Geoff Miller
Geoff Miller spent 20 years on the professional
cricket circuit representing Derbyshire, Essex, and
England. He travelled to
all the major Test-playing countries and played with or against some of the
greatest players in the game. To which he freely admits: "I wasn’t one of them!"
In his own words: "I was a comparatively boring bread and butter cricketer who
was only selected in the team to allow all the brilliant flair players to
perform with freedom". Having said that, he did play in 34 Test Matches; 25 One
Day Internationals; 7 Overseas Tours; Scored over 14,000 runs; was captain of
Derbyshire and Vice Captain of England; took over 1000 wickets and held over 300
catches - so he couldn’t have been all that bad! Apart from cricket, Geoff’s
greatest attribute was the ability to keep his team-mates amused with his
hilarious dry Northern humour. By virtue of the sport he was in and the life he
has led, Geoff now possesses a whole host of hilarious anecdotes and stories
about himself and his colleagues which he relates. As Ian Botham’s ex-room-mate
for five years, he has a few funny stories to tell about that!
Joey Jones and Alan Kennedy
Joey
Jones helped Liverpool win two European Cups, two League Championships and reach
the FA Cup final, and took part in a memorable
Wales defeat of
England. Joey Jones was
brought up in Llandudno and was always a football fanatic. In 1975 Joey was made
an offer a life-long fan couldn't refuse a move to
Liverpool, on a Wrexham record transfer fee of
£110,000. Playing alongside Kevin Keagan and Tommy Smith, he helped the club win
European Cups in 1977 and 1978, two League Championships and reach an FA Cup
Final. During his time at Liverpool, Joey also made his first of 72 appearances
for
Wales, naming
Wales's 1-0 victory over
England as one of the
highlights of his career. He had scored 29 goals as a professional player - and,
as he concedes, a few more own goals, being a defender! Following heart surgery
in 2002, Joey now acts in an ambassadorial role for football.
Alan Kennedy
Alan is assured of an enduring niche in football
history as the only British player to score winning goals in two European Cup
Finals. His first was the only one of Liverpool's 1981 meeting with Real Madrid
in
Paris. Three years later it was the
England left back's spot kick in the penalty shoot-out against Roma in their
opponents' own Olympic Stadium, that brought the prestigious trophy to Anfield
for a fourth time. Nicknamed 'Barney Rubble' by the Kop after the character in
television's "Flintstones", he was defender of power and pace with a menacing
left foot, either delivering inviting crosses or unleashing one of his fierce
trademark shots. Kennedy, like Terry McDermott, was a member of the
Newcastle side that lost 3-0 to
Liverpool in the 1974 FA Cup Final. Yet he too
revealed sufficient talent to impress the Anfield staff and Bob Paisley - who as
a boy in
County
Durham used to buy fish and
chips from Kennedy's mother, paid £300,000 to sign him in 1978 as replacement
for Joey Jones.
John H Stracey
John H
Stracey will always be one of
Britain's greatest World
Boxing Champions of all time. He achieved the ultimate in December of 1975, when
he became the undisputed Welterweight Champion of the World in
Mexico City. Before he reached the
age of 18 John won no less than five national championships. When he turned pro,
he had an unbeaten run of 28 fights in three years, winning the British and
European and World Welterweight Championships in a career spanning 17 years. He
still enjoys his T.V. and film work and has appeared in such shows as "Minder"
"Brushstrokes", and "Eastenders". He also appeared in the film "Hamlet" with Mel
Gibson. John played a major part in the success of the film "The Krays", acting
as Boxing Trainer to Gary and Martin Kemp for a full six months. John tells
stories of his
East End upbringing and his exploits in the
ring and his personality, combined with his natural Cockney charm and humour
make him a joy to listen to. He always brings along his cherished World Title
Belt for everyone to see.
Scott Quinnell
Former
Welsh
international
rugby
league and
rugby
union player, who was a
number 8 for Wales,
Llanelli RFC, the
Llanelli Scarlets and the
Lions.
He scored 11 tries for
Wales and captained his
country on 7 occasions in rugby union. Scott is the son of former Welsh
international
Derek
Quinnell. His two younger brothers
Craig
Quinnell and
Gavin
Quinnell also play professional
rugby
union. He went on to represent Llanelli on 146 occasions,
scoring 69 tries in the process. Quinnell first played for
Wales as a blindside flanker
in a 26-24 defeat against
Canada in 1993. He was part of the 1994 Five nations winning
Welsh team. He switched to
rugby
league in 1994, joining
Wigan.
He stayed with
Wigan for two years during this time he won the
league and the Regal Trophy. He also represented
Wales in the 1995 Rugby
League World Cup, he says that the toughest game of rugby he ever played was the
quarter final against
Western Samoa.
Wales went out to
England 25-10 in the
semi-finals. He was selected for the 1997 Lions tour of
South Africa but a double
hernia operation forced him to leave the tour. He came back to his beloved
Stradey Park in 1998. During the 1998-99 season he did no
conditioning work at all as he had rheumatoid arthritis in his left knee. For
seven years he played through the pain barrier with the condition that seemed
likely to end his career. He was part of a Welsh team that won eight straight
games before the 1999 World Cup and then reached the World Cup quarter-finals
where they went out 24-9 to the eventual winners
Australia. He captained
Wales for the first time in a
23-13 defeat by
South Africa at the
Millennium Stadium. Quinnell played his final game for
Wales as a replacement in a
32-21 win over
Canada in 2002 after
winning 52 caps. He was again selected for the 2001 Lions tour to
Australia where he played in all three tests, and scored a
crucial try in the first test in
Brisbane. Since the Welsh domestic
game went regional in
2003,
he has appeared 59 times for the Scarlets, scoring 32 tries.
The Docherty’s Father and Son
A welcome return to the Lincoln
Sportsman's Club first ever speaker from 1979 at the City Supporters Club Tommy
Docherty a football managerial great. He brings along his eldest son Mick
currently director of football at Huddersfield Town.
Michael "Mick" Docherty (born
October 29, 1950 in Preston, Lancashire) is a former footballer and football
manager. As a player, Docherty was a full-back for Burnley, Manchester City and
Sunderland, before an injury brought an early end to his playing career. He
subsequently joined Sunderland's coaching staff. In the 1980-81 season, Docherty
took over as caretaker manager of Sunderland with four games of the season to
go. He managed to save the club from relegation with a 1-0 victory over
Liverpool at Anfield on the last day of the season. They finished 17th, two
points clear of relegation. Since then he has consistently managed to find work
in the game, although rarely as a manager. He was briefly manager of Hartlepool
United between June and December 1983, a spell chiefly noted for the signing of
the ailing Ray Kennedy from Swansea City. He later assisted Dave Sutton and
succeeded him in 1994 as manager at Rochdale, accepting.
Mick Docherty skippered the England Youth team,
Burnley and Sunderland and played alongside Brian Kidd, Dennis Tueart and Joe
Royle at Manchester City. He had spells at Sunderland as manager, Hartlepool and
Rochdale and coached at Burnley, Hull, Blackpool and Wolves - where he was
assistant to his dad. It all started in the 1960s when
Tommy sent his eldest son Michael to Burnley. A couple of minutes into the first
game an elderly Burnley fan asked a group of us: "Which is Docherty's lad?"
Before he could reach for his team sheet to check he answered it himself.
"You've no need to look lad it's the number four, he runs like his dad.
Paul Merson
His playing career has included
spells at Arsenal, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and
Portsmouth. He also played for
England 21 times. Born in
London, Paul Merson started his
career at Arsenal, joining the club as an apprentice in 1984. After a loan spell
at Brentford, he made his debut for the Gunners on November 22, 1986 against
Manchester
City, and gradually
established himself in George Graham's successful Arsenal side of the late
1980s. By the 1988-89 season he was a regular on the right wing, at the end of
which Arsenal secured the First Division title with a last gasp Michael Thomas
goal in the final game against
Liverpool. Merson scored ten times that season,
made his debut for the England U21 side, and was voted PFA Young Player of the
Year. With Merson, Arsenal bagged another league championship in 1991, both the
FA Cup and League Cup in 1993 (Merson scoring the first goal of the League Cup
final), and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. He also made his debut for the full
England side, in a friendly
against
Germany on September 11,
1991. Paul Merson's career was put on the line in November 1994 when he admitted
to being an alcoholic and cocaine addict he returned to the side in February
1995, just before the dismissal of George Graham as manager. Under caretaker
manager Stewart Houston, Merson helped Arsenal reach the Cup Winners' Cup final
for the second season in a row - but they lost to Real Zaragoza, after Nayim
scored a last minute goal from the half way line. In 1995-96, Paul Merson
remained a regular first team player under Arsenal's new manager Bruce Rioch and
continued to play regularly in 1996-97 following the appointment of Arsène
Wenger. In a somewhat surprising move, at the end of the 1996-97 Premiership
campaign, in which Arsenal finished third, Merson was sold to relegated
Middlesbrough in a £5 million deal - making him the most expensive player ever
signed by a non-Premiership club. In all Merson played 425 times for Arsenal,
scoring 99 goals.
