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Todays news took me back to a distant memory before I became a fully fledged Gull - before the yellow bug had bitten.

It involved a player who I would describe (to avoid all the PC Brigade) as not being of a White Caucasean persuasion

He was a striker and we had him on loan from either Bristol City or Wolves

He was on fire for Torquay - hitting the onion bag on a regular basis - and so promotion or at leat the play offs were a possibility .

However with about 6 weeks to go he was re-called by Bristol City/Wolves and immediately loaned out to Bristol City/Wolves where he didnt get a game!!!!!

But it scuppered our chances and he wasnt adequately replaced. (I think I went to one of my first away games shortly after where a woeful partridge replaced him and missed a sitter)

This is my vague memory - perhaps someone can enlighten me on the facts or correct me if my senility has got the better of me

And oh if I am right - its a shame we are not in that situation now - a loanee being recalled to avoid promotion rather than relegation

This could start a thread of missed loan opportunities becuase whilst writing this didnt we also have a good Sheffield(Utd/Wednesday) goalkeeper in the year we went up to the old 3rd Division under Rosenoir (well we got through about 9 goalkeepers that year). He was about 3rd in the pecking order up in Sheffield - was playing blinders for us and then suddenly got recalled.

Any other memories of loanees snatched form us???

Are you thinking of Jason Roberts? Bristol rovers recalled him if i am correct.....

'twas the one and only Jason Roberts, who we loaned from Wolves and they subsequently loaned him to Bristol City where he was underused. He ended up signing for (relatively) big money with Bristol Rovers in the summer.

The pairing of Roberts and Rodney Jack were quite possibly the best front pairing TUFC fans have ever seen, although fans from the 50s and 60s may well disagree, but anyone who has watched them since then would struggle to name a better strike pair I would suggest! They both went on to have pretty decent careers, didn't they?

There have been a few loanees I have been gutted to see leave. Way back, we had a young defender from Coventry called Jim Hagan who made a big impression and then there was Dean Sturridge and more recently Alan Lee, who were both quality strikers.

Even more recently we had young Paul Robinson on loan from Milwall, who also went on to have a pretty good career.

Just a shame Knill couldn't have found someone of a similar ability, although Joss Labadie was to be fair a very decent addition and will be remembered for his positive impact on what has been a truly dreadful season .... whatever the outcome!

In trying to avoid the (pc brigade) You have just gone and joined it, so a bit hypocritical to be honest. Jason Roberts is not, coloured, nor is he non-white or anything else for that matter. He was and still is a black footballer, and kind of wish we could have him back right now.

I went to see us away at Brighton in the 90’s (played at Gillingham’s ground). Rodders and Jason Roberts tore them apart and the result was 4-1 to the Gulls.

Oh happy days...

yellow wrote:I went to see us away at Brighton in the 90’s (played at Gillingham’s ground). Rodders and Jason Roberts tore them apart and the result was 4-1 to the Gulls.

Oh happy days...

Was there too! Roberts got 2, Jack 1 & i believe one of our wing backs the other....... great day away!

CP Gull wrote:'twas the one and only Jason Roberts, who we loaned from Wolves and they subsequently loaned him to Bristol City where he was underused. He ended up signing for (relatively) big money with Bristol Rovers in the summer.

The pairing of Roberts and Rodney Jack were quite possibly the best front pairing TUFC fans have ever seen, although fans from the 50s and 60s may well disagree, but anyone who has watched them since then would struggle to name a better strike pair I would suggest! They both went on to have pretty decent careers, didn't they?

that was one of my favourite seasons, absolutely criminal we missed out on promotion that year. if roberts had stayed we surely would have been promoted. im sure sometimes these clubs recall successful loan out players almost out of spite. its like they cant be seen to have made a mistake in judging the player so recall them when doing well. roberts to bristol city after us was baffling though he hardly kicked a ball.

i will never forget the last game at orient that season when a draw would have done and we contrived a 0-2 deficit inside the first 20 minutes. the second half veysey was sent off but we still managed to lay seige to the orient goal. the greatest goalmouth scramble i have ever seen followed after andy mcfarland pulled one back and had hit the post. he contributed much in a good (little and large) partnership with rodney also. that was one of the few games that has nearly brought me to tears, i was so sure we were going up.

i remember everyone saying through the game and after that if roberts had been with us still we would have gone up. there were rumours wolves offered him to us for 100 grand and bateson said no. yeah, thanks mike, speculate to accumulate and all that. you could see from the first few minutes of roberts' debut he was a player.

as for great partnerships, hmmm, i can think of a few maybe as good-

dobson and caldwell. not together for long, but what an impact, not forgotten after 25 years. dobbo one of the best finishers i have seen in a torquay shirt and as for caldwell there isnt anything i can say except

tynan and edwards. tommy and deano scored quite a few goals between them in a promotion year. i havent seen many forwards work as hard as deano did. tynan missed play off glory due to an altercation with wesley "byker grove" saunders. (tommy put the kettle on, la la la la).

graham and gritton. another promotion winning strike force.

yellow wrote:I went to see us away at Brighton in the 90’s (played at Gillingham’s ground). Rodders and Jason Roberts tore them apart and the result was 4-1 to the Gulls.

Oh happy days...

That was indeed a great day. I was handing out Capital Gulls leaflets. Hells Bells was there too.
Roberts and Jack were indeed on fire.
Happy days.

Didn't Sturridge (Dean) get recalled early another year, only to warm the Wolves bench?

Edit: Sorry CP, just read your mention of Dean.

SkyBlueGull wrote:
This could start a thread of missed loan opportunities becuase whilst writing this didnt we also have a good Sheffield(Utd/Wednesday) goalkeeper in the year we went up to the old 3rd Division under Rosenoir (well we got through about 9 goalkeepers that year). He was about 3rd in the pecking order up in Sheffield - was playing blinders for us and then suddenly got recalled.

Any other memories of loanees snatched form us???

In that season I'm sure we only had 2 keepers, Arjen Van Heusden and Kevin Dearden. Don't recall a loan keeper. I think it was 05/06 when we had about 10 keepers!

SkyBlueGull wrote:
This could start a thread of missed loan opportunities becuase whilst writing this didnt we also have a good Sheffield(Utd/Wednesday) goalkeeper in the year we went up to the old 3rd Division under Rosenoir (well we got through about 9 goalkeepers that year). He was about 3rd in the pecking order up in Sheffield - was playing blinders for us and then suddenly got recalled.

Any other memories of loanees snatched form us???

Think this is the keeper in question. Phil Barnes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Barnes

Do remember him being quality. think it was the 04/05 season in League 1, when we went through: Arjan van Heusden, Phil Barnes, Bertrand Bossu, Kevin Dearden, Paul Jarvie, Olafur Gottskalksson and Andy Marriott! As much as I loved Leroy for what he did with us, his work in the transfer market, admittedly on a small budget, left a little to be desired.