Living in Canada now so no way I could attend but really wish I could have been there. Any chance those of you who went (I'm looking at you Richard P 😉) could share your thoughts of the evening and any stories from players or fans? I'm not that bothered about pics, seen plenty of those, but apart from hearing that Batesy was on top form and Pat did a great job as compere I haven't seen that much about what was actually said by anyone.

I think it's unusual to have an event like this to celebrate a Div 2 Championship 40 yrs after the event, but I also think that says a lot about how special THAT season was for us. Did the players get that? Did they realise it at the time, or only more recently? Were they surprised at the interest after all these years? Did they appreciate how good our away support was back then? Notice how different it was to most others? Was the Speedie/Canoville 'reconciliation' onstage? Was anything said to the audience while that happened?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, sounds like it was a roaring success and can't wait to hear anything you might have to share.

I couldn't make it either due to living just south of you Cobham. But it looked like a great time.

 

 

L to R: Pat Nevin, Alan Hudson, Peter Rhoades-Brown, Mickey Thomas, Colin Lee, David Speedie, Paul Canoville, Eddie Niedzwiecki, John Bumstead, Tony McAndrew.

Apparently Kerry Dixon and Colin Pates were also there, but were signing autographs when the photo was taken !

On 31/05/2023 at 04:35, Cobham said:

Living in Canada now so no way I could attend but really wish I could have been there. Any chance those of you who went (I'm looking at you Richard P 😉) could share your thoughts of the evening and any stories from players or fans? I'm not that bothered about pics, seen plenty of those, but apart from hearing that Batesy was on top form and Pat did a great job as compere I haven't seen that much about what was actually said by anyone.

I think it's unusual to have an event like this to celebrate a Div 2 Championship 40 yrs after the event, but I also think that says a lot about how special THAT season was for us. Did the players get that? Did they realise it at the time, or only more recently? Were they surprised at the interest after all these years? Did they appreciate how good our away support was back then? Notice how different it was to most others? Was the Speedie/Canoville 'reconciliation' onstage? Was anything said to the audience while that happened?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, sounds like it was a roaring success and can't wait to hear anything you might have to share.

I took videos of speeches on the night. I also had pictures with the players but I’m sure you don’t want my ugly mug in those!!!  Will be happy to pass the videos  on to one of the Shed End Mods as I know certain length videos I can’t load.

It was a great night with Pat Nevin as MC. He started with Uncle Ken on stage, who went through his year from after the Bolton Game (82/83) right through 83/84. The funny thing during the evening is every time a player came on to talk about their stories Ken would come back in the conversation! As he is quite frail now, he walks with two sticks, Pat had to keep holding the Microphone for him to speak!
 

Each player was asked about the season and also their favourite game, goal and memory of the season. Us the supporters were mentioned a lot regarding our numbers home and away and how loud we were.

Canners speech began with his memory of his first game away to Palace the year before stating  “I have to say you guys gave me some fu#*#+g welcome!! A lot of people in the room were shouting “Not all of us” I for one was one, as I was 14 at the time and had many friends at school from different ethnic backgrounds and didn’t think that way. Also David Speedie was asked back on stage by Canners to say that a Misunderstanding years ago had been cleared up between the two of them and they hugged on stage a Canners stated they were like brothers now.

He also mentioned about meeting his dad for the first time after the 4-4 at Hillsboro. After the game he was so worried about what to say and would he recognise him as he walked out when he was a year old. He said “ I needn’t of worried, when I walked into the lounge he was the only black man there!!
 

I hope you haven’t found these bits boring and will post more if interested 

 

What a fantastic event it was. I've stuck a few random photos up, Tony McAndrew was one of the players there. I was lucky enough to have a quick word with him, a largely unsung important player to the squad. Lovely fella! The rest of the pictures are more well known characters ( to me anyway) some players, some fans. Some fans that were also players. 

Wonderful evening. Made my year. 

On 01/06/2023 at 14:10, Richard P said:

I took videos of speeches on the night. I also had pictures with the players but I’m sure you don’t want my ugly mug in those!!!  Will be happy to pass the videos  on to one of the Shed End Mods as I know certain length videos I can’t load.

It was a great night with Pat Nevin as MC. He started with Uncle Ken on stage, who went through his year from after the Bolton Game (82/83) right through 83/84. The funny thing during the evening is every time a player came on to talk about their stories Ken would come back in the conversation! As he is quite frail now, he walks with two sticks, Pat had to keep holding the Microphone for him to speak!
 

Each player was asked about the season and also their favourite game, goal and memory of the season. Us the supporters were mentioned a lot regarding our numbers home and away and how loud we were.

Canners speech began with his memory of his first game away to Palace the year before stating  “I have to say you guys gave me some fu#*#+g welcome!! A lot of people in the room were shouting “Not all of us” I for one was one, as I was 14 at the time and had many friends at school from different ethnic backgrounds and didn’t think that way. Also David Speedie was asked back on stage by Canners to say that a Misunderstanding years ago had been cleared up between the two of them and they hugged on stage a Canners stated they were like brothers now.

He also mentioned about meeting his dad for the first time after the 4-4 at Hillsboro. After the game he was so worried about what to say and would he recognise him as he walked out when he was a year old. He said “ I needn’t of worried, when I walked into the lounge he was the only black man there!!
 

I hope you haven’t found these bits boring and will post more if interested 

 

No, mate, not boring at all, please go on, that was just what I was after.  Thank you.👍

 

Were there particular games that stood out for the players? Like a few that many of them chose? Or was it fairly spread out?

Would love to see those vids if the mods can pull it off.

Oh and was there a rousing rendition of 'come along..' during the evening? I expect there was. 

On 01/06/2023 at 19:01, Sexyfootball said:

L to R: Pat Nevin, Alan Hudson, Peter Rhoades-Brown, Mickey Thomas, Colin Lee, David Speedie, Paul Canoville, Eddie Niedzwiecki, John Bumstead, Tony McAndrew.

Apparently Kerry Dixon and Colin Pates were also there, but were signing autographs when the photo was taken !

Wee Pat was the youngster of the team, and he now looks about 20 years younger than the rest of them, apart from Eddie Ned.

I'm currently reading Nevin's autobiog, which is a very good book. He obviously talks a lot about THAT season, and is full of praise for the whole team and the football they played, and absolutely loved John Neal. He singles out Tony McAndrew for praise for his personality and attitude off the field. He loved the North Walian nutters Mickey Thomas and Joey Jones, and says he got on particularly well with Pates and Bumstead. He mentions the near-telepathic understanding he had with Speedie, but is pretty open in saying they had zero in common off the field and really didn't like each other.