Freddie Goodwin.
Well-known member
No, not wishing to put a scare story and hopefully he's in good health, but today is the anniversary of that fatefull night at Selhurst in 1985 when the popular Irishman had his career ended.
The midweek clash had lost some of it's usual passion as Albion & palace were now in decline. Albion were 6th but going nowhere, Palace in the lower half of Div 2.
Although not the intensity, it was still a feisty match and palace took the lead but the game turned when a horrendous tackle by Henry Houghton broke Ryan's leg. The tackle took place on the half way line, hardly a crucial area and was , to put it mildly, reckless. The crack could be heared by the Albion fans behind the goal and there was a fair amount of anger both on & off the pitch.
Albion really tore into them after that and Danny Wilson made the final score 1-1 but the game was overshadowed by the Ryan incident.
I don't think he ever played again, certainly not back at this level, and he was an international too.
He did spend a time on the management team with Liam Brady and looked pretty sprightly in a celebs game at Withers a couple of years back, only to suffer a stroke a few weeks later. The last time I saw him was at another Withers game when the 1983 Cup final players were presented on the pitch.
Gerry was a popular player, one of those that you couldn't guess how he would play, brilliant or woeful, sometimes in the same game! He had some wonderful mazy runs where he'd travel half the length of the pitch, leaving opposition players, his team mates and the crowd bemused!
Wishing you good health, Gerry
The midweek clash had lost some of it's usual passion as Albion & palace were now in decline. Albion were 6th but going nowhere, Palace in the lower half of Div 2.
Although not the intensity, it was still a feisty match and palace took the lead but the game turned when a horrendous tackle by Henry Houghton broke Ryan's leg. The tackle took place on the half way line, hardly a crucial area and was , to put it mildly, reckless. The crack could be heared by the Albion fans behind the goal and there was a fair amount of anger both on & off the pitch.
Albion really tore into them after that and Danny Wilson made the final score 1-1 but the game was overshadowed by the Ryan incident.
I don't think he ever played again, certainly not back at this level, and he was an international too.
He did spend a time on the management team with Liam Brady and looked pretty sprightly in a celebs game at Withers a couple of years back, only to suffer a stroke a few weeks later. The last time I saw him was at another Withers game when the 1983 Cup final players were presented on the pitch.
Gerry was a popular player, one of those that you couldn't guess how he would play, brilliant or woeful, sometimes in the same game! He had some wonderful mazy runs where he'd travel half the length of the pitch, leaving opposition players, his team mates and the crowd bemused!
Wishing you good health, Gerry
Fair play to you.