Anthony Gerrard..

[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]

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.

[MacAdder]

It's loads to do with attitude and character, how things effect a player etc. Ability is probably only 60% of what is required to make it. Hard work, dedication and discipline will see most players with average ability at that level, to a decent career.

Absolutely.
Dealing with setbacks. Injury, dip in performance, being dropped...

[cardiff55]

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

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

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.

Tredegar I think

[J R Hartley]

Tredegar I think

New Tredegar its about 10 miles away from the Gurnos

[MacAdder]

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.

What, no Derek Showers?

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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