How Did Newcastle’s Previous Record Signings Compare to Miguel Almiron?

35 Responses

1. Watching the game yesterday, I had the thought that maybe, in hindsight, the real advantage of spending over £20 million on Almiron hasn’t been the play of Almiron himself so far, but that it has transformed one of our existing players, Perez, into a £20 million player. I don’t just mean Perez’s hat-trick yesterday, but his performances ever since Almiron joined the club, which have improved markedly. I’m not necessarily knocking his performances before, after all he was only a £1.5 million signing from a second level Spanish club and bearing that in mind, the lad has done well. My thoughts were subsequently echoed by one of the pundits on ‘MotD’ yesterday evening.

   Getting back to Almiron, he has shown bags of energy and running and has made a contribution, but he hasn’t scored any goals or provided any assists yet, which Perez certainly has since Almiron arrived.

   Chuck, getting back to your other points on the other page, I don’t know why you used the Glazers as an example of intelligent spending, if you want to blow the trumpet of your fellow Yanks, I’d pick Henry if I were you. Credit where credit is due, he’s done an excellent job at Liverpool so far.

2. Worky

   Yes you have a point in regard to the Glazers, but I believe (having just watched the Man. U. vs Everton game) that it is a temporary situation, with the vast amount of ready cash available to the club,

   I don’t want to appear to be a harbinger of doom for the club, but I don’t believe the present top level management there are up to snuff and good management is essential. .

   I’m sure Woodward is re-considering if his present manager is up to the job and it’s obvious that changes to the side are badly needed, it’s just that this club has been such a milk cow for the Glazer family, that they have no choice but to reinvest.

   And we only have to compare most EPL sides to realize that the money invested in the club reflects directly to the clubs success.

3. You’re worried about the top level management at Man U now, Chuck? Maybe they should poach Lee Charnley? It’s been a bit like the England team there, a place where top managers go to ruin their CV. It was Sven and Capello with England, or Van Gaal and Mourinho with Manchester United. Eventually they finally both give up on the big name thing and bring in Gareth Southgate and the ‘Baby Faced Assassin’ and strangely, things start to get better.

4. No actually i’m not the least concerned whether M.U.are relegated or not, simply stating the present difference between clubs in the EPL.

   When they took over as the winningest side following Liverpool’s demise, as league leaders, back in the day,
   the league was still open to a number of clubs winning the title .
   (For instance Keegan’s NUFC) something not expected to-day
   for the simple reason it’s now all about money, you know that !

   And yes one could use the example of Leicester to disprove that, but we all recognize that as an aberration, that happens sometimes.

   Plus the fact concerning The Glazer family who I believe bought the club for around a thousand million and who have made it into a cash cow for some of their other failing business’ and family needs., say what you like about M.U.
   but their worldwide earnings are enormous still.

   Clubs with super rich owners are and will continue to be the
   elite of the football world, with the occasional aberration taking place, such as Leicester winning the EPL .

   Even sides like Liverpool, with their US owners find it difficult to compete, even though they like M.U.earn big bucks (worldwide income) from their former success as both champions and European cup winners.

   And I believe Ashley has the kernel of successful policy
   in making the Toon into a big name issue with his idea of becoming a big earner in in Asia, which in turn could see the club possibly become a very viable Franchise, look at the success of clubs, like Spurs for instance, with their policies in the last decade or less, champions league, top six regular and a brand new stadium, all based on good upper managements efforts.

   As for England and it’s poisoned chalice role of manager, I recall a time when the side was chosen by a group of selectors and the manager usually resulted in who looked the best in a blazer and tie, not who was the most successful manager , such as Brian Clough, I mean who did Walter F****ng Winterbotam ever coach other than England and why ?

   Just a bit of reality and experience in top management not a policy that has consistently failed for the last decade, is badly needed, we already have enough control freaks at the club.

5. Winningest? Chuck, you Yanks really should be locked up for what you’ve done to the world’s finest language, the language of Shakespeare! On the football though, it was about money in the days of Keegan’s entertainers as well, it’s just that it’s about considerably more money today.

   I don’t know, as you say, there was a time when the League when won with boring regularity by Paisley’s Liverpool, then Ferguson’s Manchester United took over, but don’t you undermine your own argument? some might say that it is more open now than it was back then with the two red teams. It isn’t just about how rich the owner is, after all, according to how these things are worked out, Ashley is slightly richer than John Henry on paper, though Henry is a professional sports club boss, not a rag trader, and of course, with typical Geordie luck, Ashley is the world’s tightest billionaire.

   As for Winterbottom, he was before my time, but he was an RAF war hero. From what I have read about him, his teams seemed to suffer from ‘premature ejaculation’ in that they would reach their climax just before rather than during a major competition. His England record in world cups was much the same as today, ie quarter final fodder. However, he was a huge figure in coaching through his other responsibility. As the FA’s Director of coaching he nurtured a whole generation of top English managers such as Bobby Robson, Vic ‘total football’ Buckingham, Bill ‘push and run’ Nicholson (Spurs’ greatest manager), Ron Greenwood, Dave Sexton, Malcolm Allison etc…

6. Worky

   How does a yank with only one point one billion, manage to
   become owner of the best or one of the best sides in the EPL
   a guy who bought an ageing baseball stadium that holds only around thirty six or so thousand but is the one stadium that continues to cater to full houses because it is on so many bucket lists, not unlike Wrigley field in Chicago.

   O course the club earn much more from sales outside the UK, having won more trophies than most, so in fact it’s obvious that with that extra income it may be easier to have a more success, though I personally believe it’s a case of having an excellent upper management system.

   Same thing with Spurs, a fairly good season, no big names brought in, but also the proud owners of an excellent new stadium, among others who have either extended or rebuilt
   their arenas, management having worked around money matters, by renting and refraining from big money purchases .

   Could it be that Ashley just doesn’t understand all there is to know about the business, being Pro. football is a business like any other, with success coming from having a winning side.
   Plus the fact there was obviously a lack of knowledge which was understandable, when you hire such people as Pardew and his second in command the self proclaimed best manager in the EPL, to be replaced by others who in
   perspective make one cringe.

   And of course here he has the opportunity to dump the whole thing into Benitez lap and concentrate on his real business, rebuild the side, take advantage of a new youth system now that jobs for the boy’s is over.

   I believe Benitez has both the desire and ability to run the club in a way no one has since the beginning of the present regime and it would be Ashley’s biggest mistake yet if he doesn’t reach a deal that both can live with.

   A goodwill gesture by sending the club to Asia apart from being a drag for the players could help, but a more successful side would do better, in returning tat from the satanic mills of Asia to sell to the locals, after all this is supposed to be the Asian century innit ?

7. As far as England managers are concerned, how many are now working in both of the top leagues to-day, the job it’s self has become a poisoned chalice being it exposes the general lack of tactical knowledge.

   It took a hammering by the Hungarians in the mid fifties to make people realize that England had retrogressed by isolating themselves from the general advances to the game and it’s been a game of catchup since, with most top EPL sides boasting of some of the worlds best young managers and with a golden opportunity to secure Rafa on a long -term basis, it’s an opportunity that Ashley should not turn his nose at, sure there are plenty of cheap’o
   managers (we have had some already) and don’t want any more thank you !

   But don’t forget this man Benitez is well respected and as good a manager as is available for a club such as NUFC
   don’t let this opportunity pass, as it will once again result in Bedsheets and parades followed by a lack of attendance and apathy.

   Where NUFC will become the anti thesis of what’s needed from a visiting club to some of the Asian capitals.

8. Chuck, if you meant John Henry there, he’s worth more than that, though I don’t really trust these figures they come out with as there is always some guesswork in there. As I said though, Henry is a sports club owner, not a rag trader. We’ve been through the Ashley knows f-all about the football business and would be better leaving it to someone who does and we are in agreement about it.

   They say that people in the far east like teams who play in red as red is seen as lucky over there, but that doesn’t seem to bother huge teams who don’t play in red such as Real Madrid. I haven’t been to China but I have been to India and the S.E. Asian peninsula. When I told the locals I was a Newcastle United fan, the first thing they would say was ‘Ahhh! Aran Shearer!’. As we were English, we were seen as some kind of Premier League Gurus so they would ask us to predict the results of upcoming Premier League games for their bets. Poor as they are, they love a gamble. The truth was that they probably knew more than us and we felt the weight of responsibility on our shoulders in countries where the average income is measured in hundreds rather than tens of thousands but I digress. Anyway, I think that the superstar names definitely have an impact over there, though I don’t think Ashley is gannin’ to buy us Mohammed Salah or Neymar any time soon!

   The Hungarians made a big step forward in football, and England weren’t the only team they made look foolish. The Dutch made another big step forward decades later but neither won the World Cup due to the same nemesis, the Germans.

9. Hmmm ! lousy game against Brighton, hell we dominated what appeared to be a side about ready to considering surrender , only to find a totally different side (whatever it was that Hughton said @ half time) in the second period.

   However apparently we are safe (With a goal of 15th. place like we can’t do better), listen the days of owner fans confrontation are not necessarily over, as a matter of fact the fans are angry, that by listening to your empty promises over a decade, nothing has really changed.

   And when you don’t understand the best hire you ever made has a plan and a schedule, plus a lot more to offer this club, as most promising young continentals, care only about instantaneous success, one understands that Rafa, has taken a likening to the Newcastle fans and what he sees as support, a state of the art Broadcasting system, plus unequaled fan and stadium support.

   Soh ! for the sake of bringing a more successful side to East Asia, (one well within the top ten) what’s the point (I mean it’s not as if we wear a red strip or anything considered lucky) that could help sales there, but a bit of success always helps and impresses.

   Can you imagine the problems that Rafa. will have (course that’s considering he stay’s) we gotta get rid of half the team and the rest want out, ah well !

   The thing is where would one find a more dotting bunch of fans, who show up so regularly and have such passion for the side, has our dear owner no sense of how many lives he is messing with and just sell the club to someone who cares, or at least give the side support for a attempt that is not restricted to either fighting the drop or No 15# in the league.

10. Chuck, it was the same thing we’ve been discussing, we completely dominated a Brighton who weren’t all there for the first half but we only scored one goal thanks to a player who is in a remarkable spell of form at the moment. If he wasn’t we might have lost 0-1 again.

    I must admit that you got me, Chuck. I can defend the delightfully named Walter Winterbottom, but I can’t really muster up much of a defence of current English managers overall. Outside the English league there are lots of Robbie Fowlers, John Carvers and Peter Reids plying their trade in places no-one has heard of, but no Pep Guardiolas, alas. Maybe we need another Winterbottom to mould the Bobby Robsons, Bill Nicholsons and Vic Buckinghams of the future?

    For all their stadium improvements and world class squads they’ve built up, Liverpool and Spurs still haven’t won any major trophies yet, just finals, though Liverpool were robbed of the biggest one of all when Sergio Ramos deliberately took out Liverpool’s best player in the early stages of the Champions League final. Until they do they will be like Newcastle United in the 90s / 00s, nearly men who were great to watch but kept stumbling at the final hurdle.

11. Well here we go with politics firmly stuck up a cul-de-sac and football heading into its summer silly season. This all made worse at NUFC by its “Dickensian” tat owner, most probably selling the better players and replacing them with unknowns from some European third division. I could go on at length about Ashley trying to run a football club in the same way as his tat empire, but its all been said before. Even so there are many still hanging on to the forlorn hope he will change “good luck with that”. Ah well here go’s with the endless list of names “linked with” being “watched” etc and if things look bad a fictitious buyer will appear to quickly disappear once things have quieted down.
    I suppose we could discuss referee’s officials etc, but no that would only boil my you know what! Don’t forget to keep your sharp knife drawer safely locked!

12. Nutmag, if we beat Fulham and Crystal Palace beat Bournemouth we could finish 13th on goal difference, if we finished 10th and now 13th, that will be good going for Ashley. Having written that, even though we lost to Liverpool the other week, we put up a better resistance than Barcelona did.

    You mention Dickens but you obviously don’t beleive in the message of “A Christmas Carol”, that ‘Ebenezer Scrooge’ can be reformed, which is understandable I suppose.

13. Worky Yes but unlike good old Ebenezer Ashley has only had the visit of ‘The ghost of 2008 and ‘Ghost of 2016’. What he really needs is the ‘Ghost of the empty stadium’ but there again Ebenezer has nothing on this B*****D. He can quite easily fend off the fans meagre efforts. Don’t expect any turkey’s for xmas only the ones that maybe transferred in to play next season. We’ve got this ‘Scrooge’ for sometime yet I’m afraid.

14. Well it’s certainly been a good week for English clubs in European football, all English teams in both European finals, is must be a first? I can’t think of any country that has done that before. It will be good for the Premier League keeping their four automatic Champions League places anyway.

    Nutmag, are you still doing the painting?

15. Sorry Worky been off line with a faulty land line. Yes still doing a bit, not painting to sell anymore. Still a member of the Leamington Studio Artists but not taking part in Warwick open Studios or Art in the Park this year. Really enjoying painting what I want rather than what others want or what is commercial. No pressure and working to the clock, had enough of that as a chef everything was based on timing. My main body of work now is North Eastern Industrial coal mining, ship building etc back to my roots as I’m from the home of the Pitman Artists. Just enjoying my old age but not neglecting my fitness still managing forty to fifty miles cycling a week twenty of those miles are what I call my “Gut Buster” run. The same amount of miles to SJP I used to cycle to the toon when I was a young ‘un back in the day.
    Doubt I would cross the road now. “Thanks Ashley”

16. Not good at links and such but if you go on the Leamington Studio Artists web page and then click on art space then issue 48 you’ll see one of mine on page 98.

17. Very nice Nutmag. I had a (second) cousin who lived in Ashington, although I’ve seen neither the town nor the cousin since the 70s.

    As it happens an artist moved into a flat upstairs from me on Monday. It seems he mainly paints seascapes: http://johnabrahamartist.co.uk

    Alas I’m bereft of artistic talents although quite a few members of my mother’s family dabbled. I don’t have much of an eye for that sort of thing. I can’t even see what colours would work on my walls, thus they remain mainly magnolia.

18. Ahh, at last I get to see one of your paintings, Nutmag! I thought you meant Newcastle ‘Lemington’ at first, then I thought it must have been gentrified if they had an art club there! I nearly had my car nicked in Lemington once but my mate shot the little bugger in the arse with an air rifle he had ready because it happened so often back in those days.

    Figure painting is totally my field. I really like the painting, I like the central figures, I like the lighting on the woman and the way you can feel the weight on her supporting leg. Does that mean you’ve been to Buenos Aires?

    Cycling always hurts my backside but I do do quite alot of walking. There’s an ex railway track runs down the side of my place which is now a very long, thin nature reserve which is part of the ‘London Ring’ that goes right around central London. It’s amazing how many trains and stations they had in the old days before Beeching moved in. I also remember seeing tank traps down there in case Hitler made it to London, though they must have been removed as I haven’t seen them for a few years now.

    I guess that Chuck has gone fishing again.

19. Worky No I haven’t been to Buenos Aires but Nick who painted that particular painting most probably has. Mine is on the next page and I have been down a mine.
    Lemington please this is Royal Leamington Spa “don’t you know” and we have a Beeching railway that is a walking and cycle route. Soon we are about to have the HS2 pass close to our village ah progress.
    Tank traps must have made the train journey’s difficult, must have come later to stop boy racers and New age travellers as ours did.
    Really like cycling, always have, don’t do off road anymore too old for broken bones.
    Chuck maybe off traveling. The first thing that some American friends of mine said when I retired was “good you’ll be able to travel a lot now” it must be a Yank thing.

20. Ah! I see it now, Nutmag, that was page 100. I really like that one too, both the idea and the execution, though it makes me feel somewhat claustrophobic. It reminded me of my trip through the Cu-Chi tunnels in Vietnam.

    They do say that most Americans, over 60%, never travel outside the US, and that over 10% never travel outside their own state, though I think that Chuckles is a seasoned traveller who fancies himself as a bit of a Michael Palin cum Ernest Hemingway!

    They were definitely WW2 tank traps, though I don’t know exactly why they were there, and I also know that a normal gauge train is almost the same width as a German WW2 Panther tank. This is the Parkland Walk anyway, which is a great thing to have down here in the smoke. I think that Chuck has a similar thing in NY called the ‘High Line’ though that is up a height.

21. Hugh I actually came from a little further north to Ashington but spent a great deal of time there in the 40s-50s. At that time I believe there was 26 working men’s clubs and only 2 pubs, (you can get the attraction).
    There is a whole load of guff said and written about art but it boils down to personal likes and dislikes. I have seen some of the worlds “greatest” but the one that will always remain with me was done by my father. My father was injured badly in a pit accident, fractured skull, and crush injuries. He eventually when back to work on the surface not down the pit till much later. His job was running a hauler a big machine that pulled ‘tubs’ of coal, stone, timber about it was housed in a big brick building. I went there once as a child when he had forgotten his pipe. There was a charcoal drawing of my mother that filled the whole whitewashed back wall. I still get emotional thinking of it now knowing it would never be seen by the people who should have seen it and whitewashed over and lost forever.
    My father also gave me the best present I have ever had a bottle of indian ink and a mapping pen I had hours of pure bliss creating cartoons and pictures.
    Nothing wrong with magnolia as long as you cover it with loads of pictures you like.

22. Nutmag, I agree completely that a lot of guff has been spouted about art, and that different pieces of art have different qualities, but I don’t believe it is merely a matter of opinion that artists like Rembrandt and Rodin are better artists than I’ll ever be, or that you will be a much better chef than someone who hardly ever cooks. It’s a combination of talent and a lot of hard work. I used to have to make a living selling fine art and antiques, you can memorise alot of stuff in books about different artists (and I did), but even without that, at the end of the day, some people just have a knack for recognising quality, a graceful, assured line or whatever, and some people don’t. I remember when I first visited the National Gallery when I was a child, I knew nothing about art but it was the Rembrandts and the Titians which really stunned me and had a huge effect on me, but it took me many years to learn exactly why they are two of the most highly regarded artists in history. On the other hand, I have never been a huge fan of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings, I think he is undoubtedly one of the finest draughtsmen there’s ever been in his drawings, but whilst his paintings were beautifully shaded (sfumato), they look somewhat waxy and wooden.

    One of the greatest paintings I have ever seen was Titian’s ‘Flaying of Marsyas‘ which I saw when it came to the Royal Academy in London in 1983. For many decades he had been the finest artist in the world, but he was well into his eighties when he painted this. His eyesight was shot to pieces, his previously assured touch was extremely tremulous and you can see it immediately in his paintings, especially when you compare it with his earlier work. If anything, it made his paintings even better though, especially to a more modern eye, and as I mentioned, his earlier work was as good as it gets. Just as you can see Marsyas the man-goat meet a particularly nasty end, so you can also see Titian’s own struggle against mortality.

23. Worky I agree the skill, vision and ability of some artists just astound me especially the old masters and what they had to work with. Still we all have our favourites and for different reasons. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The other side of the coin is the ones we don’t like or get, or understand. T S Lowry and Van Goch leave me cold where as even some graffiti can thrill me. Back in my apprentice days in Newcastle working split shifts gave me free afternoons which I split between ‘people watching’ on central station opposite the hotel or spending time in the old musty art galleries of the time gawping at great canvases of sailing ships and the like.
    Later on in life I think in the 70s I watched a tv series by Tom Keating painting in the styles of different artists, I believe he was a restorer but spent a bit of time at her majesty’s pleasure after admitting to some forgeries. At the time it gave me a great insight into different techniques. Be it art cooking or whatever we continue to learn and in both skills I have often been pleased but never satisfied.

24. Aye those Tom Keating TV shows were early 80s, Nutmag. I’m usually useless with dates but that show was on when I was at Art College. I can still remember his show on Titian. Using glaze techniques was one of the biggest parts of getting the ‘Old Master’ look, you could do the whole painting in monochrome, then paint over using layered colour in semi translucent washes. It’s all flooding back to me now, scumbling, encaustic, gesso, gilding etc… I used to be good with gesso, I used to make a few quid restoring fine gesso frames and fancy rococo furniture when I first moved to London. I used have trouble getting insurance though and took a fairly big hit with a robbery at my little shop in Alfie’s Antique Market on Lisson Grove. I had a really good chat with Adam Faith in there once. You can probably remember all his hits but I was a huge fan of his 70s TV show, ‘Budgie’ when I was a bairn, it was one of the ‘naughty’ shows that I used to watch. Anyway, to return to the point, that robbery and a few other losses took a fair sized chunk out of the profits I made and I got distracted into becoming a party organiser and warrior for social justice, that led to a fair bit of stress and violence though!

    In all my art education we never touched on Lowry once and I was never a fan of his work, it didn’t do anything for me. Van Gogh was more complicated, I never fell for all the myth that surrounded him, rather than enlightening us about his art it did the opposite, so it was very hard to extricate the art from all the amateur psychology about the suffering of the great artist.

    I’m sorry to hear about your father, people get angry about ‘health and safety’ nowadays, but they really shouldn’t.

    Before I sign off, it was the 12th anniversary of Ashley yesterday.

25. The only painter I’ve watched on telly was the one that looked a bit like a 1970s-era Jeff Lynne. I forget his name.

26. Hugh, apart from Keating there was another forger on the telly called Eric Hebborn, but he looked more like Kenny Rogers before his hair went grey.

27. If I remeber rightly, Hebborn was whacked over the head and killed under mysterious circumstances in Rome.

28. Worky, the one I’m thinking of wasn’t a forger. He just painted a landscape from scratch in the 30 minutes or so the programme was on, ostensibly teaching people how to paint in the process.

    I can’t even remember what channel he was on.

29. Hi both the only other tv painter I remember was the late Bob Ross who painted like a one man production line. He died quite young and I believe his son took on the role sometime later painting in exactly the same way.
    Worky yes I liked ‘Budgie’ back in the day, didn’t Adam Faith end up as a financial adviser or some such. I had a theory back then in his singing days. Every time the yanks had a new star we seemed to have a ‘cheap copy’ Elvis we had Cliff, Buddy Holly we had Adam Faith and so on.
    Yes my old man had it rough for a while but had good health there after and was fit and died suddenly at 86. I carry a lot of his genes ‘so I had better hurry and get this post finished’.
    There is a web site I went on, about the coal mines in the north east it lists all the mines, click on any one and it gives details of that mine including fatalities age date and cause of accident its a real eye opener and it is not the full list.
    Worky why did you spoil a perfectly good post by mentioning Ashley it just ruined it?

30. Nutmag, well done. That’s the guy I mean.

31. Aye Nutmag, I’d forgotten that about Adam Faith, well remembered. I still remember the tabloid claims about his last words though: “Channel 5 is all shit, isn’t it? Christ, the crap they put on there. It’s a waste of space!” Probably about as true as Freddie Starr eating a hamster, but going on what he was like when I met him, I could imagine him saying it as he was still a real London boy without any ‘airs and graces’. I don’t know about now but there were quite a few full episodes of ‘Budgie’ on YouTube. Do you remember Edward Woodward in ‘Callan’ as well? That was top quality, another excellent series which was on about the same time which never gets repeated nowadays, nor Dave Allen for that matter but he did say he didn’t want his shows to be endlessly repeated, Stanley Baxter as well.

    A bit before my time but I know the Larry Parnes ‘stable’ of stars before the Beatles and all the other bands came along and changed everything; Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Georgie Fame etc… but then you had the ones who obviously drew the short straws nameswise with monikers like ‘Vince Eager’ and ‘Dickie Pride’! There was a film about them all on BBC4 as well in recent years, Marty Wilde was still looking good. I loved Cliff Richard’s first record, ‘Move It!’ (it all went downhill after that) and I’m still a huge fan of the Shadows drummer, Brian Bennett. Besides the Shadows, he was also one of the ‘mafia’ of British TV and film musicians along with others like Alan Hawkshaw and Alan Parker. I love all the film library music from them in the 60s and 70s from labels like KPM and Bruton Records. The last one I listened to was the full length version of the music from the ‘Denim’ advert in the 70s (for men who don’t have to try too hard!).

    My dad was in his eighties when he died too, he kept having strokes. He never got paralysed down one side or anything like that, he was totally able bodied and showed no physical signs of being a stroke victim, but each one hit his mental faculties more and more. It was a horrible time.

32. Yes Worky I remember Callam and the ‘swinging light bulb’ and it was great, quality in a sea of dross mostly American at that time. Even now we are awash with all that old tripe ‘Ironside’ ‘Columbo’ Murder she wrote’ and the like that seem to be repeated forever.
    Mind you I grew up in a time of radio Dick Barton, Paul Temple and Valintine Dyall the Man in Black. One episode of his was ‘The Birds’ later a film by Hitchcock, trust me the radio version was way better. The Count of Monte Cristo was a really good series at that time too.
    Oh yes I remember a load of singers in the late 50s early 60s Craig Douglas. The ‘Frankie’s’ Vaughan, Avalon, and Ifield Karl Denver who like Ifield did a bit of yodelling something you don’t hear today (thank goodness). Want to be,s and one hit wonders. We had one take over our village pub a while back Don Fardon his hit was Indian Reservation late 60s he was a very good landlord. Certainly better than the one that succeeded him Melvyn Hayes (Who the locals called ‘Gloria’ for obvious reasons). Its now run by some small outfit that pose as a gourmet restaurant rather than a pub.
    I suppose I had better mention this years transfer avoidance takeover, will it or won’t it. I tend to avoid all blogs and Toon sites because no one knows a thing but write miles of rumour lies and fantasy and links to anyone who has ever kicked a football. I will say this one will be difficult for Ashley to discredit but we’ll see.

33. Nutmag, Do you remember Emile Ford and the Checkmates? I remember about twenty years ago I went to see a friend in Kentish Town and when I went up the stairs into his office I noticed he was sitting with a Caribbean man who was about 60ish. He’d brought him in because he was getting into starting a music label and he was curious about this chap because he was ‘synaethesic’ (he saw colours when he heard sound) and was going to help him out with some mixes. It all sounded a bit crazy to me but this man introduced himself as Emile Ford. The name was familiar to me because my parents had some of his records and talked about meeting him once. I knew that he had some hits about the same time as we’ve been discussing including one my father used to play called something like “What do you want to make those eyes at me for?” which was like an annoying earworm which stuck in my head. I met him a few more times though and I got most of what I know about synaethesia from him. I wasn’t mad keen on his master mixes, though he was a nice enough chap, slightly eccentric but then again, so am I!

    Callan was really dark and bleak with no redeeming features at all, but it was brilliant. It was certainly at the opposite extreme to James Bond.

    Aye, you told me about Melvin Hayes, and I remember ‘Indian Reservation,’ if I remember rightly it plodded on without really reaching a climax?

34. Thank you very much Worky yes I remember Emile Ford and ‘that song’, and thanks to you I had it in my head all day, and guess what I remember all the lyrics.
    Even so my taste in music is very varied starting with the 30s and 40s Big Band, Jazz, and the singers like Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald that came from both. I have some compilation albums of that period that I play a lot for background music when I’m painting and such. Its like going back to my childhood when it seemed we had the radio on continually. There was a big American influence then I remember not only music but some of the American comedy shows George Burns, Jack Benny and the like. I don’t think we broke that influence till the Beatles I also think later we had some very underrated singers like Matt Munroe who I believe as a singer was better than Sinatra but didn’t have the looks or personality. Suppose I had better shut up and move to a more recent thread.

35. Nutmag, if some music is very good then I don’t care what genre it is. Matt Munro was a great singer, but I thought he was quite popular anyway? I know they used to call him ‘The Singing Bus Driver’ though he didn’t drive a bus for that long really. Frank Sinatra said of him “If I had to choose three of the finest male vocalists in the singing business, Matt would be one of them. His pitch was right on the nose; his word enunciations letter perfect; his understanding of a song thorough”. After years of torture, I have an somewhat encyclopaedic knowledge of old time music from Al Bowlly onwards because of my father, who had literally thousands of LPs which he would play night and day! He even had a personal acetate from Bing Crosby and was good friends with Frank Wappatt, the radio DJ who was the North East’s king of the oldies. I grew to appreciate some of of them decades later, from Al Bowlly, who was before everybody’s time to Matt Munro from the 60s.

    The Beatles certainly left their mark on my life. My sister is about 16 years older than me and she kissed a Beatle in 1964 (the year I was born), so I got named after him! I’ll let you guess which one, but it wasn’t Ringo thankfully! On the American shows, a bit later in the seventies when I was a young lad, they always used to have repeats of Phil Silvers as Sargeant Bilko on BBC 2, it seemed to be on all the time.

    Aye, maybe we should move to another blog after this comment.