First of all an apology, I was wrong and this is the second time a fanzine has appeared as Fanzine of the Day and a #FloodlightFriday post in the same week. Search for Pollok FC in the new improved search feature on the top right of the front page and you will see that in March this year Fulton, One-nil did the double first.
As chance would have it I received a great email from Fulton, One-nil‘s very own Harry Angel this week. Harry authored ‘Voyages of Discover’ in that fanzine and if you read nothing else in my blogs I urge you to read his appraisal of Station Park, the home of the now departed Baillieston FC. It is a superlative piece of fanzine writing, absolutely brilliant even if he does spell Baillieston wrong, what do you expect from a fanzine? Any correspondence from anyone connected with any fanzine is always warmly welcomed..
Right, lets get to the floodlight stuff….If I presented you with this list would you understand its significance?
- Stuart McCall and Andy Myers, May 2001
- Stan Collymore and Trevor Benjamin, October 2000
- Steve McManaman and Bruce Grobbelaar, September 1993
- Graeme Le Saux and David Batty, November 1995
- Derek Hales and Mike Flanagan, January 1979
The Le Saux- Batty one probably gives it away such was the coverage at the time..but as far as team mates having a punchup goes it was far from the fi(r)st and nothing like the best..16 years before Charlton’s Hales and Flanagan, who sound like an old vaudeville act, had a bit of a dust up in an FA Cup tie against non league Maidstone United.
And that is where we come in with this week’s #FloodlightFriday fisticuffs. As promised earlier in the week there is a tremendously bad photo in issue for of Supporters Association Magazine SAM from Maidstone United. You can read more about the superb fanzine here (https://footballfanzineculture.blog/2026/07/27/fotd-sam-maidstone-united/ ) but you want floodlights, or at least bits of them so here goes.
Maidstone United; The Great games 1971/1985 is an odd title and time period to choose as the original club was founded in 1897. 1985 was the date this issue was produced and a quick squint at the internet tells me that in 1971 the club went semi pro and joined the Southern League Division 1 (South). Yes there is a south and central division of the southern league… More importantly in both terrible quality photos here you can see a “clearly” see a floodlight pylon in the background.
As you would expect the fanzine consider that the greatness of this game wasn’t the result, or a jolly up in London but that the vaudeville act were sent off “FOR FIGHTING EACH OTHER” With five minutes to go and the game level at 1-1, Flanagan had played a ball through to Hales who was ruled offside, Hales was apparently furious as he had wanted the ball played a lot earlier. Derek Hales told his side of the story later1. Apparently he’d been annoyed by some things Flanagan had said whilst he was on loan in the USA with the New England Teamen in 1978! Though that had been sorted out on the night in question a year later Hales explained “he’s not passing to me or he’s doing it almost reluctantly- I shouted over to Nelson, and he said he’d sort it – he’s had a word with Flannagan but he’s passed to me late again, so I’ve had a word and hit him one! Both sent off, I was fined, and Flanners got sold soon after” The next day Hales was sacked by the club before being reinstated a couple of days later.
Why they chose these two photos is a bit of a mystery, I mean sure they are good action shots and both players from the fight appear in the top one but didn’t they take a picture of the fight as well? Maybe they were too far away. This seems to have been an issue for everyone present, too excited to get a snap as the only photo I can find of the incident isn’t really the best though it does at least show the Valley pylons in better relief. Anyway, it’s a great feature.
Here are Derek and Micky in happier times sporting a great Bukta kit. I wouldn’t have picked a fight with either of them.
As Trevor used to say…”and finally”..Whilst browsing for a better pic of the scrap I found this article about Derek from 1973 as well…10-18 isn’t too shabby and all clean bowled as well! And yes, the Maidstone goalie that night was the Dick Guy who kept Leeds at bay in a famous FA Cup tie in 1975, even saving a penalty by “Hot Shot Lorimer” in front of 46,230 at Elland Road. Leeds won the replay though!
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