Post by gazz on Dec 4, 2013 19:54:32 GMT
Lowe ("Whispering Ted")
Sir Roger
There's no doubting commentators play an important part in the coverage of "live" sporting events. You only have to think of such great names such as , Henry Longhurst, Peter O'Sullevan, Dan Maskell, Murray Walker, Bill McLaren, who all graced their chosen sport with such distinction and made the event they were covering all the more special, with their dulcet tones, charm and expertise.
For me, "Whispering Ted" holds a place amongst the elite; the man who was the voice of snooker. Not only was he a great commentator, but the proud owner of one my favourite gaffes ever made, when he said " for those watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green".
Leeds, Leeds, Leeds
sandbachhatter
Yes, I'm well aware I've already covered Elland Road under week 'E' and yes, thank you for the countless PM's confirming I should have won the award that week but, what can I say? I'm having another go at telling a story about our friends from down the M62...
It was our first season in League 1 and we had Dirty Leeds Leeds Leeds at EP on (I think) Boxing Day. It was around Christmas time anyway and as I recall a Sunday but, nevertheless, it was deemed appropriate to move the kick off earlier on account of their fans being, by and large, a group of lobotomised gibbons.
Prior to the game it had been announced we were giving the away fans the Railway End and the entire Pop Side so us home fans had to act fast. I therefore nipped out of the office on the day tickets went on sale and drove to EP on my lunch break.
As I got there, expecting massive queues, there was only one other bloke who was approaching the window about 10 seconds before me. I should remind everyone at this point that the away tickets had sold out, so we'd been warned that we might have to answer some County-related questions in order to get our tickets and avoid dirty Leeds fans getting in to the Cheadle End. You know, the kind of stuff no one else would know, like "We used to have a 6'7" black striker. Who was he?" or "Why is it called the Railway End?" or "What does SCFC stand for?"
The mind boggles.
Anyway, as I approach the window, the guy in front of me has just got there and (this is where me telling the story in person works better) says to the lady troll behind the window:
"Eh up love. Can I get tickets fuh t'game on Sunday?"
"Erm, where are you from?"
"T'Stockport"
"Really?" (with a wry smile) "Which stand would you like tickets for then love?"
"Erm, this big one here will do."
"The Cheadle End?"
"Ay, that's t'one"
(aside: At this point I'm about to step in an utter something along the lines of "Are you having a f**king laugh love?! You're not seriously going to sell him tickets?!" Fortunately I realised shortly afterwards I didn't need to as she was just humouring him. Let's continue....)
"Right, I just need your postcode to process the sale"
"Oh, right, er, LS, no I mean, erm, what's the start bit for Stockport?"
"Nice try. Off you go Leeds fan"
"I'm not a Leeds fan!" At this point he starts banging the window, presumably annoyed at his wasted 2 hour round trip. After a while he gets bored and wanders back to his car uttering something in Yaarrrkkkshire speak.
Up steps me and gets to the same point in the Spanish Inquisition.
"What's your postcode love?"
"CW....." (rest deleted for safety reasons)
"That's not a Stockport postcode either."
"Quite right my little porcupine, it's not. It's a Crewe postcode. Sandbach to be precise. Go on, ask me the Kevin Francis question...."
Liverpool - FA Cup - 1964-65 season
bringbacklenwhite
County had been having a torrid time (what changes ?) and were rock bottom of the old 4th Division, our usual place for many seasons before automatic relegation came in. But a famous cup run was to put the club on the way to fame and fortune (well nearly).
My brother and I had just started to take an interest in attending "real" football matches and couldn't afford to watch the two "big time billies" in a small place near Stockport. County were cheap and cheerful and fairly near to home.
The cup run started with a 2-1 defeat of, the then non-league, Wigan Athletic. Aclose run thing. The next game brought Grimsby to Edgeley Park. They were top of Division 3 and guaranteed a good pay day. A marvellous 1-0 win took them through to play Bristol Rovers also near the top of Division 3 by the time the January fixture came around. An unheard of away draw, 0-0, brought the mighty blue and white quarters up't north on a cold Monday night just 2 days after the original game (try organising that nowadays). County scored 3 times (probably for the first time in a number of years) to win a ding-dong game 3-2.
The magic of the cup draw then pitched small-time, humble County AWAY against the mighty Reds of Liverpool. Top of Division 1 and lords and masters of football. Tommy Smith, Roger Hunt, Ian St John etc.
As my Dad went out to work that Saturday morning he joking said "If County get a draw we'll go and queue up for tickets tomorrow morning". Little did he suspect !
The rest is history. An opening goal from Len White stunned a capacity crowd at Anfield. David Coleman nearly swallowed his mike in the Grandstand studio. A second half-equalizer by Pool was an anti-climax until County had an excellent late penalty shout turned down when Ian Sandiford was vapourized by Tommy Smith.
Dad returned home at tea-time just as the results are coming in (no car radio in a 20 year old ex-taxi Austin Princess) stunned to hear the final 1-1 result. So off to EP we trudge on Sunday morning to join the long queue all the way back to the Greek Street Roundabout. They doubled the price of admission from 1/3d to 2/6d (2 shillings and 6 pence - yes - 12 and a half new pence) for juniors. 5 shillings for adults.
Come the 3rd February and we and about 23,000 others crammed into the ground. we were on the open end, 5 rows back. To relieve the crush they allowed the first 4 rows over the barrier and on to the trackside path. I was jammed against the wall and couldn't get my leg over (so to speak). In the next 90 minutes all I saw was the ball hit the cross bar twice (Roger Hunt) as everyone in front stood up for the whole game.
For the record County lost 2-0 and we saw the game on TV (black and white of course) later at 11pm.
Liverpool went on to beat Leeds 2-1 (aet) at Wembley in the Final. I remember being so proud that my team "STOCKPORT COUNTY" were listed in the programme under "The Way to Wembley" article.
Stockport went on to survive re-election (mainly because of the cup run) and 2 seasons later won the Division 4 having invested the cup money in quality, experienced players such as Matt Woods, Eddie Stuart, Len Allchurch, Johnny Price, Tommy Henderson and so on.
Lincoln City Away - September 2011
bigfudge
The plan was very straightforward, the coach was going to leave the fingerpost pub at 4:15pm, me and my friend were booked on the coach and basically the plan was, my friend was going to meet me at work in Dane Bank at 3pm where my boss was going to give me a lift back to my house, where at 3:30pm we would arrive at my house, another friend was then going to pick us up, drive us to the fingerpost and we'd arrive with a bit of time to spare!
However come 3:05pm when my friend rang us saying he was only at Denton Golf Club we drove up to go and collect him, making us late for arriving back in Heaton Chapel, we didn't arrive until 3:40pm meaning my other friend had left due to traffic to ensure he got there in time, so we were getting worried, we rang a taxi that didn't arrive until 3:50pm and as soon as we got up to Manchester Road, the traffic had blocked us in, the time got to 4:10pm and we were only on St. Mary's way, only 5/10 minutes away normally but with this traffic we begged Lou to hold the coach, he did another 5 minutes to 4:20pm but he couldn't hold it any longer and they had to leave, our taxi driver had taken a different route to the pub which fortunately was the route the coach had taken the other way, so the cab beeped it's horn with us flailing our arms out of the window getting his attention, the driver pulled into the nearest bus stop causing a few very irate bus drivers but we climbed on to some very ironic cheers, at 4:25pm, miraculously, we had got on the coach!
The game itself was terrible, we came away with a 1-1 draw after Tom Elliott had put us level on the stroke of half time, in the second half, Lincoln hit the bar a ridiculous 3 times and were very unfortunate not to have won the game by a good 4 or 5 goals, so a decent result none the less, the journey back was far more straight forward and we had no such problems getting back after the game!
Lenwhite, Bringback
County Fan
Top Bloke, Great games on County Heaven and fantastic golfer
Unfortunately not open to bribes offers or influenced by nice words about who wins........Shame!!
Lincoln City Away: 7th April 2007
hatter in macc
A funny thing happened on my way to the (Sincil) Bank...
Arriving in Lincoln on a gloriously sunny Easter Saturday, I wondered whether I might be slightly overdressed for the occasion, wearing as I was a 'casual walking-out' jacket in readiness for a dinner that we had booked to go to immediately after the game. My decision to keep it on was to have a significant implication for events that were shortly to unfold.
In the car with me that afternoon were Mrs Macc, Macc Junior and Macc Junior's Scary Godmother. Given that the little 'un was still at the toddler stage, and liable to get fractious if too much walking were involved, it was agreed that I should drop the three of them off at the ground, which I dutifully did, before driving off in search of a parking-spot.
I found a quiet cul-de-sac, just a few minutes' walk from Sincil Bank, and parked up. The tranquil hush around me was, however, shattered as I got out of the car, and a Local Lincoln Lady (Let's hear it for a-Lliteration!) rushed from her house, and into the street, ranting and raving. At first, I thought that she was going to have a go at me for lowering the tone of the neighbourhood with my ageing Ford Fiesta...but, no - she was in desperate need of help to find her pet, 'Freddie', which had just escaped into the front garden! It wasn't yet 2.30, so I agreed to join her, as well as a couple of other passers-by, in the search...
Before long, the Local Lincoln Lady spotted 'Freddie':
LLL - "There he is! There he is! There's my darling! Under the tree!"
Looking over at the tree, I could see two winsome eyes staring back at me. And then I gingerly moved closer to home in on the little furry creature...
Oh, Jesus wept - it was a ferret. Pick one of those up the wrong way, and I'd never learn to play the piano...surprise.
Time, perhaps, to make light of the situation by adapting a Monty Python line:
Macc - "Is it behind the ferret?"
LLL (incredulous) - "It is the bl**dy ferret!"
Dammit. Still, there was one thing I could try. In a rare moment of Macc inspiration, it was off with the casual walking-out jacket, which I threw over 'Freddie', confusing him just enough to give me time to gather up the bundle, hurry across the garden towards the front door, and unfurl my jacket so that the ferret ended up safely indoors and I, equally safely, retained working use of all my fingers.
Good deed done, I legged it to the ground to find Mrs Macc and Scary Godmother impatiently tapping their feet, and a bawling Macc Junior who had feared that his Daddy had got lost and wouldn't be coming to the game. Composing myself, and dusting down my jacket, which by now was rather badly, not to mention suspiciously, spoiled by grass stains and a few bits of twig, I realised that the tricky bit was yet to come! Still, as a notoriously unsuccessful fibber and less-than-quick-thinker, I was left with little option than to see how the truth might go down...
"You'll NEVER believe what I've just had to do on my way here..."
Sir Roger
There's no doubting commentators play an important part in the coverage of "live" sporting events. You only have to think of such great names such as , Henry Longhurst, Peter O'Sullevan, Dan Maskell, Murray Walker, Bill McLaren, who all graced their chosen sport with such distinction and made the event they were covering all the more special, with their dulcet tones, charm and expertise.
For me, "Whispering Ted" holds a place amongst the elite; the man who was the voice of snooker. Not only was he a great commentator, but the proud owner of one my favourite gaffes ever made, when he said " for those watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green".
Leeds, Leeds, Leeds
sandbachhatter
Yes, I'm well aware I've already covered Elland Road under week 'E' and yes, thank you for the countless PM's confirming I should have won the award that week but, what can I say? I'm having another go at telling a story about our friends from down the M62...
It was our first season in League 1 and we had Dirty Leeds Leeds Leeds at EP on (I think) Boxing Day. It was around Christmas time anyway and as I recall a Sunday but, nevertheless, it was deemed appropriate to move the kick off earlier on account of their fans being, by and large, a group of lobotomised gibbons.
Prior to the game it had been announced we were giving the away fans the Railway End and the entire Pop Side so us home fans had to act fast. I therefore nipped out of the office on the day tickets went on sale and drove to EP on my lunch break.
As I got there, expecting massive queues, there was only one other bloke who was approaching the window about 10 seconds before me. I should remind everyone at this point that the away tickets had sold out, so we'd been warned that we might have to answer some County-related questions in order to get our tickets and avoid dirty Leeds fans getting in to the Cheadle End. You know, the kind of stuff no one else would know, like "We used to have a 6'7" black striker. Who was he?" or "Why is it called the Railway End?" or "What does SCFC stand for?"
The mind boggles.
Anyway, as I approach the window, the guy in front of me has just got there and (this is where me telling the story in person works better) says to the lady troll behind the window:
"Eh up love. Can I get tickets fuh t'game on Sunday?"
"Erm, where are you from?"
"T'Stockport"
"Really?" (with a wry smile) "Which stand would you like tickets for then love?"
"Erm, this big one here will do."
"The Cheadle End?"
"Ay, that's t'one"
(aside: At this point I'm about to step in an utter something along the lines of "Are you having a f**king laugh love?! You're not seriously going to sell him tickets?!" Fortunately I realised shortly afterwards I didn't need to as she was just humouring him. Let's continue....)
"Right, I just need your postcode to process the sale"
"Oh, right, er, LS, no I mean, erm, what's the start bit for Stockport?"
"Nice try. Off you go Leeds fan"
"I'm not a Leeds fan!" At this point he starts banging the window, presumably annoyed at his wasted 2 hour round trip. After a while he gets bored and wanders back to his car uttering something in Yaarrrkkkshire speak.
Up steps me and gets to the same point in the Spanish Inquisition.
"What's your postcode love?"
"CW....." (rest deleted for safety reasons)
"That's not a Stockport postcode either."
"Quite right my little porcupine, it's not. It's a Crewe postcode. Sandbach to be precise. Go on, ask me the Kevin Francis question...."
Liverpool - FA Cup - 1964-65 season
bringbacklenwhite
County had been having a torrid time (what changes ?) and were rock bottom of the old 4th Division, our usual place for many seasons before automatic relegation came in. But a famous cup run was to put the club on the way to fame and fortune (well nearly).
My brother and I had just started to take an interest in attending "real" football matches and couldn't afford to watch the two "big time billies" in a small place near Stockport. County were cheap and cheerful and fairly near to home.
The cup run started with a 2-1 defeat of, the then non-league, Wigan Athletic. Aclose run thing. The next game brought Grimsby to Edgeley Park. They were top of Division 3 and guaranteed a good pay day. A marvellous 1-0 win took them through to play Bristol Rovers also near the top of Division 3 by the time the January fixture came around. An unheard of away draw, 0-0, brought the mighty blue and white quarters up't north on a cold Monday night just 2 days after the original game (try organising that nowadays). County scored 3 times (probably for the first time in a number of years) to win a ding-dong game 3-2.
The magic of the cup draw then pitched small-time, humble County AWAY against the mighty Reds of Liverpool. Top of Division 1 and lords and masters of football. Tommy Smith, Roger Hunt, Ian St John etc.
As my Dad went out to work that Saturday morning he joking said "If County get a draw we'll go and queue up for tickets tomorrow morning". Little did he suspect !
The rest is history. An opening goal from Len White stunned a capacity crowd at Anfield. David Coleman nearly swallowed his mike in the Grandstand studio. A second half-equalizer by Pool was an anti-climax until County had an excellent late penalty shout turned down when Ian Sandiford was vapourized by Tommy Smith.
Dad returned home at tea-time just as the results are coming in (no car radio in a 20 year old ex-taxi Austin Princess) stunned to hear the final 1-1 result. So off to EP we trudge on Sunday morning to join the long queue all the way back to the Greek Street Roundabout. They doubled the price of admission from 1/3d to 2/6d (2 shillings and 6 pence - yes - 12 and a half new pence) for juniors. 5 shillings for adults.
Come the 3rd February and we and about 23,000 others crammed into the ground. we were on the open end, 5 rows back. To relieve the crush they allowed the first 4 rows over the barrier and on to the trackside path. I was jammed against the wall and couldn't get my leg over (so to speak). In the next 90 minutes all I saw was the ball hit the cross bar twice (Roger Hunt) as everyone in front stood up for the whole game.
For the record County lost 2-0 and we saw the game on TV (black and white of course) later at 11pm.
Liverpool went on to beat Leeds 2-1 (aet) at Wembley in the Final. I remember being so proud that my team "STOCKPORT COUNTY" were listed in the programme under "The Way to Wembley" article.
Stockport went on to survive re-election (mainly because of the cup run) and 2 seasons later won the Division 4 having invested the cup money in quality, experienced players such as Matt Woods, Eddie Stuart, Len Allchurch, Johnny Price, Tommy Henderson and so on.
Lincoln City Away - September 2011
bigfudge
The plan was very straightforward, the coach was going to leave the fingerpost pub at 4:15pm, me and my friend were booked on the coach and basically the plan was, my friend was going to meet me at work in Dane Bank at 3pm where my boss was going to give me a lift back to my house, where at 3:30pm we would arrive at my house, another friend was then going to pick us up, drive us to the fingerpost and we'd arrive with a bit of time to spare!
However come 3:05pm when my friend rang us saying he was only at Denton Golf Club we drove up to go and collect him, making us late for arriving back in Heaton Chapel, we didn't arrive until 3:40pm meaning my other friend had left due to traffic to ensure he got there in time, so we were getting worried, we rang a taxi that didn't arrive until 3:50pm and as soon as we got up to Manchester Road, the traffic had blocked us in, the time got to 4:10pm and we were only on St. Mary's way, only 5/10 minutes away normally but with this traffic we begged Lou to hold the coach, he did another 5 minutes to 4:20pm but he couldn't hold it any longer and they had to leave, our taxi driver had taken a different route to the pub which fortunately was the route the coach had taken the other way, so the cab beeped it's horn with us flailing our arms out of the window getting his attention, the driver pulled into the nearest bus stop causing a few very irate bus drivers but we climbed on to some very ironic cheers, at 4:25pm, miraculously, we had got on the coach!
The game itself was terrible, we came away with a 1-1 draw after Tom Elliott had put us level on the stroke of half time, in the second half, Lincoln hit the bar a ridiculous 3 times and were very unfortunate not to have won the game by a good 4 or 5 goals, so a decent result none the less, the journey back was far more straight forward and we had no such problems getting back after the game!
Lenwhite, Bringback
County Fan
Top Bloke, Great games on County Heaven and fantastic golfer
Unfortunately not open to bribes offers or influenced by nice words about who wins........Shame!!
Lincoln City Away: 7th April 2007
hatter in macc
A funny thing happened on my way to the (Sincil) Bank...
Arriving in Lincoln on a gloriously sunny Easter Saturday, I wondered whether I might be slightly overdressed for the occasion, wearing as I was a 'casual walking-out' jacket in readiness for a dinner that we had booked to go to immediately after the game. My decision to keep it on was to have a significant implication for events that were shortly to unfold.
In the car with me that afternoon were Mrs Macc, Macc Junior and Macc Junior's Scary Godmother. Given that the little 'un was still at the toddler stage, and liable to get fractious if too much walking were involved, it was agreed that I should drop the three of them off at the ground, which I dutifully did, before driving off in search of a parking-spot.
I found a quiet cul-de-sac, just a few minutes' walk from Sincil Bank, and parked up. The tranquil hush around me was, however, shattered as I got out of the car, and a Local Lincoln Lady (Let's hear it for a-Lliteration!) rushed from her house, and into the street, ranting and raving. At first, I thought that she was going to have a go at me for lowering the tone of the neighbourhood with my ageing Ford Fiesta...but, no - she was in desperate need of help to find her pet, 'Freddie', which had just escaped into the front garden! It wasn't yet 2.30, so I agreed to join her, as well as a couple of other passers-by, in the search...
Before long, the Local Lincoln Lady spotted 'Freddie':
LLL - "There he is! There he is! There's my darling! Under the tree!"
Looking over at the tree, I could see two winsome eyes staring back at me. And then I gingerly moved closer to home in on the little furry creature...
Oh, Jesus wept - it was a ferret. Pick one of those up the wrong way, and I'd never learn to play the piano...surprise.
Time, perhaps, to make light of the situation by adapting a Monty Python line:
Macc - "Is it behind the ferret?"
LLL (incredulous) - "It is the bl**dy ferret!"
Dammit. Still, there was one thing I could try. In a rare moment of Macc inspiration, it was off with the casual walking-out jacket, which I threw over 'Freddie', confusing him just enough to give me time to gather up the bundle, hurry across the garden towards the front door, and unfurl my jacket so that the ferret ended up safely indoors and I, equally safely, retained working use of all my fingers.
Good deed done, I legged it to the ground to find Mrs Macc and Scary Godmother impatiently tapping their feet, and a bawling Macc Junior who had feared that his Daddy had got lost and wouldn't be coming to the game. Composing myself, and dusting down my jacket, which by now was rather badly, not to mention suspiciously, spoiled by grass stains and a few bits of twig, I realised that the tricky bit was yet to come! Still, as a notoriously unsuccessful fibber and less-than-quick-thinker, I was left with little option than to see how the truth might go down...
"You'll NEVER believe what I've just had to do on my way here..."