[Albion] Random Mark McGhee Question

[Lenny Rider]

“Drinking pints of Whiskey”

Was that our original chant or did we inherit it from one of his previous clubs?

 

[ozzygull]

Think it was sung because he made Adam Virgo a striker and played others in odd positions. So his team selections were like he’d been drinking. Whiskey was because he was Scottish.

Not sure it that’s true, but it how I remember it.

 

[beorhthelm]

inspired. playing Virgo was inspired up front was inspired, not odd. whether or not this was fueled by whisky.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Di Zerbi Di Zerbi Di Zerbi
Drinks pints of Moretti
Di Zerbi

 

[Mustafa II]

The Virgo story is so quintessentially Albion. I love it.

Distinctly average centre half scores the 119th minute equaliser in the playoff semi-final, and all of a sudden some bright spark decides that he should be our new centre forward for the following season... Becomes our top scorer in the Championship, including at least one screamer out of nowhere. We procede to sell for £1.5m (big money back then)... following a failed stint at a bigger club he eventually comes back home, but as it turns out he wasn't a decent player after all, and we totally mugged them off for £1.5m, as he is released to the lower leagues...

Definitely copius amounts of whisky involved in this story... and I'm not convinced Mark was the only one on it.

 

[The Optimist]

The Virgo story is so quintessentially Albion. I love it.

Distinctly average centre half scores the 119th minute equaliser in the playoff semi-final, and all of a sudden some bright spark decides that he should be our new centre forward for the following season... Becomes our top scorer in the Championship, including at least one screamer out of nowhere. We procede to sell for £1.5m (big money back then)... following a failed stint at a bigger club he eventually comes back home, but as it turns out he wasn't a decent player after all, and we totally mugged them off for £1.5m, as he is released to the lower leagues...

Definitely copius amounts of whisky involved in this story... and I'm not convinced Mark was the only one on it.

Doesn’t the story go that Strachan is mates with McGhee and bought Virgo as a favour?

 

[sully]

The notion that Mark drank whisky by the pint sounds very Charlie Oatway to me. Perhaps something said in an interview that was picked up on by the singing group.

I certainly thought it was a BHA original at the time.

 

[Grassman]

Strangely enough, I thought I saw Virgs walking through Hoopers, in Tunbridge Wells, yesterday…..

 

[Lenny Rider]

Doesn’t the story go that Strachan is mates with McGhee and bought Virgo as a favour?

They are mates, and that certainly was a factor, but the money from Celtic, not quite in the realms of Mark Beeney, came at a pivotal time for the Albion.

 

[Jack Straw]

I thought it was an original Krispies composition?

 

[dejavuatbtn]

The Virgo story is so quintessentially Albion. I love it.

Distinctly average centre half scores the 119th minute equaliser in the playoff semi-final, and all of a sudden some bright spark decides that he should be our new centre forward for the following season... Becomes our top scorer in the Championship, including at least one screamer out of nowhere. We procede to sell for £1.5m (big money back then)... following a failed stint at a bigger club he eventually comes back home, but as it turns out he wasn't a decent player after all, and we totally mugged them off for £1.5m, as he is released to the lower leagues...

Definitely copius amounts of whisky involved in this story... and I'm not convinced Mark was the only one on it.

You do Virgo a huge disservice. He was more than OK for us and was part of a side that got us going again after the misery of Gillingham. He battled injury for most of his career. On top of that he was a really decent guy. Whilst £1m was an over valuation, it got us out of a financial hole at the time.

 

[junior]

You do Virgo a huge disservice. He was more than OK for us and was part of a side that got us going again after the misery of Gillingham. He battled injury for most of his career. On top of that he was a really decent guy. Whilst £1m was an over valuation, it got us out of a financial hole at the time.

Hi Adam.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Think it was sung because he made Adam Virgo a striker and played others in odd positions. So his team selections were like he’d been drinking. Whiskey was because he was Scottish.

Not sure it that’s true, but it how I remember it.

Surely as he is Scottish it should be whisky without the "e"?

Sorry, my middle name is pedantic afer all.

 

[ozzygull]

Surely as he is Scottish it should be whisky without the "e"?

Sorry, my middle name is pedantic afer all.

No need to apologise, I can't spell for toffee, so happy to be corrected.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

No need to apologise, I can't spell for toffee, so happy to be corrected.

If it's Scottish, it's toffe

 

[stewart12]

The Virgo story is so quintessentially Albion. I love it.

Distinctly average centre half scores the 119th minute equaliser in the playoff semi-final, and all of a sudden some bright spark decides that he should be our new centre forward for the following season... Becomes our top scorer in the Championship, including at least one screamer out of nowhere. We procede to sell for £1.5m (big money back then)... following a failed stint at a bigger club he eventually comes back home, but as it turns out he wasn't a decent player after all, and we totally mugged them off for £1.5m, as he is released to the lower leagues...

Definitely copius amounts of whisky involved in this story... and I'm not convinced Mark was the only one on it.

it certainly screams mid era Withdean to me

With the play off promotion season he'd actually spent the bulk of the season shoe horned in at right back by McGhee (seem to remember Coppell hardly used him at all?). I presume he displaced Paul Watson at some point for that spot

I can't quite remember if he'd moved into the middle of defence the following season before being chucked up top or if he remained at right back. It was certainly a huge gamble by McGhee but one that paid off as Virgo had a decent season up front

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

The Virgo story is so quintessentially Albion. I love it.

Distinctly average centre half scores the 119th minute equaliser in the playoff semi-final, and all of a sudden some bright spark decides that he should be our new centre forward for the following season... Becomes our top scorer in the Championship, including at least one screamer out of nowhere. We procede to sell for £1.5m (big money back then)... following a failed stint at a bigger club he eventually comes back home, but as it turns out he wasn't a decent player after all, and we totally mugged them off for £1.5m, as he is released to the lower leagues...

Definitely copius amounts of whisky involved in this story... and I'm not convinced Mark was the only one on it.

Makes you wonder how McGhee and Strachan are still mates after that really.

 

[Baldseagull]

The Virgo story is so quintessentially Albion. I love it.

Distinctly average centre half scores the 119th minute equaliser in the playoff semi-final, and all of a sudden some bright spark decides that he should be our new centre forward for the following season... Becomes our top scorer in the Championship, including at least one screamer out of nowhere. We procede to sell for £1.5m (big money back then)... following a failed stint at a bigger club he eventually comes back home, but as it turns out he wasn't a decent player after all, and we totally mugged them off for £1.5m, as he is released to the lower leagues...

Definitely copius amounts of whisky involved in this story... and I'm not convinced Mark was the only one on it.

The fee from Celtic was ridiculous, but when he came back home it was under Mickey Adams MkII, even Glenn Murray was shit during that period, and then Russell Slade and Gus Poyet. Tony Bloom stepping out of the shadows and taking control of the club and injecting more money meant Poyet could look at players we had not been able to afford previously, but Virgo was decent for us at the level we were at whilst he was here. He left League 1 Albion after we had just finished 13th, and joined League 1 Yeovil who had finished 15th, he didn't fall off a cliff.

 

[JBizzle]

I saw him in the Grosvenor casino during the World Cup back in 2006 and I can confirm that he was not, at that point, drinking a pint of whiskey