Frank Stapleton - a question for those of you who are even older than I am

[Chesterlestreet]

A good but not great player. Like many we bought throughout that period.

Yeah, this seems like a fair summary.

He was a high-profile player (and transfer, when he signed for us), though.

I remember it (I was very young at the time) as a huge transfer, something people were excited about. Similar to Robson in that regard, but the quality of the players were not on the same level (obviously).

 

[Chesterlestreet]

With regard to his status (as a high-profile player), one of my mates was an Arsenal fan who turned United fan after Stapleton signed for us. So, the phenomenon of following players rather than teams wasn't unknown back then either...but I suppose most people now would be surprised that Frank Stapleton would be such a player. But he was - he had an aura about him, star quality, call it what you will (whether it was truly deserved or not is another matter, but he was a "star" player relatively speaking).

 

[Loon]

Probably an Irish/Atkinson thing, but I have always had great fondness for Stapleton.