I took out a funeral plan last week. Hearing that Dan Archer had died made me feel even older.
He couldn't run worth a damn. He didn't need to. His job was to pull the strings from the centre of midfield.
He had good ball skills and he could tackle when he wanted, but Dan Archer was about passing. He could spot a pass and play a pass better than anyone I've seen in a Chesterfield shirt. Long ball, or a delicate little ball threaded into the area, Dan Archer was the master.
He made Jim McGuigan's team tick and McGuigan knew it. He didn't expect things from Archer he couldn't do and simply delighted when he cracked in a goal from long range, or found a pass that opened up an opposition that had been defending stoutly.
At our level Dan Archer was a Gerson, he would run the game and the ref' too if he could get away with it.
I'm so old I played cricket against him a couple of times when I was young. He wasn't bad even though he liked to walk singles rather than run them. I wish I'd had the courage to tell him what every Chesterfield fan thought of him.
When we were challenging for the Fourth Division title our coach took us near the ground at Crewe before parking. Less than an hour before kick off and there was Dan and two of our other star players tucking into bags of chips. A modern manager would have a conniption fit, but come kick off Dan was there running the game, directing play, and we won easy.
Makes you think ..... there's being super-fit and being fit to play a game. Look at cricket, take a look at the number of overs Statham and Trueman would get through in a day or a season and compare it to the injury-ravaged bowlers of today. Dan Archer was a player of that same old school. Measure the yards he ran. Count the times he sprinted. You'd think he might as well have stayed in the changing room. But look who'd run the game, look at the player the opposition couldn't get to grips with and there you'd see Dan Archer.
You were a hero Dan Archer.
He couldn't run worth a damn. He didn't need to. His job was to pull the strings from the centre of midfield.
He had good ball skills and he could tackle when he wanted, but Dan Archer was about passing. He could spot a pass and play a pass better than anyone I've seen in a Chesterfield shirt. Long ball, or a delicate little ball threaded into the area, Dan Archer was the master.
He made Jim McGuigan's team tick and McGuigan knew it. He didn't expect things from Archer he couldn't do and simply delighted when he cracked in a goal from long range, or found a pass that opened up an opposition that had been defending stoutly.
At our level Dan Archer was a Gerson, he would run the game and the ref' too if he could get away with it.
I'm so old I played cricket against him a couple of times when I was young. He wasn't bad even though he liked to walk singles rather than run them. I wish I'd had the courage to tell him what every Chesterfield fan thought of him.
When we were challenging for the Fourth Division title our coach took us near the ground at Crewe before parking. Less than an hour before kick off and there was Dan and two of our other star players tucking into bags of chips. A modern manager would have a conniption fit, but come kick off Dan was there running the game, directing play, and we won easy.
Makes you think ..... there's being super-fit and being fit to play a game. Look at cricket, take a look at the number of overs Statham and Trueman would get through in a day or a season and compare it to the injury-ravaged bowlers of today. Dan Archer was a player of that same old school. Measure the yards he ran. Count the times he sprinted. You'd think he might as well have stayed in the changing room. But look who'd run the game, look at the player the opposition couldn't get to grips with and there you'd see Dan Archer.
You were a hero Dan Archer.