Robin Friday a football genius?

[kenred]

I recently read a brief article about a player in the 60s/70s ,by the name of Robin Friday.Apparently he was another "George Best" which I doubt ,but he was rated a top player but indisciplined throughout his career.Anyone know who he played for?

[ToffeeDan]

Reading - big cult hero there. Think I saw him play once for them!

[upthecounty]

He also played for Cardiff City.If you want a great read you want to get hold of his autobiography.I gaurantee you wont put it down until you've finished

[Wullie]

I was in a book shop in Reading many years ago . Paul McGuigan from the rock group Oasis was signing copies of a book he wrote. But it wasn't about music, but a player i never heard of ... Robin Friday. I bought a copy and have to say it's amazing. He was once sent off for kicking a young Mark Lawrenson in the head. He went into the Brighton dressing room and defecated in Lawrenson's kit bag... not all bad then lol...

[slightfold]

I saw him play for Cardiff on several occasions. I will always remember when he did some outrageous shimmy outside the penalty area at the grange end ( when it was for home fans) suddenly the four defenders were on the floor.He waltzed through and scored!! He was a great talent but a flawed individual. I cant remember whether he got done for burglary or drugs or something like that, but City didn't want him as he was trouble and had bought him from Reading and was too much of a maverick. I think they held his registration so he couldn't play for anyone else but I'm sure the book will be clear on that.He was a sublime talent who never realised his true potential.

[Molineux Phil]

He died very young if i recall in his mid to late thirties.

[upthecounty]

Yes from memory he was found in a flat in London

[stodin]

The book is called the greatest player you never saw. Its worth a read and he does sound like he had a talent. He lived a fast life and died at 38.

Flawed genius? I dunno, maybe he would have been 'found out' had he ever played at a decent level, maybe he stood out as good because football was generally really shit in the 70's

[burnley_collector]

Here's a wikipedia page about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Friday

[Auchinleckian]

stodin wrote:

The book is called the greatest player you never saw. Its worth a read and he does sound like he had a talent. He lived a fast life and died at 38. Flawed genius? I dunno, maybe he would have been 'found out' had he ever played at a decent level, maybe he stood out as good because football was generally really shit in the 70's

Disagree with the assertion that football was shit in the 70's. I think that was when it started to become predictable when 4-4-2 became the norm, but for sheer talent it took some beating. Some of the players around then were wonderful artisans, but tended to stick two fingers up to authority and never got the credit they deserved - until Joe Mercer became England manager in a temporary capacity and gave some of them their (only real) chance at international level. I'm thinking, Tony Currie, Frank Worthington, Alan Hudson, Charlie George - all maestros on the ball but overlooked because they didn't conform to Lancaster gate thinking which wa still stuck in the 1950s.

Clubs tended to share the trophies around then as well, without any club having dominance until Liverpool at the end of the decade. Arsenal won the double in the 70-1 season but did bugger all domestically for the rest of the decade really. Manchester United and Chelsea both had spells in division two. Forest dominated the late 70's believe it or not despite Liverpool's emergence. Best was still playing. Moore was at his imperious peak. In Scotland the Lisbon Lions were coming to an end in the early 70's but still had more success to come with a certain Kenny Dalglish being loaned out to Cumbernauld United (a Junior side) to toughen him up for first team football.

Where the football was shit in the 70's idea may come from was the fact that British teams couldn't live with the likes of Bayern Munich and Ajax who both won the European Cup three years in a row, especially the Dutch with their wonderful "total football"

Managers then included Revie, Shankly, Busby, Nicholson, Clough. All great thinkers and tacticians. Boring? Not for me it wasn't, especially after the Mighty Mariners of Grimsby Town won the 4th division championship in 71-2....

[Tynie Topics]

Was football shite in the 70's because England didn't qualify for the 74 and 78 World Cups and Scotland did?
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[stodin]

Auchinleckian wrote:

stodin wrote: The book is called the greatest player you never saw. Its worth a read and he does sound like he had a talent. He lived a fast life and died at 38. Flawed genius? I dunno, maybe he would have been 'found out' had he ever played at a decent level, maybe he stood out as good because football was generally really shit in the 70's Disagree with the assertion that football was shit in the 70's. I think that was when it started to become predictable when 4-4-2 became the norm, but for sheer talent it took some beating. Some of the players around then were wonderful artisans, but tended to stick two fingers up to authority and never got the credit they deserved - until Joe Mercer became England manager in a temporary capacity and gave some of them their (only real) chance at international level. I'm thinking, Tony Currie, Frank Worthington, Alan Hudson, Charlie George - all maestros on the ball but overlooked because they didn't conform to Lancaster gate thinking which wa still stuck in the 1950s. Clubs tended to share the trophies around then as well, without any club having dominance until Liverpool at the end of the decade. Arsenal won the double in the 70-1 season but did bugger all domestically for the rest of the decade really. Manchester United and Chelsea both had spells in division two. Forest dominated the late 70's believe it or not despite Liverpool's emergence. Best was still playing. Moore was at his imperious peak. In Scotland the Lisbon Lions were coming to an end in the early 70's but still had more success to come with a certain Kenny Dalglish being loaned out to Cumbernauld United (a Junior side) to toughen him up for first team football. Where the football was shit in the 70's idea may come from was the fact that British teams couldn't live with the likes of Bayern Munich and Ajax who both won the European Cup three years in a row, especially the Dutch with their wonderful "total football" Managers then included Revie, Shankly, Busby, Nicholson, Clough. All great thinkers and tacticians. Boring? Not for me it wasn't, especially after the Mighty Mariners of Grimsby Town won the 4th division championship in 71-2....

Eeeeeeee, nostalgia aint what it used to be is it?

A handful of decent footballers who failed to reach their full potential cos of their 'laddish' behaviour does not constitute a great decade of football. I think the point of Forest dominating in the late 70's kind of proves my point more that it does yours. A tinpot provincial club scraping promotion and then winning the league shows how soft the league was.

I also never said the football was boring, just really shit.

[Auchinleckian]

Tynie Topics wrote:

Was football shite in the 70's because England didn't qualify for the 74 and 78 World Cups and Scotland did?

I'm sure there's a wee element of that as well.....

[stodin]

Tynie Topics wrote:

Was football shite in the 70's because England didn't qualify for the 74 and 78 World Cups and Scotland did?

That is certainly part of my reasoning. Blimey, we had all these 'fantastic' players and had to play 2nd fiddle to your lot.

Embarassing!