I remember seeing him chatting to then Aberystwyth Town manager Gary Finley in the Cambrian pub in Aber, and I think he had a short lived spell at Park Avenue. This must have been about 2000-2001ish
The results of a collective breathalyser test performed on the Man Utd team five minutes before kick-off of that game would have made for some interesting reading.
Dennis Bailey was an extremely enthusiastic God-botherer, I seem to remember.
QPR fanzine In the Loft had a parody of the ITV coverage of that game in its following issue. It had Denis Law naming Bryan Robson 'man of the match' even though he hadn't played in the game because, if he had played, 'United would definitely have won'. Complaints about big-club TV bias aren't just a Sky thing.
He was at Tamworth for the 2001/02 season in the Southern League, but was coming off the bench mostly. That was the season before we went up to the Conference for the first time. The main striking partnership was Mark Hallam and Darren Roberts, who scored 40 odd goals between them. Dennis managed just 16 appearances in total, scoring 2 goals. He went to Stafford Rangers the next season.
Best. Boxing Day. Ever
Leeds had been either 3-0 or 3-1 up at home to S'oton in a lunchtime kick-off but a couple of goals for Dowie and a Shearer equaliser meant a 3-3 draw and a general sense of deflation in the face of what looked like an easy 3 points for Man United, which would have had them several points clear. Dennis Bailey quite the Leeds hero that day in the same way as Kenny Brown was a few months later. It did not fit with the ITV Manchester-United's-Long-Wait-Is-Over narrative at all.
Haddock wrote: Best. Boxing Day. Ever
Leeds had been either 3-0 or 3-1 up at home to S'oton in a lunchtime kick-off but a couple of goals for Dowie and a Shearer equaliser meant a 3-3 draw and a general sense of deflation in the face of what looked like an easy 3 points for Man United, which would have had them several points clear. Dennis Bailey quite the Leeds hero that day in the same way as Kenny Brown was a few months later. It did not fit with the ITV Manchester-United's-Long-Wait-Is-Over narrative at all.
Jah Womble wrote: It was some performance, but I prefer to recall Martin Peters's four-goal Old Trafford haul for my lot some twenty-odd years earlier.
I'd be surprised if any opponent's managed that before or since...
Hope you like surprises JW. Ron Davies did it for Southampton in 1969'
Actually I think I'd heard that somewhere along the way - and, if I'm honest, it's more than possible that other players may have managed it in the days when matches ended up 7-6, etc.
EIM wrote: I hated Dennis Bailey. He almost ruined my childhood.
Christ (sorry Dennis), if my childhood had been ruined by opposition players scoring hat-tricks against my team the itemised phone bill would have shown calls to Childline on a regular basis. I got defeats to Chorley in the first round of the cup too.
I can still remember Elton Welsby: "Welcome back to a... stunned Old Trafford..."
He seemed shell-shocked; genuinely traumatised. I assumed he must be a Man United fan for several years, until I realised he was a Scouser (Everton, I think).
(There's a video still doing the rounds of Elton rehearsing and then executing a few links for the late night ITV highlights of a snooker tournament in the 80s. For an hour. Wearing a DJ and sat next to a pot plant, in front of a curtain. If you ever get the chance to see it, do - it's hypnotic viewing, I can tell you.)
Taylor wrote: Was he actually a Tranmere fan, or did he just never mention them?
The opposite. They were on bloody every week. Them and Oldham.
Regularly enough for every other NW fan to hate him and them. Though to be honest, Clarets fans didn't do themselves any favours with an accurately thrown meat pie during a game at Deepdale.
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