brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
No Buy . . . No Sell!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,293 
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Post by brizzle on Oct 7, 2015 18:11:09 GMT
The full quote by Danny Blanchflower was "Our Tactics Have Always Been To Equalise Before The Other Team Score," which I think was quite typical of the things that he used to say. He has always been one of my favourite footballers and (and later on) journalists, and although we all have to shuffle off sooner or later, to me it was always a tragedy that a man with such an active and independent mind should succumb to dementia at a comparatively young age. C'est la vie. As a young teenager I used to love to read his column in the Sunday Express, mostly because it was full of good sense. The only sports columnist that has come close to him in my opinion would be Patrick Collins, who used to write in the Mail on Sunday. In any event I came across this video, and thought that it may be of interest to some others . . . but particularly if you supported Spurs in the ''Double Year.'' wn.com/danny_blanchflower(To view the video click on the link, and then scroll down to the video on the right of the screen. One video then runs onto the next). Two things that has escaped my memory were that as late as the early 1960s Wembley Stadium was still only partially covered, and that the old B*FC player Hughie McIlmoyle once played for Leicester City in an FA Cup final. He hadn't changed too much since then. |
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 14, 2015 23:41:24 GMT
What a brilliant player and captain he was and a real gentleman. Loved the style and way Spurs played in those days and they caught my imagination as a young boy and was hooked as a Spurs fan ever since. Of course wasn't overly pleased when we got smashed by them 9-0 but hey at we got to play them at least twice during our football league career. I presume we must have played them regularly during the Southern League days but that was obviously way before even my time  |
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
No Buy . . . No Sell!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,293
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Post by brizzle on Oct 15, 2015 16:51:49 GMT
What a brilliant player and captain he was and a real gentleman.Loved the style and way Spurs played in those days and they caught my imagination as a young boy and was hooked as a Spurs fan ever since. Of course wasn't overly pleased when we got smashed by them 9-0 but hey at we got to play them at least twice during our football league career. I presume we must have played them regularly during the Southern League days but that was obviously way before even my time He was, but at the same time he was nobody's fool and most definitely had a mind of his own. Do you remember when he left Eamon Andrews all red faced and clutching his ''This Is Your Life'' book? But you are right in what you say about the Spurs team of the early 1960s, they were truly magic. One player worth a mention (but from the mid-1960s), was Alan Gilzean. I used to love to watch him play, he was a very delicate and clever player, and good with his head too. Although I do have a sneaking regard for Arsene Wenger, he can never replace Billy Nick's Spurs for me. |
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 15, 2015 18:19:58 GMT
What a brilliant player and captain he was and a real gentleman.Loved the style and way Spurs played in those days and they caught my imagination as a young boy and was hooked as a Spurs fan ever since. Of course wasn't overly pleased when we got smashed by them 9-0 but hey at we got to play them at least twice during our football league career. I presume we must have played them regularly during the Southern League days but that was obviously way before even my time He was, but at the same time he was nobody's fool and most definitely had a mind of his own. Do you remember when he left Eamon Andrews all red faced and clutching his ''This Is Your Life'' book? But you are right in what you say about the Spurs team of the early 1960s, they were truly magic. One player worth a mention (but from the mid-1960s), was Alan Gilzean. I used to love to watch him play, he was a very delicate and clever player, and good with his head too. Although I do have a sneaking regard for Arsene Wenger, he can never replace Billy Nick's Spurs for me. Yes, I remember that Eamon Andrew's show, it was difficult to detect Eamon's red face though in those days as we were watching in black and white  I feel exactly the same about Arsene Wenger too, I love the way Arsenal play when at the top of their game but Nicholson was ahead of his time I reckon. Memories eh.......... |
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irishrover
Global Moderator
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 3,372
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Post by irishrover on Oct 17, 2015 13:02:44 GMT
One of the slightly bizarre things about Danny Blanchflower is that he is something of a cult hero for American 'soccer' fans. In the early days of the North American Soccer League he was paid a lot of money to be a summariser on the games and the idea was that he would be a kind of cheerleader for the new league and give it credibility. He was basically paid to talk it up in terms of the quality of the football the entertainment on offer. But having taken the money he then refused to play ball and called as he saw it - which given the general chaos of that league was generally pretty terrible. So he'd spend whole games talking how poor quality the football was and how terrible the players were and US fans loved the fact that he wasn't buying into the hyperbole. He obviously got sacked in the end but to a whole generation of fans over there he is a complete legend!
Many of the self-perpetuate/media myths around players of that golden age have not really stood up to close examination but Blanchflower seems like the real deal - a genuine football idealist and a hell of a character. |
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