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Walking Down The Halbeath Road


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Bert will be 80 in 2022. 

He is the ultimate Pars legend. He is a legend as a player and a legend as a manager.

He won the Scottish Cup. He's one of our top scorers in Europe (my, admittedly poor, research puts him joint top with Peebles, Callaghan and Ferguson*). He was one of our best ever managers. He presided over one of, if not the, most popular squad in the club's history.

The main stand should be named after him.

I mind after the trophy presentation vs Airdrie in 96 (which took ages as the helicopter was apparently hovering between East End and Cappielow but was definitely closer to Greenock than Rosyth, where is ultimately landed before being driven up the road) driving home (my old man, me and one of my best pals at the time) and we passed Bert's house in Gowkhall before the turnoff to Saline. His driveway was full of black, white and red balloons tied to the wooden posts.

For some reason I still remember that most about that day.

 

Anyway, Bert is an absolute fucking kin. As well as the above, he's also an absolutely brilliant person. He has time for everyone and is so patient and polite. 

 

I've only ever had one genuine hero in my life, and it and will always be Bert Paton. 

 

Edit: The saddest thing ever is Bert not being able to speak at Norrie's memorial at East End. Tears everywhere.

 

*Alex

Edited by DA Baracus
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(Lots of stuff I agree with)...

I mind after the trophy presentation vs Airdrie in 96 (which took ages as the helicopter was apparently hovering between East End and Cappielow but was definitely closer to Greenock than Rosyth, where is ultimately landed before being driven up the road)

...(More stuff - particularly about the memorial service I agree with)
 




If I remember right, the helicopter was at a Cumbernauld or somewhere and since our game was still in progress when the Morton v Dundee Utd game was over (our game having kicked off late due to the crowd; wouldn't have happened these days but I'm not sure if they'd start our game on time or delay the Cappilow fixture?) it was always coming to Fife. The big delay was that the guy on board who was presenting the trophy (don't know if it was an SFL guy or a Bells guy?) said to the pilot "why don't we do a wee fly-by to get the crowd going?" so they circled round East End for a bit (we thought they were going to land on the pitch) then went down to Rosyth, from where there was meant to be a Police Escort to the ground. With the late kick off and the unnecessary faffing about with a "tease", I'm sure the trophy didn't get lifted till about 6 o'clock. The story of the helicopter (was that the first "helicopter Saturday"? It might have been although I think there was one where Cowdenbeath won the Third Division around the same time where it went to the last day?) was in one of the papers - I think the Sun - on the Monday.
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16 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Bert will be 80 in 2022. 

He is the ultimate Pars legend. He is a legend as a player and a legend as a manager.

He won the Scottish Cup. He's one of our top scorers in Europe (my, admittedly poor, research puts him joint top with Peebles, Callaghan and Ferguson*). He was one of our best ever managers. He presided over one of, if not the, most popular squad in the club's history.

The main stand should be named after him.

I mind after the trophy presentation vs Airdrie in 96 (which took ages as the helicopter was apparently hovering between East End and Cappielow but was definitely closer to Greenock than Rosyth, where is ultimately landed before being driven up the road) driving home (my old man, me and one of my best pals at the time) and we passed Bert's house in Gowkhall before the turnoff to Saline. His driveway was full of black, white and red balloons tied to the wooden posts.

For some reason I still remember that most about that day.

 

Anyway, Bert is an absolute fucking kin. As well as the above, he's also an absolutely brilliant person. He has time for everyone and is so patient and polite. 

 

I've only ever had one genuine hero in my life, and it and will always be Bert Paton. 

 

Edit: The saddest thing ever is Bert not being able to speak at Norrie's memorial at East End. Tears everywhere.

 

*Alex

My old man and Bert became friends around that time and it was really bizarre to come home from uni to visit the folks to find Bert Paton sitting having a coffee with my old man. 
 

Loved how unashamedly unhinged and unorthodox Bert was. Like when he sent a couple of injured players to his daughter’s horse’s vet (the vet sorted their knee injuries) or how he didn’t sign defenders as he believed they had simply ended up playing at the back as they were the worst players when they were younger, so would convert football gods like Andy Tod and Ivo into defenders instead. 

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On 07/08/2020 at 14:39, VinnyPar said:

Does anyone know when pre season starts? I noticed hearts are back training.

 

On 07/08/2020 at 14:42, DA Baracus said:

Start of September would be my guess. I imagine a lot of teams are holding off as late as they can to save bringing players and staff off of furlough.

Most clubs will be back by 24th Aug I think.

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Rovers supporter here. Bert Paton used to have a shop in Rosyth and my grandparents would sometimes go there for odds and ends, getting to know BP in the process. My grandad told him I was from Kdy and supported the Rovers so he invited us along to EEP one afternoon where he personally gave us a full tour of the stadium and centre stand tickets for that days game against QoS. It didnt turn me, obviously, but agree with the sentiments above - one of the good guys.

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Any talk of naming a stand after Bert will automatically be compared to naming a stand after Jim. 
 
 
Tbb, we're lucky to have two legends of that standing. 

At what point does naming a stand after someone start to lose its meaning? If we name one stand after Leishman/Paton, would we have to wait 3, 5 or 10 years before the other gets their turn?
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On 07/08/2020 at 14:39, VinnyPar said:

Does anyone know when pre season starts? I noticed hearts are back training.

Ayr, Raith, Morton all the 17th, could be something in that date.

Edited by Jamie_M
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Guest Axle Grease

Paton stayed away from EEP for a few year after he felt he had been treated unfairly by a previous regime.

Different now of course and always good to see him at the ground. 

A thoroughly decent man. 

I'd love to see a Stand names after him specifically. 

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Paton stayed away from EEP for a few year after he felt he had been treated unfairly by a previous regime.
Different now of course and always good to see him at the ground. 
A thoroughly decent man. 
I'd love to see a Stand names after him specifically. 
Which regime?
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10 hours ago, Stellaboz said:

When we fill in the corners, then Joe will get his turn.

Cardle will get a concourse.  So you can cut inside...

7 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Ayr, Raith, Morton all the 17th, could be something in that date.

End of the month/ start of September according to Crawford in the OFW interview. Date depends on if we play in the first round of fixtures in the league cup.    As far as I can see we had 4 weeks pre-season before the betfred fixtures last year and seemed ok for fitness then which will be about the same this year, maybe a few days longer.   Will be interesting to see where players base fitness levels are compared to normal years.  It’s going to be a challenge for every club getting their schedule right.

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