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.'
AS a kid I loved the Olympics Games - even though it brought a realisation that Great Britain did not rule the world.
Suddenly, people from unheard of countries like America were 'faster, higher and stronger' than our chaps, even the pale-faced stick insects from the USSR and East Germany somehow pipped us in a 100-metre dash.
Memories of Montreal in 1976 remain vivid. I was eight and when you're eight you absorb detail so quickly your brain is full by the time you need it to earn money.
I can see Brendan Foster trudging home two miles behind 'Flying Finn' Lasse Viren in the 10,000 metres but still collecting a bronze medal, Alberto Juantorena galloping to victory in the 400 and 800 metres (...'there goes Juantorena down the back straight, opening his legs and showing his class' said David Coleman) and a goofy looking guy called Ed Moses with NHS specs who won the 400 metres hurdles despite being in his 50s.
Away from the track I cheered on Olga Korbut, the cute Russian gymnast. Why? Because we had a thick wooden ruler which my mum called 'The Olga Korbut Ruler.' I must ask her why one day.
More heartbreak as Olga lost out to Nellie Kim and the even cuter Nadia Comaneci.
Our British pentathletes struck gold in whatever they do and, of course, David Wilkie defied physics by dragging his 'Tick, Tock' bushy moustache through the water to victory in the 100m breaststroke, urged on by patriotic BBC commentator Alan Weeks - '...and it's Wilkie!'
So for Jack, next year's Olympics in Beijing will hopefully bring similar fascination and abiding warm memories, while 2012 in London should be thrilling for a sports crazy 11-year-old, God willing.
That's what the Olympics are all about to millions of youngsters. Awe. Inspiration. Pride. Joy.
Instead of letting the sports stars promote the Olympics with their excellence, we've now got marketing people talking logos and slogans. I agree that there is a place for such ploys, perhaps to raise awareness of a little known brand, but one of the greatest and most familiar brands on the planet does not need costly gimmicks.
Take Beijing, for example, and their global search for a new Olympic slogan presumably to replace 'Cetius, Altius, Fortius' or 'Faster, Higher, Stronger.' They cajoled 210,000 people to come up with mission statements, most locked inside a Guangdong sweatshop owned by a cousin of the IOC's Head of Daft Projects and given one pencil between them.
The only genuine entry came from a Peruvian peasant whose winning phrase, after translation, was...hold onto your pants...'One World, One Dream.' Didn't Freddie Mercury copyright that one? The drivel was accompanied by more verbal tosh from Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Mr Qi said: "It (the daft slogan) conveys the noble ideal of people in Beijing as well as in China to share their civilisation and create a bright future hand in hand with people from the rest of the world."
Yeah, the Chinese are always thinking of others, aren't they? They even send us massive mushroom clouds of pollution from their mega power stations to keep the nasty sun from giving us skin cancer.
We've had similar meaningless words such as 'Friends Forever' (Barcelona 1992), 'Share the Spirit' (Sydney 2000) and the wincingly bad 'Light The Fire Within' (Salt Lake City, Winter Olympics 2002).
Of course, the gold medal for Olympic flapdoodle (that's a polite word for bullshit) goes to Seb Coe's wacky gang who insulted us with the indefensible 2012 pink logo. They should go to jail without passing Coe and without collecting their £400,000 fee.
"This is the vision at the very heart of our brand," said Lord Coe.
BBC Online visitors came up with alternatives including a far more refreshing, simple, pleasing, workable and popular logo by graphic designers Richard and Chris Voysey. It took 'em five minutes over a mug of Yorkshire tea and a Blue Riband.
Oh, there's also a customised version of the dirty pink 'Tiswas' logo which speaks for itself.
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Martin Bramah wrote...
What a curious rant. The London Olympic Logo unfortunatley reflects the demands of the global consumer in terms of corporate branding. You may think the Roman font of the Great Western Railway is a design classic but it would pass un-noticed in todays multi-media market. What the public say they like and what they respond to in terms of brand recognition are two entirely different things. Also, the Richard Voysey logo is not only peurile, it probably took less than 5 minutes seeing as how it is a rip-off of a previosly shortlisted entry by British designer David Watson from 2003 for what was then the London bid.
Posted by: Martin Bramah | September 20, 2007 6:40 PM