loweman2

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 !!

Judith Hann from tomorrow’s world, from Littleover and her dad played for the rams !

they don't come more famous than these guys at the moment !

11 hours ago, loweman2 said:

 

 

Oh my god.

lads !!

we can’t keep having this !

we are all different ages but the eye has always been there !

right since Sir Brian of Clough told the old stick in the muds that we needed a new more edgy logo ! We need the whole ram not just his head and we need it snouting !

he said !

and like when god said let there be light and there was light 

when Sir Brian said let it snout, let it be whole and above all let it have a Fuc*!ng eye.

it had an eye !

just re read my post from last night, i must admit i had "had a few" and when i said snouting ram i did of course mean snorting ram !!

a snouting ram in old cockney rhyme would be a smoking ram ! as in "have you got any snouts mate"

but then again i suppose a snorting ram in this day and age is a whole nother meaning aswell !! 

10 hours ago, Angry Ram said:

Is it me or is the head wrong?

It looks like it has had its face kicked in !

that can’t be right ?

1 hour ago, SaintRam said:

It's been on there for ages. I can't find the thread about the eye right now but I'm pretty sure @loweman2 or someone else was showing photos of the sewn crest on their really old shirts that has the eye on it.

For some reason it's left off a ton of the graphical crests you can find online. 

3 hours ago, richinspain said:

I think it's the big eye thing ?

2 hours ago, Carnero said:

There hasn't always been an eye.

Oh my god.

lads !!

we can’t keep having this !

we are all different ages but the eye has always been there !

right since Sir Brian of Clough told the old stick in the muds that we needed a new more edgy logo ! We need the whole ram not just his head and we need it snouting !

he said !

and like when god said let there be light and there was light 

when Sir Brian said let it snout, let it be whole and above all let it have a Fuc*!ng eye.

it had an eye !

1 hour ago, RamNut said:

I didn't realise roy mac sacked him. Strange - He always speaks v highly of RW as a player.

 He seemed to virtually run the youth team on his own in those days.

the biggest compliment to RW was surely that he survived the arrival of David Nish who was a right footed full back. Nish played at left back and john robson was sacrificed to make way instead. Its strange that nish never played at right back.

thats a question for nishy when you meet him.

I’ve never thought about that, always assumed Nish was a left sided player, also the fact that Ron was already here when Clough arrived and him and Taylor never spotted anybody to replace him, he told me that he loved defending and that he had an ability to be in the right place, he could always spot where the danger was going to be.

On 24/06/2018 at 20:16, LesterRam said:

Imagine how much these greats would cost at today's prices?

A team made up of English and British international players !

Also added his signature to the 68/69 shirt and the 74/75 shirt.

Today’s trip out was a visit to the only locally born lad to have won two football league championship trophy’s with the Rams, he was there before Clough arrived and survived Docherty, he was head coach and played over 540 games for us, a solid defender who played alongside Todd, McFarland and Nish and formed that legendary back line, it was of course Ronnie Webster.

i took my lad along to this one instead of my dad as I wanted to get Jordan to meet another one of the few.

we were made instantly welcome by Ron, his wife and his son Drew.

he was really interested in the stuff that I took along for him to sign for me.

he has also promised to find out some old shirts for me.

apparently he has a Juventus shirt in the loft that he swapped in the European cup semi final, that would be nice to see ! ?

really friendly and had some great tales, as always can’t say much on here but he was not the biggest fan of Peter Taylor and wasn’t to pleased the Roy McFarland sacked him when he took over from Peter Taylor.

he was looking fit and well and is another one that has no real interest in football these days.

jordan didn’t let me down, this time I went outside to find he had stripped off and was in the pool with Ron’s granddaughter!

luckily everybody saw the funny side of it again, he really is making a habit of it !

another great photo for him to look back on in years to come !

20 minutes ago, Donnyram said:

Chris Egan, young Irish left winger signed from Sligo Rovers in October 1973.  Left on loan to Newport County in 1976 before playing locally with the likes of Heanor Town & Arnold.

Better get him on the list for a visit !! ????

This is the one that started, when I found out that it didn’t matter how big a name they were they are all just normal guys, even this man, invited me and my old man into his home, and made us laugh, also had a very serious side to him.

he was the one that got the whole thing going, put a team together and took on the footballing world, outspoken, a maverick but a great footballing brain, a genius, his like will never be seen again in football.

we were lucky enough to have him as our manager and to many he is still the face of Derby County as synonymous with the club as the snorting Ram or the BBG !

the one and only Mr Clough !

4 minutes ago, richinspain said:

@loweman2, I have given nearly every single one of your posts a like. I am getting sick of you now. Has everyone seen his bloody likes to posts ratio? Have you ever thought of collecting Forest memorabilia?

It’s just great to know that there is at least one person out there who shares the passion for the old days, yes it may be called living in the past by some but without that past our club would be nothing, those old lads as they are now put us on the World footballing map along with their gaffer !

thanks for the supportive words as always @richinspain ?

pits a fine line between keeping the dream alive and being an obsessive anorak type !

the great thing is that I have built a good relationship with most of the players (except Willie Carlin ?? @Boycie) and they have all been great.

its a journey that I set out on for my dad but it has bought me immense pleasure and my lad will have a fantastic set of pictures of his days spent with the real Derby County heroes long after we have all left this place !

As for the Forest stuff !! They can keep it ! Living in the past !! ??

up the Raaaams

Old White boots, more accurate than David Beckham they say, could land the ball on a sixpence, full of stories, he has had his health problems but is living life to the max, a proper U S citizen now days but loves his Derby ! Mr Hinton !

Cloughies first signing at Derby and took him everywhere, including leaving him stranded at Leeds, one of our great centre forwards and another incredibly friendly and open man, happy to share memories and stories, his book would be good, very good ! John O’Hare or John Nohair as jordan decided to call him.

Mr Derby County at his 70th party that I was lucky to be invited to and take Jordan along to meet more of the Derby County legends , he came over and sat with us for 15 minutes and was very open with his conversation.

Charlie, what a guy, a real diamond geezer ! Loved the fact that we were in his beloved Emirates Stadium but wanted to talk about his real love !!Derby County !

he loved Frannie Lee !

The great Toddy !! He was awesome, funny, honest and very genuine, I still keep in regular contact with him and he rings me up for a bit of advice every now and again, you can imagine the stories that he has to tell about football and footballers, an amazing man who love Derby County but felt bitter to how he was treated as a manager.

a really down to earth man, proper Dcfc hero !

Another one I took my dad to see was Jim Walker, he has become like an old mate, a great guy with so many fantastic stories, he was Paul McGraths confidant and physio  at Villa and continued to look after him whilst he was at derby, he worked with Kylie Minogue, inxs, George Michael amongst many others in his 25 years as a top physio in football.

there will be some great news about Jim in the next few weeks.

Another one of our all time greats, here with my old man when we went up to meet him at his home in Telford, a true professional also went on to be assistant manager to a Roy in the 90s, was manager at Cardiff, Stoke and Sunderland, he has given me a number of fantastic items including his blue official club blazer from the medal presentation in 1972 and his jacket from the Wembley play off final against Leicester! 

Another great guy, I went to see him in the week at the derby county golf day at chevin, it was good until the very tragic events with Justin Phillips.

This was a Peter Daniel when him and his wife came round to my dads house for a catch up, the most unassuming man I have ever met, he was the one who stepped in for McFarland for most of the 74/75 season and played a blinder alongside Toddy for us to become Champions of England for the second time and the went back into the back ground whilst Roy took the glory that followed, though he totally respected what Peter had done in his absence !

42 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

I have to say, Loweman, that this thread is an absolute delight. Brings a smile to my face every time  I open it.

Please don't ever stop.

With comments like that @AndyinLiverpool I promise to continue to promote the guys that put our team and our city on the world map of football !

without them we would just be a small team from a small city in the midlands.

they made us champions of England twice and for some reason our club doesn’t want to know them or remember them.

saying that I have been part of something great that will come out in the local news in the forthcoming months.

cant say to much until the club announce it but it’s somet I am quite proud of !

37 minutes ago, RamNut said:

He'll have to stop eventually. 

Maybe we should all start going round to loweman's?

Everybody is always welcome round at Loweman2s, always a beer in the fridge or some wine on the rack and stories to be shared, I have heard some beauties and a lot you would never believe but I can never put it into print.

perhaps I should write a book ?

you Rams

25 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Or flash mobbing Henry Newton or Terry Hennesey et al

El tel was done before Christmas, I managed to get invited to a special signing, only ten people were invited and it was over in enemy territory organised by some dirty red dogs, as you can see it ended up as a bid of a session and I ended up looking older and worse for wear than terry who himself wasn’t looking his finest ! Though it must be said that he seemed to have more hair now than in the 70s, all in all it was a funny time, he was only over from Australia for a couple of weeks and said that it would be his last time in the motherland.

another top man and very funny !

Thought I would add this to the thread, been up this morning to see Colin Boulton and thought I would take my lad along, having previously been round to Colin’s house I knew what lovely people both him and his wife are but they made us even more welcome today, things were so relaxed that Jordan even decided to have a swim in Colin’s pool, he gave him a signed Mitre ball and had photos with both of the first division championship medals and the Charity Shield medal.

Colin is Rams royalty as he was the only player to play in every game of BOTH the championship winning teams.

its great to see him enjoying life, he spends most of his time looking after his garden and doesn’t have anything to do with modern football, he is a rugby fan and said that he won’t be watching a single minute of the World Cup !

A really top man.