Graham Rix
Paedophiles tend be top, alright.
Fucking hell this thread is nuts .
I always found it odd when Irish Republicans played for Linfield during the Irish Civil War in the 1980s and 1990s. The likes of Pat Fenlon and other lads from the 26 played with them and Iām trying to think of more of these chapsā names now. No, theyāre not coming to me.
Dessie Gorman.
āThe Dundalk Hawkā.
Dessie Gorman , the Dundalk hawk , was a serious goal scorer for Linfield in late eighties and early nineties .
Dermot Keely played for Glentoran who probably have a harder loyalist support base than Linfield if the truth do told .
Mick Deegan , won an all Ireland with the Dubs and also won a couple of Irish Leagues with Crusaders in late nineties . Crusaders draw most of their support from the staunchly loyalist Tigerās Bay in North Belfast .
They paid more back then.
Tis only soccer . You play it for dosh at that level.
Vinny Arkins for Portadown was another one.
Yep and Joey Cunningham , a black tea egg from XMG who played Gaelic for Armagh played for them. At the time Iād say playing for Portadown was more dangerous given the nature of the support and erm benefactors .
Carl Frampton is a big Crusaders supporter.
Paul Byrne scored the winner in an Irish Cup final for Bangor. 1993. He earned his move to Celtic off the back of it. Roddy Collins also was player-manager of Bangor, think it was a year or two after they won the Irish Cup rather than when they won it but open to correction.
I miss the highlights programmes featuring such major occasions as the TNT Gold Cup final from the Oval featuring Linfield v Coleraine, played on winter Wednesday nights such as tonight. 10:50pm on UTV, presented by Adrian Logan standing pitchside with expert analysis from Roy Coyle, Billy Hamilton or somebody.
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up to a decade ago they paid better money up there and players were there . Gary Haylock went to Portydine and Linfield (granted he was english) . I remember Liam Coyle from Derry went to Glentoran but it didnāt work out .
Ballyclare Comrades were always dark horses for the County Antrim Shield.
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Roddy didnāt manage Bangor to win the Irish Cup. He brought Byrne to Bohs after Celtic and I think Southend ?? . Byrne was a remarkable talent . Brady took him to Celtic near the end of his tenure . He scored a brilliant goal v Rangers in a NY game circa 1994. Think Macari was managing Celtic but I would not bet on it . Byrne had amazing ability but poor application and big hips. You can carry one of these at a push .
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Billy Hamilton managed Limerick .
Iām sure Iām not dreaming the following incident up.
Coyle played for Glentoran against Linfield at Windsor Park on Boxing Day 1995. There was snow all over the pitch but the game went ahead with an orange ball. But the orange ball got lost behind the goal, I think the Kop terrace may have been a building site at the time, but whatever happened, they couldnāt find it.
Linfield only had one orange ball, so the teams tried to play on with a white one, which was completely obscured by the snow. I canāt remember whether the game was abandoned or not. It was featured on A Question Of Sport.
Then somebody eventually found the orange ball that had been lost during a match a few weeks later. The 5pm BBC NI update reported it all very matter of factly.
New Yearās game 1995. Tommy Burns was managing Celtic.
The story became rather embellished in my mind. The game was at the Oval and the ball burst. But the central fact is correct.
Ya : that was a high water mark . He was played in a wide role there which silly given he was as slow as a wet week in the Midlands .
Generally I watch Glentoran and Linfield on YouTube for the riots .