Robin Friday

[LUX]

he is my favourite ever footballer, the player that got me hooked on RFC, I'll never forget him. But let's not lose sight of the fact that he was playing for us in the old Fourth Division. When we went up in 76-77, iirc he did not do that well in the third division. Around Xmas he signed for Cardiff, who were old second division, played, scored and created a legend there over a few months, then it was over.


Is my memory correct?

[RoyalBlue]

I saw Friday when i was a child and can still remember the excitement of seeing him play. I think that he and Michael Gilkes are my most exciting players to have played for the club.

The Paulo Hewitt book is crap and i could not bring myself to read it. !

Clairvoyant then?!

Perhaps you should try reading it, you would be surprised!

Would Robin Friday have made an impact in the game today ? I guess it would really be down to the man management. He would have been better protected by the ref than he would have been in the 1970' s.

Football focus had a feature on Robin Friday and Gruff from Super Furries speaks with fondness of Robin being a crazy but a great footballer. Cant top that really !

The Friday I remember watching didn't need protection from the refs. Some of his opponents might have welcomed it though!

[Ark Royal]

he is my favourite ever footballer, the player that got me hooked on RFC, I'll never forget him. But let's not lose sight of the fact that he was playing for us in the old Fourth Division. When we went up in 76-77, iirc he did not do that well in the third division. Around Xmas he signed for Cardiff, who were old second division, played, scored and created a legend there over a few months, then it was over.


Is my memory correct?

Close. Went up in 75/76 and he was brilliant at the start of 76/77 (see my Northampton post earlier in this thread). I think the wheels came off after that and Charlie Hurley realised that he had to let him go before he self-destructed. My uncle and I drove through a blizzard to Poxford to watch Robin play his last game for Reading on 29th December 1976

[LUX]

I was at that Oxford game, lost 0 1, late winner.

Supporters club coach.


Scarf nicked on way back to coach

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Can just about remember that goal - memories of that are hazy as I was only 12 - just remember him chesting the ball down turning and it was in the net (Tilehurst End)

also remember a goal at end of the previous season (1975?) when he scored in the last minute Vs Rochdale I think and kissed a policeman behind the goal....

[Sir Roger Blake]

The legend of ROBIN FRIDAY

It’s 20 years since Robin Friday, the patron saint of lower division bad boys, died at the age of only 38. Since then his legend has mushroomed into the worlds of publishing, music and fashion. He is recognised way beyond the fans of Reading and Cardiff City, the two League clubs he played for in the 1970s.

In this 50 page photo-essay Roger Titford traces exactly how the legend of ‘the greatest footballer you never saw’ came about and where it’s turning into pure myth. It crystallises Friday in his prime, examines the utterly different attitudes to the game existing not that long ago and the fascination that the modern fan has with his era. Gloriously illustrated with the best-ever collection of images of Robin in action.

Published in association with When Saturday Comes and available exclusively in digital viewing format for just £3.

http://www.exacteditions.com/exact/browse/378/1224

Has anyone paid the three quid? Is it worth paying for or is it just a rework of everything else that has been written, particularly the book by the bloke from Oasis?

My 16 year old daughter was asking about Robin Friday the other day. She was interested to hear how we came to sign him from Hayes, why he was regarded as the bad guy from football, and to learn that he died and was cremated just a few miles from where we live. The fact that youngsters from this generation are asking about him would suggest that the legend does live on.

It doesn't really add very much but definately worth £3 for its insightful analysis of how the Robin Friday legend has emerged since the great man's untimely and squalid death. It seems The Hewitt Guigsy book was prompted by a Goal magazine article which cribbed from Titford & Dumphy's book about the Robin Friday spearheaded 1976 promotion season, 'More than a Job'. Hewitt is a good writer and a top geezer but his book is purely reportage and Sir Roger Blake reckons that if he got to it first, Roger Titford would have written a much more complete book about Robin Friday. For instance the article picks up on the significance of Robin's near death on a building site: Nothing like a metal spike up your arse to focus the mind. The greatest book Titford never wrote.

[Gordons Cumming]

The genius died 20 years ago today.

RIP Robin ( I trust you are )

[fridays child]

The genius died 20 years ago today.

RIP Robin ( I trust you are )

Plus 1

[Man Friday]

RIP Robin. Thanks for the memories.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

RIP Robin Friday, the best footballer I ever saw.

Daughter was on BBC Berks this AM, there is a grandson, imagine if he became a footballer

[East Grinstead Royal]

I remember his home debut against Exeter, during the 3-day week. Buses were on strike so I had to walk to Elm Park in the heaving rain. It was immediately obvious that we had a new hero.

I was there for "that" goal with my Dad. I remember him (my Dad) saying, "Look at the ref!" as Clive Thomas stood with his hands on his head in complete amazement at what he'd just seen.

I was at Oxford for his final game.

We were a completely different team when he was injured or suspended. In all my years of watching Reading, there has never been a player whose presence could transform a side to such an extent.

Happy days.

[RoyalBlue]

Has anyone paid the three quid? Is it worth paying for or is it just a rework of everything else that has been written, particularly the book by the bloke from Oasis?

My 16 year old daughter was asking about Robin Friday the other day. She was interested to hear how we came to sign him from Hayes, why he was regarded as the bad guy from football, and to learn that he died and was cremated just a few miles from where we live. The fact that youngsters from this generation are asking about him would suggest that the legend does live on.

It doesn't really add very much but definately worth £3 for its insightful analysis of how the Robin Friday legend has emerged since the great man's untimely and squalid death. It seems The Hewitt Guigsy book was prompted by a Goal magazine article which cribbed from Titford & Dumphy's book about the Robin Friday spearheaded 1976 promotion season, 'More than a Job'. Hewitt is a good writer and a top geezer but his book is purely reportage and Sir Roger Blake reckons that if he got to it first, Roger Titford would have written a much more complete book about Robin Friday. For instance the article picks up on the significance of Robin's near death on a building site: Nothing like a metal spike up your arse to focus the mind. The greatest book Titford never wrote.

So what was the great Titford playing at then - letting so long elapse without putting pen to paper for a biography of 'god'?!!

[Trainspotter]

All geniuses are tainted. Robin Friday certainly was. But he was and is a legend. He elevated Reading FC from the ordinary.
I saw his debut at Northampton in a Sunday 3 - 3 draw. He looked special then. His Tranmere goal was pure magic. So were many of his goals - and his antics!
I once met this delightful lady at the school where I used to teach. When talking to her she revealed she was Robin Friday's daugher, Bella. It was like meeting one of Jesus' disciples. I was dumbstruck!
Reading FC has had some good players since the days when Robin played but none quite like him. He was unique. It was an honour to have seen him play.
RIP Robin

[biscuitman]

All geniuses are tainted. Robin Friday certainly was. But he was and is a legend. He elevated Reading FC from the ordinary.
I saw his debut at Northampton in a Sunday 3 - 3 draw. He looked special then. His Tranmere goal was pure magic. So were many of his goals - and his antics!
I once met this delightful lady at the school where I used to teach. When talking to her she revealed she was Robin Friday's daugher, Bella. It was like meeting one of Jesus' disciples. I was dumbstruck!
Reading FC has had some good players since the days when Robin played but none quite like him. He was unique. It was an honour to have seen him play.
RIP Robin

Great insight. As fairly youngish person I have only read into the ledgend of Robin Friday so reading these kind of comments just makes me want to go back in time and see the man play.

[rfcjoe]

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/picture ... e7473.html

Some good pics.

[Gordons Cumming]

The image that always stays with me is this.

Running out with the other players with his long, straggly hair waving in the wind, bandy legs and his socks around his ankles.
His shirt also looked occasionally as if he'd slept in it!

Great skill and a very good tackler too. Amazed he never broke his shins.

[Einstein agogo]

the robin friday drinking game , everytime he gets a mention on this website drink a shot...
you will have liver disease in 2 weeks guaranteed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Well worth adding that it was before the days of the internet, and instant information, the tannoy was dire, if you could even hear it, team news was as listed in the program, and often you did not know the team until they appeared from the tunnel. Most games you would be lucky to see 3 or 4 pictures in the Post and Chronicle, very little television coverage. There was no local radio either, and we barely got a mention in national media. The main knowledge was from being there, and I would say that everyone knew Friday would have been a top league player, had he been the type to knuckle down and conform, I am damned glad he did not.

Rodney Marsh
Charlie Cooke
George Best

Friday was there in the same league, if not the same division.

[RoyalBlue]

Well worth adding that it was before the days of the internet, and instant information, the tannoy was dire, if you could even hear it, team news was as listed in the program, and often you did not know the team until they appeared from the tunnel. Most games you would be lucky to see 3 or 4 pictures in the Post and Chronicle, very little television coverage. There was no local radio either, and we barely got a mention in national media. The main knowledge was from being there, and I would say that everyone knew Friday would have been a top league player, had he been the type to knuckle down and conform, I am damned glad he did not.

Rodney Marsh
Charlie Cooke
George Best

Friday was there in the same league, if not the same division.

Agreed. I know us oldies who saw him play many times get accused of romanticising, overrating him and failing to take account of the fact he was playing in a lower division. However, we have seen plenty of great players to compare him against and he did stand up to such comparisons. His skill was incredible and he added real passion, incredibly high work rate (when on the pitch), will to win and never say die attitude to it. No losing the ball and giving up from him. He would chase, hassle and challenge until he got it back.

Nowadays, the BBC's sports personalities of the year rarely have striking personalities. Friday was a really big personality (in the Daley Thompson style) albeit not an ideal role model for the young and impressionable! Despite that, as a fan in his early-mid teens at the time, I can say Friday always made time to chat with the youngsters and sign autographs, even when he was already late turning up prior to a game.

People would happily pay just to see Friday play. You never knew what you were going to get but you were absolutely certain you would get something special from him to talk about after the game.

[Man Friday]

Well said, RB. I agree with all that. I've said it before but watching Reading was never the same again (as in not as good). As RB has described, he was good with the fans and in return us fans loved him. I'm so glad I saw him for those 3 seasons all those years ago.