Frank Worthington

[saint francis]

Popular poster "Deano6" is having dinner with him on Thursday but doesn't know much about him other than the fact he used to play for Saints years ago.

 

Could anyone describe him, or perhaps have any stories about him or insightful questions Deano could pose to him?

 

What do you know about Frank?

 

Many thanks.

[Deano6]

Hi. I'm popular poster "Deano6" and I approve this message.

[Scudamore]

Can he ask him on a scale of 1 to 10 just how popular a poster Deano6 is?

[Saint Garrett]

Never heard of him !

[Leslie Charteris]

Read this:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Worthington

 

I'm sure there's enough here to help you think of a question. Not lacking self-confidence, our Frank, but he was part of that great team of 83-84.

[Micky]

I think there is probably a 'that goal' question....

 

Can't remember too much about it but believe that he was about 20 yards out, back to goal, recieved the ball, flicked it over his head, turned and volleyed it in.

 

Anybody else remember it - was it Frank? Who was it against?

[Rem]

I think there is probably a 'that goal' question....

 

Can't remember too much about it but believe that he was about 20 yards out, back to goal, recieved the ball, flicked it over his head, turned and volleyed it in.

 

Anybody else remember it - was it Frank? Who was it against?

 

You can see it on YouTube. Brilliant!

[1576]

You could always ask him about the lawnmower incident!!

[INFLUENCED.COM]

Came to us in the twighlight of his career, probably had more impact in the social scene than he did on the field(few goals as I recall).

 

Question : If he played in todays game where players are always under the spotlight(media) how many weeks out of the month does he think he would appear in the News of the World

[Fowllyd]

I think there is probably a 'that goal' question....

 

Can't remember too much about it but believe that he was about 20 yards out, back to goal, recieved the ball, flicked it over his head, turned and volleyed it in.

 

Anybody else remember it - was it Frank? Who was it against?

 

It was certainly Frank - not playing for us at that time, sadly! Can't remember who it was against, but I loved his comment afterwards, which was along the lines of: "The ball came to me and I could have passed it back, but I decided to do the simple thing..."

 

A true star, Frank - I always thought he was great before he signed for us. Fantastic skill and vision (check out his pass to Mark Dennis in the build-up to Danny Wallace's first goal against Liverpool in 1984), plus a massive Elvis devotee.

[Fowllyd]

You could always ask him about the lawnmower incident!!

 

You could indeed, but I think you'll find that was Charlie George!

[1976_Child]

Can you ask him if he is willing to come out of retirement; we need some help up front...

[fareham saint phil]

his touch was amazing, he would do very little and then play a killer ball or a fancy flick, dodgy hair though thought he was elvis

[Window Cleaner]

Great player, long career.

wouldn't last 5 minutes in modern football, insufficient work ethic,no place for artists like him nowadays.I think many of you have illusions about the actual ability of some of the old stars. Now I'll be going against the grain as usual here but I doubt that many of our beloved Saints heroes would even get a game in

our side (weak as it is) now. They wouldn't b fit enough and by today's standards their ball skills would be woefully insufficient;Many of you do not remember the late 50's and 60's. Paine was a good player but the modern full back would see right through his old fashioned trickery, Sydenham was fast, very fast but he wasn't a great crosser of the ball. If England caps were given for speed down the left wing,he'd have hat a hatful, unfortunately his final ball was often poor.

[SNOWY]

You could indeed, but I think you'll find that was Charlie George!

Charlie went to mow, went to mow a meadow.

[VectisSaint]

Great player, long career.

wouldn't last 5 minutes in modern football, insufficient work ethic,no place for artists like him nowadays.I think many of you have illusions about the actual ability of some of the old stars. Now I'll be going against the grain as usual here but I doubt that many of our beloved Saints heroes would even get a game in

our side (weak as it is) now. They wouldn't b fit enough and by today's standards their ball skills would be woefully insufficient;Many of you do not remember the late 50's and 60's. Paine was a good player but the modern full back would see right through his old fashioned trickery, Sydenham was fast, very fast but he wasn't a great crosser of the ball. If England caps were given for speed down the left wing,he'd have hat a hatful, unfortunately his final ball was often poor.

Most of the old players would walk into the current team. They might struggle getting into the team with the old coaching methods, old-style footballs and so on, but they would have embraced/been embraced by the modern methods and the cream would still have risen to the top. Can't believe you don't think Sydenham was a decent crosser (and yes I am old enough to remember him very well). Of course the opposite would be true, there is absolutely no-one in the current squad who would even have been considered for the first team in Ted's or Lawrie's days. At the time they would all have been kicked once and that would have been that.

[ecuk268]

Only with us for a season, but a class act with some sublime skills.

 

Unfortunately, Lawrie Mac took a dim view of his off-the-field activities with the ladies and shipped him out.

[Fan The Flames]

Came to us in the twighlight of his career, probably had more impact in the social scene than he did on the field(few goals as I recall).

 

Question : If he played in todays game where players are always under the spotlight(media) how many weeks out of the month does he think he would appear in the News of the World

 

Was he not the catalyst the team needed, only scored four goals in 83/84 but played almost every game and contributed to the best season ever.

[NickG]

does he remember signing my college rucksack in a jewellers in Soton precinct in about 1982?

[explorer saint]

In the warm up he always showed off his ball juggling skills to the fans at the Milton road end. He was a great 'showman' but as already said played his best football before he arrived here. Played for quite a few clubs but remembered for that goal playing for Bolton and also his time at Birmingham

[derry]

Great player, long career.

wouldn't last 5 minutes in modern football, insufficient work ethic,no place for artists like him nowadays.I think many of you have illusions about the actual ability of some of the old stars. Now I'll be going against the grain as usual here but I doubt that many of our beloved Saints heroes would even get a game in

our side (weak as it is) now. They wouldn't b fit enough and by today's standards their ball skills would be woefully insufficient;Many of you do not remember the late 50's and 60's. Paine was a good player but the modern full back would see right through his old fashioned trickery, Sydenham was fast, very fast but he wasn't a great crosser of the ball. If England caps were given for speed down the left wing,he'd have hat a hatful, unfortunately his final ball was often poor.

 

Terry Paine had terrific peripheral vision. That is why he had so few injuries. Some of the Saints players tried to kick him up in the air, during training and couldn't get near him, as he was able to see them coming. Present day full backs who can't tackle, would present little threat to him. His ability to put the ball on a spot would always work.

 

Look on the thread which is showing the Ron Davies four goals v Man Utd. Three goals from superb Sydenham crosses. Mind you he did overhit his fair share of crosses.

 

Compared with top class athletes, footballers then and now are pretty poor physical specimens.

Edited 10 November, 2008 by derry

[chocco boxo]

One of my favourites, he had so much skill it was great just watching him warm up. But as stated nowadays his Optica stats would probably make the Manager believe the computer had broken down!

Think he mixed a bit with Mark Dennis off field so you can draw your own conclusions about that!

That goal used to start the Big Match vrs Ipswich if memory serves me right.

[TopGun]

Frank wore the number 9 shirt yet only scored four goals for us in 83-84 when we finished runners up to Liverpool. He just used to receive the ball and flick it on to the onrushing Steve Moran or Danny Wallace to score. It's all he needed to do.

[Ken Tone]

A larger than life character ...bit of a rocker/teddy boy if you are old enough to know what that means! Sideburns and brylcream.

 

Saw him play for bolton when I lived up there. Really skillful, sort of a poor man's George Best.

 

Best ever football 'player profle' response in a programme - when asked "what has been the greatest disappointment in his career", he answered "Jane Smith, form 5B".

 

K.

[Victor]

Was he not the catalyst the team needed, only scored four goals in 83/84 but played almost every game and contributed to the best season ever.

 

Yes, that's exactly how I remember him.

 

A great character and a huge fan of Elvis - hence the hair (but thought he might have spotted that Elvis didn't have a moustache).

 

Do hold one thing against him, though - he ran across in front of our keeper in a FA cup match when playing for, I think, Birmingham as a shot came in from some distance. The goal knocked us out of the cup. I should blame the ref tho', I suppose.

[Raven on the wing]

Hugely talented and he was certainly a crowd pleaser. I seem to remember the Everton fans giving him generous applause pre match when he played for us in the FA Cup semi @ Highbury 83/84 season. Unfortunately it was not one of his or ours best games. Stevie Williams played with an injury and we lost 1-0 aet.

[Mole]

Is there a club Frank Worthington didn't play for?

[Matthew Le Tissier]

maybe you should print off 100 photos and get him to sign them and sell them on ebay.

 

you will make a packey

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FRANK-WORTHINGTON-LEICESTER-CITY-SIGNED-PHOTO-PROOF-COA_W0QQitemZ330284186696QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item330284186696&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

[scally]

A quality player who played in what in my view was the best Saints side ever, how many games were we off of doing the double that year?

[Channon's Sideburns]

Ask Frankie of his thoughts of the 8-2 win at The Dell over Coventry - think Danny W and Steve Steve Moran got hat-tricks and Frankie added one other...think Dave Armstrong got the other.

 

Thank Frank for his warm ups for me - the flick up after some keep ups, trapped the ball by dipping his neck, let it roll down his back, flipped it back over his head with the heel and then volleyed....

 

I kid you not - this guy was fantastic.....

 

Finally, ask him if he's free to play upfront - he could teach our current lot how to hit a barn door at least....

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Remember his great touch turn and pass to Mark Dennis who crossed into box, ball headed back for Danny Wallace overheard kick goal of the season at the Dell many years ago.

[corsacar saint]

Came here well past his prime[ great shame as he was in the same league as Bowles.

Currie, Hudson etc for sheer footballing ability].

I saw him at the old Leeds Road in 1970 playing for Huddersfield against Leicester and

the great Arsenal side, and he stood out in a pretty decent Huddersfield side that

included the likes of Trevor Cherry, Roy Elam and Les Chapman.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

Great player, long career.

wouldn't last 5 minutes in modern football, insufficient work ethic,no place for artists like him nowadays.I think many of you have illusions about the actual ability of some of the old stars. Now I'll be going against the grain as usual here but I doubt that many of our beloved Saints heroes would even get a game in

our side (weak as it is) now. They wouldn't b fit enough and by today's standards their ball skills would be woefully insufficient;Many of you do not remember the late 50's and 60's. Paine was a good player but the modern full back would see right through his old fashioned trickery, Sydenham was fast, very fast but he wasn't a great crosser of the ball. If England caps were given for speed down the left wing,he'd have hat a hatful, unfortunately his final ball was often poor.

 

You can't compare eras in this way. Paine swapped to a midfield role happily enough and held his own more than successfully against teams like Man U when Besty was on-song. No doubt if he was a youngster in the modern game he'd be fitter and skill is skill. "Old fashioned trickery" was enough to confound absolute thugs who'd kick your legs off as soon as look at you, and I have no doubt a player of his ability would be able to adapt to the modern game. As a midfielder his passing was outstanding, the days of the Stan Matthews school of jinking was well and truly over long before Terry ended his career.

 

Sydenham was an out and out speed merchant down the wing, and yes his crossing wasn't always up to scratch, but was no worse than any of our "wonderful youngsters".

 

And most important of all, don't forget they played with a proper leather football in those days, not a beach volleyball.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

A bit of a permatanned David Niven lookalike as I recall. Used to vie with David Puckett for the dodgiest hairdo in the dressing room. Could ask him whether he pulled more birds in Barbarellas or Fridays. Probably Barbarellas I guess as Steve Moran was usually holding the floor in Fridays. Top footballer from a great era.

[hughieslastminutegoal]

My question would be

"Just how the hell did you get your shorts THAT short, without cutting off the blood supply to your tackle, Frank?"

[chocco boxo]

Surprised nobody else copied that Xerox kit?