Dean Williams, Hartlepool,Pies

[Draytonian III]

Does any one remember the incident that happened in the mid nineties ,one the strangest things I have seen at a football match

[German Rover]

vaguely, was down at the rossington end,

[Spud]

No but sounds interesting, please enlighten us !!!

[stuey]

vaguely, was down at the rossington end,

Yes it was, i remember it. Some monkey hanger ran out of the Rosso end and ran at Williams expecting him to back off, but he didn't. The fan then tried to ram a PIE in Deano's face, but Deano slapped him and then went to kick the living shit out of him, luckily (for the Hartlepool fan) Warren Hackett stepped in an pulled Deano off him, otherwise the Monkey Hanger would've got a proper beating. Not a guy to be messed with Dean Williams haha.

[Chris Black come back]

What team that was. Absolutely top drawer. Probably on par with the 2008 promotion team. Suckling, Hackett, Wilcox, Swailes, Kirby, Lawrence, Brabin, Roche, Turner, Jones, Torfason.

Brilliant.

[Pintolager]

vaguely, was down at the rossington end,

Yes it was, i remember it. Some monkey hanger ran out of the Rosso end and ran at Williams expecting him to back off, but he didn't. The fan then tried to ram a PIE in Deano's face, but Deano slapped him and then went to kick the living shit out of him, luckily (for the Hartlepool fan) Warren Hackett stepped in an pulled Deano off him, otherwise the Monkey Hanger would've got a proper beating. Not a guy to be messed with Dean Williams haha.

I thought Williams just apprehended the guy until some stewards came onto the pitch to deal with the idiot?

Can also remember an incident on South Parade when a van full of Pool fans stopped and some bloke jumped out of the van and was wanting a fight with anyone that was around. Nobody took any notice of him and he just got back in the van and the van just drove off into town. I never have liked Hartlepool

[Chris Black come back]

It is a freezing cold shit hole with a sub-Belle Vue ground.

[DRFCSouth]

Wonder what kind of pie it was? Can't have been of much quality. Probably ranks alongside the weak as piss tea that used to be served up!

[Al4475]

CBCB

What team that was. Absolutely top drawer. Probably on par with the 2008 promotion team. Suckling, Hackett, Wilcox, Swailes, Kirby, Lawrence, Brabin, Roche, Turner, Jones, Torfason.

Brilliant.

Agreed - we had the makings of a few good teams around that time - what a pity none of em made it up - we weren't even particularly close to going up with those teams either - then W*nkerface Firestarter and his buddies really started fcuking things up!

[Chris Black come back]

I should add Sean Parrish and Mike Norbury to that list as well. Looking at this entirely objectively, every single one of those players was brought to the club by Richardson...

[Al4475]

I didn't say otherwise CBCB - That whole era was very strange to say the least - I really felt when he and his company took over we'd go places, I am sure he had club interests at heart initially but then saw £ signs that were not necessarily there!

Then we know what happened.

[BobG]

Parrish, Brabin and Roche were, to me, about the best midfield three I've ever seen in a Rovers shirt. Yes, we've had better individual midfielders, but those three, as the midfield, were bloody awesome. Who else remembers Exeter away? The single best Rovers away performance I have ever seen. And I've seen plenty. Those three ripped Exeter apart and then chewed up the pieces and spat them out. If Jonesy hadn't got himself sent off early in the second half we would have ended up with double figures.

BobG

[Sammy Chung was King]

That side could definitely handle itself plus played some very good football at times,i remember Jamie Lawrence looked lightening quick at our level a player i really rated,his pace was average when he got in the top league,he had a good career,Swailes what a centre-half he was,Brabin if he had been more mobile would surely have played higher,Dean Williams for me definitely should have played higher up,best keeper i've seen in a Rovers shirt.

[Chris Black come back]

Seem to remember Brabin when he first joined doing a number of mazy runs through the opposition backline! Also remember his absolute netbuster on a Friday night game against Wigan I think. That ball is still in low earth orbit over the M18 somewhere. Different levels but Parrish, Roche, Brabin, Lawrence must rank alongside McIndoe, Green, Doolan and Ravenhill and also Wellens, Green, Stock and Copps as our best midfields of the last 25 years. What a feast we have been served up.

[Chris Black come back]

I didn't say otherwise CBCB - That whole era was very strange to say the least - I really felt when he and his company took over we'd go places, I am sure he had club interests at heart initially but then saw £ signs that were not necessarily there!

Then we know what happened.

Not sure what game he was up to really. He came in, almost immediately put the ground up for same in the infamous advert (even though he didn't own it) then spent the next 18 months putting together a really good squad which on our gates must have been funded largely out of his own pocket, then dismantling the squad and running the club into the ground. Very odd indeed.

[BobG]

He was definitely interested in football Chris. He could spot a decent player too. At the beginning, he wanted two things: a good team, and, to make money. He got most of the first, but he never got anywhere near the second until the very end. I don't know how and where it would have all ended up if the Council had allowed him to do something with Belle Vue,  but once they closed that door he got all vindictive and nasty. He was a vengeful man. He was also paranoid. Indubitably so.

BobG

BobG

[BillyStubbsTears]

These midfields of the past 25 years. Surprised no-one has mentioned the Rankine-Robinson-Gormley-Noteman midfield that ripped up Div 4 for the first half of 1990-91.

I'd had £10 each way on us to win the division that year after we finished 3rd or 4th bottom the year before. By the end of Jan, we were top of the league with that midfield on fire, Rufus rampaging down the left wing, Cyclops and Uncle Jack looking after Paul Raven at centre back and Bruno and Jonny Muir terrifying defences. Bremner sprinkling his God-like genuis over the whole she-bang.

And then it all unravelled. The striker force got injured. We ran out of money. Ranks and Brevett were sold. We finished mid-table and plummeted the year after, opening the door for Firestarter.

Hey-ho. Still got me betting slip somewhere.

[RobTheRover]

I was thinking of that season only last week, BST.  Brevett getting flogged was the "wheels fall off" moment for me. 

I think our next match after Brevett went was Blackpool away, a game we all trundled over the big hill to see with such high hopes only to see a Rovers side whimper out to a 2-0 defeat.  We never looked like the same side again that season.