http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/yorkshire-puddings.html
http://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/frilly-knickers-will-come-out-of-next.html
Norman Rimmington has died at the age of 93. The Barnsley kit man was a miner and a goalkeeper at Mapplewell Town at the end of the Second World War. He signed for the Reds and played only 29 times before moving to Hartlepool until 1952, where he played over a 100 times. He broke his leg, returned to Oakwell and had to turn his hand to coaching, being a groundsman, a physio and kit man. He worked into his 90s taking on less demanding jobs but always having a quiet word for the players as they passed his "office".
He advised Allan Clarke to retire from playing after a 7-0 drubbing at Reading! John Hendrie knew him as a confidante, Norman Hunter had the pipe-smoking physio as his right hand ma,. Alex Ferguson met him at Oakwell and said that Norman was more well known than he.
Norman was a one club man and a genuine legend. They don't make them like that any more!
How times have changed. Barnsley FC are well placed in the Championship which will have cheered Norman in his final years. It has been a record breaking Calendar YEAR with 16 away wins including the success at Wembley at the end of last season. Their 47 goals on their travels also is a record for the club's modern era and one would have to go back to 1894 to find the foundling club, Barnsley St Peters FC, scoring a higher total. The 26 goals conceded away from home is also the lowest since 1984 and the 6 defeats the lowest since 1980.
The play-off game against Millwall at the end of last year's campaign was the culmination of the club's longest season, covering 59 games, one more than the previous total in 1960/61.
Norman will have been chuffed with the success of Paul Heckingbottom's Tykes. I'm going to Oakwell tomorrow and will be hoping for a positive result against Birmingam City to help see Norman on his way.
And finally, on Christmas Day 1901, Midland League leaders Barnsley Reserves travelled to Grimsby who were second in the division. Only 7 Barnsley players got to the ground following four team members missing the train. 9-0 down at half time and five more in the second half with one in return by the Tykes. Barnsley eventually won the title despite this record defeat. If they had only 6 men wouldn't the game have been postponed? One should have hidden in the kit basket.
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