Chris Waddle and Glen Little

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:45 pm

Rowls wrote:I disagree. The season before we'd looked like play-off certainties until John Ward left as Inchy Heath's assistant. The squad was looking forward and pushing for promotion. It was not a bad squad. Had Ward stayed as Inchy's assistant I feel we'd have been a shoe-in for the play-offs.

When Waddle came in he wasn't given "millions" to spend but he was given a very generous budget which he spunked - and then some.

Mark Ford cost us £275,000
Steve Blatherwick cost £150,000
Lee Howey cost £200,000

This might not look like a lot of money but remember also that Waddle brought with him an extensive backroom team (Roeder, Cowans, Wood to name a few) who were also on big money, he wrote off ALL of the money we spent on Marco Gentile and his wages, and he also brought in Mike Williams, Mark Robertson, Kevin Henderson and Neil Moore (free transfers) who nevertheless all signed contracts and took up wages.

It busted our budget. It broke our bank. And we had banked on promotion.

Don't forget - This wasn't just a significant amount of money. Oh no. Nor was this a significant money spent on decent players; it was significant money squandered on wasters and donkeys. NONE of these players (not a single one) was any better than the players they replaced. In fact, they were all worse. To a man. They were noticeably worse and we also reneged on a deal to sign Mark Atkins (who would have been an excellent signing at that level).

To make matters worse, experienced professionals were let go: Gary Parkinson was sold to Preston for a pittance on the eve of the season. Peter Swan (who went on to play a division above us for Stan Ternent's Bury) was given away for nothing, likewise Steve Thompson (who was part of the Rotherham team who went on to spank us in the FA Cup later that season) and also long-time servant Jamie Hoyland. Then we had the indignity of having to sell star player David Eyres midway through the season to help fund the contracts of the useless, overpaid, overpriced and undisciplined excuses for players that Waddle had bought.

No surprise then that we changed from looking like a potential Championship quality side to playing like a chronically unfit pub side who were all suffering a mass collective hangover. And we played with a level of tactical ineptitude to match.

On top of ALL of this, players who had at one time been competent or at least not awful, started playing -through lack of confidence, lack of professional training and subsequent lack of fitness as if they had never kicked a ball in their lifetime. To this category add Mark Winstanley, Damien Matthew and a good few others.

I'm happy to accept when people say that Waddle might've been a nice person of whatever. Sure. Perhaps he was a nice chap and perhaps he was shy and not suited to the job.

I don't care. He shouldn't have been here. He should never have been appointed.

He was a rotten, abysmal, unprofessional and appalling manager who so nearly took us back into the basement of English football. It's genuinely scary to think about just how incompetent he was. We'd have been better off not having a manager at all, such was the scale of his mis-management.

He nearly killed us all over again, like a bad repeat from the 1980s.

He deserves all the opprobrium he gets.

I don't think anyone could write a better short abstract of that chaotic and nearly fatal Season for our Club. Well said, Rowls.

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 3:28 pm

Rowls wrote:I disagree. The season before we'd looked like play-off certainties until John Ward left as Inchy Heath's assistant. The squad was looking forward and pushing for promotion. It was not a bad squad. Had Ward stayed as Inchy's assistant I feel we'd have been a shoe-in for the play-offs.

When Waddle came in he wasn't given "millions" to spend but he was given a very generous budget which he spunked - and then some.

Mark Ford cost us £275,000
Steve Blatherwick cost £150,000
Lee Howey cost £200,000

This might not look like a lot of money but remember also that Waddle brought with him an extensive backroom team (Roeder, Cowans, Wood to name a few) who were also on big money, he wrote off ALL of the money we spent on Marco Gentile and his wages, and he also brought in Mike Williams, Mark Robertson, Kevin Henderson and Neil Moore (free transfers) who nevertheless all signed contracts and took up wages.

It busted our budget. It broke our bank. And we had banked on promotion.

Don't forget - This wasn't just a significant amount of money. Oh no. Nor was this a significant money spent on decent players; it was significant money squandered on wasters and donkeys. NONE of these players (not a single one) was any better than the players they replaced. In fact, they were all worse. To a man. They were noticeably worse and we also reneged on a deal to sign Mark Atkins (who would have been an excellent signing at that level).

To make matters worse, experienced professionals were let go: Gary Parkinson was sold to Preston for a pittance on the eve of the season. Peter Swan (who went on to play a division above us for Stan Ternent's Bury) was given away for nothing, likewise Steve Thompson (who was part of the Rotherham team who went on to spank us in the FA Cup later that season) and also long-time servant Jamie Hoyland. Then we had the indignity of having to sell star player David Eyres midway through the season to help fund the contracts of the useless, overpaid, overpriced and undisciplined excuses for players that Waddle had bought.

No surprise then that we changed from looking like a potential Championship quality side to playing like a chronically unfit pub side who were all suffering a mass collective hangover. And we played with a level of tactical ineptitude to match.

On top of ALL of this, players who had at one time been competent or at least not awful, started playing -through lack of confidence, lack of professional training and subsequent lack of fitness as if they had never kicked a ball in their lifetime. To this category add Mark Winstanley, Damien Matthew and a good few others.

I'm happy to accept when people say that Waddle might've been a nice person of whatever. Sure. Perhaps he was a nice chap and perhaps he was shy and not suited to the job.

I don't care. He shouldn't have been here. He should never have been appointed.

He was a rotten, abysmal, unprofessional and appalling manager who so nearly took us back into the basement of English football. It's genuinely scary to think about just how incompetent he was. We'd have been better off not having a manager at all, such was the scale of his mis-management.

He nearly killed us all over again, like a bad repeat from the 1980s.

He deserves all the opprobrium he gets.

i disagree with virtually all of that, specifically the bit that began...

" He was a rotten, abysmal, unprofessional....

Steve-Harpers-perm · Post by **Steve-Harpers-perm** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 4:44 pm

Wile E Coyote wrote:i disagree with virtually all of that, specifically the bit that began...

" He was a rotten, abysmal, unprofessional....

Sounds pretty acccurate to me!

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 4:52 pm

WaddlesLaces wrote:As the “dick” who asked the question I disagree. I think that season proved that the question was a valid one as the reason we stayed up was in no small part due to Glenn Little’s form. The board agreed and as already mentioned, Waddle was ordered to play Little.

Who knew one question could cause so much upset decades later.

Fair play. Who'd have thought the 'dick' would be reading this thread. Certainly not one poster

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 4:54 pm

ClaretTony wrote:Won't question that people were wondering why he wasn't playing. At the event where Roeder mentioned boot laces, he'd already said that Glen was a top lad who was working hard and learning well but at times he didn't offer enough defensively. That's when these two dicks jumped in and the silly Roeder stupidly reacted. When Stan came in, he was far less polite about Glen. He used to say it was like having to play with ten men when we were out of possession with Glen on the pitch.

That post in itself explains why Little (and presumably Blake) were left out at Watford. As others never been as ****** off as a Burnley fan. After years of little success and disappointment we had a chance of a cup semi final. And we surrendered before we started.

Little and Blake were so good the teams should have been built around them.

Fretters · Post by **Fretters** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 4:57 pm

WaddlesLaces wrote:As the “dick” who asked the question I disagree. I think that season proved that the question was a valid one as the reason we stayed up was in no small part due to Glenn Little’s form. The board agreed and as already mentioned, Waddle was ordered to play Little.

Who knew one question could cause so much upset decades later.

I remember you asking the question. I'm pretty sure you just said, "what about this Glen Little?". It was a perfectly valid question, asked in a polite way and it received a very unprofessional response.

Fretters · Post by **Fretters** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 4:59 pm

cricketfieldclarets wrote:That post in itself explains why Little (and presumably Blake) were left out at Watford. As others never been as ****** off as a Burnley fan. After years of little success and disappointment we had a chance of a cup semi final. And we surrendered before we started.

Little and Blake were so good the teams should have been built around them.

To be fair to Stan, he went with the team that had beaten Premier League Fulham 3-0 in the last round. Little and Blake were on the bench and we were brilliant. I remember Ian Moore lobbing their keeper!

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:07 pm

Fretters wrote:To be fair to Stan, he went with the team that had beaten Premier League Fulham 3-0 in the last round. Little and Blake were on the bench and we were brilliant. I remember Ian Moore lobbing their keeper!

Indeed. But Blake and Little were a level above anything we had at that level. I doubt we have had many of their standard since to be honest.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:10 pm

Fretters wrote:I remember you asking the question. I'm pretty sure you just said, "what about this Glen Little?". It was a perfectly valid question, asked in a polite way and it received a very unprofessional response.

Not the event I was at - those asking the question got very abusive when they didn't get the answer they wanted and Roeder stupidly responded.

WaddlesLaces · Post by **WaddlesLaces** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:22 pm

I certainly didn’t give any abuse as the above poster remembers. Memory is a funny thing. Let’s put this into perspective, I was a teenager at the time and Roeder should have known better. Easy to blame the person asking the question to cover up their mistakes of the season. As mentioned before who did the most for Burnley? Little or Waddle?

Glad my teenage question still causes such a stir. Not sure I like being called a dick but I’m sure Waddle has been called worse. Let’s not forget the original response was “let’s hope Glen Little is at home watching Eastenders”. Can we imagine Sean Dyche or any of his team disrespecting his players like this?

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:27 pm

WaddlesLaces wrote:I certainly didn’t give any abuse as the above poster remembers. Memory is a funny thing. Let’s put this into perspective, I was a teenager at the time and Roeder should have known better. Easy to blame the person asking the question to cover up their mistakes of the season. As mentioned before who did the most for Burnley? Little or Waddle?

Glad my teenage question still causes such a stir. Not sure I like being called a dick but I’m sure Waddle has been called worse. Let’s not forget the original response was “let’s hope Glen Little is at home watching Eastenders”. Can we imagine Sean Dyche or any of his team disrespecting his players like this?

Yes, Roeder should have known better. I've already said that, he should not have reacted to the comments.

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:30 pm

WaddlesLaces wrote:I certainly didn’t give any abuse as the above poster remembers. Memory is a funny thing. Let’s put this into perspective, I was a teenager at the time and Roeder should have known better. Easy to blame the person asking the question to cover up their mistakes of the season. As mentioned before who did the most for Burnley? Little or Waddle?

Glad my teenage question still causes such a stir. Not sure I like being called a dick but I’m sure Waddle has been called worse. Let’s not forget the original response was “let’s hope Glen Little is at home watching Eastenders”. Can we imagine Sean Dyche or any of his team disrespecting his players like this?

As a professional football management team, one of whom was involved in The England setup they should have been more than able to deal with a question from a 'dick' of a teenager. God only knows how they wouldve coped with the intense scrutiny of high profile media like The Burnley Express!

WaddlesLaces · Post by **WaddlesLaces** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:33 pm

ClaretTony wrote:Yes, Roeder should have known better. I've already said that, he should not have reacted to the comments.

Thanks for the apology. Much appreciated.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:39 pm

WaddlesLaces wrote:Thanks for the apology. Much appreciated.

Not apologised and won't - bad as each other as I've always said.

WaddlesLaces · Post by **WaddlesLaces** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:39 pm

cricketfieldclarets wrote: Fair play. Who'd have thought the 'dick' would be reading this thread. Certainly not one poster

I’ve been called worse

WaddlesLaces · Post by **WaddlesLaces** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:59 pm

I don’t mind posts being removed but if this is the case please remove those referring to me as a d..k as this seems unfair and biased. Thanks in advance. Football is a game of opinions we don’t have to agree all of the time.

Inchy · Post by **Inchy** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:13 pm

I always thought personal insults were not aloud on this board?

Imagine if I call CT a d*ck

I would be banned

WaddlesLaces · Post by **WaddlesLaces** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:19 pm

Exactly My point Inchy I don’t usually feel the need to post on the messageboard but to read this morning and be referred to as a dick for an opinion more than 20 years ago appears to go against the morals of this messageboard. “Do as I say not as I do” is a saying to comes to the forefront of my mind!
I give this post 5 mins before it is deleted by CT.

Inchy · Post by **Inchy** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:22 pm

To be honest I was only joking

CT didn’t know you posted on this board and therefore it isn’t a personal insult

Also you could just be on a wind up

WaddlesLaces · Post by **WaddlesLaces** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:23 pm

Not on a wind up I can assure you it was me that asked the question and as mentioned previously was fully vindicated by the outcome of that season.

3putt · Post by **3putt** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:46 pm

HiroshimaClaret wrote:That was utterly incredible and possibly one of the biggest disappointments ever watching Burnley away!

I was going to say exactly the same thing. I remember going down there really excited and full of confidence and fancying us to win.

Could not believe in such a big and winnable game that he had both Little and Blake on the bench. We played terrible too!

Also one of my biggest disappointments in 45 years of watching the Clarets.

1Simpleton · Post by **1Simpleton** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:02 pm

After reading this thread and others there definitely is two tiers. One where posters are not allowed to air their views and rightly so, then others where the moderators use the same terminology. Speaks of my ball and taking it home if you are not on my side.

JohnDearyMe · Post by **JohnDearyMe** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:56 pm

Rowls wrote:I disagree. The season before we'd looked like play-off certainties until John Ward left as Inchy Heath's assistant. The squad was looking forward and pushing for promotion. It was not a bad squad. Had Ward stayed as Inchy's assistant I feel we'd have been a shoe-in for the play-offs.

When Waddle came in he wasn't given "millions" to spend but he was given a very generous budget which he spunked - and then some.

Mark Ford cost us £275,000
Steve Blatherwick cost £150,000
Lee Howey cost £200,000

This might not look like a lot of money but remember also that Waddle brought with him an extensive backroom team (Roeder, Cowans, Wood to name a few) who were also on big money, he wrote off ALL of the money we spent on Marco Gentile and his wages, and he also brought in Mike Williams, Mark Robertson, Kevin Henderson and Neil Moore (free transfers) who nevertheless all signed contracts and took up wages.

It busted our budget. It broke our bank. And we had banked on promotion.

Don't forget - This wasn't just a significant amount of money. Oh no. Nor was this a significant money spent on decent players; it was significant money squandered on wasters and donkeys. NONE of these players (not a single one) was any better than the players they replaced. In fact, they were all worse. To a man. They were noticeably worse and we also reneged on a deal to sign Mark Atkins (who would have been an excellent signing at that level).

To make matters worse, experienced professionals were let go: Gary Parkinson was sold to Preston for a pittance on the eve of the season. Peter Swan (who went on to play a division above us for Stan Ternent's Bury) was given away for nothing, likewise Steve Thompson (who was part of the Rotherham team who went on to spank us in the FA Cup later that season) and also long-time servant Jamie Hoyland. Then we had the indignity of having to sell star player David Eyres midway through the season to help fund the contracts of the useless, overpaid, overpriced and undisciplined excuses for players that Waddle had bought.

No surprise then that we changed from looking like a potential Championship quality side to playing like a chronically unfit pub side who were all suffering a mass collective hangover. And we played with a level of tactical ineptitude to match.

On top of ALL of this, players who had at one time been competent or at least not awful, started playing -through lack of confidence, lack of professional training and subsequent lack of fitness as if they had never kicked a ball in their lifetime. To this category add Mark Winstanley, Damien Matthew and a good few others.

I'm happy to accept when people say that Waddle might've been a nice person of whatever. Sure. Perhaps he was a nice chap and perhaps he was shy and not suited to the job.

I don't care. He shouldn't have been here. He should never have been appointed.

He was a rotten, abysmal, unprofessional and appalling manager who so nearly took us back into the basement of English football. It's genuinely scary to think about just how incompetent he was. We'd have been better off not having a manager at all, such was the scale of his mis-management.

He nearly killed us all over again, like a bad repeat from the 1980s.

He deserves all the opprobrium he gets.

Spot on

Stan Tastic · Post by **Stan Tastic** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:05 pm

I remember Waddle being asked why we were struggling that season and he replied that we'd been unlucky.

That question was put to him after THIRTY-EIGHT games.

After messing about playing as a sweeper he moved onto the wing and scored the grand total of one goal all season - a mishit cross. I thought we were guaranteed double figures from him, which we might have if he'd taken it seriously.

Incredible that we ended up having to win the last game against Plymouth to stay up.

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:19 pm

cut waddle some slack, this wasn't the era of ultra fit athletes, top class training facilities, or TV money pouring in every month.
It was way back when, and Burnley were down amongst the dead men. Might have been a different story if he had the modern day luxuries to build something on.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:24 pm

Rowls wrote:I disagree. The season before we'd looked like play-off certainties until John Ward left as Inchy Heath's assistant. The squad was looking forward and pushing for promotion. It was not a bad squad. Had Ward stayed as Inchy's assistant I feel we'd have been a shoe-in for the play-offs.

When Waddle came in he wasn't given "millions" to spend but he was given a very generous budget which he spunked - and then some.

Mark Ford cost us £275,000
Steve Blatherwick cost £150,000
Lee Howey cost £200,000

This might not look like a lot of money but remember also that Waddle brought with him an extensive backroom team (Roeder, Cowans, Wood to name a few) who were also on big money, he wrote off ALL of the money we spent on Marco Gentile and his wages, and he also brought in Mike Williams, Mark Robertson, Kevin Henderson and Neil Moore (free transfers) who nevertheless all signed contracts and took up wages.

It busted our budget. It broke our bank. And we had banked on promotion.

Don't forget - This wasn't just a significant amount of money. Oh no. Nor was this a significant money spent on decent players; it was significant money squandered on wasters and donkeys. NONE of these players (not a single one) was any better than the players they replaced. In fact, they were all worse. To a man. They were noticeably worse and we also reneged on a deal to sign Mark Atkins (who would have been an excellent signing at that level).

To make matters worse, experienced professionals were let go: Gary Parkinson was sold to Preston for a pittance on the eve of the season. Peter Swan (who went on to play a division above us for Stan Ternent's Bury) was given away for nothing, likewise Steve Thompson (who was part of the Rotherham team who went on to spank us in the FA Cup later that season) and also long-time servant Jamie Hoyland. Then we had the indignity of having to sell star player David Eyres midway through the season to help fund the contracts of the useless, overpaid, overpriced and undisciplined excuses for players that Waddle had bought.

No surprise then that we changed from looking like a potential Championship quality side to playing like a chronically unfit pub side who were all suffering a mass collective hangover. And we played with a level of tactical ineptitude to match.

On top of ALL of this, players who had at one time been competent or at least not awful, started playing -through lack of confidence, lack of professional training and subsequent lack of fitness as if they had never kicked a ball in their lifetime. To this category add Mark Winstanley, Damien Matthew and a good few others.

I'm happy to accept when people say that Waddle might've been a nice person of whatever. Sure. Perhaps he was a nice chap and perhaps he was shy and not suited to the job.

I don't care. He shouldn't have been here. He should never have been appointed.

He was a rotten, abysmal, unprofessional and appalling manager who so nearly took us back into the basement of English football. It's genuinely scary to think about just how incompetent he was. We'd have been better off not having a manager at all, such was the scale of his mis-management.

He nearly killed us all over again, like a bad repeat from the 1980s.

He deserves all the opprobrium he gets.

I'll agree with most of that Rowls but would like to correct you on Parkinson, Thompson & Hoyland.

Parkinson was out of contract and chose to move to Preston rather than stay with Burnley - that decision was made by him before Heath left. I can't say with any certainty but I was told he'd fallen out with Heath.

Thompson was definitely released by Heath at the end of the 1996/97 season. Thompson was very much a player who had fallen out with Heath. He was released with Liam Robinson whilst all of Mark Winstanley, Ian Helliwell and Chris Vinnicombe were made available for transfer by Heath. Jamie Hoyland was still at the club when Stan Ternent replaced Waddle, although he didn't make many appearances that season and spent some of the time out on loan, but Stan let him move on when he came in.

With Ward, we were fine, without him and with Heath in charge we picked up 24 points from 24 games under Waddle. We were no better and we were no better for much of the following season to be fair.

Waddle's signings, Payton apart, were not good though were they? Michael Williams was the worst of the lot but incredibly he'd played 23 Premier League games for Sheffield Wednesday. Now that did take some believing. Blatherwick, personally, I thought was OK and he did go on to have a decent career at that level. Howey & Ford were very poor signings.

Goobs · Post by **Goobs** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:40 pm

Was Steve Morgan not one of Waddles as well? Possibly the worst player I can remember.

With Williams he looked like there might be a player in there somewhere on occasion (sure I remember him scoring an absolute worldie for the reserves once when he was far and away the best player on the pitch) but just never seemed to be able to produce the goods on a match day with any regularity at all.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:44 pm

Goobs wrote:Was Steve Morgan not one of Waddles as well? Possibly the worst player I can remember.

No - he was a Ternent signing for the 98/99 season

Nonayforever · Post by **Nonayforever** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:49 pm

I still to this day think that selling David Eyers was one of footballs biggest frauds along with Teddy Sherigham leaving Notts Forest.

£40,000 rings a bell for his transfer fee, he was worth 4 times that amount.

I would love to know the real story behind that transfer.

Bin Ont Turf · Post by **Bin Ont Turf** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:55 pm

Wile E Coyote wrote:cut waddle some slack, this wasn't the era of ultra fit athletes, top class training facilities, or TV money pouring in every month.
It was way back when, and Burnley were down amongst the dead men. Might have been a different story if he had the modern day luxuries to build something on.

The only ever Burnley manager to have any of that (regularly) is Sean Dyche. And he earned that by being a good manager.

Waddle was a joke manager.

Cajun · Post by **Cajun** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 8:57 pm

Remember being very excited when Waddle opted to become manager -- wasn't it a 3-way chase with Hull and Sheff Utd to get him? Then the long run of games without a goal to start the season just left us stuck in the blocks and deflated, with Glenn's eventual inclusion in the team finally breathing life into the team. I finally decided Waddle really wasn't up to it when I was in a media conference with him where he appeared far more interested in watching a show on the TV on the wall than he did in discussing football. That final match against Plymouth certainly goes down of one of those epic games in the club's history though.

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:14 pm

I knew he was a busted flush when he had the tantrum on Radio Lancashire after the Northampton Game at the Turf. The Fans had finally had enough of the lumbering Lee Howey being picked and were letting the Manager know about it. The Player Manager was on the pitch when Neil Moore headed in the winner and was seen flicking the bird at the Home Fans as his frustration boiled over in the celebration.
He really was utterly out of his depth.

TheFamilyCat · Post by **TheFamilyCat** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:42 pm

Lord Beamish wrote:I knew he was a busted flush when he had the tantrum on Radio Lancashire after the Northampton Game at the Turf. The Fans had finally had enough of the lumbering Lee Howey being picked and were letting the Manager know about it. The Player Manager was on the pitch when Neil Moore headed in the winner and was seen flicking the bird at the Home Fans as his frustration boiled over in the celebration.
He really was utterly out of his depth.

Didn't he play Howey up front in that game ahead of Cooke? Seem to remember him ranting about fans booing Howey when we were really booing him for such a terrible decision.

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:47 pm

TheFamilyCat wrote:Didn't he play Howey up front in that game ahead of Cooke? Seem to remember him ranting about fans booing Howey when we were really booing him for such a terrible decision.

I think that’s the case. I seem to remember Cooke setting up Moore for the winner.

Bordeauxclaret · Post by **Bordeauxclaret** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 9:54 pm

I think there was a huge cheer when Howey got subbed.
Waddle certainly didn’t react like a shy person.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:01 pm

Lord Beamish wrote:I knew he was a busted flush when he had the tantrum on Radio Lancashire after the Northampton Game at the Turf. The Fans had finally had enough of the lumbering Lee Howey being picked and were letting the Manager know about it. The Player Manager was on the pitch when Neil Moore headed in the winner and was seen flicking the bird at the Home Fans as his frustration boiled over in the celebration.
He really was utterly out of his depth.

Howey was constantly jeered that day while John Gayle had about every thing he did cheered. But Waddle should have had more sense than to attack the fans on radio.

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 10:12 pm

Have to say my memory backs up Tony re Parky - there was talk of us losing Parky on the then well worn path to Deepdale before the end of the season prior and David Eyres made it quite plain he wanted out on the same radio Lancs show that debated Heath's sacking that night and as far as I remember never said anything to the contrary after that night.

Bad as Waddle was Heath had, by the time he left made a right mess of the squad. It needed Stan in then...as we all wanted THEN (not hindsight) to clean up Heath's mess, not a Rookie with dreams of glory and greatness... which I admit I allowed myself to indulge in after pulling in such a big name out of the blue.... but I was a teenager.

Mark Ford thinking back still reminds me of a puppy taken from its mother too young - He appeared to have everything necessary to be a good footballer but he just wasn't.

Rowls · Post by **Rowls** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:17 am

ClaretTony wrote:I'll agree with most of that Rowls but would like to correct you on Parkinson, Thompson & Hoyland.

Blatherwick, personally, I thought was OK and he did go on to have a decent career at that level. Howey & Ford were very poor signings.

Fair enough on the updates and corrections but the players who Inchy hadn't renewed contracts could have had the opportunity reviewed when Waddle arrived.

Waddle made consistently bad decisions and he was ably assisted in that by Roeder. As for Blatherwick, perhaps with a different manager we'd have seen a different player. Blatherwick alone out of the Infamous Four managed to salvage a professional football career. But I didn't rate him personally, especially at the price we paid.

Just thank our lucky stars we did not go down. The golden period we are enjoying now is built on the foundations Stan laid over the subsequent seasons but his first season was spent doing nothing other than desperately trying to put out the fires that Waddle and Roeder had started.

Rowls · Post by **Rowls** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:19 am

elwaclaret wrote:Have to say my memory backs up Tony re Parky - there was talk of us losing Parky on the then well worn path to Deepdale before the end of the season prior and David Eyres made it quite plain he wanted out on the same radio Lancs show that debated Heath's sacking that night and as far as I remember never said anything to the contrary after that night.

Your memory is playing tricks on you, for sure.

Heath was not sacked. He resigned. Upped and left. Buggered off.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:03 am

Rowls wrote:Fair enough on the updates and corrections but the players who Inchy hadn't renewed contracts could have had the opportunity reviewed when Waddle arrived.

Waddle made consistently bad decisions and he was ably assisted in that by Roeder. As for Blatherwick, perhaps with a different manager we'd have seen a different player. Blatherwick alone out of the Infamous Four managed to salvage a professional football career. But I didn't rate him personally, especially at the price we paid.

Just thank our lucky stars we did not go down. The golden period we are enjoying now is built on the foundations Stan laid over the subsequent seasons but his first season was spent doing nothing other than desperately trying to put out the fires that Waddle and Roeder had started.

Heath & Thompson hadn't spoken for months and Thompson was released, given a free within days of the last match and he quickly signed for Rotherham. Parkinson had sorted his move out to Preston before the season ended and had completed his signing for them within a week of the season ending and whilst Heath was still manager. There were no contracts to renew when Waddle arrived.

Neither Heath nor Waddle were sacked, both walked of their own choosing. In totally different ways they were two bad appointments. Then came Stan.

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:59 am

Rowls wrote:Your memory is playing tricks on you, for sure.

Heath was not sacked. He resigned. Upped and left. Buggered off.

Rings a bell now you mention it - he wanted the Sheffield United job and ended up missing out to Howard Kendall, though he became assistant for a while.

walter the softy · Post by **walter the softy** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:01 am

ClaretTony wrote:Howey was constantly jeered that day while John Gayle had about every thing he did cheered. But Waddle should have had more sense than to attack the fans on radio.

Think that your memory is playing up a bit there CT, as John Gayle played under Jimmy Mullen as I remember but not under Waddle. True though, Gayle was proper popular during his short time with the club.

walter the softy · Post by **walter the softy** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:04 am

elwaclaret wrote:Rings a bell now you mention it - he wanted the Sheffield United job and ended up missing out to Howard Kendall, though he became assistant for a while.

My memory might be playing up here though but didn't Heath leave Burnley to become assistant to Peter Reid at Sunderland?

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:59 am

walter the softy wrote:Think that your memory is playing up a bit there CT, as John Gayle played under Jimmy Mullen as I remember but not under Waddle. True though, Gayle was proper popular during his short time with the club.

Memory not playing up at all. Gayle played in that game against us. That was Waddle’s argument.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:59 am

walter the softy wrote:My memory might be playing up here though but didn't Heath leave Burnley to become assistant to Peter Reid at Sunderland?

No - he left to become Kendall’s number two at Everton.

walter the softy · Post by **walter the softy** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:05 pm

ClaretTony wrote:Memory not playing up at all. Gayle played in that game against us. That was Waddle’s argument.

That makes sense now. Apologies!

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:57 pm

ClaretTony wrote:No - he left to become Kendall’s number two at Everton.

Ah ! Yes I'd forgotten about Kendall's brief return to Everton prior to Sheffield.

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:59 pm

elwaclaret wrote:Ah ! Yes I'd forgotten about Kendall's brief return to Everton prior to Sheffield.

It was after Sheffield United - he left Bramall Lane to go back to Everton.

elwaclaret · Post by **elwaclaret** » Sun Feb 18, 2018 2:06 pm

ClaretTony wrote:It was after Sheffield United - he left Bramall Lane to go back to Everton.

My memory is definitely getting worse.

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:29 am

Nonayforever wrote:I still to this day think that selling David Eyers was one of footballs biggest frauds along with Teddy Sherigham leaving Notts Forest.

£40,000 rings a bell for his transfer fee, he was worth 4 times that amount.

I would love to know the real story behind that transfer.

We got them back years later with the signing of Graham Alexander.