| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 09:39 - Jan 30 with 22434 views | ineyrewetrust |
ROCHDALE FC TODAY LOST A HERO A TRUE HERO AND ONE OF THE NICEST GENTLEMAN IN FOOTBALL AND LIFE.
SLEEP TIGHT REG ALWAYS REMEMBER ARE CHATS X |  | | |  |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 09:42 - Jan 30 with 13223 views | RAFC1907 |
Rest In Peace to a wonderful man, a legend and a hero to many.
[Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 09:44 - Jan 30 with 13183 views | BigKindo |
RIP Reg. I only posted yesterday about his scoring a volleyed goal which broke the net. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 09:49 - Jan 30 with 13166 views | jokerthief |
RIP ..The two greatest ever Rochdale players now dead.. Reg Jenkins and Stan Milburn
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 09:53 - Jan 30 with 13147 views | macaroo |
RIP. Reg. A true Dale legend and a wonderful man. Always had time to chat and have his photo taken. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 09:55 - Jan 30 with 13132 views | wroughtironron |
Sad day - Reg was our saviour for years - the Club must now honour him |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:00 - Jan 30 with 13110 views | fitzochris |
Never had the pleasure of seeing the man play but have heard so much about him over my 25 years following Dale that I feel almost related to him.
Sad news. |  |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:09 - Jan 30 with 13072 views | Toffeemanc |
RIP Reg. Thoughts are with his family and friends.
Genuine Dale Legend who should be honoured by the club in some permanent way.
Absolutely has to be at least a minutes applause/silence on Saturday before the game.
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:16 - Jan 30 with 13048 views | Bazzanne |
RIP Reg. One of the hardest hitters of a ball to play for Dale. Scored goals the keepers never saw. I agree Reg and Stan two of the best to ever don a Dale shirt. | | | |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:31 - Jan 30 with 13010 views | D_Alien |
Reg was a true football hero, by any standard.
Forget about overpaid, high profile players - Reg earned a decent living doing the thing he loved - smashing the ball into the back of the net! But his all-round skills as a footballer were often forgotten. He could cross a ball as well as any winger (his cross onto Dave Cross's head to score in the Lancs Senior Cup Final against Oldham (a big game in those days, capacity crowd) was just poetry.
Reg himself will never be forgotten, as long as there are Daleys to remember him. He was the reason I wanted to start watching the Dale, aged 7, as I heard about his feats. As hard as they come but fair and uncomplaining.
RIP |  |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:33 - Jan 30 with 12999 views | SalwaDale |
RIP Reg.
Never saw him play but grew up knowing the name and have enjoyed hearing many stories about him.
Hope Dale do something permanent as a memorial. |  |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:40 - Jan 30 with 12972 views | dingdangblue |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:33 - Jan 30 by SalwaDale |
RIP Reg.
Never saw him play but grew up knowing the name and have enjoyed hearing many stories about him.
Hope Dale do something permanent as a memorial. |
RIP Reg.
Only met him the once,at the Centenary Dinner but what a lovely gentleman. So glad he saw us at Wembley and promoted in the last few years. |  |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:42 - Jan 30 with 12959 views | modelboydave |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:40 - Jan 30 by dingdangblue |
RIP Reg.
Only met him the once,at the Centenary Dinner but what a lovely gentleman. So glad he saw us at Wembley and promoted in the last few years. |
RIP REG.
never saw him play either but i remember my Georgraphy teacher Mr Wheatley and the sparkle he had his in eye when he talked about Reg Jenkins.
A one off.
RIP REG
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 10:51 - Jan 30 with 12907 views | 49thseason |
Very sad news, Big Reg is probably the main reason we still have a football league club in Rochdale. It sometimes seemed like he played teams on his own. Time to rename the main stand methinks. Well done Reg, a good life well lived. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:07 - Jan 30 with 12852 views | ColDale |
Awful news. I don't think there's a Dale fan out there who doesn't appreciate what a legend Reg was. One of the true greats.
A minute's silence is a must. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:09 - Jan 30 with 12841 views | YouTubeDale |
I did meet him and had the photo taken, but one of my biggest regrets is not seeing him play, by all accounts.
All time top scorer for Dale says it all but perhaps the way he did it says even more...
from an article in the MEN...
In an eight-year career with Rochdale, Jenkins became the club's all-time leading goalscorer with an amazing 119 goals from just 305 league appearances.
Taking into account other matches, such as FA Cup and Football League Cup games, Jenkins' total record for Rochdale is 141 - a tally that will almost certainly never be equalled.
As far as fan Mr Dave Ousey is concerned, you can forget Van Nistelrooy, Owen and Shearer. For him there's only one striker fit to wear golden boots - and that man is Reg Jenkins.
"Once Reg took aim from 25 yards out, you knew the goalkeeper would either have to save it or get out of the way. Most times they got out of the way.
"Most of the spectators behind the goal got out of the way, as well. For if the ball whistled just wide of the post, and you were unlucky enough to be in the way of it, then you'd be sore for a week.
"I've never seen a player hit a ball so hard, so consistently and so often smack on target."
This is a true legend and I too would give him the honour of naming a stand in his name.
RIP Reg
[Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:14 - Jan 30 with 12821 views | JumeirahDale |
A truly sad day for the club - hope all the stops are pulled out in his honour, both on Saturday and in a wider context as well.
Thoughts with his family.
Rest in Peace Reg. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:39 - Jan 30 with 12728 views | jonesy |
Think I remember him doing some great conversions when we played Hornets in a 50/50 game at Spotland? | | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:45 - Jan 30 with 12704 views | deeplishblue |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:39 - Jan 30 by jonesy |
Think I remember him doing some great conversions when we played Hornets in a 50/50 game at Spotland? |
From the MEN in 2007 - the second to the last paragraph says it all about the man.
THE record books speak for themselves, though in truth they tell only half a story where Reg Jenkins is concerned.
Holder of the club's goalscoring record - 119 goals from 305 league appearances between 1964 and '73 - he is widely regarded as the best signing ever made at Spotland.
Taking into account cup games, his total record for Rochdale stands at 141 goals - a hugely impressive tally unlikely to be surpassed.
Reg's elevated standing among Rochdale supporters was confirmed just a few years ago when, through an Observer poll, he was voted Dale's best ever player.
Not one of those fortunate enough to see him in his playing prime, I met Reg - together with his wife, Norma - more than 30 years after his retirement from the professional game on a bitterly cold night at Spotland earlier this year. Those broad shoulders which once brushed aside many a hapless defender belied the warmth and sincerity in his handshake and through his modest manner and self-depreciating humour it quickly became evident why this man is regarded by many as a legend.
Born in Millbrook, Cornwall, back in 1937, Reg started his career at Truro City, and spent short spells with Plymouth and Exeter before Eric Webber took him to Torquay, in the old third division.
"The saddest thing about that was, the day after I'd agreed to go to Torquay, the Bristol Rovers manager, Bert Tann, came down to sign me," said Reg. "Bristol were in the second division at that time and I nearly cried my eyes out!"
Nevertheless, his time at Torquay (from September 1961 to July 1964) would yield many happy memories, not least the fact that during his time there he met Norma. For the first few months of their courtship Reg failed to mention he was footballer - but by the time they were wed, Norma was under no illusion as to what the future held. There was no escaping football, not even on their wedding day!
"We got married in a registry office in Saltash on the Saturday morning then travelled up to Torquay," said Norma. "On some of our wedding photos you can see Reg looking at his watch, thinking 'will I make it in time?' I sat in the stands watching him play for Torquay the day we got married. We stayed in a hotel that night, but we didn't have enough money to buy a breakfast so we left the next morning!"
Before too long the newlyweds were embarking on an exciting adventure into the unknown - Rochdale.
Norma: "Reg came home one afternoon and said "Rochdale want to sign me…where's Rochdale?"
Mrs Jenkins pulled out the map and traced a finger along the newly built M6 all the way to the north west. The couple agreed it was an adventure they could not refuse.
Reg met Dale manager Tony Collins to discuss terms at a hotel in Bristol where the deal was finalised. To this day he keeps the contract he signed.
Officially, Reg was to receive 10 per cent of the £3,000 signing on fee Rochdale had agreed to pay Torquay. But Dale were so keen to get their man they added an additional £300 incentive for Reg - which went straight on a new washing machine.
"We drove up in a Morris Tourer, it took us 13 hours," said Reg. The car was later sold to Observer sports editor Geoff Whitworth.
"We fell in love with the people of Rochdale almost immediately," he said. "Down our way, if they don't know you, they won't bother with you. To be honest, when we first got here and moved into our house, about four or five neighbours came knocking on the door offering cups of tea. I was thinking 'here they are, the nosey buggers, come to see what we've got' - but I soon realised I was wrong and that Rochdalians are just super people.
"Even now, I wish I could transfer 20 people from up here down to where we live. That's why we keep coming back up here, to visit the friends we made all those years ago."
Things got off to a great start on the field. Reg scored a brace in his first game at Spotland and netted 25 goals in his first season. Facilities may have been limited, but times were good.
"Every Friday we had to wait for the chairman, Fred Ratcliffe, to sign the cheques to collect our wages. The wages were never cleared until 1pm, so we'd finish training at 11 and go in the chippy at the back of the stand, Mrs Fitton's. If we played rubbish on the Saturday you'd here people saying 'I saw him in the chippy on Friday, no wonder he was hopeless.'
"Mrs Fitton gave us as many mugs of tea and slices of bread and butter as we wanted. It was 35d for two fish, chips and peas!"
Once training was over, Reg would often head up to Jack Hammill's farm in Bamford, where afternoons were spent feeding and cleaning out the pens of his 10,000 chickens.
Jack was just one of many friends for life the Jenkins' made during their nine-year stay in Rochdale, not to mention the supporters who adored him, and understandably so - Reg played a crucial role in the club's only ever promotion, back in the 1968/69 season when Dale finished third.
"When we got promotion I think we were fourth from bottom at Christmas and we went on a run of 19 matches without losing," he recalled.
Reg fired 13 goals in that promotion campaign and did even better in Division Three the following year, scoring 20 league goals. He played eight seasons in all at Spotland and passed Bert Whitehurst's goalscoring record of 129 on the way
Unfortunately, Reg left the club on something of a sour note. Having picked up several niggling injuries he was never given enough recovery time. Hurried back into the team too quickly, he constantly endured setbacks in his attempts to return, pulling muscles as he rushed back without sufficient preparation.
"They didn't have the kind of treatments they have today," he said. "I think I only played about 18 games in my last season here (he still managed 11 goals) but what hurt me was, at the end of that season, Fred Ratcliffe called me in and asked me to have a three-month trial ahead of the next season. Walter Joyce had taken over as manager and I was later told that somebody had put a spoke in the wheels by telling him I was faking my injury."
It was an affront too far for Reg, and signalled the end of his Spotland career.
He had an offer from Jimmy Frizzell to be assistant manager at Oldham but had already put £25 down to secure a plot of land in his home village of Millbrook. As soon as he was given a free transfer by Rochdale his best friend's father - a builder - started putting a house up for the Jenkins' and when he was offered a job driving a lorry on similar wages to the Oldham role it paved the way for a return home.
"By then we were ready to go back home, so there was no choice for us really," he said.
Reg retired from the professional game but was involved with local football for the next 21 years
"I got a lot of pleasure running the Millbrook team. It was Combination Two level and I had to send 50d off for them to be reinstated - but it was super, especially for the first ten years while I was still playing, because it was all local lads and we had a great spell and climbed up the leagues. The club can afford to pay the players nowadays and it's a really good set up."
A hip injury led to Reg hanging up the boots for good, prompting his love affair with golf, a passion he shares with Norma. If the couple are not out playing golf then they are walking along the peninsula near their home, minutes from the beach near HMS Silloth.
Before we parted, Reg had a favour to ask. It concerned his biggest regret, one which has gnawed away at him these past few years.
"I never had the opportunity to tell the Rochdale supporters just how grateful I was when they voted me their all-time favourite player. I wish I'd had the chance to thank them - I didn't want them to think I wasn't bothered. I can't begin to tell them what it meant to me."
Consider it done Reg - it's the very least a legend and gentleman deserves. |  |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:55 - Jan 30 with 12668 views | MoonyDale |
Absolutely devastating news , saw him play from the age of 8 until I was 13 and a nicer gent you couldn't meet. Not ashamed to say that a few tears have been shed this morning......RIP Reg, you will be mourned by Daleys everywhere. |  |
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:59 - Jan 30 with 12646 views | maybee |
What very sad news.
It's all too often that the words "legend" and "gentleman" are used to describe footballers, but in Sir Reg, those of us of a certain age can consider themselves blessed to have witnessed someone who can honestly be described as both.
A big, burly centre forward, with the heart of a lion, a ferocious shot and a real sense of fair play is how I'd like to remember him. I'd very much hope that there will be some sort of permanent tribute to him at the club in the near future.
My thoughts are with his family.
God bless Reg. RIP. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 11:59 - Jan 30 with 12645 views | chuckleberry |
Sad news indeed. Glad I had the pleasure to meet him.
RIP Reg. |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 12:07 - Jan 30 with 12619 views | SilverDale |
Great memories, A goal after running through six inch deep mud from the halfway line at the Shay with Halifax defenders bouncing off him, is one of so many.
RIP Reg, Thanks for the memories, never be forgotten. | | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 12:12 - Jan 30 with 12594 views | olympicdale |
Thats so sad, RIP reg, a true Dale legend, and although I never saw him play Ill be there to see him get a great recognition from all sides of spotland on saturday. [Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 12:22 - Jan 30 with 12559 views | Clivert |
Sad news.
I'm too young to have seen him play for Dale but everybody who talks about him always comments on how hard he could kick a football. His record for us speaks for itself and as mentioned above it would be nice if the club could somehow pay tribute to 'Big Reg' by naming part of the ground after him.
RIP Reg Jenkins |  | | |
| RIP REG JENKINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on 12:29 - Jan 30 with 12529 views | D_Alien |
It would also be good if his family could have this thread printed out and sent to them. | |
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