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| Rob Purdie Talking To Eliot Richards And Lance Smith At Edgar Street Last Saturday |
Little did I realise, when
Organic (cleverly!) asked, beggingly on leaving the Altrincham match to
do him a favour, that I'd have SO much material on which to work! You
owe me Graham. Well Rob Purdie you can certainly talk, what a memory
too.. Not a note all
evening. Rob's Testimonial Dinner was held Saturday evening being
compared,with wit, by Keith Hall; interspersed with many appropriate
video clips by James Hughes and organised by Ellen Watkins. Invited
guests Jamie Pitman, John Mills, Tony James and Kitman
Roger all received banter and compliments at timely intervals.
Well Purds, here goes. He started his footballing life with Leicester
at the age of 9 where he stayed for 10 years. He was deemed too small in
stature for the club, little did they realise the size of his heart and
dedication. Accompanied by his Dad he met
Graham Turner (as was common practise) at Junction 11 on the M6. Anyone
realising how far Hereford was off the beaten track wouldn't have given
us a 2nd thought. Eventually arrangements were made and Rob was ours. He
soon earned the name of 'The Dog' from Steve
Guinan as at the sight of a ball he was seen to chase with absolute
energy.
Purds played for the England C team several times in his favoured position of no.10. While at HUFC and HFC surely the only position not played was gk. there's still the testimonial game Rob...making the full 12 including the bench.
Purds played for the England C team several times in his favoured position of no.10. While at HUFC and HFC surely the only position not played was gk. there's still the testimonial game Rob...making the full 12 including the bench.
Many instances memorable to most attendees were recalled and shared with
the nodding of heads and smiles. One, of the Halifax match from which
promotion was gained to the Football League.....the winning
goal-scoring-Greener removing his shirt to many an appreciative
follower(!) and with the skill of an Olympic javelin-thrower tossing the
corner flag poll towards the goal. During our time in League 2 there
was a certain repetitive voice from the crowd every match that
continually yelled," Turner, get Purdie off." You're
out there somewhere mate. Poor Purds had to live with these 4 words
reiterated by his team mates for a good 15 years. Well one particular
match Turner had a blinding headache, from, or for what reason we know
not, but unable to stand another second, Purdie
w a s replaced!
Feeling stale and in need of a challenge he moved to Darlington, but staying in the same league. On playing them at ES resulted in one of my sad/embarrassing moments. With Purds in the opposing side, every time he came towards the ME he was loudly booed. Was told by my male friends it was just a football thing, in other words, get over it. They still tell me the same if I become, in their terms too sensitive! Ah well.
Feeling stale and in need of a challenge he moved to Darlington, but staying in the same league. On playing them at ES resulted in one of my sad/embarrassing moments. With Purds in the opposing side, every time he came towards the ME he was loudly booed. Was told by my male friends it was just a football thing, in other words, get over it. They still tell me the same if I become, in their terms too sensitive! Ah well.
The time under Peters sounded exasperating. One of his many odd
instructions to the team being that you gave the ball away to win it
back in a better area. It didn't take long for most of the players to
become disgruntled. On going to Shrewsbury to test himself,
resulted instead, of him temporarily falling out of love with football.
So many players were too full of themselves and anything not succeeding,
was always someone else's fault. To build up their own ego and self
esteem they even tweeted fans. He returned to
Hereford ( for the 3rd time) not by his own design. Intending to go to
Newport, in the League, a few crossed wires ensued and Foyle insisted
his 'word' was with Hereford. He struggled with the lack of honesty and
principals at that time. Many dark days followed
when the club was sold to the likes of Agombar, accompanied by Lonsdale
and Taylor, resulting in the death of HUFC. Rob spent time with UITC
he believes deeply that affinity with locally grown talent is
invaluable.
Peter Beadle came along, the signing of Mills and Pablo, the great
Wembley trip with discussions as to who should have/shouldn't have been
in that team. A shock result for the 20,000 fans.
Keith enquired as to Purd's high points.... The last 3 years was
the answer... The brilliant crowds, the tight-knit team and the
fantastic fans who wanted to stop and chat on meeting up wherever.
Where next asked Keith... He would have liked to have had some connection with the club, but now his future has to be away from football. Inspite of being a fairly new family man he does get more sleep with his job as fireman! His call to retrieve a cat from up a tree sounds like the 'christening of a newcomer'. On 'rescuing' it, it was found to be full of maggots, but he dutifully wrapped it up and returned it to its owner.
The money raised during the evening from a draw, an auction and entrance money will be decided between 3 of Rob's favourite charities. Thanks Rob for boomeranging back to Hereford. You're like Ronnie Radford a true legend, with pride in your play, loyalty to your club, the best principals and loved by many of us.
Thanks for the memories.