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When I was about 8 years old, it was announced that PM, Warky and Terry Butcher were signing autographs at Solar in Sproughton Road one Friday evening.
Myself and my dad approached down the aisle they were in and I could see Russell Osman was there too so I was doubly excited another Town legend was drafted in. Directly in front me sat a man with his back to me sporting dark, wavy locks and without really looking, I opened my autograph book and said (politely as briefed by my dad) "Can I have your autograph please Mr Wark". When I looked up, it wasn't John Wark but the photographer instead and Russell had been dragged in as a replacement.
Mariner nearly fell off his chair laughing then regained his composure and said "Mr Wark's not here but I'll sign your book for you". I got his signature again a couple of years later, in a birthday card as by this time he was the club captain and therefore Junior Blues president.
I was a bit young for his stellar years here and am finding it hard to pick out individual moments from those early games I went to, but always remember him just being the go to man up top. And looking an absolute nightmare to play against.
By the time I was fully able to appreciate him, he was soon to be on his way to Arsenal for peanuts.
RIP Paul. Thanks for everything and hope England can provide a fitting tribute tomorrow.
Will never forget his home debut against West Brom and the goal he scored. Last time I met Paul was at a tribute night for the Beat held in Clacton and he was telling us about some of the things the players got up to before the FA Cup final. RIP Paul.
He spoke very eloquently on behalf of the players at John Cobbold's funeral. I'm not sure many Town players in recent years or decades have come close to sharing (or even thinking about) that bond between club and community. A very impressive person as well as a fabulous footballer who left many unforgettable memories.
Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 08:53 - Jul 10 by hammo56
Will never forget his home debut against West Brom and the goal he scored. Last time I met Paul was at a tribute night for the Beat held in Clacton and he was telling us about some of the things the players got up to before the FA Cup final. RIP Paul.
Never met Mariner, but I was once in a pub in Worcestershire with HarryfromBath, on the way back from a game, when the landlord spotted the ITFC badge on Harry's coat. Turned out he worked for an estate agent in Ipswich as a young man and was involved in selling Mariner his first house in the town.
Combs Magpie 1979, Mariner, Brazil & Beattie a Thursday afternoon, many laughs and many beers. Never sure how any of us made it home that afternoon but I'll never forget it and Town did win on the Saturday. Beattie was his normal self had to win at everything, cards, pool, darts he wouldn't stop until he had won. Mariner had so many stories I don't think I've ever laughed that much.
Say Hi to the Beat from all us big man
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 10:42 - Jul 10 with 5224 views
My first game was home against Wolves in 1980. Mariner was already a legend by then. I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall and can remember looking at it wondering how a human being could have such enormous thighs! The man was a giant in every respect and we all wanted to be him on the playground. As a near fifty year old, I can’t quite believe how sad I am about the passing of a man I never met. RIP Paul.
It's 106 miles to Portman Road, we've got a full tank of gas, half a round of Port Salut, it's dark... and we're wearing blue tinted sunglasses.
When Liverpool bought David Johnson from us, I thought it was the end for us. Liverpool had a habit of buying their rivals best players and sticking them in their reserves. It felt like they were scared of any competition. We bought Paul but would he be as good as Johnson? He answered that question in his first game for us. Yes. RIP Paul.
Don't believe a word I say. I'm only kidding. Or am I?
My dad had a 'lads walking holiday' booked in Rendlesham where he and a group of his friends were going camping in 1980. They'd walk from Woodbridge to Orford over a weekend. My mum drove him down in the car with all the camping paraphernalia and I came with them, being only six at the time. We got to the bit in Melton where the road branches off for Sutton Hoo/Orford and he was dropped at the pub (think it's now the Unruly Pig?).
Dad saw his mates in the pub car park and they were supping pints at a table outside. One of them said "You'll never guess who else is in there?" and it was apparently PM and a couple of the other Ipswich players having a drink after playing golf at Woodbridge Golf Club. And of course, the pub didn't let kids in, and of course my mum said "How nice. Well we'll be off then" and of course we left and of course my heroes never came out from the saloon bar.
I never saw him play for Town either. Too young. Oh well.....
So many on pitch memories. Cup final. Equaliser at st ettienne. Scoring at world cups for England. As a northern offspring of an Ipswichian dad, I absolutely loved his proper Bolton twang too. RIP Paul.. proper legend
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 11:07 - Jul 10 with 5163 views
One of the oddest things is that a major memory of PM is at a relatively insignificant game. We played Orient at Brisbane Road in a cup game one evening in 1979. They were in the second division and their ground was of course small. We had a makeshift team through injury with Mills in midfield but we’re going to have too much for them.
My dad and I were close to the pitch and we watched PM give one of the most imperious performances you could ever wish to see from a player. He was untouchable; head and shoulders above the rest. Chatting in the pub after with some Orient fans, they were in awe too. What a player.
My dad has watched Town since the late 1930s so has seen them all. Tommy Parker, Crawford and Phillips, through to the present day but for him, Paul Mariner was not only the best Centre Forward to play for Ipswich but the best player. The last bit may be stretching it, but PM isn’t a mile off in my view.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 11:37 - Jul 10 with 5096 views
Awayy game against Bristol City in 1980. My Dad could only get tickets for the away end. I was stood amongst about 5,000 City fans with my blue and white striped scarf and hat. Eric Gates scored and I went mental. One of the City fans said "that kid will be lucky to get out of here alive". By the end they were just talking about what a great player Mariner was. We won 0-3 with goals for Brazil and Mariner himself late on, if memory serves me correctly. Some of the City fans congratulated us on the way out. Great day and Mariner was just such a great forward. Love him always.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 11:50 - Jul 10 with 5053 views
That home debut against West Brom, he was unplayable as he controlled the ball with every part of his body it was legal to do so. Balls came over his shoulder and he flicked them on with a hip, chested balls down so well they were stationery in front of him and ready to do what he wanted with them. Whymark scored four times in that game and Mariner only once but the way he had the West Brom defence chasing shadows meant that he contributed to all seven goals in the space he made for our other scorers.
[edit] After watching the highlights of the game posted by Keno on another thread I thought I had better check the stats on the game and found that Mariner was subbed off for Bertschin with a quarter of an hour to go, so was not involved at all in Whymark's final two goals, other than that he had worn down the opposition enough before going off to leave them spooked. I guess Robson took him off either because he was still building match fitness and adjusting to the top division or because other teams would have observers at the game and he did not want them seeing everything that Mariner had in his cupboard.
Also, as well as forgetting Mariner got subbed I always initially remember this as an evening game due to the floodlights being on almost from the start but I guess it was just an extremely overcast afternoon (which it definitely was for the Throstles.)
My condolences.I'm old enough to remember Paul mariner well and back then he was a huge part of the reason ncfc couldn't get close to a derbie win.There was a bit of Mariner banter but it was purely down to how damn good he was and we respected him for what he was namely a bloody good centre forward. RIP from us north of the border.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 12:04 - Jul 10 with 5016 views
Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 08:53 - Jul 10 by hammo56
Will never forget his home debut against West Brom and the goal he scored. Last time I met Paul was at a tribute night for the Beat held in Clacton and he was telling us about some of the things the players got up to before the FA Cup final. RIP Paul.
Me too. 7-0 debut. What a night.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 12:06 - Jul 10 with 5016 views
Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 12:02 - Jul 10 by yoda
My condolences.I'm old enough to remember Paul mariner well and back then he was a huge part of the reason ncfc couldn't get close to a derbie win.There was a bit of Mariner banter but it was purely down to how damn good he was and we respected him for what he was namely a bloody good centre forward. RIP from us north of the border.
Just wanted to pass on my condolences, probably saw him play against QPR for Arsenal more than Ipswich, saw him play several times for England,always thought he was one of those strikers that If he got on the end of a cross hed put it away. Always came across as a nice fella in interviews, was shocked when the newscaster said he was 68, still far too young. RIP
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 13:02 - Jul 10 with 4928 views
Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 11:50 - Jul 10 by WeWereZombies
That home debut against West Brom, he was unplayable as he controlled the ball with every part of his body it was legal to do so. Balls came over his shoulder and he flicked them on with a hip, chested balls down so well they were stationery in front of him and ready to do what he wanted with them. Whymark scored four times in that game and Mariner only once but the way he had the West Brom defence chasing shadows meant that he contributed to all seven goals in the space he made for our other scorers.
[edit] After watching the highlights of the game posted by Keno on another thread I thought I had better check the stats on the game and found that Mariner was subbed off for Bertschin with a quarter of an hour to go, so was not involved at all in Whymark's final two goals, other than that he had worn down the opposition enough before going off to leave them spooked. I guess Robson took him off either because he was still building match fitness and adjusting to the top division or because other teams would have observers at the game and he did not want them seeing everything that Mariner had in his cupboard.
Also, as well as forgetting Mariner got subbed I always initially remember this as an evening game due to the floodlights being on almost from the start but I guess it was just an extremely overcast afternoon (which it definitely was for the Throstles.)
[Post edited 10 Jul 2021 13:04]
I was fortunate enough to be at his debut and what a game that was! Terrific player, just such a shame he just missed out on a Division One winners medal with us.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 13:28 - Jul 10 with 4862 views
Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 11:37 - Jul 10 by Oldboy
Awayy game against Bristol City in 1980. My Dad could only get tickets for the away end. I was stood amongst about 5,000 City fans with my blue and white striped scarf and hat. Eric Gates scored and I went mental. One of the City fans said "that kid will be lucky to get out of here alive". By the end they were just talking about what a great player Mariner was. We won 0-3 with goals for Brazil and Mariner himself late on, if memory serves me correctly. Some of the City fans congratulated us on the way out. Great day and Mariner was just such a great forward. Love him always.
I was at that game too! We sat in that stand with the rather odd wall towards the bottom of it amongst the BC lot. We absolutely smashed them with PM doing much of the smashing, and after the game they busied themselves chucking stones, rocks and concrete at the board room windows.
We played them in the cup the following week and we went to that too. In a narrower game we won 2-1 but with more Ipswich supporters it was a little more ….’lively’. Corralled and escorted out, bottles thrown etc, but by the standards of the day, Ashton Gate was a pretty safe place to go and Bristol is a nice city too.
[Post edited 10 Jul 2021 13:33]
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 14:47 - Jul 10 with 4755 views
I remember going to a game at Highbury, and on the tube all the Arsenal fans in my carriage were singing a derogatory song about him. But when it got to the end, one of them said 'Fair enough, but wouldn't we just love to have him' and they all nodded a bit sheepishly. (And of course, he did sign for them, after even Butcher had gone.)
I'm not even sure if it really happened, but I remember him missing a chance in front of the North Stand for Arsenal, but pretending to think he'd scored and celebrating just to join the 'pantomime villain' atmosphere of the evening.
I also loved his accent, and when I was young I didn't realise it was Lancashire and thought that that's how people must speak in Plymouth.
TWTD
[Post edited 10 Jul 2021 15:02]
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 14:54 - Jul 10 with 4733 views
Paul Mariner is the reason I and many other young kids had a mullet. I can think of no greater example of how much of a hero he must have been to us all.
RIP to my first footballing wannabe. Playing Wembley, 3 and in, I was Paul Mariner and that was that.
Although I said earlier he was my hero growing up, originally it was Jonty for a couple of years until Paul turned up but it didn’t take long to get over what I’d thought was a huge loss. The goal on his debut v West Brom of course but the big one early on was his winner v Liverpool a few weeks later. Good shot on him and a wonderful header of the ball. He also used to take a bit of roughing up from the bigger centre backs of the day but could always hold his own and whenever fouled used to just get up, walk away and get on with the game. Never any histrionics or arguments, just played the game, RIP Paul.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 15:45 - Jul 10 with 4634 views
Watch footage of Eastville 78’. He moves over that ice like Christopher Dean. Used to watch training in school hols, right up against the white lines on Constantine Road, they used to batter each other! Always had time for us even after a heavy training session, as did they all in that era. One of the. Wry best.
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 16:36 - Jul 10 with 4579 views
Never met Paul Mariner myself but thought I’d share this story a friend from a chat group sent me this morning after hearing the sad news.
„Very sad about Mariner, RIP, remember a school trip to watch him training. Should have been in Plymouth but the training ground was waterlogged and we went on a wild goose chase to find them (The team); ended up in a field in Dartmoor in the pouring rain watching them. Mothers and grandmothers had been knitting green and white scarves and hats for weeks. We sold him (Mariner) and got relegated the next season
Mate of mine changed his support from Argyle to Ipswich because of him“
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Paul Mariner memories.....share away on 18:42 - Jul 10 with 4383 views
Desperately sad news this weekend. Lucky enough to have known Paul & what a lovely man he was. His goal took England to the 82 World Cup. We will pay tribute on our Final preview show tonight 10.55 @ITV. #RIPMarrershttps://t.co/ELlCK2yTpY
@markpougatch Desperately sad news this weekend. Lucky enough to have known Paul & what a lovely man he was. His goal took England to the 82 World Cup. We will pay tribute on our Final preview show tonight 10.55 @ITV. #RIPMarrers
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