#in reality i have no arm strength and hes got that former football player build. i could maybe actually lift him in his toothpick 1970s era

[carcarrot]

theoretically i could pick him up.

[junker-town]

Is it time for the Panthers to fire Ron Rivera?

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Wherein we debate keeping Riverboat Ron in Charlotte one more year.

Ron Rivera has seen plenty of hard times in his nine years as head coach of the Panthers. But Week 12’s come-from-ahead loss to a hapless Washington team may have been rock bottom.

Carolina struck out to a 14-0 lead at home against a formerly 2-9 team, then gave up 29 straight points to rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins and a pumped-up Derrius Guice. All was not lost, however. The Panthers rallied to create an opportunity to tie the game with a first-and-goal situation from the Washington 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter.

Rivera’s team lost 30 yards from there, culminating with ... whatever this was.

Here’s fourth-and-the-season for the Panthers. pic.twitter.com/VresISdjTj

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) December 1, 2019

That locked down Washington’s third win of the season and a 5-7 record for the Panthers. The loss was the team’s fourth in a row in fifth in its last six games. It all put eliminates Carolina from the playoff race.

And now it’s time to ask: will Rivera survive the offseason? Should he?

Ron Rivera and Cam Newton have thrived in the past. Do they deserve one more ride?

Christian D’Andrea: 2018 was a disappointment. 2019 is a disappointment. There’s no denying that.

But 2018 was a function of a limited supporting cast and an 80 percent Newton. In 2019, the former MVP limped through only two games before being replaced by an undrafted second-year quarterback and eventually going on injured reserve. Kyle Allen’s success this fall has been a testament to the upgrades Carolina’s made up and down the roster — but those upgrades were made with Newton in mind, and now there’s a chance we never see him take advantage of them at full strength.

That would be a shame. Imagine a totally healthy Cam Newton flanked by the MVP candidate version of Christian McCaffrey. He’d give way to a receiving corps led by a coming-into-his-prime D.J. Moore (on pace for 1,300 receiving yards in his second season) and a still-improving Curtis Samuel. While Newton may never return to his 2015 peak, surrounding him with playmakers capable of sharing the load should make him an above-average quarterback once more. That’s a foundation from which this offense can build.

James Dator: There’s a lot to admire about the Ron Rivera era in Carolina. A fierce, player-first coach was the necessary departure the team needed after a decade of floundering. John Fox’s milquetoast coaching was as underwhelming as it was often ineffective. But though Rivera was a breath of fresh air, that doesn’t mean we need to cling to the past.

Injuries, departures, underperforming players — every team in the NFL needs to deal with these challenges. It consistently feels like Rivera is utterly incapable to adapt when things go wrong.

The most recent incident is by far the biggest indictment, with Cam Newton being forced to plan on a Lisfranc injury for weeks out of fear that the season might collapse if he was placed on injured reserve. Of course, that ended up being the case, but it’s that lead up that never should have happened. The second it became apparent that Newton was hurt beyond natural repair the Panthers should have moved on, done their best to salvage the season, and most importantly allow Newton to fully recover in preparation for 2020.

Instead, Rivera danced around questions about his quarterback, allowed Newton to get thrown under the bus when he was playing like garbage on a hurt foot, and backfilled the season with excuses. We don’t know whether perception matched reality, but it all reeked of a coach trying to save himself at the expense of the team.

How will ownership address the Panthers’ other gaping concerns?

D’Andrea: Getting the star QB back doesn’t address the other massive problem Rivera faces: a defense that allowed a punchless Washington team to score 29 points in Week 13. Carolina ranks 22nd in the league in projected cap space for 2020, so landing impact talent in free agency will be difficult (but not impossible) — especially with the team’s lasting need for offensive line upgrades. Fortunately for Rivera, the latest collapse should provide the draft capital to pick up some starting talent on the defensive side of the ball.

Owner David Tepper has been impressively patient with the team since taking the reins from Jerry Richardson in 2018. Tossing out Rivera and Newton (who only carries $2 million in dead cap next year) — it seems like any fresh start would likely mean discarding both — would be throwing away an asset that still holds value. Maybe the charge is gone from that Newton/Rivera battery, but past results suggest they’ve still got some life to them.

Dator: It’s become abundantly clear that Rivera has traveled down the same road to the point now where he too is unable to get the job done. We’re about to see the end of the ninth season with Rivera at the helm. At no point have his Panthers been able to piece together back-to-back winning seasons. Sure, there are excuses to justify keeping him around, but there have been ceaseless, endless excuses every time the Panthers fail. Eventually nobody can keep going back to the same well and keep their job.

Tepper has yet to make a serious statement since taking over as team owner. This is his chance to truly leave a mark and back up statements he’s made about not tolerating mediocrity.

Advocating for anyone to lose their job always makes me feel gross, but here we are. Rivera is still a great football coach, and I fully believe he can do a great job somewhere else. He’s run his course in Charlotte, though. It’s time for Tepper to make a change and usher in a new, modern approach to the NFL, one that doesn’t lean on Rivera’s old-school defensive knowledge and Norv Turner’s antiquated approach to offense.

The biggest indictment I’ve had with how the Panthers have handled Newton so far is that it’s felt like a Ferrari has been given to a staff only capable of driving a Ford Fiesta. It’s time to swing for the fences and go for it; otherwise the only thing that’s in the future is another set of disappointing seasons with no effective end to the madness.

What would the Panthers look like without Rivera in 2020?

D’Andrea: Two questions for you, James. The first: what do you think Newton still has in the tank (and will he be Carolina’s QB in 2020)?

Dator: Newton is only 30, and it’s easy to overlook that because of injuries and how he plays the game. That said, I expect that if he’s able to recover from his foot injury he’s going to be very, very good for someone. Look at this NFL season: A large part of why Lamar Jackson is garnering justified MVP buzz is how he’s able to extend plays with his legs, while teams still need to respect his arm. This isn’t dissimilar to Newton. And while their running styles are vastly different, more and more NFL minds are accepting the idea of dual-threat quarterbacks. Or at least pretending they are.

I’ve said before that the Panthers parting ways with Newton would be the biggest mistake in team history. I stand by that. In the end it’s going to come down to a balance of Newton’s health and his cap figure. If that balance is out of whack in favor of his cap number then I expect the Panthers to move on — especially if they pick a new coach.

D’Andrea: The second: what kind of coach would you like to see take over in Charlotte?

Dator: That’s tricky. Admittedly I’m not one of this people who pores over coaching circles to predict who might be available, but it’s time for a youth movement in Charlotte. In team history, the Panthers have never had anyone from an offensive background as head coach. Jerry Richardson always believed in defense first, which has led to stagnant offensive thinking.

Meanwhile look around the NFL right now, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur — the new breed of young NFL coaches are having success and came from offensive backgrounds.

I just want some new thinking in Carolina before it’s too late to take advantage of the exciting players on the roster.

What does the future hold for Rivera if he’s not in Charlotte?

Dator: Two questions back at you. The first: Say Ron Rivera gets fired. Is there another NFL team you see hiring him to a head coaching job?

D’Andrea: I think Riverboat Ron would take a year off, hit the pregame talk show circuit, and patiently wait for Matt Nagy to overanalyze his way out of Chicago before a return to the team he called home for nine seasons as a linebacker. Would he be an upgrade over Nagy? I’m honestly not sure! Still, his ability to move on from his gambles and mistakes would be a strong departure from Nagy, whose fixation on his team’s flaws has manifested throughout his playcalling.

Dator: What do you think the tipping point should be where the Panthers move in a different direction?

D’Andrea: Rivera’s 2020 tipping point, assuming he makes it there, would be any sustained losing streak. His biggest flaw as a head coach has been his inability to pull his team from regular season death spirals. He’s lost at least four straight games in three of his last four seasons and five of his last eight. If his trajectory dips again in his last chance season, Tepper would be entirely justified in making a midseason switch on the sideline.

[newssplashy]

Meet half of our first Power Couple: trainer CJ Koegel. Then, visit Women’s Health to read about trainer Bree Branker.

Men’s Health partnered with our sibling publication Women’s Health to find and recognize Power Couples-ultra-fit pairs who work out together and basically epitomize #swolemategoals.

Meet half of our first Power Couple: trainer CJ Koegel. Then, visit Women’s Health to read about trainer Bree Branker.

When fitness model, trainer, and inventor CJ Koegel needs some inspiration to push through a tough workout, he typically doesn't have to look very far. After all, he's probably taking a class taught by his girlfriend, former Broadway dancer and Akins Army trainer Bree Branker.

"I joke with her because the last three months I've only really done her class," Koegel told MensHealth.com. "I say 'I'm body by Bree right now, babe.'"

Koegel and Branker are both trainers and models, so their careers revolve around staying in shape and helping others look and feel their best. Their commitment to a physically active and healthy lifestyle extends to their relationship, too - along with doing each others' classes, the two often build routines that compliment both of their strengths so they can train together. The pair exemplifies what we at Men's and Women's Health value most: A strong, principled focus on physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being.

That's why we've named them the first Men's and Women's Health Power Couple, so they can serve as an example for other pairs who want to use fitness and exercise as a tool to make their relationships even stronger.

Building a Strong Base

The couple often works out together, but they each have their own specialties and preferences shaped by their background. Koegel was deeply ingrained in the fitness world long before he met Branker.

He was a gifted athlete growing up, and earned a football scholarship to the University of Massachusetts. Even though he was a starter on the DI squad, he always felt he had something more to prove to his teammates on the football field. He was a kicker, which he said is often considered one of the "softer positions" in the sport.

"I didn't want [my position] to define the type of athlete I was," he said. "I was very heavy on wanting to learn the best things to do in the gym. I realized that some of the more athletic players started coming to me saying, 'hey, love that exercise you're doing, what is that for?' I noticed there was an influence were I wasn't one of the most badass players, but I got respect."

Koegel drew attention from more than just his teammates, and had an opportunity to pursue a spot in the NFL after finishing his college career ranked as one of the top 10 punters in his draft class by Mel Kiper Jr. Koegel didn't wind up making it to the pros, and after a stint on MTV's reality show circuit he moved to New York City to pursue a career as a fitness trainer and Wilhemina model.

That's where he met Branker - but they didn't fall head over heels for each other right away. "We met at a Wilhemina Fitness Friday," Koegel said. "We were rock climbing. I was actually in a different relationship at the time, and Bree was new [to the modeling agency]."

After helping to introduce her to some of the other people within the organization, Koegel said the pair formed "a really cool friendship." When he split up with his girlfriend a few months later, he and Branker started seeing more of each other. "We started hanging out, and here we are, everyday since," he said.

Staying Fit Together

 Since they got together, the two have built up their relationship by supporting each other in and out of the gym. Koegel invented a home exercise product, OTTO, which he hopes will allow him to diversify his career when his modeling days are over. The kit recently launched on Indiegogo with a slick promo video, intercut with footage of Branker showing off its features.

When Branker wanted to build up her endurance to run six miles, Koegel was huffing and puffing right alongside her. "We accomplished that by just getting out there, putting the miles in," he said. "I didn't really want to run that six miles - but instead of being like oh, that sucks, it's like a part of me was like you're doing this with your lady, let's do this together."

Koegel also credits Branker's influence for helping him to stay on track to achieve his goals even when he loses his own way. "When you're somebody who everyone asks for fitness stuff from, sometimes you lose track of your own fitness," he said. "A year and a half ago, I realized I was losing a little bit of my own drive to get in and focus on the things that I wanted to focus on. From taking her classes I've been able to find this rebound excitement."

That support has built a bedrock of trust that extends beyond their time spent together exercising. Koegel credits the stability of the relationship for his own recent successes.

"What makes Bree so easy to love is that she's the type of woman that gives you confidence within a relationship in ways deeper than fitness, he said. "Sometimes in relationships there's something in your gut telling you that you don't trust the other person - that was never an issue in our relationship. That's why I think I've been able to thrive so much in the past year, since I've had this confidence inside the relationship that extends way outside the relationship."

The Power Couple's Advice to You

If you want to use fitness as a way to ground your own relationship, Koegel has some simple advice: Communicate honestly.

"With Bree and I, it's about having open communication about one, how do our bodies feel, and two, what do we really enjoy doing?" he said. "If we both find these commonalities, why don't we start doing those things more? Through that we've been able to have so much fun."

That openness might mean that you're not always glued together 24/7 - you have to be able to tell your partner when you need space to do your own thing.

"There are moments when I don't want to go to the gym with her," Koegel said. "I want to do my bench press and work all my little tricep beach muscles, and she's like yeah, I totally get that, that's cool. So she doesn't keep me from being me in the gym, which makes me want to work out with her more."

The Workouts

Perform all of these exercises consecutively as a circuit. After you've finished with one round, rest for 2 minutes. Repeat twice for 3 total sets.

Squat hold/Jump squat

10 reps per partner

Squat hold: Starting in an athletic stance, bend at the knees and push your hips back to assume a squat position. Squeeze your core and keep your arms in front of your body, maintaining an erect spine. Hold this while your partner completes 10 jump squats. Or if you're at it solo, hold for twenty seconds. Then slowly push yourself back up.

Jump Squat: Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly out. Keeping your chest upright and core tight, bend your knees and sit your hips back, extending your arms straight in front of you at shoulder height. Press through your heels to jump as high as you can off the ground, swinging your arms behind you. That's one rep. Land softly and immediately lower into your next squat. Complete 10 reps, then switch with your partner.

Plank hold/Lateral hop

10 reps per partner

Plank Hold: Start on the floor on your hands and knees. Lower your forearms to the floor with elbows positioned under your shoulders and your hands shoulder-width apart, forming a 90-degree angle. Extend your feet back and rest on your toes. Squeeze your core and glutes to maintain straight spinal alignment. Look down at the floor, with gaze slightly in front of your face. Hold while your partner completes 10 lateral hops in each direction, or for 30-45 seconds.

Lateral Hop: Assume an athletic stance, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keeping your feet on the same plane, bound from side to side to jump over your partner. Land lightly and take off on the balls of your feet. Complete 10 reps on each side.

Elevated pushup/Squat hold

10 reps per partner

Elevated pushup: Assume a pushup position. Allow your partner to grab your feet and hold them on your thighs. From that position, squeeze your glutes and core and perform 10 pushups.

Squat hold: Grad your partner's feet with both hands. Bend at the knees and push your hips back to assume a squat position, holding their feet on your lap. Squeeze your core and keep your arms in front of your body, maintaining an erect spine. Hold this while your partner completes 10 pushups.

Roll Up (aka Candlestick)

10 reps together

How to: Start in a standing position with feet hip-width apart, with a mat placed behind you. Lower your body down until your butt reaches the mat, then roll your back onto the mat and lift your legs over your hips. Use momentum to roll quickly back to the starting position, but bend your knees and place your feet flat on the mat. Plant your feet and stand up. That's one rep. Do 10.

Plank to Squat Hold

10 reps together

How to: Start in a plank position, with your hands on the ground instead of your elbows. Squeeze your glutes and core to maintain a straight spine alignment. Hinge at the hip and hop your feet just behind your hands. Take your hands off the ground and raise your torso into a squat position. Hold for a beat, then hinge at the hip to place your hands back on the ground and hop your feet back to the starting position. That's one rep. Do 10.

Bear Shoulder Taps

10 reps together

How to: Start on all fours, with your hands on the ground and your weight on your toes, raising your hips slightly to lift your knees off the floor. Keeping your core tight and hips level, lift your left hand up to touch your right shoulder. Reverse the movement to return to start, then repeat on the other side. That's one rep. Do 10.

Read more about trainer Bree Branker on Women's Health.

via NigeriaNews | Latest Nigerian News,Ghana News,News,pulse, and Latest News In Ghana In a Splash

[365footballorg-blog]

'We weren't even allowed swap jerseys!' - when Shelbourne battled Barcelona at the Nou Camp

Shelbourne captain Theo Dunne (right) exchanges pennants with Barcelona captain Sígfrid Gracia.

Shelbourne captain Theo Dunne (right) exchanges pennants with Barcelona captain Sígfrid Gracia.

A COFFIN STOOD stiff and isolated in the bowels of the Nou Camp as 11 Irishmen shuffled past in quiet disbelief.

On their way through the famous corridors on a mild October evening en route to the away dressing room, the cohort of Shelbourne players passed by a museum, a dentist, a morgue and, puzzlingly, the most idyllic of chapels inside of which sat a wooden box.

They were 1,300 miles away from Tolka Park, situated snug in-between endless rows of brick houses on Richmond Road in Drumcondra, but it felt so much more. This was a different planet altogether.

Gerry Doyle’s side had stormed to the 1963 FAI Cup 2-0 against Cork Hibernians, meaning they qualified for the first round of the European Cup Winners’ Cup the same year — a competition which, naturally, pitted all of Europe’s domestic cup winners against one another.

The hat pulled out Barcelona meaning ‘Doyle’s Ducklings’, as the young side still fresh-faced and raw were affectionately known, were heading to Catalonia.

Shelbourne pose for a photo before kick-off at the Nou Camp in October 1963. Source: Marc Gómez

This was a golden generation at Shelbourne Football Club and, until matched by the early 2000′s era of Wes Hoolahan, Owen Heary, Stuart Byrne, Joey N’do and Jason Byrne which took in five league titles, an FAI Cup and were one game away from qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League — they were undoubtedly the club’s brightest jewel.

The first sprouts of success came in winning the 1959 FAI Youth Cup with players like Eric Barber and future European Cup winner with Manchester United Tony Dunne. Youth was subsequently promoted and there followed two FAI Cups in 1960 and 1963, and a league title in 1961/62. Doyle’s magic touch was in full flow.

Domestic success felt almost routine and with it came the prospect of playing across the continent to face Europe’s elite. The club’s very first game in European competition saw them travel to Portugal, where they faced Sporting Lisbon in the old 50,000 seater Estádio de Alvalade in 1962, taking the lead in the away leg but ultimately succumbing 7-1 on aggregate.

The following year brought Barcelona. This time it wasn’t the European Cup, but the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Sitting arms stretched apart relaxing inside a swimming pool on top of their city centre hotel on a radiant October evening in the Catalonia capital, Shels defender Freddie Strahan couldn’t believe his luck.

Strahan was a tough-tackling centre half who helped the side to a litany of success and represented Ireland on numerous occasions, scoring against Bobby Moore’s England. A leader at the back “you would genuinely die for”, friend and former team-mate at Shelbourne Jackie Hennessy explains today.

Shelbourne pictured at Lisbon airport ahead of their European Cup meeting with Sporting in 1962.

The pair cannot stress how far away a European game in the Nou Camp was from the realities of League of Ireland football in the mid 1960s. Warm water in the showers after games was never a guarantee — in fact you were lucky if there was even a shower at all.

“They treated us great, they really did,” Hennessy, now 77, explains of their trip abroad. “The one thing that stood out to me was the fact they had that little chapel with an oratory and a confession box, I couldn’t get over it! It was unbelievable.

We were coming from a world where we’d be playing a game in Limerick down in the Market’s Field. After the match we’d hop onto the team bus and drive back to the nearest hotel so we could get a shower. There was no such thing as washing facilities at the stadium for us players in those days.

“Then you go to Barcelona and you see all these huge, immaculate changing rooms and lockers where you could hang up your gear, while we’re used to playing in Tolka Park where there’s 16 of us jammed into a tiny room 12 metre x 10 metre getting ready before and after matches.

“If you were lucky enough to get a shower the water was cold by the time you got to it, whereas in Barcelona we had these beautiful, elegant baths instead!”

It’s approaching the 55th anniversary since the famous set of games in the autumn of 1963. Only it’s not that well-known in these parts at all.

Barcelona visited Dublin for the first time in five decades to face Celtic at the Aviva Stadium in 2016, with little to no mention of when Shelbourne faced the five-times Champions League winners — firstly in Dalymount Park and then away in the Nou Camp — in the build-up to the pre-season friendly.

An evening in Dublin’s Sugar Club discussing the modern history of Spanish football saw the event come to light in recent weeks.

Great memories from Gerry Doyle Jr (son of manager), Freddie Strahan, Joe Wilson, Jackie Hennessy from the @shelsfc ’63 team that played against @FCBarcelona. #tsfppic.twitter.com/aQAag1EzLl

— Con Artist (@Con_Artistes) January 16, 2018

Strahan, Hennessy and teammate Joe Wilson sat on stage and waxed lyrical about their travels to an intrigued audience, the majority of whom were completely ignorant of the tie even taking place.

Wilson, who celebrated his 79th birthday last week, attests that to him and many of his team-mates these exotic European ties Shelbourne were getting used to in the 1960s were often an excuse to enjoy a holiday — they wouldn’t have gotten the chance to travel abroad otherwise.

In total Shels played 13 games in Europe between 1962 and 1965, taking on teams such as Belenenses, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the European Cup, the Cup Winners’ Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

“Freddie summed it up by saying it was a holiday”, he laughs.”We were realistic guys. We knew there was no way we were going to go over to Barcelona and beat them.

“Given the caliber of football at the time, we knew what our strengths and our weaknesses were. We knew what we could and couldn’t do. Now there was great camaraderie and friendship among the lads, so we knew we could put up a good show alright.

The whole idea when the draw in Europe took place was to keep in mind not to be beaten so bad that you were ashamed or embarrassed. From our point of view, when we were drawn against Barcelona it was a holiday for us in Spain.

“It was the same the year previous when we were drawn against Sporting Lisbon”, Wilson continues. “We knew we were getting a week in the sun in Portugal… brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

“So after that game in 1962 when we were on the plane home from Lisbon we all said ‘listen guys, we’re going to put it all in in the league this year, we’ll get back into European competition again and get another trip like this!’

Getting to see different parts of the world and getting to travel across Europe, that’s what was motivating us to win the League of Ireland and the FAI Cup. That Shelbourne team were in three FAI Cup finals, won two, won the league title as well and played in Europe — that wasn’t bad for a young side; Doyle’s Ducklings.”

Freddie Strahan (defender), Joe Wilson (inside forward), and Jackie Hennessy (inside left) all still socialise together today and recall with great fondness their European odyssey with precise detail and warm nostalgia.

A holiday it might have been for players who played football part-time and maintained full-time jobs all the while, but Hennessy maintains he saw it for what it was — two sides of equal respect facing off against one another.

Shelbourne were the FAI Cup holders and Barcelona the Copa del Rey winners, therefore they were on equal footing, he says. Both deserved their place in the European Cup Winners’ Cup and no level of history or reverence about the Nou Camp or the club that played inside it would allow Shelbourne to lift the pedal off the gas or doubt their ability to cause an upset.

“It was never a holiday”, Hennessy, who was a team-mate of John Giles at Manchester United, says firmly. “To me it was always a match. I loved my football from the time I was 9 years of age playing U15 with lads twice the size of me. I never lost that appetite for winning games.”

Shelbourne goalkeeper John Heavey saves a shot at the Nou Camp.

The 2-0 defeat in the first leg in Dalymount Park is still a bone of contention for him, as he still sees it as a game they could and perhaps should have won in Dublin if luck had gone their way in front of goal.

“I thought we were a bit unfortunate because we didn’t deserve to be beaten 2-0,” he says. “It wasn’t long gone in the first half when we should have scored and that would have put the cat among the pigeons.

It was just one of those days where we were unfortunate not to score. In Dalymount I thought we didn’t deserve to be beaten. I remember we defended well for long periods and we were always dangerous on the attack.”

Goals from Zaldúa and Pereda either side of half-time saw Barcelona come away with a two goal win under the floodlights in Phibsborough.

Caught in a period where rivals Real Madrid enjoyed historic success winning six European Cups in ten years between 1956 and 1966, the decade saw Barcelona resigned to second-best in Spain.

This despite claiming the 1960 La Liga title and 1963 Copa del Rey — the title which saw them fail to qualify for the European Cup and instead fall into the Cup Winners’ Cup to face Shelbourne.

Only it wasn’t even known as the Copa del Rey 55 years ago. When Barcelona beat Real Zaragoza 3-1 in front of 90,000 supporters at the Nou Camp it was known as the Copa del Generalísimo, after General Francisco Franco.

“Remember who this is named after,” the dictator notorious for anti-Catalan policy was said to have told Barcelona captain Joan Segarra as he handed over the cup.

Despite living in the shadow of their rivals, this Barcelona side maintained a high level of pedigree.

Spanish midfielder Luis Suarez won the Ballon d’Or in 1960 under the stewardship of manager Helenio Herrera, while the side also became the first to beat Madrid in a European knockout game in 1961, later going on to bitterly lose the final to Benfica.

Many of the players that featured against Shelbourne enjoyed success throughout their careers in Europe and South America, however the most iconic name from those 1963 team-sheets belonged to the manager sat in the opposite dugout to Reds boss Gerry Doyle.

César Rodríguez enjoyed a short tenure in charge of the Catalan giants but remains to be one of the club’s greatest ever players.

César Rodríguez scored 232 goals for Barcelona and was manager against Shelbourne.

That title often seems arbitrary when used in the context of titans such as Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, who have each featured hundreds of some of the greatest players in the history of football.

However before the arrival of Lionel Messi, César (as he was known), was Barcelona’s record scorer with a remarkable 232 goals.

Messi’s hat-trick against Granada in March 2012 saw the Argentine overtake the player, in the process breaking his record which had stood for 60 years.

While one of the club’s greatest ever players, César enjoyed little success on the touchline, being sacked from the Nou Camp just five games into his second season, as the club would later be transformed following the arrival of Johan Cruyff and iconic Dutch manager Rinus Michels shortly after.

Did Shelbourne have a game-plan for such lofty players under César in ’63?

“Of course we didn’t,” laughs Hennessy earnestly.

All three men attest that manager Doyle, “Mr Doyle”, as they called him, kept it simple. “Off-the-cuff… off-the-cuff… it was always, always off-the-cuff”, they explain.

Wilson: “Gerry… you wouldn’t put Gerry in the context of ‘coaching’. The bottom line is we didn’t really get any at Shels in those days. Mr Doyle was able to go after players that he thought in his mind would blend in with one another. That’s how we were successful; we were all the same age and we all got on very well with one another.

We blended in with each other into a team, and if one person was having a bad day there was always someone behind you who would be there to give you a boost and a dig-out and say ‘come on!’

“We never got coaching like you have now. These days you have a coach for the goalkeeper, for the fullback, for the midfield… we didn’t have that.”

“We only had one ball in those days too,” adds Strahan. “We’d do all the physical work throughout the week and barely touch it, the manager’s philosophy being you’d be hungry like a greyhound out of the traps chasing for it on the Sunday during the game.”

Shelbourne take on Barcelona at Dalymount Park on 24 September 1963.

‘SHELBOURNE FIGHT HARD IN GOING DOWN TO VISITORS’, read a headline in the Irish Times dated 25 September 1963, the morning after their 2-0 first leg defeat in Dublin.

Visiting Barcelona met with unexpectedly heavy resistance in their European Cup Winners’ Cup-tie against Shelbourne in Dalymount Park last night”, the match report said.

“They were an extraordinarily polished combination, using the ball as it was meant to be used along the ground in smooth, well-engineered passages of brilliant football and, let’s face it, only for a splendid display from Shelbourne’s defence the visitors would have had a lot more to show for their work at the finish.”

They had a mountain to climb in the second leg but the tie was far from over, the three men each say. But as they explain, football was never going to be the sole priority for a squad of players many of whom had never stepped foot on an airplane, let alone visit a foreign country.

The Nou Camp can be an intimidating cauldron of noise for opposition teams, but the most serene atmosphere for those playing in the colours of the Blaugrana. Above all else that takes you by surprise is its sheer size.

Strahan traveled alongside the squad despite picking up a serious injury during the first leg which would see him ruled out of the return fixture — an injury which required a steroid injection from the team doctor at Dalymount Park during the game.

Unimaginable to today’s presence of hyper inflated squad sizes, in those days he explains, the side had 11 players. If one picked up an injury the only options were to either continue playing through the pain, or stand down and see your team play on with a man less.

Strahan played the remainder of the first leg but following a late fitness test with manager Doyle behind the goal at the Nou Camp, would not feature in the return fixture.

“I did a fitness test before the game at the Nou Camp. Mr Doyle took me aside behind the goal while all the other lads were training and warming up, but I just wasn’t able. Naturally I was disappointed but I still remember walking out onto the pitch before kick-off.

“I said to one of the lads, ‘ah here, the place isn’t even full’, pointing up to the top of the stands at some empty sections. The top tier was empty alright, but because of the sheer size of the place there was still 40,000 there!”

In a moment which stands surreal when taken in isolation to the first leg, Pat Bonham’s penalty after half an hour gave Shelbourne the lead in the second leg — meaning Shelbourne Football Club led the giants of Barcelona in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in their own patch at the Nou Camp.

“I was the one who was involved in the penalty”, says Wilson, who was deployed on the right wing that night. “I had a good game and when I had a good game, I could be fairly useful. I was on the wing in the second leg, went for a run and was taken down going through in the box by their defender Rodri.

“It was a penalty but there was some consternation about it. I was rolling around on the ground and Dick Kearns, who was a coach with Shelbourne, runs over to see if I’m okay.

He has his medical bag and of course the ‘magic water’ comes out and everything was grand. I said to him: ‘I’m grand Dick, honestly I’m okay, I’ve made it look a bit worse than it is’. But the referee overheard me and warned me about play-acting!

“Paddy was our penalty taker and he took it no problem. A few players might have been doubting themselves or nervous about it so, to be honest, there weren’t too many lads jumping in to take this spot-kick in the Nou Camp in front of so many thousands of people.”

The scoreboard read Barcelona 0-1 Shelbourne after 30 minutes. However an equaliser thundered in from the boot of Sándor Kocsis, of the famous Hungary side, six minutes later to make it level-pegging at the break.

The second half would see Barcelona grab two late goals in the space of as many minutes to bag the win on the night and make it 5-1 on aggregate over the two legs. Fusté gave the visitors the lead before Cayetano Ré, who won the famed Pichichi Trophy for La Liga top goalscorer the following season, bagged a third making it 3-1 at the Nou Camp.

The Shelbourne cohort don’t hold many regrets about what happened after taking the lead now. They lost instrumental defender and captain Theo Dunne to injury in the first half — because Shelbourne had only 11 players he didn’t reappear after the break, and the side battled on with 10 men for the remaining 45 minutes.

Perhaps today they might have put their remaining men behind the ball to secure a historic 1-0 win at the Nou Camp. But back then it was all about playing off-the-cuff like Gerry Doyle had coached them, or not coached them as it was.

John Giles (bottom left) and Tony Dunne (centre) were both team-mates of Jackie Hennessy at Manchester United. Source: S&G and Barratts/EMPICS Sport

“No, no,” says Wilson thoughtfully. “At half-time we were satisfied with how we were playing, everything was going well as far as we were concerned. But, no, you do realise in your own head who you’re playing and the calibre of player you’re on the pitch with.

“The one thing we never did, and it might have been ideal if we did, was to put 10 men behind the ball when we went ahead and do a backs-against-the-wall job to see a win out.

“But the reason we didn’t do that is because it wasn’t our style. The way we saw it, if we can score one and take the lead against Barcelona playing our brand of football, then we can score two, or three playing the exact same way.

“You know yourself as a player that when you’re up against a team like Barcelona you just don’t want to be on the receiving end of a hammering.

We never even entertained the idea of going to the Nou Camp and earning a win. It would have been great alright, and truth be told when we scored you grew another couple of inches, buffed your chest out thinking: ‘hold on now, we’re actually leading Barcelona at the Nou Camp here’.

“But in the back of our heads after that adrenaline ran out we knew it wouldn’t be possible.”

There was never any lasting disappointment, the three men explain, because it was never about the opposition or about a fanciful idea of playing against Barcelona.

It was about being successful, which they had the medals to prove, but more so it was about the team dynamic, the bond between those young lads in north Dublin fortunate enough to play football and have a job at the same time and sharing happy moments together, with one another.

They made the most of those trips abroad not only because they earned the right to do so by winning consistently on the domestic front, but also due to the fact that they were given opportunities to travel across Europe playing football which others did not.

“Joe, Jackie and myself still socialise together every now and then,” says Strahan. “I’m far from being an arrogant individual, or conceited in any way, but one day we were talking and Joe said: ‘Jaysus Freddie, we must have been fairly good footballers?’

People talk to us now about what we achieved and we can look back on it fondly, but when we were growing up and living through it we never thought about it, and that’s the honest truth.

“It’s only now that we’re going into our 80′s that you take the odd quiet moment and think ‘wow, we mustn’t have been bad!’”

“People back home would be astonished”, adds Wilson. ‘You played Barcelona?!’ But you never lost the run of yourself and you stayed grounded about it all.

“More than anything because in Ireland people are the first to cut you down when they think you’ve got a big fucking head about yourself”, he laughs. “There’s no bigger crowd to bring you back down to earth than an Irish crowd.”

They didn’t even get to swap jerseys in either leg, they confess.

Barcelona captain Sígfrid Gracia and Theo Dunne. Source: Marc Gómez

Hennessy: “That wasn’t as big a surprise to me because it had happened before when I got my first international cap for Ireland. I was told by the FAI on my debut against Poland in 1965 that we weren’t allowed, so when it happened again at the Nou Camp I wasn’t surprised.”

Strahan: “No, no we had to give the jerseys back to the kit man. It wasn’t the norm for Irish clubs like ourselves. My first international was against Poland and their lad came over to me and took off his jersey gesturing for me to take it in exchange for mine.

I had to apologise and explain that we weren’t allowed. That… as well as the fact that I wanted to keep it because it was my international debut — I still have it upstairs.

“There was no great money behind us or shirt sponsorship in those days, we had to keep them. The club bought you two things — they bought you your jersey and they got you a pair of boots.”

Wilson: “They came to Dublin, it was a great atmosphere, a great night bar the scoreline, the whole lot… but we weren’t even allowed swap jerseys with the Barcelona players.

“We went to Barcelona and it was the exact same thing. They wanted to swap jerseys after the game in the Nou Camp naturally, but we were told by our superiors at Shelbourne that there was to be none of that.

“We were told the jerseys had to be on the train with us when we went home on the Friday to be washed and ready for our league game on the Sunday.

We were disappointed with that, absolutely. I laugh at it now because even looking at our game against Lisbon the year before, with swapping jerseys — everyone knew that was the thing to do in big-time football.

“It wasn’t even Gerry that told us not to do it, it was the kit man Mick O’Brien. He told us there was no chance because he needed them for the league game the following Sunday. It was the same with the football — we only had one for training — it had to be washed and kept.”

Strahan, the immovable centre back who couldn’t feature on the night, is the only one to have been back to the Nou Camp since.

It’s just as immaculate as he remembers, he says, even if it’s a little bit bigger.

“Yes I’ve been there once since. We went on the tour and saw the museum, I couldn’t find a Shelbourne pennant anywhere.

“Ahh it’s unbelievable… sure anyone could play football on an immaculate pitch like that.

“It was unbelievable to look out and think that you were a tiny part of a club’s history like Barcelona.”

All three men have kept their small Barcelona pennants from the game. That, and the abiding memories of a decade of service and success, trophies, titles, wins, losses, Mr Doyle, Tolka Park, a few trips abroad and the pride of the red jersey of Shelbourne.

Something that will stay with them forever.

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'We weren't even allowed swap jerseys!' – when Shelbourne battled Barcelona at the Nou Camp was originally published on 365 Football

[viewfromtheconny]

Bowles. Reasons to be cheerful.

The tired, frail, confused old man I was expecting to shuffle out never appeared. Instead, out he bounded, shifty trilby donned, legs a-dancing, arms raised I salute, milking every moment. I hadn’t been particularly looking forward to the day, but I felt my appearance was the least Stan Bowles deserved from me. He had, after all been not only the figurehead for the most amazing period in QPR’s history, but also the icon for my formative years growing up in 70s Ladbroke Grove. If asked to bring back memories of this time I don’t conjure up images of flared jeans or the Bay City Rollers or Hendrix or winters of discontent or summers of drought or Dennis Waterman in The Sweeney. No. The 70’s for me brings up one image immediately. That of a long haired, long pork chopped blue and white magician dipping his shoulder in some sort of mesmerising dance. A ball charmer with a swagger and cheeky smile and style like no other. He also saved me the inconvenience of having to buy fifty baby name books or have agonising long discussions with the other half when we started a family. If the baby was a boy, and possibly even if the baby was a girl, the baby was going to be named Stanley. I braced myself as they announced his name. Here he was about to appear, surely a shadow of his former self, a stark reminder to us all of the frailty of life. Then out bounced Stan. Hair shorter, bones brittler. But in every other aspect every bit the Stan that used to bounce out of the very same tunnel 40-odd years before, always last and always a little late so he could milk the separate applause/abuse only players of his ability ever elicit. As he came out it was clear to see he was enjoying the whole thing, milking it in fact. The louder the applause got as he made his way to the middle, the more the swagger returned until he was quite literally dancing along, arms aloft once again the centre of attention at Loftus Rd. The consummate entertainer, it was as if he’d never been away.

I clapped him the whole way round and tried not to get too emotional. But I couldn’t help feeling a little sad and I began to explore why.

I guess the main reason is I’m getting older. Not old old. But old enough to start realising life is short. Youngsters have my permission to roll their eyes now, but it seems like only yesterday that I was watching Stan running out and terrorising defences and captivating me. But like I said, it was actually 40 years ago. Scary. I’m not one for the tired ‘it was better back then’ rhetoric but in the case of QPR I think it’s pretty clear that it was! It had me wondering, who do the seven year olds look to in our current team? Who captivates them? Who are their role models and why? Can it possibly feel as magic for them as it did for me? I looked round the ground. Ellerslie Rd was completely empty. The away end was a quarter full. And whilst SA Rd and the Loft more than made up for the empty seats with their reception, it just made me wonder if we could ever recapture those days. Not for me necessarily, but for a new group of local youngsters. Something to grab them and drag them off Overwatch for a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon. We’re a very different club to the one I started supporting back in ’77 and football is a very different game. That made me sad.

It also made me sad that the whole day hadn’t been a sell out. I wondered why it wasn’t. Iffy weather. Lots of people on holiday. Not a lot of spare cash around. All reasonable excuses. But for me it's safe to say that in the modern history of this club there are no more than a handful of people who are as important, have made such an impact, are such a figurehead as Stan Bowles. Stock, Gregory, Sexton, Marsh, Venables, Ferdinand at a push. But nobody defines the club more than Bowles. Bowles is the icon. And here he was, doing his thing in front of 10,000 hardy souls. I consoled myself with a reminder that we’re talking about a man who played for us 40 years ago. 40 years. It’s a lifetime. It’s to be celebrated that 10,000 people turned up. 10,000 people who remember what this man did and wanted to say thank you. But at the same time it also served as a reminder as to how important our history and culture is and how we must fight not to lose it. Our club could learn a lot by remembering how we went about things back then. Look back to look forwards. Tony Fernandes has made every mistake in the book since taking over QPR. All of them could have been avoided if he looked at the history and culture of this club and especially the period when Stan reigned supreme.

So, sadness at my own mortality, sadness at the sight of a half full Loftus Rd for the greatest player in the club’s history and sadness with the current state of things at QPR. But the sadness dissipated as Stan did his lap, dancing and jigging as he went. We heard from other greats like Hollins and Francis, who compared Bowles to Messi. Praise indeed but when you look at it, their styles are incredibly similar. What a reception he got as he went round. It was clearly thrilling for Stan and he milked it. It gave me hope, made me feel better about things. Football’s become less and less important to me over the last few years. I still go to every home game but I fear it’s more out of habit than any love of the modern game, or for the culture my club is trying to build. The last few seasons have really knocked the stuffing out of the team I think. I can’t remember a worse team in our history than the one that was relegated with Redknapp. A group of soulless mercenaries rinsing us for every penny we had led by a manager who was no respecter of our values or our income. And a chairman so obsessed with staying in the Premiership short term that he completely lost sight of reality and tried to spend his way there without accepting that QPR were never that sort of club and never will be. And worse than all this, a set of fans who largely encouraged the whole thing, so hooked on the Prem crack the majority of us seemed to be, so blinded by the lights of the Prem that we couldn’t see what all this overspending was doing. Buying two world class international goalkeepers? At QPR? How could that possibly work? We forgot our place and our strengths. We bought Stan from Carlisle not Liverpool. He had a point to prove and was hungry, had real belief in his ability and was desperate to prove himself. Compare that with the signing of, say, Bosingwa. A man who the previous season won the Champions League with Chelsea and had only one thing on his mind when he signed to little old QPR. You could name 20 similar signings over the last five seasons. Embarrassing. But seeing Stan enjoy his moment made me think about our new manager and Director of Football. I’ve always been a huge fan of Holloway as both a player and a manager at the club. He may have limitations but they are all made up for with his energy, passion and hard work. And whatever the doubters think, that’s what we need now. In fact it’s the most we can ask for because only someone with a deep regard for the club, its history and culture can pour in the energy needed on the limited resources we have available to us now. He did it almost single handedly in his first tenure as manager and there’s no reason to think he can’t do it again given time and support. Same goes for Ferdinand. Here’s a man who has stopped the rot when it comes to our signings. We are now back in the habit of buying players the Stan Bowles way, with something to prove from lower divisions and Ferdinand is to be applauded for that. Holloway and Ferdinand are igniting my interest again. I enjoy watching Furlong (raw but classy) and Manning (tender but tenacious) so much more than the big name mercenaries that came in for one more quick pay cheque. Youngsters we have developed. Not the finished article but I look forward to watching them develop this season. I’m also loving watching Freeman, a player we picked up from Bristol City for a small fee. He plays with verve, just like Bowles did. He plays like he’s got something to prove. And against Bournemouth I also got a first look at Scowen, a player we bought from Barnsley. He looks like he enjoys his football, and how many QPR players could you say that about over the last few seasons? Remember Assou Akotto? Remember Traore? Players that simply didn’t want to be there. Oh to have them at Loftus Rd to see Bowles making the most of his likely last ever visit. Might it shame them into realising just how lucky they are and how appalling they attitude was?

As Stan disappeared back down the tunnel I realised he had made me think an awful lot about all sorts of things. My own mortality. The state of football in general. The state of my club. And he made me realise there’s actually much to be excited about for the coming season. So I knuckled down and took a keen interest in the second half of this final warm up game before the new season started in earnest.

The game itself was full of huff and puff and actually for long periods we matched our Premier League counterparts, themselves playing the role of the ultimate underdogs in the Premiership and more power to them for that. It’s what gave Stan his powers. The role of the underdog. Bournemouth have been using it to good effect and we have to start doing that again. We are not big, never will be. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be brilliant. But while we matched Bournemouth for effort we couldn’t match them for guile in the final third. I spent most of the game wondering if Stan was even bothering to watch. I’m not sure there was enough on offer to keep him truly entertained and that’s what he’s all about. Entertainment. The current team would do well to remember that over the coming season. As I said, I like what Holloway is doing despite his critics. He’s working with a pigs ear and, given time, he could turn them into a silk purse. But before he does that he’s got to muster desire and effort. I saw enough of that against Bournemouth but the problem is, it was deathly dull. Every attack ended with the ball coming back from the ‘winger’ to a central player only to be snuffed out when the defence organised themselves. The key to getting space in the final third is simple. Beat a man. Beating a man creates space. Not just for the player that did it, but for the players close by who find themselves unmarked as opposition players pour towards the player with the ball. Stan was the master of this. Beating a man. The story goes he did it once and then, when the defender was on his arse, he turned around, came back and did it again. Apocryful it may be. But the best ones always are. The irony of the Bournemouth game was that there wasn’t anyone in the QPR team who could do what Stan did. Beat a man. Enjoy their football. Do something different without caring about ridicule. I’m so pleased we’ve managed to snaffle Lua Lua back from Brighton for the coming season. He’l miss more than he scores and he’ll try things that don’t come off. But he’ll have e a go at a defender and occasionally it’ll come off. That’s when goals happen. We need a few more players like this. Something to prove and a no fear attitude. It’s what Stan had in abundance. For years we were able to attract those players. Bowles replaced Marsh. Then Currie and Stainrod replaced Bowles. Then Byrne. Then Wegerle. There was a production line. A quite amazing production line at that. But it stopped after Wegerle. We still had fine sides. None finer than the one Ferdinand graced. But you can’t call Ferdinand a replacement for Bowles. Two totally different players. One full of guile and cheek and impudence. The other full of power and speed and aerial ability. No, we never got a true replacement until Taarabt turned up. And what an impact he made. For all his character flaws he had the ability to make the ball stick and just didn’t give a damn what anyone else was expecting on the pitch, he just did what he felt like. For me it was the most enjoyable period in QPR’s recent history. Watching him was worth the entrance money alone. It really was. He destroyed the championship almost single handedly and was expertly managed by Warnock. A difficult character who needed constant attention (I’m not talking about Warnock in this instance!). Redknapp just didn’t know how to deal with him and didn’t understand his cultural importance. With him on the pitch you felt there was always a chance. And so it was with Bowles. Anything could happen, and usually did. I don’t think Holloway or Ferdinand would let a talent like that slip through their fingers in the same way Redknapp did. Again, it’s about understanding the fabric of the club and the players we need, however high maintenance. Taarabt was a young QPR fan’s Bowles. A small taster as to what it was like back then. Here’s to finding the next one. If we really want to find success, unlock defences, get the crowd going, we’re going to need to find that player.

We lost 1-0 to Bournemouth. Lots to like about this workmanlike, energetic performance. But not too much to get excited about yet. The result didn’t really matter anyway. The star of the show was the number 10. Came on at half time. Dazzled the crowd and signed off in style. What an icon. The ultimate maverick. The ultimate underdog. Thank you Stan. For the memories and for helping re-ignite my interest in this current side. We won’t pull up any trees any time soon but we’re starting again and the early signs are good. An opening day 3-0 thrashing of promotion favourites Reading followed by a fine performance away to Sheff Wednesday resulting in an unlucky 1-1 draw. Holloway’s got us working hard. Now we just need a little of the Stan Bowles magic. To new beginnings. To Entertainment. To not giving a damn. To Stan.