1971-72 season scrapbook

[Jimbo Ram]

5 hours ago, LeedsCityRam said:

Matchday 34 – Saturday 25th March 1972 & the short trip to Victoria Ground, Stoke

Stoke started the day in 15th place but had already secured silverware this season, winning the League Cup 3 weeks earlier against Chelsea. They had been beaten 4-0 at the Baseball Ground earlier in the season but their home form was impressive, losing only 3 times in 15 games to that point. Stoke took the lead with a Jimmy Greenhoff penalty before Alan Durban equalised from a free kick - post match discussion though was of a late disallowed goal by Kevin Hector that meant Derby had to settle for a 1-1 draw

 

 

 

Derby’s point meant they stayed in 2nd place even though Leeds walloped Arsenal 3-0 at Elland Road. Liverpool won 1-0 at Southampton to highlight it was a 4 horse title race whilst Man City could only draw 0-0 at Newcastle & so remained 3 points ahead of Derby;

Leeds highlights  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhStPGirTNQ

 

That defender of theirs, Stewart Jump........very good in the air by all accounts.....

[LeedsCityRam]

1 hour ago, Jimbo Ram said:

That defender of theirs, Stewart Jump........very good in the air by all accounts.....

You'd expect nothing less. Here he is climbing above Pele even (played for Tampa Bay Rowdies in his later days)...?

[PistoldPete]

3 hours ago, Brailsford Ram said:

I have never seen a quote about the disallowed Nish goal attributed directly to Jack Taylor. Following a disputed goal, which Liverpool conceded in the 60s, Bill Shankly was famously quoted as saying “If a player is not interfering with play, he shouldn’t be on the bloody pitch.”

Like all of us present that day I of course was disappointed that the Nish goal was disallowed but Taylor went with the linesman who had raised his flag immediately. If Taylor was doubtful, he should have consulted the linesman but he didn’t. However, Taylor’s comment to Dave Mackay below seems honest enough. I did say that Taylor got the big decisions right MOST of the time, not always.

My difference with Kirkpatrick at Stoke was that he claimed to ‘see’ something that simply never happened. There’s a big difference in my opinion.

IN a DET article by Anton Rippon about the Nish ‘goal,’ this was said.

David Nish lofted the ball over the last line of United defenders before running on to it and driving it into the net. Alas for Derby, the linesman’s flag was raised. The whistle had sounded and Stepney had made no attempt to prevent the “goal”.

Nish takes up the story: “When they cleared the ball, United always rushed out. They’d done it against us at Old Trafford a few weeks earlier. So when the ball came out to me at Hillsborough, I got to it before it had even bounced, put it over the top, went through myself. I couldn’t believe it when the linesman gave someone offside on the other side of the field.”

Actually, reviewing film of the incident today, it seems that several Rams forwards were offside. Nowadays, the goal would have stood, but 40 years ago there was a wholly different interpretation to “interfering with play”.

Six minutes from time, the tie was settled when Gordon Hill made it 2-0. Nish summed it up: “He took a free-kick and it ricocheted off one of our players and the goalkeeper was going the wrong way. That just about typified our day.”

Not everyone thought that the Rams had been robbed, however. Even manager Dave Mackay, who said later: “We deserved to lose that day. David Nish? Ah, well. Jack Taylor was the referee and afterwards he said that, had he realised what was happening, then he wouldn’t have given offside. But that’s dead and gone. We can forget that."

“Of course, I was very disappointed to lose because we’d met United previously in the league and done very well. We beat them 2-1 at Derby and drew 1-1 at Old Trafford. We’d also had some good results in the Cup and I thought that we were on a roll. But it wasn’t to be. And in the end we didn’t deserve to get there.”

Yeah agree we didnt deserve it against Man U although Nish goal should have stood, pure class as always from him. 

[angieram]

7 hours ago, True Ram said:

Living in Swanwick  comes to McDonald's in alfreton nearly every day not very good at the  minute all I can say keeps wondering off at the moment to much heading the ball when he played 

Very sad ? 

Sorry to hear that. If you get chance to chat to him on a good day, please tell him how well remembered he is by all us Rams fans of a certain age. 

[True Ram]

20 minutes ago, angieram said:

Sorry to hear that. If you get chance to chat to him on a good day, please tell him how well remembered he is by all us Rams fans of a certain age. 

On a good day      he can remember playing at the moment he is after my car number plate because its got ram on the end 

Sometimes he remembers a lot about playing a lot of the time he doesn't recognise me and just looks away its very sad  I will probably see him and his wife tomorrow I will have a chat with them 

[uttoxram75]

5 hours ago, True Ram said:

On a good day      he can remember playing at the moment he is after my car number plate because its got ram on the end 

Sometimes he remembers a lot about playing a lot of the time he doesn't recognise me and just looks away its very sad  I will probably see him and his wife tomorrow I will have a chat with them 

Just to add to @angieram's post, if the song, "He's one of our own" was around then, Ron Webster would have been the name sang long and loud by 40,000 people in the Baseball Ground.

[PistoldPete]

On 25/03/2022 at 16:45, True Ram said:

On a good day      he can remember playing at the moment he is after my car number plate because its got ram on the end 

Sometimes he remembers a lot about playing a lot of the time he doesn't recognise me and just looks away its very sad  I will probably see him and his wife tomorrow I will have a chat with them 

Ron still looked in good shape a few years ago so sorry to hear that he is not doing well now. Will he be at the 50th anniversary celebs? 

[Normanton Lad]

On 25/03/2022 at 08:38, Brailsford Ram said:

On the back of five consecutive League victories, the large contingent of Rams fans was in buoyant mood as we made the short journey to Stoke City’s Victoria Ground. It takes little longer than it takes to reach the City Ground from Derby but there has never been much of a rivalry between the two club’s supporters, except perhaps in the locality of Uttoxeter where rival fan’s live alongside each other. The rivalry in Stoke has historically between the Potters and Port Vale and that remains quite intense today. Even that is quite different to Nottingham where the Forest and County fan rivalry is quite gentle. As we know, there is only one East Midlands derby and in my lifetime, the Notts. County rivalry has centred more upon Mansfield and Chesterfield than it has with Derby and Forest. As Jimmy Greaves used to say ‘It’s a fanny old game.’

Jim Walker made his first League start of the season, replacing the injured Hinton. The crowd was close to capacity with a very big following of away fans. There was little between the two teams in a closely contested first half and the game was goalless at the break.

Shortly into the second half, referee Roger Kirkpatrick of Leicester awarded Stoke a penalty when Todd brought down the tricky Harry Burrows in the area. Jimmy Greenhoff beat Boulton from the spot to put the Potters in front. Derby immediately pushed forwards for the equaliser and three minutes later Durban brought the Rams level when he curled a free kick from just outside the area, around the Stoke wall past Gordon Banks and into the back of the net.

The goal spurred Derby on as they went in surge of a winner. Then, with timing running out, Kevin Hector appeared to have given the visitors a well deserved victory when he jumped in front of Gordon Banks and headed home in front of the celebrating Rams fans at the open end of the ground. Amazingly and quite wrongly, Mr. Kirkpatrick disallowed a perfectly good goal. Clough, as usual, refused to condemn the official but poignantly suggested to reporters that they should ask the ref to explain his decision. Kirkpatrick said that he considered that Hector had elbowed Banks but ‘The King’ insisted that he had made no contact whatsoever with the ‘keeper. I was stood about 25 yards from the incident with a clear view and without a shadow of doubt I can confirm that what Kevin said was absolutely true. It was an appalling and wholly unjust decision, which ultimately could have cost Derby dearly.

Although an away draw is always welcome, it seemed more like a point lost than a point won. Although we were still in second place, it was becoming increasingly tight amongst the leading pack and it seemed that the chase for the title might go down to the wire.

I still travel away today with the same people I did in my youth and Mr. Kirkpatrick’s awful decision still often comes up in conversation. It was one of those moments that stay with you forever. Rant over. Well at least until the next time someone mentions his name to me.

Kirkpatrick was almost a ‘Mr Pickwick’ clone. He was tubby, balding, with mutton-chop sideburns and ran with his knees pumping high. It was said that he could run faster going backwards than forwards. He seemed to like the attention he attracted and became popular with players and the media. Clough and Taylor were friendly with him but I never acquired the taste for him. Maybe that is because I developed an unconscious prejudice towards him because of that ludicrously disallowed goal. But I also believed that he courted publicity with the same enthusiasm of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, which was unheard of for a referee up until that time. It was uncomfortable.

Talking of such prejudice, Gordon Banks rose to world fame with Leicester City and England. Many English football followers questioned whether referees over protected him who was from Leicester because of his reputation as the crown jewel of goalkeepers. I wonder if Mr Kirkpatrick, who was from Leicester, had an unconscious bias for Banks when he ruled out that goal?  Maybe, I’m in danger of being called a conspiracy theorist.

Kirkpatrick, along with the controversial Clive ‘The Book’ Thomas was one of the original celebrity refs who emerged around that time. Later Roger Milford and Neil Midgeley took on the role of the extrovert official. They are the ones fans remember, yet it was quiet Jack Taylor who got the World Cup final, and undemonstrative George Courtney who was his most admired successor.

The cult of the referee came into its own with the introduction of full-time professional referees, following the formation of the Premier League in 1991. From then on, referees have competed to become stars in the game, alongside the players. For me that has been detrimental. When I was growing up, you always knew the referee had a good game by the fact that you never noticed him because he had called the crucial decisions correctly and without fuss and without trying to attract personal attention. That was why Jack Taylor rose to the top to referee the Holland v West Germany World Cup Final in 1974.  He and Norman Burtenshaw, who was also on the FIFA list, were the best English refs from those times. They were well respected for the unfussy way in which they got most of the big decisions right.

The Pickwick Papers is a book that I have never recommended for children.

I read the Pickwick Papers as a teenager and I found it funny, but tastes change and I don't know what I'd make of it now. I'd forgotten about Roger Kirkpatrick until I read your post. I liked him. He was totally different from "the computer says no" refs we've got today. Perhaps he tried to hog the spotlight a bit too much but he made you realise that refs are part of the game. He reminded me of that ref in the Play for Today who headed in a goal at the end of the game. Here's Roger's obituary :

https://ratetheref.createaforum.com/i-spy-old-refs!/roger-kirkpatrick-obituary/

I never enjoyed a visit to the Victoria Ground. I always thought the ground looked a bit run down like the rest of Stoke.

Your memory of past games is very impressive. Perhaps you should start more threads for different seasons. Some of us will be dead by the time you get to the 1980s.

 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by Normanton Lad

[LeedsCityRam]

1 hour ago, Normanton Lad said:

I read the Pickwick Papers as a teenager and I found it funny, but tastes change and I don't know what I'd make of it now. I'd forgotten about Roger Kirkpatrick until I read your post. I liked him. He was totally different from "the computer says no" refs we've got today. Perhaps he tried to hog the spotlight a bit too much but he made you realise that refs are part of the game. He reminded me of that ref in the Play for Today who headed in a goal at the end of the game. Here's Roger's obituary :

https://ratetheref.createaforum.com/i-spy-old-refs!/roger-kirkpatrick-obituary/

I never enjoyed a visit to the Victoria Ground. I always thought the ground looked a bit run down like the rest of Stoke.

Your memory of past games is very impressive. Perhaps you should start more threads for different seasons. Some of us will be dead by the time you get to the 1980s.

 

 

Top class muttonchops & a pretty 'extravagant' style judging from this footage

https://m.facebook.com/MotherSoccerNL/videos/referee-1975-rogerkirkpatrick-birminghamcity-v-stokecity-england/725078308004580/

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Normanton Lad said:

I read the Pickwick Papers as a teenager and I found it funny, but tastes change and I don't know what I'd make of it now. I'd forgotten about Roger Kirkpatrick until I read your post. I liked him. He was totally different from "the computer says no" refs we've got today. Perhaps he tried to hog the spotlight a bit too much but he made you realise that refs are part of the game. He reminded me of that ref in the Play for Today who headed in a goal at the end of the game. Here's Roger's obituary :

https://ratetheref.createaforum.com/i-spy-old-refs!/roger-kirkpatrick-obituary/

I never enjoyed a visit to the Victoria Ground. I always thought the ground looked a bit run down like the rest of Stoke.

Your memory of past games is very impressive. Perhaps you should start more threads for different seasons. Some of us will be dead by the time you get to the 1980s.

 

If you carry on reading this thread which now has only about six weeks to go, you will come to see that Roger Kirkpatrick redeemed himself somewhat for his shocking decision at Stoke. However, I will always prefer the referees who are more comfortable in avoiding the limelight. It is the players and managers that supporters go to see in the main, not the referees. That's one of the great things about being a football fan; it leaves us each with our own divergence of opinions for discussion. It would be much more mundane if we were all thinking the same.

I feel much the same way about the many good and some quite average players who I have watched playing for Derby during the past 25 years who became millionaires through their offerings. I do not begrudge them that but times evolve and I find a sense of injustice in the fact that many of the legends we are discussing in this thread had to work hard into their retirements because the game had paid them less than they deserved because of the miserly directors who dealt with them in the 'master and servant' regime that prevailed at the time. Some supporters will still try to tell you that when Kevin Hector joined Derby County from Bradford Park Avenue in 1966, he was paid £100 a week. He was not. When he left Derby the first time in 1978 to join Vancouver Whitecaps, after playing at the very top of the English game for a decade, he was earning a meagre £105 a week, which was about the same as I was earning as a probationary police constable.  Alan Hinton, who was the Whitecaps coach, revealed that figure in his recent autobiography. Today, Tom Lawrence earns more in a week than many PCs do in a year. But I guess that's life and evolution for you.

The legendary players we are talking about here are all at the very top of the tree among the hundreds who have played for Derby County since 1888 when the League began. They were the only ones who took us to the pinnacle of the English and European game. Right up to the time that Lionel Pickering owned the club, all of the ex-players were entitled to a complimentary ticket to watch the Rams at home - the last three survivors of the 1946 FA Cup winners, Jack Howe, Jim Bullions and Reg Harrison, were entitled to a seat alongside Lionel in the directors' box. That revered hospitality is no longer considered. If it had been I do not honestly believe that Mel Morris would have known who most of them were. The championship winning players, with the exception of Roy McFarland, collectively feel that the club has forgotten them. Phil Lowe@loweman2 of Derby County Heritage fame, discovered that when he and his father made the effort to meet the Legends in recent years, as expressed in his excellent threads on this forum.

The whole history of our club is so important and we are lucky that so much of it has been recorded in various formats over the last 50 odd years. It is important that this is continued in our lifetimes. I would like to suggest to Boycie and David the idea of creating a sub-forum of the History of The Rams where threads such as this can be moved and added to so that younger supporters can share their memories from the post-championship winning years. Then our memories and those of others will live on to be shared by the future generations.

As for future seasons, I have committed to supporting LeedsCityRam in what he is doing up to 1975-76. At my age I only want to plan that far ahead but I do hope I'm still around for an extension or two.

COYR 

[IslandExile]

5 hours ago, Brailsford Ram said:

At my age I only want to plan that far ahead but I do hope I'm still around for an extension or two.

I won't quote your entire post, suffice to say, it's a really good one - as are all your contributions, particularly in this thread.

And, as I'm trying to say on another thread at the moment, owners, managers and players come and go. What's important is that the club - with all of its fantastic history, good times and bad - survives, remains and is always there and celebrated.

You have helped @LeedsCityRam to keep that history alive. Thank you.

May you and the Rams have many, many more years ahead ?

[Normanton Lad]

Leeds City Ram has provided a great service in starting this thread. It's wonderful to be reminded of those past games and players, but I'm not sure what the younger posters make of it.

Around 1975 I was talking to an old chap called Horace who like to draw and he showed me one of his drawings of a footballer. I think was someone he copied from a cigarette card. "Who's that ?" he asked pointing at the player. I had no idea. "You call yourself a Derby supporter and you don't who that it is". "It's Harry Bedford", he said shaking his head at my ignorance. Harry Bedford played his last game for Derby in 1930. I thought he was nuts expecting me to know about a player from all those years ago. I am the same time distance from 1975 as he was from 1930 in 1975 and for me 1975 feels like yesterday. I'm not sure if young people will ever understand how recent the past feels to old people. 

I've talked to players from different eras and as far as I can tell modern players, i.e. from the start of the Premier Division, have little interest in or knowledge of the game from previous eras. In my opinion I don't think these modern players thought these earlier players were that good. Unless you mention big names like Best and Greaves they won't know the names of many players unless these earlier players went into management or scouting. I've not done this but I guess if I told these modern players that they earned X times more than the old players they would probably argue that they are X time better than those players.

The obvious reason for modern players getting more money is that the TV companies are paying more but I think there is an additional reason. Modern players are being paid extra because they are doing PR work for our elites. I can't remember anyone asking Kevin Hector for his opinion about the war in Vietnam. Footballers then were there to play football. They were not expected to participate in organised political demonstrations. Today I would guess any players who refused to go along with all this would be cancelled and they would lose their share of the big money. Paul Breitner is only earlier player I know who made political statements but he was very anti-establishment.  He would have been cancelled in the modern game. Just before the kick off in the famous Real Madrid game at Derby I can remember him walking up to Francis Lee to shake his hand.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Normanton Lad

[Guest]

On 13/11/2021 at 21:23, Brailsford Ram said:

As is life, it's always a case of being in in the right place at the right time Wistatson Ram. Those of us who who saw these great years know how lucky we were to witness it. I was just 19 when we became champions for the first time.. Most who saw it have now passed on. It is important that those of us who are left can pass on our memories to those who want to hear about it. From the time I. took an interest in the Rams as a young boy, I had a thirst for knowledge of the history of the club. For me, LeedsCityrRam, loweman2 and many others , like you, who show interest in our past are to be congratulated. If you don't know what came before, how can you form your future expectations? How can you be proud and understand what a great club DCFC really is or isn't?

It disappoints me when I read this forum and I see current fans who say they don't care what happened before. They started in 1989, 1997 or whatever and that's all that matters to them and what came after. I think they are missing a trick but it's up to them.

There are many books now on the history of the Rams but they give little insight about how the fans at the time thought about what happened. If there's an opportunity to pass on what we experienced as supporters of the Clough and Mackay teams, I think we have a duty to express ourselves. Otherwise the testimonies of what we witnessed will disappear into the ether.

 

This above is what I said  Normanton Lad a few months ago about fans who were interested in the whole history of the club. I appreciate they may be in a minority but there are a significant number who share that interest. If I had been a party to your discussion with the guy who remembered Harry Bedford I could have told him about what I had learned about him and tapped him up for more information. It interests me and some others. I could talk about Bloomer because I have his son-in-law's excellent biography. I respect the opinion's of those who aren't interested in what came before they started watching Derby.

The oldest ex-player I met was Harry Storer when he was the manager in 1961. He was born in 1898. I asked him for his autograph outside the BBG and I asked him about his playing days. He spoke to me for three or four minutes and I will never forget it, I hope. I was only nine and it was from him I first learned that he had also played cricket for Derbyshire and he was in the team that won the County Championship in 1936, the only time they have won it so far. I spoke several times to Sammy Crookes, born in 1908, when he and the England cricketer, Charlie Elliott, owned Elliott & Crookes sports shop on The Spot. I used to buy my Subbuteo teams there. Sammy told me how disappointed he was to have missed the 1946 Cup Final through injury when he was replaced by Reg Harrison. I'm glad he took the time to talk.

Of course several players have recently talked about the war in Ukraine because they play with Ukranian players. But Kevin Hector never played with a Vietnamese player as far as I am aware. I don't know what he remembers about that war in Vietnam but I will ask him next time I see him if it interests you. But Tim Ward often talked about the Second World War. He was still serving in the British Army in 1946 and that cost him his place in the Cup Final team, which was always a source of regret for him.

As I said the great thing about supporters is their divergence of opinions. So I won't be deterred in my life time's interest in the history of DCFC and fair play to those who do not share that interest.

I expect there are several people who follow the Rams who did not take up the chance to talk to Brian Clough at some time. He was very amenable to supporters and I'm very glad that I took that opportunity on a number of occasions.

 

[scout's dad]

On 18/03/2022 at 08:09, angieram said:

Oh for a return to the days of the exorbitant £200,000 transfer fee! 

 

How much would it be in today’s money?

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, scout's dad said:

How much would it be in today’s money?

David Nish's transfer to Derby from Leicester in 1972 cost £225,000 and was a new British transfer record.

In today's money that represents £3,150,000. 

That equates to about a third of what Derby agreed to pay Arsenal for Kristian Bielik.

Today Jack Grealish from Aston Villa to Manchester City is the record transfer between British Clubs. Grealish cost £117,000,000.

The football world has gone bonkers QED.

[LeedsCityRam]

Matchday 35 – Tuesday 28th March 1972 & a second consecutive away trip, this time to South London to face Crystal Palace

Palace started the day 4th bottom but were only 1 point outside the relegation zone & therefore desperate for points. They were no less desperate than Derby though, who needed a win in their game in hand to close the gap to leaders Man City. Despite an early missed penalty from Archie Gemmill, Derby secured a valuable 0-1 away win courtesy of Jim Walker’s only league goal of the season

 

 

 

Derby’s crucial win moved them to within a point of leaders Man City & returned them to 2nd place after Leeds had temporarily displaced them the night before by demolishing Forest 6-1. Elsewhere, Liverpool edged past Stoke 2-1 at Anfield to keep the pressure on the top 3;

[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 !!

[angieram]

15 minutes ago, loweman2 said:

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 !!

???

This post deserves its own thread, loweman.

I sincerely hope Jim is able to be at Pride Park with other members of the squad in April to receive our applause.

 

[Guest]

As we made our way to Norwood Junction on the Ramaway for the evening game against Crystal Palace, we were still bemoaning Hector’s disallowed goal at Stoke. We knew how crucial that decision could prove to be to the final outcome of the season. The next six days was huge for the club with home games to come on the Saturday and Easter Monday against Leeds United and Newcastle United respectively.

Jim Walker continued on the left wing in place of the injured Hinton. Hennessey replaced McGovern, who was also injured. Struggling Palace found themselves in the lower reaches of the Division.

It was soon apparent that the Rams were back to somewhere near their best. Playing some delightful football, they should have gone ahead on the quarter hour mark when they were awarded a penalty after O’Hare was brought down in the box. But with Hinton absent, Gemmill stepped up, only to fire wide.

Derby had conceded a miserly four goals in their previous eight matches. So, it wasn’t surprising that when Palace managed to find their way forwards, they found it impossible to break down the Rams’ rearguard, in which Robson and Todd were outstanding. The Rams continued to press for the opener and it duly arrived in 34 minutes when Walker fired past John Jackson from close range after finding himself in space from a corner. Despite going close again a few minutes later, they had to settle for a single goal lead at the interval.

The second half began with Palace still on the defensive but Derby were finding it difficult to turn their territorial advantage into goals and in the end they were happy to settle for the narrow victory. Clough thought that although his side had missed McGovern and Hinton they had acquitted themselves better than Palace.

Derby now trailed leaders Manchester City by just a point. Worryingly though, Leeds had thrashed relegation candidates Nottingham Forest by six goals to one on the previous evening and now stood just a point behind the Rams and had played a game less. However, Leeds had to travel to West Ham for an 11 o’clock kick off on Good Friday morning, before making their way to the BBG for the game the next day.

As we excitedly made our way home on the Ramaway, a friend and I decided that we would travel to the Boleyn Ground on Good Friday to cheer on the Hammers.

The fixture between Clough’s increasingly confident side and Revie’s team couldn’t come quickly enough.

However, although we were not yet aware of it, there was worrying activity going on behind the scenes at the club:

On March 12, Coventry had fired their manager, Noel Cantwell, just three days after spending £80k on Bobby Graham and Neil Ramsbottom. Although Ronnie Allen, Pat Saward, Bill McGarry and John Bond were linked with the job, Brian Clough was Coventry’s number-one target. With Sam Longson’s permission, the Coventry chairman, Derrick Robins, met Clough and outlined his offer in London prior to the Palace game. The salary and bonuses would have made Clough the highest paid manager in the League. Despite his team challenging for the title, Clough was unhappy with the size of Derby’s squad and the poor support at recent games. After convincing Peter Taylor, Clough agreed to the move and told Robbins they would tell Sam Longson after the Crystal Palace match. Coventry planned to hold a press conference the next day to announce the appointment. After Derby beat Palace, Clough asked if he could have another week or two, which Coventry reluctantly agreed to.

Despite Robins pressing him for a decision, Clough strung him along, hoping to win the title with Derby before departing.

Derby signed midfield player Jim Walker in February 1968 after Peter Taylor watched him playing for Northwich Victoria in the Cheshire County League. He made his first team debut for the Rams in the final game of that season, which ended in a 1-3 home defeat to Blackpool. The next season, he began as a regular fixture in the side, scored his first goal in a 2-1 win at Bolton and in the next game he starred at the BBG in the 3-1 League Cup replay win over Chelsea, which many of us who watched it still regard as the greatest night’s football we ever witnessed. He lost his place to John McGovern the next month but still went on to make 23 starts and three appearances off the bench as the Rams romped home to win the Second Division title.

Combined with 10 games on loan at Hartlepool in 1970, he made just three appearances in the next two seasons and then three starts and 3 substitute appearances in 1971-72. Jim has always maintained that his goal at Palace won the championship title. He is not wrong. Every player who scored a winner or a goal that enabled a draw that season can rightly claim the same. He made five starts in 1972-3, scoring in a 1-0 home against Manchester City.

In 1973-74 Jim made a single substitute appearance before linking up again with Peter Taylor at Brighton. Thirteen months later he joined Peterborough and in 1976 he moved to Chester. There, in five seasons he played 172 times before moving into a physio and coaching role for two years.

Having now found his new career as a physio, Jim spent time working in Kuwait, under Dave Mackay and with Blackburn Rovers before joining Aston Villa in 1986. It marked the beginning of a long association with the Midlands side, which ended shortly before he left to become assistant manager to Paul Merson at Walsall in 2004.He briefly returned to Peterborough United as a physio in 2006, before becoming senior physio at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield.

Jim had a long and rewarding career in football and was a popular figure wherever he went. In his autobiography Paul McGrath tells how much he owed Jim for helping him play with his notoriously damaged knees and his problems with drink while at Villa.

In the book, Jim Walker tells of a game at Villa Park against Derby, which has always stayed with me for I remember the game well. Graham Taylor’s position as manager was under threat. Derby and Dean Saunders in particular were running Villa ragged. Villa led 1-0 but Taylor said Derby should have been 5-1 ahead and Saunders should have had a hat trick. McGrath was not having a good game but he was getting   away with it. Jim takes up the story:

‘With about a quarter of an hour to go, Paul’s gone down injured. We’re 1-0 up but struggling. Just hanging on. I run in and Paul says, “Jim, you’ll have to take me off. I’m seeing double. I knew that he had been drinking. At the time he was staying in digs quite close to me in Walmley. His landlady used to keep me up to speed on his movements.

‘I said, “Paul, I can’t bring you off now mate.” I knew Graham’s situation and what might happen afterwards if we didn’t win. He said to me, “Every time I go to head the ball, I’m seeing two balls Jim.” He was deadly serious.

“Well” I said, “just head them both!”

Villa held on to win 1-0.

For what it’s worth, I count Paul McGraths book ‘Back From have The Brink’ as one of the best footballers’ autobiographies I have read.        

 

 

 

[Normanton Lad]

Jim Walker should write a book. I can remember he had small role in "Big Ron Manager" nearly 20 years ago. Jim and Andy Legg could be seen standing in the background looking bemused while Ron Atkinson and Barry Fry shared their wisdom or ignorance with a stroppy Peterborough team. To me it seemed like a football version of This is Spinal Tap. Peterborough even had their own David St Hubbins in the form of Sean St Ledger, who seemed to cause Ron and Barry the most trouble. I bet Jim has some great stories about all that.

There’s a bit in the show where Ron is telling the players how to cross the ball. I’m not sure if they were listening to him or laughing at him. I don’t think Ron was much of a player himself. He played for Oxford at Derby in the late 1960s and I thought he looked very good but years later when I mentioned this game to someone it appears that I’d got the wrong Atkinson. It was his brother Graham Atkinson who had played well. My interlocutor said Ron was a very average player.

Big Ron Manager Ep5 (4/4) - YouTube

Edited March 28, 2022 by Normanton Lad