45 years ago tonight

[Green as Grass]

I always thought it was Robert Daniel who sold Rafferty not Tony Waiters.

I have never heard that suggested before and am fairly certain it was down to Tony Waiters. As Ian says in a post above Tony Waiters overruled Robert Daniel on the Paul Mariner sale. Perhaps anyone in contact with Graham Little could clarify the reasons behind the sale of Billy Rafferty for the giveaway price of £20,000.

 

[demportdave]

I always thought it was Robert Daniel who sold Rafferty not Tony Waiters.

I have never heard that suggested before and am fairly certain it was down to Tony Waiters. As Ian says in a post above Tony Waiters overruled Robert Daniel on the Paul Mariner sale. Perhaps anyone in contact with Graham Little could clarify the reasons behind the sale of Billy Rafferty for the giveaway price of £20,000.

I think the decision to sell Rafferty did come from the Boardroom.

The story at the time was that with no gate receipts, the money was needed to pay the summer wages and other running costs.

 

[Devongreenowl]

That sales of Mariner and Rafferty in the way it happened, just illustrate how badly the club was being run and was for a long time after. Rafferty was sold for peanuts and whilst Mariner had to go because he was clearly destined for much bigger things, we were stitched up with Peddelty and Austin. Watching the lumbering Austin up front after being used to the sublime skills and strike power of Mariner and Rafferty was as big a case of ....after the Lord Mayor's show as you are ever likely to see

About two months after Mariner left, a mate and I went up to see Ipswich v Liverpool and of course he scored the winner. He made his England debut a matter of months after he left Argyle and went on to win 35 caps and score 13 goals. Best player Argyle have ever had in my lifetime, bar none.

 

[IJN]

The quote at the time, and I'll never forget it was 'Bill Rafferty has been sold to pay for Paul Mariner's wages'. I was in the Hyde Park Pub and it was a direct quote from Plymouth Sound who were big time in Argyle in those days.

I can also remember hearing the confirmation of Mariner leaving us, we played Bristol Rovers at Eastville when the news went around the away end. Now an Ikea. :greensmile: (Eastville not Mariner).

 

[Devongreenowl]

I was in the Devonport End when Mariner scored his last goal for Argyle v Cardiff in a 2-2 draw. Flicked header from about 12 yards. Game was memorable also because it saw the first rain in Plymouth for months. Think we already knew he was on his way out. Crowd singing Mariner, Mariner stay with us. No brainer for him really. Ipswich were a proper top flight club. Regulars in Europe. Top manager. Argyle were about to be relegated!

 

[Green as Grass]

The quote at the time, and I'll never forget it was 'Bill Rafferty has been sold to pay for Paul Mariner's wages'. I was in the Hyde Park Pub and it was a direct quote from Plymouth Sound who were big time in Argyle in those days.

I can also remember hearing the confirmation of Mariner leaving us, we played Bristol Rovers at Eastville when the news went around the away end. Now an Ikea. :greensmile: (Eastville not Mariner).

Ian if the opportunity arises I would be very interested to hear Graham Littles account of the reason that we sold Billy Rafferty.

 

[Steve Dean]

Graham Little talks about it here (4th clip): http://argylearchive.org.uk/uncategoriz ... e-stories/

 

[Tom Cobbley]

Great days, great football considering the state of the pitch. If only we built on that.

 

[Green as Grass]

Graham Little talks about it here (4th clip): http://argylearchive.org.uk/uncategoriz ... e-stories/

Thank you for the link. That was very interesting. Graham Little confirms that it was Tony Waiters that was responsible for selling Billy Rafferty to Carlisle for the giveaway price of £20,000 and that Billy Rafferty had no wish to leave. What I had forgotten was that within 12 months Carlisle had sold Billy Rafferty to Wolves for £105,000 where he continued to score goals. As I said in an earlier post whilst in the first couple of years of his reign Tony Waiters was very successful he lost the plot come the end particularly with the sales of Mariner and Rafferty. I don't recall he ever managed in this country again but was very successful out in Canada.

 

[Kentishgreen]

I don’t see how you come to that conclusion based on a very brief mention in Littles memoirs. If what you suggest is correct then why was Waiters welcomed back to Home Park along with members of that team along with Mariner and Rafferty recently. Why would they attend and warmly welcome Waiters if they felt at all aggrieved with him?

 

[IJN]

Billy Rafferty looks back at the transfer to Carlisle with fond memories now.

It gave Billy a season where his Dad could watch him at every home game. Little did they know it, his Dad died of an heart attack after that one season, but at least Billy had that lasting memory. He was quite touched when he told us at the Waiter's weekend.

 

[Keepitgreen]

Graham Little talks about it here (4th clip): http://argylearchive.org.uk/uncategoriz ... e-stories/

Thank you for the link. That was very interesting. Graham Little confirms that it was Tony Waiters that was responsible for selling Billy Rafferty to Carlisle for the giveaway price of £20,000 and that Billy Rafferty had no wish to leave. What I had forgotten was that within 12 months Carlisle had sold Billy Rafferty to Wolves for £105,000 where he continued to score goals. As I said in an earlier post whilst in the first couple of years of his reign Tony Waiters was very successful he lost the plot come the end particularly with the sales of Mariner and Rafferty. I don't recall he ever managed in this country again but was very successful out in Canada.

So successful that about 12-18 months ago he was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.

 

[Green as Grass]

I don’t see how you come to that conclusion based on a very brief mention in Littles memoirs. If what you suggest is correct then why was Waiters welcomed back to Home Park along with members of that team along with Mariner and Rafferty recently. Why would they attend and warmly welcome Waiters if they felt at all aggrieved with him?

Mariner certainly had much to thank Waiters for since he engineered his move to Ipswich. Rafferty also came to appreciate later his move to Carlisle for the reasons stated by IJN earlier. However the board of over 40 years ago might not have made him so welcome

 

[Kentishgreen]

Of course it’s perfectly possible that Waiters favoured the Ipswich deal as he knew he was going to get two players out of it whereas he may not have got anything out of the West Ham deal, we’ll never know. It’s just a shame that the two Ipswich players were not raging successes

 

[IJN]

We do know, that's what Waiters told Mr Little when he told TW of the West Ham deal.