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Alan Spavin

Alan Spavin

paddysr

paddysr

Bearded Beauty
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Jun 19, 2017
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Just been chatting with my dad and he was saying when he first moved to Preston he used to go on and was talking about Alan Spavin.

Says he used to here loads of grumbling from our lot because he wasnt a flash harry but that he used to completely dictate the way we played and was prepared to slow the game down when needed.

My question is this: does anyone know when he made his debut and how accurate is my old fella's memory ?
 
He made his debut in 1960/61 against Arsenal.
I was given a newspaper cutting of it some Years ago. He was in the Team that won the Youth Cup final with Peter Thomson, Dave Wilson possibly.
He was a great Player at the old second Division level (Championship). Ron Atkinson once said he was the best uncapped midfielder of his generation (told this story to Spav when he was in his 60's - He said it was very kind but he was a tad too slow for that level).
I got to know his Parents & Son (who supports Spurs) and ex wife when we moved to Morecambe in the late 80's.
Spav used to come in the Family PO/CTN when he was over from the USA.
Nice. Family
 
Son not so nice, I'm afraid. Drunk driver who killed a young mother and badly injured her daughter, sadly only got 5 years inside, probably served 2 or 3
 
Spavin was one of my favourite players and your dad is correct, he could dictate the pace of the game. He was a great example to our younger players and always gave his all. He wasn't the fastest but read the game really well and could start attacks off with some great passing play and he scored his fare share of goals.
 
deepdaledreamer said:
He made his debut in 1960/61 against Arsenal.
I was given a newspaper cutting of it some Years ago. He was in the Team that won the Youth Cup final with Peter Thomson, Dave Wilson possibly.
He was a great Player at the old second Division level (Championship). Ron Atkinson once said he was the best uncapped midfielder of his generation (told this story to Spav when he was in his 60's - He said it was very kind but he was a tad too slow for that level).
I got to know his Parents & Son (who supports Spurs) and ex wife when we moved to Morecambe in the late 80's.
Spav used to come in the Family PO/CTN when he was over from the USA.
Nice. Family
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You must have dreamt the youth cup win we lost to Chelsea.
 
Incidentally this all came out while we were watching the game today. He said he was what we were missing.
 
paddysr said:
Incidentally this all came out while we were watching the game today. He said he was what we were missing.
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Weve missed him every game and every decade......since we replaced him with Nobby Stiles !!!

My all time hero and a lovely gentleman..... have various correspondence from him in the loft.

Once went to watch him at Accy Stanley when he was a player manager for ? and he missed a penalty by so far that it made Gally's effort look close !

He even came back in our darkest hour and played sitting midfield to help us out.

That Rotherham night was my favourite ever Deepdale game because of those 2 goals and the title it brought us.
 
Alan Spavin is an all-time great of Preston North End - the proverbial 'schemer' who could dictate play with guile and skill. He was First Division i.e. Premiership class in everything but pace - when we were in the old Division 3 in 70-71 he was literally a different class to almost everything else around him. But the reality is that he was a near permanent fixture in the PNE side from early-mid 60s to the early 70s and then again a bit later that decade for a brief return spell and always provided an input of sheer quality.
 
paddysr said:
Incidentally this all came out while we were watching the game today. He said he was what we were missing.
Click to expand...

He's absolutely right. And yes, he did get stick from some people who couldn't see what he contributed and instead highlighted his lack of pace and goals. Along with the magnificent Nobby Lawton, he basically made the side tick, so much of the play went through him. He was one of those players whose importance was probably only fully appreciated when he was out of the side.
 
Schemer said:
He's absolutely right. And yes, he did get stick from some people who couldn't see what he contributed and instead highlighted his lack of pace and goals. Along with the magnificent Nobby Lawton, he basically made the side tick, so much of the play went through him. He was one of those players whose importance was probably only fully appreciated when he was out of the side.
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Very much agree with that Schemer

Him and Lawton in Mid-field and the 'Black Prince' (That’s Dawson for the uneducated) and in the (pre snowflake era we were allowed to call him that and he revelled in the title) up top, were a very good combination, good enough to beat Leeds’s who went on to be a real Division 1 side (equal of today’s Prem) and do well in Europe
Looking back if we hadn't gone to Wembley that season and got distracted, I reckon we would have gone up
 
pbc373 said:
Son not so nice, I'm afraid. Drunk driver who killed a young mother and badly injured her daughter, sadly only got 5 years inside, probably served 2 or 3
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I lived next door to his son David in the early 2000's and he was generally ok, although funnily enough, he used to complain about my son playing football in the back garden! I didn't know about his drink driving crash. Really shocked by that.
 
He used to get a bit of stick towards the end of his career....some felt he played a season or 2 too long. Who was that other older guy played at the same time? Possibly Franny Burns? ( scratches head). I can clearly remember folk moaning about the pair of them, thinking it was time for new blood and younger legs.
 
Karcist said:
He used to get a bit of stick towards the end of his career....some felt he played a season or 2 too long. Who was that other older guy played at the same time? Possibly Franny Burns? ( scratches head). I can clearly remember folk moaning about the pair of them, thinking it was time for new blood and younger legs.
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Pretty sure Franny Burns came along later. Was around in our promotion season in 1978.
 
No Danger said:
Pretty sure Franny Burns came along later. Was around in our promotion season in 1978.
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Wasn`t Spavin still around then?

All a bit vague in my mind now but I think Burns was ex-Man U, and one criticism I distinctly remember was the feeling that Nobby Stiles was too loyal to some of the old guard from his old club.

Stand to be corrected, but pretty sure both played in 77/78.
 
Karcist said:
Wasn`t Spavin still around then?

All a bit vague in my mind now but I think Burns was ex-Man U, and one criticism I distinctly remember was the feeling that Nobby Stiles was too loyal to some of the old guard from his old club.

Stand to be corrected, but pretty sure both played in 77/78.
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You are correct. He left for the USA and had spells with Morecambe and Dundalk. He returned to PNE for the 1977/78 season. My memory is not what it used to be 👍 🙂
 
Francis Burns was signed by Bobby Charlton and for a couple of seasons at least was a very good player for us. He may have overlapped with Alan Spavin during the latter's second spell with the club when both would certainly have been near the end of their playing careers. The younger player who was brought in very much as a replacement for them by Nobby Stiles when he became manager was Sean Haslegrave.
 
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