They had a famous FA Cup run in the early 1990s, eventually being knocked out by Crewe 3-1 in the 3rd round. Roly Howard was manager for a record 33 years (1972-2005), although he will always be remembered by some fans as Kenny Dalglish's window cleaner. TV presenter Ray Stubbs once asked: "How's business, Roly?" to which Roly replied "Oh you know - ups and downs."
Former players include Michael Ball (Everton and Rangers) and Stephen Wright (Liverpool and Sunderland). The club motto is 'To Enjoy, Not Destroy.'
THE mugshot of Jack in the Touchline Dad heading reminds me of Billy's Boots or Roy of the Rovers. Not that Jack's got a blonde mullet and the cheesiest grin in Melchester.
Every Friday during my final year at primary school the dinner ladies would 'divvy up' their coppers to reward the boys who helped stack tables and chairs.
We each got about 30 or 40 pence which in 1978 was £2,000 - well worth abandoning the lunchtime kickabout at twenty-five past one and lugging a few tables onto trolleys.
Sometimes we even got an extra cube of pink sponge and custard to woof down before dashing up three floors to Mr Wright's class by the stroke of 1.30, sweating and breathless as we counted our cash.
At home time I would scurry to Mr Baines's on the top road to pick up my ordered copy of Tiger. It was a weekly fixture. I remember feeling grown-up using the word 'subscription' to Mr Baines before he thumbed through a pile of Lancashire Life, Ships Monthly, Bunty, Jackie and She.
Apart from the occasional pin-up poster of boxer John H. Stracey or Olympic ice dance champion John Curry (Oh God! did I really have that on my bedroom wall!!!), cartoon strip character Billy Dane was the reason I bought Tiger.
He had magic boots which once belonged to ex-England striker 'Dead Shot' Keen. I can't remember how Billy got them, whether they were handed down through the generations or perhaps snapped up at the village jumble sale. But, when he wore them he was untouchable. Without them he was naff.
Alternatively, during the summer months the old brown boots would empower Billy to whack a cricket ball into more confectionery stalls than Beefy Botham.
Roy Race of Rovers fame (Melchester, not Tranmere) was another favourite, although more difficult to relate to than real life footy stars such as Malcolm Macdonald, Rodney Marsh, Kevin Keegan and Bob Latchford.
Tiger cost eight pence, I think, and I cherished the tatty mags for years. Later on I graduated to Shoot! which featured lots of team shots and stats. Makes me wonder what 2007 equivalents are on offer for Jack...?
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The Gas Man wrote...
My fave mags were Match and Shoot. I think both of them used to cover match stats where all the players were given rating out of 10.
As I was a goalie, I always looked at those. Jim Leighton (Man Utd) always seemed to get a 6, Brucie Grobelaar (Liverpool) an 8 and Dave Beasant (Chelsea) had 5 next to his name so many times that I thought it was a 60s pop group, like the Dave Clark 5.
I'm not surprised that Beasant was deemed so mediocre, afterall this is the man who has out injured for months after he dropped a bottle of salad cream on his foot and broke it.
Oh yeah, and he had a perm.
Posted by: The Gas Man | June 10, 2007 8:43 AM