Topic: Ray Kennedy

[Mottman]

Posted by The Prince on On The Kop.

Just to let you know that plans are underfoot for a Ray Kennedy Day next year at the Emirates game. Ray now lives in the North East and is still struggling with Parkinson’s Disease. He has had to sell his medals to survive. He’s undergoing a pretty hard time as his medication gives him horrific side effects. I’d like to think that if we can raise some cash for him we could make his life a little easier.

So far I’ve had limited success with the club but have now established a few contacts thanks to John Mackin so we should have some movement soon. I’ve also contacted Arsenal and spoken to a very helpful man who has promised to help organise something such as a charity night with ex-players etc.

Ideally I’d like to organise a few separate money raising events, such as a Liverpool v Arsenal fanzine/supporters five a side or something similar. Anything that can help Ray.

Signed Arsenal shirt on E-Bay from a Liverpool supporter.

"I have seen these go for between £400.00 to £500.00. I am after £300.00 for myself, anything else will be forwarded to "The Prince" to pass onto Ray Kennedy."

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260177762350&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DSelling

If anyone can pass this on to a few Arsenal fans that'd be a great help. I'm trying to register on a few of their sites to spread the word.

[Aldridge 8]

well deserved for a legend of a player one of my all time greats THE GREAT RAY KENNEDY , remember his goal in munich 1981 .

[Redsnappa]

I'll never forget his killer goal at Molineaux in 1976. Talk about raise the roof...

A wonderfully poised and skilful player.

More power to your elbow Mottman.

[Benimar Col]

best left mid at the club in my eyes, master stoke in his signing by Bill and also by Bob reverting him to left mid.

[Stubbins]

How much would he be worth in todays market? A legend to us and also the Gooners.

With so much money in the game these days, it's obscene that someone who contributed so much has to struggle. Hope these plans take off and we're all able to help in some way.

[America's Sweetheart]

Isn't this the sort thing that Gordon The Weasel and the Professional Footballers Association should be dealing with? Rather than whining in the press about multi-millionaires needing to play twice a week?

Just a thought.

[BCCC]

One of my all time favorite players. I would be more than happy to contribute in whatever way I can.

[Phil M]

You would like to think the club would be willing to step up to the plate on this one,
a true Red hero and even going on the few posts above a huge fans favourite,
I'm sure if some of the players become aware they would contribute to the cause.

[Crosby Nick]

Isn't this the sort thing that Gordon The Weasel and the Professional Footballers Association should be dealing with? Rather than whining in the press about multi-millionaires needing to play twice a week?

Just a thought.

Agree with that completely - probably wouldn't Gordon as much press coverage though.

Is Arsenal's Ray Kennedy day a fundraising thing or will they just be commemorating him pre match?

[Mottman]

A few irons are still in the fire, Rick Parry will be receiving a letter tomorrow along with a couple of Liverpool players who used to play with Ray.

No idea how to contact Gordon the Weasel or the PFA, I think our club should be doing that.

A RAY OF HOPE


Cup final week 2001
a centre stage for everyone
a worldwide audience comes to town
for english footballs ‘jewel in the crown’.

A day of glamour for players and fans
fanfares, balloons, and marching bands
but far from cardiffs millenium dome
a lonely figure sits at home.

A frail man who barely talks
who needs assistance when he walks
a man who once stood proud and tall
who’s now discarded by them all.

But thats not how its always been
a geordie boy burst on the scene
an instant star at highbury
his name of course, Ray kennedy.

Think back exactly 30 years
before the illness and the tears
life was so sweet before your troubles
as you helped arsenal win the double.

You stayed with the gunners till 74
then shanks came knocking on your door
his final signing you would be
a master stroke we all agree.

You were quite lethal in front of goal
but ‘Sir Bob’ gave you a differant role
to left midfield, and what a change
with your vision, goals, and passing range.

4 championships, 3 european cups
1 league, 1 uefa, is what you notched up
your records there for all to see
your part of Liverpools history.

What happened next was tragedy
you had a change of personality
with your life and marriage on its knees
you were stricken by parkinsons disease.

You were coaching youths at sunderland
when your worsening illness forced their hand
it was shortly after they cut you loose
you became a virtual recluse.

Financial ruin was quick to follow
you lost your pub then had to borrow
the lowest point was yet to come
your precious medals were all sold on.

Its so sad to see a football great
end up in such a sorry state
a man who never walked alone
in an empty flat with a silent phone.

At the f.a. cup final this year
it would be great for him to hear
reds and gunners in harmony
singing ‘Ray Ray kennedy’.

The clubs should strive to find a way
to treat him like a king that day
just give the man a warm embrace
and bring a smile back to his face.

For when this week is done and gone
his lonely life will carry on
there’s no one knocking on his door
for he’s not famous any more.

So from us all who watched you play
thankyou so much and we all pray
that god will send from his healing hand
a ‘Ray of hope’ for this lonely man.

Dave Kirby

[rosie]

It was a pleasure and a privilege to watch this man play his football in the red shirt of Liverpool.

[Aldridge 8]

that goal in munich 1981

[rakey_lfc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak1AGOt1WVM

Just one of many memories set by Ray, Important part in our history, absolute legend, I hope the club and fans alike do somthing for this man!

[-HH-]

Great stuff.

Isn't this the sort thing that Gordon The Weasel and the Professional Footballers Association should be dealing with? Rather than whining in the press about multi-millionaires needing to play twice a week?

Just a thought.

Absolutely.

[the oxonian]

well deserved for a legend of a player one of my all time greats THE GREAT RAY KENNEDY , remember his goal in munich 1981 .

and  the st etienne game

[the good half]

What A Player!!

[America's Sweetheart]

A few irons are still in the fire, Rick Parry will be receiving a letter tomorrow along with a couple of Liverpool players who used to play with Ray.

No idea how to contact Gordon the Weasel or the PFA, I think our club should be doing that.

I've spent 20 minutes crawling all over the website trying to find contact details, and all I could find was a Manchester phone number. Which explains a lot.

On the face of it, the PFA has no interest in helping footballers fallen on hard times, it seems to be all about making money, helping the rich stay rich, funding a couple of good-for-the-profile charities, and claiming credit for other people's efforts: "We have played a massive role in the defeat of hooliganism". Hopefully, they are actually doing the good stuff too, but you certainly wouldn't know it from their horribly commercial and self-satisfied "look at us, we might have been shit players but we're important now" web site.

Keep us informed, Robbie. I'd love to do something to help.

[shanklyboy]

An absolute diamond of a player, a gentleman and a credit to 2 great clubs.

I remember Paisley saying he had more enquiries from the top foreign clubs about Kennedy than any other player.
The man was an artist and it was a priveledge to watch him play the game.

[4pool]

I've spent 20 minutes crawling all over the website trying to find contact details, and all I could find was a Manchester phone number. Which explains a lot.

On the face of it, the PFA has no interest in helping footballers fallen on hard times, it seems to be all about making money, helping the rich stay rich, funding a couple of good-for-the-profile charities, and claiming credit for other people's efforts: "We have played a massive role in the defeat of hooliganism". Hopefully, they are actually doing the good stuff too, but you certainly wouldn't know it from their horribly commercial and self-satisfied "look at us, we might have been shit players but we're important now" web site.

Keep us informed, Robbie. I'd love to do something to help.

Did some digging myself.

Here is the PFA's website:

http://www.givemefootball.com/

Key personnel:

http://www.givemefootball.com/pfasection/meettheteam.html

Searching around their website the only email addy I found was about advertising in their PFA magazine:
For further information and advertising enquiries please contact:
swalsh@thepfa.co.uk

It would seem plausible other management email addy's are similar..

[alfonso]

I was disappointed when that game in 1991 against Arsenal for Ray was played in London.
20,000 attended.
I remember thinking we could have got more fans than that if it was played at anfield.

Why can't a game be played at Anfield this time?
Maybe one of the legends needs to be involved for Rick Parry to listen.
Kenny springs to mind of course.

[7777]

I've got the last Reebok shirt we had signed by Carra and Xabi that you can have if it could be auctioned?

[Mottman]

Please see:

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=22625.0

Ray is unfortunately still suffering with health and wealth problems.

As an initial response the HJC have produced 25 t shirts priced at £12.00 each with all proceeds going direct to Ray.

Thank you for your continued support.

Justice for all.   

PS: If anyone would like to help, please PM me on Pete Evo's site On The Kop, or The Liverpool Way, they are the only* LFC* sites I can get on during the *cough* work day.

* PM's on the way to those who have shown an interest in trying to support one of our greatest players who has fallen on bad times!

As you can imagine loads of fantastic ideas being bandied about the place, we need to take one step at a time, no quick solution to this, it's going to take more than that.

Are you prepared to help one of our fallen hero's, I know I'm going to call in every favour I have ever done for people.

Put your thinking caps on and lets give Ray, A Ray of hope?





 

 

[Socratease]

I spent a good deal of my professional life in working with EMI, Elderly Mentally Invalided (I previously worked with EBD {Emotionally Behaviouraly Disturbed} children), which covered various forms of Dementia - Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, etc, and quite a few of the patients had to be put into homes that had a specialized provision for EMI's due to their advanced condition - because their families did not have the resources to cope.

This should not happen to Ray Kennedy and his family!

Dementia is often seen as an old person's disease/dysfunction of the brain, but it can strike down people in their forties - and even younger! The best known example today is the actor Michael J. Fox ('Back To The Future' is probably what he is best known for generally - do a search on the net) and he actually contracted Parkinson's at the age of only 30 years old! He has done a great deal in highlighting the plight of Parkinson's in the United States for understanding, information and help networks in helping people afflicted with one form of dementia or other. Here in Britain some very important drugs and the research for new treatments are either curtailed or restricted due to cost to the general public - but this does not stop our dedicated researchers in searching for the latest possible treatment programmes, despite the cost entailed.

Please read this thread, Ray Kennedy should never have had to part with so much that was dear to his heart, and ours, just to survive with a basic quality of life and care provision to maintain a basic normality of what we take take for granted - a decent level of a quality of life!


 

[Socratease]

Please read this thread. 

 

[Shanks1965]

I read (and bought) his autobiography a few years ago in which, as I recall, he said he thought the disease started when he was playing for us. I'm happy to throw something in if any fundraising is set up.

[TSC]

v B. Munich '81.

'And Kennedy is up, suddenly in space, and onside, and scores - Ray Kennedy, gets the goal that changes the entire atmosphere'.

What a left sided player.

Hard to believe he's in financial difficulties given the money that sloshes about in todays game.

Well in to original poster for trying to get something off the ground - I'll support whatever efforts.

[granbybuck]

Great, great player always seemed to play with a smile on his face, some fantastic memories of the man. Got a piece of grass (divot) from the spot he scored from at Wolves 76, also remember the lob at Villa late 70's. The class just oozed from that left foot of his.

[MBE]

When we sing about past glories and 18 - 5, we should remember the men who made that possible and without Ray (perish the thought), we wouldn't have quite that number.  His contribution to the cause is immesurable and I for one hate to hink of him struggling in any way.  Let's all pledge to do something to help this great, great man. 

[the red rebel]

breaks me heart to see this fella in trouble, ray  is from an era when players were players not tarts, would it be so hard for the present liverpool an arsenal players to make a  small donation from their ludicrous pay packets to help this  legend?

best of luck motty.

[JMarsh]

Now this is a cause to get behind.

[MBE]

12 pages on Crouch, 17 on Kewell and so far, not even a full one on the great Ray Kennedy!

Anyon old enough to remember the great cup-tie against Grimsby?  All the players started to get fishy sounding names allied to them.  Phil Seal, Kenny Dogfish and of course, "Sting-Ray, Sting-Ray Kennedy"! 

[Koplass]

I'm up for doing what I can to help. Too young to have seen him play but I fully appreciate what a legend he is. Two of the biggest clubs in the country with two of the largest fan bases can surely do something to help him out.

[FiSh77]

one of my idols when i was growing up, seen him score against palace in 1980 which was the first game i ever went to

i've said it before in the past but i think it's fuckin disgusting what's happened to him, ray is a legend for what he helped liverpool (and arsenal) achieve and yet he's had to sell his medals just to get by, makes me angry when you think players like salif diao have become millionaires on the back of the game when they're not even fit to clean ray's boots

i'll try to help in any way i can, one thing i'd love to do for him if i had the money would be to track down his medals and get them back for him

[Huytonian]

An absolute diamond of a player, a gentleman and a credit to 2 great clubs.

I remember Paisley saying he had more enquiries from the top foreign clubs about Kennedy than any other player.
The man was an artist and it was a priveledge to watch him play the game.

Perfectly put. One of the greats.

[The Red artist.]

Its so sad to see how Razor is struggling, what a player he was. For Ray to have to sell his medals, is not right in my book. I just dont understand why Liverpool and Arsenal cant just look after him financialy. I think its very sad, i mean how many ex-players have parkinsons, not very many i'm sure.

So come on Liverpool f.c. and Arsenal f.c. and get your act together and let this great man live the rest of his days at least, with no financial worries. Would our 2 clubs really miss say £250,000 each, i very much doubt it.

[Terry De Niro]

Loving this thread. Ray Kennedy was one the best Liverpool players I have ever seen, definitely in my top five. The sweetest left foot you have ever seen and was as strong as an ox.

[bobretrored]

Hi all, Bob here from Retro Reds (http://www.retroreds.co.uk)

Below is clipped from 2 posts that we put on the official site in relation to a limited edition multi signed print we have put together.

It's signed by Ray and 12 of his former team-mates and can be found on the "new in" link on the site. some of the comments below are in relation to the official site thread, but I'm sure you'll pick up the gist of things.

Also available are some 16" x 12" signed Ray Kennedy photos from our first memorabilia signing that myself and Jimmy Case arranged recently.

Happy to help with anything else that we can. We're good friends with Jimmy, actually had him stay over here after a show we did a few weeks ago, and he's absolutely delighted that people still have a lot of love for the great man.

Although we are a full-time memorabilia business, we are also, like everyone here, Reds first and last and whilst we are trying to make a living from memorabilia, not a single penny from below is going to us. Draw your own conclusions from that...


=============================

Thanks Paul for a superb link and for those who have been in touch as a result - much appreciated.

The girl in the photos - that's my wife. Far more photogenic than me !

Here's the background on the print.

Like Paul says, you'll have to trust us that this is for a good cause.

We started our business 2 years ago to combat the trade in fake autographs on eBay. If you look on our homepage, you'll see the players we have worked with over the past 2 years. There are countless dealers in fake Liverpool autographs on eBay, including, I am ashamed to say, a number of Liverpool fans. All our items are obtained at private signings, arranged in the most part by Tommy Smith, who is our official advisor.

We work a lot with Phil Hammond at the HFSG and have a huge project in the pipeline for next year.

We are also the only company that has had an official signing with Ray Kennedy, arranged with our good friend Jimmy Case. There are also a number of signed Ray Kennedy photos on our site.

The limited edition print was completed voluntarily by 12 of Ray's team-mates over a 3 month period this year, with signings at various hotels and also at Anfield. All the players gave their time for free.

We have paid all the associated costs for this ourselves and, like the players, are not taking a penny from it.

It is limited to just 100 publicly released copies and will never be re-issued. Photos of the players signing it are included on a numbered certificate of authenticity.

All the players concerned are aware of the cause we are supporting, as is Brian Hall at Liverpool. All the players were at Liverpool with Ray Kennedy at some point in their career.

Myself and Jimmy Case arranged this project and we're proud to be able to offer it at a low price so that we can move it quickly, preferably before Christmas.

Anyone who remembers Ray Kennedy as a player and wants a genuine piece of memorabilia, supported by 13 of our greatest players from the 1960's - 1990's will be hard pushed to find anything like this in the world.

Please lads - and lasses - even if you don't collect autographs or memorabilia, support this sale and trust us that the cause really is worth it.

And as you know, it's got to be something special for it to get approval on these boards.

Thanks again TP for the link - it's already working.

=================================================

As ThirdPaul said above - this thread might be of interest :

http://forums.liverpoolfc.tv/Forum15/HTML/203394.html

As for "what are the club doing" ...

This has been asked on a number of sites and the club has come in for a bit of stick on
some of them.

I'm fortunate to work with a lot of the former players and was invited to Anfield by Brian Hall when he signed the above item.

Things have been done by the former players association, I can assure you of that. But there are also things that really can't be discussed in public. And because they can't be discussed in public it looks like Ray's forgotten. The 12 players who joined us for the above show that he is still very much remembered and our own customers sent many messages of support for the last signing we had with him.

In addition to the thread above, myself and Jimmy Case recently arranged a memorabilia signing with Ray. We have a limited amount of 16"x12" signed Ray Kennedy photos available if anybody wants to take a look on the site.

Trust me... these are for a VERY good cause.

The link is on the thread above. We can also include a photo of Ray signing these with Jimmy - and if you want to add a few quid extra, we'll get Jimmy to sign the certificates of authenticity as well.

Thanks Motty for verifying this is worth supporting and has some relevance to this thread...

If anyone wants further info, please drop us a line privately.

Was, is, and always will be a legend.

[Monkey Tennis]

one of our all time greats

[Barrowboy]

Can't someone set up a PayPal account for donations?   

Makes it a bit easier for people who live in different parts of the world maybe.

So sad to hear of a true legend suffering in any way and even more so when you think about the obscene money 'earned' by todays players.

[Red_Rich]

I'm sure many fans would think nothing of donating a tenner out of their weekly wage packet, if they knew it would benefit Mr Kennedy in some large way.

Here's a thought ...

£10 from my weekly wage is the equivalent of Steven Gerrard donating £5,000 from a single week's wage packet of his.

Now, I'm not in Stevie's shoes and I'm NOT trying to say that it's in any way his duty, but if I know that if I was him (or any LFC player like him) I would be more than willing to do that, if it meant that a former legend of this great club would have his life immeasurably improved by doing so.