cosmic

Spot the difference?

Jim Walker the forgotten man
As many of you know I have been for the last 18 months meeting up with the old brigade, the proper DCFC legends, the ones that put us on the map in footballing terms, the ones that made us the best team in England and got us to the European Cup semi finals, the teams of 71/72 and 74/75.
It started off as way to spend time with my Dad who was a bit lost after the loss of my mum, he is a season ticket holder now and was back in the day so I started off out on a journey that has lead us to meet most of them, one of them remains elusive and one didn’t wish to participate.
All of them have been fantastic, eager to tell stories of the great Brian Clough and the amazing fortunes of Derby County who in those bleak years of three day weeks, power blackouts, strikes and Rolls Royce nearly going under taking thousands of local jobs with it gave the people of Derby something to be proud of.
Upon meeting one of those legends, Jim Walker I was particularly struck by how at peace he was with the world, very relaxed, very friendly and by far the best story teller of them all.
Jim had not long ago lost his wife to illness so immediately him and my dad had something in common other than the love of football, he made us very welcome and gave us an open invite to go round when ever to continue with the tales.
Now most people may remember Jim as the guy who was signed by Clough & Taylor from non league football to play for Derby County and was a major part of the team that won promotion from division two in 1968/69.
He lost his place in the team to John Mcgovern but captained the reserves and stepped in when required to cover injuries of suspensions, this meant that he played only a few games in the 1971/72 season but it was his goal in a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace in late march that gave Derby both points and if you remember we won the league and finished first above dirty Leeds who were just one point behind and had a greater goal difference, so in effect Jim scored the goal that won us the First Division Championship.
Aswell as a footballer Jim is probably better known as the Aston Villa physio, he was there for around twenty years and served under many managers including Graham Taylor, Ron Atkinson, Brian Little and John Gregory, he was also the man charged with looking after Paul McGrath for many years both on and off the pitch and is spoken of in very high regard in Pauls autobiography.
He had a private practice at the Belfry for the golfers and was also the go to man at the NEC when any pop stars suffered an injury or needed attention from a physio, he worked with George Michael, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Michael Hutchence and Kylie to name a few hence him having so many fantastic stories.
Jim has also had illnesses this however does not dampen his spirit or take a smile from his face.
One thing that I was amazed to hear that Jim did not receive a medal for winning the league title despite being only one of sixteen players in that 71/72 season to have donned the shirt and scoring such a valuable goal.
When ever you see the pictures of the team celebrating and holding up their medals jim does not have one.
I approached Andy Ellis the club historian and the writer of many Derby County books and the fount of all knowledge and he confirmed it.
So we the approached the club and asked if they would support an application to Gordon Taylor of the PFA to ask if he would inturn support an application to the football league to present Jim with the medal that he should have received 46 years ago.
The club agreed and they sent the letter to Gordon Taylor who gave it his blessing and the approach was then made to the football league, this was back in February this year after the ball was started rolling in June of 2017 so it took a while.
I am delighted to say that the agreement was given and Derby County approached the very same jewellers who had made the original ones to make one for Jim, to the exact specifications of the original medals and in the same box and made from 9ct gold with all of the hall marks.
For some reason the club at this time can not be seen to publicly present Jim with the medal which is a great sadness as I thought that he was going to be able to step out on the pitch at Pride Park on the opening home game against Leeds (quite fitting as he stopped them winning the league with his goal), it is a litigious matter so I will comment no further other than to say that they did everything that they could.
So to wrap up the story I had the great honour of going to Jims house today with my dad and my son and presenting him with his long overdue medal, he had no idea that it was coming and to say that he was over whelmed is an understatement.
It was great to see his face and to have the privilege to do something like that, I had the medal at my house for a while but obviously didn’t want to post any pictures until now as it was a secret.
Not very often that you get to present a league championship winning medal on behalf of Derby County and to one of the few from those great days and can be called the legends.
We are hoping that Jim will still be able to have amore public presentation at sometime in the season at Pride Park when what ever issues are resolved.
Up the Rams !!
 

That's well bum.

The actor who played Nathan Barley is a Rams fan. 

The actor who played Nathan Barley is a Rams fan. 

its on the legal online streaming site DAZN, Sport1 or SportDigital  in germany.

It's bad enough I'm paying to watch ***** football. The least they could do is actually allow me watch it.
Not good enough.

my app have worked for the last 20 minutes... GRs tactic on the other hand........  

Working again for me now. 

Everything about my club is utter dog at the moment

Scuse the language but what a **** **** **** service. Sort your problems out Derby. I notice you keep taking money from me monthly.

Nice and hot. Sat by the pool in [insert country name here] with a nice glass of [insert drink name here].

Mine has been fine all day. 

Just seen this on the website, great news if you live in one of these countries! https://www.dcfc.co.uk/page/ramstv-availability-for-tv-games?nocache=1
There are a few good games on TV coming up. 

Way too quiet today. Max volume on iPad and can't hear a thing.

Got laptop volume up to max and can barely hear a thing. 

Whispering RamsTV. Sounds even quieter today. At least it makes you concentrate on the commentary.

I watched the whole game with zero issues. I was actually thinking at half time how great it is.
sorry for anyone that has issues because as well as wasting money you also missed he best performance SO FAR this season
i am currently googling flights for the play off final..

It’s been great. No issues with the streaming quality, and internet here is pap compared to back in Blighty. The programme they put together on matchday is pretty decent - I was honestly expecting one camera angle and no commentary or replays. We get ex-Ram pundits and half-time analysis. Even the adverts for local businesses are a nice touch (even if I don’t understand why the likes of me sitting in Berlin would be interested in Derby Uni or having a drink at The Yard..!). With Owen Bradley getting involved you get the feeling the product will go from strength to strength given how he dragged Radio Derby Sportscene into the 21st century. 
I love it. 

It’s been great. No issues with the streaming quality, and internet here is pap compared to back in Blighty. The programme they put together on matchday is pretty decent - I was honestly expecting one camera angle and no commentary or replays. We get ex-Ram pundits and half-time analysis. Even the adverts for local businesses are a nice touch (even if I don’t understand why the likes of me sitting in Berlin would be interested in Derby Uni or having a drink at The Yard..!). With Owen Bradley getting involved you get the feeling the product will go from strength to strength given how he dragged Radio Derby Sportscene into the 21st century. 
I love it. 

It’s been great. No issues with the streaming quality, and internet here is pap compared to back in Blighty. The programme they put together on matchday is pretty decent - I was honestly expecting one camera angle and no commentary or replays. We get ex-Ram pundits and half-time analysis. Even the adverts for local businesses are a nice touch (even if I don’t understand why the likes of me sitting in Berlin would be interested in Derby Uni or having a drink at The Yard..!). With Owen Bradley getting involved you get the feeling the product will go from strength to strength given how he dragged Radio Derby Sportscene into the 21st century. 
I love it. 

It’s been great. No issues with the streaming quality, and internet here is pap compared to back in Blighty. The programme they put together on matchday is pretty decent - I was honestly expecting one camera angle and no commentary or replays. We get ex-Ram pundits and half-time analysis. Even the adverts for local businesses are a nice touch (even if I don’t understand why the likes of me sitting in Berlin would be interested in Derby Uni or having a drink at The Yard..!). With Owen Bradley getting involved you get the feeling the product will go from strength to strength given how he dragged Radio Derby Sportscene into the 21st century. 
I love it. 

When I was little, my Dad gave me an old, dark commemorative mug from our first title winning season with all the players' signatures printed on it in gold.
I dropped it one day and the handle came off.
He's not looked at me the same since. 

When I was little, my Dad gave me an old, dark commemorative mug from our first title winning season with all the players' signatures printed on it in gold.
I dropped it one day and the handle came off.
He's not looked at me the same since. 

If you read the match thread on a Saturday evening it sometimes sounds like there was 11 of them on the pitch.