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Post by march4 on Nov 15, 2024 21:04:59 GMT
We win 2-1 at Preston in Alan Kelly's testimonial game, but I can't find much more information on the game. I suppose it was one of John Farmer's final starts for the first team.  |
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Post by castokie on Nov 16, 2024 16:46:52 GMT
Preston away for the Alan Kelly Testimonial 19th Nov line up I have is Farmer, Marsh, Bowers, Lewis, Smith, Haslegrave, Robertson, Greenhoff, Hurst, Skeels, Salmons , goals Hurst , ? est att 5,000 Farmer was in goal for another friendly at Bristol Rovers in March 1975. Then he went out on loan to Leicester where he didn't make have much impact finishing up at Northwich
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Post by march4 on Nov 16, 2024 17:39:20 GMT
Preston away for the Alan Kelly Testimonial 19th Nov line up I have is Farmer, Marsh, Bowers, Lewis, Smith, Haslegrave, Robertson, Greenhoff, Hurst, Skeels, Salmons , goals Hurst , ? est att 5,000 Farmer was in goal for another friendly at Bristol Rovers in March 1975. Then he went out on loan to Leicester where he didn't make have much impact finishing up at Northwich It was an abrupt end to Farmer’s career. I’ve never quite understood what happened. I spoke to John several times through work after he retired but never quite worked out why Waddo ditched him in the manner he did. |
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Post by smallthorner on Nov 16, 2024 17:40:54 GMT
Preston away for the Alan Kelly Testimonial 19th Nov line up I have is Farmer, Marsh, Bowers, Lewis, Smith, Haslegrave, Robertson, Greenhoff, Hurst, Skeels, Salmons , goals Hurst , ? est att 5,000 Farmer was in goal for another friendly at Bristol Rovers in March 1975. Then he went out on loan to Leicester where he didn't make have much impact finishing up at Northwich Such a sad waste of a career. Looked to have everything at one stage. |
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Post by castokie on Nov 17, 2024 16:25:53 GMT
John Farmer had such an up and down career at Stoke. I saw his debut in Jan 1966 v Arsenal the previous week Bobby Irvine had a temper tantrum that helped us lose at home to Walsall in the FAC and within 6 months Farmer was playing for England Under 23's. Then he lost form and Banks was signed with Farmer being his competent understudy for 5 years . After Bank's horrific injury the club panicked and finished up signing Mike McDonald who understandably play only 2 first team games after joining before Farmer was recalled who then held his own until Shilton arrived. Yes farmer made the odd mistake (don't all keepers) but like it's been said many times before on this board in hindsight the Shilton money could well have been spent on a replacement for Ritchie instead.
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Post by spitthedog on Nov 18, 2024 14:24:42 GMT
Preston away for the Alan Kelly Testimonial 19th Nov line up I have is Farmer, Marsh, Bowers, Lewis, Smith, Haslegrave, Robertson, Greenhoff, Hurst, Skeels, Salmons , goals Hurst , ? est att 5,000 Farmer was in goal for another friendly at Bristol Rovers in March 1975. Then he went out on loan to Leicester where he didn't make have much impact finishing up at Northwich It was an abrupt end to Farmer’s career. I’ve never quite understood what happened. I spoke to John several times through work after he retired but never quite worked out why Waddo ditched him in the manner he did. I still don't understand why he wasn't able to hold down a decent career at another club? He was still young when he left Stoke. His move to Leicester resulted in 2 appearances and then in to non-league still in his twenties. It feels like there is something missing in this conundrum that we might never know. |
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Post by spitthedog on Nov 18, 2024 14:28:07 GMT
Preston away for the Alan Kelly Testimonial 19th Nov line up I have is Farmer, Marsh, Bowers, Lewis, Smith, Haslegrave, Robertson, Greenhoff, Hurst, Skeels, Salmons , goals Hurst , ? est att 5,000 Farmer was in goal for another friendly at Bristol Rovers in March 1975. Then he went out on loan to Leicester where he didn't make have much impact finishing up at Northwich Bizarre that we would play such a strong line up when games were coming thick and fast and the squad already being ravaged by injuries, but it was a very different mind set in those day. A totally different game. |
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Post by AlliG on Nov 18, 2024 14:42:38 GMT
It was an abrupt end to Farmer’s career. I’ve never quite understood what happened. I spoke to John several times through work after he retired but never quite worked out why Waddo ditched him in the manner he did. I still don't understand why he wasn't able to hold down a decent career at another club? He was still young when he left Stoke. His move to Leicester resulted in 2 appearances and then in to non-league still in his twenties. It feels like there is something missing in this conundrum that we might never know. He began to have a lot of injuries and it was injury (plus maybe a loss of enthusiasm for the game) that led him to retire in his late 20s. |
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Post by JoeinOz on Nov 21, 2024 0:21:44 GMT
50 years ago yesterday since we signed Peter Shilton
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Post by wakeypotter on Nov 21, 2024 14:21:03 GMT
50 years ago yesterday since we signed Peter Shilton Was waiting for this as that’s me 50 years a Stoke fan My dad bless him was trying to get me to be a Stoke fan for ages. I finally gave in after this signing as he was my favourite player |
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Post by spitthedog on Nov 21, 2024 14:49:21 GMT
50 years ago yesterday since we signed Peter Shilton I know there are mixed feelings about this but I remember being really so excited by this signing, it felt we had really hit the big time and meant business. He was considered England No.1 (though Liverpool probably would disagree). It was a real statement and when I went to Wolves to see him in the flesh I wasn't disappointed (and that is an understatement) but I'm looking forward to reading march's account of of all this in the next few days. |
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Post by Veritas on Nov 21, 2024 18:32:26 GMT
50 years ago yesterday since we signed Peter Shilton I know there are mixed feelings about this but I remember being really so excited by this signing, it felt we had really hit the big time and meant business. He was considered England No.1 (though Liverpool probably would disagree). He was a real statement and when I went to Wolves to see him in the flesh I wasn't disappointed (and that is an understatement) but I'm looking forward to reading march's account of of all this in the next few days. Spot on, we all thought this was a brilliant signing and it was much later the revisionist version emerged of Shilton as a bad signing. |
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Post by wakeypotter on Nov 21, 2024 18:43:47 GMT
I know there are mixed feelings about this but I remember being really so excited by this signing, it felt we had really hit the big time and meant business. He was considered England No.1 (though Liverpool probably would disagree). He was a real statement and when I went to Wolves to see him in the flesh I wasn't disappointed (and that is an understatement) but I'm looking forward to reading march's account of of all this in the next few days. Spot on, we all thought this was a brilliant signing and it was much later the revisionist version emerged of Shilton as a bad signing. Not a chance |
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Post by march4 on Nov 21, 2024 19:13:25 GMT
 This was the sports story that dropped through our morning letterboxes 50 years ago today. This evening's Sentinel stated that negotiations are still underway as Stoke try to make the signing in time for the Saturday match at Wolves. The Sentinel of Friday 22nd November 1974 informed us that Shilton had signed in time and would make his debut alongside Ian Bowers at Molyneux. There was little in the national papers as they were dominated by news of the Birmingham pub bombings. |
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Post by smallthorner on Nov 21, 2024 21:47:19 GMT
Amazing times.
People today couldn't begin to think about SCFC signing two of England's goalkeepers in succession, along with the likes of Geoff Hurst and Alan Hudson.
Homegrown internationals like Mike pejic.
Along with the other superstars of the time of course.
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Post by march4 on Nov 22, 2024 19:45:05 GMT
It is probably worth pointing out that our 12 months of dominance of English football is now coming to an end; it ended on 7th December. Was this a consequence of the Shilton signing? Although 1975 started brightly, the whole year was punctuated by frustrating results that hampered our ambitions.
I would also like to restate a piece from the summer of 1974 in the Sentinel that discussed Stoke's spending after the acquisition of Salmons. It suggested that the outlay was a gamble which would only break even if we averaged home gates of 30,000 and won something. Only the opening day league game against Leeds plus the UEFA game against Ajax have bettered 30,000 and most gates are just above 20,000. If the Hudson and Salmons signings were a calculated gamble then what is this world record fee on Shilton? It would be no surprise if the club's finances came tumbling down in just over 12 months time.
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Post by march4 on Nov 23, 2024 10:56:57 GMT
24hrs after signing, Peter Shilton makes his debut for Stoke at the Molyneux. Teenager, Ian Bowers also makes his debut in place of the suspended Mike Pejic and Sean Haslegrave moves to central midfield to replace the injured John Mahoney. We line up; Shilton, Marsh, Bowers, Haslegrave, Smith, Dodd, Robertson, Greenhoff, Moores, Hudson, Salmons. Sub; - Skeels. For most of this game, Wolves were on top and it took a superb performance from Shilton to keep us in it. In particular, he made 7 top drawer saves (three from Hibbitt, two from Kindon and one each from Wagstaff and Richards) and his handling looked confident and competent. One of the Sunday papers describes his outing as 'Muddy Marvellous'. We took the lead after 11 minutes. Moores was fouled by McAlle and Hudson flicked the free kick sideways for Salmons to thunder home from 35 yards. On the half hour, Wolves equalised with a long ranger by Powell that went in off the bar. 1-1 at half-time and the local derby atmosphere was at full volume. This was an excellent game of football. On the hour, Robertson slotted home and we were back in front but hanging on for dear life. Man of the match Shilton was simply impassable. That was until Smith fouled Hibbert deep into injury time and Hibbitt levelled from the spot. Shilton almost saved the spot kick but for the ball taking a bobble as it flicked the fingers of his outstretched hand. Waddo disputed the penalty call and was aggrieved that the referee had allowed so much injury time. A 2-2 draw that puts us 7th, 3 points behind table toppers Man City but with a game in hand on most of our rivals. The Sentinel letters page are not overwhelmingly enthused by the signing of Shilton. One states; "To spend that amount of money on a goalkeeper when John Farmer has performed so well seems a very doubtful proposition". Another says; " During the last 6 months or longer, a top striker has been Stoke's greatest need. To spend that amount of cash on a goalkeeper, when we already have a good one seems ludicrous when one considers that Stoke might have bought Latchford, Hutchinson or Channon for that sort of fee". The Sentinel add the comment that; " It is certain that Stoke will be vastly disappointed if Shilton fails to pull in increased support, for they have taken a tremendous financial gamble". Five Irishmen have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the Birmingham pub bombs.  |
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