[Beefy 1965]

Seen this on another site and thought in a brief Animation this was a Brilliant way to remember Laurie,Or if you lucky to be a lot younger find out all you need to know about the greatest Player I have ever watched play the game of Football

Came across this great little animation about the wonderful Laurie.

https://www.tifofootball.com/video/brief...Bc.twitter

[silverbaggie]

One of the stars of the most exciting West Brom team seen over the years.

I don't remember him signing for Man Ure but, you can still see on Youtube that marvellous game  against Untd when the Baggies were totally rampant and Laurie was unstoppable.

I wonder who was responsible for the illegal stamp on his foot which broke his toe and became a precursor to a downward trend in his career.

A Great Great player sadly missed along with, more recently, Cyrille.

I don't think that he was the first black player to play for England. That honour goes to a Ben Odeje who was picked at schoolboy level in 1971. Laurie's first cap came some 6 years later; playing for the under 21s.

[turkeydinner]

He was "Black Gold" (An Atkinson quote) , an absolutely sublime player greatest Black player this country have ever produced bar none

People talk of this gap of quality in English players like this country wasn't producing- Bowles, Currie, Cunningham, Hoddle and many fine players just as on the continent or Worldwide

Why weren't Cunningham and Regis selected at the 82 World Cup? Interesting conspiracy theory

thank you for posting, great video indeed!

[Beefy 1965]

Any ideas on that one yourself Turkey?

[drewks]

The best player I've ever seen.
Pace like no one else, acceleration, beautiful balance, skill to spare..... fantastic.
So sad he's gone.
R. I. P. Laurie

[talkSAFT]

I don't think that he was the first black player to play for England. That honour goes to a Ben Odeje who was picked at schoolboy level in 1971. Laurie's first cap came some 6 years later; playing for the under 21s.

Viv Anderson was the 1st black player for the full England team, in 1978.

[drewks]

.... just watched the link; the game v Valencia was unbelievable. He toyed with the full back (an experienced Spanish international, I recall) like a cat playing with a mouse, showing him the ball then gliding past him with absolute ease. The guy couldn't even bring him down!
An incredible display, never forgotten.

[turkeydinner]

I think (And I`m not a socialist) that Ron Greenwood was told by the FA not to have more than a token black player in the side
Remember this is the FA of the time that didn't permit Afros or plaits
I think if they were ever called into "Why weren't Laurie and Cyrille considered for WC82?" it would bring down some of the older establishment, you really telling me Graham Rix was better than Laurie? That does deserve an inquest

Keegan was playing more of a playmaker role in Midfield by this time, Francis and Woodcock were decent but Paul Mariner`s scoring record was not great at international level, the other Striker was Peter Withe who had a sublime season at Villa but six caps says it all. Regis had power, pace, endurance and yes age on his side, he won five caps and never played a full ninety minutes, being the third black player to win full England caps being first capped in Feb 1982. For me he offered something different than the other names, he could be the big hold the ball up Mariner guy, but he had pace like Francis and the guile of Woodcock with the hunger of youth, missed opportunity in my book.

Can you imagine in a 4-4-2 at the World cup 82 (Bear in mind England also didn't lose a match), absolute steel in that Midfield for Cunningham to run riot, Case was never capped by England and Keegan was injured until the Quarters but you get the fantasy-How can anyone look at that team and say England didn't have great players?

Shilton

Sansom
Mills
Butcher
Thompson

Coppell
Cunningham
Robson
Case

Keegan
Francis

And the video dosent mention his unlikely time at Wimbledon that Laurie provided the assist for Lawrie Sanchez to score in the FA cup final to beat perhaps the finest Liverpool team ever

[Beefy 1965]

Thanks Turkey
I didn't realise the FA ordered just one token Black Player to be picked, Amazing that but explains alot

[4evaabaggie]

Statham was better than Sansom, but he played for Albion whilst Sansom played in London .....