Quote: lefty goldblatt "
There have been 3 happy periods in my Wire watching life
1. The Tony Smith era, starting from the first Wembley win
2. The Johnny Davies season. Bateman superb. Kelly "Genius" Shellford, Mackey (RIP) and to some extent Ellis, Myler. All this class, on the back of (let's be honest) a bit of an average pack.
3. The Boyd era from Sept 85 'til the end of 87. The next couple of years after were showing the signs of Les and Kevin getting a little creaky in their dotage, but still quality. Add to these, the likes of both Gregorys, Mark (manlove) Roberts and a raw Gary Sanderson. Class again, on the back of (again, being honest) a bit of an average 3/4 line.
Now, to me, I can't split eras 2 and 3, but they're better than era 1.
Eras 2 and 3 just oozed excitement and anticipation from finishing college/work on a Friday afternoon until leaving the pub on a Sunday night. Today's team (as good as they are) just doesn't "float my boat" as much.
(imo) there's more to life than winning trophies. Eras 2 and 3 embody this for me'"
Good post. I came in just after era 3 so I didn't see that team at its absolute peak with Andy Gregory there.
I still say era 2 for me was the most exciting but that is because of the age I was, when you are a teenager I think your interest in sport in general peaks, when you are older there are other things that give you the peaks and troughs in life - relationships, family, work, but as a teenager you are relatively insulated and so the real highs and lows come from sport.
The Jonathan Davies season just epitomised hope in so many ways, the dominant power of Wigan that could not be challenged, least of all by a team like us that was usually lower mid table, but suddenly we were challenging them and hope was embodied in one player (albeit he had some good supporting members around him with Mackey, Shelford, Bateman etc).
Era 3 was hands down the best I have seen as a Wire fan and the TS team would have smashed any other Wire team I can remember, but for me the intensity of the emotions was not there, certainly after Wembley 2009. For many years I thought I would never see us win a major trophy so after winning the Challenge Cup in 2009 some part of me was content as a rugby league fan that I had seen it and I was there. After that anything else was a bonus so I didn't get as gutted after we lost the Grand Finals or final eliminator games over the past couple of years. Also maybe part of why I wasn't as gutted was the thought that we are now established as a well run big club and so the feeling is always there that there will be more chances in the future, whereas when we were pipped by Wigan in 1994 that felt more heartbreaking because I think we all knew that it was a one off chance that would not be repeated any time soon.
I do think you are always attached to the players from your past, however strong the team was.
You can see this if you talk to Man City fans, that are aged 30 or older, ask them to name their all time Man City team and you will get some interesting names in there....if they are really honest it should be pretty much full of players from the last few years but you will hear them putting names like Goater, Kinkladze, Curle in it!