| Tony Buck - a challenge! 11:47 - Feb 2 with 3223 views | Sheffdale |
I have interviewed Tony Buck for TVOS and my write ups will appear in the next two home games to coincide with his Feb 69 signing and his 'Brush with Death' a year later. He sent me this cutting from a magazine of the time and I thought it would be excellent if we could track down 'Jill Gibson from Rochdale" who won £1 for her choice of Tony as her favourite player. It's a bit of a long shot I know! Memories of Tony Buck welcomed here as well of course from the usual suspects.
http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=jJm7XUcEEIyM86Z%2B7zGABoh4l5k2TGxc |  | | |  |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:40 - Feb 2 with 3126 views | Sandyman |
Blimey, have a very distant memory of a Jill Gibson from going to Redbrook at the time Tony Buck was playing for The Dale but I don't recall her being Dale fan.
Recall reading a report about the clash with Reading 'keeper Stephen Death (De'ath?) mentioning that the sound of Tony's leg breaking could be heard around Elm Park. That being said, the official history book reckons TB fell awkwardly on the frozen Reading pitch. |  | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:57 - Feb 2 with 3086 views | mingthemerciless |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:40 - Feb 2 by Sandyman |
Blimey, have a very distant memory of a Jill Gibson from going to Redbrook at the time Tony Buck was playing for The Dale but I don't recall her being Dale fan.
Recall reading a report about the clash with Reading 'keeper Stephen Death (De'ath?) mentioning that the sound of Tony's leg breaking could be heard around Elm Park. That being said, the official history book reckons TB fell awkwardly on the frozen Reading pitch. |
I broke my leg as a young player. The sound was like the sound a dry branch makes when you step on it. I've been present on a couple of other games were a player has broken their leg and you can hear the crack a mile off.
I wasn't at the Reading game but my understanding was Tony collided with the goalkeeper on a tricky pitch. It was a massive blow for the player and the club. The team was flying until that incident and we'd nobody to replace him and no money to go out and buy someone.
Tony wasn't the same player after that. It's not easy getting over that sort of injury, I know I never did. [Post edited 2 Feb 2019 13:02]
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| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:58 - Feb 2 with 3078 views | EllDale |
I think that the directors at the time shut up a lot of people by signing Tony Buck.
£5000 was a lot of money for Dale to pay in those days (it might even have been a record transfer fee?) and it showed ambition.
I seem to remember that his first game was on a Monday night versus Darlington when the snow that had been cleared from the pitch by a team of volunteers was banked down the touchlines. We won 2-0 and set off on a run that led to promotion.
The game against Halifax on the Saturday had been postponed which might have been a good thing because we beat them when the rearranged game took place in April.
Buck looked classy and athletic with that mop of blonde hair.
He wasn't an old fashioned battering ram type of centre forward but had some silky skills.
I remember a few headed goals but he seemed to place them with a flick rather than power them in.
I think his best game was at Bristol Rovers the following season where he scored a hat-trick from memory in a 3-3 draw at the old Eastville ground. | | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 13:06 - Feb 2 with 3064 views | mingthemerciless |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:58 - Feb 2 by EllDale |
I think that the directors at the time shut up a lot of people by signing Tony Buck.
£5000 was a lot of money for Dale to pay in those days (it might even have been a record transfer fee?) and it showed ambition.
I seem to remember that his first game was on a Monday night versus Darlington when the snow that had been cleared from the pitch by a team of volunteers was banked down the touchlines. We won 2-0 and set off on a run that led to promotion.
The game against Halifax on the Saturday had been postponed which might have been a good thing because we beat them when the rearranged game took place in April.
Buck looked classy and athletic with that mop of blonde hair.
He wasn't an old fashioned battering ram type of centre forward but had some silky skills.
I remember a few headed goals but he seemed to place them with a flick rather than power them in.
I think his best game was at Bristol Rovers the following season where he scored a hat-trick from memory in a 3-3 draw at the old Eastville ground. |
I agree , he was more the sort of striker you see in today's football. Not particularly physical. He was quick, good at finding space in the box, ran off the shoulder of the last defenders and relied on accuracy rather than power when he was shooting at goal. He was a decent header of the ball without being brilliant in that respect. | | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 13:09 - Feb 2 with 3040 views | pioneer |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 13:06 - Feb 2 by mingthemerciless |
I agree , he was more the sort of striker you see in today's football. Not particularly physical. He was quick, good at finding space in the box, ran off the shoulder of the last defenders and relied on accuracy rather than power when he was shooting at goal. He was a decent header of the ball without being brilliant in that respect. |
And it was the speed that was missing when he came back after the leg break. Without it he was ordinary, with it he was devastating. | | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 13:38 - Feb 2 with 2970 views | D_Alien |
Great photo of the Hill behind Tony Buck, with the ramp for disability cars to drive down and along the touchline towards the Sandy Lane end
Re Tony: the photo also shows he was an athlete, and probably the most complete centre forward we've ever had at Dale; imo he was better at the stage in his career where he got injured than Dave Cross, Ricky Lambert or Grant Holt. Given their later progress, who knows where Buck might've ended up |  |
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| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 14:13 - Feb 2 with 2896 views | Sheffdale |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:40 - Feb 2 by Sandyman |
Blimey, have a very distant memory of a Jill Gibson from going to Redbrook at the time Tony Buck was playing for The Dale but I don't recall her being Dale fan.
Recall reading a report about the clash with Reading 'keeper Stephen Death (De'ath?) mentioning that the sound of Tony's leg breaking could be heard around Elm Park. That being said, the official history book reckons TB fell awkwardly on the frozen Reading pitch. |
This cutting from a newspaper of the time shows the moment when De'ath came out for the ball just as Buck in his own words. "was attempting a scissor kick". The caption ends, "Their legs crashed together and Buck collapsed in agony".
http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=jJm7XUcEEIwxsBL9VGU%2BpYh4l5k2TGxc | | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 14:55 - Feb 2 with 2837 views | kiwidale |
My memory of Tony Buck was that he was simply a goal machine fast and nimble, play him in and he scored. Nothing flash about him no physical presence like Jenkins or the boundless energy chase till you drop of Mellowdew, the best out and out goal scorer I've seen up to that point and the perfect foil in the best team I ever saw at Dale some of the play was sublime. I suspect that the forward line in old money of Butler, Jenkins, Mellowdew, Buck and Whitehead was the GOAT. | |
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| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 17:39 - Feb 2 with 2749 views | AlexF |
Tony had a great first touch, great finishing, and class about his play, I think the only thing that stopped him moving up the leagues was he was a little tackle shy, both giving and receiving. That, unsurprisingly, increased after the broken leg, together with the pace difference, did for him. Great shame. I disagree that he was better than Dave Cross (my opinion only). I remember as a youngster waiting after a game for the players to appear and Tony, fag in mouth, more than happy to sign a programme, great days and happy memories. Sadly, I dont remember Jill Gibson from Redbrook.
[Post edited 2 Feb 2019 17:44]
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| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 17:46 - Feb 2 with 2732 views | Bobbyjoe |
Hat-trick in the 3-3 at Eastville, and those strange flowerbeds behind the nets! | | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 12:25 - Feb 3 with 2414 views | Sheffdale |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 17:39 - Feb 2 by AlexF |
Tony had a great first touch, great finishing, and class about his play, I think the only thing that stopped him moving up the leagues was he was a little tackle shy, both giving and receiving. That, unsurprisingly, increased after the broken leg, together with the pace difference, did for him. Great shame. I disagree that he was better than Dave Cross (my opinion only). I remember as a youngster waiting after a game for the players to appear and Tony, fag in mouth, more than happy to sign a programme, great days and happy memories. Sadly, I dont remember Jill Gibson from Redbrook.
[Post edited 2 Feb 2019 17:44]
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Of course it might be a different Jill Gibson. Even if it was the Redbrook girl - and she wasn't known as a Dale fan, she might have been a budding journalist and keen, dare I say, to make a fast buck by writing to the magazine. The hunt for Jill continues... | | | |
| Tony Buck - a challenge! on 07:47 - Feb 4 with 2187 views | EllDale |
I seem to remember a Jill from Redbrook who went to the Chambers on a Saturday night around this time. My mate fancied her mate etc.
She went to watch the Dale with her dad, I think that they used to stand in the Paddock.
Whether or not it's the same lass is another matter of course. | | | |
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