Old Timey Football Thread

[Sutekh]

I remember Jimmy Rimmer playing for Swansea in the mid 80s.

Yep he did for a couple of seasons, joined in 1983 and left in 1986 though his time there collided with Swansea’s rapid return to the 4th division and eventual winding up in 1985, presumably would have played against Reading in the games played in 1984 and 1985. He replaced Dai Davies at the club. Incidentally Dai Davies was another class keeper most famous for his time at Everton though he never actually made that many appearances over the 7 years he was there - seems he never could truly shake off David Lawson.

Looking back at the 70s the top division in England seemed packed with goalkeepers that you’d probably love to have, at their peak, in your team even now; Ray Clemence, Dai Davies, Pat Jennings, Alex Stepney, Peter Shilton, Joe Corrigan, Phil Parkes (the QPR one), Paul Cooper, Jimmy Rimmer and Mervyn Day. But then even Reading were fielding the likes of Steve Death….

[Mr Optimist]

I remember Jimmy Rimmer playing for Swansea in the mid 80s.

Yep he did for a couple of seasons, joined in 1983 and left in 1986 though his time there collided with Swansea’s rapid return to the 4th division and eventual winding up in 1985, presumably would have played against Reading in the games played in 1984 and 1985. He replaced Dai Davies at the club. Incidentally Dai Davies was another class keeper most famous for his time at Everton though he never actually made that many appearances over the 7 years he was there - seems he never could truly shake off David Lawson.

Looking back at the 70s the top division in England seemed packed with goalkeepers that you’d probably love to have, at their peak, in your team even now; Ray Clemence, Dai Davies, Pat Jennings, Alex Stepney, Peter Shilton, Joe Corrigan, Phil Parkes (the QPR one), Paul Cooper, Jimmy Rimmer and Mervyn Day. But then even Reading were fielding the likes of Steve Death….

Wasn’t Dai Davies in goal for Newport at the record breaking 2-0 away game there in 1985?

[Mr Optimist]

Answering my own question lol! No, it was another old Welsh keeper of the 70/80s era who never quite established himself in Division One, Mark Kendall.

[From Despair To Where?]

I remember Jimmy Rimmer playing for Swansea in the mid 80s.

Yep he did for a couple of seasons, joined in 1983 and left in 1986 though his time there collided with Swansea’s rapid return to the 4th division and eventual winding up in 1985, presumably would have played against Reading in the games played in 1984 and 1985. He replaced Dai Davies at the club. Incidentally Dai Davies was another class keeper most famous for his time at Everton though he never actually made that many appearances over the 7 years he was there - seems he never could truly shake off David Lawson.

Looking back at the 70s the top division in England seemed packed with goalkeepers that you’d probably love to have, at their peak, in your team even now; Ray Clemence, Dai Davies, Pat Jennings, Alex Stepney, Peter Shilton, Joe Corrigan, Phil Parkes (the QPR one), Paul Cooper, Jimmy Rimmer and Mervyn Day. But then even Reading were fielding the likes of Steve Death….

I remember a somewhat flat footed Rimmer watch a Trevor Senior header loop over him and into the net during the 13 game run.

[Brum Royal]

Saw most of the first episode on Channel 4 last night called "Italia 90" all about football hooliganism in the late 80s heading into the Italia 90 tournament. Interesting programme, first of a three parter with the next two in the next two weeks.

[Sutekh]

Saw most of the first episode on Channel 4 last night called "Italia 90" all about football hooliganism in the late 80s heading into the Italia 90 tournament. Interesting programme, first of a three parter with the next two in the next two weeks.

Just what you want on TV during a build up to a world cup

[Winston Biscuit]

Villa Park 1907

[AthleticoSpizz]

Beautiful

[Winston Biscuit]

Uruguay win the world cup in 1930

[Winston Biscuit]

Leicester may soon become the joint 5th fastest team to be relegated after being champions



Man City in 37/38 is also the only time ever the divisions top scorers have been relegated

[Winston Biscuit]

The Football League was formed 135 years ago today with 12 teams

Accrington
Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby
Everton
Notts County
Preston
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

[tmesis]

The Football League was formed 135 years ago today with 12 teams

Accrington
Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby
Everton
Notts County
Preston
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

Given that Accrington were hardly giants of the game, even then, it makes you wonder if there were worse clubs rejected, or if they just got in to make up the numbers.

It probably didn't help when another club formed in the town three years later.

[Winston Biscuit]

The Football League was formed 135 years ago today with 12 teams

Accrington
Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby
Everton
Notts County
Preston
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

Given that Accrington were hardly giants of the game, even then, it makes you wonder if there were worse clubs rejected, or if they just got in to make up the numbers.

It probably didn't help when another club formed in the town three years later.

2 years after it started Stoke were voted out and replaced by Sunderland. Grimsby, Bootle, Darwen, Sunderland Albion & Newton Heath all asked to join but were turned down.

Accrington dropped out after 5 seasons of the Football League

[Dirk Gently]

The Football League was formed 135 years ago today with 12 teams

Accrington
Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby
Everton
Notts County
Preston
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

The league was basically created to make sure that the clubs who had professionals (not allowed then but it happened a lot, especially in the northern mill towns) had a regular set of fixtures. No point paying a Scottish professional when there's no opposition.

So the main criteria was financial stability and the level of commitment to the league, rather than actual ability.

[Sutekh]

The Football League was formed 135 years ago today with 12 teams

Accrington
Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby
Everton
Notts County
Preston
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

Given that Accrington were hardly giants of the game, even then, it makes you wonder if there were worse clubs rejected, or if they just got in to make up the numbers.

It probably didn't help when another club formed in the town three years later.

It’s a bit of a false representation though as there were many equal and better clubs south of Birmingham, that eventually formed the Southern League, that snubbed the Football League at the time as they were very snobby over professionalism and the travelling that would be involved to get to these forlorn and godforsaken urban northern outposts. I mean they might even have had to come in contact with the working classes on the pitch!

And just for the record the leading southern sides that eventually formed the Southern League were

Division One
Chatham (now playing in the Isthmian League South East division)
Clapton (now playing in the Essex Senior League)
Ilford (now playing in the Essex Senior League)
Luton Town
Millwall Athletic (now just Millwall)
Reading
Royal Ordnance Factories (basically what was left of Arsenal after they had the temerity to turn professional )
Southampton St Mary’s (now Southampton)
Swindon Town

Division Two
Bromley
Chesham (merged with Chesham Generals to become Chesham United)
Maidenhead (now Maidenhead United)
New Brompton (now Gillingham)
Old St Stephen's (folded, played at Loftus Road)
Sheppey United (now playing in the Isthmian League South East division)
Uxbridge (now playing in the Isthmian League South Central division)

[tmesis]

The Football League was formed 135 years ago today with 12 teams

Accrington
Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Burnley
Derby
Everton
Notts County
Preston
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

The league was basically created to make sure that the clubs who had professionals (not allowed then but it happened a lot, especially in the northern mill towns) had a regular set of fixtures. No point paying a Scottish professional when there's no opposition.

So the main criteria was financial stability and the level of commitment to the league, rather than actual ability.

Professionalism was accepted by the FA in 1885, so it had already been around for three years when the league formed.

[tmesis]

It’s a bit of a false representation though as there were many equal and better clubs south of Birmingham, that eventually formed the Southern League, that snubbed the Football League at the time as they were very snobby over professionalism and the travelling that would be involved to get to these forlorn and godforsaken urban northern outposts. I mean they might even have had to come in contact with the working classes on the pitch!

It's unlikely that there were better clubs in the south, at least by the time professionalism (allowed or otherwise) took hold.

The early FA Cup was dominated by southern amateur teams, but once their were pros about, it completely changed.

The bigger 'unfairness' was the creation of Div 3 North, a year after the Southern League clubs formed Div 3. The much weaker northern division was given parity that it didn't deserve, and there was a bottleneck of just one promotion place for almost 40 years.

[Winston Biscuit]

The clubs in the south at the time were often tied into posh schools and they played by different rules

teams in Scotland and the north east of England were the driving force behind codifying the game and setting out leagues so teams could compete evenly. Took the south quite a while to catch up.

[tmesis]

The clubs in the south at the time were often tied into posh schools and they played by different rules

teams in Scotland and the north east of England were the driving force behind codifying the game and setting out leagues so teams could compete evenly. Took the south quite a while to catch up.

I think that different rules thing was long gone by then. That was the whole point of the FA, to get a single set of rules.

[Dirk Gently]

The clubs in the south at the time were often tied into posh schools and they played by different rules

teams in Scotland and the north east of England were the driving force behind codifying the game and setting out leagues so teams could compete evenly. Took the south quite a while to catch up.

I think that different rules thing was long gone by then. That was the whole point of the FA, to get a single set of rules.

It was single set of rules but there were different styles. The Scottish passing game, pioneered by Queen's Park, was far superior to the game in England, which was predominantly running in packs and dibbling - in England passing was seen as cowardly and giving away responsibility.

So most of the professionals were brought down from Scotland because they played a more successful version of the game - and many of the crucial founding fathers of the game worldwide were also Scottish.