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When you look back at the Stan clips you realise what an elegant and beautifully balanced player Francis was alongside him. I think we forget just how good Francis was as well.
Gerry was probably the best midfielder in European football for about 3 seasons when we had that team and those players, and he was England captain. I'm not embarrassed to repeat what so many have said - Stan's and Gerry's relationship and togetherness on the pitch was indeed telepathic. Pity that Gerry's back did not hold up, and eventually curtailed his brilliant career.
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 16:03 - Mar 7 with 3612 views
Wonderful to see Dave Thomas out there too. In recalling what great players Stan and Gerry were, Thomas flying down the wing on a quagmire of a pitch kicking something that weighed heavier than a medicine ball was also a thing of beauty.
'Always In Motion' by John Honney available on amazon.co.uk
Nous sommes L’occitane Rs!
they could really do with fixing the speakers in the lower loft, just crackling, feedback and cutting out during the Stan video before the game, can never hear the half time thing either although was in the bar last night so missed it
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 16:14 - Mar 7 with 3517 views
I tuned in Saturday morning and there was these fanboys holding up picture cards of, I’m assuming, Premier League players. Do these people actually go to football?
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 16:34 - Mar 7 with 3355 views
Yes the speakers in upper loft were awful. I also felt that the Ellerslie Bowles name placards would have been better in blue background with Bowles name in white or the other way round, could not see the red very well, but it might just have been the angle from the upper loft.
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 17:00 - Mar 7 with 3209 views
Same in East Paddock - couldn't understand a thing. The CEO was standing in front of us during the before match parade/applause. He must've been thinking wtf.
Don’t worry we have Clinton Morrison and Sue Smith to fill that void
And Bowles is onside, Swinburne has come rushing out of his goal , what can Bowles do here , onto the left foot no, on to the right foot
That’s there that’s two, and that’s Bowles
Brian Moore
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 18:57 - Mar 7 with 2914 views
I was at the home game where Gerry picked up his back injury. From my dodgy memory it was 1977. He flicked the ball over Arsenal defender Willie Young's head and volleyed the ball in to the net, a wonderful Gazza v Scotland type goal.
As he was striking the ball Young simply threw himself at Gerry who went down immediately and after some treatment went off. Gerry was out for weeks and when he came back he was not the same player. He never fully recovered from that injury and didn't play for England again.
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 19:22 - Mar 7 with 2812 views
Lee Hoos “ Is that Curry’s? I’d like to make an enquiry about 2 supplementary auxiliary speakers to go with my stadium hi fi system.Apro po achieving surround sound.” pic.twitter.com/AfYqOJd2sV
I’ve unsuccessfully tried to find some more details on Gerry’s back injury because I remember from the time that Ranger’s drop in form after the brilliant 1975-76 season coincided with Gerry not being available for selection. I’ve always thought that Gerry was the most important player in 1975-76 and felt that if he hadn’t been injured we would have been a really top club, challenging for the title, for several more seasons.
All I can see is that Gerry made 11 League appearances in 76-77 but the Arsenal game at home (12 March 1977 when, as you say, he scored) was the 25th league game of the season – so something seems to have happened to him well before that match. He also only starts being listed as a goal-scorer around February/March 1977 suggesting he was making a comeback just before the Arsenal game.
I have a very vague recollection that he injured his back in a pre-season game in the summer of 1976, landing on his back on a hard pitch somewhere or other – but I may well be wrong. Someone out there must know?
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 20:34 - Mar 7 with 2504 views
I'm pretty sure that Gerry Francis' back problems stemmed from a freak accident at home. After parking his car on the driveway, he got out to close the gates behind him. His car rolled back (presumably he didn't put the handbrake on) and he ended up trapped between the car and the gates.
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Stan's team mates that were in attendance last night... on 02:58 - Mar 8 with 2180 views
I think he was ok fitness wise throughout the 75/76 season, and of course played brilliantly, but missed the start of the 76/77 season and many games that season. He'd think his back was getting better but then the problem recurred and he never got back to that very high level he'd been at for us or for England. This is from memory. Will research it I have time.
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