I’ve left this until the day before City’s visit to top of the table Bournemouth because of the very real possibility that Covid would cause a third successive postponement for us. However, with Steve Morison confirming yesterday that the playing staff are now free of the virus and have been back in training since Monday, it would appear that, if the game is cancelled, it will be because of an outbreak in the home team’s camp.
So, it looks like we’ll be playing again after a break of almost three weeks and therefore here’s the usual quiz on upcoming opponents with questions dating back to the sixties – I’ll post the answers on Friday.
60s. Son of an FA Cup Final winning father, this defender began his career close to his birthplace as he scored goals at a healthy rate in his less than twenty matches for a team with a Cromwellian connection. He then spent two years with birds associated with this time of year without seeing any first team action, before moving on to Bournemouth where he scored just the once in nearly two hundred appearances spread over nine years, can you name him?
70s. This fleet footed Londoner joined what I would guess was the team closest to his birthplace and, before breaking into the first team there, had been part of an England side which won a UEFA age group Championship. Eventually becoming a regular in the first team, he moved to Bournemouth in the early seventies after playing nearly one hundred and fifty matches in the top flight for his first club. He clocked up just over a hundred games by the seaside, but played just once for the club he returned to the capital to sign for in 1976 and, subsequently, spent a short period flitting between Seattle and Leamington to play his football! There was one more appearance for Bournemouth (against City as it turned out) some six years after he first left them for this man who lost his sense of smell not from Covid, but as a result of a serious car accident he was involved in just over thirty years ago, but who is he?
80s. The real other Bob Wilson would have had a degree of sympathy for this Liverpudlian midfielder, who started out with Liverpool but never played a game for them, who is largely forgotten now. He had a decent career though, with a loan spell in Wales being followed by a short spell as a china maker. He played most games for Bournemouth and was part of one of the most memorable days in the club’s history, while also winning a cup with them. After that he played in a different stripy colour combination in Yorkshire and wandered at a brisk pace. It was while he was doing this that he scored a promotion clinching goal shortly after his team had been beaten in a top of the table clash at Ninian Park that went a long way towards ensuring that we’d be going up as well. A couple of years later, he sustained the broken leg which brought about his retirement after a career which had, more or less, lasted the length of this decade – can you name him?
90s. Recently arrived grifter turns out against City during this decade?
00s. What an awful supper stench eh! (7,7)
10s. This UK born international played for Bournemouth against us during this decade. His first and second names both consist of five letters. Six of the ten letters in his name are vowels and the letter n features three times, who is he?
20s. Chef from a county town?
Answers
60s. Cardiff born Tony Nelson’s father Jimmy was a member of the City teams which played in the 1925 and 1927 FA Cup Finals and his son began his career with the Ironsides of Newport County in 1951, scoring sic times in his nineteen appearances for them without becoming a regular during his three years at Somerton Park. Nelson signed for Bristol City, but moved on to Bournemouth in 1956 having not played a game for the wurzels – he retired from the game in 1965 having made one hundred and ninety four league appearances for the Cherries.
70s. Harry Redknapp was born in Poplar and broke into West Ham’s team in 1965 as an eighteen year old and he was a regular choice on the right wing for them until 1972 when he signed for Bournemouith. Redknapp played one game for Brentford before time in America with Seattle Sounders and Phoenix Fire was broken up by a few matches played for AP Leamington. Harry’s first job in his management career came when he was appointed assistant to manager David Webb at Bournemouth in 1982 and he played one more game for them during this time.
80s. Robbie Savage was loaned to Wrexham from Liverpool and signed for Stoke when he was released from his contract at Anfield. However, it was at Bournemouth where he first really made an impact as he was part of the side which beat Manchester United in the 1984 FA Cup, while he was also in their team which won the first ever Associate Members Cup. After a short spell with Bradford, Savage signed for Bolton and was in the team beaten 1-0 at Ninian Park in April 1988 in a promotion six pointer, but he scored the goal which ensured that Bolton would go up a few weeks later.
90s.Justin Skinner was in the Bournemouth team beaten 2-1 at Ninian Park in April 1994.
00s. Stephen Purches.
10s. Eunan O’Kane was in the Bournemouth team which beat us 3-0 at Cardiff City Stadium in a League Cup game in September 2014.
20s. Lewis (Lewes, pronounced Lewis, is the county town of Sussex) Cook.
