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The Great Mass Debater

Who has been our greatest ever 'hard man'?

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[quote user="ricardo"]Kevin Keelan was no slouch. Never forget when he laid out that Northampton forward ( was it Tommy Best?) with one punch and walked straight off to the dressing room.
[/quote]

A 1-1 draw on 20th March 1965 and I believe it was Tommy Robson.

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[quote user="TIL 1010"]

[quote user="ricardo"]Kevin Keelan was no slouch. Never forget when he laid out that Northampton forward ( was it Tommy Best?) with one punch and walked straight off to the dressing room.
[/quote]

A 1-1 draw on 20th March 1965 and I believe it was Tommy Robson.

[/quote]

 

You mean he got a knockout and we still only ended up with a split decision. That doesn''t seem right. [:D]

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Trevor Hockey.  I''ll copy my tribute to him here again which followed some correspondence with his family and friends on another website some years ago:

Lest We

Forget

Trevor

Hockey (born May 1, 1943 in Keighley,

Yorkshire

April 2,

1987
)

Trevor has

always been my favourite Norwich City player even though he was only with us

from his first appearance on 24th February 1973 to his last on 28th

April the same year.  Yes, only 13 appearances and only 9 points won but those 9 points kept us in the top

division when all seemed lost before he arrived.

While I

will never forget how fortunate we were to have Martin Peters playing for

little old Norwich, Martin and others who joined during a golden era (Super Mac

& Phil Boyer et al) were all known quantities.   We hoped and expected a level of performance

from them but with “the bearded one” we were not too sure what to expect.  Was it a panic buy?  Could this firey and ferocious ex Blade add

anything to aid City’s plight at the bottom of the league?  We would soon know the answer.

 Having

moved out of the Barclay at the start of the 1973/74 season, to join a growing

band of lads standing in the middle of the old South Stand, I would surge

forward to greet the players running onto the pitch at the start of the

game.  Trevor would come charging out of

the City Stand and raise both fists to us in a gesture meaning “if we’re going

down then let’s go down fighting”.

With his

leadership, tough tackling, and endless energy, he was a thorn in the side of

every team we played.  No opposition player

was safe on the ball with Trevor snapping at his heels.  Looking back I guess you could describe him

as a smaller version of a Vinnie Jones sort of player.  Surprisingly talented for somebody so committed to the cause.  It’s when I now

see players with more height, weight, and skill (such as Dickson Etuwho)

wasting their talent by hiding and taking it easy during a game that I realise

just how special Trevor was.  He was not

graced with silky skills, but could pass to a yellow shirt (more than our

current crop of midfielders) and had a dynamo for a heart and pistons for legs.

He

charged around the pitch driving his teammates forward.  He never gave up on a lost cause and set an

example to everyone around him.  A

manager’s dream.  He would bark

encouragement to his fellow team mates throughout a game.

Needless

to say he became an instand cult hero. 

His short but stocky stature with his shock of long thick black hair

(with headband), plus the bushy beard, made him a fearful sight for any

opposition player.  Many of them moved

the ball on in haste when Trevor came biting at their legs.

 He looked

like a pirate but played a controlled Captain’s role in steering City clear of

the rocks of relegation.  Indeed,

allowing for our far inferier goal difference, we were just one point ahead of

Palarse and West Brom at the end of the season following our dramatic 2-1 win

at Carrow Road (against Palarse) for Trevor’s penultimate game in a city shirt,

but his last in front of nearly 37,000 adoring fans that night.

His

professional career spanned 16 years, seven clubs and almost 600 appearances.

Born in

Keighley, Trevor turned professional with Bradford City in May 1960. He left Valley Parade

for Nottingham Forest in November 1961 but

after just two years at the City Ground, he was on the move again, this

time to Newcastle United where he collected a

Second Division winners medal in 1965.

Now

transformed from a winger into a central midfielder, Trevor joined Birmingham City in November 1965 in a

£25,000 deal.  He went on to make 231

appearances for the Blues scoring 13 goals.  He was also the club captain when he was

transferred to Sheffield United for £40,000 in January 1971.  He made his debut in a 2-1 away victory

against Oxford United and, following instructions

"to battle, to win the ball, and give it to Currie"

he instantly became a Bramall Lane cult figure on the pitch with his

beatle-style haircut, beard and tough tackling.

He played

a large part in ensuring that United were promoted that year, including scoring

the first goal in a 2-0 win, against Millwall

on April 13, while sitting down after colliding with the goalkeeper.

 His

United career virtually ended with a broken leg against Manchester

City
on February 12, 1972.   Struggling

to regain his place in the first team, he made his final appearance on December

30 before Norwich City secured his services in February 1973, swapping him for

Scottish striker Jim Bone.

 However,

after just six months with The Canaries, Trevor was back playing his football

in Birmingham, this time for Aston Villa.

 After just a year at Villa Park he was on the move again, this time

returning to his first club Bradford City.

In March 1976 Trevor became player-manager

at Athlone Town before taking his footballing

talents across the pond and a spell with San Diego

Jaws
in the North American Soccer League.

Trevor

returned to England the following year and took on the managers role at

non-league Stalybridge Celtic before another spell in

the States as coach with both San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles

Quicksilvers.

In a

distinguished career Trevor won 9 international caps for Wales.

He died

of a heart attack shortly after taking part in a five-a-side tournament in

Keighley on 2nd April 1987,

aged 43.  What a waste.

God rest

your soul dear Trevor.   Rest in

peace.  Oh, and thanks mate.

PS.   Wouldn’t mind betting those angels get rid

of the ball a bit sharpish if you’re still playing!

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No one I ever saw play for City comes close to Hockey. Absolutely fearless and ruthless but in an age where he was allowed to get away with it.

I went to my first game in 1960. So I never saw who was reputed to be our hardest ever and that was Oscar Hold. He was a forward and scored nigh on every other game for us in his short time with us. And I believe he was suspended for 10 games which was difficult to achieve in those days.

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Mike Milligan had a bit of a rep and definitely used to kick a few people in the middle of the park!

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actually in 2 spells Darel Russel was sent off 7 times for us (13 in his career...)

surely it has to be rusty!!???

he was sent off 1 time each for stoke and Preston. twice for charlton and twice in the USA...

ard nut!

http://canaryseventyninety.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/red-card-russell.html?m=1

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[quote user="Hard Cell"]Trevor Hockey.  I''ll copy my tribute to him here again which followed some correspondence with his family and friends on another website some years ago:

Lest We

Forget

Trevor

Hockey

mso-ansi-language:EN" lang="EN"> (born May 1, 1943 in Keighley,

Yorkshire

April 2,

1987
)

Trevor has

always been my favourite Norwich City player even though he was only with us

from his first appearance on 24th February 1973 to his last on 28th

April the same year.  Yes, only 13 appearances and only 9 points won but those 9 points kept us in the top

division when all seemed lost before he arrived.

While I

will never forget how fortunate we were to have Martin Peters playing for

little old Norwich, Martin and others who joined during a golden era (Super Mac

& Phil Boyer et al) were all known quantities.   We hoped and expected a level of performance

from them but with “the bearded one” we were not too sure what to expect.  Was it a panic buy?  Could this firey and ferocious ex Blade add

anything to aid City’s plight at the bottom of the league?  We would soon know the answer.

 Having

moved out of the Barclay at the start of the 1973/74 season, to join a growing

band of lads standing in the middle of the old South Stand, I would surge

forward to greet the players running onto the pitch at the start of the

game.  Trevor would come charging out of

the City Stand and raise both fists to us in a gesture meaning “if we’re going

down then let’s go down fighting”.

With his

leadership, tough tackling, and endless energy, he was a thorn in the side of

every team we played.  No opposition player

was safe on the ball with Trevor snapping at his heels.  Looking back I guess you could describe him

as a smaller version of a Vinnie Jones sort of player.  Surprisingly talented for somebody so committed to the cause.  It’s when I now

see players with more height, weight, and skill (such as Dickson Etuwho)

wasting their talent by hiding and taking it easy during a game that I realise

just how special Trevor was.  He was not

graced with silky skills, but could pass to a yellow shirt (more than our

current crop of midfielders) and had a dynamo for a heart and pistons for legs.

He

charged around the pitch driving his teammates forward.  He never gave up on a lost cause and set an

example to everyone around him.  A

manager’s dream.  He would bark

encouragement to his fellow team mates throughout a game.

Needless

to say he became an instand cult hero. 

His short but stocky stature with his shock of long thick black hair

(with headband), plus the bushy beard, made him a fearful sight for any

opposition player.  Many of them moved

the ball on in haste when Trevor came biting at their legs.

 He looked

like a pirate but played a controlled Captain’s role in steering City clear of

the rocks of relegation.  Indeed,

allowing for our far inferier goal difference, we were just one point ahead of

Palarse and West Brom at the end of the season following our dramatic 2-1 win

at Carrow Road (against Palarse) for Trevor’s penultimate game in a city shirt,

but his last in front of nearly 37,000 adoring fans that night.

His

professional career spanned 16 years, seven clubs and almost 600 appearances.

Born in

Keighley, Trevor turned professional with Bradford City in May 1960. He left Valley Parade

for Nottingham Forest in November 1961 but

after just two years at the City Ground, he was on the move again, this

time to Newcastle United where he collected a

Second Division winners medal in 1965.

Now

transformed from a winger into a central midfielder, Trevor joined Birmingham City in November 1965 in a

£25,000 deal.  He went on to make 231

appearances for the Blues scoring 13 goals.  He was also the club captain when he was

transferred to Sheffield United for £40,000 in January 1971.  He made his debut in a 2-1 away victory

against Oxford United and, following instructions

"to battle, to win the ball, and give it to Currie"

he instantly became a Bramall Lane cult figure on the pitch with his

beatle-style haircut, beard and tough tackling.

He played

a large part in ensuring that United were promoted that year, including scoring

the first goal in a 2-0 win, against Millwall

on April 13, while sitting down after colliding with the goalkeeper.

 His

United career virtually ended with a broken leg against Manchester

City
on February 12, 1972.   Struggling

to regain his place in the first team, he made his final appearance on December

30 before Norwich City secured his services in February 1973, swapping him for

Scottish striker Jim Bone.

 However,

after just six months with The Canaries, Trevor was back playing his football

in Birmingham, this time for Aston Villa.

 After just a year at Villa Park he was on the move again, this time

returning to his first club Bradford City.

In March 1976 Trevor became player-manager

at Athlone Town before taking his footballing

talents across the pond and a spell with San Diego

Jaws
in the North American Soccer League.

Trevor

returned to England the following year and took on the managers role at

non-league Stalybridge Celtic before another spell in

the States as coach with both San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles

Quicksilvers.

In a

distinguished career Trevor won 9 international caps for Wales.

He died

of a heart attack shortly after taking part in a five-a-side tournament in

Keighley on 2nd April 1987,

aged 43.  What a waste.

God rest

your soul dear Trevor.   Rest in

peace.  Oh, and thanks mate.

PS.   Wouldn’t mind betting those angels get rid

of the ball a bit sharpish if you’re still playing!

[/quote]

fantastic reading!

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Big Dunc took no prisoners, but he did his job well and his hardness had a purpose, but Trevor Hockey was just a beast and for some reason I remember him very fondly.

I love the footage, Lappinitup. If he played today he would only be on the pitch for a few minutes, but by then most of the other team would be hiding in their dressing room, sitting in their own wee.

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I think there is a difference between being a nasty snide sort of player who plays normally for 89 mins and then trips/elbows/headbutts someone as opposed to the Trevor Hockey/Duncan Forbes type who were just hard but straight forward in what they did.  Joey Barton (nasty when the moment takes him) against Nobby Stiles/Chopper Harris/Norman Hunter types who were hard for 90 mins but you knew what you were getting.

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Is flip flop attention seeking Wiz''s insight of Duncan Forbes based only on newspaper cuttings and the occasional highlights via Match of the Day or The Big Match etc? Live streams then and attending games, ahem!

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What about Fash - thought he was an amateur boxing champion? Seem to remember him putting Norman Hunter out of the game at Ashton Gate when we relegated Bristol City, think he also dropped someone in training while at Forest.

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Forbes, Bradshaw was not quite normal and I recall a Mark Halsey collecting a number of violent conduct red cards - but that may have been for the reserves

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I used to watch a lot of reserve team games when I was growing up and remember a pair of centre halves by the names of Mike Flynn and Andy Theodosiou.

Theodosiou was one tough cookie, regularly you would see him head the back of players heads when trying to defend and on one occasion when they were playing Southampton, Southampton had a left back renowned for being a thug by the name of Mark Dennis, Theodosiou was playing right back in this game and when Dennis crossed the half way line he went straight through him and put him up in the air, one of the best, full blooded tackles I have ever seen.

Never made a first team appearance though!

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For me Duncan Forbes.

Kevin Keelan, what a man! I too was there - probably the funniest thing I have ever seen in football. Not sure about the score, I thought it might have been goalless, but rain was hosing it down.

ND

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Until recently I would have said McNally.

Now I''ll have to go for Mike Walker.

It would be nice to see some of that steel and determination on the pitch for a change though, as I can''t remember a hard player actually playing for Norwich in my lifetime!

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I cannot believe that Hockey was only with us for under a year! I remember him with great fondness with his socks rolled down(might be a false memory!) and his crunching tackles that left the crowd wincing.

Hard as nails but Duncan Forbes gets it for me.

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I''m a bit surprised no-one has yet mentioned David Cross or Jimmy Bone.Both of these forwards would put their head where current players wouldn''t think about putting their feet!!

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Billy was as hard as Steele.

Jim was Bone-hard.

Rocky Rocastle speaks for it''s self,

and as for Lee Powerful.

 

Le Juge, however, turned out to be a cheese eating surrender monkey. Trevor Putty was a bit of a softy too

 

 

 

And the winner is:  Trevor Hockey.

Runner up:              Duncan Forbes

 

 

Will Nail Adams turn out to be a managerial hard case?

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