Cult Heroes of Rovers?

[Branton Rover]

1920’s Tom Keetley
1930’s Dizzy Burton / Wilf ‘Cocky’ Shaw
1940’s Syd Bycroft
1950’s Charlie Williams
1960’s Albert ‘Yogi’ Broadbent / Tony Coleman
1970’s Big Brendan O’Callaghan
1980’s Alan ‘Animal’ Little / Colin Douglas
1990’s Gary Brabin
2000’s Jamie Patterson / Jason Price
2010’s Rob Jones
2020’s ???

[colfromdonny]

For me, Peter Kitchen, Brendan O'Callaghan, Stan Brookes,Ian miller, Joe Laidlaw

and Terry Curran

[ravenrover]

Bobbie Gilfillan, some games you loved him others you hated him for being too nesh. Scored lots of vital goals and a very underestimated player

[selby]

  Mike Elwiss, the best striker we had in the early 70's and could have gone on to great things if injury had not intervened, mostly overlooked by our supporters of that time I feel, but our stand out player of ability  at that time.

[keith79]

Maybe not now but in years to come people with talk about marquis as a cult hero.

[The Red Baron]

Dennis, animal, brabin, rob jones and joe laidlaw for me
On a separate note can a fellow old timer help me? I have a recollection of a cold Friday night, 7.30 kick off and beating Hereford 1-0 with the portly Laidlor turning on a sixpence and slotting into the bottom corner. But I have a vision of watching this from the Rosso end, could we watch from there in the 70’s?

Yes, I remember watching the odd game, or part of it, from the Rosso. Usually when there were very few away fans, so Hereford on a Friday night would be a case in point.

Joe Laidlaw was also the subject of one of the greatest ever football chants:

"Five foot eight,
Overweight,
Joey Laidlaw's f**king great."

[wilts rover]

1920’s Tom Keetley
1930’s Dizzy Burton / Wilf ‘Cocky’ Shaw
1940’s Syd Bycroft
1950’s Charlie Williams
1960’s Albert ‘Yogi’ Broadbent / Tony Coleman
1970’s Big Brendan O’Callaghan
1980’s Alan ‘Animal’ Little / Colin Douglas
1990’s Gary Brabin
2000’s Jamie Patterson / Jason Price
2010’s Rob Jones
2020’s ???

C'mon Brants, how can you make a list like that with James Coppinger on it?

[NickDRFC]

1920’s Tom Keetley
1930’s Dizzy Burton / Wilf ‘Cocky’ Shaw
1940’s Syd Bycroft
1950’s Charlie Williams
1960’s Albert ‘Yogi’ Broadbent / Tony Coleman
1970’s Big Brendan O’Callaghan
1980’s Alan ‘Animal’ Little / Colin Douglas
1990’s Gary Brabin
2000’s Jamie Patterson / Jason Price
2010’s Rob Jones
2020’s ???

C'mon Brants, how can you make a list like that with James Coppinger on it?

I think anyone who thinks Copps should be labelled a cult hero doesn’t really understand what a cult hero is...

[knockers]

Dennis, Animal and Cramb for me. Really surprised nobody has mentioned Cramb yet as he was a bit of a lad!

[DonnyNoel]

Maybe not "heroes" but I'd chuck Hakan Hayrettin and Mirsad Bubalovic in there as cult figures still mentioned beyond their warranted merits.

And that's ignoring the buzz around the signing of Dominico Tedaldi....

PS - did Coventry ever pay us for Robert Betts?

[VivaRovers]

1920’s Tom Keetley
1930’s Dizzy Burton / Wilf ‘Cocky’ Shaw
1940’s Syd Bycroft
1950’s Charlie Williams
1960’s Albert ‘Yogi’ Broadbent / Tony Coleman
1970’s Big Brendan O’Callaghan
1980’s Alan ‘Animal’ Little / Colin Douglas
1990’s Gary Brabin
2000’s Jamie Patterson / Jason Price
2010’s Rob Jones
2020’s ???

Bloody hell, how old are you!?!

[IDM]

Paul Green.?

Sam Hird.?

[IDM]

we’ve had loads of cult heroes - probably the biggest Charlie Williams - think Football Focus ran a cult hero thing many years ago & Charlie came out as ours - he was interviewed for it - can anyone dig out the clip and attach it - greatly appreciated

After Charlie Williams died, there was supposed to be a minutes silence before the next game at Belle Vue.

This actually turned into a minute of applause, which if I remember rightly was spontaneous, and at the time was quite unusual.  Perhaps this may have been the first time that was done.?

[ditch_drfc]

I'd put Gaz Roberts in cult hero status, was a big loss when he left us.

[keyser_soze]

I think JJ Price is the epitomy. Limited talent but a big character who can do no wrong in fans eyes. Kind of the inverse Lewis Guy.

[NickDRFC]

I think JJ Price is the epitomy. Limited talent but a big character who can do no wrong in fans eyes. Kind of the inverse Lewis Guy.

Except Lewis Guy didn’t have unlimited talent (apart from perhaps in training)

[Campsall rover]

Paul Green.?

Sam Hird.?

Well Sam is from Campsall but cult hero? Think Sam would be very flattered with that status.

[RoversAlias]

To be fair, I've had a few suggestions for Sam Hird on Twitter and here!

Overall we've had 74 nominations that I'm going to whittle down slightly to 64 for a vote - as well as 20 or so others who I would class more as Club Legends than Cult Heroes. Obviously there's no steadfast way to determine this one but I had a *loose* cut off of 200+ appearances and/or 30+ goals, but some over that I do feel fit the criteria (Tim Ryan, Dennis Peacock) have been included whereas some under that amount (Ian Snodin, Rob Jones) I would certainly class as celebrated Rovers legends.

I'll be running the vote on Twitter but I'll try and look into some kind of online form I could use for the forum, for those who don't use social media. Any ideas on that one are welcome!

[RoverAtUni]

Leo Fortune west?

[keyser_soze]

I think JJ Price is the epitomy. Limited talent but a big character who can do no wrong in fans eyes. Kind of the inverse Lewis Guy.

Except Lewis Guy didn’t have unlimited talent (apart from perhaps in training)

Fair! I kind of meant the aspect that he could do no wrong. Sean O'Driscoll was obviously convinced, by both.

[essexrover]

I'd defo go for Animal, Brabin & Gaynor. Also Lee Warren, Rufus Brevett and for his name alone Jermaine McSporran !!! 😀 Lastly I'd Chuck in Willie Boyd & Billy Russell, a pair of Scots who were favourites of mine in the '80s.

[Campsall rover]

A cult hero to me has to be someone with a bit of an edge. A character in the team.
A leader, a winner, or someone who was a bit of a nutter ( in the nicest possible way )

So for me since watching Rovers from 1975 onwards, I would go for
Alan Little, Colin Douglas, Gary Brabin, Tim Ryan & Rob Jones.
There are others that could be considered of course but those 5 epitomise the cult hero phrase to me.
Many would put Colin Sutherland into that group also but to me he was just a bit too much of a nutter.

[NickDRFC]

A cult hero to me has to be someone with a bit of an edge. A character in the team.
A leader, a winner, or someone who was a bit of a nutter ( in the nicest possible way )

So for me since watching Rovers from 1975 onwards, I would go for
Alan Little, Colin Douglas, Gary Brabin, Tim Ryan & Rob Jones.
There are others that could be considered of course but those 5 epitomise the cult hero phrase to me.
Many would put Colin Sutherland into that group also but to me he was just a bit too much of a nutter.

I think a cult hero is a player whose popularity/status exceeded their ability or success on the pitch. Rob Jones captained a league one title winning side (and was player of the season I think) so I’d say he’s more of a club legend than a cult hero, but the others you’ve mentioned are fair enough.

[DonnyNoel]

Forgot to mention Mustapaha Dumbuya. World class for 90 minutes against Nathan Dyer one Saturday in the Championship and just genuinely seemed to be so humble and happy to be a footballer.

[ss1953]

Like all the best ???? ever  surveys, the more recent players get remembered.

Mine would be Bobby Gilfillan  and Stanley Brookes

[DonnyOsmond]

Marc de Val <3

[Silkscarf]

Kieron Brady. Seemed like a really exciting player on the basis of about 3 games on loan when we were in quite poor shape.

Chris Black. Looked a decent enough player on the basis of that game at Oxford. Then he gave up football as he obviously thought 'Oh no, it's come to this, I'm playing for Donny effin Rovers'.

Tony Woodcock. Seemed to be the answer to our prayers at the time. He looked too good for us, and he was.

[RoversAlias]

Like all the best ???? ever  surveys, the more recent players get remembered.

Mine would be Bobby Gilfillan  and Stanley Brookes

Whilst I can't say it won't be a factor in the vote, I have tried to offset that recency bias in the selections for the 64 players with as even a split as possible between what I'd consider the modern era and the past.

When I last looked at the vote so far, the generation difference between Twitter and the forum was also quite apparent in that first vote too - Alan Little is last in one poll, first in the other.