7: Bobby Mimms, Blackburn Rovers, Merlin’s Premier League 96 Sticker Collection
Richard Allinson brings us another underappreciated goalkeeper in today’s post as well as touching on the controversial topic of ‘second teams’. Mine was always Juventus which firmly ticked the glory-supporting box but also validated my choice of haircut, boots and insistence on playing wing-back. Yes, I was a pretentious six year old. I distinctly remember Rich taking flack for his brief love affair with Blackburn on a trip to see Dulwich Hamlet in the Championship Manager Cup final in 2011 – I’ll let him defend himself below.
I have to admit; I always thought Bobby Mimms’ legally registered birth name was Tim Flowers’ Understudy Bobby Mimms.
As 1994 rolled around, and having grown slightly weary of watching Grimsby Town finish in lower mid-table in the second tier of English football for seasons on end, I had decided it was time to branch out and start following a more glamorous club. I quickly dispensed with Manchester United (too Lancastrian), Spurs (good kit but too southern) and Leeds (too... well they’re just Leeds) and whittled my options down to three – Norwich City, Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers. Looking back at it now my interpretation of the word glamour might have been a bit off. Anyway, I mulled this over and over in my head but decided that the black and white of Newcastle didn’t make me too much of a traitor so I plumped for them. My local sports shop had other ideas though and had run out of Newcastle kits so my hand was somewhat forced and I ended up supporting Blackburn Rovers. Arte et Labore. It was here that I first really encountered Bobby Mimms and just assumed he had always been a back up goalie.
However, looking back on Mimms’ career unearthed some gems that I hadn’t previously known about. For a start he represented 13 different clubs in his time, starting at Halifax in 1981 and finishing at Mansfield Town some 20 years later. Quite impressive really. Now this is largely down to my complete ignorance (and being 3 years old at the time) but I never knew much about Mimms’ time at Everton. Turns out he’d joined as understudy to Neville Southall and was sent out on loan loads before finding his way into the first team towards the end of the 1986 season owing to an injury to the big man. Bob was in goal as Liverpool pipped the Toffees to both the league and FA Cup that year. He carried on in the side though and played in the Charity Shield the next season which was shared after a 1-1 draw, presumably because neither side could be arsed with penalties. Just to nip off on a quick tangent, Liverpool seem to have had five subs available that day whereas Everton, presumably only booked a mini bus rather than a coach for the trip down south, only had two. One of whom was brought on as a sub before subsequently being taken off again 27 minutes later. As I keep saying, football is rubbish in comparison nowadays.
Back to Bobby Mimms. His time on Merseyside drew to a close after winning the Charity Shield in 1987 as he moved down to that there London to replace the legendary Ray Clemence at Tottenham Hotspur in 1988. Mimms made 37 appearances for Spurs before becoming Blackburn Rovers’ most expensive signing when he joined the club for £250,000 in 1990 in the early days of Jack Walker buying my footballing affection. Under Kenny Dalglish’s tenure Rovers returned to the top flight after a 26-year wait and Mimms was a key component in this success. Life in the newly established Premier League started well for Bobby and in the 1992/93 season he pipped some bloke called Peter Schmeichel to the Golden Glove award, keeping 19 clean sheets in the process. Oddly though this wasn’t enough to keep the big Dane out of the PFA Team of the Year.
Sadly for Mimms the same people that picked the PFA team also seemingly had an influence on Blackburn Rovers’ transfer policy as he was replaced by Tim Flowers who was signed for a then record fee for a goalkeeper of £2.4m from Southampton. From then on in Bobby never really got a look in and sadly didn’t feature enough in the 1994/95 season to qualify for a Premier League winners medal. Tangent time again, this is a rule that really annoys me. He was still part of the squad, just give him a medal. The same goes for Rob Green in the Europa League final.
Bobby Mimms and I both parted ways with Blackburn in the 1996/97 season. Me because the signing of left sided utility man Nicky Southall from Hartlepool had drawn me back to supporting Grimsby Town; Mimms because he was making the obligatory move for most English goalkeepers and signing for Crystal Palace. Following only one game at Selhurst Park Bobby dropped into the lower leagues before entering a career as a goalkeeping coach at the top level with the likes of West Ham United and Hull City at the end of his playing days.
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