Alf Wood

[Noggin The Nog]

I Think the game at which Lord got some horrendous stick was v Portsmouth... City were dire and 0-3 down. Lord came on to a crescendo of booing. The final score was 1-3 I think.. Then at the next game Lord scored and Tommy Docherty came hurling out of the bunker and almost ran on the pitch to congratulate him....
Feel free to correct me.....

 

[Barchullona]

I was at that game against Portsmouth. I seem to remember we were 4 up in about first 20 minutes with Phil Holme scoring one as well. Definitely a favourite at the time but inlike Chillo he left to fulfill his potential elsewhere.

My wife liked football but had never been to a game. That changed 2 weeks after she met het and I brought her with me to Hull and that was her first game. Had to explain to her it wasn't like that every week.
Her being the first girlfriend who understood the offside law could have been a major factor in deciding she was the one.

 

[Barchullona]

I Think the game at which Lord got some horrendous stick was v Portsmouth... City were dire and 0-3 down. Lord came on to a crescendo of booing. The final score was 1-3 I think.. Then at the next game Lord scored and Tommy Docherty came hurling out of the bunker and almost ran on the pitch to congratulate him....
Feel free to correct me.....

Terry Neill and Docherty criticised the fans and asked them to get behind him. The next game it went to the other extreme with his name being chanted and his every touch being met with rapturous applause by some cynical types.
Give me a Mally Lord over many of the current type of player anytime.

 

[askewshair]

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.

I can certainly recall playing with a leather football with laces, early 70's. I was still at primary school and so we didn't use them there. I certainly owned one and was a prized possession, though we did tend to keep things in those days (unlike todays throwaway culture), so may not have been new.

Shankly's idolising of Tom Finney was well known. I recall the story of a journalist enthusing to him Tony Currie, suggesting he was reminiscent of Tom Finney, Shankly's reply was something like 'yeah You could be right. Mind you Tom's past his best now' (he was probably in his 60's and had long retired by then)

 

[Noggin The Nog]

Lord was one of those players who was not blessed with tons of skill, but he put in a shift, every game, come rain or shine unlike some of the 'superstars' today.

 

[The FRENCH TICKLER]

http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/article.cfm?id=118898&headline=Heartfelt plea of Millwall legend Alf Wood's wife Joan&sectionIs=sport&searchyear=2016

Not looking great for the feller....

Very sad. Another sad Jeff Astle type case. Alf Wood was a legend @ Millwall with his goals but failed to repeat the goals when he came to City even though he scored @ Portsmouth on his debut the week before we beat Manchester United 2-0.

The balls that players use today are beach balls by comparison.

 

[Chazz Rheinhold]

I can certainly recall playing with a leather football with laces, early 70's. I was still at primary school and so we didn't use them there. I certainly owned one and was a prized possession, though we did tend to keep things in those days (unlike todays throwaway culture), so may not have been new.

Shankly's idolising of Tom Finney was well known. I recall the story of a journalist enthusing to him Tony Currie, suggesting he was reminiscent of Tom Finney, Shankly's reply was something like 'yeah You could be right. Mind you Tom's past his best now' (he was probably in his 60's and had long retired by then)

Yep me too.We also played in shirts from the 50's with a collar on them. The shirt in quarters with a stitched number on the back.

 

[tigerincanada]

Yep me too.We also played in shirts from the 50's with a collar on them. The shirt in quarters with a stitched number on the back.

And I suppose you had/have stiff leather boots that came/come above your ankles, with a hard toe cap, a strap over the instep and six studs, per boot, of multi layers of leather hammered in place with three nails to each stud?

 

[Bengals Tiger]

And I suppose you had/have stiff leather boots that came/come above your ankles, with a hard toe cap, a strap over the instep and six studs, per boot, of multi layers of leather hammered in place with three nails to each stud?

And concrete shin pads, each weighing 7 pounds in old money, stuck on with Araldite. Honestly, kids these days!

 

[Ernie Shackleton]

And I suppose you had/have stiff leather boots that came/come above your ankles, with a hard toe cap, a strap over the instep and six studs, per boot, of multi layers of leather hammered in place with three nails to each stud?

Studs?. Studs?

You were lucky.

What we'd have given to have studs.

We had bars.

Bars of leather nailed laterally across sole of t'boot.




An' we 'ad to lick road clean every morning before we could play.

 

[C'mon ref]

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.

If I remember correctly Mally Lord and Billy Wikinson both got grief when things started to go adrift at City, Simpkin was another target and ended up going to Blackpool. But Chilton was a hard act to follow, Pearson proved himself over time whereas when Chris left City for Coventry he failed to reach his previous scoring exploits. Not sure if this was due to having no Waggy or the back problem that he had in his later playing days, but I think City got a good deal in that era, £92,000 I think Coventry paid, which sounds a pittance in to days game.

 

[Noggin The Nog]

Chillo had a bad cilla (as pointed out above) and Cov fell for it...(literally) Lasted for about a season under Noel Cantwell, scored about two goals 1 v the dark side (Leeds) and 1 in a cup game v. WBA.....Cantwell got the bullet not long after City dumped them out of the cup at Highfield Road 1-0...Waggy or Frank Banks scored.
Cov bought a Scottish striker called Stein and also Tommy Hutchinson who formed a decent partnership and a young Dennis Mortimer in midfield and became a decent side under Gordon Milne..

 

[Barchullona]

If I remember correctly Mally Lord and Billy Wikinson both got grief when things started to go adrift at City, Simpkin was another target and ended up going to Blackpool. But Chilton was a hard act to follow, Pearson proved himself over time whereas when Chris left City for Coventry he failed to reach his previous scoring exploits. Not sure if this was due to having no Waggy or the back problem that he had in his later playing days, but I think City got a good deal in that era, £92,000 I think Coventry paid, which sounds a pittance in to days game.

I can't recall Simmo getting any stick, he was always popular with everyone I knew. Was in Coventry City's social club before our Cup win and Simmo came in. He was injured so had come to watch City. Said he missed City and wished he was back with us. Chillo, as Duffen's Briefs states, had a bad back. Neill pulled a fast one there.

Billy Wilkinson couldn't half knock the beers back, without showing much effect. He was what everyone thought Waggy was. A lass in our office was going out we with him. He went through a period of missing games with a groin strain. This caused much amusement at her expense on a Monday morning when it was announced that Bustling Billy had missed a the game on Saturday due to a groin strain.

 

[Noggin The Nog]

Memory isn't what it used to be, but I don't recall Simmo ever getting grief..
Didn't Billy Wilk have a hardware shop or a greengrocer shop. Seemed to recall this.
Once saw Frank Banks walking down Spring Bank and Norman Collier in a betting shop...

 

[City Man]

Memory isn't what it used to be, but I don't recall Simmo ever getting grief..
Didn't Billy Wilk have a hardware shop or a greengrocer shop. Seemed to recall this.
Once saw Frank Banks walking down Spring Bank and Norman Collier in a betting shop...

IIRC, Frank lived in a club house down North Rd.