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cwright75

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Just now, RailwayRowdy said:

I recall a night match at his previous club Bradford when Bernie was getting stick from the home crowd. Naturally Bernie scored and the home support abuse of him got louder.

Vale went on to win 3-2 and Bernie reminded the home crowd of the score by playing the last few minutes with both hands continually in the air, one with thee fingers raised and the other with two !

The home crowd didn’t take too kindly to his gesture ! 

 

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27 minutes ago, darren1810 said:

Because of his playing style and robust ways there used to be a chant

Bernie's evil

Hope other vale fans back me up as I'm sure I'm not dreaming it. Think he had legendary status due to a hat trick at Crewe ? 

 

There’s at least one Vale fan will back you up as there’s an OVF member who uses “Bernie’s Evil” as his (or hers) name ! 

 

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Another incident that always sticks in my mind was a winter’s day match at Vale.

This particular game (I don’t remember which) was played in snow and as the game progressed the snowfall got heavier and heavier. 

As Bernie had more than his fair share of hair which jilted out of his cranium into virtually every direction, the now constant snow began to settle on his head ! The snow continued to fall and continued to settle on his head until late in the game he had what appeared to be about a foot of snow on his barnet !

The sight of his all action style under a mountain of snow was hilarious ! For once you couldn’t even see his beard !

70’s footballers with beards ! Only other players with the “full set” who immediately spring to mind are Derek Hales and Trevor Hockey !

Good days !

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Just come across this article. For any fan who didn’t see Bernie play, below is an example of the type of player Bernie was. And why he was loved at the Vale !


A large part of Bellefield’s appeal came from the characters who populated it.

And there were few more colourful than Bernie Wright.

Signed from Walsall in 1972, Bernie the Bolt, as he was affectionately known, was central to one of the most scandalously entertaining incidents to take place at the training ground.

It was witnessed first hand by one of the youth team players of the era – a well known personality himself who prefers to relate the tale anonymously.

“It was just before Christmas and all the first team players received a hamper from John Moores,” he explained. “Bernie came intro training one morning still worse for wear from the night before and spotted a hamper box which was left over.

“He knocked the top off one of the whisky bottles and started to drink from it – except he’d broken the neck of the bottle and there was jagged glass everywhere.

“Westy (Gordon West) was the only player big enough to have a word with him but the only way he could get him to stop drinking from the bottle was to pour what was left of the whisky into a milk bottle.

“By now the coaching staff had heard of the commotion and came down to investigate, but when Stewart Imlach tried to tear a strip of Bernie, Bernie smacked him!

“The lads had been winding Bernie up about why he was down to train with the reserves when he should have been with the first team and he decided to take matters into his own hands and go and have it out with Harry Catterick.

“He charged up the stairs to seek out Catterick, but the boss had been tipped off by trainer Tommy Egglestone about what was going on and he locked his office door and headed down the spiral staircase!

“While Bernie was pounding on his office door The Catt was making himself scarce in his car.

“Bernie eventually walked out of the training ground, thumbed a lift on the back of a passing coal lorry and headed off down Queen’s Drive still swigging from the milk bottle full of whisky!”

Colin Harvey recalled a lighter moment involving the big striker.

“Bernie was a great lad,” he smiled. “He often got himself into some kinds of bother, but he mucked in with the lads and enjoyed a laugh.

“He shouldn’t have done some of the things that he carried out back then, but he was a naive young lad and I think if he had his time again, maybe he would have been a bit different, especially so early on in his Everton career.

“A lot of people said that Bernie didn’t have any skill but one day Bernie was shouting his mouth off about how good he was, so Alan Whittle challenged him to a skills test.

“The challenge was that Bernie had to run two-and-a-half lengths of the pitch with the ball in the air, juggling it so that it didn’t touch the ground.

“He had three chances to complete the task – which if you think about having to turn round with the ball after you’d completed one length, wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. 

“Bernie did it, second go! It went down really well with the lads because a few players thought he would be able to do it and had fivers riding on him, which was a lot of money in those days.

“All the lads were on the bank of the training pitch clapping and roaring. I’ve never seen Alan so quiet, though!”

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