Tribute to Robin Friday on F365

[SeniorRoyal]

I was sitting at the front of D stand,and was level with Robin Friday when he scored against Tranmere.He was 25 yards out and at an angle.It was not just the power of the shot but the incredible control that made the goal so special.Yes the best goal i have ever seen live,and i've seen a few.

I would normally have been in the South bank,but one of my friends had a broken leg and we had to sit.We were allowed down to the front to get the perfect view.An unfortunate break for my friend but not for me!!

[SpaceCruiser]

I can't seem to access that link posted by Ark Royal. Can somebody post the picture on here instead, please?

[Victor Meldrew]

I understand Gus' point about being our greatest player although to mention the likes of Convey and Hunt in the same breath as our hero is crazy IMHO.
The point about the original post was that this was a different player not necessarily the greatest (how the f*** do you define greatness? It's no correct science)and I count it as a pleasure to have seen him play.
We have had very good players over the years,Webb,Dariusz,Shaka,Osborn and so on but even though the game has changed it is always the strkers that excite fans and in our history Blackman,Friday,Dixon,Senior,Cureton,Kitson and Doyle have all excited us fans.

We appreciate the craft of Bowman,Osborn or Little,the keeping of Death,Shaka and Marcus and the defending of Curle and Dariusz but the strikers do what football is meant to be about-scoring goals.
Friday did it at the lowest level but his technique was that of a Premiership player.
When I see Ameobi,Carlton Cole,Darren Bent,Anelka,Kevin Davies,Bednar etc playing in the Premiership I appreciate that they are fit and hard-working players but Friday had more skill than all of them and IMHO was a better finisher.
Obviously we have to temper our appreciation with the fact that he might not have been quick enough for the modern game but players like Berbatov still do o.k.

Regardless of whatever anyone else might say I found him and Tom Jenkins (and occasionally Gilksey)the most exciting players of the past 55 years and nobody can take those memories away.
Finally two points from the original post.
Clive Thomas applauded and didn't put his head in his hands.
Friday was described as a "strong,powerfully-built man".IIRC He was more of an Ian Rush build ,sinewy and lithe,with skinny legs which meant even more to us when he stood up bravely to the clogging defenders.
We haven't had many greats or legends (we may have had functional teams like 1995 and 2006)and words like "outstanding","great","awesome" and "legend" are used too often nowadays to mean much but this man was all of those to us who paid our £2 or whatever it was then to see occasional moments of great skill in a team of very limited abilities.

[Royal Rother]

One wonders how Swansea and Wrexham fans would have recalled Lee Trundle in 30 years time had he been a hell-raiser.

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Legendary. The greatest. Easy words and phrases to bandy around. In Friday's case, undoubtedly true.

As a nipper I watchedpretty much all his home games in the Hoops from the Town End with another young Nobber. My Dad came to watch RFC in those days and sat in B stand just to see Friday.

Strap and Barney say it all. It's not how few games he played. Or in which Division. Or the fact that he never won any serious honours. Friday was a total nutter. A totally gifted nutter. Above all, he entertained.

Serendipitously, my boiler burst yesterday and flooded my storage of RFC programmes, EPs from the 70s. Picking through what is salvageable I have found a programme signed by the entire teamof the match at EP agaist Swansea on Wednesday 5th November, 1975.

The team - Death, Peters, Moreline, Cumming, Barker, Youlden, Witham, Hiron, Dunphy, Stuckey - all signed on the back page next to their names in the line up. Plus Mr Hurley, Adrian Cooper, Minty Murray, Bob Lenarduzzi and Brian Carnaby.

Friday was different. He signed on the front cover.

Carnaby, Stuckey and Youlden used to take my school for training in Prospect Park on Tues and Thursday afternoons and Tommy Youlden gave it to me the following day.

All this Friday chat reminds me of another occasion when my mum was giving me a lift to school and coming out on to the Occie Road from Valentia Street, Robin in his Afghan coat, cowboy boots with his boots slung over his shoulder saw me as a precocious youngster nudge my mum and mouth something like: "There's God." He stopped. Walked up to the driver's window. Mum wound it down and he asked my Mum's name. He said: "Lovely to meet you, Mrs B. Go well, stay cool!" He left with a wink and cheeky smile.

[Ark Royal]

The Goal


Clive Thomas, head in hands

[Muskrat]

One wonders how Swansea and Wrexham fans would have recalled Lee Trundle in 30 years time had he been a hell-raiser.

As a fat talentless Hell Raiser I expect.

[old woman]

Couldn't stop a pig in a passage his legs were so bandy.

To be honest he looked nothing like a footballer just some bloke who'd wondered on to the pitch after a good night out.

[strap]

To the young turks on here who question us wrinklies, and our memories of RF, all I will say is, I was an avid RFC follower during his years with us, going to virtually all home games and many away. I watched his career unfold in awe.

I have seen the best the Premiership has to offer, both live at the Mad Stad, and of course over the years on MoTD etc.

Trust me, no player I have ever seen comes close to RF. Not RTG, not wishful thinking, just my opinion. Tell me, have any of you knocking the memories of RF on here ever been to a match where there was a dumbfounded silence immediately after a goal was scored? I have, just once. It was THAT goal v Tranmere. The whole of Elm Park went perfectly silent as the ball rifled into the net. Not a single person in the ground that night could believe what they had just seen. It took a whole second before the place erupted!! Even then I thought to myself the silence was weird! It is something I shall never forget.

So go on, prattle away about RTGs, fading memories etc. I pity you, I really do. It was a magical piece of skill and a magical moment. It was an honour to witness it.

Yes, he upset a good few publicans, (including a couple of offspring of same who contribute here), but without doubt, he was RFC's best ever player. There is no argument for those that saw him play in the flesh.

[Gordons Cumming]

It really is sad that there are so very few videos of him playing.

Apart from his skill, his tackling and general cockiness about the pitch, the thing that always appears in my memory when he is mentioned is the view of him running onto the pitch, socks around his ankles, his unkempt long hair and his totally bandy run.

If the young people of today could see him now they'd say......................."You were right, what a player, what a man!!"

A true legend.

[Ark Royal]

To the young turks on here who question us wrinklies, and our memories of RF, all I will say is, I was an avid RFC follower during his years with us, going to virtually all home games and many away. I watched his career unfold in awe.

I have seen the best the Premiership has to offer, both live at the Mad Stad, and of course over the years on MoTD etc.

Trust me, no player I have ever seen comes close to RF. Not RTG, not wishful thinking, just my opinion. Tell me, have any of you knocking the memories of RF on here ever been to a match where there was a dumbfounded silence immediately after a goal was scored? I have, just once. It was THAT goal v Tranmere. The whole of Elm Park went perfectly silent as the ball rifled into the net. Not a single person in the ground that night could believe what they had just seen. It took a whole second before the place erupted!! Even then I thought to myself the silence was weird! It is something I shall never forget.

So go on, prattle away about RTGs, fading memories etc. I pity you, I really do. It was a magical piece of skill and a magical moment. It was an honour to witness it.

Yes, he upset a good few publicans, (including a couple of offspring of same who contribute here), but without doubt, he was RFC's best ever player. There is no argument for those that saw him play in the flesh.

Nice one Strap. Over decades of supporting a team and seeing them week in, week out and in the main witnessing a lot of dross, moments like Friday's goal against Tranmere should be taken for what they are and the memory cherished forever. Nick Hornby once wrote in When Saturday Comes that when he was watching a game at Highbury, it felt as it was the center of everything; the world was revolving around the stadium. That is exactly the feeling I had after the goal; Elm Park was the center of everything that night and nothing else mattered except that goal. When I left the ground that night, it felt as if the whole world should know about the goal. It felt that special.

Some people on here knock the fact that us crusties with RTGs are losing it slightly. Well, I can assure you all that is not the case. If you have yet to witness a 'Friday moment' then I do not envy you. I have followed Reading since '66 and the reason I am still a fan is there is always the possibility of seeing another moment similar to Friday's from the team that I love. It will not be the same, but it will justify the faith and the reason that keeps us watching.

[Royal Rother]

I have seen the best the Premiership has to offer, both live at the Mad Stad, and of course over the years on MoTD etc.

Trust me, no player I have ever seen comes close to RF.

So go on, prattle away about RTGs, fading memories etc. I pity you, I really do.

As someone who never saw RF play I really do envy those of you who did, particularly those who were at the Tranmere game, (and I am really not looking to score points) but level-headed logic suggests that other outrageously gifted players like Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Gascoigne, Henry, Zola and Best (to name a few that I'm sure you saw regularly), might have lit up the lower leagues at least as much as he did, and scored a few more than 52 goals in 142 games in that level.

Hold onto your memories, they should be treasured, but to say that none of the aforementioned comes close to RF is a bit daft really.

[Whistle]

For a non-Reading man the writer on F365 has clearly done his homework, a tribute in itself. There's more on the drugs side of it than I ever recall reading before, though.

I saw pretty well all the home games of his career and a few aways too. He was good, his skill at that level at that time really stood out. But the point of him was he was exciting, unpredictable, no limits. A lot of people really did just go to see him, see what's next. There's never been another RFC player like that. Gilkes, Horrix, Little = not dissimilar levels of ability but as personalities they were just shadows to Friday. That's why the legend lives on. And the early death / lack of TV.

[RoyalBlue]

Clive Thomas applauded and didn't put his head in his hands.
Friday was described as a "strong,powerfully-built man".IIRC He was more of an Ian Rush build ,sinewy and lithe,with skinny legs which meant even more to us when he stood up bravely to the clogging defenders.
We haven't had many greats or legends (we may have had functional teams like 1995 and 2006)and words like "outstanding","great","awesome" and "legend" are used too often nowadays to mean much but this man was all of those to us who paid our £2 or whatever it was then to see occasional moments of great skill in a team of very limited abilities.

I know memories fade with age but I beg to differ on Clive Thomas not putting his head in his hands. I'm pretty sure he brought his hands up to his head in disbelief and I thought I'd seen a photograph somewhere of him doing just that. Whoops, I've just seen that picture again in this thread!

As for £2, I reckon you must have been sitting in the very posh seats for that!

[Ark Royal]

As for £2, I reckon you must have been sitting in the very posh seats for that!

Agreed. My 'B' stand season ticket for that season cost me £18!

[ONLY 1 ROBIN FRIDAY]

Robin Friday is a legend!! The only thing that can be said against him is he quite often kept Percy Freeman out of the starting 11, who really did have the hardest shot I have ever seen!

[strap]

to say that none of the aforementioned comes close to RF is a bit daft really.

Bless him, poor love. You really do have my utmost sympathy RR. I think when to a man/boy/woman those that saw him play ALL say the same thing, it must carry a good bit of weight. I'm struggling to think of a similar RFC player who engenders such 100% agreement. Steve Death perhaps?

I have some sympathy with the argument that anyone of dozens of current Prem players would doubtless seem as good were they playing in the bottom tier today, however, I would like to see them playing Div 4 football of the mid-70s. No Ref protection in those days. IF any of them feigned injury, or swan dived at the merest hint of contact, they would be kicked across the park - AND the refs wouldn't have blinked an eyelid!

No, you have to consider the total context on the game in the mid-70s. As I said earlier, simpler times, but certainly a good deal more entertainling that a lot of the anodyne nonsense we are served up with today.

[Ark Royal]

Robin Friday is a legend!! The only thing that can be said against him is he quite often kept Percy Freeman out of the starting 11, who really did have the hardest shot I have ever seen!

Percy! What a monster! An old-fashioned rampaging centre-forward. I remember in an Elm Park mud bath against Bradford City in '73(?) he hit the junction of post and bar so hard that the ball went over the top of the Norfolk Road stand.

I will have to check my stats to see how often him and Friday played together. What a partnership! Defenders must have bricked themselves.

[Victor Meldrew]

Clive Thomas applauded and didn't put his head in his hands.
Friday was described as a "strong,powerfully-built man".IIRC He was more of an Ian Rush build ,sinewy and lithe,with skinny legs which meant even more to us when he stood up bravely to the clogging defenders.
We haven't had many greats or legends (we may have had functional teams like 1995 and 2006)and words like "outstanding","great","awesome" and "legend" are used too often nowadays to mean much but this man was all of those to us who paid our £2 or whatever it was then to see occasional moments of great skill in a team of very limited abilities.

I know memories fade with age but I beg to differ on Clive Thomas not putting his head in his hands. I'm pretty sure he brought his hands up to his head in disbelief and I thought I'd seen a photograph somewhere of him doing just that. Whoops, I've just seen that picture again in this thread!

As for £2, I reckon you must have been sitting in the very posh seats for that!

Don't want to be pedantic but putting your head in your hands produces a picture like that of despair where the head comes forward-as you can see in the photo his hands are as if covering his ears.
Only ever sat in the seats at Elm Park twice.
One of those was when my son was a mascot for a league game v Plymouth and the other occasion when as a young boy I was watching a Reserves game from the town end one night and it was raining so much that the gateman or whoever he was (no stewards in those days as such) let me sit in the end stand and watch Jimmy Whitehouse score twice.
As for the £2 I used to have to pay for myself,two kids,buy a programme and some crisps and drinks from the palatial snack bar at the Tilehurst End and yes I did treat myself to the occasional Bovril so all in all it may have cost somewhere near £2.

[Ark Royal]

Only ever sat in the seats at Elm Park twice.

My seat in 'B' stand that night later disappeared when the club introduced what they laughingly described as executive boxes. Had a season ticket in 'B' stand right through until the early ''80s when I reverted to standing on the Tilehurst End. Went there every game until the very end.

Did the club offer season tickets for the terraces back in the '70s?