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Marvellous. TV film


Tazio

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Absolutely chuffed to see this was on again tonight. If you haven’t seen it before or missed it this time it will be on iPlayer. 
brilliant story of Neil Baldwin, a man with special needs and his fascinating life including a long and touching part when Lou Macari took him under his wing and made him Stoke City kit man. 
It’s proper heart warming life affirming stuff for these crap times. 

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17 hours ago, Tazio said:

Absolutely chuffed to see this was on again tonight. If you haven’t seen it before or missed it this time it will be on iPlayer. 
brilliant story of Neil Baldwin, a man with special needs and his fascinating life including a long and touching part when Lou Macari took him under his wing and made him Stoke City kit man. 
It’s proper heart warming life affirming stuff for these crap times. 


I was at Keele in the early 80’s and knew Nello well and played for the Neil Baldwin select.

I thought the programme was good, but although Nello clearly had some disabilities, he was not as simple as made out in the programme. He was indeed a one off character and was relentless. Once you started talking to him he was yours for the day.

Football was massive at the university, 11 aside and especially 5 aside, and he was always there supporting and trying to persuade us to play for his team. He spent most of his time around football at the university.
My best memories were when he managed to get Gordon Banks to turn up and play one day. I managed to put a few past him which was Brilliant.

Best memory was one Sunday morning he managed to persuade 11 of us to play for his team. We piled into a transit van with no idea where we were going. We got out at a training complex and when we got out on the pitch, the penny dropped. We were lining up against most of the Coventry City squad, including Mark Hately. They just looked at us in disbelief, as we did at them. The game went ahead and they thrashed us. God knows how Nello managed to arrange it. It was hilarious.

Just thought I would let you know that the film was in no way an exaggeration.  Nello was priceless. Never met anyone like him. 

 

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John Findlay
48 minutes ago, Sirudi said:


I was at Keele in the early 80’s and knew Nello well and played for the Neil Baldwin select.

I thought the programme was good, but although Nello clearly had some disabilities, he was not as simple as made out in the programme. He was indeed a one off character and was relentless. Once you started talking to him he was yours for the day.

Football was massive at the university, 11 aside and especially 5 aside, and he was always there supporting and trying to persuade us to play for his team. He spent most of his time around football at the university.
My best memories were when he managed to get Gordon Banks to turn up and play one day. I managed to put a few past him which was Brilliant.

Best memory was one Sunday morning he managed to persuade 11 of us to play for his team. We piled into a transit van with no idea where we were going. We got out at a training complex and when we got out on the pitch, the penny dropped. We were lining up against most of the Coventry City squad, including Mark Hately. They just looked at us in disbelief, as we did at them. The game went ahead and they thrashed us. God knows how Nello managed to arrange it. It was hilarious.

Just thought I would let you know that the film was in no way an exaggeration.  Nello was priceless. Never met anyone like him. 

 

When in the early 80s?

I played against Mark Hateley 1983 when he was a Portsmouth player.

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Placid Casual
1 hour ago, Sirudi said:

I was at Keele in the early 80’s and knew Nello well and played for the Neil Baldwin select.

I thought the programme was good, but although Nello clearly had some disabilities, he was not as simple as made out in the programme. He was indeed a one off character and was relentless. Once you started talking to him he was yours for the day.

Football was massive at the university, 11 aside and especially 5 aside, and he was always there supporting and trying to persuade us to play for his team. He spent most of his time around football at the university.
My best memories were when he managed to get Gordon Banks to turn up and play one day. I managed to put a few past him which was Brilliant.

Best memory was one Sunday morning he managed to persuade 11 of us to play for his team. We piled into a transit van with no idea where we were going. We got out at a training complex and when we got out on the pitch, the penny dropped. We were lining up against most of the Coventry City squad, including Mark Hately. They just looked at us in disbelief, as we did at them. The game went ahead and they thrashed us. God knows how Nello managed to arrange it. It was hilarious.

Just thought I would let you know that the film was in no way an exaggeration.  Nello was priceless. Never met anyone like him.

 

Thanks for posting, even better to know that this great story is so accurate. I have watched Marvellous a few times since it was first broadcast, a tonic for these times as Tazio says.

 

Did you go to watch Stoke back then? I follow one of the Stoke fanzines (Duck) on Twitter and have found myself checking their progress these last few years (though not happy reading of late!). I have relatives that live in Stone but they support West Brom.

Edited by Placid Casual
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11 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

When in the early 80s?

I played against Mark Hateley 1983 when he was a Portsmouth player.


I was at Keele from 1979 to 1983.

Cant be too specific about the date, it’s all a bit of a blur.

Definitely from 1980 onwards. 

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1 minute ago, Placid Casual said:

 

Thanks for posting, even better to know that this great story is accurate. I have watched Marvellous a few times since it was first broadcast,  a tonic for these times as Tazio says.

 

Did you go to watch Stoke back then? I follow one of the Stoke fanzines (Duck) on Twitter and have found myself checking their progress these last few years (not happy reading of late!).


I did not watch Stoke much as the university team played on Saturday afternoons. On rare free weekends I would go back to Edinburgh, so probably saw more of Hearts than Stoke in that time.

However, once a year If you won the 5 aside league finals, which my team did on a few occasions, you got to play against a stoke city select 5-aside team, which included the likes of Lee Chapman, Mark Chamberlain and Sammy McIlroy, if you were of that era. Also Gordon Banks on one occasion. Nello helped to set this up, and it was the climax of the numerous 5aside leagues that ran at the university and is a great memory.

Nello certainly loved to talk football, which didn’t come across too strongly In the film.

 

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John Findlay
16 minutes ago, Sirudi said:


I was at Keele from 1979 to 1983.

Cant be too specific about the date, it’s all a bit of a blur.

Definitely from 1980 onwards. 

👍

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3fingersreid

Thought it was a really good watch , Lou Macari came across really well . 
Well worth watching if  you haven’t seen it yet 

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Placid Casual
1 hour ago, Sirudi said:

I did not watch Stoke much as the university team played on Saturday afternoons. On rare free weekends I would go back to Edinburgh, so probably saw more of Hearts than Stoke in that time.

However, once a year If you won the 5 aside league finals, which my team did on a few occasions, you got to play against a stoke city select 5-aside team, which included the likes of Lee Chapman, Mark Chamberlain and Sammy McIlroy, if you were of that era. Also Gordon Banks on one occasion. Nello helped to set this up, and it was the climax of the numerous 5aside leagues that ran at the university and is a great memory.

Nello certainly loved to talk football, which didn’t come across too strongly In the film.

 

Good players you were up against. Must have been surreal to put a few past a legend like Gordon Banks.

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JudyJudyJudy

Oh it was so good and very emotional. Great performances from Toby Jones and Gemma Jones as his mother.  Very moving at times.  

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Carl Fredrickson

Watching it just now and loving it. Macari has just agreed to join Celtic and Gordon Cowans testimonial is coming up

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