Ronnie Radford

[Gazza]

Sad news today that the man who basically put us in the football wildness for 48 years has passed away. FA Cup weekend so a certainty to be shown a dozen times anyway and probably a lot more now. Got to admit it was a great strike. RIP Ronnie Radford, a real FA Cup legend.

[A.B.]

General Football

[mall]

General football.

[Iain40]

Great goal he scored against newcastle in the cup but ultimately cost us our league status,as joe harvey of newcastle voted for them to replace us in the league by using his casting vote.will never be forgiven in my book it was so unfair as we didnt even finish in the bottom two.

[Suffolk Blue]

Ronnie Radford did not condemn us to 48 years in the wilderness no more than anyone else at Hereford. They did not vote us out. We did that to ourselves by making our ground a near unplayable rubble heap and by giving every Chairman in the Division (who had already voted to save us the previous season) and who hated having to travel up to us each year, a reason for voting to save a bit of money.

As a club that spent 48 years in non league we should accord Ronnie with the respect that he deserves as very much the type of hero that for nearly half a century we sought to emulate.

[McMark]

Ronnie Radford did not condemn us to 48 years in the wilderness no more than anyone else at Hereford. They did not vote us out. We did that to ourselves by making our ground a near unplayable rubble heap and by giving every Chairman in the Division (who had already voted to save us the previous season) and who hated having to travel up to us each year, a reason for voting to save a bit of money.

As a club that spent 48 years in non league we should accord Ronnie with the respect that he deserves as very much the type of hero that for nearly half a century we sought to emulate.

Think your letting facts spoil it for the conspiracy theorists out there SB.

[blumooncrab]

What a goal ! The epitome of the Cup . It may not have condemned us but it sure didn’t help . Hereford won the right to promotion: can’t deny them that.

[Arvo]

If ever a goal needed Alan Partridge shouting an expletive in amazement it was that one.

[pjdaly]

There's apparently another case of possible racism being investigated following last night's match. There are plenty of "isms" around in our world, the most obvious ones being racism and sexism. But I would say there is another massive "ism" that I would call "footballism" where every club tries to blame or find fault with other clubs and doesn't seem to see either the same flaws, or worse, in their own backyard. It wasn't Ronnie Radford's fault that he scored the sort of magnificent goal that every one of us dreamed of scoring when we played. It wasn't Hereford's fault that they achieved the sort of fantasy giant-killing that every small club would like to achieve (the closest we came was when we led Southampton 2-1 only to get pegged back).

Some make the excuse that we only finished third bottom of the league in 1972 and therefore we were robbed. However, we like to gloss over the fact that we were applying for re-election for the umpteenth time (a record number of times I believe) and so the thought processes of those who held our fate in their hands were likely to see a bigger picture than just the 1971-72 season in isolation. Likewise, we gloss over the fact that league position will not have been the only factor under consideration and the minor (???) fact that we had destroyed our pitch and a good chunk of our ground would, surprise, surprise, have been a factor. So we need to look inside ourselves, inside our own club. Something insane happened at boardroom level when they took the decision to destroy our facilities. Our fault.

Anybody reading the above might think I don't like Barrow AFC but only the opposite is true after following them wholeheartedly for 60 years! But the thing is I like to think I will face the truth and accept that we ourselves made crazy decisions that very nearly propelled us to extinction in the difficult NPL years that followed.

So, rest in peace Ronnie Radford, you scored a fantastic goal and your club pulled off one of the greatest of giant-killings, the sort of thing we would like Barrow to do. And while you were doing all these great deeds we were plotting our own downfall. The buck stops with us.

[blumooncrab]

[quote=pjdaly post_id=502241
So, rest in peace Ronnie Radford, you scored a fantastic goal and your club pulled off one of the greatest of giant-killings, the sort of thing we would like Barrow to do. And while you were doing all these great deeds we were plotting our own downfall. The buck stops with us.
[/quote]

A brilliant post - thank you

[Steelman]

It's just a side issue about the Old Pals Act of the time - but not only did Barrow not finish in the bottom two, Hereford United did not win their League either. As I recall it was either Chelmsford or Kettering Town (under Ron Atkinson). Even so, it was still a wonder goal and will no doubt be shown a few times this season.

[behind the goals]

Good post pjdaly and all correct, let`s hope there is no insane decision at boardroom level regarding our ground facilities again that ends our league status in the same season Ronnie Radford passed away. About the Old Pals Act Barrow had finished bottom the season before, all the bottom four had to apply for re-election and the Non-League Clubs put their names forward league placings had no bearing on who applied. At the end of our first NPL Season 1972/73 when we finished 23rd we applied for election back to the league, the Club received Nil points when again the Club had been promised votes from Clubs according to board members.

[Pedro]

I am afraid I held a grudge wrongly against Hereford for a number of years.
The reasons we got voted out of the league were the geographical position ,the lousy speedway track .
It did not help when Hartlepool came here and got bear 2-0 and Ken Ashurst the manager complained about the track.
Thankfully we have a proactive Board now.

[Suffolk Blue]

It was a desperate time in our history. The type of board we had in those days was of a very different kind. Appointed for their local status rather than any real ability to finance the club. Ironically it was the paying customer that really kept the club.going. Football was changing. We got left behind. We are very fortunate to still be here at all. But as supporters for all of those years, we have a shared experience that few others can match.

[litefoot]

Good post pjdaly and all correct, let`s hope there is no insane decision at boardroom level regarding our ground facilities again that ends our league status in the same season Ronnie Radford passed away. About the Old Pals Act Barrow had finished bottom the season before, all the bottom four had to apply for re-election and the Non-League Clubs put their names forward league placings had no bearing on who applied. At the end of our first NPL Season 1972/73 when we finished 23rd we applied for election back to the league, the Club received Nil points when again the Club had been promised votes from Clubs according to board members.

Don't know how accurate it is but this site

http://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/forum ... tt_id=3506

doesn't have Barrow down as applying in 1973.

I think Newport also hosted speedway which might account for their poor showing in 1969-71. If Bradford PA hadn't gone in 1970 then they might well have gone that year or 1971.