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General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe on June 26, 2022, 06:35:15 PM
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http://www.lusoweb.co.uk/legend52.htm (http://www.lusoweb.co.uk/legend52.htm)
Tremendous research, as always, by Terry Rowley, however I'm not convinced that Bobby Irvine deserves the epithet of 'Alty Legend'!
There must be some readers of this forum who were eyewitnesses to his notoriously abject performance during a 4-2 defeat against Wigan Athletic in an FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round tie staged at Moss Lane on Saturday, 15th October 1966?
Irvine’s alarmingly calamitous display, which had contained two absolute goalkeeping howlers, elicited the following post-match comments from Alty’s enraged manager Freddie Pye in the Manchester Evening News Football Pink: “I know Irvine is capable of better things. I don't mind players having bad games but he chose the wrong game to do it in."
The dismayed Pye’s retribution was swift and decisive. In the following Saturday’s issue of the Robins Review, he reflected on the Wigan Athletic debacle and, in particular, Irvine’s error-strewn nightmare: “I cannot understand how a man with First Division and International experience could have chosen this game to have such an off-day. He will never again make such mistakes in an Altrincham jersey. His contract was cancelled this week.”
http://www.lusoweb.co.uk/legend52.htm (http://www.lusoweb.co.uk/legend52.htm)
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Yes. Well said Barry. I was at that game too and couldn't understand how a keeper with international experience (OK, Norn Iron) could play so poorly. Rumours abounded concerning brown envelopes and bets placed but I think he just didn't give a toss about playing for us and certainly shouldn't be seen as a legend.
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The research done on all the players is truly stunning and all of them have really interesting back stories which makes for great reading - top job . I can only say that there are quite a number who cannot be looked on as Alty legends , some having only played a handful of games .
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This got me looking at the Jackie Swindells piece. According to it he score 82 goals in 63 games in his first full season in a team that scored 190 goals in all competitions, and he also scored 7 in one game. That's ridiculous! How good was he? You only get those sorts of figures in the Highland League these days (and probably not even there much longer as it becomes more professional). I knew he was good, but that's phenomenal!
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Best natural finisher and goalscorer i've ever seen in non league football . Even at the tail end of his Alty career he was near the top of the NPL list playing in a very average team . Great player and a true Alty legend .