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How Did They Ever Wear The Jersey?


Ian-in-Oz
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Samson would struggle to make my top 5 worst keepers I have seen at Fir Park. And there is such a gap between the top two and the rest of the field, he barely even registers.

 

1) John Gardiner

2) Howard Samaroff

 

Several lightyears

 

3) The pack

Weeyin, I think we're of a similar age, but my recollection of Sameroff is that he played in 6 or 7 games at the end of a season and had something like 5 clean sheets. have I got that wrong ???

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Weeyin, I think we're of a similar age, but my recollection of Sameroff is that he played in 6 or 7 games at the end of a season and had something like 5 clean sheets. have I got that wrong ???

See my earlier posts, three clean sheets from four games, conceded one goal.

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I Never had the joys of seeing John Gardiner in action as he was well before my time, was he really rank rotten? I do remember seeing some highlights on YouTube where he dashed out his area when under no pressure which gave away a ludicrous goal, I assume this was the norm from him.

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Gardiner is defined by the Scottish Cup Quarter Final replay in 1987 against Hearts.

 

It wasn't quite 'Names on the Cup' stuff but there was a really strong feeling this was going to be our year. We'd beaten Partick, Hamilton at Douglas Park (who had beaten Rangers at Ibrox) and had seemingly done the hard bit by getting Hearts (who had knocked out Celtic) back to Fir Park after drawing with them at Tynecastle.

So no Old Firm, no Aberdeen, if we'd got through no Hearts or HIbs.

 

Unfortunately for Gardiner he was at fault for the late loss in the replay. It was a defeat that really hurt and he was never really forgiven for it by either the support or Tommy McLean.

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As another fan of "A certain age", I wouldn't have Howard Samaroff anywhere near my list of worst 'Well keepers, in fact, if he hadn't been immediately renamed Howard Smirnoff I would barely remember him. John Gardner, on the other hand, still causes me to wake up in a cold sweat on a regular basis.

 

Michael Fraser and Cammy Duncan would be well up my list though :fie:

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I'm much the same, tbh. I thought both Ripley and Long (Long in particular) got off very lightly. Long was very poor, 180 minutes against Rangers aside, somehow managing to concede from a ball that was pretty much out of play in Paisley. Ripley made numerous mistakes, but said nice things on social media, so got a pass, for some reason.

 

Hollis couldn't kick a ball, and was shite, Neilsen put more balls into the six yard box than any member of our team has this year, Twardzik oversaw one of our worst defeats against the Icelanders, with the ball literally going over his head, and also had a starring role in our cuffing by Dundee at Dens, Fraser was just shite, in every respect.

Samson compared to them? He's not a massive step up from any of them, I'd probably put him bang in the middle as shite, but not nearly as shite as the rest.

I'd pretty much agree with that word for word. Samson's shite, but not even close to the worst. Ripley dropped a few clangers but he swung on the bar and tweeted nice things so he is apparently allowed to be a bit pish.

 

Dan Twardzik. Dan played 5 good games in a massively in-form team on emergency loan and was fucking chronic after that.

 

The others are just a load of absolute bombscares. Was it Michael Fraser who dropped in 2 at Parkhead?

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I actually rated Ripley quite highly, yeah he dropped a few clangers but show me a young keeper who hasn't. Generally speaking, he was assured in just about every aspect of the position. The flipside of us getting young keepers like that is that their loan spell with us is probably going to be where they make their mistakes and get them out of their system.

 

We were obviously spoiled with goalkeepers in terms of Ruddy and Randolph, but if you look at what the rest of the keepers have achieved/are achieving since their departure (Hollis, Nielsen, Twardzik, Long, Samson) then it's fair to say he's doing much better.

 

This season he's got in league one team of the year, looks set to win the golden glove (with 17 clean sheets) and even saved two penalties in a game at one point. I'd have him back in a heartbeat.

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I actually rated Ripley quite highly, yeah he dropped a few clangers but show me a young keeper who hasn't. Generally speaking, he was assured in just about every aspect of the position. The flipside of us getting young keepers like that is that their loan spell with us is probably going to be where they make their mistakes and get them out of their system.

 

We were obviously spoiled with goalkeepers in terms of Ruddy and Randolph, but if you look at what the rest of the keepers have achieved/are achieving since their departure (Hollis, Nielsen, Twardzik, Long, Samson) then it's fair to say he's doing much better.

 

This season he's got in league one team of the year, looks set to win the golden glove (with 17 clean sheets) and even saved two penalties in a game at one point. I'd have him back in a heartbeat.

I would agree with all that on Ripley. I know he had a few clangers but it was the first team in years we had a solid keeper.

 

Even the young John Ruddy had a few stinkers but for best part he was a quality keeper.

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Even the young John Ruddy had a few stinkers but for best part he was a quality keeper.

Ruddy was the most brilliant keeper I've seen in my years of going to Fir Park. However he was a tad mercurial. He could also drop the odd clanger. Darren Randolph wasn't quite as brilliant and his best wasn't as good as Ruddy's but his worst was better. He dropped fewer clangers and overall achieved a consistently higher standard.

 

At our level both very, very good keepers but different. Ripley and Long were both decent but inexperienced custodians.

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I remember Ruddy rushing out to make a clearance at the edge of the box and missing the ball completely, leaving a striker with a tap-in.

 

Not at all saying he wasn't quality, but some people would have you believe neither him nor Randolph made massive mistakes. That one was worse that Woods gifting it to Durie, which still gets cast up 20 years later. Yeah there's context and previous performance etc etc...but it seems context is often used pretty selectively when examples are used to back up a point.

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Ruddy was the most brilliant keeper I've seen in my years of going to Fir Park. However he was a tad mercurial. He could also drop the odd clanger. Darren Randolph wasn't quite as brilliant and his best wasn't as good as Ruddy's but his worst was better. He dropped fewer clangers and overall achieved a consistently higher standard.

 

At our level both very, very good keepers but different. Ripley and Long were both decent but inexperienced custodians.

Me and a mate have regular debates over who was the better keeper for us, Ruddy or Randolph. I agree with your summation that some of the saves Ruddy made defied belief but he was definitely more prone to a total clanger. Randolph was less prone to error and was more consistent but perhaps didn't have the potential for the same 'wow' factor when it came to making saves.

 

For me, I'd have Randolph over Ruddy any day but no denying we were absolutely spoiled for those 4-5 years.

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I would agree with all that on Ripley. I know he had a few clangers but it was the first team in years we had a solid keeper.

 

Even the young John Ruddy had a few stinkers but for best part he was a quality keeper.

 

This post kind of sums everything up.

 

Some keepers are allowed to have a 'few clangers' (like losing to Celtic by letting the ball trickle between your legs), while other goalkeepers get absolutely barracked if they punch a cross.

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Gardiner is defined by the Scottish Cup Quarter Final replay in 1987 against Hearts.

 

It wasn't quite 'Names on the Cup' stuff but there was a really strong feeling this was going to be our year. We'd beaten Partick, Hamilton at Douglas Park (who had beaten Rangers at Ibrox) and had seemingly done the hard bit by getting Hearts (who had knocked out Celtic) back to Fir Park after drawing with them at Tynecastle.

So no Old Firm, no Aberdeen, if we'd got through no Hearts or HIbs.

 

Unfortunately for Gardiner he was at fault for the late loss in the replay. It was a defeat that really hurt and he was never really forgiven for it by either the support or Tommy McLean.

God! Thirty years ago now and I can still see the ball come back off his crossbar and one of the Hearts microbes bundle it in. As I recall, McLean was just about to bring on a striker in preparation for extra time and righteous victory.

 

Thought I'd consigned it to oblivion but now it's back.

 

Doesn't affect me, affect me, affect me, affect me.....

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