jaffa1
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Finally got round to reading the above while on holiday in Spain, and a fascinating read it was too. Apologies if this book has been covered before, but the following caught my eye ;
McDonough thought that that Dave Smith was ‘a nervous odd bod’ who he described as ‘Mister Magoo’ (he was sacked before Roy could play for him).
He won his first contract with us after ‘blowing John Fashanu out of the water’ when it came to aggression during pre-season trials.
Mervyn Cawston, Steve Yates and Greg Shepherd ‘all liked a pint’ in that first spell.
The Big Man chinned and laid out the unpopular assistant to Peter Morris, one Colin Harper, during a five-a-side game in the Roots Hall car park. His last act in that first spell.
He was thrilled to play for Bobby Moore, the reason he re-signed. Moore ironically tried to sell him the club’s ambitious plans for a new 25,000 all-seater stadium. Roy even cut down his drinking to impress Moore, who received a standing ovation as he took his place in the dug-out at away games. Alas Vic Jobson started to try and pick the team for him and the last straw came when Barry Silkman shouted abuse at him on the team coach (just before McDonough pressed his face against the window for having the audacity to do so).
Roy had no respect for Richard Cadette who he labelled selfish and lucky. He took great delight when his goals dried up without him when he went on to pastures new. Alternatively he described David Crown as the best finisher he ever played with, including Trevor Francis.
David Webb was great at spotting young talent but was surprisingly ‘shy and a terrible communicator’.
I always appreciated David Martin’s do or die efforts on the field for us, but I never realised what a nutter he actually was.
Roy would often acknowledge our Ginge, and even offered to help, if a skirmish broke out in the stands at Roots Hall.
When Martin Ling had his skull fractured in seven places at Wrexham McDonough chased the culprit at the final whistle and kung-fu kicked him through the home dressing room door (before being bundled out by 6 of their players).
Dick Bate reminded him of Basil Fawlty and had the three lions logo emblazoned on everything he owned. He forgot what he was doing during one training session and when he asked an apprentice to fetch his notes from behind the goal he lost the dressing room before the season had even begun. At Gillingham he identified eight of their players as ‘weak links’, just before they hammered us 8-1.
After Paul Clark’s testimonial v Arsenal, the visitors joined our players down at TOTS. Steve Bould and Niall Quin enjoyed themselves so much they were found snoring their heads off against the dressing room doors at Roots Hall the following morning.
A 16-man brawl began in the player’s lounge at Bristol Rovers after one of our (unnamed) players had made comments about Ian Holloway’s wife’s cancer battle during the game.
Roy and Justin Edinburgh (the ‘king of the showers’ apparently) were offered a 15 grand bung to join Maidstone in the Bull pub in Hockley. They refused.
Gazza was ‘out of this universe’ in the League Cup tie v Tottenham at Roots Hall, telling out boys ‘how tight are your shorts like? Did you need a shoehorn to put them on? I’m surprised you Southend boys can even run!’.
Finally, I was pleased to learn that he re-discovered his love for football here, was honoured to be voted third in our all-time cult hero poll and will ‘never forget his fond batch of seaside memories’
McDonough thought that that Dave Smith was ‘a nervous odd bod’ who he described as ‘Mister Magoo’ (he was sacked before Roy could play for him).
He won his first contract with us after ‘blowing John Fashanu out of the water’ when it came to aggression during pre-season trials.
Mervyn Cawston, Steve Yates and Greg Shepherd ‘all liked a pint’ in that first spell.
The Big Man chinned and laid out the unpopular assistant to Peter Morris, one Colin Harper, during a five-a-side game in the Roots Hall car park. His last act in that first spell.
He was thrilled to play for Bobby Moore, the reason he re-signed. Moore ironically tried to sell him the club’s ambitious plans for a new 25,000 all-seater stadium. Roy even cut down his drinking to impress Moore, who received a standing ovation as he took his place in the dug-out at away games. Alas Vic Jobson started to try and pick the team for him and the last straw came when Barry Silkman shouted abuse at him on the team coach (just before McDonough pressed his face against the window for having the audacity to do so).
Roy had no respect for Richard Cadette who he labelled selfish and lucky. He took great delight when his goals dried up without him when he went on to pastures new. Alternatively he described David Crown as the best finisher he ever played with, including Trevor Francis.
David Webb was great at spotting young talent but was surprisingly ‘shy and a terrible communicator’.
I always appreciated David Martin’s do or die efforts on the field for us, but I never realised what a nutter he actually was.
Roy would often acknowledge our Ginge, and even offered to help, if a skirmish broke out in the stands at Roots Hall.
When Martin Ling had his skull fractured in seven places at Wrexham McDonough chased the culprit at the final whistle and kung-fu kicked him through the home dressing room door (before being bundled out by 6 of their players).
Dick Bate reminded him of Basil Fawlty and had the three lions logo emblazoned on everything he owned. He forgot what he was doing during one training session and when he asked an apprentice to fetch his notes from behind the goal he lost the dressing room before the season had even begun. At Gillingham he identified eight of their players as ‘weak links’, just before they hammered us 8-1.
After Paul Clark’s testimonial v Arsenal, the visitors joined our players down at TOTS. Steve Bould and Niall Quin enjoyed themselves so much they were found snoring their heads off against the dressing room doors at Roots Hall the following morning.
A 16-man brawl began in the player’s lounge at Bristol Rovers after one of our (unnamed) players had made comments about Ian Holloway’s wife’s cancer battle during the game.
Roy and Justin Edinburgh (the ‘king of the showers’ apparently) were offered a 15 grand bung to join Maidstone in the Bull pub in Hockley. They refused.
Gazza was ‘out of this universe’ in the League Cup tie v Tottenham at Roots Hall, telling out boys ‘how tight are your shorts like? Did you need a shoehorn to put them on? I’m surprised you Southend boys can even run!’.
Finally, I was pleased to learn that he re-discovered his love for football here, was honoured to be voted third in our all-time cult hero poll and will ‘never forget his fond batch of seaside memories’
