Mainly for older fans............. 19:56 - Nov 1 with 3156 views | Huddersdale1 | Good two page piece on Steve Melledew in this month's edition of BackPass football magazine, including being scouted by Tom Nichol when he was playing for Whipp and Bourne, and his subsequent transfer to Everton. Worth a read. | | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 20:30 - Nov 1 with 3112 views | dogboy | Thanks Huddersdale another subscription I will have to justify to my wife that nobody remembers the travesty that Steve Melledew should never have gone to Everton and as a consequence I would never have met you....re butterfly effect.. yah yah yah | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 07:44 - Nov 2 with 2982 views | EllDale | The £15k that Everton paid for Melledew was certainly welcome. I think that it was the best transfer fee that we'd received since Dave Storf left for Barrow. Most players left Spotland for non-league in those days...... My dad always maintained that it was all down to Harry Catterick doing his old club a favour but I doubt that even he could be so cavalier with Everton's money. The thing is that, although we lost a leading scorer when he moved, it didn't affect results. We were top of the league in November. Reg certainly stepped up to the plate in that first season in Division Three and scored 20 goals. | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 08:04 - Nov 2 with 2964 views | mingthemerciless | I remember playing against him when he was playing up front for Whipps with Joe Heywood. He always had bags of confidence and plenty to say. I played with and against better players that never made the step up to full time pro level. Maybe they didn't have his determination and attitude. | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 10:33 - Nov 2 with 2901 views | pioneer |
Mainly for older fans............. on 07:44 - Nov 2 by EllDale | The £15k that Everton paid for Melledew was certainly welcome. I think that it was the best transfer fee that we'd received since Dave Storf left for Barrow. Most players left Spotland for non-league in those days...... My dad always maintained that it was all down to Harry Catterick doing his old club a favour but I doubt that even he could be so cavalier with Everton's money. The thing is that, although we lost a leading scorer when he moved, it didn't affect results. We were top of the league in November. Reg certainly stepped up to the plate in that first season in Division Three and scored 20 goals. |
It didnt effect results immediately but it affected the depth of the squad . When we started to pick up injuries and in particular when Tony Buck broke his leg ( or more accurately the Reading goalie called Death broke it) we had no cover. Towards the end of the promotion season after Buck was signed and the reaaranged games from postponements started to pile up we had a nice rotation with Reg and Melledew often swaping a starting position and the subs bench (only 1 sub in those days) | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 17:05 - Nov 2 with 2790 views | EllDale | I remember reading an interview with Tony Buck (probably in the Observer) whilst he was recuperating. He mentioned that him and Reg had been getting some stick off the other lads on the way down about how they would be "staring Death in the face" if they went in the Reading area that afternoon". That fracture was a tragedy for the lad because he was never the same afterwards. I think that in many ways we never saw his full potential; he wasn't a traditional centre forward, he was more skilful than that. | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 20:48 - Nov 2 with 2699 views | Sheffdale | I have just written up a two part interview with Tony Buck for publication in TVOS on the anniversary of his signing in Feb 69. The first part is very much Buck in the ascendancy as his first twelve months with us were tremendous. The second part is after "staring Death in the face". As with all the ex-players I've interviewed from 68/69 he was gracious with his time and appreciated being reminded of the good times in football" | | | |
Mainly for older fans............. on 16:23 - Nov 3 with 2553 views | mingthemerciless | I agree with Elldale there. Tony Buck was ahead of his time as a striker. He was more like a modern day player than the traditional centre forward of those days. He was pretty quick off the mark and had a cool head in the box. He wasn't a physical player but he relied on his pace and eye for a goal scoring opportunity. As we all know the broken leg was the beginning of the end of a very promising career. | | | |
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