Anthony Gerrard..

[Rjk]

They started 5 games together as a centreback partnership. He partnered Gabor Gyepes more often. First time was the 2-1 win over the Jacks. He got a bump on the head against Sheffield Wednesday, Mark Hudson came on as sub and kept his place. Blake was mainly used as a right back though was dependable enough in midfield as well. Wasn't there someone on here who kept touting Blake as a holding midfielder?

I can remember a post on here touting a midfield pairing of Blake and McNaughton.
hilarious, at the time that would have meant dropping Steve mcphail

[cardiff55]

I have watched it now and it's very funny. But he must have been a nightmare to manage. Shame it never got as far as 2012 and the penalty miss against Liverpool. I wonder what he would have to say about that?! It was probably Dave Jones' fault....and he wasn't manager by then.

[Rjk]

I remember people accusing him of missing on purpose - ridiculous.
I'm sure he was more gutted about it than any of the fans

[Tuerto]

I have watched it now and it's very funny. But he must have been a nightmare to manage. Shame it never got as far as 2012 and the penalty miss against Liverpool. I wonder what he would have to say about that?! It was probably Dave Jones' fault....and he wasn't manager by then.

There's a second part over the next couple of days.

[lardy]

I remember people accusing him of missing on purpose - ridiculous.
I'm sure he was more gutted about it than any of the fans

People still believe that now - that he hit the post deliberately.

[Jordi Culé]

Im going to go off on a Blue Matt style tangent here but outside the Gurnos Social Club they have 30 foot banners of Merthyrs favourite sporting sons. The chap from out of the area who bought the club thought it would be a nice touch. Jonny Owen, Howard Winstone, Kerry Hope (Boxers who won World or European titles), Rob Sidoli (Welsh rugby international) and....Darcy ****ing Blake . Its bizarre.

Blake wasnt anything special compared to many footballers from Merthyr whove had decent pro careers, isnt even from Merthyr and yet Jason Bowen and Mark Pembridge are actually from the Gurnos Estate and in Pembridge case had a terrific career and actually lived 50 yards from the club!?!? Most insulting.

Talking of Pembridge and ability and attitude, he got every drop out of the ability he had because he had the right attitude. There are many players in Merthyr around the same age who reckoned they were better junior players than Pembridge and still say he wasnt anything special They could have made it if they didnt hit the booze, chasing women.etc if you listen to them but they havent had 50+ caps for Wales and had a career playing for the likes of Everton and Benfica.

When Chris Wilder come out with his comments a couple of weeks ago I chuckled to myself and thought of Pembridge.

Played with and against Pembridge and his attitude was extremely professional even as a kid. His discipline was total and at that age he could be an utter pain in the arse to play with or against.

His left foot stood out a mile, the goal he scored in this thread were regular occurences.

Merthyr is blessed with people who day they could've have made it. It amazes me how many either blame chasing skirt and booze to the infamous dodgy knee.

Back to Pembridge, best player to come out of Merthyr.

The End.

Darcy Blake outside the Gurnos club*laughing*? you should be having a word for dissing your family.

[J R Hartley]

Tredegar I think

New Tredegar its about 10 miles away from the Gurnos

[BLUETIT]

Gareth Abraham, was another Merthyr boy, who was ok in the lower divisions

[J R Hartley]

Blake was a very talented utility player and he could certainly pass, could have been a decent championship player .....in fact .....he was !

Another merthyr boy whose name escapes me wound up the North Bank by doing the ayatollah in front of them after scoring a goal ......from pentrebach

Wonder what happened to him ....went to Yeovil I think ........ask your spurs mates

Gavin Williams. Went on to play for West Ham, both Bristol clubs, Ipswich. Was with Cardiff as a kid. Hes now manager of Merthyr.

Pentrebach have produced some decent sportsmen over the years for such a small village. Williams along with his 2 brothers and 2 cousins all played rugby or football professionally.

[J R Hartley]

Gareth Abraham, was another Merthyr boy, who was ok in the lower divisions

Mark Walton, Steve Jenkins.

[J R Hartley]

Blake was a very talented utility player and he could certainly pass, could have been a decent championship player .....in fact .....he was !

Another merthyr boy whose name escapes me wound up the North Bank by doing the ayatollah in front of them after scoring a goal ......from pentrebach

Wonder what happened to him ....went to Yeovil I think ........ask your spurs mates

The problem with you Sludge, you are stuck in the dungeon days.

Darcy Blake got stuck in, thats probably why you liked him, when I say he couldnt pass obviously he could pass to a certain degree but not to the level required in Championship football, not in central midfield. He couldnt pass and dictate a game like a Scimeca, McPhail or a Whittingham. Thats the sort of level required when he was with Cardiff. To suggest he could is an absolute nonsense and I dont care for your single case examples like him having a good game once away to West Brom.

[J R Hartley]

Played with and against Pembridge and his attitude was extremely professional even as a kid. His discipline was total and at that age he could be an utter pain in the arse to play with or against.

His left foot stood out a mile, the goal he scored in this thread were regular occurences.

Merthyr is blessed with people who day they could've have made it. It amazes me how many either blame chasing skirt and booze to the infamous dodgy knee.

Back to Pembridge, best player to come out of Merthyr.

The End.

Darcy Blake outside the Gurnos club*laughing*? you should be having a word for dissing your family.

Lovely left foot which sometimes gets overlooked because he had a reputation for being a dogged workhorse. He could play as well.

He was playing mens football for Hoovers in the Welsh League at 15 to gain experience. Everything was geared up to making it as a professional and he got his rewards, fair play.

Personally, I think with the ability my cousin had I think he under achieved in his career but like has been said on this thread youve got to have the right attitude as well. He was too laid back, some would say a little lazy, thats probably why the Cardiff crowd took more to Leggy than Bows because Leggy was all action and 110% every game.

[dembethewarrior]

Gerrard is 34 now and only played 10 games for Chesterfield last season. I can see why.

Because he's a decent championship defender and it's below his level so he doesn't bother much?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

The problem with you Sludge, you are stuck in the dungeon days.

Darcy Blake got stuck in, thats probably why you liked him, when I say he couldnt pass obviously he could pass to a certain degree but not to the level required in Championship football, not in central midfield. He couldnt pass and dictate a game like a Scimeca, McPhail or a Whittingham. Thats the sort of level required when he was with Cardiff. To suggest he could is an absolute nonsense and I dont care for your single case examples like him having a good game once away to West Brom.

Sludge went into mourning when Willie Boland left the club. He talked for years about how we would have been better with him in the team.

[Jordi Culé]

Lovely left foot which sometimes gets overlooked because he had a reputation for being a dogged workhorse. He could play as well.

He was playing mens football for Hoovers in the Welsh League at 15 to gain experience. Everything was geared up to making it as a professional and he got his rewards, fair play.

Personally, I think with the ability my cousin had I think he under achieved in his career but like has been said on this thread youve got to have the right attitude as well. He was too laid back, some would say a little lazy, thats probably why the Cardiff crowd took more to Leggy than Bows because Leggy was all action and 110% every game.

Jason was the most skillful lad I played with from Town. When he played in front of you it was easy to pick him out as he knew where to be, go and do something productive with it.

Always was a nice lad butt, still is obviously.

[Llandaff Blue]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEnRDqFRSfQ

Part 2, he talks about Malky and the penalty miss, he starts talking about Malky around half an hour in

[Dorcus]

Darcy Blake? That's bizzare! Ithought he was from the Blackwood area. I'm with you completely, attitude and discipline are as important as being able to control the ball or make a pass, if a players discipline isn't in order then they're not good enough. A case in point, Leon jeanne simply wasn't good enough.

New Tredegar

[Dorcus]

Changing the subject, I always liked Glenn Loovens at centre back and wished he'd stayed longer