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Post by johnnysoul60 on Jun 26, 2019 10:58:04 GMT
Some Stokies of a certain vintage will remember Mark , a larger than life character who has passed away in London at the age of 60 . Mark was a big Stoke fan until life took him away from the area , would be there home and away and holding court in local pubs ( probably a bit too much) I grew up around him being a year behind at school and he always had time for me and I grew to respect him . At school when we did something wrong Mark would often be the one who would be left at the scene and would get the flack off the teachers , a characteristic that seemed to follow him into adult life . He left the area a long time ago and had been living in London most recently . Id lost touch , last seeing him at a night game at Oxford in the 90's that he turned up at. Hopefully sone of you remember him and have good tales to tell. His funeral will be on 10th July at St Teresa's Trent Vale where we went to school and he often had us in stitches during our alter boy careers.
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Post by NassauDave on Jun 26, 2019 13:49:19 GMT
I remember Mark. Big lad! His sister taught me English at Bishop Bright. What happened to him?
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Post by Okie Stokie. on Jun 26, 2019 14:02:38 GMT
R.I.P.
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Post by norters on Jun 26, 2019 14:40:40 GMT
I remember Finney well.. couple of years older but always used to hang around the West End, the Talbot, the Gordon, etc..
There'll be loads of stories about Finney, Pickled Pete & co from the old Stoke days.. every Friday night was riot in the Weatsheaf.. Finney was continually banned!
One that I remember is going to Bolton away in the late 80's and meeting Finney, a bearded Kev Lillee and a few of the Stoke locals in Manchester as we crossed over to Victoria. Finney had this bizarre patchwork quilt donkey jacket thing on that received endless piss taking.. He argued that it was some ridiculous Italian designer that no-one had ever heard of.. he'd 'acquired' it from some where! Got off the train at Bolton around 3pm and started to walk down towards Burnden Park.. It was in the mad old days of the N40 and Stoke had been knocking around Bolton all day causing havoc since 12.. the fire had long subsided when a mixed bag of 15 of us arrived at 3pm..
As we walked down towards the ground on the left side of the road, a mob of Bolton grew and grew on the other side as their pubs emptied.. There was a lone copper in the middle of the road who advised us to take no notice of them and stay on our side of the road to the ground.. Half a mile from the ground another pub emptied and we were outnumbered 4 or 5 to one .. they were getting agitated and building up to have a go at Stoke after being given the run around all day.
The lone copper kept frantically requesting assistance without response and in the end the Bolton mob started moving into the road to confront us.. At this point Finney said.. ''Leave this with me lads.. I'll sort this lot out..'
He walked into the middle of the road, faced down the biggest Bolton lad and said.. 'Come on then.. we're Stoke..'..
We all looked at each other and thought 'this aint good' but had to show face and stopped to support our mate..
Now Finney was a big fearsome looking Goon with a shock of red curly hair and a mad googly eye and the Bolton lads started to hesitate.. Finn sensed their hesitation and started to showboat a bit by removing his 'designer' donkey jacket and threw it into the middle of the road to lay down the challenge whilst doing a Lou Feringo impression in front of them...
Their big lad started to nervously backtrack a bit and we sensed momentum until a young 'perry boy' ran in .. picked up Finneys jacket and legged it out of sight! Finn was so shocked he stopped his Hulk act and got popped while he was distracted..
As usual with Finn, we got away with a bit of a ragging and could laugh about it after.. In fact, Finn was chuffed that the trendy young lad had spotted a bit of donkey jacket haute couture!! Still moaned all the way home though..
Always a great day out with Finney, Kev, Pete and the lads.. Quite simply one of the funniest men I ever met.. Big man.. massive heart.. much missed..
RIP Mark..
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Post by johnnysoul60 on Jun 26, 2019 16:10:12 GMT
Thats a brilliant story , captures him , made me smile on a sad day.
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Post by johnnysoul60 on Jun 26, 2019 16:13:03 GMT
I remember Mark. Big lad! His sister taught me English at Bishop Bright. What happened to him? He struggled with the ale and left Stoke , when I saw him at Oxford back then he was living with some new age travellers , lost touch for ages , a mate met one if his family last year and she said he was living in London had a flat in Chelsea , not sure what his illness was.
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Post by Northy on Jun 26, 2019 16:37:50 GMT
Was he a big lad with black hair which was a bit wavey, seem to remember a lad called Mark like that.
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Post by Veritas on Jun 26, 2019 17:09:08 GMT
I remember him from St Joe's where he was very much a larger than life character
RIP
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Post by murphyd on Jun 26, 2019 18:00:21 GMT
RIP the Mighty Finn
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Post by johnnysoul60 on Jun 26, 2019 19:01:06 GMT
Was he a big lad with black hair which was a bit wavey, seem to remeber a lad called Mark like that. Yep pretty big think hair was Brown maybe you are thinking of Mark Bentley another who is sadly not here
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Post by eddyclamp on Jun 26, 2019 19:10:21 GMT
If you ever in the company of the Mighty Finn, trust me it was eventful. The race days we go on from the Staff in Stoke were great days. So many happy and funny memories RIP big lad
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Post by ballboytoday on Jun 26, 2019 19:41:00 GMT
Was he a big lad with black hair which was a bit wavey, seem to remeber a lad called Mark like that. Think you might be thinking of Mark Bentley, but he too is sadly no longer with us.
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Post by murphyd on Jun 26, 2019 20:25:56 GMT
If you ever in the company of the Mighty Finn, trust me it was eventful. The race days we go on from the Staff in Stoke were great days. So many happy and funny memories RIP big lad Yes some great race days and lost some good lads who use to go on them as well
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Post by Northy on Jun 26, 2019 20:38:38 GMT
Was he a big lad with black hair which was a bit wavey, seem to remeber a lad called Mark like that. Yep pretty big think hair was Brown maybe you are thinking of Mark Bentley another who is sadly not here Ah yes, it was Mark Bentley
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Post by str8outtahampton on Jun 26, 2019 20:56:08 GMT
I remember Finney well.. couple of years older but always used to hang around the West End, the Talbot, the Gordon, etc.. There'll be loads of stories about Finney, Pickled Pete & co from the old Stoke days.. every Friday night was riot in the Weatsheaf.. Finney was continually banned! One that I remember is going to Bolton away in the late 80's and meeting Finney, a bearded Kev Lillee and a few of the Stoke locals in Manchester as we crossed over to Victoria. Finney had this bizarre patchwork quilt donkey jacket thing on that received endless piss taking.. He argued that it was some ridiculous Italian designer that no-one had ever heard of.. he'd 'acquired' it from some where! Got off the train at Bolton around 3pm and started to walk down towards Burnden Park.. It was in the mad old days of the N40 and Stoke had been knocking around Bolton all day causing havoc since 12.. the fire had long subsided when a mixed bag of 15 of us arrived at 3pm.. As we walked down towards the ground on the left side of the road, a mob of Bolton grew and grew on the other side as their pubs emptied.. There was a lone copper in the middle of the road who advised us to take no notice of them and stay on our side of the road to the ground.. Half a mile from the ground another pub emptied and we were outnumbered 4 or 5 to one .. they were getting agitated and building up to have a go at Stoke after being given the run around all day. The lone copper kept frantically requesting assistance without response and in the end the Bolton mob started moving into the road to confront us.. At this point Finney said.. ''Leave this with me lads.. I'll sort this lot out..' He walked into the middle of the road, faced down the biggest Bolton lad and said.. 'Come on then.. we're Stoke..'.. We all looked at each other and thought 'this aint good' but had to show face and stopped to support our mate.. Now Finney was a big fearsome looking Goon with a shock of red curly hair and a mad googly eye and the Bolton lads started to hesitate.. Finn sensed their hesitation and started to showboat a bit by removing his 'designer' donkey jacket and threw it into the middle of the road to lay down the challenge whilst doing a Lou Feringo impression in front of them... Their big lad started to nervously backtrack a bit and we sensed momentum until a young 'perry boy' ran in .. picked up Finneys jacket and legged it out of sight! Finn was so shocked he stopped his Hulk act and got popped while he was distracted.. As usual with Finn, we got away with a bit of a ragging and could laugh about it after.. In fact, Finn was chuffed that the trendy young lad had spotted a bit of donkey jacket haute couture!! Still moaned all the way home though.. Always a great day out with Finney, Kev, Pete and the lads.. Quite simply one of the funniest men I ever met.. Big man.. massive heart.. much missed.. RIP Mark.. Great story. I can't picture him, but he was almost exactly my age, and we used to use the West End, Talbot, etc. In fact the Talbot (and the Sea Lion) was where we went for pre-match aperitifs long before your story, in the mid 70s. Where the open sale of alcohol to minors was absolutely no problem whatsoever. A pint of Ansells was (a guess) 20p. You could get utterly trolleyed for £1. And of course we did. What your story does describe, very clearly, is what an awayday was like back then. The levels of "action" were invariably exaggerated in my experience, but there was always an edge.
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Post by falirakipotter on Jun 26, 2019 21:59:25 GMT
Clampy, Murphyd, what days out those race trips were, the coach heading off from the Staff at 8am, the beer flowing from 08.01 with the big lad Finn entertaining all day.
Torquay, potters fortnight, 1978, what a holiday with the big man, think he only managed a week and had to return home, have a feeling it could have been too much scrumpy.
Late seventies into the eighties he was always around the Talbot, Wheatsheaf, Sea Lion and Kings Arms to name a few pubs in Stoke centre, and the occasional visit to the Inset, thats when they would let him in. If you were in the company of Finny you were always guaranteed a fun/eventful night.
RIP Big Lad, you will always be in our heartsX
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chinupstokie
Lads'n'Dads
Following Stoke is for life, not just the Premiership
Posts: 72
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Post by chinupstokie on Jun 26, 2019 22:17:13 GMT
I can remember Mark from St Joes, he was in the same year but in a different class so I didn’t know him that well. Having said that he was always friendly towards me.
I vaguely remember some tale he told me about only having one testicle, I don’t know if it was true or not.
As you did at school, you knew who could handle themselves and Mark could.
I think the last time I saw him was at Fulham away, September 98;after not seeing him since leaving school there he was he was having his collar felt for having had too much to drink.
It’s sad to hear when you loose one of your contemporaries, especially a fellow Stoke fan who was such a colourful character.
Mark, rest in peace.
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Post by exileinashton on Jun 26, 2019 22:24:21 GMT
Did he work in the sliphouse at portmeirion?
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Post by Scouse on Jun 27, 2019 6:59:42 GMT
.. sad that another of life’s and indeed Stokes characters has left us ..
seemed a different era when I first got to know him , there was a pecking order , but also very much more connection across the social spectrum and age groups of our support ( guess proper match day pubs and terracing helped) the Talbot , Wheatsheaf ..and very occasionally the Sea Lion and the Gordon were my match day ‘locals’ at the time so like many knew Finney and others .. not sure there’s the same connection between our support these days , but that might be because I’m getting old
think the last time I saw him was on Milton Keynes station during his New Age traveller era
RIP big lad
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Post by str8outtahampton on Jun 27, 2019 9:31:56 GMT
Did he work in the sliphouse at portmeirion? What a great debut post. I think we can safely say that this is the first time the "sliphouse at Portmeirion" has ever been referenced on a football message board. Hmmm...or is it...?
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Post by exileinashton on Jun 27, 2019 17:03:16 GMT
Well if it’s the same bloke, he took me to a few away matches before I joined the RAF, quite an eye opener for a skinny 16 year old.
RIP Mark
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Post by murphyd on Jun 27, 2019 18:50:30 GMT
Did he work in the sliphouse at portmeirion? He worked in the sliphouse at Johnson Brothers hanley for a short time then went on the roads with Murphys where he was adept at putting a pick or shovel through a water main so he could have an early finish and get in the staff of life
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Post by spiderpuss on Jun 27, 2019 19:57:23 GMT
Some Stokies of a certain vintage will remember Mark , a larger than life character who has passed away in London at the age of 60 . Mark was a big Stoke fan until life took him away from the area , would be there home and away and holding court in local pubs ( probably a bit too much) I grew up around him being a year behind at school and he always had time for me and I grew to respect him . At school when we did something wrong Mark would often be the one who would be left at the scene and would get the flack off the teachers , a characteristic that seemed to follow him into adult life . He left the area a long time ago and had been living in London most recently . Id lost touch , last seeing him at a night game at Oxford in the 90's that he turned up at. Hopefully sone of you remember him and have good tales to tell. His funeral will be on 10th July at St Teresa's Trent Vale where we went to school and he often had us in stitches during our alter boy careers. Do you know the time of the funeral?
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Post by johnnysoul60 on Jun 28, 2019 14:31:30 GMT
10 am on Wed 10th St Teresa's, Trent Vegas.
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Post by spiderpuss on Jun 28, 2019 18:48:46 GMT
10 am on Wed 10th St Teresa's, Trent Vegas. Thanks.
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Post by penkhullite on Jun 28, 2019 20:57:53 GMT
Finnegan was a great mate of my old man, Lenny, when he was in Stoke. My memories as a kid were of him once playing (trying!) a game of Sunday morning football in Richmond Street park with a lot of his and my dads mates. It wasn't a pretty sight!
Other memories are of his new age traveller days and him rocking up to my mum and dads with a woman and a dog on a piece of string! The three of them ended up kipping in a van on The White Lion car park! My mum and dad, as did a lot of others made sure he was sorted and can still remember my mum dropping breakfast round to him on the way to work. They loved him to bits. I think everyone who met him did.
The last time I saw him I was probably about 13 and out of the blue he recognised me walking up Newcastle Lane after school. He'd found some local work and was tarmacing the road and asked what time my old man would be in from work. Can't remember what I said, but all I know is he threw down his gear mid job and walked home with me, asking about Stoke and how the team were playing. He didn't care, just wanted to get on it with his mate and catch up.
Some of the stories my old man told me about the Torquay pre season trip in the late 70s are something else! Inset until 3am...coach to the game...game...night out...court...start again! Finnegan was involved in all of that and I can't begin to imagine how good that long weekend was!
Although I only remember meeting him a handful of times, I knew I was in the presence of a big man with an even bigger heart. RIP Finnegan.
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Post by iancransonsknees on Jun 29, 2019 6:10:52 GMT
Some of the stories my old man told me about the Torquay pre season trip in the late 70s are something else! Inset until 3am...coach to the game...game...night out...court...start again! Finnegan was involved in all of that and I can't begin to imagine how good that long weekend was! Although I only remember meeting him a handful of times, I knew I was in the presence of a big man with an even bigger heart. RIP Finnegan. Like I said the other day somebody needs to write a book about that era and those characters. It's sad that the only time the stories come out is when people pass away. Sounds daft but it's Stokie heritage. It'd be far more interesting than that hooligan bollocks that gets published. Staff vs Marquis, Sunday mornings dodging the dogshit in Richmond Street Park.
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Post by werrington on Jun 29, 2019 6:24:18 GMT
Some of the stories my old man told me about the Torquay pre season trip in the late 70s are something else! Inset until 3am...coach to the game...game...night out...court...start again! Finnegan was involved in all of that and I can't begin to imagine how good that long weekend was! Although I only remember meeting him a handful of times, I knew I was in the presence of a big man with an even bigger heart. RIP Finnegan. Like I said the other day somebody needs to write a book about that era and those characters. It's sad that the only time the stories come out is when people pass away. Sounds daft but it's Stokie heritage. It'd be far more interesting than that hooligan bollocks that gets published. Staff vs Marquis, Sunday mornings dodging the dogshit in Richmond Street Park. If people wrote stories from that era it would all be hooligan based so you’d be disappointed .....the hooligan culture of the 70/80/early 90s is a HUGE part of the heritage,culture and history of Stoke City That trip to Torquay wasn’t a family outing, the bit about court is a giveaway RIP
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Post by penkhullite on Jun 30, 2019 1:21:05 GMT
Like I said the other day somebody needs to write a book about that era and those characters. It's sad that the only time the stories come out is when people pass away. Sounds daft but it's Stokie heritage. It'd be far more interesting than that hooligan bollocks that gets published. Staff vs Marquis, Sunday mornings dodging the dogshit in Richmond Street Park. If people wrote stories from that era it would all be hooligan based so you’d be disappointed .....the hooligan culture of the 70/80/early 90s is a HUGE part of the heritage,culture and history of Stoke City That trip to Torquay wasn’t a family outing, the bit about court is a giveaway RIP I get what Ian Cransons Knees is saying. It's about recording some of our absolute stand out characters. Also agree with Werrington. Those days, through the stories passed down from my old man, as well as seeing it first hand as a kid and a bit older, are all worth the write up. It should definitely capture the city, people and the culture. Maybe the next one could have a 'Rogues gallery' appendix. I'm sure Finnegan would appear, and hopefully a load more stories as well!
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Post by CalgaryPotter on Jun 30, 2019 7:31:19 GMT
Was he a big lad with black hair which was a bit wavey, seem to remember a lad called Mark like that. Definitely Mark Bentley you’re thinking of but they were both huge characters. If you were at an away match in the vicinity of either of them as a teenager you felt a damn sight better than you would if they weren’t around.
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