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Random fact, I bought the away Brazil top for that season on the Holmesdale. Someone was selling them for a tenner. Labels cut-off. Were genuine - but obviously had been stolen somewhere along the line. |
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And so it began…
Saturday morning papers break the Noades race row story https://s9.gifyu.com/images/244CD90B...68DD862.md.jpg EVERTON 2. Warzycha. Beardsley PALACE 2. Gray. Bright https://s9.gifyu.com/images/FFBA7FF3...4493294.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/0CD32756...9CCCDCA.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/3E537EC1...7EB72A9.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/4D610E38...4EAA55C.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/FE7ABD72...5E3289B.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/D6D69220...0E1005C.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/B2F7F21A...8FD3651.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/7D927C85...C98CF23.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/E0D8EC1A...C3F9DE1.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/EFC31BC7...DCBD41B.md.jpg https://s9.gifyu.com/images/B88D26C2...ADE9357.md.jpg |
And there it all is; an out and out hatchet job from the press. The Sun and The Star laughably taking the moral high ground. Guaranteed those two articles were penned by Everton fans - no doubt…you can smell those sour grapes even 30 years later. The problem was Everton had fallen from their lofty title chasing perch, and to see a little upstart club like Palace, overtake them, really fuelled their hatred against us at the time. How dare we!
Luther Blissett also came out of it badly as he started throwing about accusations and charges without knowing the full details. Coppell spoke eloquently and honestly as usual, but the genie was out of the bottle. The press were determined to cast us as the bad boys. What made it even more galling was that Noades probably did more to promote and positively integrate black footballers into our game than any chairman in the league. Yet, there were quite a few clubs, Everton certainly one of them, that seemed a bit dubious when it came to employing black players at the time. I think I might still have the programme that created the whole furore somewhere on video, ‘Great Britain United’. If I get a chance I’ll try and find it and post it up. Wright and Bright talked about the whole incident years later on our club centenary video. They dispelled any doubts about Noades being racist and told the story of how the film company edited Noades interview in a way to portray him in a bad light. Unfortunately, as Wright says, it did rock the players at the time, and that was when Arsenal seized their chance and nipped in. At 37:30 |
There are two issues to unpack here. The first is the burgeoning media campaign about our alleged overly-physical style of play. As Bubbs says it's possible these articles were penned by Everton fans, or at least those with close connections to the club which at that time was still considered one of football's elite 'big five'. Then as now, journalists had vested interests with the big clubs which made them a docile ally for perpetuation of media spin. Interesting to note that the case for the prosecution on this occasion includes mention of our notorious hard man Eddie McGoldrick, a player who would surely struggle to fight his way out of the proverbial paper bag. I don't remember the Andy Thorn sending off from this game so cannot comment on the fairness of it, although he was a defender who knew what he was doing and would have had no qualms in making a deliberate goal-saving foul look like an accidental collision. The broader point though is that our disciplinary record around this time simply did not equate to the media portrayal of us as animals kicking our way to success. If that was the case then why were referees so reticent to take action?
The truth is that different standards were applied to players from the big clubs, both by the media and the match officials. Bryan Robson for example was always feted as ultra-competitive and used to get away with murder. I am reminded of Mark Bright's old anecdote about playing at Old Trafford, laying the ball off to Salako on the wing and then turning to get into the box for a cross, only to be absolutely flattened by a Robson bone-cruncher long after the ball had gone. As both players lay in a crumpled heap the ref, who had played on, trotted past and called out 'are you OK Bryan?' to the England legend. The other and much bigger issue is of course the Ron Noades race row. The quotes in isolation of course look awful. Noades' defenders always say these were taken out of context to paint him in a bad light. I have to admit I don't think I've ever seen the full, unedited quotes 'in context' in order to assess his true intended meaning. It would be fascinating to see those if anyone has access. The excuse given above about him referring to players of 20 years ago is of course feeble and wouldn't wash, but maybe that was more media bollocks. In any event the whole episode was a massively unwelcome distraction which threatened to derail our season before it had property got started, and at best unusual naivety from Noades who prided himself on being a sharp operator. |
From memory the Noades comments on the programme sounded absolutely awful at face value. I’d have to see it again to pass proper judgement, but wonder from what Bright said in the interview above, that Ron was explaining what the attitude and portrayal of black players in certain quarters was, and it was edited to make it appear his very own thoughts.
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Here are the goals. Strangely miss out the Thorn sending off.
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Love how one of those reports referred to the ref as John Kirby (Penistone)
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Forgot to mention some great flowery language from Coppell again about the dirty team allegations. 'She devils' and 'man eaters'...not quite the right phrases but I can see what he was getting at!
I had never watched that Wright and Bright clip about Noades' comments before, certainly Wright's defence of him was extremely vehement which is interesting. Worth noting here again that the media has displayed certain double standards on this important topic over the years...Peter Schmichael seems to have got away with racially abusing Wright during a game against Arsenal. And of course 'Sir' Alex enabled his racism by accusing Wright of 'playing the race card' after the match. Neither of them were tainted in any way with the racist brush in the same way as Noades was, it followed him around forever afterwards. |
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It was a tough, scrappy match but let's not make out Palace were worse than United. |
I do like that stat that in 4 games v Everton in 1990 and 1991 we caused four of their players to be carried off. No one messed with Palace back then
But funnily enough no mention in that paragraph of the single worst challenge I ever saw when I honestly thought Keown had killed Eric Young (20 Apr 91). Never known an entire crowd drop silent like that. It was eerily quiet when that happened. |
Also note the 2 pts/game average we were accumlating. Had we not been 2 games behind most teams we'd be in 2nd at that rate.
Also note those games in hand were Leeds (H) and Spurs (a) which we eventualy got 6 points from. So when you look at the table, please realise that 'truthfully' we were top. And had that been the case do you think Wrighty would have been so dead set on leaving?? |
Didn't do this game. Couldn't afford big northern trips at this stage so went to Millwall with a mate.
Saw some exiting striker look dangerous in the second half - he had bags of pace. Thought he was far too good for the second tier. I'd eventually be proved right on that. His name? Chris Armstrong. |
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If you read Wrighty's book, he claims he came into training on a Monday, having just scored in our win at Oldham on the previous Weekend, and was immediately called into Coppell's office, where Steve told him they had accepted an offer from Arsenal, for him and he was to drive over to North London, for a medical. Simple as that !!?? I suspect he was keen on a move to the Gunners for some time, especially as his best mate in Football, David Rocastle, played for them. I don't blame him in wanting to join the then Champions, at all but I certainly don't think he was blissfully unaware of Arsenal's interest, in him. |
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