The return of Rhino, Buffer and Greg

The next event in Paul Highton’s Testimonial is a must: a fans forum at The Willows on the 15th, with Karl Harrison, Paul Forber and Andy Gregory. Oh, and Iestyn Harris too. Should be a good crack if it’s anything like Mal Alker’s a couple of years ago. It’s always good to see Buffer and Greg, who are still fondly remembered. Any doubts to whether the last month’s of Gregory’s tenure as coach had an effect on his popularity were blown out of the water a couple of years ago, when he got the biggest cheer of the day on a pitch that had David Watkins on it. A few years back, I won an auction at a Forever Reds do for one of his Illawarra Steelers shirts, which he signed for me. He would have been forgiven for drawing a cock and balls instead, considering some of the stuff that was written in the Turkey at the time of his Reds demise. But he didn’t. He wrote ‘cheers nobhead’ instead. No he didn’t, I jest. It’ll be interesting to hear how he’s getting on. As it will too from Buffer. I wonder how he’s coping with the smoking ban?

Karl Harrison still, seemingly, has a soft spot for Salford. Well, at least, you can’t turn down Highto’s benefit. When Salford played Hull at The KC last year, soon after he was sacked, Karl was interviewed by Radio Humberside about the game and who he wanted to win—the interviewer expecting him to go with the home team and a club Rhino starred for; but he didn’t. Karl wanted Salford to win. So there’s still an emotional tie and a link to the hard work he put in for five years. Either that or he’s very media savvy, a good professional. We’ll find out a week on Tuesday then…