Memories of season '98-99

John was a joker...now manager, players couldn't take him seriously

 

Scored a great breakaway goal to put us 2 up as well.....

 

Went from class clown to Mr disciplinarian....never going to work ........sithi.

 

I always remember the first away game at Crewe. Newly relegated, good away following and a strong side out. Surely it was just a matter of turning up? We were awful and lost 3-1.

 

He was the clown in the dressing room, went to far too soon , according to Nicky Eaden when Marcelle came back he said " great news on the job John" Hendrie said " it's gaffer now Clint " Marcelle replied " OK John "

 

Wasn't that the only game that Hignett and Ward played together.
Sorry, just seen that Micky butler beat me to it

 

Didn't he do something to Marcelle in the executive suite after a home game? Marcelle had a baseball cap on and Hendrie tried to remove it or publicly slate him in heard.

 

Tony Bullock spoke at a fans meeting at Ardsley House after Hendrie had left and said that he was a great guy but was a bit naive as a manager. He said he had no tactics and just relied on the fact that we ought to be beating teams of poorer quality. His message was, go out there and beat them lads and then left them to it.

 

Poor old John Hendrie had three other big issues to contend with; season long injuries to Dave Watson who was a superb goalie and ultimately had to retire. Georgi Hristov also got a really bad injury in the first game of the season, love him or hate him I'm convinced he would have scored for fun as first choice alongside Ashley Ward. I also believe selling Andy Liddell and Jan Age Fjortoft were mistakes.

The next big miss was our skipper, we missed Redders drive, influence, ability and goals. Van der laan wasn't the box to box replacement for him and Kevin Richardson albeit a great footballer in his time was well past it when we signed him.

It's a shame Stuart MCcall turned us down as I think he would have made a difference. Signing Freddie Ljunberg instead of him going to Arsenal would have also made a difference but we also made good signings in Hignett, Dyer .... Sheron.

If only Danny had stayed or we had looked at someone more experienced to be our manager as that team should have done much much better.

 

Not sure if I agree with that, but yeah obviously there was a connection with Hendrie and Hignett.

 

I thought the Ward transfer dragged on longer than that.
Hendrie made the mistake of course, of naming what he thought was an impossible fee, of £5 mill.
And Blackburn wouldn't go away after that!.

 

Never been more frustrated by a season in all my years as a Red. Total waste of a year. Should have got promoted with that squad and a proper manager. Even without Hignett.

Massive **** up by all involved and one the club has never recovered from.

People sight the Wembley loss to Ipswich as the turning point. It was the non event of the 98/99 season.

The shambles.

 

I know 10 is often used as an exaggeration figure, but that night against Hudds... we could and maybe should actually have scored 11 or 12!!.
Their manager Peter Jackson did the decent thing and came out for a brief after match interview. And I actually felt sorry for him, looking and sounding downhearted like he was.

 

Some days, them.

Having the likes of Ward, Eaden, Barnard, Morgan etc.

Signing lads like Sheron, Dyer, Hignett. Even the signings of VDL and Richardson were top drawer on paper.

We were seen as a big hitter in the second tier for a few years. For the only time in our history.

That Huddersfield first half was about as pure a display of football you’ll ever see. Could have been any opposition that night. We’d have taken them apart.

Year after was mental too. We’d look like the best team ever one week and complete garbage the next.
But competing at the top end.

Will we ever get back there?

 

Speaking of that win at Sunderland, who were about 24 games unbeaten there at the time.
They couldn't handle Ward and Dyer on the day, but Wardy lost it a bit by stamping on their player.
However, didn't he lunge into Ward with both feet to begin with. And the coward Martin Scott then raised his hands and totally lashed out.
I'm amazed we won there that day against those fans and players, giving that sort of intimidation.

 

Quiz question...
Which team did we beat twice at home that season, as we met them in both the Lg cup and the Fa cup.
And another clue, they were managed then, by one of our former managers.

 

Was that the year when we beat Scarborough in the League Cup ?
If it was, then is the answer Bournemouth ?

 

98/99 was midtable mediocrity. We had a little go around October/November and dallied with a Play-Off push. However, that went Pete Tong after Ward went.

 

We had a few shocking loans with Alan Moore, Clayton Blackmore. We also had Pirri and Fumaca on the recommendation of Bobby Robson but I can't remember if we signed them on short term contracts or loaned them. Also the legendary Shaft aka Don Goodman

 

Kevin Ball what a thug he was.