Retro Retro
Football Football Bringing you football the way it used to be.
Issue 1 May 2010 Free to football fans everywhere
Inside:
Great 70s Moments Football’s Lost Clubs Programme Collector Competitions and much more
GREAT PLAYERS + GREAT GAMES = GREAT MEMORIES
Memories in Black & White No.1
Just four minutes gone and Manchester United goalkeeper David Gaskell can only watch as Jimmy Greaves scores Tottenham Hotspur’s first goal of their 3-1 win in the 1962 FA Cup Semi Final tie at Hillsborough. Spurs went on to win the cup, beating Burnley 3-1 in the final with Greaves opening the scoring after only 3 minutes at Wembley.
Welcome to this inaugural edition of Retro Football, the web magazine for people who remember how different football was in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
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Cup upsets, great players, seedy grounds and dodgy haircuts.... you can re-live them all here. If you enjoy this edition and wish to receive each monthly copy, it’s FREE to subscribe by going to: www.retrofootball.homestead.com or email us at retrofootball@btinternet.com, with any comments or suggestions. Enjoy the magazine.
Bringing you football the way it used to be.
In this issue: Page 4
Whatever happened to the Watney Cup? Goals galore in this short-lived season opener
Page 4
Remember the Ref Roger Kirkpatrick - the showman in the middle
Page 6
Football’s Lost Souls Clubs that couldn’t keep up with the financial demands of the game
Page 11
1959-60 - Burnley’s League Winner Photo feature. Burnley’s win at Maine Road clinches the title
Page 12
Come home to Wales! How the demands of the Welsh FA let to an off field battle with the clubs
Page 13
The Programme Collector Keeping your old matchday magazines can lead to fun and profit
Page 14
Profile: Sir Matt Busby Manchester United’s legendary boss
Page 15
Stairway 13 Remembering when disaster struck at Ibrox
Page 18
Bob Paisley: ‘It’s about the right ball’ The Boot Room’s legacy to Anfield
Page 21
Great 70s Moments Ball vs Bremner
Page 22
Dodgy 70s Haircut Competition Win a CD of Computer Games and
Ask The Editor: Why the Wheelbarrow? A legendary terrace chant is born
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Whatever happened to the Watney Cup? In early August 1970, football fans in the country who had previously survived the close season by looking forward to a few - often meaningless - friendlies, were introduced to a new pre-season competition which would see eight teams vie for the Watney Mann Invitation Cup. Each of the four English league divisions were represented by the two top-scoring clubs in that division during the previous term - so long has they hadn’t also been promoted or relegated that season (the latter of course being highly unlikely). Third division teams played host to Division 1 sides whilst Division 2 sides travelled to fourth division grounds. In each case, the lower ranked league team were at home in the first round. The inaugral competition began on 1st August, with the four first round fixtures delivering no less than 23 goals... almost six a match. Manchester United squeezed through to the semi-finals by winning 3-2 at Reading, Derby County travelled to Craven Cottage and beat Fulham 5-3 in a thriller. Neither of the fourth division’s teams managed to get on to the score sheet as Hull City came away from Peterborough with a 4-0 win whilst Sheffield United went two better - hitting Aldershot for six without reply at the Recreation Ground. In the semi-finals the following Wednesday, a single goal was enough to ease Derby past Sheffield United, but Manchester United had their work cut out, beating Hull in the first ever penalty shootout held on English soil following a 1-1 draw. United’s form in the Watney Cup deserted them in he final as Dave Mackay led Derby to a 4-1 victory in front of their own fans at the Baseball Ground. The total of 36 goals scored in the inaugral competition was not to be neared again, although the relativley low-scoring 1971-2 tournament did finally burst into life in the final when visitors Colchester United had the audacity to not only match West Brom in a 4-4 draw at the Hawthorns, they also twisted the knife by winning the cup on penalties. Bristol Rovers also won the 1972-3 final on penalties at home to Sheffield United after a goalless draw at Eastville. The last of the Watney Mann Invitation Cup tournaments took place in 1973-4 when Stoke City who had finished a creditable 5th in the first division the previous season - won the trophy with a 2-0 win at home against second division side Hull City. Over the four seasons it existed, a total of 83 goals not including penalty shootouts - were scored in the 28 matches, an average of over 3 goals a game. Sheffield United scored the highest number of goals with 13 in five games whilst Peterborough conceded the most, letting in ten goals in four appearances.
Right: Derby County captain Dave Mackay lifts the 1970-1 Watney Cup after the Rams’ 4-1 win over Manchester United. 4
This 64 page ‘ebook’ is available now from www.thescotlanddirectory.org 5
Remember the Ref! If you are in your late 40s or older and frequented league football matches in your youth, the chances are that you will have seen a wide assortment of referees The football referees of the 1960s and 70s were a fairly conservative bunch. Kitted out in all black with a white trim, they didn’t appear to have first names, being referred to in the programme only by their initial and where they came from, for instance, ‘Mr P. Jones, Manchester’. Referees were the upholders of the laws of the game on the playing field and their duty was to be done in a discreet and unintrusive manner. There were exceptions to this unwritten rule, one of which was the legendary whistle-blower Roger Kirkpatrick. With whiskery sideburns framing his round face, this portly gentleman from Leicester could have been a sterotype for a philanthropic Dickensian character. Once described by a football commentator as ‘completely spherical’, Mr Kirkpatrick was a man with the ability to run backwards at an amazing speed. If he awarded a free kick some distance away, he would stop the game until he had back-pedalled across the pitch, legs pumping like steam pistons whilst the crowd laughed, cheered and jeered. He was a showman and most of what he did whilst he was on the pitch was entertaining but over the top, sometimes to the point where more fans were watching the performance of the referee than the players! According to football folklore, Mr Kilpatrick once stood chin to chin with the Manchester United hard man Nobby Stiles over a disputed decision and that they had to be pulled apart by players. During his refereeing career, Roger Kirkpatrick was often controversial. In January 1975 at Sheffield United, he took the teams off the field for five minutes because someone in the crowd was blowing a whistle. Mr Kirkpatrick is a name not to be mentioned to Liverpool fans of the '70's as many still blame him for disallowing a goal as offside in the last game of the season against Arsenal in 1971-72, depriving them of the title and handing it instead to Cloughie's Derby County. During a match at Meadow Lane, he was knocked out after being hit on the head by a clearance. The trainers went to his aid and got Mr Kirkpatrick back on his feet. The crowd applauded the trainer’s actions then, as if he was an actor acknowledging an encore, the referee waved to the crowd as he re-started play. Whether you have fond or hostile memories of Roger Kirkpatrick’s performances as a referee, you would have to agree that the short, bald, bewhiskered, round fella, who ran backwards at speed and made controversial decisions, always looked like he was vastly enjoying himself!
Do you run a business or a club? If so, the next time you see this image, you may learn something of interest to you.
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Football’s Lost Soul
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Football’s Lost Soul Back in 1960, if you had predicted that under fifty years later footballers would be transferring between clubs for fees of £30 million and earning more in an hour than the man in the street got in his wage packet, you would have been laughed at. Now, 49 years after the Players’ Union fought for, and achieved, the abolition of the £20 a week maximum wage for professional footballers it is commonplace to see multi-million pound transfer fees, huge salaries and expensive match tickets amongst a select few clubs, whilst others at the other end of the football spectrum are struggling to stay in existence whilst several have already fallen by the wayside. Take Chester City as a prime example. Founded back in 1889, they joined the Football League in 1931 and spent most of their existence in the lower reaches of the league. For 84 years, Chester played at The Stadium, Sealand Road until 1990 when the clubs owners controversially decided to move out after the club was refused a ground safety certificate for its away standing areas, meaning a reduction in capacity and a loss of revenue. The club spent two years ground sharing with Cheshire neighbours Macclesfield Town at the Moss Rose stadium before moving in to the new Deva Stadium in 1992, but thereafter repeated financial problems and, after relegation to the Football Conference in 2009, the club were placed into admisinstration with debts of some £7 million. Whilst debates about whether the club should be allowed to compete in the Conference due to its financial problems, in February 2010 Chester City failed to fulfil a league fixture at Forest Green Rovers when the players - alleging that they had not been paid for three months - refused to board the team bus. At first, Chester City FC were suspended from the Conference for a week, then finally expelled after a vote by member clubs who were ‘unconvinced that the club could fulfil all of its fixtures’. The club was wound up on 10th March 2010. Another team that ceased to exist recently was Halifax Town. Formed in 1911, they played in the Yorkshire Combination and the Midland League and were one of the founder members of Football League Third Division North in 1921, and remained in that division until restructuring in 1958. The club nearly always struggled financially as well as with its discipline. It was relegated from the Football League Third Division in 1963 and was re-elected several times in the Football League Fourth Division in the 1980s after finishing near the bottom of the football league. Following the introduction of automatic promotion and relegation between the Fourth Division and the Conference, the club continued to struggle before being finally relegated in 1993.
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The club's fortunes were turned around in 1967 when Alan Ball Senior took over as manager of the club. He achieved promotion with the club in 1969, but left soon after, however the club enjoyed some measure of success in the Football League Third Division in the early seventies, finishing one place short of promotion in 1971.
A floodlight lies where it toppled onto the pitch after Chester City abandoned their spiritual home at Sealands Road stadium.
Many of the club's supporters tout this era as the "Glory Days" as it was also in 1971 that Halifax Town beat the mighty Manchester United 2–1 in the Watney Cup. United fielded a full strength squad that included Bobby Charlton,George Best and Denis Law. Best scored for United but goals from Atkins and Wallace won it for the Shaymen. However, Halifax were relegated back to the fourth division in 1976 and afterwards, the club saw a long period in the fourth division with very little success, but a lot of financial problems. The club always languished near the bottom of the football league, managing no better than a single mid-table finish in 1983. Many say that the goals of Steve Norris were what allowed the club to survive in the football league. However, Norris left in 1992, and the subsequent year, Halifax were relegated. They regained their league status by winning the conference in 1997-8 season but four seasons later were relegated and never returned. Millions of pounds in debt, Halifax Town were excluded from the 2008-9 Conference fixture lists in spite of making an appeal against the decision and the club was wound up. The club was reformed as FC Halifax Town soon afterwards and they were accepted to play in Division One North of the Northern Premier League the following season, a league that they still compete in today.
The Shay, Halifax
Financial problems and winding up is not exclusive to football league clubs however. The recent economic climate has had its effect on the lower echelons of the football pyramid too. When the axe fell upon Kings Lynn Football Club it was far from unexpected by everyone involved with the club. The biggest warning sign was when the Linnets were demoted from the Blue Square North because their ground did not meet the required standards for that league. ‘The Walks’ is a fine old stadium but it required work after the club were promoted into their new league after winning the Premier Division of the Southern League in 2007-8. It was rumoured that the local council had offered to pay towards the cost of the repairs, however the work was not done and the club was demoted into the Unibond League at the end of the following season. One can only guess whether the failure to do the required work was merely incompetence or an early warning of the serious financial matters at Kings Lynn. What is certain is that is that the financial situation at the club was deteriorating rapidly, yet that they continued to spend. The tax bill was up to £77,000 by the time that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs issued a winding up order against them and they had debts that were said to be in the region of a further Plenty of ‘bums on seats’ in this photo but tax £150,000, but money was still being frittered away and and other debts put paid to Kings Lynn FC. the wage bill was said to be £4,000 per week. 9
At the first hearing at the court the matter was adjourned for seven days to try and give the club a little breathing space, but this was a futile attempt at delaying the club’s inevitable demise. The hearing was adjourned for a second time after talk of a last minute takeover bid but this came to nothing. The club’s majority shareholder gave up the ghost a few days later and as the club was wound up, one hundred and thirty years of Kings Lynn Football Club came to an end. Maidstone United’s Football League life was short. Formed in 1897 they played in the various amateur leagues before joining the Southern League, the major semi-professional league in southern England, in 1971-72. They continued to progress and during their 6 year spell in the league they finished in the top five on four occasions. In 1979 they became founder members of the Alliance Premier League (now the Football Conference), and won that league title twice. At the time of their first championship, Maidstone failed to gain promotion to the Football League because they lost out in the re-election system that the League employed at the time. By the time Maidstone United won the Conference again in 1989, the promised automatic promotion and relegation had been introduced. Maidstone thus became members of the Football League Fourth Division. Coincidentally, Kent's only existing League club, Gillingham, had been relegated to Division Four in the same season, thereby setting up the League's first ever Kent derby. In 1988 the Stones had left their ground in Maidstone having sold the land on which it stood for retail use, and switched to ground-sharing with nearby Dartford for their home matches. After a shaky start in their first season in the Fourth Division Maidstone reached the promotion play-offs but lost to eventual winners Cambridge United. Maidstone’s form in the following season went from good to very poor in a short space of time. Uninspiring performances brought poor results, leading to dwindling attendances as club lurched into serious financial problems. They had spent vast amounts getting into the Football League and the spending continued now they were there. Running costs were huge and gates dropped meaning the club's finances spiralled out of control, with large debts being run up. The club then took a massive gamble, and without any kind of planning permission, purchased a piece of land east of Maidstone for £400,000 with a view to build a ground on it. With a ground in the town the club believed they would be able to afford to continue in the Football League. However, the gamble did not pay off and the planning application to build on the land was turned down. Things could only get worse for Maidstone. The ground bid had failed leaving the club with a useless piece of land and £400,000 further out of pocket. Inevitably, the entire squad of players were put up for sale to raise cash, and the cherry-picking made the first team even worse. They were due to play their first game of the 1992-93 season at home to Scunthorpe United, but by this stage they had only two players still registered to the club. Unable to come up with the necessary backing, they resigned from the league on 17 August and went into full liqudation. Dartford, whose ground Maidstone had shared, also went bankrupt soon afterwards. Perhaps the cruellest fate was that which befell Scarborough. Promoted as Conference winners in 1987, they were relegated from the league on the last day of the 1998-99 season when Jimmy Glass, Carlisle’s goalkeeper, scored in the final minute of their match against Plymouth to avoid relegation and send Scarborough down instead. Now desolate, Scarborough’s stadium - which was once Scarborough fans were already celebrating the sponsored by McCain’s frozen foods group - was known club’s ‘survival’ on the pitch at the McCain to the club’s fans as ‘The Theatre of Chips’, an irony Stadium - known as ‘The Theatre of Chips’ - when linked to Manchester United’s home ground of Old the news of Carlisle’s late goal broke. Trafford being known as ‘The Theatre of Dreams’.
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Memories in Black & White No.2 1959-60 saw Burnley go into their final game needing to beat Manchester City at Maine Road (City’s former ground) to win the League Championship. Burnley’s 20 year-old reserve forward, Trevor Meredith, scored to give them a 2-1 win which meant that they overtook Wolves and secured the title by just one point on the last day of the season
Main picture: Meredith scores the winner. Inset: Burnely FC: League Champions 1959-60 11
Come home to Wales! When news broke in October 1991 that the Football Association of Wales was to create a new League of Wales, it was not greeted with universal acclaim by the Principality's football clubs. The FAW announced that it would withdraw a sanction for all the Welsh non-league clubs that were playing in the English pyramid. Bangor City, Barry Town, Caernarfon Town, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport AFC, Newtown and Rhyl all argued the case for their right to play where they wished. A subsequent appeal was heard by the FAW and all the clubs - with the exception of Merthyr Tydfil, who continue to play at the seventh level of the English football pyramid in the Southern League - were told that they must return to the Welsh system. Bangor and Newtown joined the new set-up, but Rhyl were too late with their application and played season 1992-3 in the Cymru Alliance, but several clubs defied the FAW which resulted in them being forced to play their games on English grounds. Barry Town, who went on to win the Welsh Premier title seven times, shared the ground of Worcester FC for one season, before deciding to return to Wales. They spent the 1993-4 season in the Welsh Football League First Division but it was a memorable one as they stormed to the championship, the League Cup, the Welsh Cup for the first time since 1955 and were promoted to the League of Wales. Caernarfon and Colwyn Bay opted to remain in the Northern Premier League. The Canaries were forced to play their 'home' games more than 100 miles away from Caernarfon at Manchester club Curzon Ashton, while the Seagulls played at the Drill Field, the ground of Northwich Victoria. This inevitably affected their support and for the following season they moved closer to the Welsh border and to Ellesmere Port. Newport County have been known as the Exiles since they were forced to play their inaugural season in the Hellenic League at Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire. Despite returning to their Somerton Park home for two seasons, more football politics consigned them to a further two seasons of exile at Gloucester and the club had to resort to legal action to protect themselves from being forced out of the English football pyramid. Matters were finally resolved by the High Court in April 1995 when the three remaining clubs in exile - Newport, Caernarfon and Colwyn - won their case against the Welsh FA and were able to return to play in Wales, but, following a series of mediocre performances over several seasons in the Northern Premier League's First Division, Caernarfon decided to leave the English set up and joined the League of Wales four months later although, as this copy of ‘Retro Football’ is being produced, it appears the club may be in the process of folding. Newport County remain in the English system and, after several years in the lower tiers of the pyramid, re-ignited their dream of returning to the Football League by winning promotion to the Conference in 2010. UEFA may yet take a hand in the destiny of the exiled clubs and, indeed, this situation which currently sees Welsh clubs Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham also playing over the border. Photo: Action from a Welsh League match between Elements Cefn Druids and Port Talbot Town.
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The Programme Collector Collecting football programmes can be a fascinating and sometimes profitable hobby
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The Programme Collector If you are interested in football then collecting football programmes may be an area that you could provide you with great enjoyment. Football programmes represent many aspects of the sport. These nostalgic articles record the triumphs, upsets and personalities of the great game and for this reason hold the utmost importance in the history of the game. Your reasons for collecting can be varied and when deciding on how to begin building a collection you have a number of things to consider. The following guide is intended to give you a helping hand as you begin collecting. You may want to group your collection around different Eras of the sport. How you define those Eras is up to you. The 90's World Cup Final may be one of your earliest memories, or you may be in your later years and remember the heyday of the Busby Babes. Either way, particular dates, teams, games or times may play a large part in deciding which collections to build. Many places that you search will list items both by date and team, which makes searching for particular items easier.
Another way of grouping your collection is to focus on your teamof choice. If you are devoted to, and obsessed with, one team then this may be the route that you wish to take. You will have the added benefit of knowing more about the history of the team which will help your judgment further down the line especially when you are purchasing those unique, more expensive programmes. If you wish to build a collection that will be worth decent money in the future then this may be a good choice. Knowledge really is the key when building your collection. If you are torn between the two previous groups you can always concentrate your collection on items from significant footballing events. Programmes from FA Cup and World Cup games can become excellent additions to your collection. This is a particular niche area of interest to many other collectors and, as with all collectables, as demand increases so does the price.
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These programmes can be highly sought after examples and will no doubt set you back more than the average programme - but they will generally increase in value as time goes on. It is not uncommon to see pristine articles selling for hundreds, if not thousands of pounds depending on the history behind the item. However, money isn't everything and you may have reason not to be bothered about future resale prices. If you were at Holland v Scotland in the 1978 World Cup Finals and have kept your match programme to this day, then it is likely that the sentimental value outweighs the monetary one.
As you start hunting around for items to add to your collection, you will find that there are so many places to look. Online auctions and classified sales sites are an obvious place to start. These make your search a little easier as you can browse thousands of products in seconds. You can even pinpoint the exact products you require, get them ordered and delivered without even leaving your chair. This does however take some of the excitement out of the hunt! Whilst trawling the internet for your next bargain you will probably come across articles advertising football programme fairs. These fairs are the’ car boot sales’ of the football collectable world, where hundreds of collectors just like you get together to buy and sell programmes, with the aim of adding to their own collections. Apart from the obvious attraction of being able to browse through countless articles, these fairs are an excellent place to meet other enthusiastic collectors. You will be able to pick up some useful information from these ardent fans, especially concerning future values of your collection and items to watch out for to push up your figures. Without wishing to state the obvious, another place to source your programmes is the games that you may go to week in, week out. They may only cost you a few pounds now and may not have the allure of examples from many years ago, but these items will become rarer as time goes on and no collection would be complete without programmes covering recent times. Collecting programmes is a personal hobby and carries far more sentimental value than many other collections. Your passion for the great game is allowed to spill over into the items you begin to collect and you can start a collection to be proud of. Whether you are buying as an investment or because of your love for the game, you are guaranteed to get great enjoyment from your collection along the way. More information about football programme collecting is available at the following websites: Soccer Corner: www.soccer-corner.com Programme Monthly: www.pmfc.co.uk Football Programmes: www.footballprogrammes-uk.co.uk
Do you sell or buy football programmes? Why not advertise in ‘The Programme Collector’ feature in next month’s Retro Football? Call 01294 227548 or email retrofootball@btinternet.com for no obligation details 15
Profile Sir Matt Busby Name: Alexander Matthew Busby Birthplace: Bellshill, Scotland Date of Birth: 26 May 1909 Playing Positions: Right Half & Inside Forward Playing Career:
Apps
(Goals)
1928 - 1936 Manchester City 1936 - 1939 Liverpool International Career: 1933 Scotland
226 118
(14) (3)
1
(0)
Managerial Career: 1945 - 1969 Manchester United 1948 Great Britain 1958 Scotland 1970 - 1971 Manchester United Playing Honours: Manchester City: FA Cup Winner Managerial Honours: Manchester United: First Division winners five times FA Charity Shield five times FA Cup twice European Cup Date of Death: 20 January 1994 (aged 84) Place of Death: Cheadle, Greater Manchester
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Stairway 13
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Stairway 13 Glasgow’s Old Firm game, Rangers against Celtic at Ibrox on Saturday January 2 1971, looked like it was heading for a 0-0 draw when Jimmy Johnstone broke the deadlock to give Celtic the lead in the 89th minute. The Celtic fans celebrated what seemed to be the match winning goal. With just seconds left on the clock, though, Rangers’ Colin Stein snatched a dramatic equaliser and it was the turn of the blue section of the 80,000 all-ticket crowd to go wild. The green half of the crowd went quiet. Two goals in a minute! An unbelievable end to the match. Unseen amid this thrill of emotions, a disaster was beginning to unfold at the Rangers end of the ground at Staircase 13 which provided the access to the East end of Ibrox. On hearing the crowd roar when Rangers scored, it is thought that some supporters leaving the ground by way of the staircase tried to go back up to see what had happened, pushing against others who were making their way down, leading to a heaving mass. Some fans stumbled halfway down the steep steps whilst others around them didn't see them fall and continued their descent, until suddenly a huge knot was engulfed in a terrifying crush. Steel barriers crumpled under the impact. Once the turmoil had cleared, 66 people had lost their lives and more than 140 were injured. Among the dead were 31 teenagers. The youngest victim was Nigel Pickup, who had travelled to the game from Liverpool. He was just nine years old. There was one woman was among the fatalities. Eighteen Year old Margaret Ferguson, who lived near Falkirk, had made a doll for the baby daughter of Rangers centre-forward Stein - the man who scored the late equaliser - and had delivered it to his home just before Christmas. Five schoolboy Rangers supporters from Markinch in Fife - four of whom lived in the same street - went to to the game together. They never returned. Harrowing tales from eye-witnesses were soon heard. "When the barrier gave way I was carried along a passageway for 20 yards with three people on top of me and at least another three underneath", said one man whilst another supporter told how, ‘there was so much pressure from behind me that I was tossed down on top of others. People were on the ground and I was tossed over them. I was just carried forward by the surge." After the disaster, both sides of the Old Firm put aside their rivalries and to play a match to raise funds for the victims' families. A combined Rangers and Celtic team took on a Scotland XI at Hampden Park. It was watched by 81,405 fans. On the 30th anniversary of the tragedy in 2001, a service was held at Ibrox and a bronze statue of John Greig was unveiled on top of a memorial to those who had been killed. Each year at the home game closest to the anniversary, the club pays its respects to those supporters who died by laying a special wreath at the Memorial which was built in honour of those who died and other victims at the stadium in previous years. Ten years earlier, two people died on Stairway 13 and another 44 were injured and there were two other incidents in the following years, although fortunately, these brought no fatalities. However, these were not the first disasters to have occurred at Ibrox. Way back in 1902, with 80,000 watching the 31st Scotland v England match, the old wooden terracing collapsed under the weight of too many spectators and 26 horrified fans fell to their deaths with a further 547 people being injured. Photo: The collapsed terracing in 1902
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Bob Paisley: ‘It’s about the right ball’ 19
Bob Paisley: ‘It’s about the right ball’ In July 1974, the father figure of Merseyside football, Bill Shankly rocked the very foundations of the city of Liverpool with the announcement that he was retiring. The Ayrshire-born Scot had led Liverpool to a wealth of silverware in the previous twelve years and the club’s directors knew thay had a nigh impossible job to do as the pondered on who to appoint as the great man's successor. Great names were mentioned and discounted. Eventually, the job was offered to the unassuming Bob Paisley who reluctantly, took on the enornous task of following Shankly. In 1954, Bob Paisley retired from playing football for Liverpool and joined the back room staff as a self-taught Physiotherapist. A one-club man, he had a knack of being able to diagnose a player's injury just by looking at them. He later became a coach for the club’s reserve team. The arrival of Bill Shankly as manager in December 1959 transformed the fortunes of the club. Shankly utilised The Boot Room for a second purpose, a room for coaches' meetings. Paisley was one of Shankly's founder members of the boot room staff along with Joe Fagan and Reuben Bennett. Under Shankly's management Liverpool won three league titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup over the next fifteen years. Paisley’s record would better that of Shankly. winning at least one trophy in eight of the nine seasons he managed the club. He was disappointed the Reds finished second in his first season as manager, but the following year, Liverpool won the title. This was the start of Liverpool's dominance of the game in England - in Paisley's nine seasons in charge, Liverpool won six League titles and finished second twice, won 3 League Cups (the first time that Liverpool had won the trophy), 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 5 Charity Shields and, most significantly, they won the club's first three European Cups. Liverpool's dominance of the era in English and European football was only challenged by Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa under Tony Barton. He remains the only man in history to coach three European Cup-winning sides (1977, 1978 & 1981). His success was honoured with six Manager of the Year awards. Only the FA Cup eluded Paisley, although Liverpool would be runners-up in 1977 and beaten semi-finalists in 1979 and 1980. Paisley retired in 1983 after spending 44 unbroken years at the club. He was replaced by another of the Boot Room old boys, Joe Fagan. He continued to serve Liverpool as a director, until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 1992. Bob Paisley died on Valentine’s Day 1996, and after his death he was honoured by the club with the opening of the Paisley Gates at one of the entrances to Anfield, complementing the existing Shankly Gates. He was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager. Many memorable quotes made by Bob Paisley during his career and have outlived him especially one which sums up his view on football in just a few short words: “It’s not about the long ball, or the short ball, Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly with the FA Cup in 1974, which it’s about the right ball”. Liverpool had earlier won by beating Newcastle United 3-0.
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Great 70s Moments: No 1. Ball v Bremner The classic photo below shows a moment from a 1969 game between Leeds United and Everton in the old First Division. Everton’s Alan Ball - just 5’5” in height - is sent flying by a tackle from Leeds’ equally diminutive skipper, Billy Bremner. The youngest member of England’s World Cup winning team in 1966, Ball's playing career spanned 22 years, with a further 17 on top of that in management. Ball was a dynamic and passionate player for whatever club he was playing for. When he left the Toffees to join Arsenal in 1971, it cost the London club a then British record fee of £220,000 . He had won the League at Goodison Park but was always a runner-up after this with all his other clubs. Opposing fans loved to hate the little, shrill-voiced midfielder but all respected him as a footballing genius and wished he was on their side. Also standing 5’5” tall, Billy Bremner was a flame-haired Scotsman who was the embodiment of Leeds United for 17 years. In 772 games he scored 115 goals and along with Johnny Giles, formed part of the most feared midfield in Football League history. Legendary manager Don Revie gave Bremner the Leeds captaincy in 1966 after the another Scot of small stature, Bobby Collins, suffered a serious injury. Bremner held the armband for ten years and also chalked up 54 appearances for Scotland. It’s amazing that Bremner was rejected by both Arsenal and Chelsea for being too small, but their loss was the Elland Road club’s gain.
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Dodgy 70s Haircut Competition Enter our competition and you could win one of two prizes of 10,000 computer games on CD. Just tell us the name of the long haired QPR player in the foreground of the photo below.
Email your answer to retrofootball@btinternet.com by 30th May 2010. Two correct entries drawn at random will get the prizes.
Ask the Editor: Why the Wheelbarrow? The same day that the launch of Retro Football was announced, we received our first email which was from Joseph Malienco of London who said: “I was at Fulham’s FA Cup with Notts County in March. Several times during the game the County fans started singing a song about a wheelbarrow. I have never heard it sung anywhere else... can you enlighten me? We can Joseph. There are different stories about how ‘The Wheelbarrow Song’ originated, but it’s commonly believed that the song came about on Tuesday 17th April 1990 when Notts County visited Shrewsbury’s former home ground of Gay Meadow in the old Third Division. A Dean Spinks double had put Shrewsbury in control, they were 2-0 ahead and they looked certain to be the to be victors with only ten minutes left. The Shrewsbury fans were already celebrating and were singing a terrace chant to the tune of the folk song ‘On Top of Old Smokey’. To the ears of the disillusioned County fans the strong accent of the Shrewsbury supporters made it sound like they were singing ‘I had a wheelbarrow, the wheel fell off’. Making light of their own disappointment, a group of the travelling Magpies supporters began to take the mickey out of the home fans by singing the song back to them. Soon, others joined in until the whole terrace was belting out what has come to be known as ‘The Wheelbarrow Song’. This seemed to have a magical effect as Notts lifted their game and came back to draw 2-2. The song heralded a run which culminating in a Wembley appearance where 25,000 Notts fans sang it beneath the twin towers and, twenty years later, the chant is still regularly heard bouncing back and forth between the stands at Meadow Lane. The Wheelbarrow Song has been mentioned on in numerous football commentaries and was featured in the BBC show Paradise Heights in which actor Ralf Little played a Notts County fan. 22
Memories in Black & White No.3 This flying save by Peter ‘The Cat’ Bonetti was to no avail as Chelsea lost thesemi final tie of the 1965 FA Cup against Liverpool 2-0
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