@Ken Smith
I haven't posted in eons, but your post about that 1954/55 season caught my attention Ken.
I definitely remember Charlie Wayman coming in from Preston N.E. and being the star player that we hoped he would be.
My memory may be flawed, but I seem to think that around that time, Wilf Mannion had been transferred to Hull City. Do you know if that is correct and were they both playing on opposing teams for a game at Ayresome Park in that or a later season?
@ Martin Bellamy
Probably before your time Martin, but although I never saw Billy Boston play except on television, but did meet him at the 1970 Rugby League Challenge Cup Final between Wigan and Cas. A true legend of the sport but disappointed that Wigan are going to rename his stand probably because Wigan Warriors are only tenants at the DW Stadium. I’ve heard a rumour that the Warriors may be forced to relocate for financial reasons, but would hope that a statue will be erected of him at their new home. Any news on that?
@ Johnny Canuck
Yes, you’re quite correct. Wilf announced his retirement after relegation in 1954 as he didn’t want to play in the Second Division, but suddenly about Christmas time Hull City announced that they had signed him. He played for Hull at Ayresome Park against Boro on the 5th February 1955 and attracted a crowd of 32.619 the second biggest crowd of the season as Boro were beaten 1-2.
Great post which I agree with. I thought I was the only one who had compared that debacle with the Strachan era.
Although they should have had a penalty, conversely we could have had one five minutes earlier for a similar shirt pulling incident involving the same two players.
let’s hope for better things against Barnsley but I suspect it will not be a similarly result !
Oh and happy birthday today enjoy 😊
OFB
@ Martin Bellamy
Probably before your time Martin, but although I never saw Billy Boston play except on television, but did meet him at the 1970 Rugby League Challenge Cup Final between Wigan and Cas. A true legend of the sport but disappointed that Wigan are going to rename his stand probably because Wigan Warriors are only tenants at the DW Stadium. I’ve heard a rumour that the Warriors may be forced to relocate for financial reasons, but would hope that a statue will be erected of him at their new home. Any news on that?
BB is still a very popular figure in Wigan. He was the landlord of a pub round the corner from our office and we’ve seen him at most Warriors games that we’ve attended. His grandson Wes Davies played for Wigan for a while too.
As I’ve said on here before, I still find it strange that there’s such animosity between the fans of the two teams. The Warriors fans are furious about the Stand being renamed and if the Warriors have to find a new home stadium I’m not sure where it could be. If I hear any news I’ll keep you informed.
Happy birthday RR. Hope you have had a good day. At least there was not a match to spoil it for you! 😎
I ended up watching the first 30 minutes of the Peterborough match last night when I couldn't sleep. Yes we were poor but what we weren't doing was playing hoof ball. We lacked a creative option in the middle of the pitch so tended to be very predictable down the flanks. We seemed to be playing 3-4-1-2 with Watmore running through the middle while Uche and Sporar played quite narrow on the left and right. Crooks and Payero were sort of interchanging in the middle with Payero playing slightly advanced.
It didn't work. Watmore kept wanting to run down the inside forward channels where Sporar and Ikpeazu were already in the way. Hernandez and Tav were both playing on their wrong side so tended to cut in. I remember the scouting report where it was mentioned that Payero likes to play on the right of a midfield 3 where he can run down the inside right channel and cut the ball back. I saw him do exactly that early on only to realise that he had no one to pass to and Crooks had been left exposed. All of our forward players wanted to be in the same place at the same time.
I also noticed that we didn't seem to be man-marking but seemed to be confused about when to press and when not to and no one really knew where their team mates were heading. That said, it did mean that even when Dembele was dominating the game, people were covering and we didn't see the same huge gaps open up as we're used to.
As far as I can see, when Jones came on, we turned into something like my mythical 3-1-4-2. Crooks dropped back a bit, Tav went central with Payero. Jones went wide on the right leaving Payero his favoured area to attack. Watmore moved up front with Sporar leaving Tav room in the centre to attack. Aside from Hernandez staying narrow we did look a lot more balanced and players were able to play to their strengths. We scored the second goal through Payero doing what his scouting report said he was best at. Winning the ball on the right, advancing down the inside right position, exchanging passes and creating a scoring opportunity.
Personally I would swap wings for Hernandez and Jones and stick with that system because it gets most of our best players in most of their best places.
