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Post by ostralia on Jan 27, 2024 6:25:19 GMT
To take things back to Ollie O’Neill for a minute. In his Reading preview, Ritchie mentioned they were close to signing a more established player on a 6 month deal, but given our recent results have banished thoughts of potential relegation for now, they felt they could afford to take a longer view and so signed O’Neill with a view to improving a young player.
Nice to know the recruitment department are well organised enough to have multiple bases covered for various possibilities.
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Post by dennisrofe on Jan 27, 2024 10:25:35 GMT
Tommy Johnston was past his best when he went to gillingham and as I understand it he was told that he would be a reserve and was offered what was a pay cut . Thanks for your reply and how we could now do with a ''past his best'' centre forward like Tommy who could still manage to score 51 goals in 93 games ! |
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Post by osoldguy on Jan 27, 2024 13:49:24 GMT
Tommy Johnston was past his best when he went to gillingham and as I understand it he was told that he would be a reserve and was offered what was a pay cut . Thanks for your reply and how we could now do with a ''past his best'' centre forward like Tommy who could still manage to score 51 goals in 93 games ! Troy Deaney anyone? |
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Post by redintheface on Jan 27, 2024 14:09:26 GMT
Tommy Johnston was past his best when he went to gillingham and as I understand it he was told that he would be a reserve and was offered what was a pay cut . Thanks for your reply and how we could now do with a ''past his best'' centre forward like Tommy who could still manage to score 51 goals in 93 games ! In fairness when he left in 1961 Johnston was replaced by Dave Dunmore and he was certainly no mug!👍 |
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Post by dennisrofe on Jan 27, 2024 16:39:11 GMT
Thanks for your reply and how we could now do with a ''past his best'' centre forward like Tommy who could still manage to score 51 goals in 93 games ! In fairness when he left in 1961 Johnston was replaced by Dave Dunmore and he was certainly no mug!👍 Wonder if those two were at the club at the same time ? Would have been interesting to see how the two of them got on playing off each other.
O'Neill on at 69'minutes, replacing Theo. |
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Post by FargO on Jan 27, 2024 20:14:20 GMT
And Ollie showed in the short time he was on that we've bought a player.
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Post by dohnut on Jan 27, 2024 21:45:15 GMT
And Ollie showed in the short time he was on that we've bought a player. I agree. He has the potential to be very good. Let’s hope he keeps on an upwards trajectory. A 2.5 year deal could be smart business. |
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Post by tattyfilarious on Jan 28, 2024 22:16:55 GMT
Tommy Johnston was in my opinion the greatest ever orient player. Younger supporters have no idea just how heavy those old leather footballs were when they absorbed mud and water and they had protruding laces. Well Tommy Johnston could head one of those balls harder than some could kick them. His heading ability was unbelievable, he could glance headers or power them. Most pundits state that the greatest header of a football was Tommy Lawton with Johnston second. He was renowned for his diving headers and I must confess that a few were punched in. As crazy as it seems I always expected Tommy to score two or three goals every game , but when you consider that before leaving for top flight Blackburn he scored 36 goals before Christmas you can see why. He scored 11 more that season and the likelihood is that if he had stayed at the orient he would have broken Dixie deens all time record. Tommy ended up scoring over 250 goals., Tow page article in Football Monthly in the December 1968 edition on Tommy. |
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Post by mrb on Jan 29, 2024 7:55:58 GMT
Tommy Johnston was in my opinion the greatest ever orient player. Younger supporters have no idea just how heavy those old leather footballs were when they absorbed mud and water and they had protruding laces. Well Tommy Johnston could head one of those balls harder than some could kick them. His heading ability was unbelievable, he could glance headers or power them. Most pundits state that the greatest header of a football was Tommy Lawton with Johnston second. He was renowned for his diving headers and I must confess that a few were punched in. As crazy as it seems I always expected Tommy to score two or three goals every game , but when you consider that before leaving for top flight Blackburn he scored 36 goals before Christmas you can see why. He scored 11 more that season and the likelihood is that if he had stayed at the orient he would have broken Dixie deens all time record. Tommy ended up scoring over 250 goals., Tow page article in Football Monthly in the December 1968 edition on Tommy. Thanks for that 👍🏾 |
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Post by osoldest on Jan 29, 2024 10:40:16 GMT
A great read, and as I said it was a set to with later comedian Charlie Williams that got Tommy sent off, I was 12 at the time and he was to me a massive centre half.
For the majority on this site who were too young to see Tommy play I can only repeat that he was the complete deal. Renowned for his heading , he was equally good with both feet. You would think that given the amount of goals he scored he was a haaland type goal poacher who did nothing other than put the ball in the net but this was not the case , he led the line and sprayed the ball about.
Terry McDonald our ex, very good winger who got the winner against Man Utd in the top flight told me that Tommy used to say to winger phill white “just put the bloody ball across, I will do the rest”
Well that definitely worked, whites cross , tommys header, goal.
We will never see the likes of Tommy again at this club and if grealish who can’t beat someone on the outside went for 100 million , God knows what Tommy would be worth today.
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Post by redintheface on Jan 29, 2024 14:33:00 GMT
A great read, and as I said it was a set to with later comedian Charlie Williams that got Tommy sent off, I was 12 at the time and he was to me a massive centre half. For the majority on this site who were too young to see Tommy play I can only repeat that he was the complete deal. Renowned for his heading , he was equally good with both feet. You would think that given the amount of goals he scored he was a haaland type goal poacher who did nothing other than put the ball in the net but this was not the case , he led the line and sprayed the ball about. Terry McDonald our ex, very good winger who got the winner against Man Utd in the top flight told me that Tommy used to say to winger phill white “just put the bloody ball across, I will do the rest” Well that definitely worked, whites cross , tommys header, goal. We will never see the likes of Tommy again at this club and if grealish who can’t beat someone on the outside went for 100 million , God knows what Tommy would be worth today. As I said in earlier post, I missed out on seeing TJ by a few months but I do recall Phil White - who must take some credit for the service he provided from the right wing. Old time “ outside right” and lovely crosser of the ball.👍 |
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Post by osoldest on Jan 29, 2024 15:56:08 GMT
Absolutely, phill white was an out and out winger in the days when the wingers used to stay out wide regardless of how the play was progressing.
He developed a skill of hurdling those sliding tackles, and as stated new instinctively where to cross the ball for Johnston.
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