.....and he only played 21 games for us!!!! Which just shows the impact that he made! He just bloody knew what he was doing! An absolute rock!
I do I was there when Joe made his debut for the lads and remember Dave Watson being signed as his replacement as a centre forward.
Home grown Jimmy Montgomery. Great goalkeeper. I'm sure he was in the England squad but was behind the greatest goalie of all time, Banksy, and Bonetti and never broke through to the first team.
Dave Watson was a strange one, he was one of those rare players who seem to rise to the big occasion, internationals, cup games etc., he was phenominal, but in the bread and butter league games he was inconsistent. Almost the dead opposite of some current England players. And I must have missed those Jim Baxter moments as I only remember him playing one good game for us in his time here, and that was when he was playing for a move. On a different tack, I remember a similar player who gave a real "Jim Baxter" performance at Roker Park his name was Alex Sabella what a game he played, probably one of the best individual demonstration's the old ground had ever witnessed. Just for that night alone I wish Argentina well in the up-coming final against Germany.
How about John Hughes? I was at that game, he got injured in his first game and never played for us again If my memory serves me well.