Dave 'Haggis' Hargreaves

[AccyMad]

Sad news on the fishy site, our record goal scorer & a real Stanley legend has passed away aged just 64.
Can't quite take this news in, Haggis was part of the team when I first started watching Stanley - sincere sympathy to all his family. So sad

[VALAIRIAN]

Very sad news

[cashman]

Thats a real shock, no age at all, R.I.P. Haggis an deepest sympathy to all family @ friends.

[pifco]

Very sad news I believe he had been quite poorly for some time. Rest in peace Dave, I'll always remember you as a star on the pitch.

[Tin Monkey]

Haggis was playing when I first started watching Stanley in the 70s.

I'm really shocked by this sad news. RIP Haggis.

[Twenty Eight]

I’ve been reading up on Dave today. Sounds like a proper gent and character and very supportive of Accy memories page on Facebook.
Players like this should never be forgotten.
RIP Dave - although I never knew you.

[Haggis316]

Gutted. His scoring feats really got me looking out for the Club in the 70's. Remember him on Match of the Day as if it was yesterday.

[Shurm]

So sad to hear this, he always helped me when I was starting out at Stanley remember scoring my first goal for Stanley and him running on the pitch to congratulate me from the bench. I went to watch him play his 2 games for Rovers against Luton and Blackpool he was like hero I felt so lucky to actually play alongside him at 15. R.I.P. no one will ever have a better scoring record for Stanley ever again.

[Lost in Cornwall]

Again so sorry to hear this. A true Stanley legend.

[Phil Whalley]

My condolences to Dave's family.

I think its fair to say that if a talent like Dave Hargreaves came along today, Stanley would still struggle to keep hold of him for any length of time. Don Bramley, who had himself been spotted playing football in Accy and been snapped up by Everton, reckoned Haggis was the most natural finisher he had seen since Jimmy Greaves. Even if this was a bit of hyperbole by a manager trying to instil confidence in his main striker, anyone who saw Dave play would concur that he had a special talent. He seemed to be one of those players whose pulse rate went down when a scoring opportunity presented itself, so coolly would he slot away the chance.

He also possessed speed and vision, and a hard, wiry physique that enabled him to withstand the inevitable batterings from centre-halves in those tough, mud-coated, amateur days. Just how good would a professionally-coached and conditioned Haggis have been on today's green carpet at the Crown?

As it was, he toiled for years on the uneven and undrained pitches of semi-professional football, but he did it with pride wearing the red of Stanley. His scoring prowess was instrumental in the first moves of the club up the football pyramid, from the dead-end of the Lancashire Combination to the Cheshire League and then into the first years of the North West Counties competition.

His long career at Stanley was interrupted by a spell at Blackburn Rovers, making Dave the first player to earn a fee for the new Stanley. The move was ill-fated. For one thing, Blackburn threw Dave more or less straight into the first team, a leap from Lancashire Combination to Second Division (the 'Championship' in today's money) which was asking a lot in terms of physical adjustment. Inevitably, Dave picked up injuries and, once recovered, found himself playing meaningless football in the reserves. Mark Turner recalled seeing Dave put in a superb performance at Ewood Park against Liverpool Reserves, pulling Liverpool's defence around all evening, and yet, even when fit and playing well, his form wasn't rewarded with a recall to the first team.

It is also instructive that when released by Blackburn, Dave chose to come back to Stanley rather than take up a contract lower down the Football League. Haggis had left Stanley in the Lancashire Combination, but returned to a club in the Cheshire League, Stanley having taken the decision to seek a higher standard of football. Dave's goals helped the club to the Cheshire League Second Division title in 1981 and to the 1984 Lancashire Junior Cup Final, but perhaps of more enduring significance was Dave's contribution to stabilising Stanley's position at the lower end of what was an emerging pyramid structure that would eventually lead back to the Football League.

May we never forget the important contribution of Dave Hargreaves to the re-emergence of Accrington Stanley. Thanks for everything, Haggis.

[choirboy]

Thanks Phil for posting a truly wonderful eulogy on Dave Hargreaves.
Dave was of my era, a couple of years younger than me and I remember playing against him when he was just a teenager in local football.
He was slightly built but rode the tackles from much bigger opponents with ease and he certainly had 'The Knack' when in front of goal.
Stanley really do owe a lot to the many goals scored by 'Haggis' in the early years of Stanley's return.
We should all remember Dave Hargreaves...'Haggis'.... as a true STANLEY LEGEND

[maccawozzagod]

Fantastic and fitting words Phil.

It is no exageration to say that without him we wouldnt be here now and Im honoured to have watched him play.

[Chewbacca]

He was a colourful character and still playing football in the Accy Combination nearing fifty as well as cricket with players mostly 20+ years younger, so he obviously loved sport.

He was banned from the Crown Ground (except for playing) soon after his second spell, but it just showed how competitive he was whatever the competition.

For a small guy he was very good in the air, and I am sure he scored a hattrick of headers one game.

He deserves his picture in the Commercial with other Accy greats, but it would have been better when he was alive.

RIP.

[choirboy]

The club have announced on the Fishy Site that there will be a Minute's Applause before the start of the match on Saturday v Charlton to mark the sad passing of the Stanley Legend Dave Hargreaves.
MASSIVE RESPECT TO THE LAD.

[choirboy]

Originally Posted by choirboy

The club have announced on the Fishy Site that there will be a Minute's Applause before the start of the match on Saturday v Charlton to mark the sad passing of the Stanley Legend Dave Hargreaves.
MASSIVE RESPECT TO THE LAD.

It was a fabulous MINUTE OF APPLAUSE TODAY FOR A TRUE STANLEY LEGEND.
Remembered forever.......Dave Hargreaves.......Goal scorer extraordinaire!