ISSUE #9
SEPTEMBER 20
A KICK IN THE PAST
FLEETWOOD TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB OFFICIAL FORMER PLAYERS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
LATEST NEWS
GOING STRONG
CATCH UP ON THE LATEST FLEETWOOD TOWN FPA UPDATES
a gallery of images from the last three YEARS of meetings
Birthdays We have some birthdays coming up: SEPTEMBER: Michael Whitehead (77 on 3rd), Jimmy Sutton (A) (71 on 6th), Gerry Stephen (87 on 9th), Kevin Barnes (45 on 12th), Peter Bell (73 on 19th), John Whiteside (79 on 19th), Alan Tuson (70 on 26th), Mick Taylor (74 on 27th), Chris Brandes (45 on 29th), Lennie Reid (37 on 30th). OCTOBER: Steve Brooks Jr (43 on 4th), Jimmy Hall (61 on 5th), Jim Moseley (63 on 6th), Malcolm Denning (12th - Deceased), Jimmy Strachan (12th - Deceased), Mark Baron (62 on 14th), Mark Roberts (37 on 16th), Warren Beattie (34 on 18th), Lee Morton (37 on 19th), Andy Lyons (54 on 19th), Phil Archbold (43 on 21st), David Roach (75 on 21st), David Moran (47 on 28th), Malcolm Clegg (84 on 29th), Iain Hume (37 on 30th), John McNicholas (71 on 30th). NOVEMBER: Alan Hughes (51 on 1st), Vic Rooking (79 on 10th), Jamie McGuire (37 on 13th), Phil Clarkson (52 on 13th), Danny Hurst (40 on 14th), Dennis Wann (70 on 17th), Dave Cookson (88 on 21st), Ricky Mercer (37 on 22nd), David Lucas (43 on 23rd), Barry Buckley (75 on 24th), Steve Flynn (42 on 28th), Roy Dobson (65 on 28th), Dave Cooke (74 on 29th), Frank Haydock (80 on 29th), Chris Singleton (37 on 30th), Paul Legate (73 on 30th). Stuart Murdoch, Tom Willacy, ‘Docker’ Brooks, Andy Haddock & Bobby Cuthbertson (August 2017)
New members We remain keen to bring more members on board. If you should know anyone personally who has played for any of Fleetwood FC, Fleetwood Town or Fleetwood Freeport, please do let them now about the FPA. We are happy to enrol any player who has appeared for the club in any season. It is a fantastic opportunity to become re - acquainted with old team mates and learn about players from different eras of the club. A limited edition FPA member’s badge will be given to each new member on a one per person basis to maintain their exclusivity. All new members will also receive a copy of the quarterly newsletter. Membership application forms are available from Tony Collier (FPA secretary) who may also be contacted for further information. The association remains free to join.
Gordon Griffith, Ben Andrew & Kenny Moran (July 2018) Tony Eaves & Derek Lancaster (June 2018)
Resumption of monthly meetings We are pleased to announce that our monthly Poolfoot gatherings will re–commence on Thursday 1st October at 10am. In light of the corona virus please observe the precautionary signage upon your arrival.
Next three meetings Thursday 1st October (10am) Thursday 5th November (10am) Thursday 3rd December (10am)
Front cover: Malcolm Clegg at a previous meeting at Poolfoot Farm
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FLEETWOOD TOWN FORMER PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
Kevin Byrne & Brian McManus (January 2018)
Don Gair (March 2020)
FLEETWOOD TOWN FORMER PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
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FLEETWOOD TOWN FORMER PLAYERS ASSOCIATION Answers: 1. Bennie Andrew, 2. Brain Newman, 3. Dave Barnes, 4. Don Gair, 5. Frank Bowker, 6. Fred Wilder, 7. Harold Wilkinson, 8. Kevin Byrne, 9. Tony Mudie.
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SEE IF YOU CAN GET ALL NINE PLAYERS FROM BACK IN THEIR PLAYING DAYS
GUESS THE PLAYER?
FOND MEMORIES OF HIGHBURY STADIUM WORDS: MALCOLM CLEGG
In this feature one of our senior FPA members shares his personal memories of his long association with the club’s ground.
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o our older former players, the name ‘Highbury Stadium’ may generate visions of an Arsenal of the North, and the red shirts white sleeves strip would support the illusion. Please though Mr Pilley don’t rename our Stadium as The Emirates! My first memory of our stadium began when as a pupil at Primary School I was selected to play in an interschool match at Highbury between Fleetwood and Poulton. At eleven years of age this must have been back in 1947 when the stadium was getting back into life having been shut down during the war years.
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My father would take me to watch the early years of Lancashire Combination games and I would be perched on the concrete wall behind the goal at what is now the Memorial Park end. The top clubs in the league at that time I remember were Nelson and Wigan Athletic. I was hooked and would look forward to going to Highbury each Saturday to watch the first team or the reserves. I still remember many of the players of the day and can still recite the defence - Bakewell: Tuson, Deardon, Hirst, Williamson and Hall. I am not as good with the forward
line but I think it included Ellis, Chilvers, and Robinson. There was a little fellow in the reserve team that I loved to watch, - yes it was Percy Ronson who was a torment to visiting defences. Percy had great ball control and a good dribbler. His lack of height was to his advantage and full backs simply couldn’t shoulder him off the ball. The stadium changed radically in the early fifties when Speedway came to town. My concrete wall refuge was demolished and in its place a cinder track round the playing area that required the whole corner sections to
FLEETWOOD SPEEDWAY PROGRAMMES
be taken up every couple of weeks for the racing night and the sods of turf re-laid the next day. Heroes for me then were riders Dick Geary, Norman Hargreaves and Cyril Cooper of the Fleetwood Flyers. A corrugated iron fence surrounded the racing track and I remember having to duck down as the riders shot past throwing cinders in the air as they powered round the bends. Speedway only lasted for four short years and then the stadium was restored to its football tradition. There were no winter midweek soccer games in those days and no floodlights and so football was only held on a Saturday afternoon. This was followed by a trip to the paper shop to collect The Green – the Blackpool Evening Gazette football paper with results and match reports. At around 15 years of age I was invited join a football team in the Fleetwood Junior League and now as a team player, my regular Saturday visits to the stadium went on hold for many years but I would follow the fortunes of the team in the local newspaper reports. My twenty or so years of playing football took me through the Fleetwood Junior League, Senior League and the Fylde League.
HIGHBURY STADIUM FROM ANOTHER TIME
When selected to represent the league teams I have fond memories of returning to play in various competitions held at the Highbury Stadium and also at Bloomfield Road. In those days there was also the Fleetwood Medal competitions and again opportunity to play at the Highbury Stadium. In the early sixties, during a period when Fleetwood Football Club was experiencing an injury crisis losing both goalkeepers, Syd Perkes and Neil Kirby simultaneously, I was asked to play a handful of games to help out until the injured players returned. Once again I played at Highbury Stadium before returning to the Fylde League. I was employed at the Hillhouse ICI factory at this time and played occasional cricket and football on the Hillhouse Sports fields that is now home to the magnificent Poolfoot facilities which I’m sure are the envy of many EFL Clubs. My weekend sport alternated between football and cricket until ‘old age crept in’ and I switched to playing golf. Upon my retirement from work I was able to play golf midweek and have Saturdays free again I returned to Highbury and stood for those early matches on the park side around
the halfway line on wooden railway sleepers on banking looking across at the old grandstand. I saw the stadium in a sad and weary state, and desperate to be tidied and upgraded. Enter Mr. Pilley and then followed massive ground improvements and with it promotion after promotion. A friend told me of the latest star footballer on show at Highbury. It was of course Jamie Vardy, signed from Halifax and my first sighting was enough for me to want more. By now I was hooked and purchased a season ticket with a seat alongside the old grandstand and I was able to watch as the magnificent new Parkside stand began to take shape opposite. I decided at that early stage that I would continue my season ticket purchases and aim to be high up in that new stand and on the half way line position. I secured that seat on day one of ticket sales and have held that same seat year after year ever since. I look back with great enjoyment regarding my 73 years of association with the stadium and certainly could never have envisaged the manner of the success brought to Fleetwood Town Football Club. Who knows, we may even go further yet!
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MEMORABLE MATCH BARRY NICHOLSON'S MOST MEMORABLE MATCH FROM HIS CAREER
MORECAMBE 0 FLEETWOOD TOWN 4 EFL LEAGUE TWO 8TH SEPTEMBER 2012 Fleetwood’s team that day: Davies (GK), Beeley, McNulty, Mawene, Howell, Johnson, Fowler, McGuire, Brown, Mangan, Parkin. Subs – Nicholson (McGuire), Marrow (Fowler), Titchener (Mangan). Fleetwood’s goalscorers: Parkin (3), Nicholson (1).
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arry Nicholson is not only a member of the FPA but is also a current first team coach at the club. His playing career encompassed stints at Rangers, Dunfermline Athletic, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock in his native Scotland and Preston North End and Fleetwood Town south of the border. He also represented his country on three occasions. When the former attacking midfield player was asked to recall his most memorable match for the Cod Army Barry responded without hesitation: “It was when we beat Morecambe 4 – 0 away. “What makes it so memorable for me was because I scored my first goal for the club in the league. “I was really disappointed not to start the game to be perfectly honest. “It was a local derby and I knew that there was going to be a decent crowd there. “It was early on in the season and it was a really really warm day, a typical start of the season game. “My Mum and Dad were down (from Scotland) for the game and they actually ended up in behind the goal and weren’t even sitting down in the stand. “They were in that end and bouncing around with the Cod Army.
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“All these things made it a bit special. “I got on the pitch pretty early, just after half – time and came on for Jamie McGuire. “I played around 45 or 50 minutes with injury time and stuff. “Obviously the game was remembered for “Parky’s (Jon Parkin) hat-trick but it gave me my first goal for the club and a diving header. It was a special day.” “The big man (Parkin) was excellent. He terrorised the Morecambe defence to be fair. “He was untouchable and when he was on his game he was a very valuable player. “He was too good probably for league two level that we were at. “‘Parky’ was buzzing after the game and the players were buzzing, obviously after a local derby. “Our fans were right round behind the goal, they had a little part of the main stand and they were really vocal. “The dressing was excellent after the game and (we were) really pleased with the result and performance.” When asked if he was disappointed not to be named in the starting line – up Barry responded: “Micky (Mellon) decided to start with a midfield three of Damien Johnson, Lee Fowler and Jamie
FLEETWOOD TOWN FORMER PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
BARRY NICHOLSON WALKING THE TOUCHLINE AS FIRST TEAM COACH
McGuire and I wasn’t too happy but those three lads were brilliant. “Jamie was an unbelievable competitor. “If any manager wanted someone to go in and have a scrap and win the ball back for his team then Jamie was certainly that one. “Damien had good experience and he just signed the same sort of time as me. “‘Fowls’ (Lee Fowler) for me was an unbelievable footballer with unbelievable ability. “I think if he had pushed himself a little bit more he could have played at a higher level. “With the three lads who played in front of me, I probably couldn’t complain but as Micky would tell you I probably did complain (about not being in the team). “I probably did chew his ear off about it. “It was nice though to get on the pitch just after half–time.”
Barry recalled the mood after the full – time whistle: “Everyone
was buzzing in the dressing room after the game.
“I am not too sure if we had a game on the Tuesday night but Micky would have allowed us to celebrate and told us to enjoy our night but to get right back on to our focus again for the next game. “I am pretty sure he would have gone and enjoyed his night. “I think from very early on the ambition of the group was going to try and get promotion into League One.” A successful result for both Barry and his team that afternoon also saw an appearance by Jamie Vardy who had left the Cod Army to join Leicester City that summer. Barry recalled: “Jamie was in with the crowd. “I remember after the game the players went down to applaud the Fleetwood fans and thank them for their support. ‘Mangs’ (Andrew Mangan) went over to speak to him (Vardy) down in the corner with the fans, so Jamie made an appearance as well.”
FLEETWOOD TOWN FORMER PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
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A FEW WORDS FROM PHIL BROWN W
ell, another three months have passed us all by since the last issue of our newsletter and football, as well as life, is still being greatly affected by this wretched virus. The last few months have primarily however been about keeping safe and well and hopefully we’ve all managed to do so by following the guidelines and doing what we’re told. A degree of inconvenience I guess is undoubtedly preferable to the worst alternatives but I think we’re probably all now ready to start returning to something resembling normality once again and for many of us to watching live football. During the period of lockdown and in the absence of our regular monthly meetings, I know from speaking to many of our members how much people have tried to stay in touch
with each other. Our Association is a close community and one of our greatest achievements in the three years or so we’ve been established is bringing former comrades back together after many years, in some cases decades, apart. I’m hugely proud to be a small part of the network that has now been created. We have recently made the decision to resume our monthly meetings at Poofoot. Our first one back will be on Thursday 1st October at 10am. Our member’s safety will of course be a priority. We shall all look forward to Stuart’s news updates, some good natured micky taking but most of all, our legendary camaraderie. Fingers crossed, a return to watching football at Highbury won’t
be too far behind and I’ll do my best to make sure that the usual FPA table is reserved once again in Red & Whites for the half-time brew! There’s been plenty going on with players leaving and arriving in the past few weeks and once again, hopes are high that we’ll be able to launch a promotion challenge to take our little club into the Championship. Finally, I couldn’t miss this opportunity to make special mention of the fact that on 11th August, Ron Bellwood became our first nonagenarian member. For those who don’t know what that means (including me, I had to look it up!), Ron hit the wonderful age of 90 on that date. I know how much Ron means to all of us and I hope he was able to enjoy a very special day with his family and friends.
CONFIDENTIALITY Please note that the personal details which FPA members have supplied are held in strictest confidence and not passed on to any third party. Additionally, we will not / cannot pass on the personal details given to us by any of our members to fellow members. If you need to contact a Former Players Association member out with the monthly meetings, please get in touch with Tony Collier (FPA secretary) who will happily contact the fellow member on your behalf and ask them to get in touch with you.
FTFC FPA MEMBERS NEW MEMBERS OF THE FLEETWOOD TOWN FPA SINCE ISSUE 8
Howard Crook Years playing for Fleetwood Town: 1975-76
FTFC FPA OFFICIALS WHO TO CONTACT AT FLEETWOOD TOWN'S FPA Chairman Stuart Murdoch Email: stuart.murdoch@fleetwoodtownfc.co.uk Phone number: 07921 934775
Vice-chairman Phil Brown Email: phil.brown@besutilities.co.uk Phone number: 07976 054398
Secretary Tony Collier Email: tonycfpa@outlook.com Phone number: 07931 415844
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