Off Topic Other Sport

RIP Peter 'The Cat' Bonetti. A fine goalkeeper.

 

I always thought it hilarious that in the Only Fools and Horses Miami special when Del Boy found himself mistaken as a Florida Mafia Drug Dealer that he sits at a table with a load of Colombian drug suppliers replying 'Bonetti' to everything they said.

 

Yes he was a fine goalkeeper. I was at Stamford Bridge the night they secured their return to Div. 1, must have been '63. That was a great side that played exciting football with players like Venables, Tambling and Bridges. I felt their classiest player was Ken Shellitoe, who was right back. Soon after that game he was injured and his career over. I'm sure he would have been in the '66 World cup Squad.
It's amazing to think that with Bonetti that Chelsea bought Alex Stepney in about '67. nobody understood it and Stepney was soon on his way to Manu U. Again amazing to think that by '69 we had 4 of the best goalkeepers in the World available to England, because there was Shilton at Leicester too.

Poor old Peter (Bonetti) is probably best remembered for that 3-2 defeat in Mexico.

By the way I'm not a Chelsea fan. Wash your mouths out. In those days I watched just about everyone.....Fulham, Brentford, Spurs, Chelsea and of course QPR.

 

One of the racing sites has been recommending books to read and one of the football books recommended is 'The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw'. It charts the career of Robin Friday who was a pro for 4 years with Reading and Cardiff.
Well I did see him. In fact I played with him in a trial for the local district side, Acton Brentford and Chiswick, in 1962. I played against him several times for my school team against his school team, Berymede, in the '61 to '63 years. His twin brother also played alongside him. I don't know if he was the best player I never saw in 1974-6, and he wasn't a bad footballer in 1961-3, but he wasn't the best by a long way. He was always getting into trouble that was certain.

In fact here is the Acton Brentford and Chiswick Under 11s side of December 1962 (the second and last game they played that season as we didn't play any football again until early March). Does anyone recognise any player below? 5 points to anyone who gets someone right. (Robin Friday didn't make the side by the way).

 

Great story!
Is Don Shanks in there?

 

Stick, I thought you'd be the one to get it but not Don. Perhaps a better player than that, no not perhaps definitely a better player than Don.

 

Think of someone who's 68 today and would have been 20 in 1971/72 season, and yes they did play for a local side..

 

I will always remember Mexico for Alf Ramsey leaving Peter Osgood on the bench, when the latter's talent and skills were needed the most.

P.S. OhOh, think I might have my games screwed-up here, please correct me if so!

 

OK, the just 11yo boy in the middle of the front row was the captain of that team, and future captain of both QPR and England.....Gerald (Gerry) Francis.

 

Sorry, none this week.

 

Has anyone got a background knowledge of what's going on with the Scottish football strife? Dundee has something to do with it all. And Patrick Thistle are threatening some sort of legal assault. It seems that Hearts and Rangers are also thinking about the legal side of things.

Any detailed info, especially from the beginning would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

I bit one sided Cyc, do NSW not score anything in these match ups...

 

I support Queens land in these match ups but NSW have been the better side in recent years

 

Nah, nothing Red, they're ****.

 

Yeah, bunch of turds. I'm not in anyway biased of course.

 

I avoid the BBC as much as possible but today I will break that by tuning in as they repeat highlights of the 1990 FA cup semi finals. Liverpool v Palace, Oldham v Man U.
I specifically remember watching these live one after the other as a teen, 2 superb games they were.

 

To each his own, of course, but isn't it strange how different people feel about various things in general. For me, I much prefer the BBC, for all its faults!

 

Its Scottish football Cyc. Which means it doesn't matter a jot.
Sorry I couldn't elaborate more.

 

It's as farcical as ever. I don't really pay it a whole lot of attention so can't give a detailed account but if the local news and social media feeds of those invested in it are to be trusted it goes something like this: the ruling body proposed ending the season now pretty much as things stand and put it up to a vote. All 42 clubs in our top 4 divisions were required to submit their vote by 5pm on Friday (last Friday? The one before, I don't even know. What day are we on?) Anyway the deadline passed and votes went as expected. Rangers didn't want to hand the title to Celtic as mathematically they could still catch up. Hearts and Partick and the like obviously wouldn't vote for their own relegation. The vote goes the way of the proposal thanks to one club abstaining. Rangers, Partick Thistle and Hearts and some others release statements reasserting their objections to the proposal. Rangers threaten legal action stating the governing body are bullying clubs by with-holding payouts unless the vote went their way (most Scottish clubs struggling to stay afloat even with gate receipts, never mind these weeks of no football at what would've been the business end of the season). Some other Clubs follow Rangers position with statements released. Including Dundee which confuses EVERYONE as Dundee would've benefited from the proposal, leading every Scotsman and his dog to conclude that Dundee were the club who didn't bother to submit their vote.

Thats my half-arsed understanding of it. I couldn't really care to be honest.