Years ago now when Stanley left the first time my then small daughter was heartbroken.
In truth we all were. In those dark years of administration and a rank rubbish team Stanley was a genuine hero. Strength of a bull, blistering pace and a humble man who talked of his new salubrious bedsit on Holderness Road.
East Hull hero was something to be.
That a man with not too much English from the most remote of places in the world could become a Hull KR legend is quite remarkable.
When he left that first time I had the pleasure to meet him and asked if he would maybe write a few words for my daughter. He responded with a five page letter in his (by then) immaculate handwriting in which he explained his love of the club and his wish to return one day.
My daughter is quite grown up now and naturally the trappings of her younger days largely discarded. Her letter from Stanley Gene she guards safely a treasured possession.
Roger Millward is the uiltimate HKR legend but in a period of many legends. Stanley kept us believing single handed.
Stanley is our Winston Churchill. His good was so good that the before & after pale into insignificance.
