On this day In 1994…….

[pongo88]

Gary Owers played his last game for Sunderland before joining Bristol City. If only we had him now 

(The story also mentions MartIn Scott who left City to join Sunderland. Another player we could do with now)

https://apple.news/AbofOMUmYQrKAVbQMQND_AQ

Edited December 17, 2021 by pongo88

[GrahamC]

This seems to me like one of those “the sun always shone when I was at school” posts.

I always admired Owers’ effort, but truth is he was nothing special, he played midfield in the side that got relegated & then in League One filled in a fair bit at RB. Certainly of the current squad Matty James is at the very least as good as him.

Owers certainly put in everything he had but he was fairly limited, Martin Scott on the other hand was the best LB I have seen play for us, better than Barnard, Brennan, McAllister, Bell or Bryan.

[Lanterne Rouge]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

This seems to me like one of those “the sun always shone when I was at school” posts.

I always admired Owers’ effort, but truth is he was nothing special, he played midfield in the side that got relegated & then in League One filled in a fair bit at RB. Certainly of the current squad Matty James is at the very least as good as him.

Owers certainly put in everything he had but he was fairly limited, Martin Scott on the other hand was the best LB I have seen play for us, better than Barnard, Brennan, McAllister, Bell or Bryan.

Mark Walters still has nightmares about the cup game.

[Oh Louie louie]

Some sections of the crowd gave him a hard time.

He could never be accused of lack of effort in my book.

Honest player, down to earth bloke.

[Oh Louie louie]

I think it was him who was involved in a handball incident at chesterfield in the cup.

The year they got to the semis.

The manager of chesterfield made some crazy quotes after.

[tin]

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

This seems to me like one of those “the sun always shone when I was at school” posts.

I always admired Owers’ effort, but truth is he was nothing special, he played midfield in the side that got relegated & then in League One filled in a fair bit at RB. Certainly of the current squad Matty James is at the very least as good as him.

Owers certainly put in everything he had but he was fairly limited, Martin Scott on the other hand was the best LB I have seen play for us, better than Barnard, Brennan, McAllister, Bell or Bryan.

I agree with most of your post until you mention Jamie McAllister in the same breath as those other LBs. I can't have that at all.

We were blessed with goalscoring LBs for the best part of a decade back then, of which Scott was the first. The common denominator with all of them except for Bryan was they had Tinnion in front of them, who'd often tuck in on left midfield and allow the others to bomb on.

Sunderland got the better end of that particular deal. 

[GrahamC]

9 minutes ago, tin said:

I agree with most of your post until you mention Jamie McAllister in the same breath as those other LBs. I can't have that at all.

We were blessed with goalscoring LBs for the best part of a decade back then, of which Scott was the first. The common denominator with all of them except for Bryan was they had Tinnion in front of them, who'd often tuck in on left midfield and allow the others to bomb on.

Sunderland got the better end of that particular deal. 

Firstly re Scott, we also got £450k, which Joe largely spent on Martin Kuhl, so whatever we think of him, that sale enabled him to sign an experienced central midfield pairing.

With McAllister & of course it is subjective, but unlike many of the others, he was primarily a defender who was integral to the side that got us as near the Prem as we’ve got in 40 years & whose career included 6 seasons at Championship level, Mickey Bell, often seen on here as some sort of god (probably because of the free kicks & penalties) in contrast played just ONE season at that level in his entire career..

[RedHienz]

2 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Firstly re Scott, we also got £450k, which Joe largely spent on Martin Kuhl, so whatever we think of him, that sale enabled him to sign an experienced central midfield pairing.

With McAllister & of course it is subjective, but unlike many of the others, he was primarily a defender who was integral to the side that got us as near the Prem as we’ve got in 40 years & whose career included 6 seasons at Championship level, Mickey Bell, often seen on here as some sort of god (probably because of the free kicks & penalties) in contrast played just ONE season at that level in his entire career..

Bell had many an offer to go higher and probably should have given our inability to escape the 3rd. Having him constantly in the pfa team of the year says alot about the standard of performance we got from him for many a season. 

[tin]

11 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Firstly re Scott, we also got £450k, which Joe largely spent on Martin Kuhl, so whatever we think of him, that sale enabled him to sign an experienced central midfield pairing.

With McAllister & of course it is subjective, but unlike many of the others, he was primarily a defender who was integral to the side that got us as near the Prem as we’ve got in 40 years & whose career included 6 seasons at Championship level, Mickey Bell, often seen on here as some sort of god (probably because of the free kicks & penalties) in contrast played just ONE season at that level in his entire career..

True. I was never a fan of Owers or Kuhl to be honest, although I recall Kuhl smashing in a screamer at home to Swansea. 

RE McAllister, I can't agrue with that at all. But I did prefer Scott, Barnard, Bell, Brennan because I like to see our teams play with width and I love a full-back who chips in with goals and assists. Barnard and Brennan both went on to play in the PL after leaving us, mind. 

It always baffled me how we had a succession of great LBs but couldn't find a decent RB for love nor money.

Edited December 17, 2021 by tin

[Davefevs]

23 minutes ago, tin said:

I agree with most of your post until you mention Jamie McAllister in the same breath as those other LBs. I can't have that at all.

We were blessed with goalscoring LBs for the best part of a decade back then, of which Scott was the first. The common denominator with all of them except for Bryan was they had Tinnion in front of them, who'd often tuck in on left midfield and allow the others to bomb on.

Sunderland got the better end of that particular deal. 

Scott is my favourite LB for City, and we’ve had some bloody good ones too.

[Port Said Red]

35 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Scott is my favourite LB for City, and we’ve had some bloody good ones too.

Brennan was my favourite although he was a proper wing back in days when they were comparatively new and there were not many to compare him too. I remember a game where he was on the bench as he had only returned from international duty the night before, he came on when we were 1-2 down and we won the game 5-2. I don't think I have ever seen one player make so much difference from the bench, certainly not a left back.

Scott was culture personified and Barnard and Bell were similar players, better going forward than defending.

[AppyDAZE]

Seem to remember that he pnce scored the winning goal against us, when at Sunderland. Memory could be playing tricks.

Love his radio stuff. Very entertaining. A good guy.

Edited December 17, 2021 by AppyDAZE

[GrahamC]

53 minutes ago, tin said:

True. I was never a fan of Owers or Kuhl to be honest, although I recall Kuhl smashing in a screamer at home to Swansea. 

RE McAllister, I can't agrue with that at all. But I did prefer Scott, Barnard, Bell, Brennan because I like to see our teams play with width and I love a full-back who chips in with goals and assists. Barnard and Brennan both went on to play in the PL after leaving us, mind. 

It always baffled me how we had a succession of great LBs but couldn't find a decent RB for love nor money.

On your last point only Orr (made PFA Championship team of the year) & Carey before he moved into the middle, were of the standard of those left backs.

Scott also played top flight football with Sunderland.

[sh1t_ref_again]

17 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Brennan was my favourite although he was a proper wing back in days when they were comparatively new and there were not many to compare him too. I remember a game where he was on the bench as he had only returned from international duty the night before, he came on when we were 1-2 down and we won the game 5-2. I don't think I have ever seen one player make so much difference from the bench, certainly not a left back.

Scott was culture personified and Barnard and Bell were similar players, better going forward than defending.

I seem to remember (possible incorrectly), Brennon scoring twice with near post headers in successive games, then we did not bother trying that corner routine again, or I may have dreamt that and just made it up

[pongo88]

3 hours ago, GrahamC said:

This seems to me like one of those “the sun always shone when I was at school” posts.

I always admired Owers’ effort, but truth is he was nothing special, he played midfield in the side that got relegated & then in League One filled in a fair bit at RB. Certainly of the current squad Matty James is at the very least as good as him.

Owers certainly put in everything he had but he was fairly limited, Martin Scott on the other hand was the best LB I have seen play for us, better than Barnard, Brennan, McAllister, Bell or Bryan.

Graham - I’m sure you’re correct about Owers, in a way. I’m not sure about my memories of past City teams, as the past isn’t as good as it used to be.  The reason I liked Owers was because you knew what you were going to get. I have to agree with you that he was as a bit one dimensional, but he was a constant one dimension.

PS - the sun always did shine when I was at school. I can’t remember a single day of rain. 

[SuperDziek]

Love how many left backs we had around that time who’s surname began with B. Bailey in 89/90 and Bromage before that. Not sure who was before that - possibly Wryan Billiams?

[GrahamC]

56 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

Graham - I’m sure you’re correct about Owers, in a way. I’m not sure about my memories of past City teams, as the past isn’t as good as it used to be.  The reason I liked Owers was because you knew what you were going to get. I have to agree with you that he was as a bit one dimensional, but he was a constant one dimension.

PS - the sun always did shine when I was at school. I can’t remember a single day of rain. 

For what it’s worth I liked him too, never short changed us for effort, never ducked a challenge & scored a few decent goals.

John Ward in his infinite wisdom replaced him with Carl Hutchings, who was absolute litter, I’d have happily seen him stay rather than sign that talent vacuum.

[redysteadygo]

1 hour ago, SuperDziek said:

Love how many left backs we had around that time who’s surname began with B. Bailey in 89/90 and Bromage before that. Not sure who was before that - possibly Wryan Billiams?

Alec Briggs

[tin]

2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Brennan was my favourite although he was a proper wing back in days when they were comparatively new and there were not many to compare him too. I remember a game where he was on the bench as he had only returned from international duty the night before, he came on when we were 1-2 down and we won the game 5-2. I don't think I have ever seen one player make so much difference from the bench, certainly not a left back.

Scott was culture personified and Barnard and Bell were similar players, better going forward than defending.

I think that was when we beat Blackpool at home 5-2 in ‘99. I totally agree with what you said about his impact, and still remember that to this day. He was awesome that day. 

[054123]

I loved Martin Scott

[Oh Louie louie]

2 of our best penalty takers ever, bell and martin scott.

Dont recall them missing many.

Tony thorpes, short run up always made the keeper move first too.

 

[Offside]

Owers had a decent career overall. He didn’t set the world alight for us but he always put a shift in. One abiding memory is when Ward played him at right wing back in one game (not sure against who). He had acres of space but didn’t have the pace to cause any trouble……so it seemed the opposition just let him have that space. 

I really like him as a pundit on RB, he talks a lot of sense. 

 

[Gimme Shelton]

4 hours ago, Offside said:

Owers had a decent career overall. He didn’t set the world alight for us but he always put a shift in. One abiding memory is when Ward played him at right wing back in one game (not sure against who). He had acres of space but didn’t have the pace to cause any trouble……so it seemed the opposition just let him have that space. 

I really like him as a pundit on RB, he talks a lot of sense. 

 

From memory it was Bournemouth, we played poorly, I think it ended in a draw,and Ward got dogs abuse.  He then abandoned wing backs,went 442 and never looked back and we got promoted. 

[Shelton’s Love Gravy]

On 17/12/2021 at 13:44, GrahamC said:

This seems to me like one of those “the sun always shone when I was at school” posts.

I always admired Owers’ effort, but truth is he was nothing special, he played midfield in the side that got relegated & then in League One filled in a fair bit at RB. Certainly of the current squad Matty James is at the very least as good as him.

Owers certainly put in everything he had but he was fairly limited, Martin Scott on the other hand was the best LB I have seen play for us, better than Barnard, Brennan, McAllister, Bell or Bryan.

He was a worthy captain of our 1997-98 promotion side IMHO.

And I agree wholeheartedly with Offside about his qualities as a pundit on RB. Always well worth listening to his take on a game.