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How good was..... Bracewell? (NUFC Version)

Tooj

by Tooj
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Tooj

Tooj

Posted
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This is in a similar vein to Beren's thread about How highly do you rate....

 

What I wanted to do though was make this thread about ex-NUFC players, some that were a little bit before my time but that the older members of the forum could give their input as I'm a sucker for any form of NUFC history. Especially when it comes to some of our players.

 

So I'll start off with Irving Nattrass. My dad absolutely raves about him but he's a player I know very little about.

 

http://www.doingthe92.co.uk/images/uploaded/previews/U2P12658.jpg

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merlin

merlin

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Nattrass was a class player - he was usually a RB, but he could play in m/f almost as well.

 

He and Alan Kennedy were one of the best FB pairings of the 70s and had Nattrass not got badly injured(by Kenny Burns, a real ba---d during a series of bad-tempered games in league and cup against Brum), he would certainly have played for England. He was a very nice lad, but a bit deferential which meant he didn't push himself.

 

Around 6' tall and really elegant in his play, he was one of the best prospects the club has had - never quite the same player after his ligament injury and Kennedy went on to play for Liverpool and win major trophies there despite not being as good a player as Nattrass. Nattrass was a better defender than Kennedy although the latter had a slight edge in pace coming forward.

 

Both in the side that took us to Wembley in 76 under Gordon Lee.

 

Suffice be it to say that we haven't had a RB as good since...not even Venison.

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Tooj

Tooj

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I want to see the reaction when we get to Tony Green...

 

As I've made a thread on Green in the past I thought I'd go for players that tend to not get as much recognition as perhaps they should.

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madras

madras

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very good player. my very young memories are always of him at right back. very upright in style, a little glenn roederish if you get my drift.

 

the deferential bit earlier is strange as he was one of the leaders in the "player power" cabal pushing for richard dinnis to replace gordon lee when lee left for everton.

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Varadi

Varadi

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Never saw him play, he left Newcastle a couple of years before I started going but he lived up the road from us and I used to hang out with his son a bit. Was a canny lad, and always had all the latest toys - motorised car and shit like that - was epic stuff back in those days.

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TheGuv

TheGuv

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very good player. my very young memories are always of him at right back. very upright in style, a little glenn roederish if you get my drift.

 

the deferential bit earlier is strange as he was one of the leaders in the "player power" cabal pushing for richard dinnis to replace gordon lee when lee left for everton.

 

Dinnis :scared:

 

 

Gordon Lee must have caused uproar when he left for Everton mind. Was it half way through the season or summit?

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madras

madras

Posted
Posted

very good player. my very young memories are always of him at right back. very upright in style, a little glenn roederish if you get my drift.

 

the deferential bit earlier is strange as he was one of the leaders in the "player power" cabal pushing for richard dinnis to replace gordon lee when lee left for everton.

 

Dinnis :scared:

 

 

Gordon Lee must have caused uproar when he left for Everton mind. Was it half way through the season or summit?

yeah, half way through iirc. some couldn't stand him as he'd sold macdonald and hibbitt, some loved him as he had us doing well, we'd finish fifth and get into europe.
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cp40

cp40

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very good player. my very young memories are always of him at right back. very upright in style, a little glenn roederish if you get my drift.

 

the deferential bit earlier is strange as he was one of the leaders in the "player power" cabal pushing for richard dinnis to replace gordon lee when lee left for everton.

 

Dinnis :scared:

 

 

Gordon Lee must have caused uproar when he left for Everton mind. Was it half way through the season or summit?

yeah, half way through iirc. some couldn't stand him as he'd sold macdonald and hibbitt, some loved him as he had us doing well, we'd finish fifth and get into europe.

and get relegated the following season. ;)

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Guest Wally_McFool

Guest Wally_McFool

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me dad raves about Nattrass.  Says he should have gone much further in the game than what he did.

think injuries put paid to him going further.

 

Yep, as merlin says he was fooked in a game with Birmingham and was never quite the same after that. I remember Jinky Jim breaking Tony Wants leg in the first minute or so of one of those games.

There was quite a few cases of GBH and ABH during those games with Brum.

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madras

madras

Posted
Posted

very good player. my very young memories are always of him at right back. very upright in style, a little glenn roederish if you get my drift.

 

the deferential bit earlier is strange as he was one of the leaders in the "player power" cabal pushing for richard dinnis to replace gordon lee when lee left for everton.

 

Dinnis :scared:

 

 

Gordon Lee must have caused uproar when he left for Everton mind. Was it half way through the season or summit?

yeah, half way through iirc. some couldn't stand him as he'd sold macdonald and hibbitt, some loved him as he had us doing well, we'd finish fifth and get into europe.

and get relegated the following season. ;)

if your looking for omens it could point to keeping your manager that created that team  :whistle:
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Wil

Wil

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Irving Nattrass was one of my favourite players of our seventies sides. He was a real classy defender, cultured on the ball but could get stuck in as well.

Had the impression at the time he was not really known outside our club, friends who were supporters of other clubs never knew who I was raving about anyway! (media so different then of course), but I suppose in a way that made a player even more special. Anyway he was one whose quality makes you purr a bit inside and who you feel proud to be representing your club.

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Benwell Lad

Benwell Lad

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Interesting read, never heard of him.

 

Why does this not surprise me. :D

 

I don't know.

 

:cheesy:  ;D

 

 

 

Ehh.. ?  Ian you surprise me. While legend may be slightly overdoing it he was as good as we've ever had at RB and his name is often recalled by those of a certain "vintage".

I'd go along with the earlier poster who said him and Alan Kennedy were our best ever full back pairing, well in my time certainly, although Davie Craig and "Frank Clark knows my father"

- maligned by the Newcastle fans much more than Williamson or anyone else recently, only to leave us and immediately win 2 European Cup (CL) medals, - were pretty good too.

Nattrass was classy and along with Kennedy we had two attacking full backs with terrific shots who chipped in with goals.

It was the era when we really never had England internationals and most fans would have loved to see Nattrass play for his country.  IIRC he didn't but there was a justifiable claim of southern bias back then which probably played it's part.

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