Did Joe Corrigan..

[Anonymous]

I remember Joe throwing a ball out from the edge of the box and walking back to his goal. He saw all of us behind the net frantically waving at him, so he waved politely back...
As the ball flashed past him into the net he belatedly realised why we were waving.

It was West Ham IIRC and Joe took it to the far corner of the area because the pitch was so muddy. He kicked it up field and it reached the centre circle where a West Ham plyer volleyed it back towards goal.

Because Joe had taken the kick from the corner of the area, he was walking back waving to the fans as the ball hit the back of the net

YCMIU lol

Yeah , i was actually at that game , and Joe made himself look like a bit of a 'charlie' there !

 

[oakiecokie]

I remember Joe throwing a ball out from the edge of the box and walking back to his goal. He saw all of us behind the net frantically waving at him, so he waved politely back...
As the ball flashed past him into the net he belatedly realised why we were waving.

It was West Ham IIRC and Joe took it to the far corner of the area because the pitch was so muddy. He kicked it up field and it reached the centre circle where a West Ham plyer volleyed it back towards goal.

Because Joe had taken the kick from the corner of the area, he was walking back waving to the fans as the ball hit the back of the net

YCMIU lol

Yeah , i was actually at that game , and Joe made himself look like a bit of a 'charlie' there !

I was in the Main Stand that day and as soon as it left Joes feet,Ronnie Boyce lumped it back whilst his back was turned.
Always remember Big Joe just standing there,hands on hips and thinking WTF !!

 

[petrusha]

Here it is:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH677srktkk[/youtube]

It was a really poor clearance, it has to be said. Mind you, though I don't recall them (I first went in 1975, when Corrigan's renaissance started, so only remember him as a top 'keeper), Joe did have his problems in his early days. Put on a lot of weight and was nicknamed 'Fish n' Chips Joe' by the fans, wasn't he? And we bought Keith MacRae to replace him in 1973 because Joe was thought to be so error prone. Still, became a bona fide City legend and a personal favourite of mine. Good to see him in the photos of Gary James's book launch last week.

 

[NeilYoungsMilkFloat]

I think this game finished 1-5 in favour of West Ham. It was Jimmy Greaves debut for West Ham. The story goes that a bunch of players from both teams , Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore etc - renowned drinkers!! -all went on the pop in Blackpool the night before the game. Some of the City squad could not take their drink as well as the West Ham boys. They were rightly hammered ( in all senses) the next day. The Boyce goal summed up the performance.

 

[petrusha]

I think this game finished 1-5 in favour of West Ham. It was Jimmy Greaves debut for West Ham. The story goes that a bunch of players from both teams , Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore etc - renowned drinkers!! -all went on the pop in Blackpool the night before the game. Some of the City squad could not take their drink as well as the West Ham boys. They were rightly hammered ( in all senses) the next day. The Boyce goal summed up the performance.

Yes, we lost 5-1 in that game, having beaten West Ham 4-0 in the league at their place about three months previously. As you say, it was Greaves's debut and he scored twice, keeping up his record of scoring (I think) on his debut for every club he played for; I think he did it at every level at which he represented England too. IIRC, we'd shown an interest in Greaves when it became clear that Spurs would let him go, but he wanted to stay in London.

Can't remember if I heard that story about Blackpool or not. There are lots of stories along similar lines about footballers of that era. I know that there was a famous incident the year after this when Moore and a few other West Ham players were dropped after a night out on the piss in Blackpool when they had a Cup tie there. Maybe they got the taste for the Blackpool nightlife on the trip with our lads. ;)

As far as City are concerned, we'd had the League Cup final and the ECWC tie against Coimbra in the previous 2-3 weeks. Both the final and the second leg against Coimbra went to extra time on ridiculously heavy pitches, so I can imagine there was a bit of fatigue among our lads. And, with us out of the title race, having qualified for Europe already after beating WBA and with the ECWC semi coming up, presumably this game was just a bit of a chore, really.

 

[NeilYoungsMilkFloat]

The story was recounted by Mr. Greaves -I think he mentioned it when he was talking about sneaking into the British Embassy with alcohol to cheer up Bobby Moore during the infamous necklace theft in Bogota( if my memory serves)- he went on to talk about the drink culture in those days and mentioned this game.

 

[petrusha]

The story was recounted by Mr. Greaves -I think he mentioned it when he was talking about sneaking into the British Embassy with alcohol to cheer up Bobby Moore during the infamous necklace theft in Bogota( if my memory serves)- he went on to talk about the drink culture in those days and mentioned this game.

Thanks. Yes, that was all part of the game back then.

 

[mrbandanjo]

Thank you for the video, Petrusha. I knew I hadn't dreamed it. That video had the years rolling back.
Although a lifelong supporter, I was at Maine Road that day working for my mum, the Catering Manageress, and was 'fortunate' to be passing the back of the goal as the incident happened. I probably had an armful of plastic cups or something.
Those big white plastic rolls of pitch insulation you can around the side of the pitch bring back memories too. They were normally stored in a corner by the Main Stand wall, and I used to spend many a happy hour scrambling around in them playing 'war'. Doing spectacular forward rolls and back-flips to pretend explosions.
My mum put a stop to that though... I suppose she was right, it wasn't anyway for a 31 year old chartered accountant to behave.

 

[Always Ali]

Here it is:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH677srktkk[/youtube]

It was a really poor clearance, it has to be said. Mind you, though I don't recall them (I first went in 1975, when Corrigan's renaissance started, so only remember him as a top 'keeper), Joe did have his problems in his early days. Put on a lot of weight and was nicknamed 'Fish n' Chips Joe' by the fans, wasn't he? And we bought Keith MacRae to replace him in 1973 because Joe was thought to be so error prone. Still, became a bona fide City legend and a personal favourite of mine. Good to see him in the photos of Gary James's book launch last week.

My Dad rest his soul, always called him the "Chip Butty Kid".

 

[toffee balls]

Joe lost a hell of a lot of his confidence when he lost several teeth in a very nasty clash.
City then signed McRae to put pressure on him and class eventually shone through.
Met him on the train coming back from Wembley after Stoke last year and he was great with my lad.
Bumped into him again last week in Cheadle and he remembered my lad .