...... the Play-Off Final at WembleyThanks and you .
Hopefully both teams will have something to play for on that final day

...... the Play-Off Final at WembleyThanks and you .
Hopefully both teams will have something to play for on that final day

Don't panic, our last appearance at Wembley was an unmitigated disaster....... the Play-Off Final at Wembley![]()
Another point to add about the U23s druggie is the number of games they actually play. The first team are virtually halfway through the season having played 22 matches - the U23s have played 11. Granted a couple of U23s have also made brief first team appearances, but that's the exception rather than the rule. I find it ironic that they play in the grandly titled Professional Development League when the lack of game time does anything but develop them professionally. If we can't go back to the days of the Football Combination, when reserve teams played as many games as the first teams, and players were ready to step up when required, then I think we'd be better off having them join the Herts County League.
I think we won the Football Combination more than once and we won the FA Youth Cup when we put in John Barnes as a ringer, he was the only one to make it to first team footballI think we were once Football Combination champions - a bit before my time though. I watched quite a few matches in which Johnny Fairbrother scored goals for fun - never could understand why he rarely got a run in the first team. We could have done with him in the mid 60s when he was a scoring machine for Peterborough & Northampton.
A favourite Combination memory of mine is from around 1968 - sitting in the old Main Stand for a midweek game, watching us demolish Luton 10-0.
I think you'll get an argument from Nigel Gibbs, Jimmy Gilligan, Paul Franklin, Neil Price, Ian Richardson, David Johnson and Worrall Sterling about that. probably from Gary Porter as well - he was unused sub in both legs of the final.I think we won the Football Combination more than once and we won the FA Youth Cup when we put in John Barnes as a ringer, he was the only one to make it to first team football
[/QUOTE]I think you'll get an argument from Nigel Gibbs, Jimmy Gilligan, Paul Franklin, Neil Price, Ian Richardson, David Johnson and Worrall Sterling about that. probably from Gary Porter as well - he was unused sub in both legs of the final.
Had a quick search through Football Combination champions - can only find that we won the Div2 title in 1959/60.
It would seem that in this instance you were correct Bolton BootsI thought they were in different Youth Cup Squads
Nigel Gibbs was already on the fringes of the Ist team I think
It was a long time ago
It would seem that in this instance you were correct Bolton Boots
And we did win in 1989 against Man City
They got their revenge 30 years later at Wembley