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.'
MY mate Woodsy considers himself a betting guru. He's got views on anything remotely sporty and claims his autistic traits give him a photographic memory which he can use to devastating effect in the bookies.
He once frightened the pants off Roy Wegerle by sidling up to the former QPR, Blackburn and Coventry striker in the gents at Garlands, Liverpool, or the Lido, Ainsdale, and launched into an unsolicited intimate description of every goal from Wegerle's career. Unsurprisingly, Roy whipped it away in a flash, made his excuses and left.
After all, most people would struggle to remember who Roy Wegerle was. Woodsy knows which way Woy was hanging when he scored.
Woodsy's latest trick is loitering at the level crossing near his flat in Waterloo and challenging schoolchildren to predict for a quid whether it will be a Liverpool or Southport train.
Even with his Merseyrail timetable in his pocket, he's already £8 down on the month.
In fact, there's no evidence that Woodsy's ever won serious money from his powers of prediction, unlike myself who's still feeling chipper from winning £205 by correctly predicting Marc Overmars to score the first goal and Arsenal to beat Newcastle 2-0 in the 1998 FA Cup final.
Crikey, that was a nervous last 20 minutes. I also won a wad when golfer Mike Weir won the Air Canada Championship in 1999 at a whopping 50/1. He shot a pair of 64s at the weekend, I recall, to net me enough to pay for my jade wedding suit from TJ Hughes.
I never told The Gaffer of my timely windfall in case she thought she'd married a gambling addict. So keep it to yourself.
I was reminded of Woodsy's eternal optimism, dogged conviction or autistic vulnerability when I stumbled across Bang and Pod's betting blog.
It's great fun. Two mates gamble £200 every month on football, football and football. I admire their apparent honesty. But it's costing the poor guys a fortune.
Their latest punt was based on the knowledge that it was impossible for Aston Villa NOT to beat lowly Wigan on Saturday.
Pod (or was it Bang?) writes:
"My first bet of the month is going to be a rock solid banker treble. If any of these fail, I think it’ll be time to stop betting for good. Just can’t see it. Man U have to win (West Ham 4-1, ker-ching!!), Derby can’t stop getting thrashed (Blackburn 3-1, ker-ching!!) and Villa are in form and still could take 5th place from Everton."
Of course, Wigan beat Aston Villa 2-0. NO!!!! Ker-ching hell, fellas!! Time to stop betting for good, Woodsy? I mean Bang, errr, Pod.
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Roy Wegerle wrote...
Not him! I'm off...
Posted by: Roy Wegerle | May 6, 2008 11:22 PM