Great for Cliff and I agree with you about Ivor - great shame that. Still Cliff's comments about being a Jack are where the heart is. I have a photo of some of the Swans players in the changing room taken back in the 50's. if I can figure out how I will post it to this article.
Long overdue imo , how times change though , it was rarity that any club won the double in any competition he played in a very good team and vastly contributed to their success .Once a Jack
The Sports writer Ken Jones of the time was a cousin of Cliff Jones, good to see him in the hall of fame, though no doubt Ivor should be there too!......... Here's a good story regarding Cliff Jones and Spurs. Link:http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2010/sep/12/tottenham-champions-league
Although he's not in the Guardian photograph,Terry Medwin,another ex Swan,also played a major part in Spurs' double win. Teams played with five forwards in those days,none of this striker,midfield nonsense,and Jones played left wing, Medwin was right wing. Both were exceptional players.
Too young to have seen him play live but seen plenty of clips of him and he's come on to the pitch at half time on a few occasions and seems like a great bloke. Always great to see a member of our double winning side get some recognition
Hi Libertarian .Yes I also remember Cliff Jones & Terry Medwin Playing for the swans, before cliff went to spurs from memory cliffs Bro Bryn also played for us he was a full back . as you say in they day a winger was a winger with a C/F R/M L/M and yes they were very good.And when you had Ivor in the middle that was a good forward line and all welsh Internationls.Ye as you say Lib they were exelent players yes it is a shame about Ivor was not a Inductee And all Jacks
Hi Lauds. Medwin was a winger by choice, but when he was playing for The Swans' they had Cliffy on one wing, and Lennie Allchurch on the other,so he was forced to play centre forward. His move to Spurs' was to enable him to play on the wing, and get back into the Welsh team. Medwin was a great centre forward. The Swans' forward line in those days was something to behold,a thing of beauty,viz, (7) Len Allchurch (8) Harry Griffiths (9) Terry Medwin (10) Ivor Allchurch (11) Cliff Jones Cliff's brother,Bryn,did indeed play at left back,(3),and he took no prisoners if any opposition defenders gave Cliff a tough time. He really looked after him. Mel Charles sat in behind that forward line at right half (4),and between them all, 90+ goals per season was not unusual. Unfortunately,the defence usually resembled a collander,leaking goals as fast as they were being scored at the other end. I tell you what though,I'd love to see Michu play just behind that forward line,alongside,or in front of Charlo. Time for a quick drool.
Here's the locker room photo from the 1950s - I can recognize four of the six - can anybody identify the unknowns. From left to right: UNKNOWN, Ivor Allchurch, Terry Medwin, Cliff Jones, Harry Griffiths, UNKNOWN
Don't know about the guy to the left. But I'm pretty sure that the guy to the right is this guy: please log in to view this image
The one on the left could be Steve Leavy,I think how his name was spelt. The one on the right doesn't ring any bells,but he looks a bit like Brian Clough,but clearly it wasn't him. Some very youthful Swans' there,Cliffy looks about 15. I've just looked again,surely that's Tom Kiley on the right,centre half par excellence.
I thought that Lib he was one of the best ,from memory cant remember the exact yr but I think it was the late 50s we were top of the 2nd Div 12pts clear? when Kiley got injured and we missed out on going up to the 1st Div, I think that was when they brought Nurse in you might remember that Libs and as you say medwin did play in the middle with lenny on the wing.
In that photo we had three players who played for Wales in the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup - Len was also in the squad but not in the photo. I wonder if that might repeat next year. Candidates are: Vorm, JDG, Tiendalli (?) for Holland. Ki for South Korea (if he gets it together in time). Michu, Pablo, Chico, Pozuello and Amat - hopefuls but doubtfuls given the strength of the Spanish squad. I have not included Canas (never been considered at international level) and Vazquez (too young and not likely to see too much game time with us). After seeing Spain's defense ripped apart by Brazil in the Confederation Cup, they could do a lot worse than play Chico at the back - he deserves a tryout in the squad and would add some spine back there.
It was '56 or '57 Lauds, when The Swans' were walking away with the old 2nd Division. As you say,about a dozen points clear,then Kiley got injured,ending his career,I think. The Board didn't want to spend any money on buying a replacement,even though they were offered a top notch centre half for 5 thousand pounds. I read this fairly recently somewhere,possibly in Mel Charles' book. Anyway,they kept their hands in their pockets, and I seem to recall Dudley Peake being drafted in from the reserves. Not sure when Mel Nurse appeared though. The very next game was a 6-1 defeat,and the team slid down the table,finishing about 10 th. All speculation now of course,but had they got promoted some, if not all, of the players who eventually left,would have maybe stayed.
I'm sure they would have stayed and probably seen their wages raised to a tenner a week .... that's ten pounds not ten thousand.
Surely if the Tiss has been inducted....They MUST plan for Ivor Allchurch to be included at the next possible opportunity.......
