Brilliant dribbler of a ball like Tommy Harmer but much faster. Unfortunately, he always seemed a lone soul a long way from his Scottish home. My favourite Tommy Harmer moment.......v Arsenal at Highbury.. Harmer receives a pas near the halfway line and calmly dribbles through the Arsenal defence and places the ball into the net.Brilliant.Even the Arsenal fans had to applaud! We will never see his like again because the game today is too fast!
I used to stand in the paxton if i didn't fancy standing in the shelf,and i used to have to duck a few
I hate to remember this but Harmer scored the winner at Sunderland for Chelsea (deflection) that got them promoted! Or am I having another senior moment?
Used to love watching AC but have to admit that he did most of his mazy dribbling in our half where the pressure was off!! But he will always be in my heart for the performance he put in when we beat Leeds to stay in the 1st Division (when Cyril scored from a great free kick)
I have that cartoon, it was Budget Day & the punch line is '...and, finally, the item you've been waiting for----Spurs won!' As you say the MPs jumping for joy! Another cartoon I like is one of choir boys in church, with their mouths wide open, obviously singing with great gusto & the choirmaster is saying 'Quieter with the Hallelujahs--- this isn't White Hart Lane!' One from 1962 has 3 guys pulling & pushing for all their worth another guy through a door marked 'players only'. A bystander is saying to another 'That's their goalkeeper -- Jimmy Greaves must be playing'. There's lots more cartoons but of course they're not so funny written out. Did you know that in 1960/61 the club employed a chap called Bill Elmore aged 69. His job? Seagull shooer. Apparantly the club laid out £750 for a plastic cover to protect the pitch, (remember what a mud heap it used to be in winter) but every morning they would find it covered in holes. The culprits, seagulls, had found the lovely warm soil beneath the plastic drew up tasy worms for their breakfast! Hence Bill was employed to stand mid pitch banging two dustbin lids together! I have a picture of him doing just that. I agree with you that it cost sixpence for kids in the boys entrance so with another sixpence to park the bike & tuppence for a programme = 1 shilling & tuppence = just over 5 pence in todays money!!! PABIRD: Yes, those European nights were magic. I loved the 'ANGELS'. Can't remember whether it was the away Dukla or Gornik game but the the team were slated by their press, calling them dirty etc then at the home game three guys appeared in white flowing robes with placards saying 'whoever heard of dirty lillywhites'. They used to parade around the touchline and the atmosphere was phenominal. Everyone used to sing back then, not just one section. No corporates in those days I s'pose!
They got slammed after the Gornik(Poland) away game.We played poorly and were,at one time,0-4 down but got back 2 before the end.The critics gave them hell.I may still have the cuttings.I remember Desmond Hackett of the Daily Express getting his face in it......but he loved a headline,that man111 Funny thing,in the home leg,the crowd gave the Gornik goalscorer a loud hand.His name was Pohl.What a goal......our 8 weren't bad either!!!!!!What a night.I think we all went home with our ears ringing! Shame a local vicar took umbridge with the "Angels" and thought they were blasphemy itself.Silly twit!
Jimmy Greaves say's in his book,after the Gornik game Bobby Smith went over to the gornik Centre half and said to him Londres,and gave him a look that scared the life out of him.He put's that down to us hammering them at home
I believe Smithy did that to the Bratislava goalie the following year.You could kill goalies in those days.You can't breathe near them today!
My earliest memories of WHL are in the late sixties. Used to go in the Paxton Lane end and got there very early to get down the front as I am not tall now, and couldn't see anything when I was 11 if I wasn't at the front. Tried the shelf sometimes too or the seats at the Paxton Lane end if dad had given me extra pocket money. Greaves and Gilzean were a glorious partnership. The guy selling 'Goal-'time' tickets sticks in my brain: 'Get your goal time tickets here, lads - shilling a time - they're all shuffled up'. He had a very penetrating voice and sometimes there were groups of fans standing close and mimicking him.
Paxton Road end undercover,before the seats,was my favourite spot too.The views of the 50-60,000 crowds used to be something I can tell you. They used to have crush barriers there.....and you could still be pushed down umpteen steps....but it was all good fun and I never saw anyone hurt! I got into the seats there when they were put in but it was never the same.Those seats were murder and when you got up to leave your legs wanted to stay there!
