Cigarfingers
Well-Known Member
Speedie couldn't half finish! How good was he in the air too! Hope for Chaplin yet!
Mind you David Smith looks a world beater on some of these goals, leaves the defenders looking like right muppets!!!
How we miss someone like this (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Cigarfingers
- Start date
Speedie couldn't half finish! How good was he in the air too! Hope for Chaplin yet!
Mind you David Smith looks a world beater on some of these goals, leaves the defenders looking like right muppets!!!
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
few things, first, thanks for posting, cracking compilation.
Secondly, pity it didn't contain his debut goal v Spurs.
Thirdly, forgot how good David Smith could be on his day.
Lastly, that hat trick against Middlesboro and we still didn't fuckin' win!!
rob9872
Well-Known Member
Wingers can look great or bad depending on the quality of what they have to aim at in the middle and there weren't many better than Speedo, but equally I do think time has been favourable to the likes of David Smith. I remember him getting pelters and at the time I thought deservedly so, but when you see quality like that, albeit in glimpses, but bearing in mind that was the top division too, then compare against some of the rubbish served up to us since, I think perhaps simply an era in which we were spoilt.
Johnnythespider
Well-Known Member
Speedie really was a class player, great in the air for a little fella, 2 good feet and a nasty piece of work when needed. Likr Rob said, we were spoiled back then.
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
I also gave him pelters but what I have since found out is that Sillett loved Downes and he put Smith under strict instruction not to leave him exposed.
When you see how he played it's pretty obvious that that was the case with hindsight.
JimmyHillsbeard
Well-Known Member
How many times? David Smith looks good on highlights reels because all of the crosses, tricks and shots in the footage result in goals. In reality he spent 90% of his time at city failing to beat his man, sending over hopeless balls to no-one in particular and being bullied by big standard full backs.
MusicDating
Euro 2016 Prediction League Champion!!
Calista
Well-Known Member
Calista
Well-Known Member
Having been to home games religiously throught the 70s and 80s, it's still depressing to be reminded (on a couple of the clips) that there were sometimes so many empty seats. Given the difference in qualiy on offer, it makes our current attendances look pretty decent.
Was never a massive fan of Speedie tbh, but not sure why when I see some of those chipped finishes.
Was never a massive fan of Speedie tbh, but not sure why when I see some of those chipped finishes.
LilleSkyBlue
Well-Known Member
There's a school of thought that the small percentage of great stuff that leads to goals is all you can ask for from a tricky winger. Almost no one beats his man 7 or 8 times out of 10. Messi, maybe.
Plus, couldn't you say about almost any outfield player that apart from the good things they do, they are ordinary?
Mind, I'm a sucker for a flying winger. Waddle too, ooh, Laurent Delorge, ooh.
I too wasn’t a massive Speedie fan but loved his skills couldn’t deny that just didn’t think he was right for the type of team we had at the time. Bought as a strike partner for big Cyrille, think I’m right but I don’t think the partnership of Regis/Houchen ever played together again after the cup-final, admittedly it was surprisingly successful, but it worked. Having said that Speedie was a class act.
skybluesam66
Well-Known Member
We played at Old Trafford in front of less than 30,000 that season (Bannister 1-0) . It wasnt a great time for attendances
Hooliganism, Cages, Post Heysel/Bradford and just before Hillsborough
Was at that game sat in their main stand amongst the United fans they knew we were Cov bit leery at first but were okay, at half-time was in the bar area talking to some Mancs and to a man were desperate to see Alex Ferguson sacked.
SkyBlueScottie
Well-Known Member
Good player, I thought I was the only one who didn't really take to him.
DannyThomas_1981
Well-Known Member
I agree with all of this. Regis and Speedie never quite worked. Add in the fact that Speedie for all his brilliance was very disruptive in the dressing room. From an interview I heard a few weeks back, I don't think that Sillett would have signed him in hindsight.
Going to be a controversial view but the landmark signings of Speedie and then much later McAllister never quite paid off for me.
Terry_dactyl
Well-Known Member
Im genuinely surprised that people weren’t keen on speedie. I think he is arguably the best player we’ve had since I’ve been going up the city. Although I wasn’t as gutted when he left as I was when Gallacher and Dublin were sold.
I remember the people near us used to refer to him as ‘god’.
I remember the people near us used to refer to him as ‘god’.
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
the reason McAllister never really worked for me was because we were far too static as a side for his first couple of seasons. Once we got Keano and the Morocans we were far more mobile, we also had other players who could use the ball so we weren't giving it to him all the time.
As for Speedie, I loved him when he was here!
Legia Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
I don't buy into this idea that Speedie was a bad buy for us. For much of his time with us we were top half to mid table and were never close to being relegated as I remember. The flowery reminiscence of the Houchen/ Regis partnership is also a bit of a fallacy. Yes they worked together like a dream in our cup run, but that same season Houchen struggled for goals in the league, and I don't see that a team with Houchen in it instead of Speedie would have made us stronger. What would have done were additional signings to Speedie - Sillett tried to sign Denis Wise, Ian Crook & Ian Dawes, the latter being a left back who would have covered the one obvious weakness in our team at that time and would have strengthened us significantly.
On the David Smith thing I think the criticism he got from our fans when things didn't come off ended up affecting his confidence, and while its true highlights can be misleading, it should be remembered he was doing this stuff at the top level, and you would struggle to put a similar highlights package from our team this season, where our delivery from wide is pretty poor. I thought he got a raw deal from us, and as a young lad & a flair player we should have got behind him & encouraged him to take risks, while accepting that he was going to get tackled & lose possession at times. By the end of his time with us, he was a shell of the player that had first burst onto the scene for us.
On the David Smith thing I think the criticism he got from our fans when things didn't come off ended up affecting his confidence, and while its true highlights can be misleading, it should be remembered he was doing this stuff at the top level, and you would struggle to put a similar highlights package from our team this season, where our delivery from wide is pretty poor. I thought he got a raw deal from us, and as a young lad & a flair player we should have got behind him & encouraged him to take risks, while accepting that he was going to get tackled & lose possession at times. By the end of his time with us, he was a shell of the player that had first burst onto the scene for us.
Irish Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Speedie was never one of my favourite players, perhaps felt he was playing more for himself than the team. I liked David Smith, although he was frustratingly inconsistent.
oscillatewildly
Well-Known Member
I was at that game and the preceding season's fixture to mark 30 yrs since the Munich disaster (weeks after, Utd supporters were still writing in to the telegraph/pink to express gratitude at how City fans had conducted themselves during the minutes silence.)
Getting back to the 1989 Bannister 1-0 game to complete a league double over them - I'm sure the attendance was well in excess of 30,000 but still well short of OT's capacity.
Proof, that when the chips are down, you can't rely on the glory hunting season ticket holders from Devon and Kent. (insert tongue in cheek emoticon)
Spurs 'City Away Kit' Kit
Well-Known Member
I think I heard the same interview, wasn't the gist of it the fact that Sillett basically blew the entire transfer budget on Speedie when he should have strengthened the team in other areas?
Johhny Blue
Well-Known Member
Would you like chips with that?
DannyThomas_1981
Well-Known Member
I heard the interview differently i.e. great player but really disrupted the dressing room and was basically unmanageable. JS seemed to basically regret the signing from the viewpoint of the disruption caused to the team.
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
The game has changed, the onus on wingers was massive then.
usskyblue
Well-Known Member
This.
The old days were all about whose 4-4-2 could beat the shit out of yours.
The modern game is in the fucking toilet.
Cathedral2Spare
New Member
Being born in 1983 I don't remember too much of Speedie but I do remember being gutted as a kid also when Gallagher was sold. However, the Wegerle/Quinn strike force that followed was part of my formative years as a city fan. Nostalgia is a weird thing as it often over sentimentalises things but going to get The Pink after another great performance by the Wegerle/Quinn partnership (and later Ndlovu as well) makes me smile right now.
Terry_dactyl
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I used to get sent down the road for The Pink.
Tbh though I can’t really remember great things about wegerle’s time with us...apart from him single handedly destroying Swindon in 1-1 draw that felt like a defeat.
Ndlovu was so exciting though. I remember walking to school and talking with my mates about Bobby Robson saying if he could have any two wingers play for England he’d pick Giggs and Ndlovu!
oscillatewildly
Well-Known Member
I hold the same view concerning Wegerle - I used to cringe when that chant comparing him to Cantona would erupt.
That Swindon game tho, how we didn't win by a margin of double figures is beyond me. As I recall, they equalised deep into stoppage time with their only attempt on goal.
Andy Mutch?
Terry_dactyl
Well-Known Member
Jan Age Fjortoft?
oscillatewildly
Well-Known Member
Gonna have to check it but I'm sure he got two or even a hat-trick in the away fixture that season.
oscillatewildly
Well-Known Member
Sorry, but I'm claiming a double!
Don't remember Julian Darby's goal for us tho, and I was there.
Don't remember Julian Darby's goal for us tho, and I was there.
Terry_dactyl
Well-Known Member
Bang on the money!
I thought I remembered that game well but was chatting about it the other day and was told it was a draw...I thought we’d lost! We didn’t discuss the scorer.
The thing I do remember was sitting in the skyblue terrace and getting a good view of the Swindon fans. They bought about 4 rows of skinheads with them. At one point a massive copper picked the most vocal of them out and gave him a bollocking.
In hindsight I should’ve probably been watch Andy Mutch more closely!