Robin Friday

[Guest Bilo]

I've just been reading up on him on Wikipedia after being sent a link and I genuinely haven't stopped laughing. The man was an absolute mentalist and apparently a bloody good player as well. Only his lifestyle stopped him from making it out of the lower leagues with Reading, just wondering if any of the older heads on here remember anything of him. He only died at 38 as well as his general lunacy caught up with him. They don't make em like that any more, oh for some real characters in the game again. Balotelli, you've a lot to live up to lad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Friday

[Alexikokopops]

Apparently a lot of it is just myth, but there's no doubting he's a mentalist. This might be of interest who anyone who wants to look into it further

http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/6077/38/

[Fosse Boy]

Think Bonehead from Oasis wrote a book on him.

FourFourTwo did an interesting piece on a player called Alan Oakes who was apparently the northern Robin Friday.

[STEVIE B]

There's an iconic picture of him somewhere.After rounding the 'keeper and rolling the ball into an empty net,he flicks the V's at the goalie !! Sounds like a lovable rogue to me. I'm sure you wizards could put the photo on here !?

[lcfc_jme]

"Although Churchill's, described by Lewington as "the worst club that has ever been in Reading", tolerated such behaviour,^[19] the town's fashionable Sindlesham Mill nightclub did not, regularly barring Friday for his bizarre activities, including a dance he invented called "the elephant" which consisted of turning the pockets of his jeans inside out and undoing his flies to expose himself."

Friday was so angry at his team's performance that he broke into the Mansfield dressing room and defecated in the team bath.

Friday's actions became even stranger during his time at Cardiff; after they lost the second leg of the Welsh Cup final 3–0 to Shrewsbury Town on 18 May 1977, the players and staff were awoken in the middle of the night by loud bangs coming from below their rooms. The cause was found to be Friday, standing on the hotel's snooker table in his underpants and throwing the balls around the room in fury.^[51]

lol

What a genuine hero. A night out with this guy would have been fvcking unreal if this is true.

[Guest Bilo]

On another occasion he reacted to the news that a team-mate had smuggled a girl into his hotel room by kicking the door in; later on the same night he walked into the bar carrying a swan that he had found in the hotel grounds.

A 2–2 draw away against Cambridge United two days later secured Third Division football, with Friday scoring a powerful left-footed volley during the first half. At the celebratory dinner after the game, Reading captain Gordon Cumming saw some fluted wine glasses, and voiced his admiration; "I wouldn't mind a few of them for home," he said. "Give us a few minutes and I'll get them for you," replied Friday. Going around the dining room and picking them off the tables, he stole a whole boxful of the glasses, which he managed to sneak out of the hotel and onto the team coach, but much to Cumming's annoyance he then decided to keep them for himself.

The wedding was filmed by Southern Television, before whose cameras Friday, wearing an open-necked tiger-skin-pattern shirt, brown velvet suit and snakeskin boots, sat on the steps of the church and rolled a joint. Friday had invited about two hundred people, mostly friends and relatives from London, who joined in the drinking and drug-taking and ending up fighting each other and stealing the couple's wedding presents, one of which was a large packet of cannibis. Liza later called the wedding "the most hilarious thing ever". "I have been to a few weddings," recalled Rod Lewington, "but never one like that."

Friday began to travel back to London at weekends, avoiding paying rail fares by knocking on locked toilet doors, pretending to be the ticket inspector. When the occupant passed his ticket under the door for inspection, Friday would walk off with it.

With the score 1–0 to Reading, goalkeeper Steve Death threw the ball to right back Gary Peters, who spotted Friday standing near the left-hand corner of the opposing penalty area. Peters passed high and diagonally across the pitch towards his forward, who jumped into the air and used his chest to cushion the ball and knock it into the air with his back to goal, about 25 yards away from the net. As Friday landed, he ferociously powered the ball towards goal, kicking over his shoulder and turning after the ball had gone. The shot flew straight into the top-right-hand corner of the net, stunning the crowd. "I'll never forget it," Thomas recalled, "It was the sheer ferocity of the shot on the volley ... over his shoulder. ... If it hadn't gone into the top corner of the net it would have broken the goalpost. Even up against the likes of Pelé and Cruyff, that rates as the best goal I have ever seen."

Utter insanity and total brilliance in one.

[Guest Bilo]

There's an iconic picture of him somewhere.After rounding the 'keeper and rolling the ball into an empty net,he flicks the V's at the goalie !! Sounds like a lovable rogue to me. I'm sure you wizards could put the photo on here !?

This was dedicated to his memory by the band apparently, seems pretty appropriate from where I'm sitting.

[ajthefox]

...including defecating in Mark Lawrenson's kit bag

he's already won me over...

[Finnegan]

"You've never heard of him" wat?

He's massive amongst the Bluebirds. They love him more than our Earn'!

[Guest Bilo]

"You've never heard of him" wat?

He's massive amongst the Bluebirds. They love him more than our Earn'!

Most outside of Cardiff and Reading haven't.

[Finnegan]

Really? I thought he was pretty cult. I must just be special and clever and awesome cool.

[Guest Bilo]

Well I started the thread but I must fvcking rock.