Post by Jon on Apr 18, 2011 23:27:09 GMT
Apologies for taking so long to jot down a summary of the TUST’s “Back Down Wembley Way” evening that took place last Thursday.
Although the TUST is not primarily a social club, I strongly believe that events such as this are essential to boost the profile of the Trust, possibly gathering new members in the process, and just as importantly to give something back to members in return for their continuing support.
Thursday’s event was a roaring success all round. No 10s was packed to capacity and everyone I talked to – both the players and the fans- enjoyed the evening.
A lot of work had gone into preparing the event. Highlights of the Wembley games were showing on the big screen TVs in The Gulls’ Nest and a collection of memorabilia including enlarged copies of the Herald Express reports of the time were displayed in No 10s. These included a photo of the 1991 open top bus coming past Castle Circus with a young me leaping out in front of it.
The one surprising omission was that the man who is indisputably THE all-time TUFC Wembley legend, the goal machine that is Dean Edwards (I’ll take a cheque Deano), was not one of the invited legends. I asked about this and it appears that the organisers were worried that if someone had asked Deano to talk us through all the goals he had scored either at Wembley or to get us to Wembley, none of the other guests would have got a look in.
We did have nine TUFC favourites covering all five Wembley teams from 1989, 1991, 1998, 2008 and 2009. Frank O’Farrell also attended as guest of honour. A nice touch was that there was a draw made to allocate one legend to each of the tables so that everybody had a legend to chat with as we tucked into the carvery.
After the meal, David Fitzgerald of Radio Devon took on the role of compere. He did an excellent job, although to be honest Fitzgerald without Gus Honeybun is a bit like Ernie Wise without Eric Morecambe.
The famous nine then sat on stools up front in order of date joined. They all introduced themselves and then answered questions. I can’t remember everything that was covered in a very entertaining evening, but I will go through player by player noting a few things that came up.
JIM McNICHOL
The best question of the evening was “You run a pub and it’s called the Exeter Inn. Why?” Jim’s defence was that it was a 12th century inn and had always been called the Exeter Inn so he couldn’t change it even though he might want to. I was surprised to hear that Jim only left us in 1989 after Cyril had told him he was only expected to be a bit part the following season as Cyril saw John Uzzell as his replacement. Jim was a great player at the time and proved it by leading that lot up the road to the title. We learned what happens to a former first division player and Scottish international, Tommy Hutchinson at Swansea in the play-off final, if he starts taking the mick out of a tough defender.
TOM KELLY
Tom introduced himself as Rodney Jack. I think he might have got away with it if it wasn’t for that Glaswegian accent. He got a lot of support in his strongly expressed dislike of Paul Raynor. He did almost admit that Bruno was a little naïve and the old pros at Torquay would have taken advantage in the same way given the opportunity. All the old Beck tricks were remembered – with the sanded plastic pitch, their players sliding around in tracksuit bottoms whilst ours turned up in shorts and got cut to bits. But the true professional in him admitted we lost the game ourselves by not hanging on – no excuses. Jim and Tom also talked about Cyril’s “murderball”. They used to “play” it on a Friday – the down side being a collection of cuts and bruises on a matchday, but they reckoned Cyril thought it got them in the right mood for a match. They reckoned it made a man of Sharpey.
WES SAUNDERS
Wes told us about the kettle incident sticking to the standard line about a misunderstanding in a drinking game - a reminder that in “the good old days” preparation for a really big match inevitably included all the players getting pi**ed. Micky Holmes gave a salacious alternative explanation but was only joking, or at least I thank he was. Wes said that in all other player bust-ups he had known, team-mates were quick to break things up – but nobody seemed to want to protect Tommy T when Wes went for him. Wes did say that he regretted not letting John Uzzell pick up the Play-Off Trophy, but got carried away and thought of it too late. Uzzell skippered us all season, but missed the play-offs after getting injured in the final league game. Wes loved the physical side of the game, but was totally disgusted by Blissett’s assault on Uzzell the following season. He said he picked himself to come back from injury for the return with Brentford so he could exact some revenge on Blissett. I did think this might be poetic license, but on checking the facts Wes’s first full comeback game was indeed at Brentford. On his period as manager, he reckoned he would have been o.k. if he could have signed a couple more players when he wanted to. He said that Sissoko was a mistake - he wanted to have him on a trial to see if he would fit in but Bateson and Benney panicked because the fans were screaming for a big striker and they thought they might miss out. He said that he earned the club £100k as soon as he arrived. Bateson had decided to sell Jack for £550k. Wes pleaded for Jack to stay to start the season off, Bateson told Crewe that the deal might be off so they upped their offer to £650k. When Venables called about Matt Gregg, Bateson and Saunders agreed that Wes should try to get £100k but bite his hand off if he offered £50k. Wes told El Tel that we had had loads of interest and needed £500k. Venables came up with £200k down, another £200k instalment and an extra £100k when he played 20 games. We never got the last £100k – but did all right out of the deal!
MICKY HOLMES
Micky told us that Mark Loram made him an alcoholic. He messed up our table’s chances in the quiz by forgetting who he made his debut for. He, Wes and Matt Elliot married three sisters. When Wes said his wife would love to move back to Torquay, Micky reckoned that was just because Damo was back as physio. When it became clear that discussions referred to one end as the old timers and the other as the youngsters, he moved his stool up to the young end.
ANDY GURNEY
Andy was jealous of the tales of the open top bus ride in 91. He played three play-off finals in his career and lost the lot. After a prompt from Cav, Andy recalled playing a blinder as a stand-in keeper when we needed a last day point at Orient for automatic promotion, and ending up as “pop-in” keeper joining the attack in the desperate last minute when we hit the post but the ball just wouldn’t go in. The 98 play-off final was a game that just drifted by without us really getting going.
KEVIN HILL
Kevin was his bouncy self and volunteered in typical Corporal Jones style to sit on the uncomfortably high stool. He told how he had pre-match nerves once and Wes and Damien forced him to neck a whisky – which worked wonders. Wes said that he and Damo finished off the bottle. Someone asked what the Stockport keeper said when he scored his cheeky goal. Hilly said he just smiled.
LEE MANSELL
It was probably more difficult for Manse to talk about now than for the older lads to talk about twenty-odd years ago. I think that the fans respected that and didn’t ask too many questions of him. He said that they had a great bunch of players with tremendous spirit, that they were capable of going up and staying up just like Exeter had.
CHRIS HARGREAVES
Chris told us how much he enjoyed that Wembley goal and told us that it was his sixth attempt at the play-offs, the other five all ending in defeat. Someone asked if he would like to come back to TUFC as manager one day and he said he would, but that was a long way off. Manse wasn’t too keen on the idea! He did stress that he had always got on really well with all the players and the management at Torquay and still did. His autobiography is due out in August and he hopes to do a book signing up at the club. He is about to open a sports shop – he did say where, I think it might have been Sidmouth but not sure.
WAYNE CARLISLE
Wayno had to field a sort of question from the old boy who used to make his life a misery by barracking him all game. It was more of an apology than a question but Wayno treated him respectfully. Asked about swapping City for Torquay, he said that when he took on a new challenge he committed to it absolutely. Although he would have liked to stay at TUFC longer, he absolutely loved coaching the youngsters at Ivybridge College and he was giving that 100% which was why he had given up playing for Truro. Someone asked if his cross for Sillsy was the best cross ever seen at Wembley, but he was too modest to answer.
The evening wrapped up with the raffle draw. The star prize of a shirt signed by all the legends plus Frank O’Farrell was won by new TUST board member Mike Lawton. Mike very generously donated the shirt back to be auctioned off which raised an extra £40 for the Trust. Finally, Hayden presented Wes with a specially personalised commemorative kettle - £5.99 from Argos with the word SAUNDERS stencilled on in crayon.
Well done to everybody involved in organising the event. I sincerely hope that the TUST holds similar evenings in the future!
Although the TUST is not primarily a social club, I strongly believe that events such as this are essential to boost the profile of the Trust, possibly gathering new members in the process, and just as importantly to give something back to members in return for their continuing support.
Thursday’s event was a roaring success all round. No 10s was packed to capacity and everyone I talked to – both the players and the fans- enjoyed the evening.
A lot of work had gone into preparing the event. Highlights of the Wembley games were showing on the big screen TVs in The Gulls’ Nest and a collection of memorabilia including enlarged copies of the Herald Express reports of the time were displayed in No 10s. These included a photo of the 1991 open top bus coming past Castle Circus with a young me leaping out in front of it.
The one surprising omission was that the man who is indisputably THE all-time TUFC Wembley legend, the goal machine that is Dean Edwards (I’ll take a cheque Deano), was not one of the invited legends. I asked about this and it appears that the organisers were worried that if someone had asked Deano to talk us through all the goals he had scored either at Wembley or to get us to Wembley, none of the other guests would have got a look in.
We did have nine TUFC favourites covering all five Wembley teams from 1989, 1991, 1998, 2008 and 2009. Frank O’Farrell also attended as guest of honour. A nice touch was that there was a draw made to allocate one legend to each of the tables so that everybody had a legend to chat with as we tucked into the carvery.
After the meal, David Fitzgerald of Radio Devon took on the role of compere. He did an excellent job, although to be honest Fitzgerald without Gus Honeybun is a bit like Ernie Wise without Eric Morecambe.
The famous nine then sat on stools up front in order of date joined. They all introduced themselves and then answered questions. I can’t remember everything that was covered in a very entertaining evening, but I will go through player by player noting a few things that came up.
JIM McNICHOL
The best question of the evening was “You run a pub and it’s called the Exeter Inn. Why?” Jim’s defence was that it was a 12th century inn and had always been called the Exeter Inn so he couldn’t change it even though he might want to. I was surprised to hear that Jim only left us in 1989 after Cyril had told him he was only expected to be a bit part the following season as Cyril saw John Uzzell as his replacement. Jim was a great player at the time and proved it by leading that lot up the road to the title. We learned what happens to a former first division player and Scottish international, Tommy Hutchinson at Swansea in the play-off final, if he starts taking the mick out of a tough defender.
TOM KELLY
Tom introduced himself as Rodney Jack. I think he might have got away with it if it wasn’t for that Glaswegian accent. He got a lot of support in his strongly expressed dislike of Paul Raynor. He did almost admit that Bruno was a little naïve and the old pros at Torquay would have taken advantage in the same way given the opportunity. All the old Beck tricks were remembered – with the sanded plastic pitch, their players sliding around in tracksuit bottoms whilst ours turned up in shorts and got cut to bits. But the true professional in him admitted we lost the game ourselves by not hanging on – no excuses. Jim and Tom also talked about Cyril’s “murderball”. They used to “play” it on a Friday – the down side being a collection of cuts and bruises on a matchday, but they reckoned Cyril thought it got them in the right mood for a match. They reckoned it made a man of Sharpey.
WES SAUNDERS
Wes told us about the kettle incident sticking to the standard line about a misunderstanding in a drinking game - a reminder that in “the good old days” preparation for a really big match inevitably included all the players getting pi**ed. Micky Holmes gave a salacious alternative explanation but was only joking, or at least I thank he was. Wes said that in all other player bust-ups he had known, team-mates were quick to break things up – but nobody seemed to want to protect Tommy T when Wes went for him. Wes did say that he regretted not letting John Uzzell pick up the Play-Off Trophy, but got carried away and thought of it too late. Uzzell skippered us all season, but missed the play-offs after getting injured in the final league game. Wes loved the physical side of the game, but was totally disgusted by Blissett’s assault on Uzzell the following season. He said he picked himself to come back from injury for the return with Brentford so he could exact some revenge on Blissett. I did think this might be poetic license, but on checking the facts Wes’s first full comeback game was indeed at Brentford. On his period as manager, he reckoned he would have been o.k. if he could have signed a couple more players when he wanted to. He said that Sissoko was a mistake - he wanted to have him on a trial to see if he would fit in but Bateson and Benney panicked because the fans were screaming for a big striker and they thought they might miss out. He said that he earned the club £100k as soon as he arrived. Bateson had decided to sell Jack for £550k. Wes pleaded for Jack to stay to start the season off, Bateson told Crewe that the deal might be off so they upped their offer to £650k. When Venables called about Matt Gregg, Bateson and Saunders agreed that Wes should try to get £100k but bite his hand off if he offered £50k. Wes told El Tel that we had had loads of interest and needed £500k. Venables came up with £200k down, another £200k instalment and an extra £100k when he played 20 games. We never got the last £100k – but did all right out of the deal!
MICKY HOLMES
Micky told us that Mark Loram made him an alcoholic. He messed up our table’s chances in the quiz by forgetting who he made his debut for. He, Wes and Matt Elliot married three sisters. When Wes said his wife would love to move back to Torquay, Micky reckoned that was just because Damo was back as physio. When it became clear that discussions referred to one end as the old timers and the other as the youngsters, he moved his stool up to the young end.
ANDY GURNEY
Andy was jealous of the tales of the open top bus ride in 91. He played three play-off finals in his career and lost the lot. After a prompt from Cav, Andy recalled playing a blinder as a stand-in keeper when we needed a last day point at Orient for automatic promotion, and ending up as “pop-in” keeper joining the attack in the desperate last minute when we hit the post but the ball just wouldn’t go in. The 98 play-off final was a game that just drifted by without us really getting going.
KEVIN HILL
Kevin was his bouncy self and volunteered in typical Corporal Jones style to sit on the uncomfortably high stool. He told how he had pre-match nerves once and Wes and Damien forced him to neck a whisky – which worked wonders. Wes said that he and Damo finished off the bottle. Someone asked what the Stockport keeper said when he scored his cheeky goal. Hilly said he just smiled.
LEE MANSELL
It was probably more difficult for Manse to talk about now than for the older lads to talk about twenty-odd years ago. I think that the fans respected that and didn’t ask too many questions of him. He said that they had a great bunch of players with tremendous spirit, that they were capable of going up and staying up just like Exeter had.
CHRIS HARGREAVES
Chris told us how much he enjoyed that Wembley goal and told us that it was his sixth attempt at the play-offs, the other five all ending in defeat. Someone asked if he would like to come back to TUFC as manager one day and he said he would, but that was a long way off. Manse wasn’t too keen on the idea! He did stress that he had always got on really well with all the players and the management at Torquay and still did. His autobiography is due out in August and he hopes to do a book signing up at the club. He is about to open a sports shop – he did say where, I think it might have been Sidmouth but not sure.
WAYNE CARLISLE
Wayno had to field a sort of question from the old boy who used to make his life a misery by barracking him all game. It was more of an apology than a question but Wayno treated him respectfully. Asked about swapping City for Torquay, he said that when he took on a new challenge he committed to it absolutely. Although he would have liked to stay at TUFC longer, he absolutely loved coaching the youngsters at Ivybridge College and he was giving that 100% which was why he had given up playing for Truro. Someone asked if his cross for Sillsy was the best cross ever seen at Wembley, but he was too modest to answer.
The evening wrapped up with the raffle draw. The star prize of a shirt signed by all the legends plus Frank O’Farrell was won by new TUST board member Mike Lawton. Mike very generously donated the shirt back to be auctioned off which raised an extra £40 for the Trust. Finally, Hayden presented Wes with a specially personalised commemorative kettle - £5.99 from Argos with the word SAUNDERS stencilled on in crayon.
Well done to everybody involved in organising the event. I sincerely hope that the TUST holds similar evenings in the future!
