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A friend has drawn my attention to this excellent piece from Dundalk FC on the 'superstars' of English & Scottish football who came to Ireland to play (usually very briefly) in the LoI at the end of their careers, mainly in the '70s but also into the '80s and '90s... Best, Charlton, Tambling, Dixie Dean, Banks, Hurst, Brooking, Lorimer, McDermott, Channon, etc, etc.
http://www.dundalkfc.com/history/iri...ue-of-ireland/
I didn't know Venables played for Pats. If I had I wouldn't have written all that stuff about him here after Stan was fired :)
Does Ray Hankin count?
Whether or not they all fit the "superstars" bill, I'm not sure, but England internationals Ernie Taylor, Alan Sunderland, Luther Blissett and Dennis Tueart all had spells at Derry. Scotland's Jimmy Delaney also played for Derry, as did John Mackenzie. I believe José Mukendi was also a Zaire international whilst Derek Philips was capped by Trinidad & Tobago.
Sam Allardyce at Limerick. Steve Archibald at Home Farm. Not exactly superstars, but big enough names in their day.
Kenny Clements had a brief and disastrous spell as Limerick player-manager too.
The original supersub David Fairclough made a brief appearance in a Finn Harps shirt at the end of his career.
Few other names mentioned in this thread from a few years back.
http://foot.ie/threads/133339-Englan...gue-of-Ireland
Bobby Collins as well, who passed away a few days ago. His debut for Shamrock Rovers against Cork Celtic in Milltown in November 1973 was built up as Collins v Tambling in midfield, as Bobby Tambling was with Cork at the time.
Can't quite remember the journalist who wrote a piece about him (if I was to guess I'd say it was Dave Kelly) but he approached him at a pre-season frinedly in DublinQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
"Terry can I have a quick word about playing for St Patrick's Athletic"
"You can have two; twice & terrible"
that's brilliantQuote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Raich Carter played with Cork Athletic in 1953. Jimmy Delaney also played with them in 1956. Charlie Tully was player manager with Cork Hibs in 1960 - he also guested for Limerick in a friendly.
Did he score?Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
He did indeed.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal...b-came-to-town
He looks as if he's yawning :) Quite a small keeper beside him and who is the black player the other side of him? There wouldn't have been too many black players in the league in those days.Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
Great article!Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
Not quite anything directly to do with the thread topic.
Just in case it was missed, there is some footage up on RTE archives on Santos v Bohs/Drums X1 Dalymount 1972,
notable for quality sideburns and a spectacular dive by Santos' nr 10 (on 75secs), who otherwise looked a handy player.
I was at that game. Might even have the programme for it some place.
Xano, obviously.
An article on Bobby Charlton's stint with Waterford.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/...united-ireland
I had forgotten that one of my boyhood heroes, Mick Leech, had played for Waterford. He had scored for fun for Rovers prior to playing for the Blues.
I saw Bobby Tambling on Football Focus on Saturday. Still lives in Ireland. Looking at Wikipedia I see he finished his football career at Cork Alberts - one of the plethora of Cork teams who played in the LoI over the past 30 years. Like Finn Harps they made their league debut against the Hoops.
if my memory serves me right and I stand corrected I think he was Cork Citys first ever boss!Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
My brother was born in the day Cork Celtic won the league in 1974. My Cork-born father had travelled down from his home in Dublin to watch the game, only to find out that his wife had gone into labour, so he (perhaps a little reluctantly) had to travel back to Dublin straight away.
He was on the train when he heard that Cork Celtic had won the league, and went straight to the dining car and ordered 11 whiskeys, one for each player. Later he barrelled his way into the hospital ward and insisted that the newborn boy be named after one of those players, and my mother chose the name Robert after Bobby Tambling.
OK, definitely NOT a "superstar" as per the title, but I hope this is still a suitable thread to introduce Willie Penman, who played for Dundalk in 1973/74.
Penman was a Scot who played 3 league games as a youngster for Glasgow Rangers, before moving to England, where he played for Newcastle U, Swindon T and Walsall, prior to joining Dundalk. It seems certain that he was persuaded to sign for DFC by their newly appointed Player-Manager, John Smith, who had been his teammate at Walsall.
Penman looks to have only played one season at Oriel, before joining Seattle Sounders, though he did feature in the DFC team which won the Leinster Senior Cup when they beat Bohs 1-0 at Dalymount on 22 March 1974:
https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com...07&sk=6F8E25F7
Anyhow, all pretty unremarkable stuff, except for one thing. At the same time as he was playing for DFC, he was also player-manager at Cheltenham Town, then in the Southern League!
"Scotsman Willie Penman was announced as the team's new player/manager [for season 1973/74], but it soon became apparent that he also had a playing contract with Dundalk in Ireland.
That meant he failed to make any appearances on the pitch for Cheltenham and he also had to miss several of their games entirely." https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.u...ter-fa-7273315
I suspect he chose DFC over CTFC because he was earning more at Oriel, in cash, not least since he probably wasn't overly-familiar with the Revenue Commissioners, nor they with him!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie...,_born_1939%29