Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: eastie on October 15, 2010, 12:27:22 PM
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Sorry to hear of the death of Malcolm allison today- one of the great characters of the 70s!
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RIP Malcolm.
My main recollection of the man is when his Bristol Rovers side drew us in the FA Cup in 1992-93 and he did a lot of verbal sparring with BFR. I seem to recall H and V at the time did a cartoon of BFR in boxing gear stood over Big Mal victorious with the quote "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" over the top of it. In fact i still have that issue in a box at my moms house.
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RIP
I only saw him on TV last night in the Bobby Moore story..
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RIP Big Mal, great character.
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That big 'floppy' hat comes to mind when I hear his name -
Larger than life character -
God Bless
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Just heard this too.
My memory was also that Villa FA cup game against Bristol Rovers . He was manager after a break from the game, as it turned out it was his last job. Funnily enough Rovers were then playing at Twerton Park the home of Bath City, they had been his first job in management in the early 60s.
The Villa won of course, Rovers were really struggling at the time. Lots of chants of "and now you got to believe us, your gonna get the sack"...which I think occurred soon after.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/world-cup-2010/7891072/World-Cup-2010-When-Malcolm-Allison-led-ITV-to-victory-in-punditry-wars.html
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RIP. Another talented coach who didn't have what it took to be a Manager. And another individual criminally underused by the FA.
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Don't forget the cigar that went with the hat mozza, a great showman and his stints on the tv panel with cloughie and the doog were always lively affairs too.
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RIP big mal.
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oh I was reading thinking it is about Malcolm Everall.
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Ah that's a shame, a real throwback to "when football was football"!
Larger than life sums him up I think.
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I was speaking to a colleague who met him at a nursing home about a year go - he had severe Alzheimer's by that stage and was only having flashes of recollection, which was a very sad end for someone so flamboyant.
Although he had a big personality and played up to it - he also had a very modern approach to football, learning a lot of European techniques which was ahead of its time.
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He'll be sorely missed over here, having managed Sporting, winning the league, Cup and Super Cup in 81-82. It took Sporting another 18 years to win the league again. All the Sportingistas I speak to always speak of him fondly.
RIP
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The very mention of Allison gives me that image of him in the players bath with Fiona Richmond* when he was manager of Crystal Palace.
*Latter Day Porn star and actress.....for our younger posters.
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Just heard this too.
My memory was also that Villa FA cup game against Bristol Rovers . He was manager after a break from the game, as it turned out it was his last job. Funnily enough Rovers were then playing at Twerton Park the home of Bath City, they had been his first job in management in the early 60s.
The Villa won of course, Rovers were really struggling at the time. Lots of chants of "and now you got to believe us, your gonna get the sack"...which I think occurred soon after.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/world-cup-2010/7891072/World-Cup-2010-When-Malcolm-Allison-led-ITV-to-victory-in-punditry-wars.html
Didn't he get under Big Ron's skin after the first game? Did BFR not shake his hand after the second game?
Another example of someone with great ideas for the English game being under used by the powers that be.
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Larger than life, still remember the cigar and Fedora which was his trade mark.
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R.I.P - Remember watching a documentary about his training methods and he used to get Gary NO NECK Owen to run around the training ground with heavy bags to try and stretch his neck!!
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Ah that's a shame, a real throwback to "when football was football"!
Larger than life sums him up I think.
Can I use 'larger than life' for the crap phrases that is on off topic?
A passing moment but really not to perturbed by this. Sad for the family and for them its a shame. That's all.
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Was Dean Saunders off side for 89 minutes of the game at Twerton Park? Or was it only 88?
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Just to add my sadness at the passing of one of the true characters of the game.
RIP, Big Mal.
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Sad
I wonder how big Ron feels? In his book he talks about how much he despises him. But these things have a way of making you feel regretful
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One of those names that brings back memories of football in my younger days.
RIP
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I'm too young to have any memory of him other than him laying into Ron Atkinson (who didn't respond at all) around the time of those cup ties with Bristol Rovers.
Anyway, RIP.
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Ah that's a shame, a real throwback to "when football was football"!
Larger than life sums him up I think.
Can I use 'larger than life' for the crap phrases that is on off topic?
You could, but Allison was one of those characters that epitomised the game in my informative years. Yes it's a crap phrase, but it does sum him up in those days I think.
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Very sad news
In my early years of properly following the Villa from about 1970 when we were in the 3rd division, Man City were always my favourite 'big' first division team. I think I just loved that iconic red and black striped away strip plus they had some cool players. Couldn't say that now
Also very sad to see Sky devote about 30 seconds to this - of course, football wasn't invented when Big Mal was around, a time when teams won things because of the skill of the manager and not due to some rich owner and TV monies. Sky wouldn't really understand that concept...
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I guess he's one of those blokes that if he was involved at your club you'd have a lot of affection for him.
Personally I always thought he was more style over substance, the Fedora, cigars and pool parties with porn stars generating more headlines for him in the UK than his limited achievements as manager.
Fine if you were a struggling club as the likes of Palarase and Bristol Rovers were, when any publicity is good publicity. But not really what the game should all be about at the top level.
BFR often takes stick for the perma tan and champagne image but at the heart of it all he's football daft with an encyclopaedic knowledge of players, old matches and facts- as Bobby Robson and most other managers who achieved any success were. You need to have that almost obsessive love of the game.
Allison walked away at various stages saying he was bored - football always seemed secondary to him.
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I guess he's one of those blokes that if he was involved at your club you'd have a lot of affection for him.
Personally I always thought he was more style over substance, the Fedora, cigars and pool parties with porn stars generating more headlines for him in the UK than his limited achievements as manager.
Fine if you were a struggling club as the likes of Palarase and Bristol Rovers were, when any publicity is good publicity. But not really what the game should all be about at the top level.
BFR often takes stick for the perma tan and champagne image but at the heart of it all he's football daft with an encyclopaedic knowledge of players, old matches and facts- as Bobby Robson and most other managers who achieved any success were. You need to have that almost obsessive love of the game.
Allison walked away at various stages saying he was bored - football always seemed secondary to him.
His relationship with Joe Mercer was Clough/Tayloresque for three or four years in the late sixties and shouldn't be underestimated. That was a great Man City side and he played a significant part in their success.
Agree his ability as a manager in his own right was much more questionable.
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My memory of Big Mal is also mainly from the sparring with BFR... in fact wasn't Big Fat Ron just Big Ron up til that point? was it not Big Mal that added in the 'Fat'?
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RIP
I only saw him on TV last night in the Bobby Moore story..
...or, as BE would say: 'I saw him on TV only last night in the Bobby Moore story'. ;)
R.I.P. Malcolm
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I recall a documentary about him and he used to play music in the dressing room before a game - this introduced me to Arc of a Diver, by Stevie Winwood...I have been hooked ever since- thanks Mal, smoke a big one for me !!!
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My memory of Big Mal is also mainly from the sparring with BFR... in fact wasn't Big Fat Ron just Big Ron up til that point? was it not Big Mal that added in the 'Fat'?
Pretty certain we sang that before Allison.
I thought that stuff at the time before the FA Cup match was pretty lame, just cheap shots with no real humour.
Calling BFR fat is like calling Gary Megson ginger or David Moyes ugly. Accurate, but not particularly witty.
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Pretty certain we sang that before Allison.
We did.
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My main recollection of the man is when his Bristol Rovers side drew us in the FA Cup in 1992-93 and he did a lot of verbal sparring with BFR. I seem to recall H and V at the time did a cartoon of BFR in boxing gear stood over Big Mal victorious with the quote "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" over the top of it. In fact i still have that issue in a box at my moms house.
"Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, mouthy Mal falls in round 3" I seem to remember.
I went to the replay at Twerton Park and remember our lot singing "Allison's a girls name" and "He's only got one lung" whatever that was about!!
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His partnership with Joe Mercer at Man City was genius. Second Division to League Champions in two seasons, both domestic Cups and European Cup Winners Cup in the next two seasons. Even Arab money hasn't yet bought that level of sustained success.
However, as a manager in his own right, certainly in England, his record is suspect. During his first stint as City's boss, his signing of Rodney Marsh in 1972 is widely credited with scuppering a likely Championship. There are also traits which some warm to, but that I think with retrospect were signposts on the journey which brought football to its knees by the latter part of the 80s: self publicity and reckless spending. Fiona Richmond in the Selhurst Park bath and £1.5 million for Steve Daley, anyone?
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"He's only got one lung" whatever that was about!!
He lost a lung to TB, which was the illness that cut short his playing career.
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"muddy pitches, beards, doc martin's to the side of the head, jumpers for goalposts, players driving capri's, star soccer, diving headers, chairmen driving jags, sheepskins, cigar smoke - the 1970's isn't it wasn't it"
RIP Mal
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However, as a manager in his own right, certainly in England, his record is suspect. During his first stint as City's boss, his signing of Rodney Marsh in 1972 is widely credited with scuppering a likely Championship
That's my take on him as well. Poor man's Venables. Decent coach, not a great manager.
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Sad to hear one of the old school (For us oldies football was better then just down to the characters in the game like him)
Could not believe he was 83
Even sadder to her that he was a victim to Alzeimers
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If every Premier League player gave a week's wages to Alzheimer's research, a cure could be found a lot quicker.
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If every Premier League player gave a week's wages to Alzheimer's research, a cure could be found a lot quicker.
And feed most of the worlds hungry!
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Couldn't stand the bloke
Sad to see him pass on all the same