http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/a...d's wife Joan§ionIs=sport&searchyear=2016 Not looking great for the feller....
I read that 3 of the 1966 team (only 9 survivors) have Altzeimers. Very disproportionate, can't be just coincidence? Those heavy footballs certainly hurt when you headed them. Especially when wet and if you headed the laces.
The balls have been the same weight since 1937. By 1966 they had coatings which cut down water retention. Don't think they had laces in by 1966, though I may be mistaken. I remember Bill Shankly saying that the only centre forwards without scars in their foreheads from the laces were those who played with his idol Tom Finney as he turned the ball to avoid this happening. A bit of Shanks exaggeration maybe, but one England international said he noticed when playing for England how few times he had to laces on Finney crosses compared to his club games.
This causal link between heading heavy balls and Alzheimer's is a bit tenuous, as plenty get it without heading footballs and plenty don't get it who regularly headed heavy footballs. Think Ray Wilson (full back) has/had it....and he rarely if ever headed it. As far as I know Jack Charlton doesn't (as yet). Alf Wood seemed the perfect fit for City, but somehow he never made much of an impression. Shame really as he seems a real honest trier and old fashioned centre forward, not some Bamber/Finnegan/Bullard type of whingeing ****.
I think the ''honest trier'' sums him up perfectly, my enduring memory of him was the League Cup tie at Donny in '75 - scored one but missed half a dozen good chances. Huge away following, City huff and puff before losing cup tie to 4th Division opponents ... we've all got that particular T shirt.
He will always be remembered for that game and for the catalogue of golden chances he spurned. I swear they must have lowered the bar on their goal as he headed chance after chance just over the bar. They had a real good pairing up front, O' callaghan and Kitchen who were real handful. After Chillo, it was Phil Holme, Alf Wood, Alan Warboys, then Deacy.....none of em up to it.
I certainly recall the after match shenanigans, getting back to the coach park was one of those nights when having eyes in the back of your head would have been really handy! The coach park was certainly a bit of a battle field without a copper in sight - God only knows how we'd have got in had we got todays Tiger Travel coaches mixed in there.
Pearson was more of a 'Waggy' scavenger than big target man. Not sure what Peter Fletcher was. Always seemed to me that we were trying to create a new Waggy and Chillo. Nearest we got was the OAP version with 'Smash and Grab'. Somehow Billy and Keith just missed each other first time round.
I agree. He once applied for the managers job at City after he'd cut his teeth coaching and he didn't even get a reply. That was in the days when we were recruiting from Rochdale. Stuart Pearson was a remarkable player for us, Manchester United and WHU. When we sold him it was one of the top five British transfer fee's of all time. Played and scored for England, a real local lad made good story and strangley,as you say, airbrushed from our history..
Think he does matchday hospitality at OT. Played for WHU in the cup final I think, so well remembered by them too. Just not at City. Perhaps he dint wave to the fans when asked to or summat.
Has he been asked back? Seems very happy doing match day at Man U when i read an interview with him. Bit early for me but wasnt a fans favourite was he? Probably thinks **** em.
Some of the older lads would know for sure but, I don't recall him being a boo-boy target? We had Mally Lord in the team, he was often taking grief for more than his share as I recall.
Wasn't a fans favourite ? You having a laugh ? Scored 4 v Pompey at Boothferry Park. Probably kept out of the first team too long by Wagstaff and Chilton. When he finally got his chance he was a revelation. All action bustling centre forward with lightening pace, good in the air, an eye for goal and a thunderous shot. Which is probably what Tommy Docherty saw in him when he was briefly our number 2 under Terry Neil. For a local lad who played at the very top of his profession, played and scored for England and scored in an FA Cup Final you would have thought he would be remembered in his own city. One twentieth of the recognition Johhny Whiteley gets would suffice.
He had 3 seasons - 71/72, 72-73 and 73/74. He went from newby to our record transfer, while still young. Those 3 seasons were the lowest level he played at before being sold to balance the books. Never a boo boy target, so it remains why the 'coolness' between him and the club. Lives in Sale and played RU there too I think, seems v happy in the NW.
