just Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 (edited) Been reading a bit about the Greatest Footballer you Never Saw; The Robin Friday Story and wondered if any of the old timers on here ever got to see him play in the 70's? Really interesting, but deeply flawed character. His life-story is outrageous, he died in 1990 aged only 38, and makes George Best seem like a Buddhist monk. I have included him in the vintage Chelsea section because although he only played professionally for a very short period with Reading and Cardiff, I have discovered he was actually a Chelsea Youth team player in 1966-67 For anyone who has never heard of him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Friday Edited March 15, 2013 by just Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backbiter Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Yes - read that a few years back. Very entertaining. The author was someone to do with Oasis, wasn't he? I remember him as a player - he played for Cardiff for a while - but never saw him in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 Anyone who gets sent off for booting Mark Lawrensen in the face deserves to be recognised IMO. I do recall listening to an interview with Clive Thomas when he talked about Friday's goal against Tranmere. He described it as the greatest moment of genius he had ever seen on a football pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backbiter Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 On arrival at Cardiff Central railway station, Friday was arrested by the British Transport Police for having travelled from Reading with only a platform ticket. Unhappy living so far from home, Friday began to travel back to London at weekends; he avoided paying rail fares by knocking on locked toilet doors and shouting, "Tickets, please!", pretending to be the ticket inspector. When the occupant passed his ticket under the door to be checked, Friday would pick it up, walk off and use it for himself Friday was marked during the game by Mark Lawrenson, who so frustrated the Cardiff forward with his close attention that Friday waited for Lawrenson to attempt a slide tackle and then kicked him in the face.[11] After receiving a red card, Friday left the ground with the game still going on; according to legend, before leaving he broke into the Brighton dressing room and defecated in Lawrenson's kit bag From a very amusing Wikipedia page. As I'd half-remembered, the book was co-written by the Oasis bassist Paul McGuigan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carshalton Blue Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Anyone heard of a player called Roy McDonough? ex Chelsea, from Walsall in 80/81 He never made it at CFC & was a rogue on & off the pitch, he's infamous for getting 13 red cards!! I read an article on him a while ago & he was quoted as saying Chelsea at the time he was there was a circus(nothing changes eh lol!) Hurst had never seen him play but he was signed by reserve team boss Brian Eastwick, he played for our reserves & was scoring for fun every game, Hurst asked him how he'd got on a few days after a game where he'd scored two, hit the bar twice & made two goals, 4months later he walked out on a 3yr contract with Ron Suart Chelsea's scout ringing him to say" there was a hidden agenda, Eatswick didnt like you" His autobiography sounds like a good read..... http://www.coastrider.net/entertainment/k2-categories/book-reviews/item/20442-a-review-of-roy-mcdonough-s-autobiography-red-card-roy.html Just seen he is on fb & twitter, some good old skool type pics on his fb page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueBeard Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I've seen the book advertised before, but never thought about buying it until now - he's clearly a hero after dropping a turd in Lawrenson's kit bag! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backbiter Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Anyone heard of a player called Roy McDonough? ex Chelsea, from Walsall in 80/81 He never made it at CFC & was a rogue on & off the pitch, he's infamous for getting 13 red cards!! I read an article on him a while ago & he was quoted as saying Chelsea at the time he was there was a circus(nothing changes eh lol!) Hurst had never seen him play but he was signed by reserve team boss Brian Eastwick, he played for our reserves & was scoring for fun every game, Hurst asked him how he'd got on a few days after a game where he'd scored two, hit the bar twice & made two goals, 4months later he walked out on a 3yr contract with Ron Suart Chelsea's scout ringing him to say" there was a hidden agenda, Eatswick didnt like you" His autobiography sounds like a good read..... http://www.coastrider.net/entertainment/k2-categories/book-reviews/item/20442-a-review-of-roy-mcdonough-s-autobiography-red-card-roy.html Just seen he is on fb & twitter, some good old skool type pics on his fb page. Yes, I remember him signing for us and never getting a look-in. We had so little money back then that any signing created interest. I just assumed if they never made the first-team it was because they were not good enough, not because the manager never bothered watching them play for the reserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Never heard of this more than interesting character before, sounds like he would have fitted in well on our away day travels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carshalton Blue Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Yes, I remember him signing for us and never getting a look-in. We had so little money back then that any signing created interest. I just assumed if they never made the first-team it was because they were not good enough, not because the manager never bothered watching them play for the reserves. We paid £30k for him not a lot of dough in football terms but may have been a lot for us at the time seeing how much we were struggling, just shows how poorly the club was being run back then, pay £30k for a player then let him walk away 4 months later. He obviously never set the football world alight but who knows what he couldve achieved at the club, then again with his erratic behaviour the KIngs Road may not have been the best place for him to be near lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zinc alloy Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Just bought a secondhand copy of the Robin Friday book. Wish he had got in the first team at Chelsea. No characters anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOFTYBILL Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 Don't think I ever saw Robin Friday play although I used to watch Reading a lot in the early 70's. However my brother who saw a lot of him reckons he was the most gifted and skilled player he has ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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