The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

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Nimrod
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The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Nimrod » Sun Mar 06, 2022 7:48 am

I’ve often wondered ‘what might have been’ if we had beaten Peterborough that night at Wembley - would that team have gone on to have a good season in Division 2, or would Reynolds still have forced most of them to leave.
One thing I have noticed, looking at the careers of most of that team is that within three years, a fair number of that team had retired or dropped out of league football- kind of suggests that even if we had got promoted, a big overhaul of the team would have been needed and a greater emphasis on youth perhaps. I think the 1995-96 team (Blake, Gregan,Appleby) would have had the better longevity in Division 2

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by shildonlad » Sun Mar 06, 2022 9:29 am

Marco Gabbiadini went onto northampton town and paul heckingbottom aint done too bad since. I think the team would have still dis-integrated even if promoted as long as reynolds remained chairman
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by lo36789 » Sun Mar 06, 2022 9:51 am

It would have needed recycling but I think most teams do every three years.

The 95/96 team wouldnt have been able to retain any of the players mentioned either but for a different reason.

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Sun Mar 06, 2022 11:54 am

The team of 99/00 were very good. Recently I found on youtube footage of a match at Feethams, (I think V P'boro) and quality of football was great.

Each player in that team was good at their job, not only the big guns like Liddle, Heaney, and Gabbiadini but others too, Michael Oliver for example.

If that team had won at Wembley and we'd been promoted, I think we would have done okay - under the control of a chairman who was willing to continue looking forward.
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Spyman » Sun Mar 06, 2022 12:01 pm

They were a good group of players but many were at or were approaching the peak of their careers.

Gabbiadini, Aspin, Gray, Duffield, Nogan, Tuttil, Heaney to a slightly lesser extent were at a point they were unlikely to improve much so yes, within a season or two some younger.players would have had to come in.

The more obvious reason we probably wouldn't have gone on to sustain ourselves at a higher level was George Reynolds who was a ticking time bomb and was clearly (in hindsight) always going to throw his toys out the pram at some stage.

If we'd gone up, crowds had been good and the move to the Arena had been a success then we might have lasted a few years at a higher level but I doubt we'd have become a fixture between the Championship and League One as Peterborough have.

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Sun Mar 06, 2022 3:03 pm

I suppose without G.R and his dosh Hodgy wouldn’t have been able to build that team, it was good while it lasted - I enjoyed it.
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Henley » Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm

It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:40 pm

Henley wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm
It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.
I remember that game. We travelled in from the south on the A1 and there were traffic jams leading up to Catterick. I helped a car load of Northampton fans get out of the jam and they followed me on the back roads through M Tyas and Barton. After the game I wished I’d never bothered.
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Wiseacre » Mon Mar 07, 2022 1:13 pm

I remember that the condition of the Feethams pitch was a concern at that point - hadn't a plumber damaged the drainage or something but it was pointed out at the time that Northampton had to deal with it as well - we're having pitch problems again as the gentlemen's disagreement shows elsewhere. We could conceivably have established ourselves in the next league up if we'd won promotion like Crewe, Colchester and Scunthorpe did, for a while. If Darlo could have somehow broken the pattern of occasional promotions then rapid relegations the club could have developed, not like Scunny or Colchester but maybe Rotherham or Wycombe. A bit of a pipedream now but Hodgy and Jim Platt made us some very good sides.

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Nimrod » Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:00 pm

Henley wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm
It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.
I remember going into that Northampton game and feeling like we were going to lose it as well. Think Gabbiadini was out suspended and Hodgy threw a surprise by putting Paul Holsgrove in for a debut. Though if I remember correctly we should have drawn it as Duffield had a good goal incorrectly chalked off for offside

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by lo36789 » Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:14 pm

I thought the controversy was the Northampton winner came from a quick throw taken in the wrong place?

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by EDJOHNS » Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:33 am

Henley wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm
It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.
I have always felt it was the Swansea loss that did for us. Only goal scored by the ex Darlo who became a Swansea legend Nick Cussack

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by shildonlad » Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:11 am

EDJOHNS wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:33 am
Henley wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm
It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.
I have always felt it was the Swansea loss that did for us. Only goal scored by the ex Darlo who became a Swansea legend Nick Cussack
Hard to believe what swansea have done since too. How things change
I may not live in the north east anymore but i still support the north east teams

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Henley » Tue Mar 08, 2022 10:00 am

shildonlad wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:11 am
EDJOHNS wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:33 am
Henley wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm
It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.
I have always felt it was the Swansea loss that did for us. Only goal scored by the ex Darlo who became a Swansea legend Nick Cussack
Hard to believe what swansea have done since too. How things change
And Brighton, who were below us in the table.

shildonlad
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by shildonlad » Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:26 pm

Henley wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 10:00 am
shildonlad wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 9:11 am
EDJOHNS wrote:
Tue Mar 08, 2022 7:33 am
Henley wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 10:03 pm
It’s always extraordinary to think that team didn’t get promotion.

Even with the poor run-in, if we’d only drawn with Northampton at home in April rather than lose (1-0 courtesy of a former Hanger, IIRC) we’d have been promoted.

It would have all collapsed the following season, mind.
I have always felt it was the Swansea loss that did for us. Only goal scored by the ex Darlo who became a Swansea legend Nick Cussack
Hard to believe what swansea have done since too. How things change
And Brighton, who were below us in the table.
Ah yeah, good point. Im sure bournmouth were also near the bottom of league 2 when eddie howe took over
I may not live in the north east anymore but i still support the north east teams

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Magical Quakers
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Magical Quakers » Tue Mar 08, 2022 2:45 pm

I'd forgotten we got so much money for Heaney when he left us http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 830607.stm

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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by Geordie Quaker » Wed Mar 09, 2022 11:45 am

We never actually lost to Swansea that season - drew 1-1 and home and 0-0 away.

We did throw away leads at home to both Rotherham (2-0 up) and Swansea (1-0 up) that were very costly. The Northampton game did for us. It was either a throw or a corner that went back post, and Howard practically caught the ball before scoring. I'm over it though....

I have to say my preference was always for the 1996 team, who really had no right to compete against Preston, Gillingham, Bury et al. They just drew a few too many games. The 1999/00 team were more capable of walloping someone, but were so dependent on Gabbas it was unreal.

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don'tbuythesun
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Re: The Hodgy team of 99/00 - if they had been promoted

Post by don'tbuythesun » Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:28 pm

That Rotherham game was one of our rare Feethams trips and a 7,000 plus crowd!

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