Here's mine. Harry Sharratt, 1929 - 2002. A goalkeeper. He refused to turn professional on principal, but his schoolteacher salary and his expenses exceeded the salary cap anyway. Played for Bishop Aukland, was reserve at the Matthews final and stood in for Man U after Munich. Was described as the fourth best keeper in the world, but didn't get an answer when he asked he the other three could be. Known for sitting on the cross bar to watch the game. For reading a paper during the game. For getting booked for building a snowman in the goal mouth during a game. When his side were winning he was known to pass the ball direct to the opposition and invite them to try again. In a game where they were well on top, he stood to the side of the goal to let the opponents tap three in to make the game more interesting.
Where do you start with Deano. Remember him at Cardiff away. Just about to take a pen and one of the Cardiff fans lobbed a can at him. He only f*cking picked it up opened it took a swig and the scored. Take that you b*stards . Imagine that happening nowadays? Charlie Wright - used to stand at the bottom of South Stand by the fence. There were always wise cracks giving it verbals to the goalies / defenders etc. He used to turn round and give it back, with his back to the game. My old man said he once asked for a cig during a game and got it and smoked away while playing
Can I add another .. Billy Whitehurst. Examples ... usually beer related and / or involving that tub o lard Hesford.
Ken Bates - almost any press release he's ever made. I'm sure one day we're going wake up and he's died, and his Mrs is going to be on the telly saying he was a wonderful actor and she can't believe they managed to keep up the pretence that he was a real person for so long.
Brian Clough - best english manager never to manage England, took a set of aged hasbeens to win promotion, win the first division and two back to back European cups. Cheated out of a third by Bruge who later accepted bribing the ref. Cheated out of an FA cup win when Gazza injured himself fouling a forest player carried off instead of being sent off. The FA were **** scared their secret would come out if he was ever appointed England manager, namely they were incompetent. Told Revie he was a cheat, bribed officials (true) told the Leeds premadonnas they were fouling cheating players who couldnt play football ( he was right about that too) Spoke his mind and was true to himself, players were scared of him yet loved him!
You'd have to say George Best. The first football superstar. I'll never tire of watching clips of him on the football field. No player could ride a tackle the way he did, as players tried to cynically take him out. Modern players would be rolling around on the ground. And getting back to him being a character,you can't beat that moment when he took on couple of players, kills the ball, takes off his boot and passes to a team mate. Some might say he was self indulgent off the pitch and squandered his talent, but what a life he lived. I think if I could have been one person for one day, it would be George in his prime. A few quotes; I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. I was in for 10 hours and had 40 pints - beating my previous record by 20 minutes. talking about a blood transfusion during his liver transplant So George, where did it all go wrong? The hotel bellboy who delivered champagne to Best's room and found him with a naked Miss World on a bed covered with his winnings from the casino I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World. please log in to view this image
Sir Bobby Robson. Told it how it was - bad or good. Wore his heart on his sleeve. The best England manager in my lifetime.
Ken Wagstaff - burned cotton wool in the toilets at half time, to cover up the fact that he was having a cig. Quite how he thought that would fool anyone is beyond me.
??? Must have been awful at it since, just like your beloved Cloughy, he was cheated out of 2 European Trophies by bribed officials. Bribery allegations were brought up by a jilted player who was later proved to have no evidence and a case flimsier than Ben Parker's calf. Of course let's not let fact get in the way of mindless bias eh lads.
Yeah, you win 42 match league titles without playing football. Go back and reminisce about your experience of top flight football and league titles. There that's that done with.
The bribe allegations were offered by a number of people, some of whom challenged Revie to sue them which he decided against. But that's lifetimes ago and this thread's about characters so leave it there eh? You won't convince us any more than we'll convince you.
John Sitton. Former Orient player and manager. Famous for some 'passionate' team talks, as documeted on channel 4 programme, Orient: Club for a fiver. Like the he lets Chris Turner start, then he moves in. Here he sacks a player and offers two others out [video=youtube;obixCOVTVwY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obixCOVTVwY[/video] Here he tells them the ****ing truth [video=youtube;zg_lPJ8hHP0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg_lPJ8hHP0&feature=related[/video]
