archiemiller]

Where did Archiemiller see the photo, does anyone know?

It was on facebook, " Rotherham I remember when" and Graham Barnes very knowledgeable Miller who used to run the Get7 shop on front of millmoor said its Pete Madden, I thought it looked more like Brian Jackson so I put it on here to see what you lot thought, its been interesting last few days perm any one from Pete Madden,Brian Jackson or Albert Bennett.

[mikemiller]

After eliminating Peter Madden (particularly face and height) and Albert Bennett (particularly height and time frame). I think that your initial assessment must be correct, Archie.

[CTMilller]

I've been looking in on this interesting thread, checking a couple of books and then having a think about it. Of all the names mentioned so far, I would say Brian Jackson comes closest in looks to the figure outside the ground.

However, I have another, less well known, name to throw into the hat and that is Colin Smith. Smith was a highly rated centre forward who joined the club from Hull City in June 1960 and only stayed for a single season netting three goals in nine matches. He left us to play for Boston where he became a prolific scorer. I think his short stay was partly due to him not quite making the grade in the Second Division (Hull were a league lower at that time) but mainly because his arrival coincided with Ken Houghton coming on the scene and really making the grade in the no. 9 shirt. Brian Sawyer was also playing well in this position so Smith may have been overshadowed.

There is a 1960/61 team photo in Adrian Booth's book "The First Finalists" (page 8) which includes Smith and to me he is facially very similar to the mystery player. He is also reasonably tall and slimly built. There are other pictures on the web of him in the Hull City line-up for 1959/60 and these confirm the similarity. (I'm indebted to Adrian for some of the information above which appears in the book.)

Given that he came to the club in 1960 it's not unreasonable to think that this is a picture of him arriving on his first day for training and somebody marking the occasion with a picture.

I may be totally wrong but will get in touch with Adrian - who still has contact with a lot of these players - for any insight he may have.

[loyalmiller]

That's a good shout to, CT. there is a striking resemblance, but I don't know anything about the players from that era or if the timeline fits.

[mikemiller]

I don't think that I was even aware of this player's existence until today, and over the years I've seen many little-known Millers players (first team and reserves) on the pitch, or read about them.
Well spotted, CT!

[mikemiller]

So player in the previously mentioned 1959/60 team photo the player standing next to Roy Ironside really is the (similar looking) Brian Jackson, but the player at the start of the thread is actually Colin Smith. I assume that Brian Jackson must be somewhere on that 1960/61 team photo too - is he easy to identify?

[CTMilller]

Many thanks, for putting up the picture, Loyalmiller. That's the headshot from the photo which appears on page 8 of the Adrian Booth book. To mikemiller's question, Jackson does not appear in that team photo. It's not the official squad shot but a group shot of twelve players eleven of whom represented the club in the League Cup run. (Colin Smith is the only player not to have participated from that group.) Reading Adrian's text, it would appear that Jackson only made thir**** appearances for the first team in the 60/61 season - two of them in the League Cup preliminary rounds. Probably explains why he isn't in this shot.

On page 15 of the book there is a more formal pre-season squad photo of the 60/61 players - a total of 25. (This is a photo from Graham Barnes's collection.) Unfortunately the players are not named but I'm fairly certain that Brian Jackson is standing to the left of Roy Ironside and, ironically, Colin Smith is standing next to him! They do actually look quite similar though Smith is quite a bit taller.

Apologies if I have this wrong. I do remember most of the faces of the players in the teams from this season but Brian Jackson's eludes me for some reason so I'm just matching photos.

[CTMilller]

The second photo I referenced is actually on the web as well and can be found at

https://www.google.com/search?q=roth...D_pFgoGq4SM%3A

[mikemiller]

Great archive photo of Millers 1960/61 squad - I don't think that I've ever seen that before. For young Millersmadsters, Peter Madden is the player on the top row, right end. Brian Jackson is between keeper Roy Ironside and our mystery man Colin Smith, top row centre-left (Albert Bennett not present). Case closed?

[thaimillerfan]

Brian Jackson it is from me