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Post by castleblack on Aug 16, 2016 20:13:54 GMT
johnypotter,,, i havnt been back since then,the club let him and the supporters down.;;i feel the coates family treat the players and their employees with far more appreceiation and respect these days than the directors of old.the roof bew off and we wernt insured!!!,yeah right.
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Post by dutchstokie on Aug 16, 2016 20:23:19 GMT
I'm 49 and when I play 5 a side on a Sunday I still shout out" Greenhoff" before slotting the ball ........just past the post in my case.
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Post by Staying up for Grandadstokey on Aug 16, 2016 20:29:47 GMT
Your memory is playing tricks or you on one of your usual senile wind ups. Dobing was the victim of the boo boys. Please see above post about 'Jimmy Nearly'. He was ridiculed for a couple of years before he overcame the doubters. Nowhere near a couple of years,when he first came he struggled to score, but it wasn't that he was playing badly,you could see the ability and when he did finally score he became a regular goalscorer.Didn't Mark Stein also start slowly? he came originally on loan and was signed despite not scoring during his loan spell.
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Post by bobbyh on Aug 16, 2016 20:35:04 GMT
I grew up watching the Stoke team of the early 70s and Jimmy was my all time hero. I used to love the way he moved and whilst he wasn't always a prolific scorer, many of his goals were truly memorable. I felt he really came into his own when Hudson joined and they had a brilliant almost telepathic understanding. Whilst the two of them were on song in 74/75 we had that great spell consistently towards the top of the league and playing some sweet football. In fact it was when we were at the top at Birmingham that Jimmy broke his nose quite badly ( soon after scoring that great volley) and was out for a few games. We quickly slipped back and he was understandably a bit tentative when he returned to the team, and maybe with the points we lost over that spell it possibly cost us the title. He was truly that good and a pretty modest man to boot, no brooding ego. If only we had him today!
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Post by jonnynico on Aug 16, 2016 20:44:18 GMT
Your memory is playing tricks or you on one of your usual senile wind ups. Dobing was the victim of the boo boys. When Jimmy first joined he took a time to settle and there were plenty of what a waste of money chants.But once he settled he proved his worth. I remember his first away game for us and plenty moaning about him, in fact he was too fast and clever for the rest of the team. Always was and always will be my favourite football player, a real hero. Thank you jimbo for the pleasure of watching you play.
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Post by eastyorksexile on Aug 16, 2016 20:58:39 GMT
I grew up watching Jimmy and he is my second all time favourite behind Hudson, both would walk into any Stoke team, class is always class. Hughes was also similar to Jimmy in the way he could hold the ball up with his back to the defender, both strong ang big elbows......
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Post by y2j on Aug 17, 2016 7:44:14 GMT
Gees, I have started an interesting debate haven't I? I'm too young to remember him, but from what everyone has said I certainly wish we had him in our team now!
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Post by Waggy on Aug 17, 2016 7:57:36 GMT
I played until I was 45 and in every team I had to be no 8 . My son took over in his early years as no 8 also. I remember when he was sold and couldn't believe it. Best player I ever saw Demands of modern football. I always played number 12. Substitute. If i see that manager again i would tell him theres more to me than cutting up oranges and passing them round at half time. Bastard
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Post by okeydokeystokie2 on Aug 17, 2016 8:40:53 GMT
I started watching Stoke in 72 and he was my immediate "hero" (even though, funnily enough, I never saw him score many goals ) Fab to watch and when Hudson arrived they were an - altogether too brief - utter joy to experience He always seemed a true "gent" - after his magnificent header away at Derby you could easily lip-read him simply saying "Good Ball" to Salmons (?) who had crossed it and jogging back to the halfway line. You just know a lot of other players would have been saying "what a fucking great cross" and racing to the fans for adulation. I heard - not sure how accurately - that he had fallen on very hard times in later life after a business venture went wrong and ended up as a FLT driver in a Crewe factory to make ends meet, so if he can nowadays afford to regularly come to games that that is great news if it means he got sorted out (apols if that last bit is spurious and incorrect ! Not living locally I get info 2nd and 3rd hand or via this MB !! ) Nice to read some of these memories. I was only a kid too, but he was my hero and was everything I wanted to be when I grew up. Sometimes difficult to be objective about your hero as a kid, but he seemed brilliant to me.
Like NottinghamStokie above, I've discovered my first game was after the League Cup final in April 1972. I also remember that Derby goal - a diving, twisting header into the far corner from a ball from the left. Jimmy landed in the bog that was the penalty area at The Baseball Ground. He may have said "Good Ball", but the reality was it was a dreadful ball! It was behind him, with little pace on it, but somehow Jimmy checked, dived backwards to his left and twisted his neck right to spear the ball into the right hand corner. Awareness, athleticism, improvisation, imagination, audacity, great skill and perfect execution. The signs of football genius. He had the knack of making any ball into the box look a dangerous one.
And that wasn't as good as his goal against Birmingham City, which was very similar to Crouchy's against Manchester City. Jimmy's was slightly more of an angle possibly and the ball came from a header straight up the pitch to him with his back to goal, outside the box, right side. In one fluid movement he controlled on his chest, did at least a 180 degree spin and absolutely twatted it into the top left corner. Still one of the best goals I've ever seen.
You're also right mate when you talk about Huddy. The strutting, cocky Cockney running down the middle of the Vic, head up, looking for Greenhoff. Jimmy himself said it was telepathic: Huddy seemed to know where and when Jimmy wanted to make his run, and popped the ball there almost before he went.
All of us of a certain age will have a clear memory of Hugh Johns metallic voice on Star Soccer - "JIMMY GREENHOFF! One nothing, Stoke City!" Like Dutch Stokie, I still say it now whenever I have a kickabout.
Looking back on those golden days as a kid, none of them ever seemed to have a bad game!
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Post by rawli on Aug 17, 2016 8:56:42 GMT
Jimmy was a real victim of the boo boys. Surely you were one of them given your rather unusual taste in players and your loathing of flair and goals. Or is it just in your dotage that you've regressed?
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Post by potbank on Aug 19, 2016 9:14:37 GMT
Absolutely fantastic reading about the one and only Jimmy Greenhoff. When I was young he was my footballing hero. His goal against Birmingham....he would walk into today lethargic England team and would have been a key player if it wasn't for the England managers of the day....same as Hudson. Like someone said earlier when they have a kick about they shout his name if they score past the jumpers.....So do I and I'm 55..........I had the privilege to meet him a few times and he comes across as a really decent bloke....Stoke City Legend......and yes in response to the opening thread.....he was that good, no doubt.
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