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.