Gary Sprake RIP

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SiMamu
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by SiMamu »

RIP A
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dlw10
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by dlw10 »

Another one of the greatest side we've ever had has gone. Sprake, Reaney, Cooper, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Giles and Gray. Madeley, Hibbit, Belfit, Bates and those were all the photos on my bedroom wall for years! Sobering reminder that none of us is getting any younger as well - lost a school pal of mine earlier this year who was only 60.
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Selby White
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by Selby White »

A key part to a great team.

RIP Gary
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PockWhite
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by PockWhite »

Sad news indeed, another name from that great team gone.

RIP Gary
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ChilwellWhite
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by ChilwellWhite »

Sad news RIP.
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Another Northern Soul
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by Another Northern Soul »

NottinghamWhite wrote:We all agree Sprake is better than Yashin :clap:
:D

I was corrected when posting that, Phil, it was something like 'Aye aye aye aye aye, Sprake is better than Yashin' then another line ending in something like 'are gonna get a bashin'' :D 8-)
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Selby White
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by Selby White »

Another Northern Soul wrote:
NottinghamWhite wrote:We all agree Sprake is better than Yashin :clap:
:D

I was corrected when posting that, Phil, it was something like 'Aye aye aye aye aye, Sprake is better than Yashin' then another line ending in something like 'are gonna get a bashin'' :D 8-)
"Brenner is better than Eusabio" and I'm sure Manchester gets a mention in the last line. ;) :D
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NottinghamWhite
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by NottinghamWhite »

Nice article from The Telegraph.
It was just before half-time in a game at Anfield in 1967 that Gary Sprake cemented himself in football folklore. The Leeds goalkeeper had just picked up the ball. Always keen to build momentum with a quick dispatch forward to the feet of his colleagues, he shaped to throw it out to his full-back Terry Cooper. But, just as he was about to release his throw, he spotted Liverpool’s Ian Callaghan was closing the defender down. So, Sprake checked his release. But, to his eternal embarrassment, as he did so, the ball slipped out of his hands and spun comically into the back of the net.
In the days long before ubiquitous television coverage and Danny Baker’s Christmas football blooper compilations, it might have been a moment soon forgotten. Unfortunately for Sprake, the wit in charge of the Anfield PA system serenaded the half-time crowd with the latest hit by Des O’Connor: Careless Hands. It was a refrain picked up by the Kop every time Sprake touched the ball thereafter. It was hard to know what was more humiliating for Sprake: throwing the ball in his own net, or forever being associated with a Des O’Connor song.
Yet, as defining moments go, it could hardly have been less appropriate. The Welshman, who died yesterday at the age of 71, was an obdurate custodian of the Leeds net for over a decade. A brilliant shot stopper, he was also an early example of the sweeper keeper, quick to use his feet and hands to set up counter-attacking movements.
Tall, athletic, with a shock of curly blond hair, he had first caught the eye of Leeds scouts while playing for a works team in his native Swansea. He became an early fixture in Don Revie’s great side.
While at Elland Road, he won the first and second division titles, the League Cup and the Fairs Cup twice. It was in the latter competition that Sprake demonstrated quite what an asset he was. His performance in the second leg of the 1968 competition in particular, when he single-handedly preserved Leeds’s slender 1-0 lead against the Hungarian side Ferencvaros, was astonishing. Some of his saves that night, his colleague Billy Bremner remembered, defied all known laws of physics.
Revie, though, appeared never entirely to trust him. After he allowed a bobble off the Wembley turf to divert an innocuous shot from Chelsea’s Peter Houseman past him in the drawn 1970 FA Cup final, Revie replaced him in the replay with David Harvey. Harvey had no more luck keeping out the Londoners and Leeds, who had pursued the treble, ended up with nothing.
Sprake regained his place in the side over the next two seasons, but when Leeds made it back to Wembley in 1972, Revie again dropped him in favour of Harvey.
For Sprake, this was an injustice too far: he had played more than 500 times for the club and kept 200 clean sheets, a record that suggested he deserved greater respect. After publicly criticising his manager, he was sold to Birmingham City in 1973 for £100,000, a then world-record fee for a keeper.
However, a blood clot on his spine meant he barely played for Birmingham, and he retired aged 30, taking up a position in local government. He produced an autobiography in 2006. It was titled, with suitable modesty, Careless Hands.
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ChilwellWhite
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by ChilwellWhite »

Excellent article thanks for sharing :thumbup: Particually liked the bit that says what was Sprake more embarrassed about, throwing the ball into his own net or been associated with a Des O'Connor song :D
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johnh
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Re: Gary Sprake RIP

Post by johnh »

In the early 1960's I played Sunday morning football for Leeds United Supporters Club for a couple of seasons. The first season we played on the training pitches at the back of the main stand. One spectator, every home game was Gary Sprake. Don Revie then decided that the pitches were getting too much wear and tear and we had to move to a park pitch. Gary Sprake still turned up, usually as the only spectator. He was a great goalkeeper. RIP.
I once played against Don Revie.
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