Nicky Reid

Nuclear Sox - People seem to be dismissing one of my all-time favourites, Nicky Reid. He wasn’t the most gifted footballer but he was undoubtedly entertaining and, what he lacked in talent, he more than made up for in running up and down a lot. I’ve posted similar before but it’s worth repeating here. Nicky Reid was born in Manchester (or somewhere else) at some time or other and from the moment his father showed him how to kick a ball, he ignored him and ran up and down a lot. Nicky had a great engine …and some matchbox cars and one of those wooden blocks you push different shaped pegs into but, despite that, he preferred to run up and down a lot and that was to stand him in good stead in his chosen career. Nicky was lucky that the managers he played under at Ewood recognised his strengths and weaknesses. He was never asked to do anything he wasn’t capable of and that brought out the best in him. The pre-match team talk must have gone something like: Terry, I want you to play in goal today. Don’t let anything past you. Simon, you’re up front. Score some goals for us. Nicky, erm… …Run up and down a lot. He was a box-to-box player with the emphasis on “box-to-box” and not so much on “player”. He’d run from penalty spot to penalty spot for 90 minutes and if anything got in his way, he’d kick it, hard, in the direction he was facing. He didn’t care if he ran offside. He didn’t care if he played the opposition onside. He didn’t care if 8000+ spectators were saying “Where the ******* **** is Reid going?” He had his job and he’d stick to it. Even his pre-match warm up consisted of running up and down a lot. Once, against Cambridge I think, he was nearing the end of his Darwen End to Blackburn End run when the ball inexplicably landed at his feet. Instinctively he kicked it, hard, in the direction he was facing. To a man, the Blackburn End ducked as the ball rocketed towards them. Very few people actually saw what happened but when they regained their feet, there was Nicky Reid standing absolutely still, arms aloft on the penalty spot. That, coupled with the lack of falling masonry from the Blackburn End, alerted people to the fact that he’d scored. Reid himself was clearly stunned – that 5 seconds was the longest he ever stood still on a football pitch and he never really recovered from it. From that moment on, he was always 5 seconds out of sync and, sadly, his runs never coincided with the ball ever again. sad.gif So that’s my case for Nicky Reid. Personally, I’ll be voting for Clayton.

Harry Healless

bazza - Here's a snippet about Healless taken from "Things about Blackburn Rovers" by Harry Kay, published in 1948. " Harry Healless is a native of Blackburn, and he was the only Blackburn man in the Cup winning team he captained in 1928. He first played for Blackburn Trinity, and then for the Rovers as an amateur in 1914-15, becoming a professional in May, 1919. His last league appearance for the Rovers was against Chelsea at Ewood on December 31, 1932, and his last match with the Reserves was at Stoke on April 15th, 1933. Harry was one of those footballers who did not develop early; in fact, far from being a star in his teens, he was unknown. When he became a professional for the Rovers he was a centre forward. He played in six other positions. After a period as leader of the attack he went outside right, and later he was right full back, right half, centre half, left half and inside right. In those various berths he was usually good but seldom brilliant. Eventually he became centre-half, and, when big "Billy" Rankin came from Dundee, Healless moved to right half. During his long career with the Rovers, Harry was capped by England twice. His capable generalship often pulled the Rovers through when things seemed to be going badly against them. He could last through the most arduous game, and the team often derived encouragement from the fact that he never seemed to tire. In summer he likes a game of cricket, and was one of the leading batsmen in the Alice Street Wesleyan team, who played in the Blackburn Sunday School League."

Howard Kendall

jim mk2 - Kendall was one of the classiest players of the 1960s/70s and was a member of Everton's outstanding "Holy Trinity" of Kendall/Ball/Harvey that was such a joy to watch and helped the club to its championship triumph of 1969-70. He was capped by England and would have won many more caps but for the outstanding number of England-qualified players playing at that time. He joined Rovers as player-manager in 1978 and led the club to the old third division championship in 1979-80. He signed an ageing Duncan McKenzie for Rovers and the pleasure for me was watching Kendall and McKenzie, the old masters, toy with lower-league players as if they were schoolboys. Kendall almost led Rovers into the old first division the following season but left that summer for his old club Everton, which he led to the first division championship in 1984-85. Although he was past his best when he played for Rovers, Kendall was one of the most talented players I have seen in a blue and white shirt and certainly qualifies as one of the "greats".

philipl - Also a hero elsewhere but magnificent for us at the end of his career was Howard Kendall. Great leader, steel and class. He scored a stunning 30 yard drive that almost ripped the net off the Darwen end in a League Cup game gainst Bury and a fabulous header at Bloomfield Road against Blackpool.

Tony Parkes

philipl - how could we write so much about midfielders and so little about TP. He was Mr Blackburn Rovers even before he hung up his boots after 500 odd games for us. TP never looked an athlete- there was something awkward about how he moved- but he was 100% effective. Scored some cracking goals- a volley at Mansfield comes to mind- but his 100% never give up attitude was summed up by the last minute equaliser against the great Forest 1980 side when he overlapped the forwards to get onto a cross and cooly chip an onrushing Peter Shilton. Suffered a bad broken leg which kept him out for about a year towards the end of his career.

Duncan McKenzie

philipl - II always used to believe that any Rovers' greatest team had to include Duncan McKenzie. What a magician and supremely gifted player he was. For younger supporters, think of Lars Bohinen at his best then imagine that sort of skill and wizardry being produced regularly and sometimes for a full 90 minutes. McKenzie could dribble, dance round a standing ball with two opponents too scared to move, throw outrageous feints, receive a pass with the back of his thigh, hit driven volleys with a back heel flick and jump higher than any player I've seen. His goals were stunning- the 30 yard bender against West Ham, the over head flick from a ridiculously tight angle at Mansfield, the glided volley against Sheff U and so on. His destruction of first division Coventry at Ewood in the FA Cup was one of the best individual performances I have ever seen from a Rover. But along came Uncle Jack and King Kenny and later the good part of the Souness era to remind us that football is about winning things as well as about supreme entertainers.

Eamonn Rogers

philipl - Eamon Rogers (don't even know if I spelt his name correctly) was a star. Scruffy, unshaven, unkempt, he looked like a tramp had got a game but what a brilliant dribbler. One of the best I've seen in the blue and white.