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Posts posted by North East Ram
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7 minutes ago, Dordogne-Ram said:
O
Travelled overland independently by train, lots of snow around Banya Luka (October), but still arrived in good time at Mostar. Walked from the station to the ground in conversation (rin French!) with a German, who recognised the Ram motif on my shoulder bag. Gateman at the ground was after Rams souvenirs when Stuart Webb arrived, we exchanged a few pleasantries, he showed his DCFC credentials and I was allowed in with him! The team coach arrived shortly after and Alan Hill was struggling with the kit hamper across a pebbled area, so yes, just offered a hand to get it to the visitors dressing room. Most of the players had gone to have a look at the pitch, but David Nish followed us in. He had just moved into our village and had had conversations over the garden gate with my Dad, so that was a useful starting point until Zac arrived with his bit of typical Yorkshire forthright approach!
I bade my adieus, and walked out into the next room which happened to be the club bar, which, needless to say, was full of Bosnians and Serbs. My bag and rucksack singled me out as a Rams fan, and it was only seconds before I was besieged with more requests for Rams souvenirs. I had only two left when their inside forward Vidic, who had played in the first leg at Derby, came and sat down, and he ended up with a copy of the Football League Magazine which came out with the Rams programme.
Whilst waiting in the York Hotel outside the station for the train back home after the first leg, a tall smartly dressed individual wanted the phone, speaking in reasonable English to the hotel staff, who of course had to get the call for him - in the 1970s it was necessary to wait for calls to be obtained to less popular international locations, in this case Mostar. I assumed that he was possibly the Mostar president or CEO perhaps, so in the bar I motioned to Vidic that I wanted to speak to the "President". He disappeared and duly returned with an ageing gentleman who was in fact the Club President. But the message had got across that we needed an interpreter, and shortly after the guy seen in Derby appeared. I recalled to him that I had seen him at the York, so we were well away! Drinks and food were provided gratis, courtesey of the club / President, and I could leave my rucksack there until after the game. The well dressed guy was the reporter for the local paper, and this was news, as Mostar had beaten one of the Moscow teams (? Spartak?) over two legs in the previous round, unbelievable for a town the size of Burton!
As it built towards kick-off, I made my way out to the Terraces, only to find that I was in the private part of the ground, with only a small three- step terrace which held about 20 people maximum! A programme seller appeared walking round the ground, the very guy who had been manning the gate earlier on. I called to him and rummaged in my shoulder bag for the last souvenir, one of those circular gold and dark blue DERBY COUNTY pin badges with a Ram in the centre - you might have one still, I haven't! I thought that offering it was an appropriate gesture to a guy who had been instrumental in what was turning out to be some totally unexpected "adventure", and he proudly pinned it on, safe in the knowledge that no one else had one!
The Rams of course lost 4-1, and it was almost dark as the firecrackers went of following their third and fourth goal, the latter a penalty against Colin Todd which was clearly ball-to-hand rather than the reverse, which the high profile and even more highly controversial Dutch referee, Charles Corv,er, duly gave. (He was handing out photos of himself on the flight into Dubrovnik apparently - some ego!). Stuart Webb was beside himself at this unexpected setback, and on returning home made it clear that Derby would appeal against the firecrackers during the match, so I sent in some camera shots of them to him, and weeks later they were returned after the appeal had been turned down.
So, back to the bar, where the President came to commiserate - and celebrate that lightning did sometimes strike twice. In true English fashion I offered my congratulations, and eventually took my leave of them, reflecting, in spite of my disappointment, that I had witnessed what had been a momentous event in the history of this small club.
This must sound unusual to many of you, but the club is not like an English club. The dressing rooms and bar were part of what we would call a large two story club house, set back some 50 yards from the pitch and behind the goal. The directors / officials watched the games from easy chairs in a first floor "terraced room" with sliding -folding doors, looking out "onto all they surveyed". The 50 yards in between were flower beds with rose trees, neatly trimmed low privet hedges and a pebble path for the players to access the pitch. The opposite end was not spectator accommodation. The side nearest the road was terraced, and provided perhaps 15 steps the length of the ground, and the opposite side had 3 /4 steps of concrete terrace, with a small seated stand at the half way line. Beyond this, the (enclosed) hillside rose quite steeply into the far distance, and would have accommodated the population of the three East Midlands cities with ease. Little did I know the horrific significance that this welcoming club was to play some 20 years later. During the dissolution of the old Yugoslavia, you may be aware of the subsequent ethic cleansing which took place: the Radavan Karadice saga / era, plus others.
That same pitch was used as a concentration site for those unfortunate enough to be on "the wrong side"......
And no, I had no part at DCFC, I'm just a popside fan who took his chance when it came, this being the third "adventure" that being a Rams fan has brought my way. To me, DCFC has always been a Way of Life.
Thanks for reading - sorry if I bored you.
Absolutely brilliant. The best post I've ever read on here. I know in those days, European travel was far more adventurous than today but that's an amazing story and so vividly described. I know Croatia and Dubrovnik fairly well and will be visiting Mostar next year. l've read a lot about the 90s civil war and was in Croatia during a ceasefire in 95 but didn't know that about the pitch in Mostar. Sad and disturbing times for sure across the whole Balkans.
Love that area of the world and especially enjoyed the time we had Igor and Ace at Derby. Also hope to be in Split too next summer and will be wearing a Rams top to see if the locals recognise it.
Did you travel alone? Must have been some train / bus journey. Wasn't it still communist back then? I'm sure borders must have been tricky. Sounds like pin badges could solve any diplomatic concern though!
btw - I bought the away programme for my dad a few years back for a bday or Xmas. A proper 8 page Stasi style list of results and players names!
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6 hours ago, Dordogne-Ram said:
Enigma is probably right. Celebrating each of his goals, there was just a broad smile and an arm raised in salute - none of the modern day chasing and sliding around all over the pitch which we see from todays strikers who possess only half of his skill.
Also, had the dubious "honour" of being told by him to "get out" of the dressing room at Velez Mostar whilst having an interesting conversation with David Nish, after having helped Alan Hill carry the teams kit hamper from the teams coach! Don't hold that against him, but it was something of a surprise at the time.
Interesting.
Im a bit nosey, so what was your part at Derby? I presume you weren't just passing by and offered a hand!
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John Robson: what a sad life after football. MS at 28. Died at 53.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Robson_(footballer,_born_1950)
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11 minutes ago, loweman2 said:
I think he is really happy to go out with Archie Roy and Roger when I have seen him, they should all have statues lining pride parkway !
That would be great - statues the size and quality of Clough & Taylor, from the station / Brunny to the ground.
Not only are some of our favourite players greats for Derby but many are in the football league top 100 players.
From Bloomer to the greats of the 20s, 30s, 40s onwards - they've played for us. Shilton, Wright, Deano etc etc. World class players. People like Raitch Carter are known throughout football.
Never mind Cox and TBE!!
- loweman2 and Derby blood
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10 minutes ago, loweman2 said:
no ! Alan said that its always the exact same guys that turn up for these reunions when he is home,
Hector seems to be the enigma of them all. Wonder why.
How many 100s of goals. He should have a statue.
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57 minutes ago, loweman2 said:
I was really lucky to get an invite along today to the yard from John O’Hare to meet up with some of the 70s legends who were meeting up to celebrate Roy Macs 70th birthday and the annual Easter visit of Alan Hinton.
i thought I would take the opportunity to take my son along to meet some of the older players who when he is grown up will hopefully be given the status that that Steve Bloomer gets now, at least he will have a few photos to show that he really did meet the men who made us famous and for a brief moment in time perhaps the greatest football team in the world ?
when I got there I was a little embarrassed to find that I was the only member of the general public in attendance and felt a little bit out of place, the classic gatecrasher at the party, fortunately I know a number of them already and was instantly welcomed, I made sure that we sat just out side of the main group to allow them to chat to each other
Every one of them made time to come over and have a sit with us, I had of course taken some stuff to get signed as it was to good an opportunity to miss, after checking that they were ok with it they signed stuff and sat and talked and had photos with my son, he loved it and entered into some great conversation with them all, he was asking them about the odd haircuts that they had on the photos ( he is only eight) he told John Ohare that he should now be called john nohare which I’m not sure if john picked up on or not, he spoke to Alan about his white boots and got me showing Alan photos of his green boots, to a man they sat and chatted away talking about anything and everything, the numbers continue to dwindle, I felt like the man in the middle sharing stories of my recent meets with Colin Boulton, Colin Todd, Frank Wignall, john McGovern, and Peter Daniel, those in attendance (some with their good ladies) were John Ohare, Alan Hinton, Alan Durban, Roy McFarland, Roger Davies, Rod Thomas, Jim Walker and Henry newton, once again it struck me that the club should make more of a fuss of these guys whilst they are with us, let’s not wait twenty year before we finally get round to making up a song for them that we sing and the younger generation doesn’t have a clue what the names Todd, McFarland, Nish, Hector, Hennessy, Boulton, Newton, Gemmill, Davies, McFarland, O’Hare, McGovern, Hinton etc mean to Derby as a city.
Wow. You lucky people. To be invited is such a nice thing for them to do. You must really strike a chord with these guys to receive an invite like that.
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45 minutes ago, Paul71 said:
Maybe the time difference.
Yeah. In Berlin we've won 3-0
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Just watched the preview show on Rams TV - absolutely brilliant. It's like Football Focus (minus the crap) just for Derby. Rams TV is getting better all the time and i can only see all clubs (well at least Champ and Prem) doing this in future. At this present time, you can't beat sky / BT etc but they must looking over their shoulder and thinking about the impact of potentially 92 clubs all chipping away at their monopoly. Another feather in Mel's cap i say.
And the way in which in sky and especially BT keep putting up their prices, it won't be long before more fans 'move abroad' to watch RamsTV every week / game. Judging from the match day chat, i never knew so many fans live overseas.
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is the app better than logging in via Safari?
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2 hours ago, DesertRam said:
Hope you are right mate, It was particularly exasperating today. Usually seems to happen for first 15/20
minutes or so - but was almost the whole match today, except for last 15 minutes.
Kept saying error 404..
Mine kept saying error 0-3 but not sure what that's all about
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working at last after having to reset my password 3 times etc
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hasn't worked at all for me today - blummin useless
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46 minutes ago, Inverurie Ram said:
Love it. Bobby Charlton looks well peeved but Dave is just giving it the big 'git tae fuc yer doss mancs. We're the main team now ken'.
- BarrowRam, Dordogne-Ram, King Kevin and 4 others
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9 hours ago, loweman2 said:
Some great stuff there @Tim Bucktoo !! The legends of our time !
a bit like when Cloughie took over he had goal machine Kevin Hector already at the club,
when Arthur took over he had another striking legend in place whose goals would drag us out of those dark days ! Oh bobby bobby !
Not many players known by just their first name.
I was gutted when we sold Kevin Wilson but Bobby was great.
Theres was more happened between 84-89 than everything combined since. And I loved the TBE era too.
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'The symbolic resurgence of Derby County'....
- Derby4Me, loweman2 and MuespachRam
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16 minutes ago, Zag zig said:
As Loweman said 83 wasn't bad for the cup and Fulham games, from somewhere in my teenage memory
All that became an even more distant memory though, gawd knows what the old uns that had witnessed European nights thought in 83/4
Pretty dire football, rival fans school mates taking the p***.
Then came King Arthur!
In under10 years we went from champions, thrashing Real Madrid, wining 13-0 in Europe, winning the charity shield and other cup semis to relegation to Div3. Staggering. I took the wise decision to wait until we'd truly blown ourselves out and waited until 84 til going every week. We could only muster 4 v Real and I saw us plant 7 v Lincoln. Oh yeah, who's winning now.
Still, without the devastatingly good and the stupidly bad, there's no context eh? Who needs constant highs....? Not us, that's for sure
- Zag zig, uttoxram75 and loweman2
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5 minutes ago, loweman2 said:
Kevin Keegan recorded a special video message for Arthur Cox as the former Derby County manager received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Derby Telegraph Sports Awards
http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kevin-keegan-arthur-cox-derby-757048
"I can only speak from my point of view, how you influenced my life.
"Of all the coaches I worked with, and I worked with a few, my time with you at Newcastle was as good as it ever got.
"Your honesty, your professionalism, your dedication, is what they are recognising and it is about time, because people like you who give so much to the game sometimes don't get recognised.
"You deserve it, mate. You have done so much for football.
"If someone was to say what does Arthur Cox mean to you, apart from a very, very good friend, I would say he is the most honest person I have ever met in my life and that honesty transfers to all the people around you.
"You probably won't enjoy this, because you don't like publicity - we all know that - but just for once, let yourself go, have a little bit of wine and be sure there are so many people who would love to be there (I'm one of them) to recognise what you have done in football.
"Well done, mate. I am pleased for you."
nice one Kev
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What did he say?. I was at most matches so didn't always get to hear the owd wireless
Pretty dire football, rival fans school mates taking the p***.
Best book about dcfc
in Derby County Forum
Posted
Did you get your Stone Roses book signed? Can recommend the John Robb Roses book if that’s your thing.