Ronnie Glavin

The king played in a testimonial game early 90s and the roar when he got ball was like the early days ,I recall reading somewhere I think it may have been mark robinson sat in stands asking why the crowd got excited when he got the ball

 

The only match Mrs G&tB's has ever been to. She doesn't know much about football, in fact the only footballers she can name are King Ronnie and David Beckham

 

Brilliant

 

My first trip to the pig sty. November 1979, with the magnificent Mike Lester scoring the other.

Glyn’s celebration, which involved running away from Hillsboro Kop with Clarkie swinging round his neck, was shown as part of Leeds - sorry - Yorkshire Television’s opening credits for their football highlights programme for ages.

Other thing it was memorable for was the unbelievable amount of shithousery from Clarkie and Norman in particular but others too. Absolutely first class stuff from their Dirty Leeds days which wound up the opposition and crowd to fever pitch.

At the back, Norman and Macca were unbeatable that day. Proper defending. Messrs Helik and Andersen could do worse than searching out the match video on YouTube.

 

It was former Red Mick Pickering.

Fantastic game - wrote about it at length in a post a couple of weeks ago.

All game, their fans had been singing “Ronnie Glavin’s a fat ba$tard, a fat ba$tard.” Not bad for a fat ba$tard.

 

Wrote about this in a thread a few weeks ago.

Rimmo told my old fella the tale. Game at 0-0. Ronnie’ on the bench, desperate to get on. Norman tells him to get warmed up. Ronnie says “I’ll get a goal”. And minutes later he’d smacked in the winner.

 

Hah! I watched 8:27 seconds of Turvey Tyke's 'Ronnie Glavin (Legend)' video expecting a 'goal fest' but saw lots of shots going wide, hitting the post, and not so many goals...Meh!!

Seriously, R Glavin was, as everyone on this thread has said, special. I know his goal scoring record, especially for a midfielder was outstanding.

What I would love to know though is what his assist rate was as unfortunately they did not keep stats like that in his day, I bet that would be up there with the best. I remember the buzz that went round when he got the ball on the halfway line. Unlike the current crop of players we have, he had the instinct and touch in the final third to make the correct final ball decision - run with it himself, or pass - often playing a perfectly timed and weighted defence splitting ball (one or two examples on the video). I know the game has changed but his ball control and short bursts of speed would still flummox many modern day defenders. I was surprised watching the video that he had goal sniffer instinct too, being in the right place at the right time to capitalise on a goalkeeper error or rebound as I only remembered his more spectacular shots and runs from midfield.
Whilst the game has changed and he may not have been quite the impact player he was back then he would still be a valuable asset to any Championship club. If only we had another one like him. Not one player in our current squad demonstrates the natural talent and footballing brain he had. Unfortunately it is not something you can teach.

 

There isn't one.

 

King Ronnie is one in a Billion indeed

 

“Gie it ter Glavin!!!!!!!!”

 

Here’s the Chronicle report from the game in question. They initially credited Walsh with the goal, hence Ronnie was on 92 but always maintained it was 93. Winnie Campbell has backed up Ronnie’s claim to the goal and he’s been credited with it since. Not sure if Ian Walsh knows though

 

Best 45 minutes of football I’ve ever seen that 1st half. Mate at work ( a blunt) had listened to the commentary on radio. And at half time the commentator said Wendy had better bring another ball out for the second half. Cos they’d not touched the one in the first half. Stuart Barrowclough. Was amazing that night. It was Mel Sterland. ( the flying pig) superstar he totally destroyed.

 

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It was indeed Mel Sterland. Local hero and later England player. If he was international quality, I should have had 100 caps. Barra tore him several new ar$eholes.

Agree re the first 45 mins. Had it been a boxing match, they’d have stopped it at half time, we were battering them that badly.

Great game as a whole. A real contrast in styles: one side playing superb total football, full of silky skills; the other playing their traditional kick and rush boot you off the park “style”. No clue needed which was which, even for younger readers.

We should have won. But in a way, it was satisfying that when they’d come back to take the lead and thought they’d won it, the King showed them there’s no substitute for genius.

 

Thanks mate was editing as you replied. After checking the teams. Tore him a new ars3 is a great way of putting it.

 

The only midfield player to wear the red shirt with a goalscoring record to match, Ronnies record in goals per game was Craig Hignett. ( in my lifetime ) I’d settle for an Hignett. Or a Banks.

 

I was at that match. You could actually feel the fear in Wendy fans.