| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 15:51 - May 12 with 562 views | Churchman |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 14:51 - May 12 by MattinLondon |
Out of interest how was his alleged diving ,or exaggeration of contact viewed back then? Were attacking players doing the same or was he just one of a few? |
I thought it a bit embarrassing, personally. It wasn’t ‘part of the game’ then. Some players, like Francis Lee, did it before Gates even. But nowhere near the simulation/accepted/cheered on part of the game it is now. But you had to be a good player in the sense that in those days, there was a good chance an animal would break your leg if you tried it on too much.
Gates is small. I bumped into him outside PR once and I couldn’t believe how short he was. Chaplin-seque. But he was as strong as hell, low centre of gravity and on the turn gave defenders a nightmare. Where to play him was Robson’s biggest problem but as others have described, he solved that.
He had great control, lots of skill (good luck getting the ball off him) and a helluva shot - went through a phase of scoring goals of the season it seemed every week. Real screamers. 345 appearances, 96 goals for us. He might have looked like Albert Steptoe’s grandson but he was a terrific player. If he was transported to the modern game, he’d walk into just about any team. |  | |  |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 16:09 - May 12 with 548 views | MattinLondon |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 15:51 - May 12 by Churchman |
I thought it a bit embarrassing, personally. It wasn’t ‘part of the game’ then. Some players, like Francis Lee, did it before Gates even. But nowhere near the simulation/accepted/cheered on part of the game it is now. But you had to be a good player in the sense that in those days, there was a good chance an animal would break your leg if you tried it on too much.
Gates is small. I bumped into him outside PR once and I couldn’t believe how short he was. Chaplin-seque. But he was as strong as hell, low centre of gravity and on the turn gave defenders a nightmare. Where to play him was Robson’s biggest problem but as others have described, he solved that.
He had great control, lots of skill (good luck getting the ball off him) and a helluva shot - went through a phase of scoring goals of the season it seemed every week. Real screamers. 345 appearances, 96 goals for us. He might have looked like Albert Steptoe’s grandson but he was a terrific player. If he was transported to the modern game, he’d walk into just about any team. |
I guess in that era where some defenders were just animals a skilful player had to try and get an advantage over those sort of players. [Post edited 12 May 18:12]
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| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 16:54 - May 12 with 521 views | Blue_In_Boston |
He was a fantastic player for us, and I still get a buzz whenever I see him in Durham. We certainly benefitted from his best years but he's loved by Sunderland fans up here equally. |  | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 17:12 - May 12 with 509 views | Churchman |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 16:09 - May 12 by MattinLondon |
I guess in that era where some defenders were just animals a skilful player had to try and get an advantage over those sort of players. [Post edited 12 May 18:12]
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Absolutely. Of one of the most brutal games played in that era from the BBC ‘As renowned Observer journalist Hugh McIlvanney wrote afterwards: “At times, it appeared that Mr Jennings would give a free-kick only on production of a death certificate.’
I actually enjoyed the brutality of it, if I’m honest, for the very reason you give - a skilful player just had to overcome it and they did. When you see some of the old footage of say Trevor Whymark, he doesn’t look particularly big or strong, but he was certainly the latter, knew how to look after himself and he could play. Mariner even more so. He wouldn’t bat an eyelid about ‘doing’ a player if he thought they’d earned it.
Different game then. | | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 17:22 - May 12 with 497 views | MattinLondon |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 17:12 - May 12 by Churchman |
Absolutely. Of one of the most brutal games played in that era from the BBC ‘As renowned Observer journalist Hugh McIlvanney wrote afterwards: “At times, it appeared that Mr Jennings would give a free-kick only on production of a death certificate.’
I actually enjoyed the brutality of it, if I’m honest, for the very reason you give - a skilful player just had to overcome it and they did. When you see some of the old footage of say Trevor Whymark, he doesn’t look particularly big or strong, but he was certainly the latter, knew how to look after himself and he could play. Mariner even more so. He wouldn’t bat an eyelid about ‘doing’ a player if he thought they’d earned it.
Different game then. |
Thankfully the game had moved on and allows the more skilful player a lot more protection.
Having only watched 70s and early 80s football on video I do wonder whether the brutality of the game then made some players lazy. That knew that they could kick their way around the pitch rather than relay on skill and technique. | | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 18:02 - May 12 with 481 views | Churchman |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 17:22 - May 12 by MattinLondon |
Thankfully the game had moved on and allows the more skilful player a lot more protection.
Having only watched 70s and early 80s football on video I do wonder whether the brutality of the game then made some players lazy. That knew that they could kick their way around the pitch rather than relay on skill and technique. |
Not really. The game ebbed and flowed at that time. I’m not saying it was the pace of today’s PL (that shocked me), but it was certainly Championship level at times. The ball was heavier and so were the pitches and even the kit. They’d play in all conditions - mostly mud and sand by December. Diet, fitness, booze were also factors. With small squads playing with niggles was normal.
Certainly at first division (top league) level there was never laziness. In the lower divisions there wasn’t either - they just used to run out of gas on about 60 or 70 mins. One sub of course and medical treatment was a freezing cold wet sponge on places you really didn’t want such a thing.
At the top level, most of the animals could play. 9 of the 11 in Leeds’ great team were brutal but they could all play. Same with the other sides though the beast percentage was generally less. Liverpool’s great team had some scary people, but Smith, Hughes, Souness later, Yeats earlier were top players. | | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 19:38 - May 12 with 458 views | flykickingbybgunn |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 14:51 - May 12 by MattinLondon |
Out of interest how was his alleged diving ,or exaggeration of contact viewed back then? Were attacking players doing the same or was he just one of a few? |
Diving did happen but nowhere near as much as now. You see players going down like they have been poleaxed when all they have had is brush on the shoulder.
Gates played in the No 10 of a 4-3-1-2 system with the 3 Muhren on the left, a deep Wark and Thijssen to the right. A sort of diamond shape midfield. |  | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 12:01 - May 13 with 350 views | Blue_In_Boston |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 19:38 - May 12 by flykickingbybgunn |
Diving did happen but nowhere near as much as now. You see players going down like they have been poleaxed when all they have had is brush on the shoulder.
Gates played in the No 10 of a 4-3-1-2 system with the 3 Muhren on the left, a deep Wark and Thijssen to the right. A sort of diamond shape midfield. |
Diving has always existed. It's the feigning injury and blatant cheating of today that has ruined the game. | | | |
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| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 13:27 - May 13 with 323 views | mellowblue |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 12:01 - May 13 by Blue_In_Boston |
Diving has always existed. It's the feigning injury and blatant cheating of today that has ruined the game. |
Definitely caught on more with the wider influx of foreign players. Klinsmann had a big reputation for it. What gets me is the sheer hypocrisy of defender gesturing to attacker who has dived to get up, lots of mock disgust etc; then applauding his own attacker who has just gained a freekick by doing the same thing. | | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 14:04 - May 13 with 313 views | Rozeeboy74 |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 20:47 - May 11 by gainsboroughblue |
And our very own John Wark. The epitome of 70s and 80s going on until 1996 was it? |
A friend of mine (also a big Town fan) got to mark John Wark when Warky was at Woodbridge. After getting over the privilege of playing against one of his idols, and despite having 20 years youth over Johnny, my mate never got near the ball. He had the legs, but Warky was reading the game so well, he didn't need to get caught up in a leg race. | | | |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 18:07 - May 13 with 279 views | Churchman |
| Eric Gates, 1990. Never realised he played so long! on 14:04 - May 13 by Rozeeboy74 |
A friend of mine (also a big Town fan) got to mark John Wark when Warky was at Woodbridge. After getting over the privilege of playing against one of his idols, and despite having 20 years youth over Johnny, my mate never got near the ball. He had the legs, but Warky was reading the game so well, he didn't need to get caught up in a leg race. |
When I played I was once given the job of marking this really old bloke. I was young, fit but not much good beyond rumbling up and down the pitch all game slowing opposition players up with what I thought was every trick in the book. A water carrier of the worst kind.
I was told the bloke had been a really good player and to stop him playing - mark him out, literally. He looked like an old codger out on a trip from a care home. ‘Is he alive?’ Said I, on the basis that if he was I’d be correcting his limp for him. ‘No problem!’ Said I with breezy confidence.
I never got near him. Not once. The closest was his cheeky smile and handshake at the end while I resembled a broken down horse limping in last at the Grand National. We got hammered. The bloke being the chief instigator and my team mates didn’t even have the heart to take the p£ss. | | | |
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