Bill Curry

Anyone recognise this fella?

Just one of the greatest players ever to wear the shirt watching Belper Town take on the DCFC Academy side tonight at the Raygar Stadium. He, of course played for Belper Town too late on in his career.

With due acknowledgement to Mike Smith the official Belper Town photographer for his fabulous shot.

One for the old time Rams fans here who go back to the early 60s.  Mick Jones, famous for being Neil Warnock's assistant manager has died at the age of 75.  I well remember him at the start of his career playing at the BBG for Tim Ward's Rams side and just into the Brian Clough era.  He was more of an occasional first-team player but I remember him more playing left half in the Rams Reserves Central League team.

RIP Mick - once a ram......

https://leaguemanagers.com/news/lma-latest/mick-jones-1947-2022/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62377986

They managed to compress it into one short page.  How?

Bill

8 hours ago, Shipley Ram said:

Anyone go to this?

 

Yes, I was there.

We were good, wern't we!

1-2 FRGS Dobbin

Conor Sammon...

Wait... no he really was er.... not good.

Jack was in the first Rams side I saw as a 10 year old in 1962.  He was originally an inside forward (remember them?) and converted to wing half during the latter part of his career. 

Came from a footballing family with at least three brothers who played senior football.  One of that rare breed these days a loyal player - as far as I can remember he only ever played for Derby.  Not sure about this but he may have gone on to play in non-league after he retired, most players of that era did that.

Dependably, rather than flashy, skilful ball player and took the penalties if Geoff Barrowcliffe was injured (which was often)

Another one gone - RIP Jack.

Bill

37 minutes ago, hintonsboots said:

Anyone know anything about TUPE ? ?

Well I've been TUPE'd and the rash cleared up within a few days....

Clough for me - really impressed with what he's done at Mansfield, who played some really attractive, positive football last season with a team of mainly young and upcoming players.

Rosenior too, for that matter, if only for a sense of continuity.  Knows the staff, the few players we have and the set up.

Bill

Supporting non-league too.

Should be @BelperTown really but I'll forgive him this once!

https://www.matlocktownfc.co.uk/gladiators-launch-new-away-strip-with-sponsor-clowes-developments.asp

Bill

So its this guy

Dominic Dietrich from BBC Radio Manchester.

@domjdietrich

Can’t believe I’m writing this but 8 years after joining @BBCDerby as a kickoff reporter, I’m now returning as the new Sports Presenter. The weight of this job at such a critical time for #DCFC isn’t lost on me but I can’t wait to start & follow the top work by @_chriscoles_

The paper article is dated 11 April 2022 so I assumed it was recent...although the article states "when he died earlier this year...."

Sorry, I'm confused!

Bill

RIP - Jamie...

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/ex-derby-county-footballer-dies-6938967

The sister of a former Derby County player says she has been left heartbroken after he died following a short illness. Jamie Vincent died aged 46 after being diagnosed with a rare heart condition.

The former defender also played for Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Portsmouth and Swindon Town. But his sister Lisa Clarkson said he always put his family first.

Lisa, who lives in Burton, has now told how Jamie's family have been left devastated by his death as he leaves behind three children. Speaking to StaffordshireLive, she said she misses her younger brother.

Lisa said: "He was a very charming, very popular person. He was incredibly kind and very generous. But he was also a joker who would make you laugh.

"His sense of humour was amazing and he was such good company. I remember when it was my sister Sharon's 40th birthday. Sharon hated any kind of attention so she had said that she didn't want anything special. On the night, he turned up at her house wearing a Mexican outfit with a fake moustache.

"She didn't recognise him and thought it was a strippergram. She ran back indoors yelling. I think that sums up what kind of person he was."

Jamie made more than 500 appearances for 11 clubs across his 19-year playing career. He began his playing days with Palace before moving to Bournemouth where he played more than 100 times.

After spells with Huddersfield Town, Portsmouth, Wallsall, Derby, Millwall and Yeovil, the left back moved to Swindon Town. He helped the Robins win promotion to League One in 2007.

Lisa was with Jamie at his mother's home near Croydon when he died earlier this year. She says she was "heartbroken" when it happened.

Bill Curry

Odd as this may seem, I have restrained myself from commenting throughout all of this uncertainty.

However, I'm breaking my silence now.

I know no more or no less than anyone else - but of this I'm certain.

After that statement from the EFL there are two possible endings to this.

1) The demise of the EFL.

or

2) The demise of DCFC as we know it.

The High Court will decide.

Bill

For us wizzened old gits surely Dave Mackay's superb volley at the Ossie end to bring the score back to 1-1 in that epic League Cup match against Chelsea in 1968 must be up there.

I always said I wanted my ashes scattered from where he hit that ball.  I only hope the current residents don't mind a pile of burnt human remains in their front room!

Still the best game I've ever seen in 60 years of watching football and I was only 15 years old then.

Where has it all gone?

I was born in 1952 and I first watched the Rams in 1958, albeit the Rams Reserves, whose Central League fixtures were played on Saturday afternoons in those days. First team home fixtures alternated with the reserves but I didn't get to watch to first team until my  dad considered it safe for me to do so.  My first 1st team game was the last game of the 61/2 season.  My Dad thought it would be fine for time then as I was 10 and able to cope with the bigger crowds then (which varied anywhere between 8.000 and about 13,000 compared to the 1,000 or so at reserve games.)  Our opponents were Brighton and Hove Albion who were already relegated. The Rams won 2-0.

In 1960, my Dad got a job with DCFC which consisted of manning the players gate at the Osmaston end of the ground next door to the ticket office. On non-matchdays he would assist the groundsman on the upkeep of the billiard table smooth surface (!!) of the BBG and also the training ground pitch.  He would also drive the players and staff minibus between the BBG and the training ground on Sinfin Lane which was next to a large estate type pub - was it called The County?

On matchdays I was a like a pig in poo then as there were many famous players passing through the players gate.  Even when the reserves played there were lots of well known players returning from injury and I could get their autographs very easily indeed.  They rarely refused to sign their pictures, often culled from Charles Buchan's Football Monthly and stuck haphazardly in a scrapbook.  God knows what that scrapbook would be worth now, if I could only find it.

Wonderful memories of those times when Harry Storer and Tim Ward managed the Rams before the advent of Brian Clough & Peter Taylor.

Bill.....

8 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

No I don’t. You’re slating Leo Messi and his crocodile tears (for not being able to stay at Barca) when it wasn’t money, or the lack of it, that prevented him staying. 
 

show me where greed by Messi negates his “crocodile tears”. 

I'm not arguing with you, Mostyn.  Lionel Messi was just an example.  If it doesn't work for you then I'm sorry.

The game is dominated by greed.

End of.

4 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

Sorry to burst your bubble but i suggest you do a little bit of basic research cos you look a bit daft here. He could NOT have played for free (for Barcelona), he couldn’t have even paid them to let him play. Rules exist. 

You miss the point entirely.... but never mind.  

The point remains that the game is dominated by greed. Like I said he could certainly afford to play for nothing for the rest of his career.  Whether he would or could is I agree, doubtful.

deleted

I became disillusioned with the professional game almost 20 years ago now.  For me it was spoilt by greed and the increasing financial domination of the so-called big six.  I follow the Rams now out of habit more than anything else. The best example I can give you of why I became disillusioned is a recent one.  It can be defined by two words. 

Lionel Messi.

Cries crocodile tears at a press conference because his current club can't afford to pay him 50 squillion euros a year to add to his already vast fortune which must be bigger than a third world debt. He he really wanted to play then he could afford to do so for nothing for the rest of his career.

I had a DCFC season ticket from the early sixties in the days of Tim Ward up to 2006 when I retired.  I stopped buying a ST then and never had one since, being unable to justify the silly amount it now costs.

Other team - well I've watched Belper Town for a long time now and have a Concessionary Season Ticket for the princely sum of £65 a year, full price being is a bit more.  For that I get a friendly club where they seemingly know everyone by their first name, a really good standard of football, a pleasant social club and some of the best match food available anywhere at VERY cheap prices.

If Belper are playing too far away for me to travel, I go the Matlock Town, Alfreton Town, Heanor Town or Mickleover Sports.

I enjoy my football now far more then I ever did when I was watching the Rams, especially latterly.

Bill

4 hours ago, Owen87ITK said:

I’ve heard Shaun Barker is very good. Not sure where he is now?

Well Burton Albion, I think.  He was certainly on their bench in coaching capacity on Tuesday night last when a Burton Albion XI (mainly youth players) played Belper Town in a friendly.

At half-time he opened Belper's new 4G training facility too.

I might have been wrong but I'm sure I saw Eric Steele in the crowd too...

Bill

(Season ticket holder at Belper Town...)

Geoff Barrowcliffe

(look it up) 

The name probably only means something to Rams fans of my vintage.  He was the Rams captain when I first started going to the BBG around 1961 and played what was then called wing-half (No 4) having started out as inside forward (No.8).

He was that very unusual species - a one club man and I'm sorry to se him suffering from that dreadful scourge of dementia.

He was the epitome of the Rams in that era - solid and unspectacular just like his team mates Geoff Barrowcliffe, Ray Young, Tony Conwell et al.

Very sad situation for him and his family.

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/nostalgia/battling-ex-Derby-county-star-5607389

One of the greatest characters and finest players in Derby County’s history celebrates his 90th birthday later this month, in a care home where he suffers from dementia.

Former striker Jack Parry can remember many of his ex-teammates from the 1950s - but often cannnot recognise his own son.

Adored by his family and Rams fans fortunate enough to have seen him play, Jack began his Derby County career in the days of Raich Carter and Billy Steel.

A measure of his longevity as a player was that he ended it when Kevin Hector was starring. By then he had amassed 517 first-team appearances – only one of them as a substitute – and had broken the club record for League appearances and scored 110 goals.

Jack was a one-club man who gave the Rams 20 years’ loyal years. Over 500 games, half of them slogging through the ankle-deep mud of the Baseball Ground, is testament to that.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bill