#161
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Ending up at Pompey must be the main reason though, although they were a decent side and Vince and Billy had a great time down there and both clearly still love the club and have stayed living down there, I’m sure if they’d gone to a bigger club without the drinking culture and the mayhem and a bit more discipline, they would have had far better and longer careers.Vince admitted in the book it all caught up with him in the end. Chances are though, neither of them would change it if they could go back in time because it sounds like they had a blast at Pompey!!
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#162
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Finally finished Vince’s book. Enjoyable read and of course the Palace bits were fascinating. A lot of the book is him looking outwards at characters he met along the way and most of the personal stuff is crammed in at the end. Didn’t realise he did time after retirement for unpaid parking fines. Also didn’t know that he had such a bad time at Stoke and there’s clearly no love loss between him and the Stokonians. Almost hates them as much as Howard Wilkinson...always knew there was a reason why I never liked that bloke.
Sad to read Vince didn’t have the best of times after retirement - even did a bit of heavy labouring. Also suffered with depression. Crazy what went on at Pompey with the drinking culture. That team should’ve achieved so much more than they did. All in all, Vince comes across though as he did all those years with us - as a decent, humble fellow. Here are the bits from the book that most caught my attention: The football match featured in the famous ‘Vince’ documentary when he was breaking into the first team was set up against the Saudi Arabia under 21’s. It was meant to just be a kick about for the cameras to get some decent shots of Vince. It ended up in a free for all. Apparently a young Billy Gilbert uprooted a corner flag and was running around with it as if it was a spear. Vince was looking to leave the minute Venners left but no one really came in for him. He admits his consistency dipped the year we got relegated. The players had no respect for Dario Gradi at all and refused to do what he told them. After Venables they found it hard to take other managers seriously. To be honest, it showed! Palace had paid a lot of money for Steve Wicks at the time, but he got injured for 5 months because Gradi had introduced gymnastics to training and Wicks done his back in vaulting a pommel horse. Apparently Noades walked about for the last 2 months of his injury with a badge saying, ‘I saw Steve Wicks play...once!’ Wore it to half a dozen home games apparently. Again hardly surprising if you attended around that time, but under Mullery the organisation at the club had completely gone and he made some terrible signings. Mostly players who were once decent, coming to the end of the careers with no hunger anymore and just here for a last pay day: Locke, Wood, Strong, Lacy, McCulloch... The famous Peterborough league cup game was mentioned. The one where we were three up from the 1st leg but ended up losing the 2nd leg and went out. Remember Mullery issuing a full page apology after that and docking wages I think. Apparently at half time the players reached the dressing room and Mullery shouted at them to ‘GET OUT’, so they spent the interval milling about on the pitch. John Fashanu was on loan with us at the time and was in the bath with Vince at the end of the game. Fash turned to Vince and said, ‘I can’t believe this club. They’re a complete and utter shambles - The manager’s a joke, the chairman’s a joke, the whole place is a joke.’ Vince agreed but unbeknownst to them, Mullery was in the room and heard every word. He was furious. Next day Fash was sent back to Norwich and Vince was dropped for the next game. Top manager! Had that not happened you do wonder whether Bright and Wright would’ve happened. Would most probably have been Fash and Wright. Jim Cannon always refused to take responsibility for any goals conceded. Vince said he was a brilliant player but had quite a cutting tongue and unfeeling by all accounts and Vince was on the end of it a few times. He’d say things like, ‘If Venners weren’t here I’d smash you’. Wright and Bright complained of similar treatment didn’t they. All in all a very good read. Cheers Vince.
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“Supporting Palace has a certain cult value – like pretending that some Peruvian rock band is the best in the world.” - John Peel |
#163
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Picked this up for a tenner in the club shop today. Looking forward to reading it.
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To live in a Crystal Palace everyone will see what we have done no stones are ever thrown...... |
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