If it is correct that Pritch is now the outright holder of the record for most Albion appearances, are there any plans to recognise his excellent contribution to Witton Albion FC??
Saturday would be a great match to honour him in some way.
As fans can we think of anything to do on Saturday to show our appreciation??
He should at least be captain for the day or something like that.
Rename one of the ends behind goal to ‘The Brian Pritchard Stand’!!??!!
ANYTHING!!
I could be wrong but I think Pritch has now moved into second place in the all time appearance record ahead of my old mate John Goryl. It was long thought that John did hold the record but I think Chad found out that he was in fact lying in second place because John did in fact have a break in his career at Witton for a season or two.
Pretty sure Alf Ashley holds the record, which Pritch is well on the way to beating. I’m sure Chad can put us right.
Considering how successful we were when Alf was playing perhaps a stand should be named after him. Pritch has served us brilliantly and when he finally retires in 10 or 20 years time, maybe then we can name the ground after him!!! As for a special tribute, I think Prirch knows already how much the fans love and respect him without a gaudy display.
WHS.
Just to fully clarify Pritch’s own record.
By now passing John Goryl’s 539 total Brian is confirmed as in 2nd position for matches played since WW II ie 1945-46 season. Alf Ashley is top of the tree with 604.
As regards the all-time appearance record holder then myself & Keith Clayton are working on this very laborious season by season task but we do know that Frank Schofield played 310 matches since 1945 + a minimum of 219 between 1935 & 1940. As he commenced his Albion career sometime in the 1933-34 season then we reckon he will certainly have exceeded Brian’s current 540 total. However it is doubtful that he made over 600 appearances in total, unless we uncover and then include Albion’s war-time matches. Doubtful though whether these would be competitive games.
Thanks Chad as always very informative. Frank Schofield was a legend and I guess must still be second to Sir Alf Ashley. I’m not sure how many games Billy Challenger played either but it must have been quite a few. I unfortunately missed out on Frank playing but I did see Alf all be it in the latter stages of a wonderful career. Alf incidentally is a wonderful guy who I have shaken hands with on a number of occassions. In fact I achieved one of my life long ambitions to shake hands with Sir Alf Ashley,Sir Kenneth Barnes, and some other bloke called Brain Pritchard all on the same day when "Pritch" had his testimonial. In fact I shook hands with other heroes that day too like Keith Mason, "Big" Jim Connor, Paddy Daly, Brendan Burke to name a few. A big thrill for me and shows what a fantastic club we have and what privilage it’s been to see such wonderful players over the years with my own favourite being Dave "Corky" Carrick.
For "Pritch" to be up their with the likes of Sir Alf, Frank, "Tank" Goryl and the like is a wonderful achievment and speaks volumes for a lad I’ve long admired and who is in my top ten Witton heroes. Keep going "Pritch" I’m sure if you break Alf’s record he won’t mind. We need you and all the other lads up for it on Saturday and if we play anything like we should beat Rushden.
C’MON THE ALBS
I agree with you, "Corky" was my favourite too. By the way, I played in the same team once with Alf, albeit at Bowls!!! Mind you, he was fine bowler too with Owley Wood A team. One day, hopefully soon, we will place many of our present crop of players alongside the greats like Alf, Corky and Ken, especially if we get the promotion this team richly deserve, a couple of cups won’t go amiss either!!!
WHS.
Sounds like the beginnings of a WAFC "Hall of Fame" ?
You know, the "HALL OF FAME" idea might not be a bad idea. How about finding somewhere in the club for a potrait and pen picture of our greatest players, after all we have had quite a few, Joe Dale, Alf Ashley, Frank Fidler, Ken Barnes, Chris Nichol, Pady Daly , Corky Carrick, Peter Mellor, it is a long list and I am sure others will think of many more players who should be in it. Perhaps we should restrict it to players who have retired for some time, open to suggestions.
WHS.
Thought I was already doing this under the title of "Albion Greats" , most of whom were chosen by website contributors. To date 16 players: Barnes, Carrick, Challenger, Daly, Fidler, Goryl, Griffin, Henderson, Higgins, Mason, Mellor, Ogden, Rose, Thomas, Wagstaffe & White have been featured in the Albion Review. Lined up for the Senior Cup match is Archie Elsby whilst Saturday’s issue has a big feature on Carl Alford as he cost R & D ?85k.
An idea that Mark Harris suggested was that the articles be reproduced on the Website so the "Hall of Fame" is already well under way.
Briliant idea about putting the hall of fame on the website.I know you are putting in long hours on the hall of fame Chad and I know you are always up for suggestions about who to put in it. The problem is as we’ve already said there have been some great players and characters over the years. I know my late dad was a big admirer of Jack Robinson, Eric Hyde, Stuart Cowden,and Jack Chew but they came too early for me but if dad thought they were good they must have been! For myself I always like Brian Griffin, Steve Eliis, Tony Keyes, Alan McNeil, the best overlapping fullback I ever saw David Lambert, the best fullback I ever saw Dave Griffiths, and the best tackler I ever saw Stuart Davey. The problem is I could go on for ever and it would not be fair as there are lots of great players from different eras. We’ve been blessed and thats what makes the club so fantastic to support. See I forgot Mark Fielding as well who could tackle as well. Its so hard!! Anyway keep that PC well oiled Chad I know you are putting in some time on this just as well you spent years in IT!!
The feature in the prgram is great, and getting it Online would also be brilliant, but it would be nice to have a physical Hall Of Fame where maybe a couple of new players are inducted each year at the player of the year do? Might even increase interest in this aswell.
We could look at tying in a hall of fame with the existing Museum? I think it would be a welcome feature at Wincham Park that not many clubs at our level would have.
Apologies that my information regarding Pritch was incorrect, I assumed when he had equalled John Goryl’s appearances that he only needed one game to become the record holder.
Many thanks to everyone for putting the record straight and once again, sincere apologies for any confusion caused by my error.
I love it when people try and reinvent the wheel - Try the museum! lol