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Bobby Prentice R.I.P.


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When in the mood unplayable. Two of his goals I will never forget. His goal for Scotland's U23s against Denmark at Tynecastle. An equaliser against Hibs at Easter Road In Nov 76 in a 1-1 draw. 

Condolences to all your family and friends. RIP Bobby Bobby Prentice on the wing.

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1 minute ago, AlimOzturk said:

65 is to young these days. RIP always sad to hear of folk passing away though especially part of the hearts family. 

He never had the healthiest lifestyle after the game due to the one bestowed on him.  He did have his illnesses.  Not a bad bone in the mans body, just a man with his own personal issues.   

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15 hours ago, HighTimes said:

RIP Rab. 

 

Did Graeme Shaw not mention him at half time on Saturday?

 

He did. A fantastic player to watch, gone too soon. RIP Bobby Prentice.

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3 hours ago, FruitJuice said:

He never had the healthiest lifestyle after the game due to the one bestowed on him.  He did have his illnesses.  Not a bad bone in the mans body, just a man with his own personal issues.   

 

Sad to hear that . We all have our demons though at least he lived the dream of playing for the Jambos. 

 

I am sure he will get a great turnout at his funeral. 

 

 

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the jambo poet

RIP Bobby. 

 

A nice tweet from Stephen Hendry this morning. Nicky Campbell also replying basically saying they both recall Bobby and he was the player they idolised as youngsters. Sorry cant link the tweet. Nice touch from both though.

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This is very sad news. Loved watching Rab in the 70's as a kid. I was with my Dad & Uncle at Easter Road, when he scored that late equaliser. Not sure of the circumstances as I was only 11 but we were amongst a lot of hibs fans in the main stand but didn't stop us jumping up to celebrate. Scary stuff but we survived. 

R.I.P. Rab Prentice 💔

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Very sad to hear this. I was a 70s supporter who went home and away, and sang Bobby's name loud and proud hanging from the advertising board in the shed, the one in front of the pie and bovril servery.

R.I.P Bobby, Bobby, Prentice on the wing, on the wing. A True Legend of the Club

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annushorribilis III
4 hours ago, 4marsbars said:

 

 

 

I was at that game ,  I met him in a chinese takeaway in Edinburgh about 10 years later and he was a much changed man.  He seemed delighted I recognised and I mentioned the Dundee LC game where he was outstanding.  Very sad to hear of his passing. I loved watching him play and at his best he was fantastic to watch. RIP. 

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45 minutes ago, annushorribilis III said:

I was at that game ,  I met him in a chinese takeaway in Edinburgh about 10 years later and he was a much changed man.  He seemed delighted I recognised and I mentioned the Dundee LC game where he was outstanding.  Very sad to hear of his passing. I loved watching him play and at his best he was fantastic to watch. RIP. 

 

I missed that game, but saw an exciting 2-2 draw with Dundee in the league a few weeks later, where Bobby Prentice was a revelation, Donald Ford scored twice (I think, one penalty), and there was a fantastic rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone at the school end. 

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5 hours ago, 4marsbars said:

 

 

 

 

Although it is a really sad time just watching this makes me smile.

 

Think what these modern pundits would say about defenders "going to ground", watching that, Bobby left about 6 of them on their arse in these runs.

 

Absolutely great skill.

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A great player that goal against Denmark (u21) was one of the greatest goals ever scored at Tynecastle. 

I once actually played in the same team a bounce game in the Meadows.

I'm very upset to hear of his passing. RIP

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7 hours ago, 4marsbars said:

 

 

 

That second effort if it had gone in. Would have been goal of the season in any era.

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45 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

That second effort if it had gone in. Would have been goal of the season in any era.

 

I remember two things from the match report in The Scotsman. The first was a reference to the fury of the Hearts crowd at the negative, spoiling tactics of Dundee, who only needed a draw from the game to progress. And I think the second was a description of that run and shot as “the greatest goal never scored”.

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Trapper John McIntyre

Along with Buzzbomb, my earliest Hearts hero.

 

Enigmatic player, typical of the times in Scottish football. An entertainer, a character, a mercurial talent.

 

Sad, sad, sad day he's now gone.

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1 hour ago, John Findlay said:

That second effort if it had gone in. Would have been goal of the season in any era.

 

And is that JJ in shot at the start of that move?

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My two heroes of my early years following hearts were Willie Hamilton and Rab Prentice both of them were great entertainers. Sad sad news. R.I.P. Rab.

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25 minutes ago, willie wallace said:

I remember being at Ibrox I 1974 I think it was.We beat them 3-0 and He ran them ragged at times that day.

Loved watching him play.

Busby got two and Bobby the third

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1 hour ago, willie wallace said:

I remember being at Ibrox I 1974 I think it was.We beat them 3-0 and He ran them ragged at times that day.

Loved watching him play.

1973.

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On 17/09/2019 at 11:16, 4marsbars said:

 

 

 

 

Will never tire of watching those clips.

 

My first ever Season Ticket, we got off to a flyer. New heroes of Bobby, Buzz, Jimmy Cant & Johm Stevenson.

 

Can still vividly see that day in my head, atmosphere was great, roll on the a couple of weeks and tanking the Hibs 4-1.

Then stuffing Rangers 3-0 at Ibrox. Bobby scoring that day, maybe even two.

Sure he gave Sandy Jardine a day to forget.

 

sad news.

 

 

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On 17/09/2019 at 21:25, FruitJuice said:

He never had the healthiest lifestyle after the game due to the one bestowed on him.  He did have his illnesses.  Not a bad bone in the mans body, just a man with his own personal issues.   

Very sorry to hear that.  Those of us who don't have serious issues to face are extremely fortunate.

 

He is at peace now.

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On 18/09/2019 at 16:56, farin said:

 

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R.I.P Rab

 

One of a few Hearts players idolised by the boy and man. Flying down the wing. And we got Bobby bobby  bobby bobby prentice on the wing from all parts of the ground supporters would make a sound made your skin tingle. When i heard of his death a lot of years of hurt overcame me im heart broken at his death. Rab gave young players a lot of time he eas a down to earth lad with no clue how he was seen by many. 11 mins at Easter road I'm going to say my bit to Rab I hope its Prentice on the wing gets beltic out by us Jambo's..

Edited by AJAMBO
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36 minutes ago, farin said:

 

It would be magic to hear that getting belted out again. 👍🏻😊

 

I need a hit of Gorgie boot boys and By The Lights. Not had that feeling in a long time. Them days are cherished in my safe place in my heart soul and mind. Crowd moving up and down terracing hanging on fencing  . never see them days again. I'm crying again never cried since lived in Dreghorn and got battered of oxgangs primary at the burn behind Colinton primary going up the steep path to the NAFFI. .

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  • 3 weeks later...
joondalupjambo

Heads up.  His obituary is in today's Scotsman.  A very good read so worth searching it out.

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been here before

https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-rab-prentice-footballer-hearts-cult-hero-winger-capable-of-beating-an-entire-opposition-team-on-his-own-1-5017803

 

 

 

Robert Prentice, footballer. Born: 27 September, 1953 in Lanark.Died: 16 September, 2019 in Dalkeith, aged 65

 

RAB Prentice, who has died just days before his 66th birthday, was a cult hero to the Hearts fans during the somewhat difficult days of the 1970s, when he played 240 games for the club and won various representative honours.

 

Eccentric left-wingers, players capable of beating an entire opposition team on their own, before tripping over the ball with nobody near them, are a long-established feature of the Scottish game, and the Lanark-born Prentice is widely considered to be one of the best of this breed.

 

The son of a miner,he was raised in mining villages, Lesmahagow, Douglas Water and Dalkeith, as his father followed the coal. His promise was noted as a youth player with the well-known Edina Hearts nursery, from where he went senior with Dundee.

 

But, he failed to make the grade at Dens – in spite of being a distant relation of then manager John Prentice, and returned to that famous Junior football nursery, Newtongrange Star, with whom he won Junior Scotland honours in 1972. He was signed by Celtic at this time, on the ground staff. But, while they allowed him to continue to play for Star, he was unable to displace Bobby Lennox from the Celtic team.

 

Legend has it his father Willie had words with Jock Stein; one would like to have been a fly on the wall at a disagreement between two men who had hewed coal under the fields of Lanarkshire; anyway, the upshot was, Prentice was released by Celtic and quickly signed by Hearts, the team he had supported since seeing them beat Kilmarnock in the 1962 League Cup final.

 

He joined up at Tynecastle in August, 1973 and quickly broke into the first team, making his debut against Dundee in a League Cup tie.

A month later he scored the first of his eventual 26 goals for the club – in a 3-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox. Six months on from his debut, still only 20, he made the first of four appearances for the Scotland Under-23 team, in a match against Wales, which Scotland won 3-0.

 

A month later he made his solitary appearance for the Scottish League XI, in a 5-0 loss to the English League. But, to be fair, with Scotland heading for the World Cup Finals, the League team was very-much a “reserve” team.

 

He scored once for the Under-23s, in his final cap, against Denmark, in the European Championships, at Tynecastle. Prentice had come on for David Narey, but he discovered his shorts were a bit tight, and when he had to take a corner, he realised if he took a full swing at the ball, he would rip them. So, he played a short pass to Frankie Gray, got the ball back then beat three Danish defenders along the bye-line, before lobbing the ‘keeper from an impossible angle for a memorable goal, which had Mike Aitken waxing lyrical in his Scotsman match report.

 

But, that was typical of Rab Prentice. Legend has it – Gary Mackay certainly used the story in his autobiography – he once, against Faklkirk, went back to collect a throw-out from Jim Cruickshank, beat the entire opposition team as he dribbled the length of the park, before turning back on himself and repeating the dribble, before passing back to Cruickshank.

Another time, after he gave the ball away cheaply and Rangers scored at Ibrox, the irate Cruickshank chased him half the length of the park to remonstrate with him.

 

The closest he came to a medal with Hearts was a runners-up one in the 1976 Scottish Cup final. The following season, Hearts were relegated from the Premier Division; but they bounced straight back in one season, only to be relegated again in 1978-79.

 

This blow meant change at Tynecastle and Prentice was one of the players deemed surplus to requirements. He immediately took himself off to Canada, to join Toronto Blizzard, who surely got a bargain, paying only £8,000 for his signature, before running down his career with Baltimore Blast, then Buffalo Stallions in the six-a-side North American Indoor League.

 

In 1984, he returned to Scotland, back to live in Dalkeith, but his playing days were over, although he continued to be a regular attender at Tynecastle – he had always been, first and foremost, a Hearts supporter.

Prentice admitted to struggling without the game he loved. He had his demons with drink and depression. He never married, but lived close to his mother in Dalkeith.

 

He was a genuine fans’ favourite. The Shed at Tynecastle had a song about him, and the way he could beat opponents at will certainly made him popular, and saw his occasional foibles forgiven.

 

They don’t make them like Rab Prentice any more, more’s the pity.

 

 

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  • 11 months later...
Gorgie Boot boy
24 minutes ago, cookieboy said:

A year gone already. Legend . RIP Bobby :flag1:

RIP Rab. One of the greatest wingers i saw playing for the Maroons. A year gone, respect to the Prentice family. I will always feel gutted .

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1 hour ago, cookieboy said:

A year gone already. Legend . RIP Bobby :flag1:

Good bump, Cookie.  👍

 

What a bloody brilliant winger he was, one of my very first Hearts heroes.

 

Can’t believe it’s been a year already (and what a year it’s been too).

 

 

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